Think about how paralyzing it must be to go to another country as an exchange student only to learn your host’s parents are crazy fundamentalists trying to convert you. That’s what this kid had to live through, and despite the annoyance, he seemed more upset at the fact he had to escape their clutches and leave them feeling hurt. One part in particular was telling about the true motivations of some people:

They wanted me to help them set up a Fundamentalist Baptist church in my home country of Poland. It was God’s will, they said. They tried to slip the topic casually into conversation, but it really shocked me — I realized that was the only reason they had welcomed me into their family. They had already started construction work in Krakow — I was to help them with translations and with spreading their faith via the media.

Not too surprising really. Evangelicals are always looking for new flock members. They must have figured they could just expand their religion and spread evangelism to Poland. Didn’t some German guy take over Poland once before? How did that turn out again?

On a side note, I admire the kid’s patience. I would have flipped the fuck out, personally. Being woken up at 6am every Sunday morning to go to church is a special form of torture.