I stepped onto the bus for our hour long ride to a nearby town and took a seat next to a middle-aged Thai lady. She smiled to greet me as I sat down beside her. I tried to talk to her, thinking that she may possibly know some English… but she didn’t. So, I prepared for the hour long ride listening to music on my ipod.
As we were driving along, I noticed that she kept bowing toward the window every time we passed a Buddhist temple. I also noticed that she would watch with some interest as I would use my small touchscreen ipod. I thought to myself… “This lady needs to have some Jesus in her day today.”
So, I took out one of my ear buds and held it out to her. She just looked at it for a moment, until I motioned for her to put it in her ear. She did. She listened for a few seconds. Then she turned with a big smile on her face and nodded at me. She obviously liked it. She even got the attention of the lady collecting the money as people got on the bus and told her something about it. She was motioning at the headphones and me… all the while laughing and smiling. I am sure it was a funny sight to see this white girl sharing headphones with this older Thai lady.
She finished out that song and listened to one more before returning the ear bud and thanking me.
She didn’t understand any of it, but at least she enjoyed a little Jesus in her day without even knowing it.
Probably one of the funniest things about this story that I should share with you… I was actually listening to Spanish worship music… songs we sang in church in Honduras. So, just like this sweet Thai lady, I didn’t even understand all of the words in the songs haha…
Thailand is great! I am really enjoying my time here, although, I am not going to lie… I am missing Central America a lot! I absolutely loved it there, which is funny because that is the area I was least looking forward to. And here I am in Thailand, missing it.
Thailand has its similarities to Central America… crowded buses, busy markets, amazing fresh fruit, rice with most traditional meals, tuk-tuks for public transporation, and you have to pay to use public bathrooms usually. And, even when you pay, there still might not be toilet paper in there.
This is what the inside of a tuk tuk looks like…
And here is 4 of us sqeezed in the back of one…
But, of course, Thailand is very different as well.
The language is difficult! I only know how to say 2 things in Thai… I know how to greet people, and I also know how to say thank you. So unlike in Central America, we don’t have anyone on a squad fluent in the language.
We are also adjusting to squatty potties… I know they do have these in Central America, but I never had to use one there. I have already mastered the technique!
The people here are also very polite and respectful. In Central America, girls would often get comments yelled or guys would make “kissing” noises towards us. Here, people just smile and nod.
Definitely the biggest difference though would be religion.
Thailand has a population of about 65 million with Buddhism being the major religion. Over 94% of the nation claims to be Buddhist, about 4% are Muslim, and then only about 1% are Christian.
Everywhere we go, we see Buddhist temples, statues, spirit houses, and offerings of food left outside buildings and businesses.
Thailand has always been a Buddhist country. Even though to be born Thai means to be born Buddhist, the average Thai person is not much more a Buddhist than many people in the Western world consider themselves to be Christian. Some rituals are followed by most people, but only a few follow all the rules. Kind of like if you were to ask people in the States what religion they are… huge majority would say Christian even though they do not live a lifestyle representing it.
So here is a small summary of some major Buddhist beliefs:
– They believe the Law of Karma… meaning that every action has some ultimate religious reward or punishment attached to it.
– Merit/Demerit… They gain Merit by doing good and Demerit by doing bad. They want to gain as much merit as possible and reduce demerit.
-Heaven/Hell… When they die, they believe they go to hell first. There are many levels to hell and you go to the different levels depending on demerit. Then, they go to heaven to enjoy merit. If a person has a lot of merit, they go to heaven directly. Once merit is used up in heaven, they re-birth into their next existence.
There are also monks everywhere here… Every male over the age of 20 can become a monk. They earn merit for doing this. Monks shave their heads, wear a specific robe, leave home and live at the temple, and follow 227 rules. They can stay a monk as long as they want. Oh… and they cannot touch females or be touched by one… or receive anything from the hand of one.
That is basically what I have learned about Buddhism in a nutshell. Most of this information came from a packet we received at orientation. The people of Thailand are great, but they are lost when it comes to faith. They believe and worship in false idols.
Please be praying for the people of Thailand that they will find Christ and a movement of truth will start across this country. They all need a little Jesus in their day.
