I've got a few minutes before Evan and I will leave for Gulfport, so I figure I'll try to finish what I started. (By the way, if you would, pray that I have energy for today and the rest of the trip. I'm feeling really run down right now and would L-O-V-E to go back to bed.)
Anyway, after lunch we went and visited a Laotian Buddhist temple. This was very interesting. It was setup around a trailer where the monks lived. There was a little pavilion where there were 8 statues of the Buddha in different postures with varying offerings in front of different ones. A monk came out and spoke with us (well, with Pheng, who then tied to tell us what he had said). Apparently this monk had made all of the statues that we were seeing as well as various other statues and artworks around the grounds. The 8 statues of the Buddha took him 2 months to make, and these things were around 5-6 feet tall. He also made them with only tools that he had made himself! I asked him a few questions about what he was doing there and how long he had been here. He has been here in the US for about a year and came wanting to teach people about Laos and Buddhism, but has been saddened that he has not had much opportunity to do that. He said that he would like to go home but those around him are begging or telling him to stay. Evan asked two great questions of him: 1.) what would you say to 'convince' someone to be a Buddhist and 2.) what did the 8 different Buddhas represent?
I'll come back and edit this one later. We need to leave now...
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