Hospitality. What does it mean to show hospitality to others. Is it inviting friends over for dinner? Bringing cookies to a new neighbor? Offering to babysit so friends can have a date night? These are all ways you can be hopsitable, but lately I've been understanding that hospitality also includes those not in your immediate circle. It's pretty easy to be hospitable to your friends or people who are like you, but what about strangers? While in Guatemala we were shown hospitality of a different kind, the kind you show to strangers, to foreigners. We were strangers to our host families, yet they treated us like guests of honor.

When we arrived in El Sauce it was pouring. All of our hosts and hostesses immediately began helping us unload the truck and them proceeded to carry all of our bags down the slippery, muddy hill to our lodging. All I was left with was an unbrella, that they gave me!!! It was hard to not feel guilty for allowing someone else to carry all my stuff. Dinner was also unusual. Not only were we served, we were waited on. They didn't even sit with us, instead they made sure our drinks were full and when we finished they washed all our dishes. And this wasn't just for the first meal, it was for every meal we had.

The plumbing in El Sauce isn't so good. Of course there is no hot water excpet for the water you boil. Every morning we had a hot bucket waiting for us so we could take our morning showers. We were the only ones who took showers every morning. They went our of their way to prepare our baths because they knew this was our custom and it would make us comfortable. I wonder how many times I have gone out of my way for my guests.

The homes we stayed in weren't large. In fact their were only 2 or 3 rooms, a kitchen and 1 or 2 sleeping rooms. They gave the Dustin, Jamie, and Ben and I one of their bedrooms, they rest of the family (lots of people) crowded into the other room, some of which had to sleep on the floor. On Tuesday they even offered to wash our clothes. And by wash I mean hand wash. They don't have a washing machine. I tried to wash my own shirt, but I guess I didn't do such a good job cause they took it from me!

Part of our time with Mission Year will be spent in our neighborhood with people who might not be like us. We will be intentionally showing hospitality to our neighbors. We want to create a home that welcomes strangers, well hopefully they won't be strangers for long! I hope I continue to reflect back on our time in Guatemala as we welcome strangers into our home.