March 14, 2014

MARCH 2014
Dear Family and Friends,
How so swiftly the months of January and February came and went! We here in Cambodia were very busy during those months with volunteer teams and individuals that did medical mission, eye care, dig up the foundation for a new church building, construct a fence and a beautiful gate for a church facility, teach children, fellowship with our youth, train our lay people and pastors in leadership, visit our local churches and learned first-hand about our different programs/ministries: the Faith-Engine Ministry, Ministry with Street Children, the Community Health and Agriculture Development Program, the Ministry with Youth (including our fellowship gathering for university students and the ongoing construction of a new dormitory for university students), the Ministry with Women, the Cambodian Methodist Bible School, the Methodist preschools and kindergartens and high school), etc. We are deeply grateful to God and to our many friends for these visits and the prayers and gifts toward our ministries. They have made us stronger and more inspired as we await with eager longing Gods grace each new day.

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For us in Cambodia, Lent comes as a reminder that the mission of the church in Cambodia stands solely and completely upon Gods leading by the Holy Spirit and Gods love in Jesus Christ: Gods forgiveness, Gods compassion, Gods patience, Gods mercy, Gods justice, Gods peace for all people and Gods transformation of the earth. May each day during Lent be marked by the renewing of our minds and the re-focusing of our energy so that we may live and work wholly for the things that heal and that truly matter. Apropos, I would like to promote the Cambodia Mission Initiative Consultation that will be held on May 1-3, 2014 at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia in the vicinity of Washington, DC. Attached to this letter is a copy of the brochure, program schedule and registration form related to the Consultation. In this Consultation we aim to: grow in our understanding of the Methodist Mission and ministries in Cambodia; share out experiences of Cambodia; strengthen one another in Christian faith, witness, and service; and encourage new partnerships in mission with the growing church in Cambodia. I will be a participant in this Consultation along with two other GBGM missionaries assigned to Cambodia--Esther Karimi Gitobu and Ken Oafallas Cruz; and three Cambodian church leaders--Rev. Sok Sovandy, the first-ever Cambodian Mission Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Cambodia; Chhea Sengly, a youth representative and Heng Sophany, the assistant at the Womens Desk of the GBGM-UMC in Cambodia. In October to mid-December, 2014, I will be on itineration assignment in the USA. Churches that are on a covenant relationship with me and/or have been supporting the mission in Cambodia through the ADVANCE are on my priority list of churches to visit. However, as long as time and energy permit, I may be able to include in my itineration churches that want to explore future partnerships either through a covenant relationship with me or with other missionaries assigned to Cambodia and/or by supporting projects/programs through the ADVANCE. In any case, please be in touch ASAP (as soon as possible) with your Conference Secretary for Global Ministries and our Executive Secretary for Itineration and Missionary Support at the General Board of Global Ministries in New York: Rev. Richard Pusateri (RPusateri@umcmission.org) and Ms. Mary Randall Zigbuo (MZigbuo@umcmission.org), missionary support coach for fundraising and communications at the same office. One of the most exciting developments in our work in Cambodia is our very recent purchase of a $19,000 parcel of land (27 meters by 127 meters) in Senmonorum, the capital town of the province of Mondulkiri, one of the coolest places in Cambodiacoolest in more ways than oneup in the mountains northeast of Phnom Penh. Our plan is to locate on that land and the adjacent second piece of land a campsite (for children, youth, women and men) cum retreat center cum conference center for the Methodist Church in Cambodia. Donations from Santa Ana United Methodist Church and from the Virginia Annual Conference made the
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March 14, 2014

purchase of the first piece of land possible. The challenge facing us at this point is to buy the adjoining $15,000 piece of land (20 meters by 127 meters). We already have $10,000, part of a larger gift from our friends Kae Lewis and Fern Jo Kaukonen. We only need $5,000 to make the purchase. The next stage of the project is to fence the property and build the camp/retreat center/conference facilities on it that will include dormitories, a social/conference hall, dining hall and kitchen, cabins and cottages. These could be built on donations given in honor or in memory of loved ones. As plans and designs become available, we will keep you posted. Our idea is to build as soon as possible the first cottage on the property. Already, we have friends who have committed themselves to this specific project. As we begin ministry in this province, this cottage will temporarily serve as parsonage until a location for the church in the town of Senmonorum is determined. In short, the campsite/retreat center/conference center in Senmonorum will also mark the very start of Methodist mission in the Province of Mondulkiri. Someday, I hope you all could visit Mondulkiri and witness what God is doing in that province and in all of Cambodia. To give toward the purchase of land and construction in Mondulkiri: (a) give onlinego to www.givetomission.org and enter the project number and name00230A Cambodia Mission InitiativeLand and Construction in Mondulkiri or (b) write a check to your local United Methodist Church and include the project name and number or (c) mail a check to Advance GCFA, PO Box 9068, GPO, New York 10087-9068. Write the project name and number on the check. There are actually three more very urgent needs in the Methodist mission in Cambodia that I wish to mention in this letter: one is the support for evangelism, discipleship, pastoral ministry and church growth. The Advance code for this is00230A Cambodia Mission InitiativeDiscipleship and Pastoral Ministry. Another need is for scholarship for children and youth. The Advance Code is 3020791Children and Youth Scholarship. The third is Christian Education training and Curriculum resources. The Advance code is: 3021536 Christian Education and Curriculum Development. The donations may be sent as described in the preceding paragraph. There are, of course, other urgent needs. They will be mentioned in the letters of our other GBGM missionaries based in Cambodia. Kathleen Kats Berry, my friend at the United Methodist Communications office in Nashville, Tennessee just informed me that Desktop Meditation: A Lenten Journey has been re-issued on YouTube with some new photos. Kats was interviewing me for UM Communications inside Muelder Chapel in Boston University School of Theology in September 2012. As I waited for her to get her camera and video equipment ready, I opened the UM Hymnal to #386, Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown--definitely one of my favorite hymns of Charles Wesley, and began to sing. Unbeknownst to me, Kats recorded my singing and eventually made it the background music to a series of beautiful photos which now make up the Desktop Meditation: A Lenten Journey. Incredibly, nearly 11,000 people have thus far watched/listened to it. Praise God! I should tell you that as long as I was a student at Boston University STH in the early 70s, every week--one evening each a week, a group of us gathered inside Muelder Chapel to fellowship, sing and pray. And many times, we sang this particular Charles Wesley hymn. The power and memory of those prayer times and the faith and friendships that grew out of singing the hymns of Charles Wesley, especially this one has sustained me through the years. May it be such a blessing to you as well. Have a very meaningful Lent. Sincerely, Romeo L. del Rosario ADVANCE#09555Z
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