My name is Alan Lowry and I am an elder in Bangor Elim, the home church of David and Esther Allen, Elim missionaries serving in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Over the last week it has been my honour and privilege to accompany Pastor Gary Beattie on our weeklong visit to Elim Cambodia, and resulted in me preparing this week’s guest blog. My wife Caroline and I run our own business, and over the last number of years it has given me the amazing opportunity to travel extensively for work, but this was my first time in Cambodia, so I apologise in advance for any commercial comments made as I struggled to comprehend the infrastructure and sustainability of a country such as Cambodia. Most weekly blogs update on the amazing work going on in each project, so I wanted to look at the wider context of what impact this has outside the four walls of Elim Cambodia. Ok so that’s the disclaimer over!
We travelled from Belfast through Manchester and Hong Kong to arrive in Phnom Penh early on Tuesday morning, and after visa, immigration, passport and luggage carousel queues, we exited the small airport to hugs and embraces from Esther and David. They were delighted to see us and renew our friendships. Dren (a truly amazing and gracious servant of the Lord) was on hand in the tuk tuk, and that was the start of my Cambodian experience which I will never forget. There is nothing which will prepare you for the sights, smells and sounds of Phnom Penh! Frying fish, barber chairs, moto scooter repairs, live chickens, mobile coffee shops, fake iPhones and fried spiders are just a few of the things for sale on the pavements and every street corner.

Dren the Legend
Phnom Penh is the most random and chaotic city in the world. Traffic on the wrong side of the road, overloaded moto scooters, tuk tuks, pickup trucks, all jostle for space on congested roads. The city is a permanent car park yet nobody get agitated or aggressive. Poverty is everywhere and yet new car dealerships are popping up selling Jaguar, Rolls Royce and Bentleys whilst the majority of the population live on $100 a month. New filling stations aim to replace the corner shop selling petrol in glass Coke bottles by the litre! This is a city with a population of over 2 million where the majority of people travel by moto scooter but not everyone possesses a license to drive! It is no wonder there are 10 deaths a day on the roads here. Travel safety is something to always remember in your prayers for the whole Elim Cambodia team and their families.
After arriving we travelled to Elim Cambodia and what a place it is. A beacon for God’s love in this ‘lost’ city. Using every available space for English classes, Early Learning Centre, Church building and Be Free ministry, Elim Cambodia punches above it weight many times over as it impacts hundreds if not thousands of lives every week. What a blessing David and Esther are to Phnom Penh and what a blessing Cambodia was to us.

Wonderful welcome at the ELC
I wasn’t really aware of Cambodia’s chequered history when I went. I knew briefly about the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields, but as I travelled round I was intrigued to research the history that made this country what it is today. ‘Old wives tales’ still run through generations and some recent mothers we visited wear woolly hats, even in 35 degrees, for 6 weeks after their babies are born as that is tradition. One new Mum was told not to shower for 4 weeks after the birth! Monks go on a daily alms round to collect food and money; the act of alms giving assists in connecting the human to the monk and is often perceived as giving the laypeople the opportunity to make merit. And yet against this backdrop Elim Cambodia is growing in numbers and strength, bringing the gospel of the saving grace of Jesus Christ to a dying nation.
On our first day we visited baby Hadassah, new-born just last week to Chamnap and Nita. Chamnap is associate pastor in Elim and Nita runs the day-care centre. Hadassah was the Jewish name of Esther the saviour and redeemer of her people Israel and means God’s hidden righteousness. How amazing a young baby born into this country who can grow up to be the redeemer of her people. I didn’t know the tradition of removing your footwear before entering houses (Gary had failed to share that with me) so while everyone else slipped on and off their flip flops, I had to tie and untie my track shoes every time! The idea of removing your shoes before entering houses reminded me of Moses at the burning bush when he was standing on holy ground. The houses of these believers were indeed ‘Holy Ground’.
One of our main goals of our week was to purchase a new pickup truck for the work of planting and supporting churches in the outlying villages. So early the next day David, Gary, Dren and I (our newly formed purchasing consortium) set out with great enthusiasm to buy the truck. After we had visited 6 or 7 garages without success our passion was deflated. There were hundreds of pickups for sale, but nobody on the forecourt knew anything about the cars or what price they were. Nobody was expecting to sell a truck that day. There was no expectation. This is one issue in Cambodia as the people have low expectations as that is the way it has always been! Anyway the good news was that we managed to negotiate and purchase a truck with money collected from Bangor Elim and that will be used to the glory of God for many years to come as Elim Cambodia plant more and more village churches.

