Excitement twinged with nerves...

We have got to that stage where people are saying to us, “Are you still here?” We do apologise for still being here and yes we are here until the 23rd November when we fly to Liberia. The other comment we hear a lot is “You must be really excited!” Well, yes we are, but the excitement is tinged with nervousness... Have we packed the right things? Have we got the right documents? Will our old and decrepit bodies adapt to the heat and humidity? Is it possible to sweat in a ladylike way? (Jenny’s problem!) Can we do the job? (both of our problems!) But we always come back to the fact that this is God’s work we are embarking on, and all things are possible in His strength.


It has been really good to spend time with our family over the past few weeks, putting the world to rights, chilling over a good meal and saying our farewells. Six months ago we did not realise how difficult it would be to say goodbye to close friends, and we hope to stay closely in touch with you all

If you want to know a bit more about the background of Liberia, Jenny has just finished reading an excellent book called “The House at Sugar Beach” by Helene Cooper. It gives a fascinating insight into the lives of Liberians and some of the recent history. Well worth a read…

Finally… Anybody know how to get six suitcases and two adults down to Heathrow for 2 pm on 23rd November? Any suggestions/offers of help welcome.

We Have a Date

We are now back in the UK and are officially nomads. If you find us wandering the streets, please take us home for a hot meal and a bath! Actually, we are being very well looked after by Jenny's Mum and friends from church and will be visiting around the UK to say our various goodbyes.

We have booked our tickets and we hope to be flying to Monrovia, Liberia on the 23rd November. It feels great to know that we are finally on our way after so  much preparation. We just want to say a big thank you to all those who are supporting us.

Moving on

Several months ago, when we decided to go to Liberia, moving out of our house seemed a small task! How wrong could we be!! After 20 years of living in one place and collected endless clutter (let me tell you, teachers are extremely talented at collecting useful clutter!) we have finally moved out. The attic is now groaning with the boxes of stuff we are storing for the future and we have bought a 20 foot container which is on a friends local farm and is now jam packed full of our furniture.  We spent the last week living on a mattress on the floor and a couple of picnic chairs in the main room while we finished painting and cleaning. Our tenants moved in on 8th October and we are now officially nomads. We are staying between relatives, mostly Jenny's mum and good friends from our church, who have a holiday cottage that they let out.

At present we are in the States. We have spent the last 4 days at Charlotte, N. Carolina at SIM International Headquarters. We have had a fantastic time meeting up with some wonderful folk who have worked in Liberia for many years. They told us many of their stories of  how they built the radio station and started the hospital to how they survived the war and their evacuations.

Lunch at SIM USA Headquarters in Charlotte with some of those who have served with SIM in Liberia in the past.

We have listened to some extremely good advice and our brains are now stuffed to capacity with information and we are eager to get to Liberia now and begin our own work.

Before we go though we are saying our goodbyes to family and friends which is a fun but also painful time. We are here at the moment in New York spending time with Matt and Jo and our beautiful granddaughter, Beatrice, and will be home again on 18th October.

Powerpoint presentation on what we are hoping to do in Liberia.

This is a slightly edited version of the presentation we have been using to show to supporters and those interested in what we are hoping to do in Liberia. Hope it gives you a bit more of an idea of what we are going to do. Will and Jenny Elphick's Liberia Presentation

Progress so far...

We have half the financial support we need to get us out to Liberia and we are very thankful to those who have agreed to support us. We need to raise an additional £1200/month. Do you feel able to be a partner in our work and commit to a monthly donation?

Here are the details…

We need to raise money for our flights, rent, support services from SIM, pensions, food and living costs, medical insurance and yes, evacuation insurance too - hoping the last one is not needed…! We’ve always wanted to ride in a hellicopter but a trip over Niagara falls may be more fun than an emergency evacuation out of Liberia.

Although the rent from our house,and the generosity of our church will go some way to our target figure of £2300/month, we still have a lot to raise. It may be helpful to break it down and see what sort of possible combination of donations are needed.

If… 

2 people give £100 a month

9 people give £50 a month

20 people give £10 a month

25 people give £5 a month

And with 25% received in Gift Aid from refunded taxes, we are off to Liberia! If you want a ‘Standing Order Form’ this is the address to go to www.sim.co.uk/sof or donate online at www.sim.co.uk/donate.

No matter how small or large your donation is, we would be delighted for you to join our team of supporters. You will become an important, indeed essential part of the team as we do this work in Liberia. We will keep you informed of our successes and failures; hopefully not too many of the latter, and we can assure you that you will be truly valued.

Someone said to us recently, if God wants you to go to Liberia, he isn’t going to send you without the finance to do the job and we know in our head this is true. We just need to trust Him “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” Phil 4:19

We are really excited about our future but there are moments of nerves and the hardest part of our preparation is the fund-raising. It doesn’t come naturally to ask for money and we have to remind ourselves that is it all part of God’s plan. He wants people to be involved in His work in Liberia through prayer and financial giving.

Presentation on "What we are going to be doing in Liberia"

We are doing a presentation on what we are going to be doing in Liberia at Stonham Baptist Church, Little Stonham (on the A140) on 7th June at 7.45. We would love to see anyone who is able to come along. We will put the presentation on our blog afterwards...

Wet Saturday Afternoon

As Will has mentioned we are busy sorting the house out ready to rent it out and as is often the way when you start painting one wall the next looks like it needs a good lick of paint too. So after a few visits to the DIY store we have begun the task. Will is better with the roller and I with a paint brush but in all honesty I don't think anyone would employ us!

I realise that we are in a process of transition and as the time goes by it is interesting to experience a growing sense of removal from our daily work-lives. Parts of my responsibility are already being handed on to others and there are moments when I feel quite detached as meetings are held at my school to discuss the appointment of the next headteacher. Meetings to which I am not to play a part. I am however praying for a great replacement as is Will for his role at SIM.

I am conscious that many of the young people with whom we will come in contact in Liberia have been through very difficult times. They have experienced 14 years of civil war and for many this will have been the majority of their life. Many were used as child soldiers and saw things happen in their lives that no-one should ever have to see! The murder of family members or the abduction of siblings. This must have lead to many young lives being traumatised. In a small effort to try to understand and be prepared, I have signed up for a set of seminars on Resilience which deal with how emotions effect learning and personality and how to deal with young people who have been traumatised.

Here is a video from YouTube that gives an insight into the lives of girl soldiers from Liberia. It breaks your heart!