Life of Lydia

Hello Life of Lydia readers! I had the opportunity to work at the Operation Christmas Child processing center in Dallas, Texas. First Baptist Church in Springfield organized the trip. Two other people from Ridgecrest and I, went with the First Baptist group.

Operation Christmas Child is an amazing ministry run by Smaritain’s purse. Every year gift filled shoeboxes are collected across the U.S. and a few other countries. These boxes are then shipped to countries around the world where they are distributed to children. Children who receive OCC boxes are invited to participate in The Greatest Journey, a twelve lesson discipleship course.

Before OCC boxes are sent to a forgin country, they go to a processing center where they are inspected, taped shut, and packed into cartons. The main thing I did was inspect. I opened up boxes and explained their contents. If there was anything that was not allowed to be shipped I took it out.

We left on the trip on Sunday in the early afternoon, and drove in the first Babtist Church bus for an extremely long time. We stopped to use the bathroom and get gas a couple of times, and we also stopped for supper at Steak ‘n Shake. We arrived in Dallas at about 10:00 PM. The hotel we stayed at was called Tru. It was very chic and trendy. I really liked the sausage they had at breakfast.

The first day at the processing center, we worked from 9:00 Am to 5:00 PM. We stopped for lunch, which was purchased from a Chick-fil-A booth, but otherwise we basically did the same thing all day long. After we were done working we went to Applebees to eat supper, and then went back to the hotel.

The second day we worked from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and once again we ate lunch at Chick-fil-A. I also purchased an OCC themed shirt from a gift shop area that they have at the processing center. After our work was complete, we went back to the hotel for a while and then went to Cheddar’s to eat supper.

The third day we worked from nine to noon. After eating lunch at Chick-fil-A, we got on the bus and drove for a long period of time. Once we arived back in Springfield, the trip was over!!