«Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: Because that for his name’s sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.» – 3 John, 5-8.
God put it on my heart to testify of the love of the brothers and sisters, who showed us special hospitality during the last year, while we traveled to Tajikistan. Maybe this will inspire someone to start inviting guests and giving shelter to wanderers, as brothers and sisters precious to our hearts do in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
But in the beginning, I would like to say about the hospitality of the missionary family in Ukraine, which sheltered us in the first weeks of the war, despite the fact that at that time there were already about 10 people in their house. After a couple of weeks, this family moved to a safer place, allowing us to live in their house as in our own. We thank God for the hearts of these people! Having arrived to them with only backpacks, we were provided with everything necessary for life for several months.
The doors of this house have always been open to all wanderers and refugees, for 7 months we received dozens of people there, someone stayed one day and went on, and someone lived with us for several days and even weeks. We sadly left this house, although it was not ours, but a special part of our life passed there.
In Georgia, where we went to get a foreign passport, God sent us blessed brothers and sisters with whom we had not known before. The Kurdish evangelical church received us with all cordiality in their missionary home, saying that we could live there as long as needed. And a missionary family from another church took us into their fatherly arms and supported us all 4 months while we were waiting for a passport.
It was a blessed time for us, we do not get tired of admiring the love of brothers and sisters in Tbilisi.
In Kyrgyzstan, a family of our friends gave us special hospitality by giving us the best room in the house, while they themselves slept on the floor in the common room, and 6 children were accommodated in another bedroom.
We lived with them “side by side” for about a month. In a short time, this family has become our family, we are infinitely grateful to God for their hearts.
Upon arrival in Tajikistan, we were received by a family of missionaries from Pakistan, who allocated a separate guest house for us and also provided us with everything necessary for life. We were very pleased with a separate room, because for the last six months we have always lived with someone. Praise the Lord for the hospitality of this family.
There is not enough time to write about the people who received us for a couple of days, but for each of them we continue to pray with gratitude.
In total, having left Ukraine, we lived “at a party”, like wanderers and newcomers, for a long 7 months. Wherever we went, God’s people were waiting for us everywhere. Perhaps this is the power of the law of “sowing and reaping”: 7 months of sowing hospitality – and 7 months of reaping. Or maybe it’s just the grace of God, undeserved. In any case, let us rejoice in the Lord and in the love of our brothers and sisters!
By the beginning of summer in Tajikistan, our family settled in a separate rented apartment. And although we cannot allocate a whole room for guests here, we have already told all our acquaintances that we are ready to host brothers-sisters and wanderers. A teenager from a Christian children’s center has been visiting us for several days now, and last night we also hosted a couple of strangers from Belarus.
Thank God, here we are back in the status of «host». Otherwise, we cannot, because through hospitality we show the love of God to this world.
«Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.» – Hebrews 13:1-2.