During my first year as a missionary on Panay Island in the Philippines, while I was still single, I heard someone knocking at my gate. It was Pastor Raul and his wife, Valerie, and they informed me that they would stay with me for a few days. Raul had been one of my students a couple years earlier on Negros Island. They had arrived a few days early for a conference.

I was astounded and didn’t know what to say! I wasn’t used to having someone show up at my home unannounced and say they were going to stay with me. But I had an extra room, and there was no real reason to turn them away—so somehow the Lord led me to say, “Okay.”

It helped that I understood that Filipinos are masters at hospitality (so I needed to learn from them). In addition, I soon realized that, of course, there was no phone for informing me in advance, and that my guests wouldn’t expect too much of me. Though this called for a change of plans and some extra effort on my part, it worked out fine, and I was blessed by my guests’ presence.

Hospitality bridges all kinds of barriers in amazing ways, especially in cross-cultural situations. And it’s about opening not only our homes but also our hearts. The gospel often travels easily across this bridge.