He also explained that there is much Buddhism in Laos, but most of it is combined with animism. “There is no power in Buddhism,” he explained. “There are no miracles, nothing supernatural. So people follow the teachings of Buddha, but they add the animism because there is much of the supernatural in animism. Even the Buddhist monks practice animism.” I asked him if there was any conflict between Buddhism and Laos' communist government. He said no, mostly because the government sees Buddhism as harmless. At one time Buddhists were persecuted just as Christians are. But more recently that has changed. In fact, the government now works with the Buddhist monasteries, using monks to promote political messages in their sermons and teachings.
After supper we reconvened for a couple of hours to continue an earlier discussion. By 9:00pm we were finished with meetings and ready for bed.
Saturday, February 26
This morning's devotions were based on 2 Timothy 4:1-5- “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”
We then heard a report on the ministry in Laos, including the following facts: In 1990 there were an estimated 13,000 Christians in Laos. Today, after a decade of missions work by Laotian Christians, there are 70,000. “We praise God for that,” says our staff, “but along with that blessing come suffering. Every year, without exception, we have many people in jail, many pastors.”
Rather than defy the government or go completely “underground,” our staff have chosen to work hard to develop relationships with government officials, so that they will not see him as an enemy. This is a difficult path to walk, and it takes great patience and discernment.
One staff member related the story of a conversation he had with a government official: “He was accusing me of practicing foreign religion-because I am Christian. He said Buddhism is religion of Laos, and he is suspicious of Christians and their foreign teaching. I said, 'If Buddhism is Lao, why not translate the Buddhist Scriptures into Lao?' (They are in Pali, a language taught only in Buddhist seminaries.) I said, 'My Scripture is in Lao, so I am more Lao than the Buddhists!' But he was blinded to the truth of that.”
The next sessions were all budgeting meetings that I didn't need to be a part of, so I and three others went to Watt Phnom to take in the one tourist attraction we had seen there: an elephant ride. “Phnom” means “hill” or “mound” in Khmer, and “Watt” is the temple on top of the hill that Phnom Penh is named after. There is a temple or something built on the top, and the elephant ride follows a route around the temple. For $3.00 a person, we each got a 10-minute elephant ride. I think the local people in the park there were as entertained by us as we were by the elephant!
After two trips around the park, we fed our friend an entire bunch of green bananas and two small melons, which he popped into his mouth like grapes.
We arrived back at the hotel in time for supper, but none of us was too hungry, so we walked down to the Lucky Market for ice cream bars instead of a full meal.
Sunday in Phnom Penh
Sunday, February 27
Wow! What a day.
It started when we left for church at 7:30am. We divided into two groups; the larger group visited a more established church. I was in the smaller group, and we visited a new church established by a church planter just six months ago.
I counted 43 in attendance this morning. We arrived at the church just before 8:00am, and about 20 people were already gathered for a service that would begin at 8:30.
The church building is a “storefront” type structure on a busy street; the entire back wall is open, and the traffic and street noise was constant. We visitors had places of honor in the front, though, so the distractions were minimal.
