A gift in this year: My HNGR Small Group.

The girls of our small group... sorry Kirk and Riley, we love you too, you just weren't in the picture!

And this is how small group usually looked anyway: all the girls cuddling on a couch. Bc, obvs.

OK so true story. Most of the first few months of this year,

I worried that agreeing to co-lead a small group for the outgoing HNGR interns had been a really bad idea.

It wasn't that I didn't want to do it.

It just was an extra commitment of time + emotional energy...

neither of which I had in particular spades last fall.

Psh, and as typically happens whenever I'm preemptively not excited about something...
it turned out to com-plete-ly rock.

So grateful for the friendships I got to develop with each of those six people. They are each so wonderful- passionate, thoughtful, caring, fun.

So grateful for the depth of relationships that formed among our group. People were real- in ways that taught the rest of us; in ways that sometimes involved pain and vulnerability. We got to learn from each other's hearts and pray over each other in some really important and beautiful ways.

So grateful that I get to walk through their HNGR year with them, and with a foundation of close relationship.

So grateful for the opportunity to be closely involved with another class in the HNGR family.

So grateful for the source of fun and laughter they were in my year. I loved the girls forming a huge cuddling pile every week. I loved the meals we shared. I loved our bonfires and the time we had a spontaneous hymn sing. I loved sharing our "boxes" of our stories. I loved the time Hayley could not stop laughing for absolutely no reason. I loved the coffee dates I got to go on with the girls.
So grateful for how they all loved on and encouraged me.

So grateful for our last meeting, where we went around and all spoke words of challenge and affirmation to each person. After so much time together, and with some incredibly thoughtful and perceptive people, I think we were really able to speak to each other's hearts and needs. I was so blessed by their words to me.

So grateful that we were officially voted by the HNGR office the winners of the "BGE" (Best Group Ever) for 2010-2011 HNGR Small Groups. YEAH! Obvs.

So grateful for what Hayley said once... "Whenever I tell people who's in our group, I'm like, we have the best group ever... and I know there's no way they could even argue. I'm like, it's just so clear to everyone."

So grateful for Christy, my wise and beautiful "co"-leader. Aka... she led and I hugged. OK? It's my role in life. What can I say. We developed such a great friendship and her beautiful smile, patience, prayers, words of encouragement, and heart for prayer and God and adventure are such gifts to me. I love that we are meeting once a week now to hang out and pray for and miss our group.

 And I'm grateful because...

Starting this group less than a year back from my own time in Bolivia, I was still really struggling... and to be honest, the question of "Am I glad I did this?" was more active in my heart some days than I wanted it to be. Every week, I got to hear their hearts, questions, hopes, dreams, fears, ideals, and foundations of desire for going on HNGR. Besides just how much that taught me from how awesome they each are, it was such a helpful thing for me in giving me a renewed vision for why this program, and the ideals behind it, are so important.
Grateful that God gave me that.

And... sometimes we're psycho.
(Not really sure what was going on in this picture. Erica's kissing me, Hayley is hiding, Marissa's running away because I'm tickling her, I'm apparently trying to swallow the camera, and Christy is... casting a magic spell over all of us?)

What I sent the HNGR office as my prayer for my small group as they headed out... "My prayer is that through their time in their host countries, they come closer to the truest version of who God made each of them to be- that they each use the unique gifts that God has given them to bless others in ways only they can. I pray that His hope guards their hearts as they interact with seemingly unanswerable questions and realities. I pray that this year they will each be drawn into deeper intimacy with Him and awareness of His love for them than ever before. I pray that they will learn how to seek hope in nothing other than the fact that Christ is greater than the power of any death."

Thanking God for giving me my HNGR small group this year. 

.20.

PS- Check it:

Kirk- Philippines

Marissa- Philippines

Hayley- Ecuador

Erica- Peru

Riley- Ethiopia

so.proud.