We have all heard the old saw "behind every successful man is a strong, motivated, intelligent woman."  This has been shown to be true in a wonderful fashion from which we can all benefit.

While Joseph Chan Chhleav has been busy helping to establish and build more than 175 new Methodist churches in Cambodia, Marilyn Sovann Chan has been working the past eight years with women from seven other countries to establish the Cambodian Methodist Women's organization, of which she is now recognized as a founding member.

For the first time in history, Cambodian women have an established support system backed by a powerful organization devoted to their improved self-esteem and quality of life.  Additionally, the new Cambodian Methodist Women have the necessary recognition and back-up to obtain education, occupational training, child-rearing assistance, and financial acumen previously denied them because  established the by-laws, goals, purpose, and organization of the group.  These delegates are now working to establish smaller, more localized units in their home churches and neighborhoods.

Watch out for change in the structure of the Cambodian family, and for the emergence of a new, more powerful, more competitive woman in Cambodian culture - the woman of the Cambodian Methodist Women's organization -based on the infrastructure of the overall UMW, assisted by GBGM, Marilyn Chan, and the history of Methodist women all over the world.

[Received from  Betty Pippert, Central UMW, Stockton]

October 26, 2005

Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ

Thanks God, Kim San, Rev. Bony and Daneth who went to Korea are back home
safely.

Thank God again for giving me opportunity to attend for the 5th International Women Ministers'  World Mission Conference in Thailand on October 27-29-2005.

It is  gathering of women leaders and missionaries from various Asian countries to:
1.  refresh the calling of Mission for World Evangelization.  To activate and make it reality, empower and renew mission strategies: 2.  To inspire the challenging mission spirit through experiences and reports of mission fields. and  3. To commit ourselves to the eschatologically of urgent evangelistic movement and the Great Commission.

Please pray for my health, because I had been sick for a week and thank God I feel almost ok.  I am still on medication for my dizziness and feeling of tiredness. Please pray God to give me strength to go for the trip with the others 10 Cambodian Women by the taxi from Phnom Penh through Battambang province then Pai Lin City and to the Thai border to Bangkok safely.

Thank you for your love and prayers.

May God loves you and be with you always.

Marilyn Chan

November 13, 2005 

Today, it was my pleasure to be a part of UMW Sunday at Central UMC.  One part of the service was the awarding of highest honor any local chapter can bestow on an individual for Mission Service.  This award has been given over the years to many individuals who have sustained mission values as expressed by the UMW world-wide.

The award presented today was the Mission Service Award with the Sapphire gemstone - I think it may be the first ever presented at Central with this stone - to an individual who has worked steadfastly and diligently in carrying out the mission of the UMW - to better the women and children of the world in their living, relationship with God, and future endeavors. The award was presented in absentia to Marilyn Sovann Chan and accepted with honor in your behalf by Samut Chheng Srey and myself.  It will be sent to you with the next available courier.

CONGRATULATIONS Marilyn for outstanding effort and achievement in your work with the women and children of Cambodia and in assisting in the establishment of the Cambodian Methodist Women's organization.

Has the money for the noodle-making machine been received yet? (cc: Marilyn Chann)  I hope the women are able to use it to begin the process of self-sustaining life and love.

Betty Pippert, Central UMW, Stockton, CA

March 1, 2006

Women For Women Cambodian Methodist Women Ministries Under God's Guidance

 First of all, I thank God our Lord Jesus Christ for calling me and my family to share God's love and to work hard for serving my own people in Cambodia through our General Board of Global
Ministries of United Methodist Church (GBGM-UMC).

So this is the great privilege and opportunity for me to work closely and to make good relationship with my own people. Also I can learn from them what their needs are and pray together for God's guidance.

