{"id":223023,"date":"2022-05-31T15:57:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T19:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/?p=223023"},"modified":"2024-07-08T15:35:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T19:35:43","slug":"devon-and-a-slinky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/operation-christmas-child\/devon-and-a-slinky\/","title":{"rendered":"Devon and a Slinky"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Devon and a Slinky<\/h1>\r\n\r\n                <div class=\"video1\" id=\"video1\" style=\"position: relative; display: block;\">\r\n                    <div style=\"padding-top: 56.25%;\">\r\n                        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/players.sardius.media\/82aD088d0aAbEF4\/dotorg\/asset\/6065632942001\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;border:0;\"><\/iframe>\r\n                    <\/div>\r\n                <\/div>\r\n                <noscript>\r\n                        <div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video<\/div>\r\n                <\/noscript> <!--6065633329001-->\r\n\r\n<p><\/p>  \r\n<div class=\"flex-container\">\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"text\">\r\n<br>\r\n  <p> <em>\u201cDevon received a shoebox at a church in Grenada as a child.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n   <p>My gift was very unique because the person took the time to wrap the box in fabric.<\/p>\r\n \r\n   <p>What stood out to me were all the toys. My mother was a single parent with four children. She made tremendous sacrifices for us but she wasn\u2019t able to buy such things. When I received my shoebox, it was the first time I received a gift at Christmas.<\/p>\r\n\r\n   \r\n<p>The Slinky was fascinating. We loved to send it down the steps and we played a lot of games with it. It was a simple toy but it was my favorite. There was also a ball that lit up when you bounced it, so we would play with that at night.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>To receive a gift like that from someone I had never met really impacted my life in such a marvelous way.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<aside class=\"pquote\">\r\n   <blockquote> \r\n    <p>\"To receive a gift like that from someone I had never met really impacted my life in such a marvelous way.\"<\/p>\r\n   <\/blockquote>\r\n<\/aside>\r\n\r\n   <p>The shoebox led me to become more grounded in the church where I received my gift. Within the year, I decided to do children\u2019s ministry and began teaching Sunday school. Following that, I got involved in youth leadership.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n   \r\n   <p>I became president of the district youth council, and then vice president of the national youth council. This helped me to become well known in my country. Because of this I was able to become a senator\u2014the youngest senator in the history of Grenada at the age of 22.<\/p>\r\n\r\n   <p>All this began with the shoebox that caused me to take my relationship with Christ seriously.<\/p>\r\n\r\n   <p>While serving as a senator, my denomination asked me to assist with starting a church in one of the very troubled communities of Grenada, and to become a senior pastor.<\/p>\r\n\r\n   <p>It would be nearly impossible to continue in parliament as a senator. I had to decide whether I would make myself available to serve God at that level. Having received that shoebox and remembering what God had done for me I was able to make the decision. I decided to devote myself full-time to \u201cseek first the kingdom of God\u201d (Matthew 6:33).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n   <p>I continued with my youth development work in Grenada, and also assisted with youth revivals in the region. One of the countries we went to was Trinidad. There I came across a church that was doing an Operation Christmas Child distribution. I was elated! It brought back the memories of receiving my shoebox. I thought, How can we get Operation Christmas Child in Grenada?<\/p>\r\n\r\n   <p>A couple of years later, Operation Christmas Child came to my country. I applied to be the national coordinator. This was my opportunity to give back to children what I had received with my shoebox.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<aside class=\"pquote\">\r\n   <blockquote> \r\n    <p>\"This was my opportunity to give back to children what I had received with my shoebox.\"<\/p>\r\n   <\/blockquote>\r\n<\/aside>\r\n\r\n\r\n   <p>When I was moving last year, I found that shoebox. It was amazing that it was still around because a hurricane in 2004 destroyed 90 percent of the homes in Grenada. And my shoebox survived!<\/p>\r\n\r\n   <p>Now I use it to show children that I am serving with the Operation Christmas Child national leadership team in Grenada and just like them I received a shoebox.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It wasn\u2019t just a gift\u2014it was a life-changing experience. I received a tool to transform my life!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"flex-container-column\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/spweb-uploads.s3.theark.cloud\/2015\/07\/Devon-chch-vrtcl.jpg\" alt=\"Devon with friend\" style=\"width:100% !important;\"> \r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/spweb-uploads.s3.theark.cloud\/2015\/07\/Devon-group-mnt-hztl-2-fav.jpg\" alt=\"Devon with friends\" style=\"width:100% !important;\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/spweb-uploads.s3.theark.cloud\/2015\/07\/Devon-wdding-hztl.jpg\" alt=\"Devon at his wedding\" style=\"width:100% !important;\">\r\n\r\n<div class=\"category\">\r\n    <div class=\"category-inner\">\r\n        <h2 style=\"margin: 0 auto!important;text-align: center;\">Shoebox Adventure Quiz!<\/h2>\r\n        <a class=\"take-quiz-again\" href=\"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/operation-christmas-child\/the-shoebox-adventure-quiz\/#refresh-container\">Toma el quiz<\/a>\r\n        <a class=\"read-more-stories\" href=\"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/operation-christmas-child\/shoeboxstories-2021\/\">Lee otras historias sobre cajas de regalos<\/a>\r\n        <br>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<!--Multiphoto Section \r\n\r\n<div class=\"multiphoto-container\">\r\n\t<div class=\"multiphoto-content\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"multiphoto-content-left\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"multiphoto-photo1\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sp-comm-arkfiles.s3.theark.cloud\/website\/occ\/shoebox-stories\/Karabo-on-a-boat-sm.png\" alt=\"Karabo on a boat\" \/>\t\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t<div class=\"multiphoto-content-right\">\r\n        \t<div class=\"multiphoto-photo2\">\r\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sp-comm-arkfiles.s3.theark.cloud\/website\/occ\/shoebox-stories\/Family-in-US-Karabo-In-Red-sm.png\" alt=\"Karabo with his US family\" \/>\t\t\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"multiphoto-photo3\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sp-comm-arkfiles.s3.theark.cloud\/website\/occ\/shoebox-stories\/Family--Karabo-in-Yellow-sm.png\" alt=\"Karabo's family\" \/>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n    \t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>------------------------------------->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devon and a Slinky \u201cDevon received a shoebox at a church in Grenada as a child.\u201d My gift was very unique because the person took the time to wrap the box in fabric. What stood out to me were all the toys. My mother was a single parent with four children. She made tremendous sacrifices [&hellip","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":223063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[256],"class_list":["post-223023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-operation-christmas-child","tag-occ","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223023"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253145,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223023\/revisions\/253145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}