A common tradition around Christmas is to prepare a donation for the less fortunate and homeless. One called “Operation Christmas Child,” supplies shoe boxes filled with toys, food, school equipment and some other things that are really helpful for children in need. Several churches and organizations join together to coordinate volunteers to gather the boxes and send them around the world to the destinations that are more in need.
The Samaritan’s Purse Organization associated with many other churches to cooperate for this charity event, since 1993 when the program started more than 135 million children in 150 countries have been blessed with these wonderful gifts.
A particular family participated in Operation Christmas Child and Samaritan’s Purse through their church. But they never imagined that a simple shoe-box gift would change their lives forever. Seven-year-old Tyrel Wolfe was very happy to be a part of this tradition, following his mother’s instructions he began to prepare a shoe box full of toys and stuff that were intended for a girl around his age.
Once the gift was ready, they delivered the package to the church in order to send it to its final destination, the Philippines. Although it was an amazing experience, Tyrel and his family forgot all about it a few days after. A long time went by after Christmas and little Tyrel Wolfe grew up to become a regular teenager. He finished high school and stayed out of problems, as this was this boy’s top priority. With the social-networking phenomenon and new trends rising, getting in touch with another person got extremely easy.
One day, Tyrel got an astonishing Facebook request. It was from a girl named Joana Marchan, she was from the Philippines. She wanted to get in touch with him in order to say thank you for the Christmas gift he had sent her ten years before. Shocked by the news, Tyrel started to chat with her through the Facebook messenger to confirm the story.
Despite warnings from Tyrel’s parents, he continued chatting with the girl and asked her to provide some evidence regarding what had taken place before. Tyrel said, “If you really did get my box, what was in it?” Although she couldn’t remember all the box’s content, she told him that inside was a little picture of him dressed as a cowboy, holding a rope in one hand. After that, they were 100% sure that it was the same girl.
Take a look at the video below and watch with full detail what happened next, and how this new relationship evolved in time. This is a story that will melt your heart.