Published on

These last five months have been a testament to God’s faithfulness, as He continues to open doors, provide miraculous resources, and move in power.

Image description

New Outreach Team

We have been waiting patiently for over four years to launch a dedicated provincial outreach team in Cambodia.

Recently, the Lord gave us a clear “yes.” He brought two new missionaries to help carry the load, and shortly after, provided a generous ministry gift from America that will cover our costs for three years—including the purchase of a new vehicle! In that same time period a country leader of a nationwide group of churches reached out for help in visiting and equipping his pastors in the province.


Seeing how God sends both the people and the resources and the connections in His perfect timing has been an incredible encouragement to us. We are excited to see this team take shape more and more in the months ahead.

Image description

Advancing Pro-Life Advocacy

In partnership with some dear friends, we are trying to launch a Cambodian pro-life coalition. This initiative aims to equip pastors and church members to go into their communities and share the truth that life is precious and valuable in the womb. We were privileged to host a team from Vietnam, who have already successfully trained over 60,000 people in their own nation, to lead a full-day training here. It was a step forward in advocating for the most vulnerable. Pray for us as the group continues to take shape and is in the very early stages.

Reaching the Provinces

Since our last update we have had the privilege of being a part of a few different outreaches to the province with different teams. Highlights of this were the BSSM team from Redding, California in March and another being a team from the Finding Church, Seattle in May.

We have seen a wonderful move of God during these and other recent provincial outreaches. In partnership with local churches, we visited hundreds of households, shared the gospel, and held large trafficking prevention presentations for hundreds of children. We witnessed miracles—including the healing of a lady who had been suffering from depression and could not see or hear, and who left our time together healed and overcome with joy. Many dozens of people gave their lives to Jesus during these trips, and we saw many more receive healing and blessing.

Gospel Leaflets

The gospel leaflets ministry, mentioned in our previous update is continuing to have an impact. As well as being used and given out in all of the above outreaches there have been some individual moments when having them on me has been very helpful. One example is when I was visiting a good friend in a hospital. The Lord told me to share the gospel to an elderly man in the bed next to my friend. When I tried to share he couldn’t listen and was gesturing with his hands. I realised he couldn't hear or speak, so I got out a gospel tract in Khmer and we read it together. He kept pointing with his finger to heaven after reading different sentences. Then I got him to read the prayer at the back. The next morning I went to visit my friend at the hospital I found out that the elderly man who I had witnessed to had passed away. If I didn’t have the tract on me he wouldn’t have had the chance to hear. Please pray for the ongoing development of more Cambodian gospel resources here so that more people like him get the chance to hear the gospel.

Image description

Ministry in the Red-Light District

Our work in the city’s red-light districts continues to be a big part of our mission and Mollie is one of a team of ladies who continue to reach out in these areas. Some of the visiting teams joined us for outreaches in these areas, including KTV bar visits. It has been a season of deep spiritual warfare, but we have also seen the light of Jesus break through darkness. We have had the privilege of renting private rooms in these establishments to worship together and share the gospel with the women working there.

Image description

Trafficking Rescue

We are also thrilled to report a significant victory: following nearly two years of contending for some underaged girls (minors), our partners and the police carried out a successful raid on two sex establishments. Over 10 of them were minors and another 20+ women were rescued too. It was the first raid in this specific area in over 10 years, and it has sent a clear message that to other establishments in this area that exploitation will not go unnoticed. We are currently praying for the rescued girls as they receive care and hopefully encounter the love of Jesus.

Kingdom Businesses

We have recently seen the great need and importance of providing employment for women, many of whom have very few other options. So among some other things Mollie recently started a new micro-business venture: a crepe cart. The aim is to empower marginalized women—who are struggling to make ends meet—to become strong businesswomen. This is hopefully the start of several not-for-profit micro-businesses we hope to launch to help bring dignity and economic stability to those we serve.

Image description

Mollie is also hoping to co-found a new business venture that has already received some backing from some influential figures. Recently she presented the business idea to a special business conference here in Phnom Penh and her and my sister Emma (her business partner) won top prize and a $1000 investment. Stay tuned for upcoming updates about this new business venture.

Discipleship Groups Growing

The discipleship groups in our communities continue to grow in size and depth. Including one that has grown from about 13 to about 33 people. They are continuing to tell their neighbours about Jesus and the hope and peace that is found in him. Our hope is to raise up leaders from within these groups. There is also a group that continues to faithfully meet at our home. Please pray for them all as they learn to follow the great King.

Family Update

Our family is doing well. We recently got back from a much needed and very refreshing break in England to reconnect with some family and friends and churches. We also got to take a trip to Northern Ireland to see most of the Iris Phnom Penh board of directors and some other friends and churches there. It was a really blessed and encouraging time which even included a couple of unexpected divine appointments. Following Jesus in the nations is still fun!

Back in the Kingdom of Wonder

We are now back in Phnom Penh and the children have started a new school year, Grace starting in Middle School, Benjy going into grade 4 and Abigail starting Kindergarten. We enter this new season with a fresh perspective, anticipation for whats ahead and continued trust in His faithfulness.

We are so grateful for your constant support, love, and prayers. We truly could not walk this path alone, and we want you to know that you are a vital part of this journey—every bit of fruit we see here in Cambodia is your fruit, too! 

Thank you for standing with us as we follow God's heart in loving this beautiful nation and its precious people.


Sending you so much love,

Mollie, Steve, Grace, Benjy and Abbie x



*We recently had the honour of sharing about Cambodia and a word of encouragement at City Church, N.E Lincs, UK. If you’re interested you can watch it below.*

Image description

Please pray with us for:

-Our amazing team who go daily into the darkest places to share the Love and Light of Christ.

-Protection and blessing on the new province outreach team. The Lord's guidance and hand upon us.

-Pro life advocacy group, we hope to plan another training soon, pray for more Cambodians with a passion for life in the womb to take ahold of the vision and help carry it forward.

-For God's grace and wisdom as we create more gospel resources to reach the people of this beautiful nation. That many more people would have the chance to hear about Jesus (many have never heard!)

-For the red light outreach team as they enter a season of transition and new beginnings.

-We have had lots of transition in our Iris Phnom Penh team with a couple of our wonderful long term missionaries feeling called elsewhere, a couple of new Cambodian additions and 4 new internationals coming to join our team for a trial next month. Please pray with us for the fullness of the presence of God in this time of transition. Jesus is doing a new thing!

