Ryan and I were walking around the Russian Market in Phnom Penh today when Yon, one of the guys I met at Teen Challenge just 4 days ago, came running up to me. It took me a second to register who was standing in front of me, but then I remembered it was the same guy Marlena and I had been sitting outside on those 4 benches talking to in Takeo just a few days earlier. Yon had voluntarily come to Teen Challenge last Thursday, in hopes of ridding himself from the heroin addiction that controlled his life. Yon speaks English better than anyone at the Center, and it was a treat to get to hear a little of his story that day, and sharing with him a little about what we are doing, and of course, about what Christ has done for us. The next 3 days Yon was detoxing, and between his body’s physical reactions to withdrawals, he was wrapped up in a blanket outside.
Today was different. Yon’s English was broken and he spoke more in Khmer than in words we knew; he was obviously high. Yon explained that he had left Teen Challenge that morning and taken a taxi into the city, to meet up with his step mother and father, who were selling in the market. As I next expected, he asked me for 10,000CR to get back to the center. Not about to give Yon money while he was high, I continued to stall the situation, hoping he would back off from his newly acquired beggar mentality. He eventually told me he was starving; I told him I would buy him lunch. He lead me back into the market to the food vendors and said something to a woman in Khmer…what I assumed he was planning inevitably proved to be true, unfortunately. She brought him a bowl of food and a Coca-Cola; Yon told me it would be $5. Five bucks is way too high for a Cambodian meal. I knew he had told the woman to overcharge me, collect my money, and give him the extra when I had left. I put $2 on the table, told him the choice was his to drink the Coke or not, and that that would be all he would get from me.
I walked back out to the street to wait for Ryan, and to get out of Yon’s view. To my chagrin out walks Ryan…and Yon right behind. Ryan and I tried to walk away after telling him bye for the 4th time. He followed. He then pointed out that he was barefoot and needed shoes. Delirious of getting sucked into another scheme, I told him no, and he finally got the picture, and left us alone.
Am I mad he tried to steal money from me? No. Am I sad to see how a new friend, knowledgeable and very bright, has turned into a stereotypical drug user/beggar? Absolutely. Honestly, this afternoon hit me harder than anything I’ve experienced thus far into the Race. For you walk into a youth center and form friendships and teach classes, and you leave, waving behind you, and embracing the sweet memories in your heart. This is not supposed to happen; this is not how the fairy tale mission trip plays out!
…Then I remember I have not been called to live a life of happy endings and joyful rides into the sunset. At the end of the day, heroin wins. At the end of the day, heroin steals away hopes of sobering up and learning to be a translator and make a real living. At the end of the day, Satan wins some battles.
Luckily God is bigger, better, and stronger; He reigns. I don’t doubt this one bit.
But man…it’s painful to watch someone fall.
