Departure

definition:  act of leaving; starting out, as on a trip or a new course of action.

Bonny and I left Phnom Penh on March 17 at 1820h local time.  For me, it was not without sadness and a desire to stay.

On Tuesday I was in the store by myself for most of the morning and I shed many tears.  We had both felt that we had a "sanitized" version of Cambodia, in that we weren't out in Svay Pak or doing more hands-on work in terms of the problem of child prostitution.  But upon reflection, I realized that we were just at a different part of the spectrum of hope.  Things like Rahab's House and Hagar are the entry points in that spectrum, in that they are where first contact occurs.  Helping to set up the Daughters store is at the end of the spectrum of hope.  It is where the girls have been rescued, shown Christian compassion & introduced to Jesus Christ, given alternatives for living and are now ready to apply those things in their own lives.  So, I wept at the prospect of hope fulfilled for those girls; at the desire to see this project through to completion; the hearing of the call to do more.  The weeping continued later in the day upon receipt of a hand-made "thank-you", created by the girls at Daughters and with lots of Khmer written on it.  I have no idea what the words say but I know what it means.  This is a treasure.

We are now safely back in Canada.  This was not without adventure during our overnight in Hong Kong, which included a "tour" of the airport, a shady taxi driver, changing Bonny's flight, ensuring that my bags got through to Toronto from Phnom Penh and shopping in their designer shops on the departure level (I didn't buy any designer items--just books--althought the Mont Blanc store held great sway for me!)  It was good to sleep in a bed with a pillowtop mattress, to have a shower in my own bathroom, to do the laundry and go grocery shopping at Zehrs.  But I have left part of my heart in Southeast Asia.

I don't know what my future now holds, except those broad categories of parenting, working, paying the bills.  But I can do those things in whatever context God holds for me.  I need to wait on God to show me the context.