Our second morning started early. Woke up around 5:30AM and left the hotel at 6 after drinking some really great coffee thanks to Tessa. :) Every morning before the sun rises several monks come walking down the mountain in Chiang Mai to receive merit from the Thai people. During this time monks receive, food, flowers, money, etc which is how Thai people pay back fro the wrong that they have committed. These things are all based on merit. That’s their Buddhist belief and what most Thai people hold to. It was a really eye opening experience to see that so many people, young & old, do this without thinking twice. It’s habit to them.
We got footage and photography of the monks and the Thai people so that we could put together several video projects on the life of a Thai person, and the darkness of Buddism. Again this was eye opening, and a unique thing to experience. After getting what we needed there we headed back into the main part of the city to eat breakfast together. Here we met a few of the Thai students from Ban Kanoon, a community center where people could come and hang out, a “safe place” just to get the kids out of the heat and off the streets.
Later on that day we enjoyed fellowship with Thai believers at The Acts Church of Chiang Mai. That was really amazing! I got to take several pictures and you could sense the spirit of God in that place. Every person was into the worship, really listening during the preaching, and ready to serve as they left. That was the most intense church service i’ve been a part of in a long time. They even ate together afterwards in which they invited us to stay and join them. That was super nice and awesome. We didn’t stay, but we thanked them for their generosity and continued our day.
That afternoon was pretty relaxing, but we got to really get to know the thai students better. We spent the afternoon eating with them, singing with them at Ban Kanoon, and just fellowshipping together. That evening we held a church service at Ban Kanoon, and Ekk led the bible study. Ekk, a really amazing guy, taught and we sang several worship songs together. Shur Gopal, our faculty chaperone for the trip shared his testimony. I recorded part of that and you can see the video, unedited, and raw here.
Have you ever experienced something like this before? Do you know a monk? What are your thoughts on Buddism?
