Our First Day of Work

Today was our first day of coursework and direct contact with those at the temples. I am in a group with myself, a San Antonio student named Bobby, and a Thai-American named Diane. After a great opening session of class from 8:30 to noon, we were released to meet together at a specific temple. When we arrived, we found out that there was a funeral going on for one of the monks of that particular temple. The casket was at the front surrounded by thousands of white flowers and a brief description of his life in Thai. I can't help but notice the coldness of the funeral in the Buddhist religion. There is no celebration of a life well lived or expectation of any glorious afterlife, only the "reality" of another reincarnation. When you ask most of them, they feel trapped by the seemingly endless cycles of death and reincarnation and desire strongly to escape that cycle. The tragedy is that they near death with the expectation that they are coming back here. I felt a similar cold, hopeless feel when I attended a Sikh funeral in Vancouver this past May. There was absolutely no hope, just a feeling of being trapped in an inescapable destiny. They feel like they have no choice but to live the way that is set before them to live. Our task is not to forcefully cram the Gospel message down their throats, but rather to tell them that the situation in which they currently find themselves is not inescapable; that there is a message of good news that they have not heard. We simply introduce them to the Lord's way as prepared for mankind through Christ and it is up to the Spirit of God to move their hearts to accept that message. Contrary to what many detractors believe, we are not forcing anything upon anyone. We are just here presenting to them another way.

We spoke with two Canadian Jews, a monk serving drinks at a temple, and a Mexican couple (one Jewish and one nominally Catholic). All were great to dialogue with and were not resistant to spiritual conversations. The monk grew leery of questions about knowing where he is going when he dies, but I think in retrospect we probably pushed a little too hard too fast. They are generally great if you establish a relationship with them through conversation before getting too deep into spiritual matters. With the Mexicans I even got to speak Spanish in conversation with them which really opened things up for Bobby to present a great message about Christ and the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.

If everyday is as stimulating and fruitful as today was, I will be thrilled. I am really enjoying the freedom to minister freely as we have the coice as to where to go and who to converse with. I am trying to get some pictures up here so bear with me!

-JP-