What Does an LACC Christmas Really Mean?
Rod and Sherry Boyd

What does an LACC Christmas really mean? It all depends upon your perspective!

If you are one of the 500 plus sponsors of a child in Panama, your Christmas gift represents a personal connection with your child.  Unfortunately, not all of our sponsors write to their children or send their child a birthday gift.  But we make sure that every sponsored child receives a Christmas gift from their sponsor.  We are so thankful to our sponsors that give a little extra to make this possible. 

So what does an LACC Christmas mean to the child?  It means that all of these children will receive at least one gift for Christmas!  It means that someone far away is thinking of them has remembered them.  The warm smiles and giggles are proof!  We're reminded as we read and translate the children's thank you letters from Spanish into English, that each child's Christmas gift is received very personally.  A repeated phrase in these letters is, "This is the gift that I really wanted, thank you!"  Thank you, sponsor, for giving and making this personal, very significant connection possible.

For us as Latin America ChildCare (now Childhope) coordinators, Christmas means hours of work beginning in August, shopping for the perfect gift for each grade by gender.  I (Sherry) pray for God's direction to lead me to the places where funds can be stretched to purchase the best, highest quality gift for each child, as if he or she were my own.  God has been so faithful to orchestrate this process now for more than 20 years! It all ends in early December, hundreds of smiles later, when the last of the Christmas parties are celebrated.

Each year, in the middle of giving special gifts and receiving grateful smiles, something always seems to stand out as a new lesson for us to learn.  This year the lesson was generations.  After the Christmas party at the Las Mañanitas Good Shepherd School, we spent several minutes talking with Pastors Samuel and Mirtha Rangel and their son Samuel Jr.  These dear friends were among the first pastors that we got to know as new missionaries in Panama.  When we arrived to Panama in 1995 the school was in its sixth year of operation.  Samuel Jr. attended the school from his first year.  Now he's giving back to the school and a new generation of children.

In our conversation we discovered that there are now 12 students that are second generation at the Las Mañanitas Good Shepherd School.  The parents of these children attended the school in its first years, were touched by the gospel and now are keeping the tradition alive by sending their kids to same school.  One of these 12 is Janeth's daughter.  We sponsored Janeth for 11 years!  And now to think that her daughter is attending the school.

So, what does an LACC Christmas really mean?  It means that there are hundreds and thousands of LACC sponsors who faithfully give so that each child receives a special gift chosen just for him or her, reminding each one of God's special, personal love for them.  To this blessed missionary couple, it means sharing God's love to needy children, now for multiple generations!