-For protection over our family, our health and our marriage and over God's continued supply of everything we need as we serve Jesus out here.

-That the JOY of the Lord would be our strength! Neh 8:10

Published on
Picture
We are so sorry for the long silence! We’ve been fully immersed in the beautiful—and sometimes heavy—work here. In the midst of international border conflicts, trafficking cases and personal challenges Jesus has continued to show Himself faithful and wonderful.

Lately, we’ve been in a season of 'hello and goodbye.' While it’s always hard to see precious teammates move on, we are so grateful that God continues to bring new missionaries and volunteers our way!

Currently, our different teams are pouring into Red-light outreach, Social work, the Riverside 'True Light' team, and our 'Set Free' team (working in two impoverished communities), alongside the ministry of the Well Prayer Room and Chomno Cafe. These last few months have been a testament to God’s faithfulness.

​We’ve seen steady growth in discipleship across many communities, families supported, and children rescued. Our baby milk program is helping infants thrive, and we are witnessing God heal both bodies and hearts. Whether it’s providing labor support for a vulnerable mother or helping a teenager find freedom from bondage, our mission remains 'stopping for the one.' Having Chomno Cafe in the heart of the red-light district continues to be a true beacon of light and a home base for loving community well.

​Below are some of our brief highlights since our last update on here.
Last year on a visit to Kampong Speu province we got to partner with a local church and a visiting team from BSSM and share the gospel with over 650 adults and kids. Many responded to the gospel and are now plugged into a brand new local church plant in that village.
Over the course of less than a year our team have helped to facilitate the rescue and repatriation of 6 South Americans from different nations in South America who were trapped in scam centres in Cambodia and managed to escape. Some of them found us through social media. It has been hard work trying to arrange the documentation for their repatriation but some key members of our team went above and beyond to help make it happen.
Picture
We have also seen several precious cambodian ladies choose to leave the sex- industry and one breakthrough in particular has been a dear lady our team have loved and served so long and she is now happily settled in at a work placement at "Daughters of Cambodia" Organisation.  In this picture she is getting baptised alongside a friend she had brought to Christ herself!

We often feel the frustration of the limits of what we can do; we often seen minors working in these establishments. We are praying for breakthrough in these cases and our team often have to navigate the tension of the heartbreak of the reality of what so many of these girls endure with our hope and trust in Jesus!
Towards the end of last year, Steve had the opportunity to take some of our team to a Iris Global leaders gathering in Malaysia. They got to attend a conference with hundreds of members of the underground church from a creative access nation in Asia. Their passion, love and hunger was truly inspiring and contagious! Steve also had the huge honour of getting ordained as a Minister by Iris Global churches around these leaders, Rolland Baker and some other personal heroes.
​We’ve also had the Iris Media team with us filming a documentary about what God is doing here in Cambodia. It’s been a busy but exciting process, and we can’t wait to share the finished film with you all in a few months time! It was a great opportunity to look back and remind ourselves all that God has been doing these last few years !
In November we got to go out on an outreach to the province with a visiting Iris Harvest School of Missions team. ​In total, about seven people in this village gave their lives to Jesus and are now being cared for by the local church. We also got to give out solar audio bibles and encourage the local believers there.
Picture
The Red Light outreach team are continuing their work reaching the girls there. At the end of November we had a wonderful visiting team from Highworth in the UK. For one outreach we rented out a room at a KTV bar and we were actually able to sing worship songs through the karaoke machine. It was such a surreal, Holy moment to hear songs of praise filling a space usually reserved for very different things. The ladies there told us they had "goosebumps" and could feel a shift in the atmosphere—we got to tell them that was the tangible presence of Jesus. We shared the Gospel right there, and three of those precious women gave their lives to Him, while even the manager asked for prayer! It’s a powerful reminder that the Light is never overcome, no matter how deep the darkness seems.
At the end of January we headed to a region near the Thai border to visit a camp of families who had been internally displaced from the Thai Cambodia border conflict. These families had lost almost everything.
The stories were sad, but our team came and shared Jesus and it brought hope. We met a woman who was nine months and two days pregnant. She was terrified because she had no access to medical care and had been told her baby was at high risk. We were able to get her to a provincial hospital a few hours away where the doctors admitted her immediately. She gave her life to Jesus right there in the hospital, realizing He had heard her cry and saved both her and her baby. Over the two day outreach many had decided follow Jesus including a local religious leader and we were able to give out 25 audio Bibles to keep the Word alive in that camp and at a local village nearby.
Chomno Coffee has officially launched its vocational training programme for vulnerable youth. With our weekly worship nights and other key discipleship meetings that we have there it has become an important space for our community. It’s a dream come true to see this location—formerly a strip club—now filled with the sweet aroma of coffee and the sound of praise and new believers learning about Jesus.
Picture
Valentine’s Day looks very different in the Red Light District, it is often a dangerous time for the girls. Mollie and the team wanted to create a space for something better—a table set with dignity, honor, and celebration. It was a powerful night of sharing testimonies and speaking words of forgiveness, where hope was truly renewed. One young woman was hugely impacted and shared that the message spoke directly to her heart, giving her fresh hope for her future. It was a beautiful evening of light, reminding these precious treasures that they are deeply loved by us and by God.
Picture
The weekly bible study that meets at our home is going well, it is still growing and people are getting to know Jesus more closely. Pray for them as they begin to share their faith with their families and neighbours.
​
Image description
Recently we have started a new track writing initiative. There is a lack of good quality and well designed gospel tracts available here so Steve has been working with some wonderful talented Cambodians to create these new resources. (Thank you to some generous family members who are helping fund this leaflet project!) 

​Many Cambodians in poor communities (even though they are of a different faith) often draw crosses on their doors and windows to stop evil spirits from coming in their homes and they don't understand why it works. Our first tract that we have published (pictured) asked the question, "why does this shape work when others don't?" And we use it as an opportunity to share about the victory of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Picture
We feel so excited as we are looking ahead at starting new things this year. We are dreaming of having a new team focused on provincial outreach and strengthening and encouraging the pastors who are working tirelessly across the country who have very little input.

