Hospitality Highlight: Elizabeth Anderson

Elizabeth Anderson discusses from her wealth of experience serving through hospitality, hosting various groups and individuals at her home. She highlights hosting the Doxa staff, long-term guests, and pre-marital counseling sessions. Elizabeth shares about making guests feel at home and the impact of hosting on her marriage and personal growth, as well as the challenges and rewards of hosting, including dealing with exhaustion and learning to be selfless. Elizabeth also shares her recipe for her Peach Almond Thumbprint Cookies, which she often uses for special occasions.

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• Automated Transcription

• Seth Weber 0:00
  Today on faith matters, Jennifer Brandt brings us a hospitality highlight featuring Elizabeth Anderson.
  
  Seth Weber 0:12
  I'm Seth Weber, and you're listening to faith matters, a podcast designed to help you think biblically in matters of the Christian faith and update you on matters of faith, Bible, church.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 0:35
  Well, welcome back to the hospitality highlight for the Living Faith Magazine. I am Jennifer Brandt, and today I'm interviewing Elizabeth Anderson.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 0:48
  Elizabeth, would you tell us a little bit about your background, how long you've been at FBC, and what got you started into hosting people in your home? Okay, we have been at FBC since it began, and we moved away to Portland because of my husband's work, from 2004 to 2009
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 1:11
  we moved back in 2009 and when we came back, it was during the housing crash. And so there was a lot of great big houses for sale, for inexpensive I never wanted a huge house, but because it was a good investment, we ended up with a really big house. So that kind of started us hosting more people, larger groups, having people stay. We had lots of bedrooms and lots of room. And then why don't you tell us a little bit about the types of hosting that you've done in your home since then. We have hosted for years, the doxa staff, so the college ministry staff. We've done meetings at our home and meals, prepared meals for all of them when they come for staff meeting. We've done, I've done a lot of showers. We've done long term hosting for a family who had a health crisis and needed to be in Spokane for their little girl
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 2:15
  because they lived too far away from the hospital. We've done a couple of our different pastors, the fudges and the for a couple weeks, and the Sayers for six weeks, and the rushes we've hosted, that's a lot. That's a lot
  
