Former Cambodia Missionary Dies

Rev. Joseph Paul Ellison, former missionary to Cambodia and Vietnam, entered into the presence of the Lord on Wednesday, November 12, 2008, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was 79. 
 
As a child of Alliance missionaries, Paul spent most of his younger years in Cambodia and saw the need of lost people at a young age. Paul met Vivian Eunice Hamilton at Missionary Training Institute in Nyack, New York, and they graduated in 1950 and 1948 respectively. Paul also received his bachelor of science degree from Houghton College.  
 
Paul and Eunice were married in 1951 in Ottawa, Ontario, and served for two years in the Grace Gospel Church of the C&MA in Bound Brook, New Jersey. They were appointed as Alliance missionaries and sailed with their daughter, Elaine, for Cambodia in 1954. During their ministry in Cambodia, Paul assisted with translation as well as with teaching in the Bible school, evangelistic services and church planting. Their sons, David and Robert were born during this time.  
 
Due to the fall of Indo-China to Communism in 1965, the Cambodian government declined to renew resident visas, forcing missionaries to leave the country. Because of this restriction, the Ellisons transferred to the work in South Vietnam, ministering to its Cambodian-speaking citizens. Despite losing their daughter Linda to encephalitis in 1968, the Ellisons pressed on the ministry. In 1975 they were reassigned to the Philippines to work in Manila with the Far East Broadcasting Company and daily transmitted the gospel in Cambodian to Southeast Asia. Paul also worked on printing and distributing a monthly letter to Christian Cambodian refugees in the United States. In 1980, the Ellisons began work with Specialized Ministries for Cambodian Alliance Ministries in Whittier, California. 
 
A funeral service will be held Tuesday, November 18, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. at Chapel Pointe in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Rev. Joe Kong, director for Intercultural Ministries, will represent The Christian and Missionary Alliance at the service.

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