How bright is your light?

Before we start to tell you about our week I want to draw your attention to a young family, a family who have chosen to serve Jesus with all they have and at the minute their missionary journey is far from easy. Richard Ellerington, his wife Regi and three young children are doing amazing things in France.  God is blessing the work but at the minute they are getting it tough. Richard made a short DVD clip that you need to watch, please visit the Elim Mission website at www.elimmissions.co.uk  and click on the prayer line link. Friends please pray for these guys, we met Richard at Elim Bible Week, he is a legend and is so passionate about seeing lives changed through Jesus. If you can do more than pray if you can give to help them and subsequently the work in France please send your gift to Elim International Missions stating your desire to support Richard Ellerington in France. Please visit the link it gives you an idea of some of the things our brothers and sisters are up against as they serve Jesus.

On Sunday we had our latest baptismal service and it was wonderful, we would love to have a baptismal service every week. In total there were fifteen people ranging from the age of 12-63. There were ten ladies and five men. The service was exciting from the outset.  We had once again hired Logos International School facilities and had put the chairs out in the gymnasium. Everybody was excited and we spoke to the candidates preparing them for the events ahead. During the service we asked all 15 their name, age and most importantly when they gave their life to Jesus. After this we had a child dedication where Dren and his wife Chantha dedicated their daughter Kanika. I brought a short word challenging everybody but mostly those that were being baptised, to not be content with just getting baptised but to get involved, use their gifts and spread the good news, be a missionary in their own life and its circumstances. We finished with communion and then headed to the pool.

Bus load in good spirits

Congregation

Dren, Chantha and Kannika

Praying for Kannika

Baptismal candidates

One by one our brothers and sisters were baptised Thida and Esther read the promises, a Bible verse for each candidate. Chamnap then prayed and Sarak the youth pastor, Duncan and myself alternated in the baptisms. It was a really special time, nothing is better than seeing people grow in Jesus. We then had lunch followed by an hour and a half of sheer madness and fun in the swimming pool, this ended what was truly a fantastic morning.

Thida reading promise in Khmer

Rith getting baptised

Lunch being served

Cooling off in the pool

Anyone would think that was enough excitement for one day but not us, we came home to have a Skype with our home church Bangor Elim. Gary Faulkner and the technical team were awesome as usual in setting everything up and we had a really good chat with the church. Ruth McKee was excellent in her role as interviewer and then afterwards in her presentation to the church. We want to thank our pastors, Ruth and the mission’s team who never stop working tirelessly to enable us to be out here, and the fruit of that is days like Sunday, we have an awesome God. It was so good to listen to the worship and then hear Pastor Gary’s very challenging message to us all. Friends don’t fall into the trap that someone else will do it, give Jesus your best, give Jesus your all, sign up to use your gifts.

Esther took her first prayer meeting on Wednesday night and I’m sure it won’t shock you that she used candles in her talk. She challenged us all to shine our light in this dark world as bright as we can.  In closing friends what are you doing for Jesus, do you shine your light bright in your home, work and church?

How bright is your light?

Another year older!

I would like to start this blog by saying a big thank you for all the birthday wishes I received. It is as we often say hard to be away from loved ones at these times but we do have amazing friends and Khmer family here who made it a special day.

Spotty birthday cake

This week took us back to school.  It isn’t easy to return to the classroom especially since I last was in school in 1986; almost 30 years ago. Any of my language teachers including English would definitely laugh if they thought of me trying to learn an Asian language. We are going from Tuesday through Friday morning from 7 am – 8.30 am and then home for further study. Please pray because it really is almost impossible, it will be an act of God if we ever become fluent but I promise we are committed because of what the results will be when we can properly communicate with those we love to serve.

We are really excited about the future of Elim in Cambodia.  In the next week Pastor Chamnap and I will be talking to those we see as future key leaders in the church. Our plan is to take a small group through a comprehensive discipleship course and by the end of it we hope to have future Pastors which would fit into our plans of church planting. It’s really exciting times and we are so blessed to be part of what God is doing here. On Sunday we will be baptising at least 12 people who have put themselves forward to follow Jesus example and in act of obedience will follow him through the waters. Please pray for each of them! They may suffer for this decision because of the public declaration but they all know that God will protect them, such faith!

