The Monk Tour

Well, so I had originally written this super long post here about Liz and her Monk Tour. Then, I decided it'd be much easier to just start a new blog to post the emails she sends out. Here it is: monktour.blogspot.com. I'll type up a little explanation about what this is, and I hope you go check it out regularly!!

For those of you who are blog regulars, you are a little familiar with my friend, Liz, and her Monk Tour. The whole story, in a nutshell, is this: I led a freshman girls' Bible study while at Baylor, and Liz was one of the girls in the study. She and I became good friends, and we have kept up for the past 8 years or so, since we first met. Liz is a wonderful, godly person, and I can say without hesitation that she, more than anyone else I know, walks by faith.

A few years ago, she went to Myanmar (Burma) to live for about 7 or 8 months as a missionary. (I was just remembering this morning that we actually sent a wedding invitation to Thailand for her! So I guess this was in 2003.) God worked in amazing ways, and she unexpectedly befriended a group of Buddhist monks. It is extremely unusual that monks, highly regarded in their culture, would befriend a westerner and a woman. But they wanted English lessons. So Liz took the opportunity to teach them Bible verses and songs like Amazing Grace--all this in a country where it is very dangerous to do so. In fact, we always had to write emails in code, using words like "I talked to father" instead of "I prayed" or "father said" instead of "I read in the Bible."

The monks are extremely curious, philosophical, and interested in learning. In fact, after Liz left, many of them spread out all over Asia to attend different seminaries to further their education. However, most of them kept in touch with Liz via email, and she was able to continue conversations with them about Jesus. They're also extremely fun-loving and funny, and they all genuinely love Liz as a friend. I think they all laugh a lot together.

One or two monks have actually become Christians, which is a huge deal not only spiritually but also culturally and personally. They have to leave their honored post as a monk (a socially higher rank, I believe), they are alienated from their families, and so on. It is a very big decision for them to decide to follow Christ. I remember that one of them accepted Christ shortly before or after Liz left Burma, and he was very afraid to go home and tell his family, although he knew he needed to tell them what he now knew about Jesus. I am not sure what happened to him. Another former monk, Ravi, who is now living in the States, became a Christian, as well. The rest of them still live in Asia.

A couple of summers ago, Liz did a law internship in India, so on the way, she stopped in Sri Lanka to visit some of the monks. I believe she also saw some of them in India.Which brings us to this summer. She organized what she is calling her "Monk Tour," where she planned a trip to go see all of her monks, spread out across southern Asia. She opened up the trip to anyone who wanted to go with her, since so many of us have been keeping up with these men through her for the past 4 years or so. One friend, Christy, decided to go.

Liz sends out the most wonderful email updates. Every time I read them, I think of how much you guys would enjoy them, too, and how much you'd love to pray for them. But I've been reluctant to post them because they are quite long, and the whole blog would just turn into a Monk Tour blog. So what I've decided to do today is start a new blog just for updates about this trip.

The purpose of this blog is for you to pray, and for you to be edified. What I love most about Liz's emails are that 1.) they open my eyes up to what God is doing in other parts of the world, and 2.) it strengthens my faith to read about her experiences. So go check it out!