Just a few short days ago, I had my most difficult goodbye to a country and location that I think I have had yet on the World Race.
Its kind of odd, I really can not explain it. I just cant seem to nail down exactly what it was that made this country so hard to say goodbye too.
As I was talking to my grandpa before leaving the country, I realized there are a lot of reasons why I did not fall in love, however there are not so many reasons as to why I did.
..It was not the busy traffic of phenom penh that captivated my heart.
..It was not the tuk tuk drivers that all seemed to look alike.
..It was not the lack of clear communication that seemed to take place between me and the tuk tuk drivers (in broken english) and the wasted hours of my day lost in the wrong part of town.
..It was not the always having to be on guard against theft of personal belongings.
..It was not the smells that overtook the markets.
..It was not the food sold by street vendors.
..It was not the need to always have to barter over an item, because the color of my skin indicated I could be ripped off.
..It was not the cheap clothes in the night market that were made for unrealistically super tiny people.
..It was not the vast amount of coffee shops that appeared on every corner (I dont drink coffee)
..It was not the lack of air-con in buildings.
..It definitely was not the lack of a McDonald's in the entire country.
..It was not the country wide, heart wrenching issue of human trafficking.
..It was not the child beggars who clung on me as I walked down the road.
..It was not the heart ache and devastation of a nation still being restored from years of genocide.
..It was not the numerous stories of rape and destruction of the lives of innocent little children.
..It was not the difficult language of khmer.
..It was not the several near death experiences I had with motos.
..It was not the hundred of thousands of children living in orphanages and their lack of a family unit.
..It was not the intense rain that fell from the sky every afternoon or the flooding of the streets with sewer water.
..It was not the hot, sticky, humid weather that caused me to sweat in places I had never sweat before.
But somehow in the midst of my list of things that do not contribute to my falling in love, I seemed to of fallen in love. Madly in love with this place.
It was the hardest goodbye I think I have had so far. It was not just the country, it was the ministries, and organizations, the contacts and people my team and I met over the course of the month. I sat at the airport, thinking about my month in Cambodia, and my quickly approaching flight to Africa, the continent I have always wanted to visit. During my several hours of waiting at the airport, I begged God to release my heart and mind from Cambodia, to allow me to focus on what laid ahead pertaining to the rest of the race. Asking him to tuck away all my feelings and thoughts of Cambodia and allow me to save them for another day.
The Khmer people are most definitely on Gods radar, and the church is expanding and exploding all over the country, and the kingdom of God is furthering and advancing daily in the lives of these people, and it is simply beautiful and exciting.
