New Beginnings
On Saturday August 15th we began our journey for the next 9 months with our new foreign exchange student, Samuel. We have opened up a new chapter in our lives, and have opened our door to experience a different culture. We also hope to teach our new friend a little about American culture (good & bad) as well as encourage him in his walk with Christ.
It has only been 5 full days since he joined us and we have already learned quite a bit about his culture in Nigeria. Where he has come from doesn’t give him some of the blessings that we have so we have had to teach him how to do many of the things that we do everyday and take for granted. Many of the appliances that we use on a daily basis he has never been exposed to. This in itself has been an eye opening experience. This has made me really count my blessings all the more as each day passes. So far one of the things that has been most surprising to me is how polite and obedient he has been. We were told that he would be very polite however we didn’t expect that he would be so obedient and enthusiastic about doing some of the most mundane tasks. The other day Samuel gave us a little insight as to why he is so obedient. He told us that in Nigeria it is customary that any person who is senior to you either by age or status, you must do anything they tell you to do. He told us that if a person does not obey they would likely be beaten, and nobody would say anything. He has great respect for his elders.
We have also learned that in Nigerian culture if one does not attend either a church or a mosque they are considered very evil. The rate of divorce is also low there due to the fact that many villages and churches do not allow divorce. It is also frowned upon heavily. Samuel told us this was one of the things that surprised him about America was the high divorce rate and amount of people who don’t attend a church service.
We did expect there to be surprises when we started this adventure and we have not been disappointed. We know there will continue to be surprises and challenges ahead for all of us. We are excitedly looking forward to our next week as Samuel gets into American football and the games ahead, as well as the start of the school year on next Wednesday.