​We feel God has brought us the people and we are praying for the resources and the wisdom on how to move forward. We are also dreaming of ways to make more job opportunities for people to bring them out of poverty so in the months ahead we hope to start some of these. I (Mollie) am working on starting a candle company that will hopefully be able to impact many lives through generating resources for people. ​
FAMILY UPDATE 

Our family is doing well ; the children are thriving and all growing up so fast! Grace is in the worship band at school (playing bass guitar) and does sing alongside me at church sometimes which has been special. This is her last year of elementary school and I am so proud of the kind, thoughtful girl she is. Whilst being on the student council she is also involved in musical theatre and is currently working on the "Sound of Music" production. 

Benji is always full of joy and he has been doing well at school and also at sports ; he loves to run and jump and find lizards in the garden and he can tell you anything about frogs and insects. He is currently breeding cherry shrimp in his fish tank hoping to make some money!

Abigail is our small but mighty one and she started big school in August. She is doing very well and making lots of friends. She is always singing or dancing or making art. She loves playing with the baby rabbits who live on our street.
I am always so proud when I see them loving our communities and serving them. They all carry so much compassion for the poor and whilst we do shelter them from some of what we do, we feel its important they can be involved.  Teddy our dog is also a blessing to our family and we are thankful for the gift he is. We deeply miss our extended family but have been blessed with lots of their visits this last year!

We are needing to visit and UK, Northern Ireland and USA over the summer break as we want to connect with family, friends and churches who are supporting us and the ministry. This feels daunting so we would appreciate your prayers for us as we plan and the resources for is to happen. We are hoping to host some screenings of the 30ish mins Iris Phnom Penh documentary when it comes out (so if your interested in helping with that please let us know).

Prayer requests 
  • God always being the main passion in our lives and what we do ; surrendered life even more.
  • Health and protection for our family 
  • Wisdom in leading 
  • Continued unity in our team 
  • Work life balance - something that can be hard here
  • Upcoming international trips ​

"We are deeply grateful for your constant support, love, and prayers. We truly could not walk this path alone, and we want you to know that you are a vital part of this journey—every bit of fruit we see here in Cambodia is your fruit, too! Thank you for standing with us as we follow God’s heart in loving this beautiful nation and its precious people.

Sending you so much love,
​
Mollie, Steve, Grace, Benjy and Abbie x"

*If you are interested in reading Iris Phnom Penh's Recently Published Annual Report Click here.

Published on
Jesus is faithful to fulfil the dreams He puts on our hearts. Please see below for some photos and some short descriptions of all that has been happening. Thank you so much for your ongoing love and support. If you would like to pray with us some Prayer Requests can be found at the bottom of the page.

Harvest School of Missions Phnom Penh

It was such a joy to be a part of hosting the first ever Iris Harvest School of Missions Phnom Penh. We attended an Iris Harvest School in Mozambique in 2011 and it changed our lives forever. We had the honour of hosting students here from Japan, Australia, China, America, India and Cambodia. God did some incredible things and it left a lasting impact on our whole Iris Phnom Penh team who also went through the school.

Chomno Coffee and Riverside Outreach Centre

For over 10 years we have had a dream of having a space on the riverside (where a lot of our work is concentrated). There are a lot of vulnerable families based there and there is a large red light area in this area. We recently felt released to look for a place and we found a beautiful place over looking the river. When we first found the property it was fully furnished as a stripper bar with red walls and a dancing stage with mirrors and a strippers pole. ​
Within a few days of deciding to rent the space the Lord put it on someones heart to give a very large generous gift to help us cover full rennovation costs and some extra too for a vocational training programme. Our Coffee project team leader Jen has done an incredible job of transforming and restoring the place (as you can see in the pictures). Which itself is a beautiful picture of God's redemption plan for the area and the people here.

Light in the darkness

Picture
Mollie got to be a part of hosting a Christmas party in a red light area bar location due to favour and a good relationship with the bar manager. Twenty-three girls heard the gospel (along with one male customer who was also present in the bar) as they shared a meal with them and gave them Christmas gifts.  It was a joy-filled and unique time. ​
We hosted Christmas celebrations in each of our communities and we also got to baptise 26 new believers in this time who have been faithfully attending the bible studies in the different locations. (You can read our recently published Iris Phnom Penh Annual report here which includes lots more incredible testimonies and other information about our team's work out here).

Other special moments

In the new year we went on a full team retreat with our team and their families. We also got to welcome some new people into the Iris Phnom Penh family who were graduates of the Harvest School of Missions. Six people joined our team from the school together and they are coming on board as unpaid volunteers including our very first ever Cambodian missionaries!
One very special recent moment was having the privilege of baptising 12 believers at our home. They have been faithfully attending the bible study that meets at our home every week and have been impacted by God's love and His power to answer prayer. One of the regular attendees family at home were so impacted by Jesus moving in answered prayer that her husband, brother and two daughters recently received Jesus and wanted to be baptised too!
​
​There have been many other special moments, including our good friends and co-leaders of Iris Phnom Penh getting pregnant after patiently waiting for a long time. They recently left for the USA for six months to be with family for the birth. Please pray for them and for us as we try to lead well in their absence.
On a personal note our family are overall doing well. We were blessed to have a much needed break in Vietnam with family over the new year and came into the year with fresh vision (and also a new puppy!)

​We thank God for all of you who stand alongside us and serve alongside us through your prayers, your love and your financial support. We cannot do any of this without you joining with us in this way. We love and appreciate you all! (Prayer requests are below)
Picture

Prayer requests:

  • There are so many needs over here and there is so much to be done that it is very easy to get caught up in it all and not have anything left over in the tank for the people most precious to us (our own family). Please pray with us for a really good, clear work-life balance and an ability to really love our family (our first call) in the way that Jesus calls us to love them.
  • Financial provision for our family, we have been invited to an Iris Global leaders retreat in the summer in the USA and we are praying for funds to be able to attend as a family of 5!
  • A large Team from Bethel in Redding, California coming soon to minister and help with outreaches. Pray that many are touched by Jesus' love and receive salvation. Pray for us as we plan logistics, etc.
  • Pray with us for grace and wisdom to lead well especially as our wonderful co-leaders are away for the 6 months. Pray for us to serve well with, love wisdom and diligence.
  • In one of the bar locations our team have been visiting on outreach has a lot of underage girls (young teens) in it who are not allowed to leave. We are slowly building relationship with them but please pray with us for breakthrough in this case.
  • Mollie is also hoping to start a food cart business as an alternative form of employment for some of the women, pray that we find the right person to help her train and mentor the girls.
  • Health over the team and our family, protection, provision and safety as we serve here.