On Monday both Esther and I had the privilege to baptise a friend of our friend Julie, her name is Imogen who is visiting from New Zealand. She had wanted to get baptised and felt that it was just right to do it now. She won’t be here for our Baptismal service on Sunday so we had a quiet service with some friends – Kristin (American), and Adam and Colleen and their three children (New Zealand). We heard Imogen’s testimony, Esther read a promise to her, and then Julie and I baptised her, the water was so shallow we had to sit on our knees but we were still able to do the baptism, it was beautiful.

Imogene’s baptism

Finally we would like to publicly say a massive thank you to a very special lady, who has been such a big part of the Elim International Missions team for the past twenty five years. Yesterday Kathy Cooper stepped into retirement; it seems nearly weird to even talk about missions without Kathy.  We wish her well, we pray health and strength to her and her family and that they have many years ahead to enjoy the grandchildren. Kathy thank you so much for always being there, knowing everything and always blessing through encouragement in the tough times as well as the good times. You will be truly missed!!

Samuels team in Cambodia

We were thrilled to spend the past week hosting the ‘Samuels team’ from Dewsbury Elim church in England.  Their Pastor, Paul Hudson, and newly appointed International Missions Director who will be taking up his post in August, led the team.  Over the past two years Paul has been discipling the group of young people and completion of their training leads to a short term mission trip.

As the trip fell over half term break and most of the young people are going back to take exams, they literally hit the ground running.  As they were only going to be in Cambodia for one Sunday, we started our church service at 10:30 am instead of the usual 8:45 am.  David, Chamnap, Dren and I met the team at the airport; they had been travelling for close to 24 hours and were delighted to reach their destination.  Their first reaction to Cambodia was the intense heat and once on the bus was amazed by the traffic, we love to watch the expressions of those visiting Cambodia for the first time, and even though we are here 2 years, we are still mesmerised by the sights we see every day!

We arrived at the centre and church started with our worship team leading a couple of songs and then the team introduced themselves before taking the rest of the service.  Chloe shared her testimony, Charlotte and Hannah sang whilst Tom and Catherine played the guitar and keyboard for them, Becky brought a short message followed by all the team performing a drama.  This was really special for our church as the drama they did was the same one our drama team have done in the past.  It is such a powerful message that Nita, I and many others were touched so much by it.  Paul then delivered a message about how much we are loved, adored and cherished by God.  Nita then presented Paul with a cake to celebrate his upcoming role as International Missions Director.  A team of ladies led by Bong Paula served lunch of chicken curry and bread; we really appreciate all the preparation and hard work they did to feed over 100 people.

Nita presenting Paul with celebration cake

After church we drove the team to their accommodation to let them unpack, have a quick shower before returning to the church for youth fellowship at 4pm.  The team organised by Emma their youth leader carried out a programme of variety of games, Bible study and discussion on the subject of trust and our youth leader Sarak taught the team a couple of Khmer songs which was great fun!  Snacks of Khmer fruits were then served and the team were brilliant in trying out some exotic and unusual treats.

Because the team were only with us until Friday morning a full programme was arranged for them to see and do as much as they could in the time allowed.  On Monday morning a visit to the Daughters centre took place and we thank Heather for being so wonderful in sharing about how Daughters was founded and the incredible work they are doing in transforming lives rescued from the sex industry.  The team had been fundraising for an entire year and were thrilled to meet Ruth the founder and present her with a gift towards the on-going work of Daughters in Cambodia.

The youth team presenting gift to Ruth

Following lunch at one of the Daughters cafes the team set off to learn about the history of Cambodia under the regime of Pol Pot by visiting the S21 Genocide Museum and the Killing Field of Choung Ek.  This is not a pleasant sightseeing tour but important to discover what the Khmer people endured not that long ago.

