My SMILE Moments in Mission

MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Summer 2026

DDP staff field trip to Potter class after Trauma healing workshop which highlighted healing through the “arts”

Sometimes God arranges a single moment that changes everything. Three years ago, one unexpected encounter brought a team of Deaf trainers to Cambodia — and I have been saying yes to every door that opened since.

This spring, one of those doors led to something I am still processing in the best way possible. At the Deaf Development Programme (DDP), we held our second Art Trauma Healing Process training April 30–May 10. For two weeks, 14 DDP students and staff moved through something profound together: naming the feelings that had never been named. Isolation. Discrimination. The long shadow of genocide. Worries carried in silence. To watch people move through that kind of pain, and come out the other side into something lighter, was a genuine SMILE moment in mission.

DDP staff member, Sophany, making a bowl at the pottery class. After the Trauma Healing Workshop, DDP staff were invited by Julie (MKLM missioner who prepared to guest trainers to come to Cambodia) to participate in hands on activity to understand how pottery, which is an artform, can be used to release stress and clam the body.

To extend the experience, I invited all 14 participants to a pottery café in Phnom Penh afterward. There is something about clay under your hands that loosens what words cannot reach. In a world that offers alcohol, substances, or violence as escapes, a pottery class is a quiet, creative alternative and a way to de-stress, connect, and release. Watching our staff laugh and create together, I thought: this is what healing looks like.

A second SMILE arrived on April 26, the Sunday after Easter. Our local parish priest at the Child of Jesus Catholic Church in Phnom Penh asked me to begin Sunday school with three young Deaf adults who have grown up in Buddhist households. Our first class lasted 30 minutes. We used Cambodian Sign Language, images, and a lot of curiosity. I am not trying to convert anyone, this is more of a come-and-see journey: Who is Jesus? What does faith look like for someone who is Deaf and Buddhist? I am still dreaming up answers alongside them.

DDP staff member, Sophany, making a bowl at the pottery class. After the Trauma Healing Workshop, DDP staff were invited by Julie (MKLM missioner who prepared to guest trainers to come to Cambodia) to participate in hands on activity to understand how pottery, which is an artform, can be used to release stress and calm the body.

Now I am praying hard for a third SMILE, and I need your help to make it happen.

In October, the 4th Asian Deaf Catholic Conference (ADCC) takes place in Seoul, South Korea. Three years ago, two of our DDP staff — Sreytin and Sopor — joined me at the 3rd ADCC in Jakarta, Indonesia. Meeting Fr. Benedict Park, the first ordained Deaf priest in Asia, left them transformed. By the end of the week, they had made lifelong friends across borders, deepened their faith, and discovered a global community they never knew existed.

After Mass at Child of Jesus Catholic Church, the priest organized a pray and blessing. Julie is pictured putting in incense as she joins the community in prayer. This is the parish where Julie teaches Sunday school to three deaf youth.

This year, I want to bring five more Deaf individuals, some Christian, some Buddhist, to experience the same thing. The total cost for their participation is $5,000: approximately $600 per person for airfare and $200 per person for conference registration, lodging, and meals. This is a special request above and beyond regular DDP and ministry support.

My fundraising campaign runs now through August 2026 (the conference registration deadline). If you feel moved to contribute, please give to my mission account with the note: “Julie Lawler — Deaf Ministry, 4th ADCC Seoul 2026.”

In a nutshell? It is a God thing. Thank you for being part of it.

Fr. Min Seo Park visiting Cambodia last Easter (2025) after meeting Julie, Sreytin, and Sopor previously at the 3rd Asian Deaf Catholic Conference in 2023 hosted in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Please consider supporting my mission work at the Deaf Development Programme with a donation through the link below.

I invite you to walk with me as a “COMPANION IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!