...We send regular updates and prayer requests on a Signal Messenger Prayer and Update group. If you would like to join it you can do so by clicking here

​Thank you so much!
Published on
Picture
Highlights:
  • We had a wonderful time with a visiting team from bethel at the end of March there were saw many miraculous healing testimonies, lives touched and new followers of Jesus!
  • Our discipleship groups are growing and Jesus has been continuing to astound us with his miracles and breakthroughs
  • In May our red light outreach team went on a trip to Bangkok to partner with and learn from Nightlight who have been pioneering an incredible ministry to the red light district for over 19 years. They came back encouraged and inspired!
  • In June we got to fly back to the UK and have some precious time of rest with close family including our kids wonderful grandparents, we got to re-connect with some special people. We have come back feeling refreshed and ready for the season ahead.
  • When we got back to Cambodia we moved house, our family are settling in well and love the new place! The kids are back in school and Abbie has also started in pre school a few times a week.
  • There have been some wonderful testimonies from our team and from outreaches recently, especially from recent Red light outreaches.
  • Mollie has been exploring some creative business solutions to help provide an alternative option for the girls working in the red light area and our first initiative has just been fully fund raised (see below for more details).

​Each photo (or video) below has a short caption explaining some of these highlights. Prayer points can be found at the bottom, thank you so much for your ongoing love, support and encouragement!
This is a video the bethel team of ministry students made about their visit to Cambodia at the end of March. The school gave them a strict two minute time limit so they couldn't fit everything in but Jesus did so much during this special time that it would be hard to write about everything that happened!
Here are some pictures from our outreach to the province with the bethel team. Many were healed touched and many became new believers. Including this beautiful eighty six year old grandma and daughter together in the picture above after we visited their home and shared the gospel with them.
Our discipleship groups across the city are continuing to grow and it is so encouraging to keep hearing new testimonies of how Jesus is impacting people's lives and bringing new freedom and life.
Picture
In April we were out as a family at the shopping in the mall and I felt led to stop and talk to this young man who was on crutches. He was thankful I stopped and had time for him, he said he had recently been in a motorbike accident and had many surgeries in his two legs and arms. He said almost everyone he knew had deserted him and he had been suicidal. Benjy and I prayed for him and told him about Jesus. We met again a few days later and he said after our prayer his body felt so much better and now he only needed one crutch to get by. After that moment he knew Jesus was real and that Jesus loved him and our friend decided to pray with me to accept Jesus into his heart.
In May Mollie and the Red light Outreach team visited Bangkok to join and learn from a ministry called Nightlight that has been doing anti-trafficking/red light district outreach for over nineteen years. It was such an encouraging trip and they all came back to Phnom Penh re-energised and filled with hope for whats ahead here in Phnom Penh!
In June we set off for some vital rest time in beautiful England. It was a huge gift to spend some time with family and dear friends who have been such a huge encouragement to us. We also got to have a special anniversary trip away together to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary (our first trip without any kids with us in 9 years!) The Lord is a Good Shepherd and he knows how to restore our souls! We have come back encouraged and excited for the season ahead.
When we got back to Cambodia we moved house we are feeling more settled in now and are loving the new place. The kids are also back in school and Abbie started pre school a few days a week. We are so thankful to be back!
Picture
Here is a testimony from Mollie about a very recent outreach to the red light area. "Before going out that night I had word of knowledge of deep pain in tooth/jaw (my was very painful for a few seconds ) and Ponleu saw picture of the face of someone we know and someone else on our team saw laughter. So we went and sat with the lady whose face Ponleu got a picture of, and 2 older ladies (both in their 40’s). Two of these ladies had tooth ache and both were healed when we prayed much to their amazement which led to laughter! Then one of them opened up about her heart problem and also the loss of her husband a few years ago in moto accident so prayed for her. She had previously been going to church and had been a believer but the loss of her husband had really shaken her. God is going after his lost sheep! Please pray for them all."
Picture
​More from Mollie: God has given me a heart to see women empowered to be able to leave the bars with other great business opportunities. Often these girls have little or no education and so creating business they can thrive in is important. About a year ago God told me he was giving me creative business ideas and I had this random idea of crepe/pancake food carts. This week my friend from BSSM Emily came to visit us here in Phnom Penh and managed to somehow raise the full funds for the 1st cart ! I then went into the shop on my road and I saw a crepe making machine which I have never seen before here. This in addition to many other little signs seems to confirm this is what God wants - so watch this space as hoping to start with my first cart (similar to the one in this picture) soon. I am also developing a range of candles with my sister in law also to help bring funds/jobs for vulnerable women and girls here.
Picture
We are excited to be hosting our first ever Iris Harvest school of Missions in Phnom Penh at the end of September. The school is 8 weeks long and we have students coming from India, Japan, China, America and Cambodia! We are honoured to be hosting some special guest speakers from abroad too. Please pray for us as we host our first ever Iris Harvest School in Cambodia!

Prayer points:​
  • For our family as we settle into a new home and routine, especially Abbie who is still adapting to a new schedule of preschool a few days a week.
  • Protection over our family, our marriage and our health. There has been a little bit of illness since we got back and we all want to be in full health so we can give our best and love well here.
  • Over May/ June Steve had some difficult family issues come up and we are continuing to trust God for His grace and love on and over some difficult situations between different family members.
  • There have been some really upsetting trafficking cases here recently including one involving two young girls who our team know well and have worked with in the past. Please join us in praying for wisdom for our team and justice for the perpetrators and Jesus shielding grace over these girls.
  • For preparations for our team and leaders as we prepare to host our first ever Iris Harvest School of Missions in Phnom Penh. We also have another amazing Iris team coming from a location in India to serve and help us host the school (more information about the Phnom Penh Harvest School can be found here)

Thank you so much for your constant love, encouragement and support, we couldn't do any of this without you all.

Much love in Jesus, Steve, Mollie, Grace, Benjy and Abbie 
Picture
Published on
Thank you so much for partnering with God's work in Cambodia and journeying alongside us!

Lots has been happening so we have decided to use photos with a short caption below each one. There are also some prayer requests written below. Thank you so much for journeying with us!
Picture

In November our team had the privilege of joining the Iris Asia Gathering in Malaysia. On the first evening our team got to have dinner with Heidi Baker and share a bit about what the Lord has been doing in Cambodia.

