Hi praying friends,

We just wrapped up our monthly silent prayer night - called "Still."

We started the night by focusing on a quote from Kierkegaard's book "I the lily of the field and the bird of the air."

Here is the quote:

There was something that was very much on his mind, a matter that was so important for him to have God understand properly; he was afraid that he might have forgotten something in his prayer—alas, and if he had forgotten it, he was afraid that God would not have remembered it on his own: therefore, he wanted to gather his thoughts and pray truly fervently. And then, if he in fact prayed truly fervently, what happened to him? Something strange and wonderful happened to him: gradually, as he became more and more fervent in prayer, he had less and less to say, and finally he became entirely silent. He became silent. Indeed, he became what is, if possible, even more the opposite of talking than silence: he became a listener. He had thought that to pray was to talk; he learned that to pray is not only to keep silent, but to listen. And that is how it is: to pray is not to listen to oneself speak, but is to come to keep silent, and to continue keeping silent, to wait, until the person who prays hears God.

Tonight, we read the quote in English and in German (with one of our team reading it in German and a German reading it in English), and then spent 15 minutes in silence, shared some bread together and ate in silence, and then talked about it together.

One comment that will stick with me after tonight talked about the community that is being built in our group as we sit in silence together once a month. Community from shared silence is not something I learned in Bible college (or maybe I was too busy talking to hear the lesson.)

Some prayer requests for the week:

1. Our team from Crown will be leaving early Friday morning. Pray for them on their last day. We have loved having them!
2. A week from Friday, a team arrives from Omaha, Nebraska. Pray for us as they pack and prepare to come! We are excited for them to arrive.
3. Our son Josh is gone for a month at school - during which he will have several major tests measuring what he has learned (testing both his theoretical knowledge and his ability to do some of the practical tasks of his job (make casts of the ear and manufacture pieces of a hearing aid). Pray for him as he finishes preparing and takes the tests.
4. Elissa's parents are in the final push of moving from Minnesota to Florida. Pray for them, please!
5. We have a new intern arriving next week! Pray for Hudson as he arrives.

1 week between 2 10-day teams is not a lot of time for our team to turn-around their non-team related work, rest, and get everything set for the next team to arrive - especially when we are picking up and onboarding a new intern as well! Can you pray for a very rejuvenating weekend for us this weekend?

Thanks for your prayers!

mike