On Tuesday the team spent their morning in the Early Learning Centre splitting into groups and spending time with the babies, toddlers and pre-school children.  I was thrilled to meet our newest addition to the ELC with our cook Sreyphoas returning to work with her beautiful baby daughter Davina settling into the baby section.  Davina was born during our period of furlough so although we had seen photographs it was wonderful to give her a wee cuddle – both Mum and baby are doing well.  The team also gave a gift towards the work of the ELC along with resources and clothes which were sorted out and will be distributed amongst the children.  The team fell in love with the children and really enjoyed spending time with them and the staff.

The team with ELC staff and children

A tuk tuk tour of the city was arranged in the late afternoon and during this we went for a walk along the riverside.  This was one of the biggest challenges for the team as they were exposed to the darker side of life in Cambodia.  In broad daylight we saw old white men on the lookout for young Khmer women and girls.  There were street children trying to earn a few dollars selling bracelets, in vulnerable and at risk situations.  We drove to the restaurant where we had booked dinner and asked the staff if we could meet in a private room for 15 minutes.  We spent the time praying and weeping for the sights we had seen, that God would protect, rescue, transform and heal lives in Phnom Penh.

We set off early on Wednesday morning to spend the day with Kevin and Leakhena from Manna for Life ministry in the community of Oudong.  Kevin and Leakhena are valued members of our church and we have strong ties with the families who live in Oudong, a community which was once a slum village in Phnom Penh which was demolished and relocated outside of the city.  After sharing the history of the community, the team went for a walk meeting some of the families and hearing their individual stories.  Lunch was made by Leakhena and one of the ladies from the community who is 7 months pregnant.  Her younger daughter also helped bringing the food across and assisting her mum.  The food was delicious and we were privileged to meet this wonderful woman who helps Leakhena in so many ways on a daily basis.

After lunch the doors of the building which will act as community centre and school were opened and 120 children presented their ticket to attend the Kids Club – they had registered the day before after invitations had been given out.  For the next hour we sang songs, played games, made animal masks and heard the story of Noah.  We would have been happy if it had rained because all of the team, the children, and the mums were sweating like we have never sweated before!  But the children had an amazing time, the team were brilliant and the children went home happy with a bag of treats probably to have a shower! We really appreciated Kevin and Leakhena’s hospitality and seeing the community spirit despite what they have come through really encouraged the team and shows with God in the centre there is hope.

Children queued up for Kid’s Club

Children with their animal masks

Some photographs from Kids Club

On Thursday morning the team were picked up at their accommodation and spent the morning with Chamnap sharing about the organisation he is involved with Hagar International.  They spent time at a group home where five young men live – one suffering from severe autism and four with cerebral palsy; the group interacted with them before visiting a foster home where one young girl who suffers from cerebral palsy lives.

In the afternoon we went to the office of SHE rescue, an organisation founded out of Citipointe church in Brisbane.  We were met by Dave and Hayley who have been working with SHE for over a year and gave us an overview of the background and amazing work that is done to protect, educate and transform the lives of girls who come to SHE.  The team were then put to work stamping gift bags which are used when SHE merchandise is sold, so a production line was set up with some stamping, some attaching tags and finally the bags were put in batches and wrapped in cling film.  Before we left the team had an opportunity to buy wristbands which are made in the microfinance business by families who have come through the SHE programme.  We are thankful to Dave and Hayley for welcoming the team and giving their valuable time up for us.

We called into the Early Learning Centre for one last time not only for the team to say goodbye to the staff and children but also for David to be surprised with a birthday cake.  The staff and team all sang Happy Birthday as Kimorn presented David with his cake and Sarah gave him a gift from all the staff of a lovely pen.

Kimorn giving David his birthday cake

On Friday morning after a very intense and eye opening five days it was time to bid farewell to the Samuels team as they began their journey home to Dewsbury.  In the next few weeks they will each have an opportunity to share with their church family the impact Cambodia had in each of their lives and what God has challenged them with during their time here.  We thank each and every one of them for being God’s ambassadors whilst they were here and showing and sharing the love of Jesus to the Khmer people.  We are also thankful to each of the organisations who accommodated the team and for that we are grateful.

