I miss Cambodia. I still do. This was not the way I felt on the day of our departure for home. I left Cambodia quite willingly, because I thought we had just about reached our physical limits and further stay may have meant even more of us falling sick. I had run out of medications and had also fallen victim to the flu bug on the second last day of the trip.
But now, I truly miss Cambodia. The fact that I left with little emotions means that my longing for the country has grown stronger as it only started only after I returned to Singapore.
BLESSINGS
Suffice to say that I am not a youth, but witnessing how God has changed the lives of our youths has really blessed my heart. Many of them, in their quiet, unassuming ways, went about organising matters without being told and laboured behind the scenes for the simple desire of wanting to serve and bless others. I was blessed because their love was neither proud nor boastful, and they drew no attention to themselves in their service. I name no names here, because your reward is in Heaven. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and I saw this in abundance during the trip.
The Holy Spirit brought about a harmonious spirit in camp, and the flexibility of the young people blessed my heart. Repeated changes in schedule, hiccups in the form of van breakdowns, all failed to dampen spirits. Everyone learnt to enjoy the moment as it came, standing by the roadside along a busy highway when the van broke down, enjoying each other's company and not fretting about what would happen next.
I "shot myself in the foot" when I floated the idea of medical work to Ian. I had not made the decision to do it then, but to my horror, Ian immediately showed interest in it. I had never done such work before but God meets us at the step of faith. I stepped forward to prepare for the work and the Lord answered with the invaluable advice of the doctors in church, their generosity in the provision of medications and the raising of many helpers. I had no time to lead them during the medical work, but all of them stepped up to be a blessing to the people there with their work in crowd control and in their interactions with them.
Before the trip, most doctors I spoke to had advised me to target seeing fifty patients a day, after which I would be exhausted. I see about twenty patients in a normal eight-hour shift here in Singapore. But once there, Pastor Noe and Brother Sary said that they hoped to see me attend to a hundred patients a day. Once the clinic started, dozens of patients turned up within minutes and I looked up with concern at the growing crowd. But God answered again. With His Spirit's enabling, I managed to attend to most patients who turned up and was in no way tired at the end of both days of medical work.
LESSONS
The simplicity with which the local workers carried out God's work and their child-like faith spoke to me. In our fast-paced society, we sometimes bring into our Christianity and evangelism a complexity of our own doing. I learnt that Christianity is simple when we cut to the thrust of its essence. It is a relationship like all others that needs to be nurtured by the investing of time in interaction (prayer and Bible reading), best when it is uncluttered by the cares of this world.
I've not told many about my desire for full-time service. I went on the trip determined to take in as much as I could to know what mission work is about. While I sought the Lord's will on this matter, what I saw on the mission field gave me a dream to pursue. While it may seem scary to submit your life to God's will, happiness may elude you forever unless you accept His greater wisdom. Total devotion to apprehending Christ and doing exactly what He wants you to do, lies the key to achieving absolute personal happiness. God has given all of us a dream to pursue. Surrender your dreams to God, and if it pleases Him, He will give you the desire of your heart.
In Him,
Kong
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