  Jennifer Brandt 2:32
  you can't even remember. Yeah, your head is really sweet. Yeah? Well, I love that God gave you guys a big home, and you're able to bless people with it and and make it comfortable for them and give them space to have their own privacy. And that's a really sweet opportunity to love people in our church and then also to be a witness to outsiders. Corey and I have also been blessed by you guys, because six years ago, you did our pre marital counseling, and every week we got to come over, and he didn't just make us a mediocre dinner, but delicious, fancy dinner to US college students. And that was a wonderful that was fun, that was fun. That's a good memory. I just want to hear a little bit about why you like to host, and maybe times where it was a difficult decision to host people or times where it felt like the right thing to do.
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 3:26
  Well, I like to host because I see it as a way to love people we're not fancy by any means. But I like my home. I want people to walk into my home and feel cozy, feel like they can put their feet up on the coffee table and rummage through the fridge and mill around in the pantry. I just like people feeling at home like that. I like to decorate. So I like to have a purpose in it, besides poor Roy and I like, I like to share it with others. I have, yeah, it hasn't always been easy. Sometimes it's very exhausting, and especially when you've got a it's 10 at night and you've got a whole kitchen to clean up, and so I mean, it's, it's, it's just been a challenge too.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 4:17
  Corey and I are currently hosting a Japanese college student, and this is our first time ever hosting somebody, and we don't have kids either, so this is also our first time having somebody else living with us. And there's definitely been times where I've recognized just my own selfishness, and
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 4:36
  yeah, life's not all about you and your comfort. And those are hard lessons.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 4:42
  It is. Somebody recently was like, wow, I could never host somebody like that is such a selfless thing to do. And I was like, if anything, I think it's shown me how much more selfish I am.
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 4:51
  Oh yes. Oh yes, yeah. Just because we've hosted a lot of people doesn't mean I haven't had to swallow and, mm. Do what was right, even though I didn't feel like it. It's mostly, like I said, it's mostly Roy. Roy is so generous, and he pushes me in that, in that direction. Yeah,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 5:11
  do you know what his desire is behind that? Is he just extroverted and wants to he's just
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 5:17
  people. Yeah, he loves to help people. He isn't. He just is incredibly generous person. I'm getting lost in the weeds about making sure it's clean or Perfectly Decorated and he's more grounded like no does not matter. Let's just, let's just be generous.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 5:34
  Yeah, and he loves
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 5:36
  to do his meets. He just loves his meat and his smoker, so I just do side dishes. Yeah,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 5:44
  that's really helpful, that you can partner together instead of one person definitely driving the whole thing, that you kind of hop on board and make it a joint effort. What are some things that God has taught you through hosting people? I think for
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 5:59
  me, I'm a, I'm a, what? What if this goes wrong? What if that goes wrong? And he has shown me that you just, you just do the next thing. You just live today and make the decision, best decision for today. And he provides. He provides day after day when you have some, especially someone in your house for long term. You just take it one day at a time. I know that my style of having people in my home is not to cook the breakfast, lunch and dinner, but to let them feel comfortable to go in and cook their own, rummage through the fridge, just make it your house.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 6:38
  So I like that when there were moments of maybe just coming home and wanting to shut down, but you're forced to talk with people, or visit or or clean to make it right, right, the cleanliness level that you want it to be kind of what motivated you through that.
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 6:57
  When I come home, and I do not, especially when there's children involved. I do not want to, you know, talk with kids or whatever, and I like, oh, no, I have to rise to the occasion. I tell myself, you know what? This is not going to kill you. You're not going to end up in the hospital just because you think you're more introverted. And you have to step up to the plate. You know, you can rise to the occasion. And I think of the verse where, when you serve, serve in the strength that God provides, that's been a good scripture for me.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 7:33
  That's really good for me hosting Rinca, our student. There was a lot of moments where the introverted part of me just didn't want to socialize or talk, especially after 10 hour work day. Oh gosh yes, and, but at the same time, I think God just showed me like, you know, life isn't all about you. Jennifer and, and there's this person here in the US who has never even heard the gospel, and you have an opportunity to just love her by listening even like I don't even have to necessarily talk. She'll just talk my ear off. So I just need to listen and show that I care. That reminds
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 8:10
  me of another person we hosted. We hosted a medical student who was doing his rotations, and when, when he would get done, he would want to come home and process, and I was the person sitting there, okay, listening to his day, listening to all the ish medical issues he had to face with, and I had to learn to like, okay, this person needs to be listened to. That's all. It's all. Is those required of you right now is helping this guy process his day? And it was, it's not always easy. Yeah,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 8:42
  sure, yeah. Just a thought. I had it just sweet that, like, there's a lot of times when we just process, like, to God in a raw or weird way, or sometimes very unfocused, and he's always just willing to hear us out, and he wants to listen, and he doesn't selfishly go, I don't want to talk to Jennifer. Listen to what she has to say.
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 9:06
  I don't have to have answers. Yeah, just need to listen.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 9:09
  Yeah, that's a good point. God does that. Yes, yeah. You also mentioned that some of the times that you posted specifically with the Sayers, how that drew you guys closer
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 9:21
  together. We didn't know them from anybody. When they came to Spokane and we hosted them, it was going to just be like a week or two. It ended up being six weeks. And they it was, it has been such a blessing. And they are some of our dearest, dearest friends, and what brought us together was having them in our home and just getting to know them and we we still get together and laugh and talk about those weeks where they were with us and all our foibles and issues. And yeah, I'm so grateful for that. Yeah,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 10:00
  I'm so grateful for that. That's really cool. And
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 10:02
  they actually, they showed up with, one of our jokes is, they showed up. I didn't know they were gonna have a cat, but they showed up with their cat, whose name was kitty, but it was perfect, because I love cats, and so we just were able to it was kind of awkward for Brian and Michelle, but we didn't, didn't matter, because we love cats and and we'll laugh about that. The cat that was the kitty box that was in the guest room. Oh, that's so
  