Picture

It was a refreshing time of connection and encouragement. For some of our team it was the first time they have left the country.

Picture

After Malaysia I (Steve) felt led by the Lord to pray for healing over my food intolerances. For 2 years I had been unable to eat anything with even a small amount of wheat or milk in it. If I did, I was sick for two days afterwards. In Cambodia because nothing is labelled I was getting sick regularly. After praying for about an hour and a half one morning and taking authority over the sickness (because of the authority in Jesus' victory on the Cross) I felt something leave my body. Then I felt the Lord say "you are healed". That morning I told the kids I was healed and they were so excited! They said "lets eat something together" so I ate cereal with milk with the kids that morning and had no after effects. This is picture is from the same day I was healed. We went out for lunch to celebrate (I couldn't eat any these foods before)! Since November I have been able to fully eat a normal diet again!!!

Picture

In December we had a team come from Iris Harvest School and had a great time where Jesus moved and many were healed and saved. This is a picture of us all on province outreach.

Picture

We also got to do lots of exciting Christmas parties and activities in the communities we work in.

Picture

Mollie, Jillian and the team also had the honor and privilege of hosting a dinner for 13 precious girls who are working in the Red light area. The girls were invited to 'Come to the Table' - to have a seat at the banquet table with King Jesus. Our team arranged for 13 ladies to be able to leave the bar for the evening. We decorated our prayer room for Christmas and set a beautiful banquet table for dinner. There was dancing, singing, crying, laughing, eating and deeper friendships built. The gospel was shared, one girl was healed, and God moved in many hearts in ways that only He can. Such a dream come true for our red light outreach team.

Picture

We took a special trip to province to celebrate some good friend's engagement ceremony.

Picture
We recently moved into a brand new building in the new community with 2000+ unreached families in it. Iris global put a video about it on the website called donor see. If you are interested you can watch it by clicking here.
Picture

Celebrating Christmas at our home with some of our team. It was great to be able to eat Christmas dinner together although its the time of year when we miss our families the most!

Picture

Mollie and the red light area outreach team have been continuing to faithfully and consistently minister in the red light areas even in the midst of some ongoing challenges and set backs.

Picture

Visiting our Cambodian family in Sihanoukville.

Picture

We got to have a little trip to the coast over Christmas holidays which unfortunately got cut short because Mollie had a really bad ear infection and she had to go to hospital. We are praying for ongoing protection over our rest and family time!

Picture

In January there was a lot of sickness in our team but one of the highlights was being able to join other leaders in Chiang Mai for a evangelism and discipleship conference. It was a really powerful, impacting and encouraging time!

Picture

There was some really great training about multiplication of discipleship groups and we got to hear some incredible testimonies of what God is doing around the world and also got to catch up with some friends from the online Bethel Leaders Network Far East Asia revival group that we are a part of.

Picture

Chinese new year is a big thing over here now so we took the kids out to see some dragon dancing. Abbie did not like it with the loud drums and the giant dragons!

Picture

Our team recently partnered with some other NGO's and agencies to have a dangerous paedophile arrested and deported (he had abused children in different regions multiple times before). He was grooming some of the kids in one of our communities and because of our team's testimony and relationship with the girls the authorities were able to move quickly and intervene protecting the at risk children. We pray for this man too. That he would put His trust in the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ and His Lordship, before it is too late for him.

Picture

This is a recent photo of one of our discipleship groups that do a bible discovery on our street. God is really moving in their hearts and they are bringing new people in to add to the group who want to learn about the Lord who heals them.

Picture

This is a recent picture taken of our whole team (there are three people from our team not on this photo and two guests here in this shot). We barely fit in our office now! God is moving and continuing to change lives in the communities we all work in. Thank you for continuing to pray for us all!

We so appreciate your ongoing support and faithfulness in standing alongside us as we serve Jesus together here in Cambodia and SE Asia. Every prayer, every gift, every word of encouragement makes such a difference to us and our team out here and has an impact in this nation.

We have a list of current prayer requests below for our family and team;
  • Ongoing protection and safety, there has been a lot of sickness in our team at the beginning of the year and we are praying that nothing would be able to hinder God's work here.
  • Provision; Iris Phnom Penh as an organisation currently have a monthly budget shortfall of a few thousand dollars. This is currently being miraculously covered by one off sporadic gifts, but please join us in praying for an increase in regular monthly donations to Iris Phnom Penh.
  • Protection over our family. Life is so full and ministry can easily become all consuming over here. It is very easy to regularly come to the place where we have ran out of time or energy for our first and most important ministry, our family. Pray with us for the supernatural grace and wisdom to keep our priorities right, good clear, wise boundaries and to be able to love our families and each other in our marriage well. 
  • We are praying about having a trip the UK in the summer to have some rest, visit family and do a little fundraising for Iris Phnom Penh. Please pray with us for fullness in all the planning for this and the Lord's full provision and protection over it all.
We are so thankful for you all and see it as a huge privilege that we get to serve Jesus alongside you! May He get His full reward!

Much love in Jesus, Steve, Mollie, Grace, Benjamin and Abigail
Published on
Picture

The Well Prayer and Worship Room located in the middle of the Red light area

We have now been back in Phnom Penh for 15 months! It has been a wild and beautiful journey of adjusting to life here as a family. Cambodia is a beautiful nation with the most kind and hospitable people and truly over this last year we have fallen back in love with the people here.
Picture

Abigail helping us pray for a sweet old grandma

Our language abilities are slowly coming back and the kids are learning a new way of life. It has been such an honor to co-lead our team here ; which is now consisting of 26 people ; including 12 missionaries ! The people we get to work with are some of the most kind and inspiring people I have ever met.
Picture

The number of missionaries on our team has doubled in six months! From 6 to 12

​Iris Phnom Penh has historically been an anti-trafficking organization. We have a team of full time Cambodian social workers whose aim is to keep children and families safe and helping them in very practical ways. We want to prevent but also intervene in any trafficking cases that come to light in our communities. We serve in several at-risk and impoverished communities where we run kids clubs and do regular outreaches, building relationship with those in need.
Picture

One of the communities we serve in. Photo from @irisphnompenh instagram

Our child sponsorship program enables us to support families in need and make sure each child can attend school. Love looks like something and so for every baby milk, family food package we give out it opens the door for people to know they are loved and that God sees them and cares for them.
Picture

A discipleship group in a different community we serve in,

We wholeheartedly believe community transformation won’t happen without people knowing Jesus, and knowing who they are in Him. This only comes from regular exposure to the truth and constant relationship with His body (the Church). So recently we have being putting an even greater emphasis on discipleship. We have a discipleship groups in all our communities which are growing and people are encountering Gods love and power !
Picture

The discipleship group that we host weekly in our home is also going well. This picture is from when we recently gave them solar audio bibles.