Selfie with the new pick up truck
The new truck was going to take a few days to get ready and reupholstered (for $100) and so we set about our second objective of blessing and honouring as many of the people David and Esther have daily contact with, as we could. Ruth McKee and her team from Bangor Elim had collected an amazing amount of money and it was our undoubted privilege to help distribute it. Gary and I had both brought a lot of items with us including chocolate, baby and children clothes and crayons. We purchased mattresses, pillows and covers, rice cookers, electric fans, door mats and mosquito nets and distributed them to anyone we were aware of who needed them. Truly God’s love in action and such a humbling experience to see the poverty these people live in. These are God’s children and yet they have absolutely nothing. Nothing prepares you for the awful conditions and housing these beautiful people have to live in. And yet they are content and overjoyed with the simple blessing we were able to distribute to them. They thanked us over and over again. What an experience.

With some of the mattresses that were bought

Delivering a wardrobe
The ongoing work in the Early Learning centre and Be Free is amazing. The staff and workers are totally committed to Jesus and their calling in Elim Cambodia. Mid-week prayer meetings, bible study, worship practise (I even played drums), and church were all part of our week spent there.

Spot the new drummer!
On the Thursday we went to the village church plant. Two years ago Elim started a weekly kids club here with over 200 children attending and a church was planted in September; the whole village has been impacted by the love of Jesus. Our visit was to see the kids club and for Pastor Gary and David to baptise 11 people from the village who had been saved through the work there by Elim through Sarak and his wife Sophea (who incidentally gave birth to their first child the next day, named Harry after Harry Kane from Spurs!).

Looking forward to seeing the new pick up on the ferry to HKC1
The whole village turned out and it was an amazing day. We bought the children Coke, sweets and rice cakes and when the ice cream cart arrived we bought every one he had. We distributed new clothes for the children. Esther measured them and the 12-18 month clothes we had brought fitted 4 and 5 year old kids. What a transformation from a village who had never even heard of Jesus, or his love for them 2 years ago, to salvation, impacted lives and people on fire for the gospel. It could even be the start of a revival!

HKC1

Enjoying their icecream

Those who were baptised, youngest 11 and oldest 79

Community photograph!

Sarak’s Father
Cambodia has a very bad reputation (rightfully) for sex exploitation, and that’s what ‘Be Free’ was set up for. Traveling around the area at night you can get a picture of the depravity and scale of the problem. It is indeed huge. Pray the authorities will outlaw this as they seek to build a sustainable city and country. My daughters are 20 (Alana) and 17 (Courtney) and to see the lives of girls younger than them, initially ruined through the sex trade, but now redeemed through God’s love and saving grace, is heart breaking and yet so encouraging for the amazing work that is being done. Please remember them in your prayers and your giving.
I could write for ever about how we were impacted by the love and heartfelt compassion shown by David and Esther and the whole Elim team but I’m sure you get the idea by now. It was an absolutely awesome and inspiring week and for everyone who prayed and gave, it is my prayer that you know God’s richest blessings on you and your family, as only eternity will tell the impact you have had on so many people’s lives and circumstances. Cambodia has stolen a little piece of my heart and I pray through these simple words it will do the same for you. Gary and I are truly thankful to our wives, Sonya and Caroline, for releasing us to this work for the week, and their unfathomable love and support for us through it all.
Bless you all for your heart for the people of Cambodia.
Alan