Having my language, and the faith where that language comes from, accepted and acknowledged amongst Friends was very meaningful.

The first year was the "breaking open" phase where there was safety to look courageously at the blocks to God's love that I had been carrying.

I have been a widow now for ten years and by nature I am an introvert. To have the opportunity to share my joys and sorrows in such an intimate group setting as our Koinonia group was a divine gift for me.

The strengths of the core teachers included their commitment to the Religious Society of Friends, to each other, and to each of us; their willingness to be vulnerable; their love of the Lord and their faithful modeling of how to live that love moment by moment.

Unprogrammed Quakers sometimes have a sense of superiority and smugness that we have the best ways of being spiritual; Bill Mills [visiting teacher] picked up on a sense of spiritual pride in our group and named it.

With everyone's lives so different and lived in the midst of such a busy and complex world I think you found a way for us all to participate as fully as we each desired.

The papers and projects forced me to sit with, listen for and integrate the truths that were coming to me at that point in the program.

The cost was probably realistic though surely insufficient for the outcome but I don't think it's possible to put a price on an experience that is truly priceless.

When I started this program, I did not know where I was going or where this would lead. But I opened my heart and listened to God's call and learned many things from books, from the teachers and visitors, and from the other residents. We all took our own time to crack open and to blossom, but we accompanied each other in the journey.