Incense and praying to statues filled the afternoon for some Chinese tourists in Southeast Asia as they found time to stop at the Chinese temple to pray.

Southern Cross volunteers watched as Chinese parents taught their children to light incense and pray to the statues. Part of the Southern Cross experience is taking time out from Bible distribution to learn about the Chinese culture, customs and beliefs. To learn more about the spiritual background of Chinese tourists, members of the Big Hatchie Baptist Association, Tenn., prayer walked through a local Chinese temple.

During Chinese New Year, many Buddhist and Taoist believers take time to go to the temple to curry favor from deities for the new year. Visiting the temple, lighting incense and praying brings good luck for the upcoming year. According to tradition, the sooner they offer incense on New Years’ Day – this year, on February 3 – the luckier they will be.

In the days leading up to New Year, a few tourists come to the temple. Some just to see the statues, others pray and thank deities for a good year.

As Southern Cross volunteers walked by the ornate decorations and statues of deities, they stopped periodically to pray for the few Chinese they saw worshiping.

“It’s such a dark place,” Stan Smith, director of missions for Big Hatchie Baptist Association, said. The volunteers nodded in agreement, having felt the spiritual darkness, too. “This helps us know how to pray for these people.”