Katherine Parker in Nepal

Merry Christmas friends! This is not a traditional holiday season in Cambodia, but I have been enjoying a few gatherings around Phnom Penh in preparation for Christmas including lessons and carols last night. It is however, the rice harvesting season. Tomorrow I will head up to Kampong Thom, a region that was hit hard by the storms this season and lost much of its crop for this year. The Methodist Church is involved, together with many others, to continue to distribute rice to those affected. Alongside this, the CHAD program continues to work for increased food-security through the formation of cooperative rice banks. I will get to celebrate with the formation of two new groups in the Kampong Thom region. My hope is renewed by the promise of Emmanuel, that God is and will be with us as we work with each other. peace, Katherine

from Martha Parker, Individual Volunteer in Mission I don't know how this really happened. I only know that when I prayed with a young girl in Cambodia, the prayer was answered. I would like to tell the story from my point of view. My daughter Katherine Parker is a missionary in Cambodia working to improve the lives of the poor. I am a community health nurse in California, serving the elementary schools of Mill Valley, my home community. The schools have a long break during the summer and I volunteered through the UMVIM program of our church ("United Methodist Volunteers in Mission"). I raised money for my expenses and to provide funds to carry out the work of the CHAD program within which Katherine works. "CHAD" stands for community health and agricultural development. While in Cambodia, Katherine and I visited a newly formed congregation in rural Kompong Chhang province. At the end of the Sunday worship service, the pastor told us that one of the families that...

Last week I served as a Conference Secretary for the First Annual Session of the Methodist Mission Conference in Cambodia. It has been a busy month as my assistant Vannak and I put together the "Conference Book" of reports and I worked together with Pastor Var Borom to take minutes of the Conference. It is incredibly exciting to be part of the church in Cambodia during these formative stages. During Conference, the Implementing Board shared a vision based on Isaiah 54:2 of "Expanding God's Kingdom in Cambodia" and shared our goal of establishing an autonomous structure for the People called Methodists in Cambodia. These are goals laid out for how to establish an autonomous (not independent) church: self-governing, self-propagating, self-supporting and self-theologizing. This year was a milestone as we previously were organized as a "meeting" and now we have met for the first time as a "mission conference." There were many exciting reports at ...

From your missionary in Cambodia, Katherine. To the children, youth and adults of the church in Bakersfield that gather this week for Vacation Church School: Grace to you and peace. “I always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in my prayers, constantly remembering before our God your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For I know, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, that God has chosen you… And you have become imitators of Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 6a NRSV) I hear that you are learning about Caring for God’s Creatures this year. In Genesis, we learn that God wants us to care for God’s creatures in the same way that God cares for us. And so, I write to you again this year in the style of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians to remind you of the words from Isaiah that “The Lord is the everlasting God; God created all the world. God never grows tired or weary.” (Isaiah 40:28b NRSV) Here in Cambodi...

This summer I have made a commitment to visit two churches in Kampong Chhnang (Solang Kandal and Methodist Amen) every other Sunday and lead a Bible study on "Mobilizing the Church." This is one of the core curriculum models being used by the CHAD team to help churches organize a local social concerns committee that can plan and implement community development activities. Last week at Solang Kandal, we studied the Good Samaritan story (Luke 10:25-37) and talked about “who is my neighbor.” It was a challenging lesson, and the class worked really hard at thinking about what it means to love your neighbor. Alcoholism is a huge problem in Cambodia, and Solang Kandal is no exception. During rounds last week, while my mom was volunteering at Center of Hope Hospital (a free hospital for the poor in Phnom Penh), she observed 3 of the 12 beds had folks in their 30s dying of liver failure. At a previous meeting at Solang Kandal, we prayed for a young man that wanted to come to Phnom Pe...

On Tuesday, my sister Janet, Piseth, Irene and I went down to Kantebopa Children's Hospital to donate blood. In order to get a transfusion, the family of the patient has to supply donations of blood equal to what is transfused. When school is in session, CHAD facilitates students at the Methodist Bible School to volunteer to help needy families. You can read more about the young boy that CHAD has been helping to get quarterly transfusions in a story by Irene . There is also a story by a volunteer from the recent UMVIM Medical Team from Colorado. Thanks to the whole team! You can continue to support medical welfare for children and those in Kratie with a donation. It has been great to have my sister Janet volunteering here for the last month. We've been working with the small-business development at Mau Bourn's church, and following up on some of the recommendations in the mid-term evaluation of the CHAD program by our partners in the Methodist Church in Finland. thank...

This is a special year when Easter coincides with the three day Khmer New Year festival. It will be quite a celebration. The rains are just starting to bless us with some cooling in the early evenings. In Cambodia we call this time of year when the rains return as the New Year because it marks that the time to begin growing rice is here. Farmers are out harrowing the fields and those with some irrigation are already starting to flood the paddies with the little remaining water in the ponds. Community Health and Agricultural Development (CHAD) just had a major evaluation with our partners from the Methodist Church in Finland. Lots of good feedback! A new story about prison outreach ministry is available. Thanks for reading. Thanks, also, for your continued support through prayers, visits and financial contributions . Happy Khmer New Year! Happy Passover! and Happy Easter! Katherine

Last time I was home in California, one of my partner churches in Bakersfield gave me two suitcases of health kits prepared by the VBS kids to bring back to Cambodia. During a recent visit to Kompong Chhnang for a Medical Outreach Clinic, I shared the kits with Rev. Ean Hun and his wife Pastor Sophean. They were very pleased to receive them in support of the prison outreach ministry of the church in Kompong Chhnang. They shared a few stories with me about the significance of this ministry. The prison in Kompong Chhnang has 280 men in terrible conditions. Rev. Hun said that the men have to sleep in two-hour shifts because there is a shortage of beds. There is also a shortage of food, resulting in swollen bellies and a prevalence of itchy skin rashes due to insufficient soap and hygiene supplies. Rev. Hun has been visiting the prisoners, and, when available, bringing food (basically only men who have relatives who visit have food to eat), soap and detergent for washing clothes. He has be...

