Best of 2009: New Person

While I met a few new people this year, none of them have made a big impact on my life (Yet! You never know...). So, I decided to dedicate this post to a few people who I knew before this year, but became a bigger part of my life this year.

First I wanted to mention my Sunday school teacher and his wife, Vicki.

Phil and Vicki helped out with the college ministry, so we already knew them. As our graduation drew nearer, Garrett told me one day, "I really like Phil. I wish he would teach a Sunday school class for young adults so we can go there after we graduate." I agreed this would be really cool, but didn't expect it to actually happen. Garrett then started bringing it up multiple times, and one day he flat out told Phil he should teach such a class. Imagine my shock when Phil replied, "You know, Vicki and I have actually been talking about doing something like that."

Uh... what?

As we learned later, what Garrett said to Phil was additional affirmation of something he was already feeling called to, and the process for our class to begin began shortly thereafter! Then on May 10, just a day after we graduated college, we had our first Sunday school class, and the rest is history! It has really grown and we love it.

As far as Vicki goes, she was the one who lead the Beth Moore Daniel Bible study I did these last few months. I was already getting to know Vicki a little better through Sunday school class and fellowships, but then we started having conversations on a weekly basis at Bible study. And since the class was sooo small, that allowed for an even closer interaction. They are both great people, and I'm so glad they've become a big part of my life this year.

The other person I would like to mention is my friend Mandy.

We've been acquainted for several years, and friends for a couple of years, but late last year we started growing closer, and this year especially closer. When she first started hanging out with our group of friends, I wasn't sure if she would stick around, since we were having pretty bad luck with keeping girl friends in our group. There was one girl in particular that we had grown close to pretty quickly, but by Christmas break (in 07) she was gone. (I'm not dissing her by any means; I realize in hind sight that she had other ambitions and interests that not really shared by the rest of us.) So since Mandy came around the time, I was not really sure if she would stick around. But she did, and this year she has truly become a close friend, and I'm glad she's a part of my life.

Who did you grow closer to this year?