We watched the taxi driver pull away, an odd look on his face; there we stood with our huge back packs and all we had strone around our feet as the orange robed Monks scurried passed us with quizzical expressions on there faces as they glanced at us..
There we stood on the steps of a Buddhist temple; Feeling Gods pull but having no clue what to do with it. We were supposed come into this new town find a hotel and get settled and spend the next 4 days studying they culture and religious beliefs of the people. But, God had different plans.
“We want to be near the temple in a hotel”, we tried to explain to our barely English speaking taxi driver. “There no hotel here”, he replied.
We didn’t think we heard him right and we felt pulled to be near the temple so we told him to take us near the temple. We would just look for a hotel once we were in the area we wanted to be in. But as we arrived at the temple we realized he was right, we didn’t pass one hotel on the way.
“I feel we should be near the temple,” Chad said. “Me too” both Sarah and I agreed. But the question was where.
“Its crazy but what if we asked if we could stay here? At the temple?” Sarah grinned and said.
“Yea! Can you imagine!”, I replied.
“Well, we have to tell the taxi driver what we want, so no hotel? “ Chad asked.
“I say we just stay here and see what happens, we all felt Gods pull here so lets just see what Gods plans are.” I said hesitantly.
As Chad told the driver we were staying here, and the taxi driver tried to make sense of the odd words, I looked around. It seemed to be a monk temple and school. There were little boys of all ages dressed neatly in Orange cloth robes some sitting in outside class rooms and others sweeping or talking to each other. Most of them were ages 8- 13, each one with a cute round face and shaved head.
So, there we stood. Three Americans with bags standing on the curb of a Buddhist temple, with no place to go.
The taxi drove off and we looked at each other.
“Let’s pray”, Chad said.
So we bowed our heads and asked for Gods guidance, a place to stay and the wisdom to say the right things to these highly respected monks.
I stayed with the bags and Chad and Sarah walked around looking for the right person to ask about where to stay. I decided to make myself useful and pray. “God, You lead us here, please light the way to where you would want us to stay, It seems impossible to me that you would lead us to a temple and expect us to be able to sleep here Lord, But your God and im not so I lay my own logic aside and trust you. I pray your will be done and not our own.”
I might mention at this point that we have another team member named Kim that had to stay behind a few hours because she wasn’t feeling good. We were to find a hotel and let them know the name of it and where it was so they could bring Kim later that night to us. So we and especially Chad was worried about Kim and having a suitable Hotel for a not so healthy team mate to come join us. Staying anywhere but an air conditioned Hotel would mean Kim might not be able to join us.
As I was praying and watching our bags a lady that had been sitting at a table with 2 other ladies approached me. She was polite and sweet and asked me where we were from and what we were doing here. I told her we were from USA and were learning and were hoping to find a place to stay near the temple so we could come everyday and research.
She called her sister who spoke a little better English and had me talk to her on her cell phone. Then she waited and walked around looking for something, she asked a young monk boy a question and continued to look around.
Chad and Sarah came back and said they didn’t have any luck finding a place to stay here, and I told them I think this lady is trying to help us. So we waited.
A bell rang and the children poured out and started doing choirs all around us. They were giggling and staring at us, but none of them came close. A monk came walking out and the lady came and whispered to us,
“Make sure you bow to him, he is of much respect here” We knew she meant he must be the head honcho.
About this time our taxi driver came back and we were shocked to see him. He said there is very nice place to stay up head. We were very warmed with the thought he cared enough to go look for a place for us even though he didn’t have too. He thought we were crazy when he dropped us off there and truly wanted to make sure we had a place to stay for the night.
The lady spoke to the main monk and then called her sister to explain to me what he said. He said we couldn’t stay here because of the kids. I told the woman to ask the monk if we could use tents behind the temple, so I went to hand the monk the phone. Big mistake!
As I reached out to hand him the phone his eyes got wide and he said nooooooo very nicely but over and over he said Noooo. The young monks all became silent and the woman rushed to my side. At this point I realized there was a problem and I looked around nervously and felt like a leper. Finally after what felt like eternity the lady grabbed the phone from my hand and handed it to the taxi driver who then handed it to the Monk.
“Woman cannot touch Monk.” The woman said.
Wow, how embarrassing! I said sorry and looked at Sarah and we just kind of backed off and let Chad handle it from then on.
The monk told our taxi driver to take us to another temple. So we loaded up and took off. Sarah and I explained how God spoke to us both and we heard the word patience. Chad was still thinking we should get a hotel and stayed very quit as he trusted me and Sarah were hearing from the Lord.
As we drove around the town looking for this other temple it was clear our taxi driver was lost. We drove by a huge resort on the outside of town and he pulled over and asked us if we wanted to stay here. We laughed and said no we can not afford this resort. We told him to take us to the Temple. He shook his head at the crazy Americans and took us to our temple.
As we drove up to the new temple we prayed again, “ God we have No clue what you are doing or where we are but we know you brought us here so we trust you will open a door for 3 Christians to live in a Buddhist temple, lead the way God”. So again I stayed with the bags as Sarah and Chadder went to see if we could stay here.
At this point I would love to say I knew without a doubt God would open the door and find a way for us to stay here, but I didn’t. I just couldn’t see how it was possible; if they let us stay here it would be a miracle indeed. I repented of my doubt and prayed.
They came back and said ok we can stay here. I was dumb founded yet not surprised all at the same time! Chad said it was kind of creepy inside and you can feel something wrong in the spirit as you walk through it. I could feel what he was saying from outside and we all prayed and made sure we should be going in there before it was too late. We all agreed God was in charge and for whatever reason it was his plan for us to be there so he would protect us.
I was scared yet felt an inner boldness and confidence as I walked into the Buddhist temple. An older Monk with glasses was preparing for us as we walked in the Sanctuary type building.
The walls were covered with murals, and shelves. The shelves were littered with gold statues and septors, bowls and cups painted with gold motifs and other little items that to this day I cant figure out what they are maybe idols of some sort. The front of the room had a huge golden idol of a thin Buddha sitting cross legged and tons of candles and offerings below him.. There was two life sized posters of the king and queen on each side of the platform and two red tables and kneeing chairs with flowers on each side in the middle front of the room. The ceilings were painted with orange, red and gold and were beautifully gaudy. There was so much going on in this huge room that one could look for hours and not see all there is to see on the walls and shelves.
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We looked at each other and began to unroll our sleeping bags on the shiny tile floor. Wondering what God had in store for us.
