On the 1st March 2011 Esther and I began a journey in this beautiful country Cambodia, a country full of brokenness and spiritual darkness but yet the most wonderful people, all trying to work out what life is about. By February 2012 we were left in charge of heading up the work here and although we were not in anyway capable to do the work that lay ahead God was!
Over the last 8 years these people have become much more than work colleagues, people we do church with, they have become our family. We have been at their weddings, at the birth of their children and even been at their family funerals. We have laughed with them, cried with them and watched with great pride as they have grown from babies in their faith to strong leaders. Many of them have surpassed us in their leadership capacity and we celebrate that. I watch Pastor Chamnap and Pastor Sarak in awe of who they are and what God is doing through them and I am so thankful that God chose us to be part of that Journey. Nita and Sokhom are immense in their leadership of our Early Learning Centre and add to that Sokim and Sophea leading up Be Free, not forgetting the amazing guesthouse managed by the wonderful Aly. Every area we have is now being run by totally capable, trustworthy and spirit filled Cambodians, it is so so exciting for the future.
Last year around the middle of June just after we had returned to Cambodia from our furlough with Pastor Chamnap, God started to really speak to us both about things we had never imagined. At the time we weren’t sure what was happening but the next few months God made it clearer and clearer that he was wanting us to release these wonderful leaders to be empowered and to take Cambodia Elim into the next stage. Simply God showed us that we had completed what we set out to do and that it is time for us to let them go. Chamnap is ready, the team are ready and we believe in them so much.
This morning there was an announcement made in our home church Bangor Elim that Esther and I along with our dogs Meg and Ruby will be leaving Cambodia early August this year. We want to go on record thanking Pastor Gary, Pastor Davy, the elders, Ruth McKee, the missions team and of course everyone from Bangor for the amazing support they have given us and will continue to give until we leave. No matter where we end up we will always belong to Bangor Elim.
This decision has been really difficult to make. It is breaking our hearts trust me, we know some of you will be asking why go, why leave something that is really going well. I will try and answer that question below.
Firstly when we left the UK in 2011 we were petrified but sure it was what God wanted from us, many people even some of you thought we were nuts to leave what we had and who we had behind. We have missed many important things that we would have loved so much to be there for. But God asked us to obey him and we did and now we feel that He is asking us to obey him again. It will be as difficult if not more than when we came.
Secondly Elim Missions has a goal for each missionary and that is for us to go, train up locals, empower them and then release them to lead their own people. Over this last year I have worked under Pastor Chamnap and it has been an absolute pleasure, I have learnt so much from him. So by doing what we are about to do we are living out what our mandate has been.
Thirdly we believe that we can be much more help to the team here by going back to the UK and raising more awareness of the work. We will support the work through fundraising and networking for teams to come. Over the last 18 months 6 Elim teams from the UK have pulled out of trips that had been booked into our guesthouse and we need to help those patterns not to continue. Esther will be helping oversee the work of Be Free internationally not just Cambodia so will be continuing to support Sokim.
Finally over this last year our families have suffered with some serious illnesses and we feel by being only an hour away on a plane is much better than a full days travel to get home. So by being in England we will be able to be much more help and around much more when needed.
I will hopefully be taking up the role as pastor in an Elim church somewhere in England and although we can’t tell you anymore than that right now we will let you know as soon as possible. But as already said we will be playing a big part still in being a voice and an instrument to support in all areas of Elim Cambodia.
We want to thank you all so much for being the most amazing friends and family, supporting us in ways that we will never know. We love you all and we are so indebted to you all. I know this will probably be a big shock to many of you and we are certainly willing to discuss it more if you want to email us.
I want to finish by saying that the work is going to flourish, we believe it will go from strength to strength, we will continue to be a part of the ministries and support to the team; and we challenge you to do the same. We ask you to continue to support us up until August time, we will be giving our everything over these next 6 months. But I want to ask you to trust us, by getting behind the work either as new supporters or shift your support of us personally to the work of church planting or Be Free after August. None of this will affect child sponsorship or any other type of giving that is already set up.
On Tuesday we travel to New Zealand to speak in some churches that already support the work of Elim Cambodia; and we will also be introducing Elim Cambodia to some new churches that we are honored to share at. We are excited to be given this opportunity to visit churches who have sent teams out to us, renewing fellowship with friends; and to build new relationships with churches interested in what God is doing in Cambodia. With the fact that we will be away for the next 6 weeks we will not be doing a blog each week but will keep updates going on Facebook on our Davy and Esther in Cambodia page; and on instagram of what we are doing in New Zealand and of the ongoing minsitries in Cambodia. Once we return we are going to start introducing our wonderful team to you properly through video messages.
Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for the goodbyes that lie ahead, pray for Pastor Chamnap and Nita, Pastor Sarak and Sophea, Sokim, Sokhom, Aly and the rest of our team. Please pray as we step into the next chapter of God’s calling on our lives that we will have clarity of what God’s will is and how that looks.