Lights out

We have had a week of power cuts like we cannot remember in Cambodia.  It is becoming daily life to expect them and there are cheers when the electricity comes back on.  This last week has been unreal with the power being off for longer than the usual one hour and means we are even hotter and even stickier. But we are not complaining we are so blessed in our new home with amazing Cambodian friends and church family.

Sunday was the first time we had no electric at all during our church service. I was speaking and I was aware that with the heat people were very uncomfortable so I kept it short for once, something many people would say is impossible. We had a good crowd out and I talked about discipleship and baptism.  We are having a baptism service on the 9th June and at the minute we have 11 people who want to be baptised. We are experiencing exciting times and are so blessed.  I would  like to go on public record to say a massive thank you to my fellow Elders Chamnap and Dana; two amazing Godly men, for all the extra work they did when we were back in the UK.

We came home from church excited by the life that exists through God and is so obvious in our congregation to be met by a very sad situation!! This is not funny ok, when we moved into our new home the landlady told us that she was leaving her fish in the pond, I did tell her that I don’t have a great track record of looking after fish. Anyway she pointed to the largest one a beautiful yellow one and said that it was worth $150.  At that point I begged her to take it but she told me her pond wouldn’t be ready for a month. Each time she called to see us she went over to see her special fish and each time I asked if there was any sign of her taking it off our hands. On Sunday when we arrived home I did my usual got out of the car and went to feed the fish but to my horror her prized fish was floating upside down.  Somehow I had managed to kill it. I had to phone and explain to her and thankfully she put it down to the many power cuts and the pump not working. I felt awful, so I fished it out, put it in a thick black plastic bag to keep it for her but the next morning I found that a big rat had gnawed through the bag and now the fish was a skeleton just like something you would see in a cartoon.

We have had a busy week preparing for Paul Hudson and his team of young people from Dewsbury Elim who arrives on Sunday morning. Along with the church members and the staff we are excited about hosting the ‘Samuels’ team and have a packed itinerary planned for them.  As many of you already know Paul is going to be our new boss from the end of August and we look forward to building on an already solid friendship. We are so thankful for the strong relationship we have with our current boss Chris Jones and thank God for all he has done for us and will do until August. Paul’s team is mostly made up of young disciples, who he has worked with over the last number of years, and they are going to have a very busy schedule but they are young so they will cope!

We want to thank our friends Dave and Hayley who brought a group from YWAM based in Australia to the Early Learning Centre today. They were a huge blessing to all the staff as they cuddled babies and joined in with the pre-school programme and some of them even painted the outside wall of our centre in soaring temperatures. Before they took their leave of us we gathered the staff and children together so the team could pray for us and we thank them for giving of their time to be with us.  We were so blessed as a team to have them and we pray that God blesses them during the rest of their visit to Cambodia.

Tonight we invited all the staff round for a small house warming party; I spent the morning in the kitchen baking chocolate cakes and pavlovas. We had a lovely time together and everybody seemed to enjoy the desserts, Esther was busy as usual taking pictures so I am sure you will feel you were here with us.

Yummy desserts

The Khmer love socialising

Happy men

You are maybe wondering why we have posted this week’s blog entry a day early.  It is to inform you about the annual Bangor Car and Motorcycle show which is being held at our home church, Bangor Elim tomorrow from 11am to 5.30pm.  This is a brilliant day out for all the family with a huge selection of cars and motorbikes on display, stunt riders, falconry show, fashion show and lots more.  Tickets are £5 for adults, £3 for children or a family ticket for £10.  Finally you must visit the Elim Missions Burger stall where the mission’s team will be flipping burgers and raising money towards the work of Cambodia, so go along and treat yourself to a burger knowing it’s for a good cause!

Thankful for Public Holidays

We were only back in the country of Cambodia for 10 days when the national holiday to celebrate King Norodom Sihamoni’s birthday took place.  His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni is the current sovereign of Cambodia who has been serving the country since 29 October 2004.  The King’s birthday is observed as a public holiday in Cambodia.  Thus, most people are granted a few days off while schools, government offices, banks, and companies are closed.  People use the time to rest and gather with family or have a holiday in a different provincial area.

