An Operation Christmas Child volunteer in Cambodia shares how the Lord gave her a heart for ministry to her country’s youth.
When Sovann* was a child there was nothing but hopelessness in her life. She made a promise to herself that when she grew up, she would be a person who would listen to young people, and be a mentor. That passion and promise has led her to where she is today as a team coordinator with Operation Christmas Child in Cambodia.
“The reason I wanted to be involved with Operation Christmas Child is that I carry this burden for young people,” Sovann said. Since 2000, more than 1.6 million of her nation’s children have received a gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoebox and had the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
More than 1.6 million children in Cambodia have heard the Good News of God’s love when they received a gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoebox.
“They not only receive the shoebox, but they receive love. They can touch love. They can feel who Jesus is,” Sovann said.
The children she’s serving have been taught since birth that they need to honor and worship things other than Jesus. They’re often skeptical of Christians at first but overtime she says they come to realize that this team isn’t just pretending to have care and compassion.
“Christ, in the Bible, said to love one another as our own self. So, we love them. We just come to share love. We come to share Christ. We represent Christ,” Sovann said. “They listen to the story of Christ and they long to know more about Him.”
Overcoming Cultural Objections to Christianity
Her heart is full of joy watching as boys and girls who received shoebox gifts go on to graduate from The Greatest Journey discipleship course with a brand-new Bible in their hands. Equipped with 12 interactive Bible lessons on how to follow Christ and share Him with others, their experience is so very different from her own childhood.
When they complete the 12-lesson course, graduates of the The Greatest Journey receive a certificate as well as a Bible, which is often the first anyone in their family has ever owned.
“When I was young, a rumor said, if you believe in Jesus, you need to hate your parents. And I really hated Christianity and I said that if one day I became prime minister, I would remove all the Christianity from my country,” Sovann said.
But God radically transformed her perspective 24 years ago, when He brought her into a job at a Christian library where she could no longer outrun His love.
“Christ met me personally and he changed my life from a hopeless lady so full of fear,” Sovann said. “I’m coming to share my messy life and be His message to the young kids. Maybe I cannot change all of Cambodia, but I said to the Lord, ‘Can I be the one that plants your seed in people’s lives? Then they can carry your seed to other people.’”
So many of these kids have stories similar to hers, growing up in homes that teach them if they follow Christ they will be shunned by their families. Because she understands in a way others often don’t, she finds that her students readily unburden themselves to her.
Cambodian girls graduating from The Greatest Journey celebrate their opportunity to learn how to follow Christ and share Him with others.
“My story has become their encouragement, inspiring and helping them and I encourage them to see how God used this mess to be His message.” Sovann said. “I pray with them and I carry them along. Now they’ve grown up and so has that seed that has been planted in them. And now I see those kids that I shared with have become leaders who share Christ.”
Encouraging a New Generation to Endure in Faith
She knows this is not a battle for one life, but for generations. When these children make a choice for Christ, their families are changed forevermore.
“To see the kids coming to Christ, they are the hope of Cambodia. They are the hope of the church,” Sovann said.
Over 100,000 Cambodian boys and girls have graduated from Samaritan’s Purse follow-up discipleship program for shoebox recipients, The Greatest Journey.
Sovann remembers well how the life of one particular student was changed by the Scripture lessons in the The Greatest Journey. “Now she’s free because of the power of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the truth. And when you share the truth to them, the truth sets them free,” Sovann said.
The faith of these children stands in stark contrast to the world around them. In the streets of Cambodia, they’re never far from a temple, and constantly surrounded by signs of idolatry. Yet the environment doesn’t squelch their boldness. They have been set free because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and now they share their faith with their parents and friends.
“This testimony is a joy for me to see. They should be hopeless because of the world. But instead, now they have hope. They’re happy and they want to share this happiness with their friends,” Sovann said. “They share Jesus because it’s the miracle of their own life.”
Sovann prays that Operation Christmas Child and The Greatest Journey will change generations of Cambodians into Christ-followers.
*Name changed for security
