This past weekend I made the two hour drive up the I-5 to Shafter, CA, my hometown. The main reason for the trip was to see my cousin Jill get married to Jayson Brooks. It was a beautiful wedding, with several people making last minute adjustments to accommodate for the surprisingly stormy weather. In the end, they got married and it was a very festive time.

Sunday morning I had planned on waking early in order to prepare before sharing about my time in Cambodia with the faithful members of my home church, Shafter Mennonite Brethren. I was not so disciplined when my alarm went off the first time, but that had me just awake enough to answer an unexpected phone call. Bunnath, one of the leaders of the Hope Project of World Relief Cambodia (the subject of my summer's research) called from Phnom Penh. It was so good to hear my friend's contagious laughter. And the good news of the development of the Hope Project moving ahead on its plans to expand was encouraging.

A professor at Fresno Pacific wrote in a letter to me that after being totally immersed in another culture one is never really "at home" again. That is to say, I can never really be a "normal" American again. He also said that it is both a blessing and a curse, but mostly blessing. Phone calls such as the one early Sunday morning are part of the blessings.

It was "like water to a weary soul."