Christianity only became legal again in Cambodia in 1992, but I have never really focused on persecution faced by folks that choose into this new faith. I was visiting a church this Sunday to give them encouragement and we were talking about reaching out and visiting the lowest people in their community (a difficult discussion for me, personally, to be having with folks who are very poor farmers themselves to start with). I asked if there were any AIDS patients in their village, and if people looked down on them as shameful. They said, yes, and that they had been visiting them. But then they went on to tell me that actually, some AIDS patients looked down on Christians. I was really shocked because it gave me some perspective as to the persecution that Christians here face. Thank you for your continued prayers and notes of encouragement, it means a lot to me and it means a lot to folks in Cambodia when I can share with them that they are not alone in these struggles. Thank you al...

I am almost finished with Book Two for learning reading and writing in Khmer, so my teacher asked me last week about what I wanted to study next. Basically, she told me that I am doing fine with reading and writing, but my conversation skills are lagging behind. This is understandable since I work in an English language office and always travel with a translator when I go to the field. Last weekend, I took a plunge and decided to travel to the province of Kampong Chhnang by myself. On Saturday, I visited the church of Lun Sokom. About a year ago, they started a saving group in the church. The 20 members of the group (both Christians and non-), each save 1000 reil ($.25) every month. They have also been giving out small loans of about $15-25 to the members (repayable in three months). Three members took loans last year in order to buy feed to start raising chickens. They pay 3% interest. According to an earlier plan, they would start the savings group and after they demonstrated its suc...

February is "rodou broamg" (dry season), which is also the wedding season since the rice harvest finished in January. So, in a country where the majority of people are under 30, you can imagine how busy (and joyful) this season is. I see at least 2 or 3 ceremonies taking place every day no matter what part of the country I am visiting. Here in the Community Health & Agricultural Development (CHAD) program, we continue on! We have almost finished the Theology of Development training for the pastors in Battambong and are investigating which district to target next. Good Samaritan Health Training is going in the Kandal district, and Local Social Concerns Committees are being organized in Svay Reine and Kompong Thom districts. The recent result of all of these trainings? 2 new rice banks, a savings & credit group and a water distribution system for an arsenic-contamination prone region. You can support this work with your donation . with love & gratitude, Kather...

From time to time, I meet someone for the first time, but I know them instantly because the ripple effects of their ministry in the world have been hitting me for a long time. Pastor Sophean, the wife of Rev. Ean Hun, is one such person. Pastor Sophean came from humble beginnings. I don’t know much of her story, only that she had to stop school at just second grade. I can’t tell you when or how she became a Christian, only that she did. But when that happened, her passion and desire to know God’s Word was so great that at the age of 35, with the help of her family, she learned to read. A woman with formal education only up to the second grade was inspired and empowered. To look at her ministry now, you would never guess her background. She brings a fervor and passion to prayer that is unique. She led the opening worship service on the second day of our medical mission clinic with Louisiana UMVIM at Chrolongkok Church. Even our volunteers from the US commented to me later that they coul...

It is a blessing for me to have the opportunity to work in Cambodia. There are so many compassionate folks who are interested in helping with the work here. We are sustained by the prayers of many people around the world. And the financial support is what allows us to continue to serve folks. I have also come to appreciate the provocative questions that folks ask me. Especially when they challenge the approach we take. This kind of dialogue really helps me to analyze how we engage in this ministry and how we could do better. Lots of folks have asked how they can be in partnership with us here. There are lots of ways, especially the prayers, financial support, and questions. However, sometimes folks would like a project they can do in their home congregation. Projects are great because they can be used as an activity to engage a group of folks in your congregation and serve as a learning experience for how and why we are in mission. For this reason, my colleagues and I here in Cambodia ...

Some exciting news! The MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the MOH (Ministry of Health) for CHAD (Community Health and Agricultural Development) was finally signed this week. This is great news as it will allow us to accept volunteer medical teams to come and work in Cambodia with much less hassle than before. Irene (our community health nurse/missionary from Zimbabwe) has done all of the hard work getting this through, and I have learned a lot about government relations watching her work. You can support our health-care ministry with a financial contribution . In the Cambodia Daily this morning was a reprint of a New York Times opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof called Where Sweatshops are a Dream . If you didn't catch this or some of his earlier pieces on sex-trafficking in Cambodia, I highly recommend them. One of my fellow missionaries, Clara from Bangladesh, is working to help provide enrichment programing at an orphanage that is working with the population that Kristo...

Sam Oeurn, assistant pastor from Spien Church, stopped by our office today to share about his new business. He has just purchased a school he named LTS (Language and Technology School). He wanted to know if we would come and participate in the ceremony to welcome students for the new semester. It was a novel request for me, but as Oeurn shared more about his vision for his church and for Cambodia it became clear. Oeurn's dream is three fold: 1) that folks will have the knowledge for a better life, 2) that folks will have the resources to accomplish their dreams, and 3) that the church will have good leadership. It is big investment for Oeurn, a young man in his 30s, to buy and run this 10-teacher school with 250 students. (There have been 50 new students in the last month since he took over operations!) I know that he prayed a lot before taking this step. But I understand that his vision is big and that he doesn't see this as running just another school in Cambodia. He sees it...