Boy With Cerebral Palsy Encouraged By Operation Christmas Child - Inspirational Videos

Teenaged Sampil is a different person after receiving an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. Once generally homebound due to cerebral palsy, he now travels freely about the city of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Hearing of Sampil’s illness keeping him from the Operation Christmas Child event, a volunteer named Chuka Bayaraa visited him at his home. As Sampil and his parents and siblings gathered in the living room, Chuka told them of God’s love expressed through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. They were all interested, but Sampil alone made the decision to surrender his life and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. To Sampil’s surprise, Chuka also gave him a gift-filled shoebox that included a towel, toothbrush, and notebooks. “The notebooks really encouraged me to go back to school and study,” Sampil said. “After I got a shoebox, I became a Christian and my relationships with others changed.

Chuka saw firsthand as the “new” Sampil emerged. “He became a very happy boy. He enjoyed going to school and being with his friends. He had a very low self-esteem, but after he became a Christian his understanding of himself changed.” Sampil explained: “Before, I didn’t like children who are handicapped because they were just like me.”

Now instead of being self-conscious, he makes a point to serve by volunteering as an assistant teacher at a Christian camp for disabled children. Responsible for caring for 16- and 17-year-old students who attend, he points them to Christ, his new source of hope.

“Jesus gave me a love and a heart to talk to [the] children,” Sampil said. “My dream is to be a teacher like Brother Chuka,” he said. “I want to share the Gospel with children.”

For the past 25 years, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, has partnered with local churches in more than 100 countries to distribute gifts to boys and girls in need and tell them about God’s Greatest Gift—Jesus Christ.