Hi praying friends!

After spending the last 6 years of spring in Berlin, I have gotten used to the false and deceptive promises of spring sunshine and the hope of warmth - but have forgotten how cruel Minnesota springs can be! Warmth followed by snow followed by warmth followed by beautiful sunshine without warmth. Our 10 day forecast now includes weather as high as 70 degrees on Friday, followed by a descent to below freezing on Sunday and the potential of snow again next week. Unkind!

As the weather is clearing up, we have a busy March ahead of us. This Sunday at Hope Community in Cottage Grove (also there on Monday and Wednesday), followed by a trip to Little Falls next weekend, and then a trip to Echo to round out March.

Some of you have graciously asked if the traveling is tiring, or too much, or how we manage to keep on top or everything, or even "are you supposed to be this busy on your year off?" So - the kind of quick answers (not in the same order of the questions) are:

1. We are on a home ministry assignment, not a year off! Our HMA is a little different than some other workers, because we are also still carrying some responsibilities from our Envision site in Berlin. We are still working full-time - it is just that our roles this year are different than when we are normally in Berlin.
2. Traveling is tiring!
3. Sometimes, it can border on being too much. The Alliance asks us to fill a certain amount of days with church visits, and we generally go over. A big part of this is that we enjoy connecting with churches and have a history in our district. Most times, it feels more like a reunion than a heavy burden. We love our district churches and wish that every one of them could have an International Worker visit them each year. We know that is not the case, so we often give a little extra when we are back.
4. I have been working on an organizational system that is ridiculously complicated and involves me keeping up with an Alliance website, an excel spreadsheet, lots of emails, google docs, and our personal calendar. In the end, when it works well, I know all the addresses we are going to, the dates and times, who I am mailing presentation files to, where we are eating or who is paying for our meals, times for sound checks, time for prayer, sizes of groups, tech options available, miles driven, honorariums received (needed for tax filing later), etc. This is a job in and of itself!

That is getting long - but I want to share a couple of prayer requests for this week:

1. Today I get my CPAP machine, and I am a little nervous about it! Please pray.
2. We are getting ready to be on the road again - pray for safe travel.
3. Please keep praying for our apartment searches in Berlin. Stephen and Jennie are visiting some apartments for interns arriving in April and for potential places for our new staff coming in September.

Some of you are new to the list! If you are curious about our history, here is a 6-day email series that you can sign up for.

Thanks for praying. Let us know how we can pray for you!

Blessings!

mike