What makes a person a tourist? What makes a person say that they live in a place? Where is the line?
I have been thinking through these questions. I hate being a tourist. I hate having to say that I am at a place just visiting. I am not visiting, I am here to invest in the country and the poeple. I want to be able to say in each country that I go to that I am living there. I want to not be a tourist but a person living there.
The other day I was the tourist. I will be a tourist for a few days in each country I visit before ministry truly starts. It is something that I cannot change. The World Race is set up so that I can say that I have lived in each of the countries that I visit and experience the culture. Still at times I will be the trouist, visiting the tourist spots. I look different from the people that live in the cultures. My skin color is not the same. It is obvious to tell that I am not from the country. I will be called a foreigner. My hope is that some day I will be in a country and be seen as a native because I understand the culture and the language.
I now start my adventure of being a resident. I will live in Phmon Penh, Cambodia for a month. I will partner witha church and work beside it to help it grow. Everyday I will live, work, and exist as a resident. My heart is growing for Cambodia everyday. The history of this country hits me and makes me want to cry. Cambodia is a country the I know I will enjoy and it will gorw on me everyday. My heart reaches out to these people and their pain. Hopefully I will say at the end of the month that I am not a tourist. I have lived in Cambodia.
