Matthew 4:18-22 8 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their…
Author: Crystal Conklin
Our Daily Bread
Throughout my life I have been deeply blessed by people and experiences which poured into me. By the time I started what I consider to be my first “real” job post-college at Peaceful Living, I was brimming full and poured out joy and energy, knowledge and passion, upon my work and the individuals with disabilities…
Rain and Privilege
There are many things I love about Cambodia and I hope to devote blog posts to the fruit, the present-ness of people, the eagerness to celebrate and many more things. But I have to start with the rain. It’s rainy season here. 6 months of nearly daily rains that sweep across the tin roofs of…
A Conversation with Charlotte
It has been a hard week but this talk with Charlotte is why it’s good that the girls are here. Growing up in Brazil shaped me, growing up here is shaping them. Charlotte: The doctor said that my leg might get cut off if there’s an infection. Me: Yes, but that probably won’t happen to…
The week of broken things
The last 5 days have been full of brokenness. It started last Friday. In my eagerness to set up the partner meeting, I moved a portion of the glass table by myself. My sweaty hands slipped and glass fell hard on my leg, cutting into my shin in two places, leaving spectacular bloody trails all…
Juniper Tree
Two weeks ago we stayed at Juniper Tree, a Christian retreat center in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Shockingly green with grass and trees and wood colors after the red-dusted grey of Phnom Penh, the center contains multiple tree-houses, a dining hall, library, prayer room, meeting room and pool. It’s easy to guess which of these the…
Wounds take a long time to heal here
Wounds take a long time to heal here. A scratch on the skin of my strong and healthy children used to heal within a day or two in the United States. Here, it’s at least a week, sometimes more. Perhaps it’s the air quality as thousands of cars, motos and tuk-tuks pump unregulated toxins into…
Arrival in Cambodia
We arrived Saturday morning to our new home in Phnom Penh Cambodia to a wonderfully warm reception. After 32 hours of travel, house to house, we were so grateful to simply have arrived! The Exchange Coordinators, Philip and Belen picked us up from the airport with their smiling 8 month old and transported us home…
Orientation Plus
We started our final week of orientation today, packed with sessions on international leadership for human resources, responding to trauma and finance. It’s been a great set of weeks with so many conversations about best practice. While I am new to the organization, learning from others about the many positive changes Mennonite Central Committee continues…
Program Skills Week
Orientation has been a whirlwind. While I think that the pacing would be absolutely perfect for someone who doesn’t have responsibilities outside of the session hours, we are finding ourselves with too many things to do. The girls are finally settling into the routine here after so many weeks of a different schedule each week….