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Hi, I'm Matthew West, and behind me is the city
of Bogotá, Colombia...
...a city of 8 million people in need of hearing
the Good News and the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
And that's what I'm here doing,
along with Operation Christmas Child,
we are distributing gifts, shoeboxes filled with gifts
that have been collected all across the United States
throughout the past year from 2008.
And we collected 7.9 million gifts to be distributed.
And so this is my first chance to be on the distributing end
of what Operation Christmas Child does;
it's been a tremendous honor for me.
It's only day one of our trip; we've already made two stops,
and I can tell already this is gonna be
a life-changing experience.
The chance to connect with these children.
There's a huge language barrier because I didn't pay much
attention during my high school Spanish class,
and I regret that now,
but despite the language barrier our smiles are cutting through
that barrier and just getting these hugs
and kisses from the children, and seeing their eyes light up
when they receive these gifts is just unbelievable.
And so I'm sharing that with you to encourage you
and your church and your family to be a part
of Operation Christmas Child.
Think about how you can be giving and helping meet
the needs of others by simply collecting toys and gifts
and supplies and filling a shoe box this Christmas.
And then we'll take it from there and we'll distribute it
to places like Bogotá, Colombia.
Along with that shoe box, each child is also going
to receive a book called, "The Greatest Gift of All."
And the book has been translated into their language
so that they can read about the gift that we know of,
and that is the hope we have in Christ.
For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son,
not just for Americans, but for every child
and every child here in Bogotá, Colombia.
So we're here to spread that Good News,
and it's all thanks to the people who've collected
those shoeboxes every year.
And we hope to collect millions more in the years to come.
God bless you, and God bless Bogotá, Colombia.