MILLERSBURG, Mo. - The Flint family, back recently from a charity trip to Zambia, left pieces of their hearts with the children there.
"We would greet them and tell them that we'd come a long way to bring them gifts and that Jesus loved them, so we wanted to share that with them," Paula Flint said. "Part of us is still in Zambia just because we feel a connection with them."
The Williamsburg couple is already collecting items for someone else to take over the next time.
Tim and Paula Flint hosted a "packing party" Thursday night, organizing their garage with items to pack for needy children in nations around the world. The Flints are members of "Samaritan's Purse," an organization active in more than 100 countries.
"Samaritan's Purse is an umbrella organization; they do disaster relief all around the world," Tim Flint said. "They send out teams to help bring people some relief, places to house people and help them get back on their feet."
From May 12-15, the Flints and 28 other volunteers delivered boxes to children in Zambia for a project, "Operation Christmas Child." This was the first time they ever traveled for this organization, they said.
"(Samaritan's Purse) asks people to fill shoe boxes with gifts, and then the shoe boxes are taken around the world and distributed to orphans and children who usually don't have much," Tim Flint said.
The couple has spent the past 10 years collecting gifts for children. Their local collection center is at Millersburg Baptist Church, Paula Flint said.
On their trip, the Flints encountered many children.
"Each child was given a box based on whether they were a boy or a girl, and we tried to give them age-appropriate gifts," Paula Flint said. "There were about 200 kids at each event, and we went to six events to pass out boxes."
Some toys went over better than others.
"We found out the soccer balls are really exciting for the boys and the girls like jump ropes," Tim Flint added.
Almost all of the children the Flints encountered were from impoverished areas and hadn't received a gift before. The couple saw a lot of joy from the children, but some kids approached them with caution.
"Some kids were really exuberant and others were a little apprehensive at first because they didn't exactly understand what was going on," Tim Flint said. "We loved to see the kids who hadn't gotten anything before get a gift because when they saw what they had, they were very excited."
Paula Flint remembered one child in particular, she said.
"I had a little boy one day leaving with his box come up to me, and he said, 'I love you, Grandma.' So I guess I know my age," she said, laughing. "But he had the biggest smile on his face. It doesn't get old."
Many of the kids the Flints gave the boxes to didn't understand what the toys were for - even simple toys such as jump ropes.
"The big interaction for us was going around and showing the kids what some things were," Tim Flint said. "I remember we brought some of them Slinkys, and a lot of the kids hadn't seen anything like that before."
If people donate more items, the Flints said, more kids can be served. For more information, call Operation Christmas Child at 573-673-0689, or go online to samaritanspurse.org/occ.
"I can't help but get a little teary-eyed whenever I think about the trip because it was a great opportunity to see the joy on those children's faces," Paula Flint said. "You just never forget what that feels like."