Two days ago our neighbor came to our home to give us our invitation to come to the event. So the past two days I've been asking everyone I know what you do at a Buddhist funeral bon. My teachers told me you go, give the family some money, eat rice porridge and then leave.
We knew there would be monks...a time of offering prayers for the deceased, and then possibly a teaching time, but we didn't know how it would all play out and what it was that we needed to do. I got a few different answers on what was appropriate to wear to such an event so I was literally watching as guests arrived to see what they were wearing before I got myself and Aiden dressed!
Above all else we knew that it would make a HUGE statement in our community for us to go....#1 because we are Christian and #2 because we are foreigners. My teacher at language school said she's never seen a foreigner go to a funeral before...sure foreigners are at weddings, but not funerals, she said. So we prayed for God's wisdom and got ourselves dressed and went at the appropriate time this afternoon.
We're still not sure what to make of all of it as we don't know language and culture well enough to know exactly what happened, but our neighbors seemed very grateful that we were there and they made sure, several times, that we weren't going to leave too early and miss out on the rice porridge (which was darn good by the way....except for the squid tentacle that got stuck in Chris' teeth!)
Our prayers have been that through this experience that God would show himself to others through us...even if we say nothing at all, that people just KNOW that we are different. They saw that we didn't participate in the merit making ceremony and prayers with the Monks, but they did see that we weren't afraid of it either. Pray for this family that because we were willing to step out and go to the bon that they would be curious about us, and our God and that they would be willing to ask Mao, our nanny (who is also a follower of Jesus), or even that they would be willing to ask us about our faith (and if that happens pray that God miraculously gives us the language we need to say all that we need to say!)
1 comment:
I can't imagine waking up to funeral music or having monks chant (some times louder than the music)- especially being so close. It's amazing to me how other countries handle funerals - weddings etc.. I feel for you learning the different language and trying to communicate your love of the Lord.
Keep up the posts as I enjoy reading them and learning about you, your family and your experiences.
Love Marcala
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