christmas in a box By Christi Smith     Find out more about Free Will Baptist International Missions at www.fwbgo.com.

HOT CHOCOLATE. SNOW. CHRISTMAS TREES. Good food…and plenty of it. Time with family. These are just a few of my Christmas memories. While international missionaries may have Christmas trees and good food, they typically celebrate the holidays far from their families.

For two years Josh and I served in Spain as short-term missionaries. One of our favorite memories is receiving gift boxes for our son Nicolas around Christmas. Often the package came from someone we did not know or from a church we had never visited. However, every box served to remind us of the many people praying for and thinking of us even though we were far away. It was also humbling to know they were thinking about and praying for our children.

After leaving Spain, we returned to Michigan and began to serve in Josh’s home church. As a result of our missionary experience, we found creative ways for our youth group to support missionaries. One method we instituted was to have each student adopt a missionary kid for the holiday season.

We start early, usually in September, and provide our group with a list of missionary children currently on the field. We ask them to consider prayerfully which child or teen to adopt. It’s a blessing to see the thought and consideration they give to this ministry as they fill a small plastic box with toys, candy, and a letter of encouragement.

During the early part of October they bring their packages: packed, wrapped, and ready to ship. We urge them to pray over their box—pray for all the people who will touch the box during its journey and, ultimately, the missionaries who are the box’s destination. Josh and I pray the students will realize God is so much bigger than Detroit, Michigan, and He is using them to fulfill His Great Commission.

This Christmas, when you sip hot chocolate in front of your lighted and decorated tree, remember to pray for those who have answered God’s call and left their families to share the Gift of Christmas all over the world.

About the Writer: Christi Smith and her husband Josh served as short-term missionaries to Spain. They are in the application process to become career missionaries.