--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/laura_dunkel_visit.txt	Wed Jun 12 16:05:19 2013 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+Maureen Anderson and Henry Thompson met with Laura Dunkel at Henry's
+house on the evening of 12 June, 2013, following Laura's application
+for membership in Southeast Scotland Area Meeting
+
+Laura was moved to think about herself and how she was living by some
+events in her life a few years ago.  Something she read helped her see
+that she was looking for a way to allow a Higher Power into her life.
+A period of intensive reading and seeking followed, during which she
+came more and more to look for reality as what was within her, rather
+than outside her, and that listening inwards for the promptings of a
+Higher Power could help her understand how she ought to live her life.
+
+Laura felt a strong sense of recognition when she read about the
+testimonies, and the Quaker way of worship.  Although attending Quaker
+meeting was one of several attempts she made at this time to
+participate in organised worship, she wasn't comfortable with any of
+them.
+
+Harvey Gilman's book helped her towards beginning worship in her home,
+and with some encouragment from a new partner, she started attending
+Polmont, which _did_ feel right: there was an immediate sense of
+recognition, of coming to a place she already somehow knew.  She has
+always been comfortable and at home there, over time coming to know
+the members of the Meeting well.
+
+Having been called to attend GM in Glasgow, nearly not managing it
+because of the need to register as a non-Member, but being very warmly
+helped over the difficulties, crystallised Laura's desire to join the
+Society: "I want this to feel like my family".
+
+After a few conversations and some further reflection, and attendance
+at several Area Meetings, she decided the time was right to apply.
+
+Laura has found the group involvement in the decision process at
+Meeting for Worship for Business very positive, and misses that, and
+the silence, in meetings in her daily life.  Instead of speaking for
+speaking's sake, just to fill the silence, the sense of _waiting_,
+waiting for the right words, which we have in a Meeting for Worship,
+is so much more satisfactory.
+
+Recognising that the Spirit is behind a contribution to worship, both
+for others and herself, has been an important insight.
+
+Laura wasn't brought up in a church, but not anti-church either.
+She's talked a bit with her mother about what she is finding with
+Friends, as she has with her brother and his partner and her family
+more widely.  She has been talking more about Quakers with friends
+and family lately, and finding some surprisingly receptive responses.
+People are interested in how she can be quiet for so long, and she
+tries to explain that it's not like a punishment.
+
+Her partner has been very supportive about her Quaker commitment, and
+ways in which her involvement with Quakers is leading her to want to
+make changes in how she lives her life.
+
+Laura took part in a Becoming Friends group not long after she started
+at Polmont.  The diversity of experience and attitude she found there
+was both challenging and encouraging: all different, but all the same
+as well.  More recently she led a session of the Polmont discussion
+group on Peace and Social Justice.  Polmont's regular discussion
+sessions have also deepened her connection with the other members of
+the meeting, growing out of the experiences that others have offered.
+
+The experience of praying in times of challenge in her life, both for
+herself and for those who depend on her, and the sense of support this
+brings, is an important affirmation of the reality of the spiritual
+background to her life.
+
+Being in a job were tackling inequality was part of the remit really
+connected with our testimonies for Laura, and hearing people's stories
+in that work likewise made that connection.
+
+Similarly the influence of the peace testimony has turned up
+repeatedly in her work context.
+
+Respecting that of God in everyone, and in particular making the
+connection between that and "thinking that you may be mistaken", is
+another important part of how Laura is growing into Quakerism.
+
+Actively working to avoid deception, going beyond just avoiding
+falsehood, is part of the same process.
+
+Laura is impressed by the way the meeting chooses to support a wide
+range of charities, and how that challenges her to look beyond the
+list of her regular contributions, particularly to smaller/less
+aggressively advertised groups.
+
+Laura likes it that Quakerism is a faith about questions -- being on a
+journey is now about learning more about being a Quaker for Laura, and
+that's a long-term commitment.
+
+We are all more than satisfied that Laura has indeed found her
+spiritual family, and that ratifying this with Membership is the right
+thing for her and for us.
+
+