2024 Prison Fellowship Cambodia Annual Conference

We’re aware of three organizations working in prisons in Cambodia. Two of the three – Peace Bridges and Khmer Vulnerability Aid Organization – are already current MCC partners, Prison Fellowship Cambodia is the other. I’ve been wanting to connect with Prison Fellowship to see if we could work towards a partnership with them too but…

What’s that Tower with a Ball on top?

An open air sewage canal empties into the Boeng Trabek lake near the MCC office in Phnom Penh. Across the waters, you can see a strange tower with a ball on top standing in the near distance. This tower is slowly being swallowed by new construction and doesn’t stand out like it once did. This…

Seek – Sreyhem’s Life Story and Testimony

On Friday, Sreyhem Roberts shared her life story and testimony with the Seek cohort. Sreyhem was five years old when the Khmer Rouge took power and was an early convert to Christianity through an underground House Church in the 1980s. She told us about her life, what it was like to be a Christian at…

MCC Mistaken Identity

Acronyms are helpful for simplifying a name but they can lead to confusion. Last year, while we were in Nepal, I kept on coming across a message spraypainted along the streets, “No MCC. Go Back America.” I teased the MCC Representatives to Nepal about this – already knowing that it wasn’t our MCC – and…

Phnom Penh High Rises

In my recent post about leading a walking tour through Phnom Penh I mention the rapid growth of high-rise buildings in the city. Specifically, that there were only three skyscrapers (two completed, one in progress) when I left in 2009 and that a decade later the Phnom Penh skyline was filled with high-rises when I…

Seek – International Women’s Day 2024

We had the Seek cohort over for International Women’s Day last Friday. It’s a national holiday in Cambodia and the MCC office was closed, as where many businesses. We started off with a hymn sing in the living room while Greta played the piano for us. The schools were not closed for International Women’s Days…

Deities, Divinities, and Spirits of Cambodia

While many ‘Westerners’ know the fact that Cambodia is polytheistic, rather than monotheistic, they rarely understand the broader implications of this when it comes to fundamental differences between their own worldview and the Cambodian worldview. In terms of spiritual belief and practice Cambodia is far removed from countries that are majority Christian, Muslim, or secular…

Elijah, Highs and Lows

When I’m low I often think about the prophet Elijah. Specifically, how he lived for three years on the run while drought and famine plagued the land, then how he confronted King Ahab and challenged 450 Prophets of Baal to a public contest on Mount Carmel. There, in front of a crowd of witnesses, Elijah’s…

Who is Marcy (Weber) Ninomiya?

Last month the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) contacted us to invite to join a book launching for the memoir of Marcy (Weber) Ninomiya. Marcy, her husband Akiie, and Naoko from JICA also decided to visit the MCC Cambodia office a few days before and catch up on MCC’s work in the region. Marcy is…