Actual Mission Stories: Monks in Church

Monks in Church

Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand

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Date: June 1971 (Story by Duane R. Hurst, © October 1973)

[NOTE: This story is based on actual events, but I changed the names of other people involved.]

      June 1 at Wat Umong, an ancient temple and burial site on the hills overlooking Chiang Mai. Elder Wells and I rode our bikes up the long winding and dusty road to seek Wiradet, a long-time but inactive member, at the temple complex. His family told us that he was painting pictures for an exhibit there and we wanted to encourage him to return to the Church.

      As usual, a hot sun persuaded us to seek shade trees as soon as possible once we peddled to a stop inside the park-like grounds. It had the most spacious area of any temple I'd seen in the city; moreover, the trunk of virtually every tree had a small plaque attached to it (a Buddhist maxim or some other profound statement was written on the plaque). Further aphorisms painted on large, picture-covered billboards were spaced on both sides of a carved stone stairway.

      We climbed the stairs and turned right along a path which led to a new pavilion. Inside we noticed many small paintings on all the walls. They had been painted by local school children and represented various themes from Buddhist or Christian scripture. One about Christ particularly caught my eye. It presented a false notion that He would come to earth with a sword in hand to destroy the people. One of the men present noticed me reading the New Testament passage in Thai and asked if it was correct. I then explained the misinterpretation of the scripture's meaning. The monk in charge of the project approached us and we began discussing not only the scripture, but also a few basic principles of our belief. He appeared to be a kind man, who also was interested to learn about our teachings.

      Elder Wells and I gave he and two other monks an introductory lesson. To my surprise the man invited us to return later in the week for another discussion. He also called brother Wiradet for us. The brother agreed to see us at the temple in the future and was surprised that we would bother to seek him so far from his home.

      During the next few weeks we returned to Wat Umong and taught Thawin, the monk. There was a time we promised to show him the "Man's Search for Happiness" filmstrip. Elder Rigley and I put the projector inside a waterproof container since a heavy evening rain turned into a monsoon downpour by the time we were less than half way to the temple. We took a wrong turn in the dismal light but finally arrived. Thawin and the monks were amazed that we kept the appointment. He told us, "Truly, we did not expect you to come in such a storm just to show us a film. Please show us what you brought. I will call others."

      After our discussion I invited him to attend a special meeting at the church on Saturday. The mission president was scheduled to visit and we wanted all our investigators to be there. He promised to go because we had been so diligent in fulfilling our commitments to him.

      On June 19 many members and investigators indeed arrived to hear President Smith speak. Thawin and three monks came dressed in their saffron colored robes. Everyone offered them the deference due Buddhist monks and many members stared open-eyed. It was the first time monks had come to a church meeting.

      Sister Matthana, a somewhat chunky teenager, was excited and said that she couldn't believe her eyes. The week before I told her we were teaching a few monks who planned to attend conference; she had laughed and said she'd believe it when she saw it. Others were equally surprised. President Smith likewise was pleased to see the monks and made a special point of greeting them.

      It was a memorable conference for other reasons. We had a record number of investigators and members there. An American G.I. was there for his first time and a Thai member baptized his sister that morning prior to the meeting.