Pressing in

Duluth is finally starting to feel like a home.

I've been a student here for six semesters and the first five I consistently wanted to be elsewhere - primarily at my home in the cities, but there were many a time when I asked myself how different my college experience would have been if I'd gone somewhere else or if I transferred instead of continuing in Duluth. I was experiencing a lot of loneliness but I didn't realize the urgency of finding more friends until I got home from Chile this past August.

When I spent nearly six months in South America, I experienced community like I'd never known it before. I spent close to six out of every seven days with Abby and was so amazed at the quickness of our friendship and the depth it reached in such a short time. The types of conversations we had about how God was working in our lives and where we struggling and where we wanted to grow were conversations I'd never consistently had with anyone. It was inspiring. And not only did I experience this community with Abby, but with the Chilean Cru students and the youth group at my church as well. They were all so intentional and so caring and so interested in hearing about God's role in my life. I really never knew that level of intimacy before - I never knew what it meant to have brothers and sisters in Christ. These kids (and staff) loved on me so much and so well that when I got back to Minnesota, I craved and ached for that community again.

So this fall God prompted me to start praying for this.

"Lord, thank you for these experiences with these people in Chile. God, you have revealed to me how incredible community is and how important it is to my walk of faith. Will you provide that here in Duluth? Will you give me some girls that I can have real, deep friendships with?"

And you know what happened? I found them.

Sweet, sweet Lauryn started hugging me every time I saw her. (& you know what I thought? "Why is this girl hugging me? I don't even know her!") And her hugging caught on and I knew we would be friends.

AlyZZa (haha - love you!) was challenging me in the one-on-one Bible studies we were doing. How was it that this little freshman was so mature and so wise and wanted to grow so much? How was it that our lives were so similar (beyond our first and middle names;)? I wanted this charming girl to feel connected and loved during her first year, but I mostly just wanted her as my friend.

Tori somehow just showed up. I knew her and admired her from afar and I don't know how she weaved herself into my life, but here she is. Her spunk and caring heart are some of her prime characteristics and watching her grow these past two months has been so encouraging.

There are so many other people that have made impressions on my heart this semester - like Gloria and Becca and Sabrina and Abi and Aleah and Michelle and Kenna and Haydn - and there are a few that have so lovingly and enduringly been with me since the beginning: like Melissa, Marissa, Courtney.

I'm so blessed to have these sweet hearts up north here with me and am finding my own heart intertwined with these lives in this area. I'm learning to press in to where I am, to enjoy the moments I have with each of these friends, and to understand that Duluth is where I'm meant to be, for now, with these people.

Thank you, friends, for pulling me into your lives and for making Duluth feel like home.