exchange student

by teejay 0 Replies latest jw friends

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  teejay

  I'm watching a TV program that has just profiled a young Muslim woman that lived for a time in the U.S. as an exchange student. Her family lives in Indonesia. Her mother, who went to school and lived in the U.S. for ten years, is also Muslim. While accepting many Western customs, Mom wants her two children to respect their culture and religion and is raising them as devout Muslims.
  
  I thought of what it would be like to have this girl in my home for a year as an exchange student. Would I insist on her following the wishes of her mother back home? I think I would. Out of respect for the girl's mother and honoring my obligation to her family, I would make sure that her daughter would dress and act just as she would back home. I would insist that she read her Koran and say her prayers daily and her meals would always be what her mother would approve of, even if it meant that my family had to sacrifice what we wanted. Mulling over the prospect of caring for a young Muslim woman far from her home in Indonesia got me to thinking...
  
  What if the girl was a JW rather than Muslim and for a time her mother had entrusted her care to me? Would I be as insistent that she study her Watchtower; attend all the meetings; go out in service? Or would I attempt to seed her mind with doubts, covertly undoing all her mother's hard work?
  
  I'm still mulling that over....