I
will never forget the experience that my older brother & I had spending a
week with different families back in 1984. Me at 6 and my older brother at 10
were in Children's church at The Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in
Manchester. I stayed with a family who also attended The Full Gospel
Interdenominational Church and the family who I stayed with at the time lived
in Ellington. Your parent or parents had to adjust as well as you adjusting
spending a week away from home. When you are staying with a family, usually
after a couple of days you wrote your parent or parents and told him or her or
both of your parents how things were going where you were staying at. The
family who I stayed with had a really beautiful house, they had 3 or 4 color
TV's (one in every room). The family who I stayed with had a son and a daughter
who had their own room and I observed how they did things as a family (they
were such a tight knit family). When it came time to eat breakfast the family
ate Pancakes, Belgium waffles, bacon, eggs benedict, toast, etc., this was
completely opposite of how me and my family lived. My brother and the family he
stayed with things were the complete opposite from the family I stayed with (my
brother mentioned in his postcard to our mom that the family he stayed with
didn't have a telephone or a TV). The family who I stayed with showed me around
the house and when it came time to show me the guest room (which looked like a
bedroom) where I would be staying at I really felt at home in the families'
house. I enjoyed staying with the family I was staying with so much that I sent
my mom a postcard telling my mom how much I really loved everything. I had
a chance to meet the family who I stayed with next door neighbors and their
next door neighbor's had a black lab in his dog house
and the dog was tied up on his leash. I remember the family who I stayed with
all petted their neighbor's dog and I remember when I petted the neighbor's dog
and how the neighbor's dog was licking me, the dog was glad to meet me. I'm the
only black little boy in a town surrounded by predominantly non-blacks and the
family who I stayed with made me feel like part of their family (the Reverend
who baptized me was Canadian so you can understand why diversity was so
embraced at the church I attended). I got to the place where I enjoyed being
around the family I stayed with so much I started to feel homesick and miss how
things are with my family (it's possible to enjoy being around people too much
especially if things are different from what you are used to). I will never forget,
it was the last day that I would get to hang out with the family I stayed with.
I remember we all got dressed up and were preparing to go to Buckland Hills
Mall in Manchester and we were all going out to eat for lunch too. I was being
stubborn and told the family who I stayed with that after we ate breakfast (6
AM or 7 AM or 7:30 AM or later that morning) and said "I don't want to go
to the mall I want to stay here and watch Sesame Street."(I was watching
their color TV with the family who I was staying with in the living room) I was put up to this by their son, too because he told me that all the neighbors were going to do is have us try on clothes and get all excited and tell us how cute we look in our outfits. The
mom & dad of the family who I stayed with told me, "You are going to
go to mall. In this house we do things together as a family and we got dressed
up for that very reason!" I responded, "But I want to stay here and watch Sesame
Street!" The mom & dad of that family who I stayed with answered,
"Then you can write a letter to your mom and tell her how you want to go
back home, how you don't like it here anymore, and it's because you don't want
to go to the mall that we all were planning on going to and eating out for
lunch and we will take you home!" The mom (Sister Hope) of the family who I stayed with had
given me a pen and a big sheet of paper to write a letter to my mom. I remember
how foolish I was acting and began to bawl and as I began to write a sentence
or two, I remember saying to the family I was staying with, "I love it
here please don't make me write a letter to my mom because if I go back home I
will get in trouble for acting up with y'all." (My mom would have torn my
behind up with the belt) The family all could see how sincere I was and I even
apologized and promised I would go to the mall with them; the mom & dad of
the family who I stayed with greeted me and took the pen & paper from me
and I remember them reading the letter saying to me "Of course we don't want to send this letter to your mom, we are going to the mall lets go to the mall!" I remember the family who I stayed with
& their next door neighbor's; all of us went to the mall together and the
family who I stayed with bought me & their children some outfits as well as the neighbors bought us all some outfits at Buckland
Hills mall and we all went out to eat for lunch. Staying with a family will
always be priceless because we all learn from each other despite being from
different backgrounds. The mom, the dad, and the daughter were excited but the son not so much because he was not too thrilled about going to the mall.
The family who I stayed with in 1984 knew how quiet I was and really knew that watching TV was one of the things that made me be really good! They also knew that too much TV could be bad if you are addicted to it.
As much as I have been to this big mall I will never forget the time I went with the family I stayed with a week back in 1984.
I will never forget it, it
was 1985. My family wanted to help the other family deliver newspapers. It was
a very interesting story. The family attended The Full Gospel
Interdenominational Church that my family attended. Well, I knew their children
really well because me at 7 and my older brother at 11 knew their children (son
and daughter who were about my age and older) in children's church. "It's
a small world" like they say (They were the same family who I stayed with
for a week who lives in Ellington). My family didn't really have anything to
do. It was nothing for us to take time out of our day and we didn't mind at all
helping out. The family had loads of newspapers and we were all going to cover
the routes where the newspapers needed to be delivered at. We didn't want to
leave the family stuck with the entire load so as humble servants we agreed to
help them out! So my mom, older brother, and me split up the newspapers by
taking turns tossing them in front of people's house's. We knew that we were
going to spend the whole day so why not collectively work together to get done
as soon as possible. The family we helped admired how we were working together
and they appreciated us helping them do this. I saw this as a job at 7; in fact
the family we helped agreed to pay us half of what they got for delivering the
newspapers (nothing but God).
I was enjoying delivering
papers to houses, I felt like a paper boy. My mom and my older brother admired
how well of a job I was doing delivering the newspapers. At that very moment, I
felt like I was a paper boy. The family we helped would drive by the different
areas and we would follow behind them in our car. What really made this job so
fun was that the family we were helping had such a meek & humble Spirit
(not everyone we work with displays this kind of attitude). The family we were
helping deliver papers noticed how hungry we were because they got hungry after
delivering papers for like 8 hours and they felt led to be a blessing to us.
The family who we helped decided that it would be a wonderful idea if they
treated us out for Pizza at Pizza Hut in Bloomfield. Wow, the Lord works in mysterious ways
because we were thinking that we would have to treat ourselves. The Bible verse
that comes to mind is Galatians 5:13 and it simply says, "For brethren, ye
have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the
flesh, but by love serve one another." I think my family & the family
we helped has the same meek & humble Spirit; we worked together as a team
to deliver all of the newspapers to the respective recipients. My attitude from
that day forward was to have an attitude of a servant. The family we helped
thanked us and let us all know how much they appreciated us for helping them.
We all enjoyed large Pizza's and sodas at Pizza Hut!
What made it such a great experience helping this family deliver the newspapers was that I wanted to spend the day helping them because I wanted to show them how much I appreciated what they did for me treating me like I was one of their children. They were grateful & I wanted that family to know how much I appreciate them for showing me a new but an effective way for family to bond together.
I really enjoyed helping deliver newspapers. I will never forget the fun I had in 1985.
Not everyday do the Lord put it on people's hearts to treat your family at Pizza Hut.
I really enjoyed helping deliver newspapers. I will never forget the fun I had in 1985.
Not everyday do the Lord put it on people's hearts to treat your family at Pizza Hut.
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