This morning we worshipped at Rahab's Church in S. P., and then we said goodbye. Barang led worship and Pastor Chantha preached. The sermon was about 1 Kings 17, the power of a righteous man's prayers, Jesus' rejection in Nazareth in Luke 4, and God's love for all people from all nations. Afterward, we had a debrief with the Rahab's House staff and the Disciples for the purpose of thanking and encouraging each other. Pastor Chantha had another flood of kind words for me, and said he'd learned a great deal from the Bible study on Friday. I was caught very off guard by his praise, but Annie talked a bit with Kimloi, and came away with the explanation that they expect a college professor to be a very high status person who remains aloof, so they saw my taking part in games and conversation as great humility. Actually, it's more that they were delightful people, and it blessed me to learn their stories, so I think a lot of the kind words were unmerited, or at least greatly exaggerated. But either way, it was heartwarming to hear, and it made it even harder to say goodbye.
In the afternoon, Pastor Troy led us in a four hour discussion of the entire experience, including how it compared to our expectations, what we thought God taught us, and what we planned to do next when we arrive home. A lot of half-finished thoughts were shoehorned into words that didn't quite fit, and a few tears flowed. As I write this, he's out bowling with a few of the hardier students, and I'm thinking about an early bedtime.
Tomorrow we hunt souvenirs, and the top of my shopping list is the spice packets Don Brewster tipped me off were available for making my own ហហ្មុកត្រី. Then, bright and early Tuesday morning, we hop on a plane to head home.
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