We recently checked our email and saw an email from a name we didn't recognize with the subject line "A message from an old friend!" Now, normally that might look like spam, but since we send our email address in our shoeboxes, so thought I might should give it a look, then noticed that it had two photos attached and the preview showed they were a photo card we'd sent in shoeboxes and my mom's handwriting. It turns out the email was from a child who received a shoebox we sent...in 2011! They are now 15 years old. They live in Ecuador. I won't share the whole email here, as it is personal communication, and I feel funny about that, but will share a few snippets below. As often with shoebox replies he apologized for his English not being very good, but it's better than any of my languages outside English-haha!
"I want you to know that I enjoyed the gifts that
with so much love sent me 8 years ago and I want to tell you that God bless you
always and have a good and long life to continue worshiping the Lord"
The fact that they not only remembered the box and had a desire to thank us after 7 years, but had held on to the photo shows the impact it had, and how important being sure to include a photo, note, and/or letter can be
