Here we are. The end of our ministry in Cambodia. The end of month 3 on the world race. 85 days out of aproximately 310. We’ve said all our goodbyes to the orphans, ministry contacts, and tuktuk drivers. Indeed, this is the cruddy part of the world race. Saying goodbye. After spending a month falling in love with the country and building relationships with all the people around you, you tear down shop and set up some place else.
We had a really good last day at Good Shepard. We had a dance party with both the morning class and the afternoon class and gave them cookies and hand made cards. On our way out the door we asked Rasselle (our contact and teaching assistant at Good Shepard) if we could come back that evening so we could get one big picture with all the kids (because half the kids go to public school in the morning, and the other half go in the afternoon). She said 6:30 would be good. YES! So after we leave the afternoon class at 4:15, we go and hang out at a nearby air-conditioned cafe and wait for 6:30 to roll around.
Finally, time came for us to go and see the kids one more time. We got there and a small crowd of kids welcomed us with open arms and much enthusiasm, to say the least. We sang party songs like the Hokey Pokey, Chi Chi Guay (a spanish song we’d learned in the DR), Oh Lay Lay, and Head and Shoulders. It was a joyfully bitter sweet time. When it came to the end, my little shadow, Srey Touch, gave me a huge, 45 second hug. She didn’t want to let go for antything. After only 3 weeks. I was so close to tears it hurt. I wished I could grant her unspoken wish. But I couldn’t. And that is where we fall short. We are not God. He can love on them forever without ever having to say goodbye. So, as a people in Christ, we must love on them until we have to say goodbye. And let God take it from there. This is, no doubt, going to be the story, not just for the next 9 months, but for the rest of my life. Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I may love on you now, until I leave tomorrow.
We had a really good last day at Good Shepard. We had a dance party with both the morning class and the afternoon class and gave them cookies and hand made cards. On our way out the door we asked Rasselle (our contact and teaching assistant at Good Shepard) if we could come back that evening so we could get one big picture with all the kids (because half the kids go to public school in the morning, and the other half go in the afternoon). She said 6:30 would be good. YES! So after we leave the afternoon class at 4:15, we go and hang out at a nearby air-conditioned cafe and wait for 6:30 to roll around.
Finally, time came for us to go and see the kids one more time. We got there and a small crowd of kids welcomed us with open arms and much enthusiasm, to say the least. We sang party songs like the Hokey Pokey, Chi Chi Guay (a spanish song we’d learned in the DR), Oh Lay Lay, and Head and Shoulders. It was a joyfully bitter sweet time. When it came to the end, my little shadow, Srey Touch, gave me a huge, 45 second hug. She didn’t want to let go for antything. After only 3 weeks. I was so close to tears it hurt. I wished I could grant her unspoken wish. But I couldn’t. And that is where we fall short. We are not God. He can love on them forever without ever having to say goodbye. So, as a people in Christ, we must love on them until we have to say goodbye. And let God take it from there. This is, no doubt, going to be the story, not just for the next 9 months, but for the rest of my life. Parting is such sweet sorrow. That I may love on you now, until I leave tomorrow.
-Nate
PS- Check out the Shadow blog by Jenni Weir on her blog page, http://jenniweir.theworldrace.org
