Christmas, for many children, is a time to compose a wish list for toys, construct gingerbread houses, and trim the tree. Overshadowing these traditional activities are the familiar, sentimental feelings of love from a home filled with family, wondrous joy from celebration, and, for Christians, peace from commemorating the coming of their Messiah.

Ten years ago, a young Russian girl knew nothing of these comforts or love. After being removed from a “turbulent life” in an alcoholic home around the age of 7, Oksana Nelson found herself in a “bleak, dreary orphanage,” which had no heaters or hot water. Like the other children, Oksana had a bath every two weeks, a change of clothes once a week, and one toothbrush and one tube of toothpaste to share between 20 children.  Oksana’s sole identity was formed in being an orphan. While she loved school, she wore a specific uniform that labeled her as an orphan to all of the children and adults around her.  Beyond the material depravity, the greatest need Oksana felt was for someone to show her love, hope, and joy.

“One day,” Oksana recalls, “everything I knew about people, existence, and living changed.”  A missionary couple visited her orphanage, their arms brimming with shoeboxes covered in wrapping paper. One of these boxes was given to Oksana. Inside, she found her own toothbrush, toothpaste, dominos, candy, and, most memorable, a picture of the children who made this gift for her.  Now, she realizes the simplicity of these everyday objects. For the little girl who had “nothing to call [her] own,” these ordinary items became transformative treasures.  No longer was she an unloved orphan, for she learned from these missionaries about the greatest love she could ever know, the love of her Heavenly Father.  Her identity was forever found as a beloved daughter of Jesus Christ. All of this, Oksana notes, “began with a shoebox.”  Through this simple shoebox, a missionary couple shared Christ’s love with a stranger.

A year later, Oksana was adopted by a couple from Texas. Today, she shares her testimony to encourage others to join in the work of Operation Christmas Child to “be the hands and feet of Jesus by reach[ing] people in unknown destinations to fulfill the Great Commission.” Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child has given 86 million shoeboxes to children in need. “It’s not just a box,” Oksana clarifies, “One box equals one child, equals one life, equals one salvation.”