I have learned so much from our seniors this year! You have taught me the value of sticking to and staying committed to a community for several years in a row. I think it really hit me during our last family group when you reminisced for two hours about memories from Wesley House. You kept bouncing off each other and adding to each other’s stories. It was hilarious.

This is what we want. In life, this is what we dream of — being part of a group of people where we feel known and we belong. Where we can finish each other’s stories and feel totally comfortable because we know everyone else so well.

Over the past year, you have given me a glimpse of heaven and reminded me of what’s to come. You’ve also reminded me that on Earth, this takes years. It takes patience, commitment, determination, forgiveness, grace, perspective, and the Holy Spirit.

You’ve also taught me that I can have extremely high expectations. Freshmen have looked up to you so much, and I know that a huge reason why they stuck with Wesley this year is because of what they saw in you. They saw what could be for them. Not only in community, but on an individual level. They saw what they could become. And they stayed. Look at how many stayed! The most Wesley has ever had stick in a freshman class. And this is due in HUGE part to you —to the example, you have shown, the culture you have set, and the way you refused to be seen as separate from them.

I think the biggest tell of the health of a group is not only their love for each other but their love for people that could be seen as outside their group. And this is so obvious. I’ll never forget on the last Table when people kept commenting in the chatbox about how much they loved you and looked up to you and had found a leader to follow. This is potentially what makes me the proudest to work at Wesley — that you have put freshmen on your shoulders to go above and beyond the heights you have reached and to start a legacy of servant leadership.

Finally, you’ve taught me the value of investing through the last second. We’ve talked a lot about this in Wesley, how tempting it is to pull back from communities we know we will be leaving soon. But you refused. You refused to miss out on anything that God had for you and on any way that you could give of yourself. You’ve taught me how worth it this is, how important, how heartbreaking when we allow ourselves to have one foot in and one foot out.

I know this semester and this year was quite possibly the opposite of what we expected.

And I know that this was discouraging on a level that no one besides y’all may ever fully understand. But I pray wholeheartedly that you are able to look back and look forward with no regrets. Because you invested where you were called until the absolute end. That even though that makes goodbyes more painful sometimes, that you can leave knowing you are walking away FULL. Full of wisdom, full of memories, full of everything the Lord gives us when we empty ourselves for Him.

There are no words to describe how much I will miss having you in my life in the same way, but there are also no words to describe how ready you are, how ready God is to use you and bless you, and how ready the next community is to receive all that you are. We love you.