Our family is doing well, the kids have so many friends here and are finding things that they love to do. Both kids have been playing football/soccer and enjoying it (despite it being very hot). Abigail is learning Khmer faster than I (Mollie) am at the moment and its very sweet to see her greet people in the traditional Khmer way! There have been some regular challenges with Steve’s health with some food intolerances here but the kids are always quick to pray and we are seeing God move powerfully through their prayers!
Picture

The kids are enjoying life out here

The Well that never runs dry ....

It has been such a joy to see Gods promises spoken to our team over a decade ago coming to fruition in “The Well” the prayer room in the red-light area. ​
Picture

The view from The Well prayer room

We have had many powerful times of prayer and worship both as a team and wider with other Christians from different organizations ; declaring Gods redeeming powerful love over the centre of the red-light district.
Picture

The Red light area near our prayer room

We now have a full time team based in the red-light area and weekly outreaches into the bars. Last week we started our first discipleship group for these women and it was so beautiful. Our dream is one day to see a church established here but for now we praise God for this group! 
Picture

The near-by riverside outreach

We are also seeing increased fruit from our kid's club in this same area and some of our kids have asked to receive Jesus which is impacting their whole families. It's beautiful to see how whole families are now listening together to the audio bibles that we have given them.
Picture

Our team were recently blessed to have a visit from Sharon and Hannah who both encouraged us greatly!

We are continually astounded at Jesus' constant faithfulness and goodness over here, even in spite of ourselves and our own imperfections, He is more than capable! He alone deserves the glory!
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." 1 Corinthians 3:7
We also give God praise and thanks for yourselves and your co-labouring in loving and serving His beautiful people here. Every prayer, every encouragement and every financial seed sown in makes a huge difference. We dearly appreciate you all and thank God for you!
Please pray with us for: Our Team : We have grown significantly and appreciate prayers for unity and good communication. Please pray covering over us as we continue to work in some of the darkest parts of the city. In 2 weeks we are all heading to Malaysia for an Iris Family gathering with bases from all around the world. For many of our team its the first time out the country so please pray for us!

Our Family: That our marriage and our kids and our health would thrive here ! Especially praying for healing for Steve's current dietary intolerances which cause regular health problems.

Ministry provision: We are growing so fast and the needs are so huge please join us in praying favour for us as an organisation for funding and resources that we need as we grow. In the troubles of 2020 we lost all of our child sponsors and so we are praying for more child sponsorships to help support the continued work in the communities that we serve. (We are looking for people to be advocates for this so if you have a heart to share about the Stop for the One child sponsorship programme in your church do this please get in touch! We have some simple resources we can share with you)

Lives transformed: As we are expanding our discipleship groups and looking more at church planting please pray that all those who would attend would continue to encounter God and grow in faith ! That we would be able to steward these precious people well and keep pointing them to Jesus. The author and perfector.

​(We have a more regularly updating prayer group on signal messenger. If you are interested in joining it​ please click here.)
 Much love in Jesus from us all here!
Published on
At the beginning of the year our team strongly felt these verses from Isaiah 43 highlighted to us. So far they have been very accurate! There are some exciting new things springing forth!

​We have decided to use photos with a short caption below each one (rather than writing a long wordy post). There are also some prayer requests written below. Thank you for journeying with us!
"Do not remember the former things,
​Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
​Shall you not know it?
I will even make a
road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19
Picture

We were able to continue the adult discipleship group in the new community that contains 2000+ unreached families.

Picture

We also started a new kids club in this community.

Picture

We were blessed to have some very encouraging visitors come and share with us.

Picture

Our dear friends and former team members also came and really encouraged us and our team.

Picture

At the end of March we were blessed to be able to host a team from Bethel in Redding, California.

Picture

The first night the bethel team were here we helped to arrange an evening to encourage the local leaders and missionaries serving here. Many were blessed and refreshed and there were many healings .

Picture

The whole week they joined our regular programmes and outreaches then afterwards we went on a special outreach to the province (Cambodian countryside). We did some house visits to pray for and share the gospel with people on the first afternoon. Below is a video about one of the many miracles that happened during that outreach. (Including a connection that goes back over 10 years!)

Picture

This is a picture from the gospel outreach in the evening. Many came and heard the goodnews. People received healing and gave their lives to Jesus.

Picture

We also did antitrafficking education and a gospel presentation to over 280 of the children in this village. Sharing the power of the name of Jesus over the darkness.

Picture

They did a special gospel presentation in the form of a play about the power of Jesus over the darkness the children were really impacted!

Picture

On the last day of the province outreach we baptised 5 people and it was an incredible time of Joy and blessing.

Picture

We thank God that our family has settled in well. This is a picture of Abigail enjoying a stroll on our street to go and see the nearby chickens.

Picture

Grace recently did a Khmer traditional dance performance with her dance class in her school assembly and did a great job!

Picture

In hospital for more tests. Steve was unwell for most of April and we couldn't figure out what it was. We had tests for Dengue and Typhoid come back negative but then Holy Spirit told Steve in a dream what it was (it turns out he had Legionnaires' disease). We were then able to get the right antibiotics course and Steve eventually made a full recovery. God is so faithful!

Picture

Our team has a total of three discipleship bible study groups that meet weekly. One of them meets at our house and it has been really fun hosting and trying to guide the group using Steve's limited but improving Cambodian language skills!

Picture

We also celebrated Grace's 8th Birthday in March and Benjy's 6th birthday in May!

Picture

Another exciting recent development is that our team recently opened a place of prayer and worship in the heart of the red light district in Phnom Penh!

Picture

We have had prophetic words about this area of the city for over 10 years and recently we felt the Lord saying that the time is now! We recently hosted a prayer and worship evening with friends from other organisations and all came to worship Jesus together and pray for this area. It was a beautiful night of encounter and hope and felt like the start of something.

