Dear praying friends,

I have been struggling with a lingering cough for the last 2 months, ever since I got sick while a short-term team was here in October. Last Thursday, I started to feel sick again and Friday my cough increased significantly. Elissa expressed concern, I was sure that with a good night‘s rest I would feel better, but Saturday morning I woke up and realized that I definitely should have gone to the doctor on Friday.

I took our dog for a short walk and then walked to the local hospital emergency room, where I sat for a couple of hours before being seen by a doctor, and was diagnosed with a slight lung infection and a 103° fever. I walked to the pharmacy and then back home through a beautiful light falling snow, took my antibiotics, and am now recovering.

That lightly falling snow has left icy sidewalks and streets behind, which is always an interesting scenario in Berlin. It means that walking is sometimes a challenge and that floors quickly become a mess, but it also means that parents of young children trade strolers for toboggans and pull their kids to preschool - a fascinating every-day mixture of old and new.

Our construction project continues to move forward, we have been installing ceiling tiles the last couple of days, and it has been nice to see the progress there. Hopefully I can share some pictures of the finished project soon.

Some prayer requests for this week:

1. Please pray for me to be healthy again!
2. Tonight we have our monthly Art O'Clock event. Please pray for the deepening relationships we have with the artists in our community!
3. We will be saying goodbye to an intern, Elise, who has served with us for the last 11 months this week. Pray for her as she transtions back to the US!

Thanks for your prayers!

mike