Tuesday Tribute to Nikki

Do you remember being the new girl, the new girl in school or in this case at Church? I like to think of myself as a confident, outgoing girl...the one who notices those sitting alone, who don't have friends yet. Well in this case I was the quiet girl with no friends.

In Memorial Park Ward (in Ogden) I didn't know many people, I didn't have a kid yet so I wasn't in the Mommy group and then when I did have Lydia I was a working/Mommy and in all truthfulness and I didn't make the effort to step out of my comfort zone and make new friends at first either. This Tuesday gets tributed to Nikki Bingham. Every Sunday she would come up to me and give a genuine hug and a hello, even if I was already sitting down, she'd find me. She didn't know me well and was older than me, but that didn't matter to her.

Something so simple meant so much to me. Did she know I hadn't made any good friends yet and that I felt out of place in a ward where everyone else was so close knit? I don't know. But I remembered feeling loved by her. Our friendship eventually grew as we served in callings together. I now try to follow her example even more when I see others who might be in those same shoes I was and I am already trying to teach Lydia to do the same.