Fwd: Roller Skating in Cambodia

-----Original Message-----
From: sweetnsassie247@aol.com
To: gslblogs.cambodia
Sent: Sun, Jan 8, 2012 12:43 pm
Subject: Roller Skating in Cambodia

-- who would have thought right? Well Friday morning I had the privilege of joining the guys of our group to go skating at a local roller rink with some men who work at the massage pallors which service men. My heart swells with love for these men and how blessed I felt to be going to this event. I was not sure what I was expecting but to see how young they are just tugged at me in an ultra deep way. Most were 20-25 and one guy was 32. They were dressed in nice clothing, have fancy shoes, phones, and jewelry. They were so friendly and after introductions were got on our skates and began roller blading. It was so heart warming to watch how quickly they became comfortable with all of us. Laughing and smiling, falling all over the rink... because they clearly weren't very good at skating :-) but they were already obviously having a wonderful time and so was I! My thoughts swirled around my head as I was soaking in every moment of this experience and my time with them. They were excited to take photos with us on their cameras and hold our hands while we skated. We even made a conga line! One guy constantly wanted to hold Jona-Lynn and my hand while skating. It is a moment in my life I will treasure forever. We were worried if that was culturally acceptable or not, but we were told that it was no problem. :-) Visna a young guy who is Cambodian and knows Jesus who works with these guys often, and was our translator, told us that this day was the most he had ever seen these guys smile and laugh and to me... that's what matters the most.  It was beautiful to see them smile and laugh, like young boys much like the ones in my junior high youth group back home.  I could tell they struggled with identity issues and is was obvious they craved touch and love and attention and affection. They might be growing physically into men but emotionally and spiritually, mentally they are child-like. My heart breaks for them and I pray for them... because I still cannot grasp how anyone could want to violate their precious bodies stealing their innocence? And I thought about how these struggles are not unique to Cambodia but these boys share a common bond with many young boys all over the world, lost and struggling. My overwhelming love for them starts in a special place and I pray they were blessed my our groups encounter and the Lord's spirit within us shined brightly and that even if they only but glimpsed the Light of God and tasted Him for an afternoon, I pray it was enough to begin a work in them and a yearning for God's presence in their lives that they may ultimately come to know Jesus as Lord and that we were able to just be vessels in that beautiful process.

-Laura Schank