Here’s an interesting first-person account of a Polish exchange student who ended up with a host family of fundamentalist Christians in Winston-Salem. The situation was a little awkward, to say the least.
"When I got out of the plane in Greensboro in the US state of North
Carolina, I would never have expected my host family to welcome me at
the airport, wielding a Bible, and saying, ‘Child, our Lord sent you
half-way around the world to bring you to us.’ At that moment I just
wanted to turn round and run back to the plane.Things began to
go wrong as soon as I arrived in my new home in Winston-Salem, where I
was to spend my year abroad. For example, every Monday my host family
would gather around the kitchen table to talk about sex. My host
parents hadn’t had sex for the last 17 years because — so they told me
— they were devoting their lives to God. They also wanted to know
whether I drank alcohol. I admitted that I liked beer and wine. They
told me I had the devil in my heart.My host parents treated me
like a five-year-old. They gave me lollipops. They woke me every Sunday
morning at 6:15 a.m., saying ‘Michael, it’s time to go to church.’ I
hated that sentence. When I didn’t want to go to church one morning,
because I had hardly slept, they didn’t allow me to have any coffee.One
day I was talking to my host parents about my mother, who is separated
from my father. They were appalled — my mother’s heart was just as
possessed by the devil as mine, they exclaimed. God wanted her to stay
with her husband, they said.
The kid bailed after six months and ended his year abroad with a young family who enjoyed spending his time with very much. I don’t care what your belief system is, inviting a child to live with you and then informing him at every turn that he and his family are screwed up is no way to treat a guest.
Found via Connecting the Dots.
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That family sounds pretty weird. No, very weird.
I spent a week in Poland in 1990 with Athletes in Action (AIA). AIA is a sports ministry that takes Christian athletes around the world. On my trip we also visited Greece for a week. In Poland we met some neat people. Our first translator didn’t translate properly for us. We would say something like, “Jesus Christ died for sinners,” and he would say, “Religion is a good thing.” An english teacher there let us know, and told us he would translate the rest of our time there if we spent some time with his english students. We were happy to oblige. It was an amazing trip.
Every religion has its share of zealots, legalists and what not. Certainly Christianity must be leading the way. I take comfort in knowing that no man represents Christianity for me. Only Christ. And He is the only one who claimed to be perfect (and actually was). Don’t follow me around for a day. I’ll let you down every time.
I don’t blame the polish kid. I wouldn’t have lasted 6 days, let alone 6 months.