St. Lukes United Methodist Church
Cambodia Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2002

We ate a wonderful lunch provided by the Fornoff's.  Thanks so much!  Laurie
led us in an opening prayer.  She passed around a new sign up list so we
have a final count of who is planning to go and to confirm emails.

We introduced ourselves again, for new members who joined the committee.

Laurie recapped an email sent from Mike, so the list will also provide
information on our professions.  They wondered if any of us had medical
experience, are there any teachers for VBS, English, Literacy, are there any
plumbers or electricians or mechanics.  They also suggested we come in
completely separate groups since 40 people at once would be very difficult
for them to handle.  So we will not be able to overlap the teams.  Perhaps
we could overlap somewhere enroute home, but not at Siem Reap.  We decided
Team 1 would likely leave December 26th, and the Team 2 would leave January
8.  We will plan to have 2 or 3 people who will stay for the whole time.

Our project will likely be building a guest home for visitors and visiting
teachers.  We discussed the building and coordinating the teams.  Everyone
agreed that touring is a bonus but the project is the primary concern.  Some
of us will also participate in teaching VBS.  When we receive details of the
building plans, we may sign up for separate projects.  We discussed making a
scaled down model of the guest house that we could use for our Bricks of
Hope project.

Mike also suggested visiting 11 churches in Manteay Meanchey which is a few
hours from Siem Reap, and divide up into smaller groups of 4 or 5 to switch
off on the activities.  Brian and Laurie discussed safety at the site, and
last year there were armed guards, and there were no problems.  But of
course, there are dangers that we should all be aware of.  Aaron Shipman
will have power of attorney for the five youth who will be participating in
the mission, in the event medical attention is necessary.

Steve Riley spoke about liability insurance issues not only for us, but for
the church.  We didn't sign waivers, but will possibly be doing that this
time.  He also recommended we check our health insurance and evacuation
coverage.  Extra coverage costs only $65 to $75 which covers health,
evacuation, lost luggage, and lost tickets, and is really critical if there
is an emergency.  We will make this extra insurance and the waiver mandatory
for those going on the trip.

Those on the trip should be prepared to be flexible.  There is usually no
work from noon to 4:00 because it is too hot.  We should use that time to
rest, visit, or read or shop.  We recently sent funds for a Virus Scan and
Silent Auction items.  Joseph Chan and his wife Marilyn are bringing items
for us to auction. A small group of us went to Colorado Springs to visit
Sonrise UMC and present information about our mission project in Cambodia.
They did a free-will offering and raised $150 plus a separate donation of
$25.  Our Treasury Account total is $4,735.23.  Our goal this year is
$40,000.  We may be sending a video to a Long Beach, CA church who is
interested in our mission project.

Brett reported that we are not able to flight information at this time,
since reservation dates are only available 331 days in advance.  Dalai
believes that purchasing our tickets from Cambodia will get us a much better
deal.  It usually costs only $800 roundtrip buying them there.  We plan to
fly from here to LA to Bangkok which takes 24 to 48 hours then 3 to 4 days
to Siem Reap for 5 to 6 days full days of work.  We may see Bangkok, Saigon,
Ho Chi Min (?) City, but will probably not see Singapore again this time.

 Our Silent Auction is set for Saturday, June 8, 2002.  5:30 to 7:30 pm will
be the Silent Auction.  The Dinner is 5:30 to 6:30.  Entertainment will be
provided from 6:30 to 7:30.  We need everyone to participate in this large
project.  This is our major fundraiser and it takes a lot to make it work.
We were given a draft letter that we can use to solicit donations from local
businesses.  The last time, 85% of the donations came directly from our
members and constituents, so we need to get a lot participation from
businesses as well.

We will also need to set up a kitchen training meeting.  Brian has been
trained and certified so he can train us.  Anyone who will go into the
kitchen to help cook, serve, or cleanup is required to go through this
training.

Our next meeting is Sunday, March 10th.  Sherry and Steve Merrill will
provide the lunch that date.  Thanks, Merrills!

(Please let me know of any changes or additions to these minutes).

Kathy Balu