The last week of ministry in Thailand has been, to say the least, amazing! Each week we have the opportunity to switch ministries so every week my team will get to do something a little different. Last week I had the privilege to serve in monk chat, it was not at all what I had expected. To sum up the experience everyday we would head to one of the local temples and chat with a monk. We could ask the monk about anything, so we mostly got to hear about their lives as a monk, why they choose the monk life and if they wanted to stay a monk or if they wanted to do something different. My expectation was to have deep conversations about what it means to be Buddhist and why they believed in this life style.
Going into monk chat I was expecting to hear a lot about Buddhism and why they love the religion they practice but that’s not what happened. As we asked about what they believed and how this affected their lives great sadness sank in and with so many they didn’t have hope. Others had answers to the questions however it was evident, that maybe, they didn’t have their own answers. It was a weird thing to experience that made me realize how much we need grace.
????????? (Bin), one of the monks, was this amazing man who wanted to have an education but didn’t have the means to do it. In Thailand school for monks is free so he has been able to get an education while he studies. ????????? (Bin) was raised in a Buddhist family who practiced some christian principles. It was really neat talking to him because we got to share a little about why we believed in God and he just kept asking questions. We had a lot of great deep talks with ????????? (Bin) but we more than that we shared many laughs. A monk is not suppose to laugh so it was refreshing to share joy with him. My favourite quote from ????????? (Bin) is this, “I really like the white skin, it is very beautiful, but don’t worry I cannot touch. (We start laughing) No seriously a monk cannot touch, but maybe one day.” ????????? (Bin) has a great sense of humour and an honest desire to find truth.
????????? (Bin) is no different than me, he’s the same in so many ways. He laughs, eats, sleeps, desires truth, wants to have a deeper understanding and has the desire to travel. He is loved by the king and he is awesome!
