I had the opportunity to travel to different cities on two occasions in March. At the end of both trips, I left feeling tremendously blessed by the host families with whom I stayed during my visit.
The first trip was with the Rich, an OSU student and the other ISeeders to E. Springfield Pennsylvania to visit the Federated Church, a church God is using to spread His gospel across the world. During their missions weekend, we were given opportunities to share testimonies of God’s work in our lives. Rich asked me to share about my learning during the ISEED program. I shared about the importance of contextualizing worship and the ways I have been learning to do that in my own culture, something I had never done before. It was a blessing to hear the other ISeeders share their testimonies and to celebrate God’s goodness in each of our lives. We also had the opportunity to share about honor and shame cultures at the IFI training day in Cleveland and during the Sunday School hour at the Federated church. Preparing our presentation provided me with great insights into the gospel and the ways in which it addresses every culture. Overall, I was very grateful to have the opportunity to present in both locations. It was a great learning experience. Our time with our host family was also a wonderful time of fellowship. We got to hear about our hosts’ heart for the Lord and shared our own stories with them. They took good care of us and I left having experienced the beautiful bond of brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ with people I had just met!
Our second trip was a Spring break trip to DC. Before we left for the trip, I was a bit anxious about my energy levels and my ability to interact with a large group, because I hadn’t quite recovered from the previous trip. By God’s grace, I had a day of rest before we left for DC. The trip was a lot of fun. More fun than I expected it to be. We had great interactions with the students in our van, saw a lot of the famous spots in DC and once again were blessed by incredible hospitality. I loved getting to know our hosts and talking about faith with them. I was struck by their genuineness. They did not put on airs or keep us at a distance as “guests,” but instead, they simply shared who they were and made us feel right at home, giving us permission to be ourselves too.
Hosting is hard work. It involves taking the first step to sacrifice our own comforts in order to make others feel comfortable, but in the end there is an opportunity to be mutually blessed. I praise God for people who have willingly made the sacrifice to bless me. As I experience the love of Christ through people who have hosted me, I find that God is at work in my own heart, making me more willing to sacrifice for the sake of others.