Katherine Parker in Nepal

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...