Dear praying friends,

Thanks for praying for the appointment at the visa office last week. Our intern walked out with a paper we had never received before - a Grenzenübertrittsbescheinigung - meaning that she officially has permission to cross the borders. Why that paper? Well, the short answer is that because we accidentally booked the wrong kind of appointment for her before she had overstayed her tourist visa, and needed some clearance to avoid problems at the border. The long answer is that the German burocratic system is so backed up, that even after exchanging several letters she still had not gotten an appointment. After asking several questions while there, we were told we did everything right - so I gues there is some reassurance in that! (How often do you get to hear that? :) )

We also said good-bye to a great short-term team. It was amazing to have them here.

And - we have some good answers to prayer as we look ahead to our year of home assignment. First, we can keep our apartment in Berlin! We will use it for housing for interns, and have some clarity regarding times when it may be under occupied.

We also now have our housing in the US (with one wonderful family in their basement mother-in-law apartment for September-the end of December. We are so grateful for them!). And, then we have a place we can rent from another Alliance family for January - September. God is good.

We also have a vehicle for the whole year! What a blessing!

We are starting to fill in our speaking schedule. It is daunting, but we are starting to see all of the pieces come together. If you know that your church is looking for someone to share about Alliance Missions, please put the person in charge in touch with me.

And please keep praying! We desperately need:

1. To hear from the visa office regarding Joshua's visa status.
2. To wrap up some work responsibilities that are best done on site.
3. To finalize plans for an upcoming short-term team at the beginning of August.
4. To pack and reorganize some of our home to be ready for our absence and other people staying there.

Thank you for your prayers!

mik