It was the summer of 2004 and we had both served as missionaries for World Changers. i was on the SOUTH team and spent my summer hottt, muggy, and seriously sticky in mississippi and alabama while susan was on the wyoming team living it up in her cowgirl hat! ha! OH THE MEMORIES! all the summer missionaries reconvened at the close of the summer to celebrate the work the Lord had done and what a tremendous blessing it was that we were able to be a part of that! one night during debriefing, dudan was hanging out in my hotel room with rachel briggs (aka briggenstein) and Calvin (the) Ho - two of my teammates! we were all laughing and swapping stories about our crazy adventures as WC summer staffers. that is my very first major dudan memory...but oh there have been more. my second summer on staff, my team and dudan's team had dinner together at the smith house after commissioning. SO YUMMY! i am convinced there isn't anything like southern dinner served family style...fried okra, macaroni and cheese, biscuits and gravy, mashed potatoes, chicken, (and i'm sure a lot more sides that i am failing to remember - that was 5 summers ago now...) and to top it off, the meal concluded with a fabulous strawberry shortcake that absolutely no one could pass up. 
after that summer, susan made a trip to cali for a work conference of some sort and although we didn't have time to actually hang out while she was in town, i DID make a starbucks run and pounce on her at the airport while she was waiting in baggage claim - it was the best 30 minutes of my life! ha! since then dudan has been a faithful presence in my life. the next summer she came to visit me at training since she wasn't on staff and my last summer on staff she worked full time for the North American Mission Board and we got to have TONS of conversations about baby concur and purchases that fell under $25.00 receipt turn in requirement, crazy teammates, construction coordinators that were out of control, and weddings...oh the conversations about weddings. 
she was and IS an incredibly supportive friend. at the end of my last summer on staff, i stayed with dudan for almost a week...sara came up from alabama and we made even more memories...we couldn't find the mcdonalds and we shared alcoholic beverages as we were FINALLY off contract! we got donuts that only had sprinkles on the one side in honor of brian reagan and ate some seriously amazing southern breakfast. the memories are priceless and so is the friendship. dudan and i haven't seen each other in probably 2 years now... since august of 2007...but our friendship continues strong.Dudan, there is SO MUCH LOVE in my heart for you! Thank you for being an amazing friend even from miles and miles away! can't wait until we can hug again and make even more memories! you're in my heart love!
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