Last year our new International Seek Facilitator, Oscar Suárez, joined Mennonite Central Committee General Orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania. I’ve been meaning to share Oscar’s section from a MCC article about some of the people from around the world joined orientation. Please find it below and read the full article on the MCC website. Whether through…
What are we working on now?
As we come into 2025 I thought I’d write a quick overview of our main projects in Cambodia. There are also short term projects and collaborative work with peer organizations, but these are our main ongoing projects. In most countries around the world, Mennonite Central Committee works by accompanying local partners so I’ll outline our…
Anabaptism Began Five Hundred Years Ago
Five hundred years ago today a group of young believers gathered in the home of Anna Manz in Zurich, Switzerland. During the meeting Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock who then baptized the others. The attendants had been baptized as infants and their decision to be re-baptized as adults was a radical and illegal act that…
Cambodia Elephant Sanctuary
This December Crystal’s sister, Emily, is here visiting us in Cambodia. Last week we took her up to Siem Reap province and while we were there we visited the Cambodia Elephant Sanctuary. This is the smaller of the two Elephant sanctuaries in Siem Reap. Both sanctuaries are for rescued elephants who were used for labor…
The Discipline of Bible Reading
Last year, when I gave my testimony to the Seek cohort, I noted that reading the Bible from cover to cover, over and over again, was a spiritual discipline that I learned from a young age. This caught Charlotte’s attention and she decided that she was old enough to read the entire Bible. So most…
Goel Community
One of our SALT participants this year is living with a member of Goel Community in Phnom Penh. Goel Community is a fair trade artisan’s association that specializes in handwoven, naturally-dyed textile fabrics. Last week Goel Community hosted their annual Christmas Fair and it reminded me a little of Gift Festival at Fairfield Mennonite. So…
Article: The United Nations is a Mission Field
The Mennonite Central Committee Representative to the United Nations, Chris Rice, recently wrote an article for Christianity Today about his work titled “The United Nations is a Mission Field.” We’ve greatly appreciated working with Chris particularly during the coup in Myanmar. He was very active in connecting the voices of communities on the ground to…
Reflections on Political Violence
The 48 hours around my birthday were intense this year. In Myanmar, there were widespread non-violent demonstrations and general labor strikes protesting the February 2021 coup d’état. The military junta responded with brutal force. They turned guns and grenades against the peaceful protests. They forced Doctors and Teachers to go to work at gunpoint. Doctors…
CCA Conference on Myanmar
Last month, the Christian Conference of Asia held a four-day international conference on Myanmar. There were 57 participants representing various ecumenical groups, Christian organizations, NGOs, universities, government agencies, and so on. I represented Mennonite Central Committee at the conference and moderated a couple of sessions. The goal of the conference was to develop a communique…
Thanksgiving 2024
We had a wonderful time hosting American Thanksgiving here in Phnom Penh. It was a time of good food, fellowship, and discussion. Altogether our guests represented ten nationalities. We invited the SALT and YAMEN participants. Our service workers. Friends of ours and friends of MCC. And some of the Cambodians on our team. After meal…