This is not a common phenomenon in

This is not a common phenomenon in Thailand where temple visits and sermons are thought to be old-fashioned and are usually reserved for devout Buddhists and the elderly only.
Born in 1978 to a farming family in the Northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, the young Sompong grew up in Chaiyaphum. At 13, he was ordained as a Buddhist novice at a temple in Khon San district, Chaiyaphum, purely by chance.
The young boy was on his way to tour a cave near a temple, but got lost. When he was supposed to turn right, he turned left and unknowingly queued up for a mass ordination ceremony.
After 15 days, he decided to remain in Buddhist robes for another year to please his mother. The novice later moved to a temple in Khon Kaen to study Pali and dharma until he passed the primary dharma exam, or nak dharma tri. But instead of returning to the secular world after failing the next dharma exam, parian dharma song prayok, he was determined to stay on till he cleared the exam. As a boy who had always been top of the class in primary school, he could not give up that easily.
"That [failing the exam] was the greatest disappointment in my life," Phramaha Sompong recalled, "But, it's just like that. It is tathata [objectivity]."
A few years later, he moved to Wat Soi Thong in Bangkok where he now lives. At 19, he earned an advanced degree in dharma, or parian dharma jed prayok. The monk later earned a bachelor's degree in Buddhist studies from Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya University and a master's degree in social work from Thammasat University.