last small group

The end of Lugano brought with it the beginning of "the week of lasts." Unrelated to my responsibilities in the middle school was my last small group of the year on Wednesday. For the first time all semester (with the exception of high school retreat) all seven of us were together and I was so happy they could all make it. Schoolwork and other extracurricular activities have made it difficult for some of the girls to attend consistently, and for a good chunk of this past semester I was very discouraged and frustrated by this. I felt like my small group was not thriving like those around me, and I felt like I was failing them because I didn't know how to lead a small group. We finally had some time to talk about it and it turns out I was very wrong. The girls were growing. They were learning. Even though we weren't all together every week, those that were able to come participated fully, shared freely, and made efforts to engage with each other. And when given the opportunity to take turns leading the discussion in our final weeks together, each girls' message applied directly to something I'd been struggling with or thinking about that week! No doubt, God has placed these girls in my group on purpose and I am pleased to share with you that I will continue to lead this group next year when they are sophomores!

For our last time together we gathered early for dinner at the Döner Kebab shop and then hiked up to the Gazebo, a popular lookout perched on the edge of town offering a lovely view of Kandern. Naturally, a photo shoot ensued. We had a time of sharing summer plans and praying over each other as we meditated on Romans 15:13.

my beautiful Kandern



[that awkward moment when you're setting the timer on your camera and
it takes an unflattering picture of you instead]

squinting into the setting sun and waiting for the slow pokies

After treking back down into town we went to the Eis Cafe, the local ice cream shop, where I treated them to ice cream cones using a gütschein (gift certificate) I'd received earlier in the year. There I also gifted them with special matching necklaces that I'd made for them. The necklaces contain a metal washer stamped with the words Faith, Hope, and Love as well as pearls of graduated size for each attribute. It reminded me specifically of a message we'd heard at retreat about these three things, and how Love is the only one that will remain when we get to Heaven. If Faith is the belief in things unseen, we won't need it when we get to Heaven and we can see clearly. If Hope is an expectation for the future, we won't need to wait anymore because in Heaven the future becomes our present. But Love, Love will become perfect because we will be in the presence of the Perfect One. I had never heard it explained that way before (and I really can't do justice what the speaker actually said!!) so it really stuck with me and was the motivation for making these necklaces.

It has been a great year getting to know these ladies outside of the classrom setting, laugh and cry and pray with them, and walk through the first year of high school with them. I can't wait to see what next year holds for us.