Thankful for...Warm Welcomes

We said some difficult goodbyes last Saturday, as we moved out of the house we've called home for the past five years. We're now staying in temporary accommodation for our final few days in Chiang Mai. As we move through this time of transition, I'm reminded of another thing I appreciate about Thailand - the warm welcomes.

Welcome... to the 2014 Karen Baptist Assembly

We have been warmly welcomed into villages, churches, meetings and annual assemblies - and, especially, into homes. It has been a privilege - a humbling privilege - to experience Karen hospitality. To be made to feel at home in a stranger's house. To see people open their homes to us at a moment's notice, offering us food, accommodation and rest.

Welcome... to local people's homes

A custom in rural Karen villages is to apologise to guests for the 'deficiencies' in food and accommodation. So every year at the Karen Baptist Assembly, the host village choir will sing a welcome song which will include a verse something like this:

'We're deeply sorry that we can only offer this sub-standard and inadequate food and bedding for you. Please accept our apologies that we couldn't do better for you, our honoured guests. We are so sorry that the bathrooms are too few, that the roads are too dusty, that our meeting room is too small, that the weather may be too cold/hot/rainy....'

Singing the 'sorry song'

The truth, of course, is that none of those apologies need to be made. The villagers go to incredible lengths, despite their relative poverty, to provide the best possible welcome to their visitors. We have slept in wonderfully comfortable beds, eaten some of the most delicious food, and experienced some of the best hospitality you can imagine in these villages. I have been challenged to be more generous, more open, more welcoming. 

I've learned that freely-offered hospitality is a strikingly powerful thing, transcending language and cultural barriers. When we have had visitors from the UK, it's this aspect of life that has drawn the most frequent comments. 'That lady was so lovely - what a great meal!' 'I can't believe he just invited us into his home like that!' 'That man just lent me his motorbike - amazing!'

So, even as we say our goodbyes, I'm thankful for all those warm welcomes.