Visit to a Wat

This past Saturday, as a cultural experience, we visited a Buddhist temple.  We went with one of our language coaches, a Thai believer and some of our friends that arrived around the same time we did.  
Thai people are predominantly Buddhist and Animists with small pockets of Muslims scattered throughout the country.  Most of the people hold to the cultural belief that, "to be Thai is to be Buddhist," keeping their religion as a main aspect of their identity.
Most villages have their own Wat, or Buddhist temple, which serves as a central location for village events.  One of the most concentrated number or temples can be found in the city of Chiang Mai with over 300 Buddhist temples.  
When Thai people become Christians, many face persecution because their families feel that they have angered the spirits by converting to Christianity.  Believers are often under pressure from their families to revert back to Buddhism.
As we were walking around the Wat there was such a sense of hopelessness.  People were sitting by monks trying to earn merit for their sins and do "the right thing" to earn favor with Buddha and/or the spirits.  To see people that are so lost, and caught in the trap of culture and tradition is enough to break your heart.  
We want to share with them the message of hope but the language barrier adds to the difficulty of sharing.  In the US we spoke the language and had the ability to share with our words.  Even when we lived in Kenya, most people spoke English. Here we don't speak the language, we don't have religion in common and we are mere visitors in their homeland.  For now we look for opportunities to share with locals that speak english.  Recently Nate was at 7-11 paying a bill and ran into a guy that spoke english and even spent a few years in Texas. When Nate/Nathan/Nathanael introduced himself the man said that was a biblical name. That was the last thing we expected him to say. Nate spent the next couple of hours sharing with him and hopes to continue to build that relationship.  
Please join us in prayer for the people of Chiang Mai, that the Light of Jesus would be able to penetrate the darkness of Buddhism.

Below are some of the pictures that we took on our trip to the Wat.