Welcome

“Welcome” is one of the SIX WAYS to be involved in God’s global mission. The idea is people from one of the 7,000 Unreached People Groups travel and move to places in the world where there is a Christian witness. e.g. international students, refugees, migrants, etc. Christians in turn have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus in word and deed with people they would previously never get to meet.

Recently our family had an opportunity to host a student from Japan for four days. She was part of a school group learning about the U.S. They visited New York City, Washington, D.C. and rural Pennsylvania. This home stay gave them the opportunity to experience life with an American family.

We saw it as a win-win. She learned from us about our rhythms, language, religion, etc. She cooked hot dogs and s’mores with us over the campfire. She jumped in a pile of leaves with the kids and laid in the grass to gaze at the stars. She even saw her first shooting star! She attended soccer games and church with us.

We learned from her about her family and home life as well as more subtle things like how a Japanese teenager carries herself. For example, she was incredibly polite, commenting “Mmmm, nice” after taking the first bite of whatever we put in front of her. I don’t know if she actually like my Amish-style chicken and waffles, but she was kind about it.

She was also respectful to start reading a bit of the Japanese Bible we gave her. The question came up about whether the Japanese script is read from left to right (yes) or right to left (no). She was initially confused by the question so I pulled out my Hebrew Bible and read Genesis 1:1 out loud while following the letters with my finger (right to left). Then I translated it into English. She said “Oh — that’s the same meaning as the Japanese.” Then she read Genesis 1:1 out loud in Japanese. It was a fun cultural-linguistic interaction that we hope plants a deeper seed in her: there is a God who created her and who loves her.

I was amazed how much she knew about Christmas. In fact when we asked her what she wanted to do in America, her answer was have a Christmas party. So we pulled out the tree and the nativity. We played Christmas music and she joined the children to act out the Luke 2 story. Another planted seed.

The whole experience reminded me of a home stay I had in Malaysia a few years ago. They were a Muslim family in a rural village. We ate variations of chicken and rice and practiced the Malay language. We learned about their religious youth leaders who encouraged purity and devotion. We observed their family rhythms and heard about their struggles and joys.

The whole experience was very humanizing. In my lifetime, interactions with Muslims have been far and few between. I hear more about “them” on the news and generally that only creates barriers. To live and sleep and eat in the same home together had a beautiful way of breaking down my misconceptions.

I hope the same thing was true for our Japanese visitor.

I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to contact her again, but I pray she will remember her interaction with us was filled with hope. When she faces pressure in life, may she remember the God who created her and sent his son to the earth to save us.

Feel free to share a “welcoming” experience below!