  Jennifer Brandt 10:25
  funny. Was that before moose?
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 10:26
  No, that was during moose. Oh, okay,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 10:30
  she's a cat named moose. That's awesome. And then there have been times, I'm sure, where you maybe had opportunities or people asking you to host them and you had to maybe say no, or kind of process through definitely,
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 10:45
  there have been times when we've said no, just didn't seem wise. The situation seemed like it might the person, it might go sideways, and sometimes our gestures, I want to encourage people to be generous, but sometimes our gestures of generosity don't help. And we kind of want, yeah, this might not, this doesn't quite sound like or if someone suggests that our basement has a lot of room, but it's not a separate apartment, and so there's a lot of young kids, and are they going to be upstairs all the time? Can I see the conflict that might happen there? So I mean, it's just a wisdom issue. There's been a couple times when we've and luckily, it's both of us talk it through.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 11:39
  What's the longest amount of time you posted
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 11:42
  probably Kylie wicker, who had just graduated from college and she lived in lived with us the first year she was out of college, that whole year before she got married. And interesting enough, the Sayers stay with us during that time too. Oh, wow, yeah. So we had a full house, yeah, you
  
  Jennifer Brandt 12:05
  did okay, yeah. And that was how many months. So
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 12:09
  she probably moved in in August, and she got married the following May, okay? And that fall was when the Sayers stayed with us for six weeks, okay, yeah, wow,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 12:21
  that's awesome, having somebody there for that long of a period of time. Was there challenges that came, Oh, for sure,
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 12:27
  for sure. Yeah, yeah, just little things like, Who's gonna clean what, you know, all that stuff, kind of responsibilities, those got to be clarified. And I hate awkward conversations. Me too.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 12:44
  I've had to have a lot with our Japanese students. Yeah,
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 12:48
  they're hard. It is, but it didn't kill our relationship. And yeah, so,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 12:53
  and it's necessary, because sometimes at least I've learned that it's not really fair to that person if I'm getting upset and not telling them like, you know, maybe I need you to clean the underside of your toilet seat.
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 13:12
  And it's so funny with Kylie. Now, Kylie is a missionary in Cameroon, married, just remembering her, you know, just fresh out of college, and just now she's a mom of two, and she's, I'm so fun to have see her, her grow and mature as a person, has been a blessing to be part of.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 13:33
  What are some ways that you have seen God just kind of BLESS some relationships or things that he's taught you, like, maybe more positive things that God's taught you through hosting people. I
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 13:45
  think I like I've mentioned the friendship with the Sayers, the fun just weren't there with us as long but yet, just we have a special I feel like there's just a special relationship there, definitely with Kylie, with Aaron and Abby er Seth, whose little girl had clean leukemia and stayed with us. Just, they're just special. We just, you know, we don't see each other a lot, but I think there was just a special bond, and especially when she when she first came, when Abby first came with her family, they'd been living together in a time in in the tiny hospital room, and when, when she doesn't mind me saying this, but when they ended up at our house because someone said, you could, you know, they didn't know us, she walked in the door and she just cried in my arms. I was like, Oh, that was just so special to be able to hug her and say, you know, we're gonna love you here. And they were very independent and required nothing of us, but that was really special. That was like being able to be an answer to prayer for them. Yeah,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 14:54
  yeah, that's so cool to just see how God uses the church body to. Right answer needs yes and be there, yeah, the fact that you're just willing to do that too. I mean, God desires for us to help those who are in need, and that you responded to that even if you had to sacrifice, you know, comfort and
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 15:15
  they didn't require much sacrifice. They're just a lovely family. That's sweet.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 15:19
  What about things that have brought you and Roy together through hosting? What are ways that that's helped and maybe challenged your marriage and brought you guys closer together?
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 15:31
  I think the times is challenged is when we're just tired, you know, and then we're not at our best sometimes when we're tired the way we treat each other, but what's brought us together, I think, is our home is not our own, definitely, and there's we. We didn't seek out a big house, and yet we ended up with one, and that's God and doing it together we love it's a ministry we do together, and
  
