Connie and Kristen flew in last night and the team and I met them for the first time. Let me just start by saying these girls rock! They are AIM staff who we've been hearing about for quite some time now and came all the way from Gainesville, GA to spend a week with us and encourage our team. After church we met up for lunch, then they treated us all to massages, brought us care packages that our families sent to them to bring to us, brought us books from Melinda who is our incredible teammate in the states, and went to dinner at a restaurant on the river front.
After dinner, we decided to take a quick stroll and while at the river front, Elise and I decided to go watch a group of people that were dancing. (Every night you can see groups of people with speakers set up doing aerobics or hip hop dancing). As we were watching the dancers, there was a little boy that was playing who came out of nowhere. He kept trying to get my attention, "Madam, madam. Hey miss!" Finally I looked over and he was climbing up a light pole, quite talented. As he looked down at me and smiled, I caught a glimpse of his face. "That's my boy" I told Elise. "That's the boy the night we were at MST who first broke my heart for the shoeless kids."
She kept saying, "Are you sure? I don't think that's him." I called him over so I could see him more clearly, and sure enough it was him! I will never forget his face. His face broke my heart but warmed it at the same time. He was still pretty out of it, still didn't have shoes but spunky as ever. I asked him if he remembered me or not. "Ohn, cham knyom eh?" He nodded his head as if he did but I wasn't sure. So, I started asking him what color things were because that's the game we played the first night I met this broken, precious child. Like that first night, everything I pointed to was "crawham" meaning red. When I corrected him and told him "awdei, poah Keeyew/no that's blue" he laughed the same laugh that captured my heart.
He wrapped his little body around my legs so I couldn't walk away and he held on with a desperation I've never felt in my life. It was again evident to me that this young boy wants so badly to be seen, so badly to be spoken to, so badly to be heard, so badly to be cared for, so badly to be loved. It all happened so quickly that just as quickly as we had reunited, we had to part once again. I wanted to stay with him, I wanted to make sure he had eaten dinner for the night, I wanted to buy him shoes because once again he was without. But like a whirlwind the tuk tuk driver came and got me, the girls were waiting for me tired and ready to go home, and I was left wondering if I would ever see this boy again.
I don't have his name. I don't know where I can find him or if I'll ever see him again. But I do know one thing, the next time I go out on the streets of Phnom Penh I will be prepared with a pair of flip flops in my purse so this little boy will know, if even only for a moment that He is loved.
*Please continue praying for the street children and that I would meet him again
sorry the pictures are sideways. I'm not sure how to fix that
