PrayerPoint is a bimonthly prayer digest of Samaritan's Purse that was created so you can join us in this essential aspect of the ministry. A subscription to PrayerPoint is free with your gift of any amount.

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PrayerPoint archive

New Year’s Eve 1999 was an unforgettable day for Tanya Poteet. The 10-year-old Russian girl was living in an orphanage, separated from her brother and sister and no longer in touch with her alcoholic parents. She felt alone in the world.

Then her life began to change when she received a Christmas present—her first ever—through Operation Christmas Child.

Inside the colorfully wrapped shoe box were clothes, toiletries, a cassette player, and a teddy bear. But even more important than the items themselves was the act of love that had prompted a complete stranger to pack the gifts just for her.

“My teachers at the orphanage said that no one loved me, but I knew that my heavenly Father cared about me,” Tanya said. “Receiving the shoe box gave me hope.”

In 2004, Tanya’s hope turned to joy when she, her sister, and her brother were adopted by a Christian couple in Missouri. After longing for the security of a family, now she enjoys the comfort and amiable chaos of a household that includes a mother and father and nine siblings.

Tanya learned more about Operation Christmas Child when she began helping her new family pack shoe box gifts. She was determined to do something extra special to give back to the project that had done so much to bless her life.

Now 18 and a recent high school graduate, Tanya got the opportunity of a lifetime in August when she traveled with a Samaritan’s Purse missions team to Ecuador to deliver shoe box gifts.

“This is making me happier than anything,” she said as she handed out a box she packed herself to a girl named Maria. “God is using me to serve Him, and I am trying to show kids just like me that there is hope.”