Picture

At the end of May a few of us returned to the village that we had visited in March when the Bethel Team was here. We were able to minister to the church, we held an afternoon session that was originally intended for the church leaders, but most of the church wanted to join for this as well!

Picture

It was so beautiful to see their hunger to learn more and their love for fellowship together. We also checked in on some families who we visited and had given audio bibles to last time. Most of them talked about how they listen to them every day and how the audio bible really encourages them and gives them strength!

Picture
We are blessed to be able to visit the UK for a few weeks in June before we fly to Canada to be a part of Steve's brother's wedding. It will be a short visit but we are looking forward to reconnecting with some family and friends!

We will be sharing at our local church in NE Lincs on June 25 and at the church of some other good friend's in Highworth, Wiltshire on July 16 (on our return through the UK after getting back from Canada). 

We are so thankful for all of you for journeying alongside us as we serve Jesus and the people of Cambodia together with you. It is a beautiful thing to watch as the Lord makes a "way in the wilderness and Streams in the Desert".
Please pray with us for:
-Blessings and protection over the team here in Cambodia.
-Favour with government connections and for administrative eases. There have been some recent struggles with some administrative/ registration processes and pray with us for favour and great connections with the government.
-All the new believers, new disciple groups and new connections in Jesus. That they would continue to grow in their faith and remain steadfast!
-Increase in all areas, including financial provision, as God is increasing the "New Things" that He is doing here we know and believe that He will provide for it. Please pray with us for the protection and fulfilment of that.
-For safe travels, no sickness, a good time of connection with friends and family and that my brother would have a really blessed wedding! 
-Continued protection and health over our family as we serve Jesus out here. 
-We have a more regularly updating prayer group on signal messenger. If you are interested in joining it please click here.

Sending all our love from Cambodia!
Published on
Jesus has been doing some wonderful things over the last few months. There are lots of testimonies and many things to be thankful for. We have included some pictures below with some text briefly describing each one (hover your mouse over/ click on the images below to see each description):
Thank you so much for praying along side us, giving support and being such a huge encouragement! You are a part of this work also and contributing to the victory with every prayer, gift and encouragement that you bring.

(All of the above testimonies and prayer requests above were shared in our Signal Messenger update prayer group and is a more regular way to stay updated from us and receive our prayer requests click this link if you are interested in joining it ).
Please pray with us for:
  • Health in our whole team and our leadership team, we have been experiencing some challenges.
  • Wisdom in leading and clear understanding of God's will, there are lots of exciting things ahead but also lots of big decisions please pray with us for clear discernment and wisdom.
  • We are dreaming of finding a property on the riverside we so can expand what we do in this area, there have been years and years of prophetic words about this. 
  • Now our co-leaders are back from a break in the USA we can share the responsibilities between ourselves more and we have a strong desire to go after language learning and really invest this next year to become fluent enough to disciple and teach without the need for an interpreter. Pray for lots of grace and discipline in this essential area too!
  • Pray for our discipleship groups, there has been lots of fruit already, please pray protection over the new believers and that the groups will continue to grow with an increase from the Lord and they will continue to impact their communities.
  • Wisdom in work-life balance, it's very easy to get very busy here and we don't want that to be at the cost of being able to love our family and kids well. We are in this for the long haul! Please pray with us for lots of wisdom and grace in that.
Published on
Picture
We are so thankful to be back in the kingdom of wonder and we have so much anticipation for all that will happen here. We arrived just over 2 months ago and it feels like so much longer ! We hit the ground running as the kids started their school straight away and so our first few weeks we focused on getting them settled in. They are really happy and well loved by their new friends and teachers. We also spent the first month or so getting out house straight and adjusting back into a city that has changed so much in the five years that we have been away!
Picture
God really went before us and while we were in the UK a dear friend and someone who served with us before in Cambodia felt God ask her to give us all her furniture. This was an incredibly generous gift and helped so much as we weren’t starting from scratch. Now everyday I am reminded of Gods provision as I see all my friend’s beautiful things around me!
Picture
We have really loved reuniting with our old team mates and meeting the new ones. Every Monday we have “family time”, a time of prayer and worship with our team and it has been really special! We are really thankful for each of our team members! 

​We are looking forward and planning to connect with our team on even deeper levels and we truly believe the more unity and love in our team the greater the impact we can have. We have so much belief and confidence in each of our Cambodian team and we long to help champion and serve them in anyway we can.​
Picture
Picture
Picture
We have started going more consistently to the projects and outreaches we are involved with. It is in this times of outreaches we feel so full of Gods pleasure! I remember over 10 years ago Jesus gave me a picture of finding Him in the slums and on the Riverside/Red light area. It is something I always things about when I am in those locations and surrounded by such hopelessness, poverty and lack; I remember His promise to me that He is right there and as soon as I fix my eyes on Him again I watch as He moves on our kids and our families in awe and wonder. Everytime we go out on outreaches people are always hungry for prayer and a touch of God and its been wonderful to see people be healed and touched by His presence (see the little slide show below for some more testimonies during these outreaches and some other praise reports!)
Grace and Benjy love their new school and have settled in so well (considering the fact the new school year started only about 2 weeks after their UK school year finished!)
They also love their new home and neighbourhood which is a great mix of Cambodians and Internationals. They have lots of friends to play with!
This is one of our outreaches. These kids who spend most of their time on the street get a chance to join our team and play and learn about Jesus and how to keep safe
On one outreach this man came over and got out a US silver dollar coin and asked if it had any value. Then Steve got to tell him about the parable of the lost silver coin, how it had great value, how it couldn't find itself and how the owner rejoiced greatly when what was lost was found. He let us pray with him and seemed to be touched.
A different time this lady after seeing us pray for someone else and the difference it made asked us to pray for her. She had terrible depression to the point she came from the countryside to Phnom Penh to get treatment. I asked the kids to pray with me and lay on their hands too. After prayer she said she felt better. (The kids got to see that Jesus can work through them too.)
During worship the presence of God was so sweet the kids just rested and soaked in his presence enjoying the moment.
This lady sought us out and asked us to pray for the pain in her chest. After we prayed she said the pain left and we got to share with her about Him who heals and is still alive today.
After over 5 years without seeing them It was beautiful to reconnect with our Cambodian family (who we had lived with briefly and became very close to). It was precious being able to visit them and catch up. When we first arrived they all ran to the entrance of the village to meet us.
Jesus has provided incredibly in this season of transition to a new place and all of the start up costs involved. Through the generous support of others He has met every need and we are so thankful!
We had the opportunity during the holidays here to go visit our old hometown on the coast. We lived there for two years in between living in Phnom Penh. It has changed beyond recognition, which was a little sad. However the people we love there and the communities we worked with were just the same and it was incredible to be reunited with them. ​​​
After returning back we had a worried mum call our team about her daughter and another girl (15 & 17 years old) that had been trafficked to a massage parlour in this town on the coast and were trapped and not allowed to leave.

