Radical Hospitality

All week we have been blessed with gracious and radical hospitality over and over again. Today was no different. Our Site coordinators and interpreters went out of there way to be sure we were able to work and able to minister by talking with the people of Basaam. The owner of a local hotel who is a member of the UMC in Basaam provided out lunch all week and it was a delicious spread each day of chicken, fish, or beef with rice, potatoes, or vegetables. People over and over in the villages and towns welcomed us into their homes to see their nets and let us help them.

This radical hospitality was capped today when the pastor of the UMC in Basaam invited us to tour this 100 year old church built in colonial times and then welcomed us into his home for refreshments and to “share the news.” This is an Ivorian tradition to welcome honored guests into your home to share about their day. The pastor had his son begin a video and it was of this pastor’s graduation ceremony from pastor’s school and “commissioning” as a pastor. It was held in Jubilee Church and its celebration put any of our Ordination or Commissioning services to shame. It was full of music and choirs from multiple churches. The new pastors knelt together on the floor of the church (NO KNEELERS) for a long prayer. I shared with the pastor (through interpreters) that I understood how proud and exciting a moment this was for him and his family. We then shared a while about the UMC in America and Texas and the Ivorian UMC and the differences. It was an insightful conversation.

The pastor then led us on a walk through the colonial area down to the beach. We stayed their a while talking and then it was time to go to dinner. The whole Texas team had been invited to dine at the home of the man who owned the hotels which had provided our Basaam team lunch all week. Our Ivorian friends said it was just a bit down the beach. This was a Texas-sized bit and ended up being a hike down the beach.

The home was a beachfront mansion estate. Notice above I said “dine” and dine we did. It was a delicious meal in a beautiful setting. At the end of the meal, our host had his son read a speech thanking us for our work this week and our love for the people of Cote d’ Ivoire.

This night and day was the culmination of week of blessings we received from our new friends and all of the people of Cote d’ Ivoire. Perhaps we can all learn a lesson of being that neighbor Christ calls us to be each and every day.