Welcome people into your home and don’t grumble about it. 1 PETER 4:9, CEV
My family and I recently spent a twenty-four-hour “home stay” with a wonderful family. We first flew to Juliaca, Peru, about 12,500 feet above sea level near the Bolivian border. From there we took a taxi about forty-five minutes south to a town called Puno, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. We were dropped off at the edge of the lake where a little wooden motorboat waited for us.
We boarded, pushed off from the shoreline, and slowly proceeded to make our way out into Lake Titicaca. For the first fifteen minutes we made our way through a ten-foot-wide channel with reeds on either side. Soon we came out into a larger opening and realized we had arrived at one of the most unusual villages on the planet. Right there on Titicaca we were now surrounded by dozens of handmade floating islands where a people group called the Uros live.
The larger islands had up to ten families living on them, while smaller island only had two or three families. Our little boat finally arrived at the island where we would be staying for the next twenty-four hours. Our hosts made us feel welcome right away. During our stay the provided meals and showed us the fish. They also showed us how they harvest the totora reed, which they use to make their island, huts, and boats- and even food!
The islands are anchored so they won’t float away, and there is no plumbing or electricity or Internet on these islands. Generations of the Uros people have lived this way in solitude for centuries. It was an amazing experience to stay there. A day later we were sad to leave our host family and continue on our journey, but we will never forget the wonderful hospitality shown to us by that family.
There are many verses in the Bible where God encourages us to be hospitable. I really like today’s verse because it’s about as plain as it gets!