In February before we left Cambodia on furlough we knew our time in the UK would be busy and along with our friend Julie who was returning to New Zealand for the same time as us, we made plans to celebrate the King’s Birthday in our favourite place for a retreat – Kep.  After church on Sunday we packed up the car and David drove the 2 and half hour journey.  Our church elder Dana’s Mum lives in Kampot, 15 miles before Kep so he and his youngest son joined us along with Becky and Julie.  We heard the next day that Chamnap and Nita brought a group from the church to Kampot for the day – 14 in total were in their car. Now that’s being Khmer!

Map of Cambodia, Kep is at the very bottom

Today I filled in a survey with reference to our booking in Kep and when asked what two words best described our accommodation, I choose ‘nature and widlife’.  Anyone who knows me knows I freak out over all living creatures so although having our very own tree house to sleep in for three nights looked lovely, I was panicking inside!  Nature really did come alive at night, I was grateful to be tucked up in our mosquito net, bringing back memories of our times in Uganda.  There was no need for an alarm clock when at around 5:30am a large gecko, similar to the one we left at home, woke up!  The beauty around us in the morning made up for the anxiety I felt during the night and we did enjoy our few days in the beautiful Kep.  We didn’t do very much – read, relaxed, enjoyed dinner at one of our favourite places – The Sailing Club and of course brought fresh crab back for the folks to devour after the prayer meeting.

Our treehouse

The road outside our accommodation – simply beautiful

The Sailing Club

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside

Gorgeous sunset

On our return to Phnom Penh we are back to work preparing for a team from Dewsbury Elim arriving on Sunday 26May.  The team of ten led by Paul Hudson are with us for six days and we are excited about how they will be a blessing to the people of Cambodia.

Today is a busy day with Chamnap, Dana and David having an Elders meeting in the morning and then we have two family meetings planned in the afternoon and evening.  Please pray that in all these appointments we will know God’s wisdom and sense His guidance. Thank you for your continued love, prayers and support!

New Horizons

Whenever I say to you God provides our every need, I am totally understating how awesome God is.  Not only has God provided us with a beautiful home and the furniture to go with it, He has given us the best possible place to fellowship with the amazing Khmer staff and church people that have become our adopted family.

Our new home

On Saturday morning we moved into our new home, we had about 20 Cambodian helpers. They were all so keen to be a part of the big move, not one of them minded giving up their day off, in fact it just epitomised the community spirit we have within our church. The girls cleaned everywhere while the guys lifted and carried, we got so much done and we want to thank them all for their help. As we moved in and settled into our new home we realised that there was more than just the two of us living in and around the house, Esther got a surprise when she turned round to find a large blue speckled gecko right beside her.

what’s hiding?

Our pet lizard

Sunday was unbelievable; we had a guest speaker Chris D’ath from Thrive New life church in Rangiora, New Zealand. Chris had spoken the year before and blessed us then but this time the Holy Spirit really moved through Chris in a prophetic ministry which was fantastic.  The whole service was special as was our Wednesday night prayer meeting, please God let this just be the start of a new season of blessings. We want to thank Chris and his team for taking time to come and minister to us.

church service

As most people know by now our boss Chris Jones has decided to step down from his role as International Missions Director.  We want to honour him for the blessing he has been to us and the Khmer people certainly over the last 2 years. Chris hasn’t left yet but we have been blessed by one last visit from him, he landed on Thursday and we have had a couple of really good days. On Thursday night Chris joined the men for football and he played very well helping our team to an 11-10 victory.  In our team we had 4 Spurs men, 2 Chelsea and 1 Liverpool; how could we lose!

Two Spurs men ready for the big match

The Khmer staff have always respected and been grateful to Chris for protecting and supporting them so it was lovely for them to get the chance to say goodbye. Chris took us all out to a restaurant called Booloom Booloom where we had a Khmer buffet, and then afterwards they presented Chris with some gifts to show their love, respect and appreciation.

Early Learning Centre staff presenting Chris with a farewell gift

Chris receiving handmade gift from Chamnap and Nita

It has been a long week with lots happening but it has been exciting, God is so awesome. Esther, Becky and myself sense He is about to blow our minds even more than last year. In Cambodia rainy season has just started yet although we are no strangers to rain, we want to shout out to our wonderful Saviour open the floodgates of heaven and let it rain. Please join together with us as we seek God to do mighty things to shake this country to its knees and in turn to Jesus.

