It was just a simple Tuesday morning. The night before, I saw a van full of monks outside of our hotel, the Hotel Sahara. As my teammate, Kehinde and I walked in, I saw one monk talking to the receptionist. I had a small, fleeting thought, “ I bet these monks are going to stay here tonight.”
Well, I was right. The next day, I woke up at about 6:30, and headed down to have breakfast. The staff told me that today I could enjoy the buffet so that I did. After I finished eating, I moved to a couch near the dining area, and began my devotional time.
Then, they started coming, one by one, monk after monk.
I tried so hard to stay focused in my time, but every once in a while, I couldn’t help turn my eyes from the Word and to the monks who, I just happened to observe, were drinking coffee. COFFEE! Who knew monks could drink coffee? Anyway, narrowed brow and all, I dove back into the Word, but then suddenly, it happened.
They were finished with their meals, got up from their seats, and then repositioned themselves.
Right on the couches next to me.
Not being able to focus on the Word at all, I began to pray for the monks. I didn’t want to disturb them, I didn’t even make eye contact with them, and so I was completely shocked when one monk started to talk to me.
He asked me where I was from, and I asked him the same. I learned that he and his fellow classmates were from Cambodia, and they are students heading to a famous Buddhist school in Yangon, Myanmar to begin another year of study. An elderly woman sat next to me, and I learned that she was a lay woman, ( a woman following Buddhism, but not a monk). Suddenly, I heard a lot of Cambodian, and then I saw one woman traveling with them pull out an iPad.
It was then that the monk asked me if we could take a picture.
And there you have it. With brilliant smiles and even some chuckles, I took pictures with the lay women and the monks.
It’s funny. It was all too easy to (or at least try to) distance myself from the monks here in Mandalay, honestly just trying to be respectful of the culture I’m currently living in, but also maybe in part, because that morning, I wasn’t bold enough to initiate a conversation with a monk. What I learned, whilst posing for the pictures, is that love, true love, does so many amazing things: It makes distance not- so distant. It shows Christian missionaries that Buddhists drink coffee, have iPads, and in a nutshell, are people too, and vice versa. It breaks bonds of cultural stereotypes and shows us that really, the more we just begin to talk, hang out and have a photoshoot or two, the more and the better we can love each other.
What do you think you’d see or experience if you woke up early?
(Seriously, leave a comment below and let me know!)
I’ve been having a blast on this World Race journey, and it’s far from over. One amazingly beautiful part of this journey is how I’ve been learning how to be vulnerable, reach out to others, and ask for help.
So here I am, reaching out to you, asking for some help.
Will you help me stay on the World Race by supporting me prayerfully and financially?
I still need to raise $4,471 by July 1st.
If you’d like to support me prayerfully, that would be incredible.
Please pray that everything I need would come exactly when it needs to come!
If you’d like to support me financially, (your donation goes straight to Adventures in Missions) simply click the ::SUPPORT ME/ GIVE:: link on the left.
If you’d like to do both, GREAT!
Thank you, dear reader. Your time and attention means a great deal to me.
Blessings Galore. : ]
