…seek to show hospitality.

Romans 12:13 ESV

We lived for 14 years in a hospitality culture where it was considered offensive to call first. We have friends from Pakistan who were refugees in Turkey and are now US citizens in Texas. They still pop in on us without calling. Twice so far this year, a couple of them have shown up at our door.

Actually, my hospitality story is from back 17 years ago, before Turkey, in Macedonia. I didn’t invite a guest at church home for lunch because of the state of the house, and I determined not to let that happen again. The next guest coming through got invited for lunch and ended up staying for several days.

I did keep a guest room ready. We actually all slept in one room so that the second bedroom could be available for guests, not just for the night, but to any guest. The room had its own entrance so we could bring guests right there, hence the rest of the house not being guest-ready at the time.

The first time neighbors visited us in Turkey, they checked ledges for dust and looked under the couch when I left the room. Cleaning for guests is serious business in Muslim cultures.