Dear praying friends,

Last week our daughter came to have dinner with us and brought Elissa a beautiful bouquet of flowers- with 2 peonies in them. What a wonderful surprise - flowers out of season, surprising us with their beautiful scent and fragile beauty.

We are currently in Aberdeen, South Dakota - blessed with the opportunity to visit churches in Aberdeen and Groton. We will be here through Sunday, and then return back to our temporary home in Lino Lakes before heading out again next week to Wisconsin.

Is it too much to think of ourselves as out-of-season flowers? We show up in a congregation and have the opportunity to share what God is doing in Berlin and around the world, often feeling a little fragile and hoping that we can spread the aroma of Christ in a way that expresses gratitude for people's involvement and a hope for God's work to continue.

Pray for us as we keep moving forward!

Exciting news - the Alliance Board of Directors approved two new staff members for us last week. We will share more as they have chances to share the news themselves in their circles of influence. We have also been holding interviews with potential residents and interns - and are excited about the opportunities we have to continue discovering and developing the next generation of missional leaders.

Some prayer requests:

1. My mom is still struggling with pain after her recent back surgery. Please pray for healing!
2. Our son Josh has an important visa appointment coming up on December 11th.
3. Elissa and I are going to try to get our visas through the German consulate in Chicago to see if that might be a better option for future site participants. Pray for us as we start submitting paperwork.
4. Thank you for praying for strength and endurance - please continue!
5. Our teammate, Stephen Jones, is finishing up a video about one of our exciting projects - a project that will allow us to keep moving forward in book publishing and creative ventures. Pray as that wraps up and that as we send the video out, God leads people to give.
6. Our team in Berlin will be joined today by a small German church-planting group and some of our aXcess colleagues for our once-a-month English worship service. Pray that as these groups come together, we are able to keep finding ways to reach out to our community!

Thank you for your prayers,

Mike