In 1998, I met Miss Karen Prudente who is the Executive Secretary for International Ministries with Women, Youth and Children, General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church.  In the Bible Women's conference held at the Methodist Mission of Singapore center, she brought love, joy and  hope for our Methodist Women to start sowing and growing seeds of organizing, through the support of our Women's
Division and UMC donors. They sponsored the following diversified activities:

1.   Bible Women Training
2.   Women's Leadership Training
3.   Leadership Training for Youth
4.   First National Assembly
5.   Scholarship for poor students (Children)
6.   Grant for Women's Livelihood's Projects
7.   Provided materials and facilitators
8.   Love gift to prisoners

Through these programs, the women were able to train and encourage our
Methodist Women to develop and become aware:
1.   to stand for their own rights 

2.   to be educated and trained to share God's love to one another
3.   to have self confidence and self control
4.   to listen to one another
5.   to be faithful to God
6.   to cooperate with one another
7.   to have creative minds and have meaningful activities
8.   to be humble
9.   to respect  and to support one another
10.  to care for and to protect  one another
11.  to learn how to dream visions and make them come true
12.  to sacrifice and to be responsible women
13.  to know their own value
14.  to have good relationship with one another and become good Christian models
15.  to volunteer in spreading the Good News
16.  to be patient and work not for own benefit, but for all people
17.  to be united and be organized as Cambodian Methodist Women under the Bible Women Training program: we taught the women    the stories about the women in the Bible, Human Rights, Literacy, Health, Alternative Medicine and Micro-credit.

Leadership Training program for Women, we trained women leaders to become trainers.

Leadership Training program for the youth

Train youth leader to be able to train one another, and to strengthen their
faith and be organized as Cambodian Methodist Youth.

First National Assembly

The women leaders from each of the four Methodist missions in Cambodia with their heartfelt cooperation, invitations were successfully disseminated and the women came together to:

  1. Fellowship, remembers, gather and embrace the cultural heritage of the Cambodian people.
  2. Share experiences and role of Cambodian Women in the past and present life of Cambodia.
  3. Form an organic body of the community of Methodist Women in Cambodia whose purpose is to know God and experience freedom  as whole persons through Jesus Christ.
  4. Elect through the guidance of God officers to bond, blend and lead in their organizational journey.
  5. Formulate a general plan of action for mission through participation in the church ministry in Cambodia.
  6. celebrate together, God's love and healing through worshiping studying and working

For the scholarship programs, we were able to help the poor children to be
able go to school and earn their education.

For the Grant for livelihood projects, we were able to help women to reduce poverty by providing them capital for pig, fish and cow raising.  We provided sewing machines, noodle machines and seed money for planting vegetables and culturing mushrooms. We provided help with making handcrafts like: waving mats, baskets, bags, waving silk, and many more.

 We thank God for the many blessings that we have been reaping.  It is very evident that women and their families had been benefited much.  The organization of the women and youth is a great step in the unity and organization of one Methodist Women organization and one Methodist Youth organization in Cambodia.

As we continue to serve these, "least of these our sisters and brothers" (Matthew 25: 40), we covet your prayers, your moral and material support.  Please help us to keep keeping on.  We cannot accomplish any of these without your very valuable contributions.

Gratefully yours,

MS. MARILYN CHAN
Missionary Advance#12904Z
GBGM-UMC

August 15, 2006

Dear Betty, Kun, Lok Kru  Kien and others friends,
How are you all doing?

First of all, we wish to  thank you again for your love, care, hospitality and generous support to our family and our ministry in Cambodia.  Sorry for for the lack of communication to you all because, after I came back , we have full schedule training the women at the 7 districts in Cambodia. We went around to the province to facilitate and help them to organize their own churches to choose and elect their own leaders for the local church and district. Also to teach them to understand about the Bylaws and The women constitution of how to elect and how to work  and walk together to get successful.. And also we are busy following up with women projects , like pigs raisin, Cows raising, Fish raising, Vegetables, weavings baskets, mats and silk, noodle machine etc...

I had been sick for 2 weeks. I caught  the flu and Kidney infection. I feel much better now and just came back to work. Please continue praying for our ministry here, we have lots of thing to do to report in the third Annual Meeting next week from August 20 to 25. On August 25 is ordained Elders. I don't know yet about my husband if they accepted him to ordained or not. Please pray for him. I do know that Rev. Jung song Kim, St Kimbrough and Sam Dixon will come for this Annual Meeting

Joseph is doing fine physically, he is attending with the others senior pastors at Kirirom Mountain for the pastor Retreat from Aug. 14 to 18. Christina is doing fine, she just go back to school for the new class in grade 9. she's growing up a little bit, she still has hard time to eat because she just put the brace for her teeth, so she feels uncomfortable.

We  thank you again for your encouragement, pray and thoughtfulness to our family and our ministry.

God bless, Marilyn