I (DeAnna) remember taking a class at our home church that was a Spiritual gifts inventory. I scored high on hospitality. I enjoy being hospitable and hosting others, however, I didn’t really become a true host until we started living in Cameroon.
In the States we would host people for meals or to stay with us in our home, but only after scheduling. It’s just not acceptable to show up at someone’s house around a meal time unannounced and without a scheduled visit, especially with the expectation that they’ll include you in the meal.
Since living in Cameroon we’ve hosted hundreds of people. I decided to keep track in 2014 of how often we hosted others for meals and staying with us. We only had seven days of someone else staying with us, however, we hosted meals in our home 67 times in 2014 (that doesn’t include the meals when people did stay with us or the meals I’ve taken to others in their home) for a mixture of families, couples, groups and singles. It makes me smile when the boys remind me that we haven’t had a certain family over yet and they ask when can we have them over. We’ve had many impromptu show-up at meal time visitors and I just make a quick adjustment so another plate is ready to go. I would like to continue to host while we are in the States. It’s a wonderful way to get to know others, catch up with others and show love in a practical way.
D squared + J squared = Anderson 
Using the gifts God has given us to serve others is one of the greatest gifts we can give back to God. Thank you for all the times you showed hospitality to us.
In addition to generously sharing and serving up hospitality (tasty, too), the welcome and inclusion you extend to people must surely touch them deeply. Not that I’m a fan or follower of the late Maya Angelou, but something she used to say has merit: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I’m counting the days until our next get together!
DeAnna, you have always been the hostest with the moistest! You truly do have a gift for hospitality and make everyone in your home feel welcome, included and full! Can’t wait to spend time together again!
What a wonderful example of hospitality you are. This is an area Mark and I talk about growing in a lot, and hope we can follow your example.