Hospitality Isn't Just an Africa Thing

I have an announcement to make. 

I'm a homeowner! Okay, not really....but a home-renter at least. I have my first little house in Africa, a place entirely my own, a place where I am free to show hospitality. Africa has taught me a lot about hospitality as it is one of the greatest cultural values. Funny though, the more I read God's Word, the more I find commands to show hospitality and welcome the visitor, outsider, widow, and orphan. I'm beginning to realize that it's not an African thing, it's a biblical thing, and I'm wondering why I'm just now figuring this out. 

Because of this, I view my house as a gift. A tool in my ministry toolbox. Something God has given me to be given right back to him. Something not to be kept to myself, but something to be shared. That's why I am adopting a "doors always open" policy. 

And God must agree because it's amazing how much has already happened in just one week. 

The day that I moved, just when I was feeling lonely because it was the first time I had to move and do everything all by myself, I received a phone call. It was Stephane's mother, Margarite, asking if she could come pay me a visit. "How perfect!" I exclaimed. "I am actually moving today and you can come see my new house whenever you like." 

"How about tomorrow?" she quickly proposed. And so my first visit was arranged as if the Lord were saying, "Quit moping about being alone and get your house ready because I am about to start bringing people!"

Margarite and her two boys - Alex and baby Stephane - became my first visitors to sit on my little red couch. Baby Stephane was the first baby to be rocked in my rocker. He was the first one to tinkle on my new carpet. Alex was the first one to find the toy box that I made for kids who come, and he was the first one to read me a story from the French Children's Bible that I have been waiting to use for so long. Margarite was the first one to say thank you for a visit and that she would really like to come back soon. 

The next day was my first day to welcome an unannounced visitor. Luckily, I had a pot of tea on the stove, which became my first (but certainly not the last!) time to share a cup of tea in my home. After chatting for a while, she opened up about some details from her past with tears pooling in her eyes, and I got to minister to someone's spirit for the first time in my new house. She became the first person to take from my "Take What You Need" wall. It's a simple string with six clothespins hanging right by the door. Each clothespin holds a note with a word like hope, joy, encouragement, or strength accompanied by a Scripture. She was the first to take from the wall, to take the strength that she needed, and to leave with something that she gained while being in my house and in God's presence. 

The following day, I had my first visitor to come and say "I need to talk to you about something," and we had our first eye to eye, heart to heart conversation on that little red couch. 

This week the Hien boys and their neighborhood friends also discovered the toy box in my house, which led to the first game of Uno on my living room floor and the first time to have my living room completely filled with barefooted boys and balloons flying everywhere. 

I got my Dagara ladder this week so that I can climb up on the roof. I watched my first 5:30 am sunrise from up there, and I have a feeling that me and Jesus will be doing that quite often from here on out. 

At the end of this week, I invited the Hiens and Geoffrey (our missionary team) over for my first real hospitality dinner. After dinner, we worshipped, sang, and prayed, and my house was filled with bilingual worship and prayer for the first time. Oh how I pray this place will be known as a place where worship and prayer are as natural as eating, drinking, and breathing. 

This morning, Rebeca and her girls came to visit and my house became a medical center for the first time as I gave the girls each a vaccine. As we continued to visit, Rebeca told me she had an idea she wanted to share. "Ever since the first time I heard that you were moving," she explained, "I felt like God gave me an idea. We should pick an evening where you and me and Charlotte can get together to pray, encourage one another, and share ideas about how we can start a women's movement among the Dagara." I smiled from ear to ear and said, "This house is made for that." 

I am having a flashback of the moment two weeks ago when the finishing touches were made on my house and I knelt on the living room floor to pray for it and dedicate it to the Lord. I prayed that this house would be a place of ministry. A place of prayer. A place of worship. A place of hospitality. A safe place. A place where people can laugh and a place where they can cry. I prayed that many people would come and that every person who entered would feel the presence of the Lord and come to know him better. I prayed that it would be a place where medical ministry can happen as well. 

Look how God has answered every single one of those prayers in some way during the course of this first week. 

I'm having another flashback to a time a little further back. It was right before I left the United States to move here, and I was nervous. What if I can't do what you are asking me to do? What if I'm not good enough, strong enough, experienced enough, knowledgable enough, blah, blah, blah? And the Lord reminded me in that moment that he is enough. As I was telling him that I'm not sure I'm capable to go and do such and such, he seemed to say, "But can you go and make a friend?" I replied with a sigh of relief as I wiped some tears away, "Yes, Lord, I can do that for you." 

I look back at this week and see how the Lord has given me a house but also how he has given me friends to fill it. I may not have changed the world here, but I have made some friends, and I am trying to share life and Jesus with them because that is what God has asked me to do. 

I believe that's what he has asked all of us to do. Make friends. Show hospitality. And be sure to include him in all of it. Speak his name, share his truth, show his love, pass out his hope, and give his encouragement. Be bold with your love and the gospel.

This week has been a week of "firsts" for me. Now maybe it's your turn, too.