Easter Greetings from Cambodia! Praise be to God for the power of the Risen Christ in our lives!
Saturday, we went to a private clinic in Phnom Penh to visit a proud new mother and father, Chanry and Sam Naren, two pastors who are serving in Kampong Cham and are celebrating the birth of their firstborn, a daughter, Elisa. Entering into the room, my heart sank when I saw the infant formula on the bedside table. The doctor had prescribed formula milk exclusively for the first three days. There was no reason not to follow doctor’s orders, so the parents thought. It thrilled my heart to be just on time to assist mother and baby to a good start with breastfeeding.
We have just finished a Midterm Evaluation of CHAD and are astounded at how God has grown the work into the life of the church here. Just to think that 5 years ago Jim Gulley started ADRC which in 2005 became CHAD to include health and that today CHAD is being embraced as a vital model for ministry, how wonderful! Involved in the evaluation were representatives of the Methodist Church in Finland Catarina and Hakan; Jim and Bruno Feuiller, an external evaluator and fellow missionary from Laos. Catarina also brought along two friends to see our work. We all agreed about the relevance of the program. It was gratifying to see the growing numbers of churches wanting to partner with CHAD. Main recommendations coming out of the evaluation are to decentralise; increase local congregational involvement and to develop leadership.
At the end of the evaluation, Hakan who is the General Secretary of the Free Church Federation of Finland, expressing hope for reconciliation and a fresh start for the nation of Cambodia resulting from the current ongoing UN trials, noted promising signs of new life in the Methodist Church in Cambodia (MCC) as we observe the continuing healing and reconciliation of relationships.
On a more personal note, God continues to heal my family and fill our home with new hope and joy. Fara is finding his way. Mutumwa is growing, happy and secure with his dad and “gogos”(grandma). We celebrate the developments in Zimbabwe and thank God for what He is doing there.
I thank you for all your support and prayers for this amazing work.May the power of the Resurrected Christ be a present reality in all you do this day and in all time to come.
Love in Jesus,
Irene
Monday, April 13, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Prison outreach ministry
by Katherine Parker
Last time I was home in California, one of our 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 to 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 2 hour shifts because there is a shortage of beds, there is a lack of food resulting in swollen bellies and a prevalence of itchy skin rashes due to a lack of 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 been leading a bible study and recently distributed 12 bibles to men who had been participating.
He was very pleased to have the health kits sent from Bakersfield, and shared them with the men with whom he is working. We talked a bit about his hope to be able to provide soap, detergent (for washing clothes) and liniment oil to all of the men at another point in the future. He also hopes to establish a library of Khmer language literature for the men to use during their 1 hour of release each day.
Recently, one of the prisoners Rev Hun has been working with was released. Rev. Hun has invited him to stay at the church and to lead a nearby church group without a pastor.
This is a wonderful partnership that has come out of your generosity. I am so pleased that we could support the outreach of the Cambodian Christians in this prison ministry in this way.
Last time I was home in California, one of our 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 to 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 2 hour shifts because there is a shortage of beds, there is a lack of food resulting in swollen bellies and a prevalence of itchy skin rashes due to a lack of 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 been leading a bible study and recently distributed 12 bibles to men who had been participating.
He was very pleased to have the health kits sent from Bakersfield, and shared them with the men with whom he is working. We talked a bit about his hope to be able to provide soap, detergent (for washing clothes) and liniment oil to all of the men at another point in the future. He also hopes to establish a library of Khmer language literature for the men to use during their 1 hour of release each day.
Recently, one of the prisoners Rev Hun has been working with was released. Rev. Hun has invited him to stay at the church and to lead a nearby church group without a pastor.
This is a wonderful partnership that has come out of your generosity. I am so pleased that we could support the outreach of the Cambodian Christians in this prison ministry in this way.
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