True Hospitality

Written by: Philip Rempel

My Christmas was slightly different from Steven’s. There I was all ready to go for Christmas in the mission. I had my sweater incase it got cold and I was ready for anything, so I thought. My body decided that this was the time it was going to react to the food I had been eating, which was very different than my regular diet. I got to Asheesh’s family and there house and decided it was time for a nap. They gave me a nice bed full of blankets and pillows where I could start to fend off this sickness. That was extremely kind of them to begin with. Then my body began to fever, and with this they brought me water, and tried to keep me from overheating as best they knew how. They even went out of there way to buy bottled water, which is expensive, for this foreigner. Along with Steven’s experience with the food they kept offering me food. I wasn’t feeling hungry and so I felt bad about that. Then I slept a while longer, with people constantly checking to see if I was okay, and checking to see if I felt warm or if it was getting better. Then I started to get some bowel issues from the food and probably water, and as soon as that started they went into overdrive because of how many people die from diarrhea. They went and got saline and boiled water to put it into, and got me drugs to harden my bowels. This isn’t exactly cheap stuff for them, but they wouldn’t let my brother or I pay for any of this, and when I drank the saline too fast and threw up all over there nicely cleaned mud floors they wouldn’t even let Steve or I clean it up. They kept making sure I was alright, and when I started getting better they made food that would be good for my body, without being deepfried and some cooked vegetables. Their hospitality for this white foreigner was incredible. They made me feel like I was worth something and that it is true that every creature God created has a place. There love and caring will not soon be forgotten by me.

Philip.