The Extended Family Support

     When we started the Operation Christmas Child project we thought about who we could ask for help with donations.  We thought of friends, and church members first.  One day while we were talking to my mom we brought up the project and right away she decided she would like to donate some funds to ship the shoeboxes. I'm not sure how much she realizes the impact it has on her grandchildren to see her not only want to serve others, but also to support her family in their desires to serve.  It is a great example to her daughter and her grandchildren.  It has brought us closer together as a family and helped our entire family feel closer to their grandma.

Grandpa and Grandma Matosich

   Another amazing aspect of this activity is that when you are sharing a gift with a child, you are sharing it with their entire family.  Each one of these children receive a book about Jesus Christ.  So they learn about his life, ministry, atonement, and resurrection.  Along with this our family also shares a family photo and a note sharing our testimony of families, and the Savior.  As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints it is one of our greatest pleasures to share our knowledge of Eternal Families, and that this is one of the most important parts of our Heavenly Father's plan.  This activity gave us an opportunity to share this with children and their families that we would never have met otherwise.

Columbus Ohio Temple 

"The family is central to the creator's plan for the eternal destiny of his children... In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experiences to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life."

-The Family: A Proclamation to the World