Source: The Buddhist Channel/Hawkes Bay Today
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=50,3614,0,0,1,0
Hawke's Bay, New Zealand -- The house on Tamatea's Norfolk Street looks like any other, but it's not. Six months ago, Hawke's Bay people from the Thai and Laos communities decided to club together and buy a house to convert into a temple, and so the Samma Patipadaram Monastery was born.
It is a centre of Buddhism and meditation, and is the only monastery outside Auckland and Wellington.
Each day, members of the community bring food offerings for the two monks who reside at the monastery, Phra Ajarn Sudhiro and Phra Ajarn Phramaha Thavorn.
Both monks came to Hawke's Bay from Thailand to reside at the monastery, and are known as "Phra Ajarn" which means "teacher".
Phra Ajarn Phramaha Thavorn has been a monk for the past 18 years, and he started his training aged 12.