Sophie in Cambodia

 

Newsletter January 2025

Come and see what God has done

2025 is a year that I am excited and expectant for all that God has planned for this new year. When I look back to the start of 2024 and all that happened last year, I can see how God answered many prayers and remained faithful to me. My life now is looking very different than it did this time last year…a little bit more on that later.

Our Christmas celebrations in Cambodia were, as always, filled with lots of colour and fun. In most families outside of the church here, Christmas is not celebrated, and the 25th of December continues to be a normal day in most people's lives. In the run-up to Christmas, we celebrated in one of the communities that we regularly work in.  Srey N who I have shared about before, allowed us to use her home to run a Christmas celebration for the kids there. We had 50 children show up and the afternoon was filled with laughter and fun. The children heard about Jesus Christ the son of God and went home wearing little hats that said, ‘Jesus is Lord’.  We also gave each child a sandwich to take home with them. It was special to see the kids skipping back to their homes wearing the hats they had made and carrying their little sandwiches.  It reminded me that sometimes, the most simple things can bring the greatest joy.

We had lots of celebrations in our churches for Christmas. Our service in Phnom Penh took place the week before Christmas. We had a good turnout and this was our 2nd celebration at this new church location.  The service contained performances from the ELC kids as they sang and danced, Chamnap shared about what Christmas is truly about as a follower of Christ and then we all had lunch together after the service.  We invited our English students who have studied with us over the past year to this service. Many of them came along and we were so proud to present them with certificates and to congratulate them in front of our church for their hard work and study.  The week before we had taken them all to a buffet place for dinner as a Christmas present from us.  As we start this new year we are currently looking at new material to teach the students and we hope that many of them will return to study with us.

Christmas services also took place in Takhmao Elim, Kep and at our newest location in Takeo.  We are thankful for all these churches and the people that God is using to build his church and the communities in these areas.

Just before Christmas, we had a staff retreat for everyone who works at Elim Cambodia. We travelled down to Kep province which is by the seaside. We stayed in a wonderful big house that catered for all the staff. We had a great few days of study, fellowship and fun together. During this time we had a special event take place there. We held our most recent Be Free graduation. It was a beautiful location and a joy to hear our precious girl share about all that has happened in her life this past year.  She gave thanks to Be free, Elim Cambodia and most importantly to God for coming into her life and saving her. Now that she has finished her initial first year of the programme, she will continue working in Be Free in the salon. Her dream is to continue learning and working in the salon for a few years and then in the future, she would like to return to her home province and open her own salon there.

To finish off this latest news, I have some very exciting personal news that I want to share. Many of you will know that I am now coming close to 4 years serving in Cambodia and my life on the mission field started many years before that when I lived in China. God has been so good to me in all this time and this life is one that I could never have planned out for myself but it has all been through God’s grace and leading.  When I first went to serve God overseas, I left Northern Ireland on my own and I always trusted that God would be my comfort as I left my family and friends.  Over the years God has brought amazing friends into my life on the journey who have helped and encouraged me and I have a very supportive family which I have been greatly blessed with. 

However, like many others, in my heart, I had always desired and prayed that I would meet a special person to do life with and to serve God with.  This has been a very vulnerable and personal journey that I have been on and I’m so pleased to share that God has answered this prayer in the most beautiful way. Just over a year ago, I first met Sarun who is a Cambodian man.  The circumstances in how we met are truly one of God’s masterpieces and we can look back now and see how God was working in every detail.

Last year we spent most of the year getting to know each other and traveling back and forward to see each other (we are both living in Cambodia but we are currently 6 hours away from each other- talk about long distance in the same country).  We grew to know each other well in Cambodia but Northern Ireland and my family there are such a big part of my life so we prayed for an opportunity for us to go there together so that my family and Sarun could meet each other. Then through what we believe was a miracle of God Sarun was granted a visitor visa to visit the UK with me.  So, we were able to spend 3 very short and precious weeks with my family over Christmas and New Year in Northern Ireland. The whole trip was special and when Sarun arrived in Northern Ireland he quickly fitted into our family.  He also got to see snow for the first time in his life. It’s safe to say that we were both freezing as the winter temperatures of Northern Ireland are very different than the usual heat of Cambodia.

Sarun had the opportunity to share his testimony at my home church and he shared about his heart and desire for Cambodia and for the many people who don’t yet know Jesus there.

Most important, was the time we had with my family and being at home for Christmas was extra special for me as I hadn’t been there at that time of year for over 3 years.  Just before we returned to Cambodia and at the start of 2025 Sarun had an important question to ask me after having a good chat with my Dad first…and I gladly said YES! So I have returned to Cambodia with a financè.  Only God could have written this story for us and I am so grateful that God answered the desires of my heart.

We wanted to share this joyful news with you so that you can also rejoice in our testimony of God’s faithfulness to us and also ask for prayer for Sarun and myself.  We are now planning for marriage and seeking the Lord for our future plans together and for God's will for us in Cambodia together. 

Much love until next time,

Sophie

Prayer Points

• Pray for the continuing work in the village areas around our church.
• As we begin this new year, that our different church ministries would be refreshed and excited for what God has planned.
• In the next few weeks we have new girls who are planning to join Be Free.
• Please remember Sarun and I, and our families as we look forward with excitement to this next stage in our journey together. 

Finally I want to wish you a Happy New Year

Thank you for your continued support and heart for the work of God in Cambodia. I wouldn’t be able to do this without your prayers, support and care.
God bless.

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