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…
How did indigenous land become Mennonite land
On Thanksgiving this year Anabaptist Perspectives published an interview with historian John Ruth exploring the historical backdrop of the land that many Anabaptists settled in Pennsylvania. How did this affect the indigenous population that lived in this region? How were Mennonites culpable in the appropriation of native lands? In 2021, John L Ruth wrote a…
Pray for South Korea
Last night around 10:30PM the President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, declared martial law. This decree prohibited any political activities including the National Assembly, and suspended freedom of the press along with many other citizen rights. The South Korean military mobilized, with military vehicles in the street and nearly three hundred soldiers entering the…
Harvesting Rice in Prey Veng province
In November 2024, the MCC Cambodia team traveled out to the MCC field office in Prey Veng province to join the team there for some teambuilding and learning activities. This also served as an encouragement visit to the two YAMEN participants placed in the countryside this year. Two members of the team were selected to…
MC USA calls for a day of praying and fasting during elections
Mennonite Church USA has called for a day of praying and fasting around the U.S. Elections on Monday, November 4th. We are currently participating from Cambodia – where it is Monday already – as Crystal and I set aside the moments opened to us by fasting for prayer. Personally, I am praying that God’s transformative…
Komodo National Park
Earlier this month we attended regional meetings in Indonesia and decided to take a few additional days afterwards to fly to Flores island to visit Komodo National Park. It was an experience we never thought we’d be able to have and we decided to go for it when we realized we’d be a little over…
Where do I go to Church in Phnom Penh?
Crystal, Catherine, and Charlotte usually attend church at the International Christian Fellowship of Phnom Penh. ICF is an international, inter-denominational, and independent English language Christian church in Phnom Penh. The people who make up the church come from multiple nationalities and many denominations. As for Caleb and I, we usually visit a variety of Cambodian…