Magi Boxes

Many of you are familiar with Magi Boxes. These are shoebox size boxes of toys and gifts for children that are put together by different groups in the US and distributed by members of the church of Christ for the poor children of the world. The MPRC will be blessing nearly 1300 children from over 30 different congregations of the church of Christ in this State of Olancho, Honduras. Some of the boxes are also going to the Escuela El Buen Samaritano a church of Christ work for poor children who might not otherwise be able to go to primary school and the Special Needs Orphanage run by Carlos Portilla (an orphanage for severely handicapped children). We are working together with Mission Lazarus in the far western part of Honduras and Healing Hands in Nashville, TN to do this wonderful work.

Please look at this link at Healing Hands International (HHI) for more information or to see how you can participate on the blessing end or contact us here at the MPRC to see how to be on the receiving end.

We give praise to our Lord and thanks to all of you who participated in making this 2009 Christmas a joyous one for many children who would not have had a gift.

Please click on any image to see a larger version. (Por favor, haga click en las imagenes para ver más grande.)

Putting together the Magi Boxes

		Peggy Albright of College Station, TX decorating the box. While this church of Christ sent the Magi boxes to an orphanage in Mexico, this is essentially the same method that was used for the ones sent to Honduras.
Mary Staffel, Paula Powell, and Virginia Duncan having a good time decorating more boxes. A label is put on the box designating whether the recipient is a boy or girl and one of 4 age groups.
Maggie Claypoole and another sister filling the boxes with toys, candy, hygiene and educational supplies, and clothing.

The boxes of Magi boxes arrive in Catacamas.

The truck driver and his assistant stand by the loaded truck from Misión Lazaro (Mission Lazarus) in Choluteca, Honduras. They arrived earlier than we expected, since they had left the night before, rather than that morning as planned.
		View of the full truck
The work crew arrives at Jornado Campo (Journey Mission Camp) down the hill from us to help unload the first 2 boxes there.
		Sliding a very heavy box off the truck in the street in front of the MPRC (Mission Point Resource Center) in Catacamas, Olancho, Honduras.
Using some pipes to pick it up and move the box.
		Getting it to the garage door
Getting it in the door
		The crew finished. This photo does not include Wilmer Espinosa, who was a very big help in unloading the boxes.

Joanne Tomkins came up with the brilliant idea of pre-sorting the boxes into age and gender groups. That way when a congregation came to pick up their boxes it would be just a matter of pulling their list (already sorted by age and gender) and pulling the boxes from each stack for them. Simple, but the rest of us would have had a difficult time without Joanne's organizational skills.

		The crew that did most of the sorting work - (from the left) Lidio Saenz, Maryuri de Vargas, and Maritza de Saenz
		Lidio Saenz trying to think 'inside' the box.
		The finishing crew on one side of the storage garage - Lidio, Maritza, Joanne Tomkins, Maryuri, and Dinah Rodriguez
The finishing crew on the other side of the storage garage - Maryuri, Maritza, Lidio, Joanne, and Dinah
First preachers pick up the boxes for the poorest children in their congregations - Marlon Molina and Marel Bados of Jutiquile and Miguel Cruz from Buenos Aires (Honduras). And of course our distribution chief, Maryuri de Vargas.

The distribution of the Magi boxes to the children was handled by the preachers and other leaders of the churches and by the directors of sister organizations.

A local camera crew filming the Magi boxes being picked up by Escuela El Buen Samaritano.
		EBS crew and the 2 pickups that transported the boxes to Escuela El Buen Samaritano.
Suyapa Chacón and a friend pick up boxes for 3 congregations.
		Santos Lainez gives a lift to Roger Ramirez and his boxes as he takes boxes to the church in Barrio Los Angelos in Juticalpa where Santos preaches. Roger is the preacher in Barrio Nueva Esperanza, Catacamas.
This preacher preaches far up in the mountains. His wheel chair does not keep him from being of great service to his congregation and his community.
Carlos Portillo and his father load boxes for CCRI, the special needs orphanage in Catacamas.
		Loading boxes for 3 churches in the mountains.
		Juan Mondragon loading boxes for several churches he assists.
Pablo Padilla with Santos Hernandez, a preacher from the Agalte Valley.
		Santos Hernandez, one of the leaders from Las Camilas, is shown with his son. Note that this Santos Hernandez is no relation to the one above. They both showed up at the same time to get their boxes. What are the chances?
		The son of Santos Hernandez from Las Camilas helps load the Magi boxes.
		Juan Mondragon helps the preacher from San Francisco de Becerra get the Magi boxes to the bus station.
Another run by Pablo Padilla with the preacher from Rancho Paradiso
		The last boxes are picked up by Hermana Ramirez and her son, Cristóbal, for the church in Las Delicias. They will take a taxi to the bus station.