​So our amazing team and some friends down there pursued the rescue of these girls. The work they did plus the miraculous answer to prayers from all around the world led to the girls getting released and sent home after only a few hours! God is so faithful ! ​
Picture
Moving across continents to a land where you can understand only some of the language (it’s slowly coming back) and where everything is so different (it’s very hot all the time), with 3 young children and so much to learn it has honestly felt very vulnerable. I have certainly been confronted with my weakness and my humanity many times. There have been so many times I have wanted to complain; complain about the heat, the smell, my discomfort, my inability to do the things in the way I want to, my inability to solve all the need around me … the constant sweating …the trash that is everywhere…. But its at those times I have realised its an invitation for me to tap into the greater reality of the kingdom and the joy that comes from thankfulness and praise. It’s been really cool to see how my years at Bethel have had such an impact on the way I see situations and the hope that rises up in me when its hard. I am learning how to see beauty in the midst of the mess.
Picture
We have been so blessed by the kindness of our community here and especially our co-directors Jillian and Mitch and Sdam ; they have loved us so well in so many practical ways. We are sometimes feeling the great loss of not being close to our families here but we know God does provide everything we need and is bringing us people who can journey with us in Cambodia. ​
We want to thank you all for being such a support to us ! We feel so held and covered by such an incredible group of people. We couldn’t do this without you guys ! He is worthy of it all.
Please pray with us for:
  • Ability to master the language, to relearn and then improve to an even greater level so we can really love these people well.
  • Our kids, as we start to consider bringing them out on some of the outreaches with us, that God would teach them but also use them to bring His light and love to this place.
  • Protection over the kids and families that we work with (some of them love in very vulnerable circumstances).
  • Justice in situations where fear is holding some kids back from testifying about some of the things that are happening to them.
  • Jillian and Mitch as they are back in the States getting some rest and representing Iris Phnom Penh over there, for heavens abundant provision for the organisation and all that God has for this team.
  • There are lots of exciting things ahead and lots of things have been prophesied (even at a very recent Iris Global leaders meeting) please pray with us all for wisdom and dependence on Jesus as we follow Him into all that's ahead.
  • Calling all who want to more actively contend in prayer for Jesus’ Kingdom increase on the earth we are making a WhatsApp group (it’s actually on signal messenger - ​click here for more info). 
Thank you all so much for all of your love and support and prayers.

All our love from over here,

Mollie, Steve, Gracie, Benjy and baby Abigail
Published on
Picture
Highlights - We thank Jesus that:
  • Flights are booked for Cambodia (we set off at the beginning of August!)
  • Brain scans came back all clear!
  • Steve no longer has issues with fatigue (we found out the cause and resolved it).
  • We are blessed and privileged to be being sent out as Bethel missionaries as well as Iris global missionaries!
  • We so far have about 75% of our monthly living costs covered! (From individual gifts, pledges and two amazing local church communities; Highworth Community Church and NE Lincs City Church).
  • We will be serving back with our original team who are now called Iris Phnom Penh.
  • God has refreshed our vision and built an exciting leadership team for all that is ahead in Cambodia and beyond!
Jesus is faithful, we say it a lot, but time and time again when there has been many reasons to doubt and question God, in the end He has shown himself strong and completely trustworthy.
​
It turned out us staying an extra 6+ months instead of heading straight to Cambodia in January was in God’s plan all along. Even though the required brain scans that caused the delay were necessary, they came back all clear eventually.

​In the meantime we found out the underlying cause of my (Steve’s) fatigue. A close family member suggested I had a food tolerance test (a simple blood test) and the results came back that I was intolerant to wheat, cows milk, coffee(!) and some other things. As soon as we cut those things out of my diet I had full 100% energy again. Energy levels I haven’t had in about 7 years!
Picture
Not only did the extra time bring clarity on my health but it also enabled us to make an extra trip back to Redding, California to get the rest of our stuff, see some close friends and have time in a place that is very special to our hearts.

​Jesus used this time to do some things that absolutely astounded us and powerfully ministered to our hearts (click here to watch a video we recorded with bethel while we were out there). Not only did He hugely minister to us but He also impacted our kids. Particularly our oldest child Grace who one night -while she was praying - Jesus walked into her room, told her He loved her, as He said that -she said she, “felt lightning going through her body”. She seemed so impacted after that moment she wanted to tell everyone!
Picture
This once again reminds us that we can not only trust Jesus with our very lives and destiny in Him, but we can also trust Him with the precious hearts of our children as we transition to a completely new place with Him in this chapters ahead.

​We have booked flights to fly to Cambodia at the beginning of August and are so excited for the things that Jesus has planned!
​Please join us in praying for:
  • The next few weeks as we plan and prepare for move back to Cambodia
  • The kids’ hearts as they settle in a new continent with a completely different climate, a new house and school.
  • The full measure of finances for our monthly living costs to come in.
  • Our family (here in the UK) their hearts (and health) as we get ready to move across the world.
  • Wisdom as we make arrangements for housing, transportation and other startup costs in a new place.
  • For the team in Cambodia who are awaiting our arrival. (The whole team and especially our co-leaders have been doing an absolutely amazing job putting some very special foundations in place. We are so thankful for them! Please pray for them all!)
***Calling all who want to more actively contend for Jesus’ Kingdom increase on the earth***
we are making a WhatsApp group (it’s actually on signal messenger -
​click here for more info). 
THANK YOU SO MUCH​!!! - TO EVERYONE OF YOU WHO HAS SUPPORTED, ENCOURAGED, PRAYED FOR US AND WHO STANDS ALONGSIDE US ! WE COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU ALL ! YOU ARE A HUGE PART OF THIS JOURNEY AND WE THANK GOD FOR YOU!