TWO STRANGERS by Rev. Ken Rickett
The strangers in our midst…even those from foreign countries…are to receive hospitality and a welcome in our midst, according to both the Old and New Testaments. Occasionally, that welcome and hospitality may be withdrawn, not because of arbitrary whims or undue prejudice, but because the stranger did not come in peace and goodwill. Fortunately, the welcome and hospitality offered to the stranger is received with like-mindedness as well as a heart to heart bond, creating a kinship, not biologically but close friendship.
Back in the 1980s Della and I invited, on two different occasions, a stranger to live in our home for a year, namely foreign exchange students with one coming one year, then a year’s break and then another one.
We had to meet with the agency which sponsored the student that we would get. We qualified. Rules and expectations were made clear. Among them was that each month the few foreign students under that agency would meet at a location in which we would be notified well in advance. The host family as well as the school system in which the student was enrolled would send mandatory evaluations to the agency. They all would be in different homes AND in different school systems, spreading over several counties.
By early July we had the name and information on the student assigned to us, and anticipation was high as the calendar moved into August. The first one was a young man from Austria. At first all went well. Arriving in mid-August, we extended a warm welcome upon his arrival. He had been enrolled by the agency as a senior in high school that began in a few days. His English was decent, and we understood any conversation. It took a while for him to adjust to the food, the community, and the school. We learned that he was from a different country: an Austrian man married his mother when he was a boy. One Saturday night he was very late getting home. After midnight, a sheriff’s car stopped by our house, and he got out. The deputy left. We were spellbound as he told the story of being taken in a forest by friends to hunt snipe. After holding the bag for a couple of hours, he panicked. No one responded to his yells. Finally, he got to the road, and the sheriff deputy found him walking alone.
By Christmas and thereafter several issues arose in our home and at school which were duly reported to the agency. Nothing of an illegal nature, but concerns and questions were raised. In early May, before school was out, we received several phone calls from the agency. Then we were told “the rest of the story.” He was 21, not 17 or under as required by the agency. His family had bribed the Austrian office for foreign exchange students, and that office had just been abruptly closed. We were to take him to the airport the next day to return to Austria, his ticket paid by the agency was awaiting him. He had been adopted by his Austrian stepfather, but he was born in Iran. His birth citizenship was never an issue; the issue was the fraud and deception on documents leading to his acceptance as a foreign exchange student.
Two years later, we obtained another foreign exchange student from the Netherlands. His name was Peter. What a joy! He was loved by the congregation I served at the time, and the families of both Della and me. The school was delighted to have him among the student body. His father was an international banker who spoke English well, so Peter was very adept with English. His prom experience was a delight for him and his date. When school was out, his agency rented a bus, and all their exchange students took a three week tour of the United States. Upon his return we had only a week before he left amid tears of sadness.
Four years later, Peter flew from Holland to spend two weeks with us. What a joyful reunion! And, offering hospitality to strangers enriched our lives beyond measure!