  Jennifer Brandt 16:02
  that's brought us together. That's really cool. What is something you would say to somebody who maybe has an extra room to be able to host somebody, but that feels nervous or kind of has just apprehensions, or maybe even just some excuses as to not to do it? But I
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 16:19
  mean, not everyone is, I would say, How has God made you? How has God gifted you? I think both Roy and I, we could say one of our gifts is hospitality. So first of all, I would say everybody's not gifted the same. Somebody might have a gift of, you know, helping people with their finances or, you know, it's not hospitality. So how God is wired? You, although we're all called to be hospitable, God directs us to do like I said, I'm a I'm a worst case scenario. But what if? What? What if? What? It hasn't actually happened. I can just create these things in my mind, and I can say, always, always. God gave me the strength that I needed for that day. It is a daily strength thing never went into the hospital because my introvert, you know, self got invaded, or I told myself, you know, you can you're not. This isn't gonna kill you,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 17:24
  so that's really good. Thank you so much for sharing Sure.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 17:35
  Now I want to talk to you about these delicious cookies that you made. Okay, so tell us what this recipe calls for, and how you kind of make them start to finish. And what's special about it,
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 17:47
  they cough up lots and lots of butter. They are a shortbread cookie. It's not an unusual new recipe. It's but it's one that you can pull out because it's just basically flour and butter and sugar, good sugar baking powder, and it's a shortbread that you make and chill and then bring out and form into balls. You can fill it with any kind of jam. It's really pretty in at Christmas to raspberry or cherry. The ones I made are filled with apricot jam and they have some almond flavoring. So that's a really good combo, but they are maybe a little nicer cookie that I've done for showers holidays. I don't make them every week, but little bit more of a special occasion, yet pretty darn simple. So yeah,
  
  Jennifer Brandt 18:43
  everybody loves a good go to simple cookie recipe that can be versatile. And, yeah, used for many occasions. And
  
  Elizabeth Anderson 18:51
  ah, yes, I do have ingredients for that. If you've got butter, flour, sugar, keep some almond flavoring around. Perfect. Yeah. How long do they take? Start to finish? So let's see, I made them yesterday. So you make up the dough, and you chill it for a couple hours, and then you bring it out, and you form it into balls, and make the thumb, print the fingerprint, or whatever, in them, fill them with jam, and then you refrigerate them for another like 20 minutes, and then you bake them, let them cool. I top mine with a glaze. Kind of try and do a little fancy drizzling of glaze on them. So you do that once they're all the way cool. So you just have to plan ahead, a little bit ahead. You can't just whip them out and have them done in half an hour. Gotta allow for time for chilling.
  
  Jennifer Brandt 19:39
  Yeah, well, they're delicious, so thank you. Thank you. I'm excited for the church to get to try these too. Yeah, those are amazing. Well, thank you so much for being with us and being willing to do an interview for the church. I definitely feel blessed by your wisdom and your experiences, and I hope that the rest of the body feels that way too well.
  
  Unknown Speaker 19:58
  Thank Thank you. So if
  
  Seth Weber 20:05
  this recipe is something you'd like to try, you can pick up a copy of living faith magazine at Faith, Bible Church, or you can access it online at FB, church.org/magazine, by clicking on the spring 2025 publication

Jennifer Brandt

Jennifer is the Hospitality Highlight editor for Living Faith magazine. She and her husband Cory have been married since 2018 and serve together in Youth Ministry.

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