Greetings from Cambodia

Greetings from Cambodia!  We flew out of Belfast International Airport at 15:10 on Wednesday 1st May and three flights later arrived into Phnom Penh at 23:10 on Thursday 2nd May.  Prayers were answered with regards to luggage allowance, no delays and God even blessed us with 3 seats each on our longest flight of 10 hours from London to Seoul.  We were greeted at the airport by Chamnap, Nita, Naomi, Sokhom, Rith and Visal.  It was lovely to see their smiling faces and as David pushed the trolley with our bags I ran through the door to hug Nita and Sokhom.  I am blessed to have four sisters who I love dearly and these two ladies are the closest thing to me having younger sisters in Cambodia.  David was thrilled to greet the welcoming party too and as we drove to our accommodation it was as if we had never been away.

Plane waiting for us

Starbucks at Seoul airport

We both had a great night’s sleep and were greeted in the morning by Becky Haldane, the newest member to Elim Cambodia.  Becky arrived in a few hours before us after what appeared to be a less straightforward journey from the UK.  We met for breakfast and only in Cambodia can you have fried rice and vegetables for your first meal in the day, David and I both ordered this and it was good! Dren, our faithful church member and tuk tuk driver, then picked us up and we first of all went to our new home to meet the landlady and receive the keys.  We are very excited about how our new home will not just be a house for us but will be used for small groups to meet in, to have the staff over for dinner and fellowship on a regular basis, as well as David and Chamnap being able to use one of the rooms as a church office.

We then drove the short journey to the centre, as soon as the tuk tuk drove through the gates we could hear the children shouting out ‘Hello’, ‘Hello’ as they were waiting to be served their lunch.  It was lovely to see all the staff and give them a hug and a bar of chocolate!  These girls love chocolate from the UK and several of them tried to trick me by saying they didn’t get any so they could have another bar!  The staff are like a family unit who all look after each other and care for one another, for the past two months we have been sharing in churches about the work of Cambodia and now it is wonderful to be back amongst our Khmer family and we are excited about what God has in store next.

At the close of this blog I’m going to share a few highlights from our last week in Northern Ireland which concluded a busy but blessed time with our loved ones.  We have many special moments that we will cherish and we thank God for the people in our lives.

Beautiful Bangor

Titanic Museum & Afternoon Tea

For those of you in Northern Ireland who have yet to visit the Titanic Museum make a date in your diary and go – it is amazing and well done to everyone who put it together.  My sister and niece who are also Titanic fanatics accompanied me and we had a brilliant day out which concluded with afternoon tea in a nearby hotel.

Titanic museum

Titanic artwork

At the Titanic slipway with Ruth and Jessica

Titanic cupcake

Afternoon tea

Farewell Sunday at Bangor Elim

We were priviledged to share with our home church family on the last Sunday prior to leaving.  As we stated during the service everyone who supports the work of Elim Missions in Cambodia either prayerfully, financially, practically etc. is a link in the chain of lives being rescued, restored, transformed, living with a hope and a future.  We are incredibly blessed with a home church who support us with all of their hearts – Pastors, Elders, Mission team, adults and children – we love each and everyone of you and couldn’t do this without you!

In our Khmer dress with special friend Amy

Time with friends

Anyone who knows me knows there’s nothing I love more than a coffee and a chat, last year I had a skype tea party with my two best chums so we saved a lunch date to get together in the flesh! These two do so much for us behind the scenes both with Julie working in the church office and Ruth heading up the missions team.  I love you girls and can’t wait until the time you will both be able to come to Cambodia together!

Lunch with my chums

So in closing, our time at home was wonderful – we do miss our friends and family more than words can say and us not being with you is the sacrifice we had to make but we also know you are in God’s hands and we pray for you as we know you do for us.  Thank you for releasing us to be able to come to Cambodia and serve God amongst the amazing community of people that we have got to know and love.