The nun who came to listen

In a village in northwestern Cambodia, an eighty-seven-year-old Buddhist nun came along with her grandchildren to a Christian gathering, and stayed to hear about Jesus.

She was eighty-seven years old, and had been a Buddhist nun for most of her life. Her two grandchildren had been going along to a weekly kids' club in the village for weeks. One day, she decided to come along herself.

Sophie and her husband Sarun are Elim missionaries in northwestern Cambodia, working in a village where, by Sophie's account, few people have heard much about Jesus at all. Their starting point had been the children: the kids' club, with games, Bible stories and worship songs. It was there, in the middle of a story about David and Goliath, that one small boy stood up and shouted, "I am not afraid, because Jesus is with me!"

Some of the children's grandparents and parents had begun joining the meetings themselves, simply while they waited. Sophie and Sarun started spending time with them too, sharing their own stories and, slowly, the word of God, along with some early teaching on prayer.

The elderly woman was one of them. She listened intently as Sarun spoke about the love of Jesus, about the freedom that comes with following him, and about the hope that lies beyond this life. She joined in as Sophie and Sarun prayed for her and the other parents. Afterwards, she told Sarun she had loved his voice as he spoke, and that she was glad to have been there that day.

Sophie says the gatherings, held with whole families present, remind her and Sarun of the way the early church gathered together. Many of the people coming, she says, are simply "hungry for something more in this life." Many are also in real material need, and food supplies and clothing have gone out alongside the teaching, each time offered as a gift from God.

No one is claiming the village has been transformed yet. Sophie and Sarun are still praying for that, asking the Holy Spirit to grow what has only just been planted. But an eighty-seven-year-old Buddhist nun came to a Christian gathering, listened intently as Sarun spoke about Jesus, received prayer, and left saying she was happy to have been there. In a community where the good news is only just beginning to be heard, that is no small thing.

This article was first featured in the Your Elim newsletter. You can read the Your Elim newsletter here, and sign up to the newsletter here.