The definition of a stranger is, a person who you never met before, or are unfamiliar with. Strangers are everywhere, we come into contact with them every single day. We pass them in the hallways, sit next to them during meetings or at church, we listen in on some conversations next to us. For instance, the conversations I overheard on the ride home.

       “Oh did you hear about Emma mom?” Said one girl.
       “ Yes! But it was so worth it. I mean…” said the other girl next to her as they walked off the train.
     

Sometimes, we start to daydream or make up an idea of the person in our heads. Such as, making up my own conclusion of what or who Emma is and what she did or why her mom acted in a certain way. Imagine the first time you met someone, an idea of the person stirred in your head. Based off the impression you made about what they wore, how they talked, what they talked about, their face expressions, and much more. Everyone starts off as a stranger, we lean to our own idea of the person before we ever get to know them.
       

I remember a victim of mine, who fell into my daydreaming trap. It started one Sunday night, I walk into a room filled with a bunch of different people. Everyone was talking to somebody else, or trying to find their seats with their small group. I was walking right behind my friend who decided to bring me to youth group,

     “Hmm I wonder where our group is” she said.
     “Well do I know anyone in your group to help us look?” I answered.
     “Our group has about maybe 5 girls. Um Their names are Anja, Mackenzie, Christine, Jocelyn, Grace and then we have our leader” she said, while we kept walking towards an isle. “Oh there they are.”
       

That was the moment I turned my eyes to look in the direction she was pointing. I saw one person, who caught my attention for some odd reason. Instantly I started to wonder about her and I started to gather details about her to make an impression. She didn't dress like she was attending some artsy, instagram photo worthy place or dress as if she had planned on going to bed right after this was over. My first thought after examining her outside appearance, was that she was normal.

      “Oh hey girls! Who do we have here?” she asked in a nice soft tone.
     “This is my friend Alexis, she wasn't doing anything and we have talked about me taking her to youth group for a while. Finally we actually went through with the plan,” my friend answered back.
     “Well, nice to meet you Alexis! I hope you enjoy tonight and decided to keep coming back.”
  

I didn't exactly know what to say to her but her eyes seemed to look for an answer after she finished her sentence. Words seemed to just all of a sudden rush out of my mouth, as if they were racing to finish line.

  “Hi, yes I hope so too” I quickly said, in the most awkward tone.
      My next impression was the sound of her voice, she didn't have an extremely loud voice like the person behind us who was shouting to someone across the room about their weekend.
       “Oh wow. You went there, I was there about a week ago it was awesome.” the person shouted. It felt as if everyone in the room was apart of the conversation.
    

Her voice was the opposite of that, it wasn't quiet where you thought you needed hearing aids. But a normal tone. Again my next thought about her was she's normal.
  

The lights began to dim, which meant youth group was finally about to start. I sat one person over from the lady I just met. My mind was sorting through the first impressions still, so far I got the idea of normal inside my head. As the event started, first up was the games. That night’s game was something really weird. Students went up to play it, one person from each grade. Our grade was up, the lady next to my friend began to cheer for the person on stage. She seemed really into the spirit of being a supportive fan. Boom, another impression. This time it wasn't like the others, instead this impression came through as she's a supportive person, she caring and wants you to feel proud of what you do.
  

After the games, was the message from the pastor. It was a message about thankfulness and how to show it. Throughout the message, people around me took notes. Some on their phones because they were lazy and others in their bibles. The lady took notes on her bible and a notebook. As she scribbled away, she seemed very engaged with the message. Another impression, she was strong in her faith and really wanting to know more. The look on her face as she listened seemed to be thirsty for more of what was being said. The way her pen scribbled down words on the paper. She seemed very focused on what was going on.
   

After the message, we headed to small group. Before coming u had zero clue what I was going to be doing, I was nervous while we walked to a room. We followed behind the lady and the student she was talking to.

    “So what did you do this weekend?” she asked.
    “Oh nothing, just relaxed” said the student with her.
I listened in on their conversation until we got to the room. Once we got there, we sat in a circle and everyone introduced themselves.
     “ hi, my name is…..” went around the room.
     “Hello, my name is Brittany, I'm the leader of this group, and hopefully soon to be yours if you decided this is the place for you. I'm a mom of a little baby girl at home, my husband is also a leader for boys and well I think that's the basics” the lady said.
  

Finally, after all the impressions I got of her, I pretty close to being spot on. Once I got home from the night, I caught my mom up about the event, the people and lastly i found myself talking about Brittany. I told my mom about how she was really nice, caring, loving and basically normal. My mom was excited to hear about my experience and how the first impression of the leader was very welcoming. Every Sunday came around, I found myself back at that church with all the same girls and the same leader. It has been about 3 years now, since I made my first impression of my leader Brittany. Nothing much has changed about her, she is still the same as the first day I met her. The only change about her, was she became another parent figure in my life and the other girls.