Hi praying friends!

Thanks for praying for us this past week. We had a whirlwind of applications and interviews for internships as we pushed right up to the deadline of July 21st for acceptance of any interns coming this fall. It was a great process, working with some of our applicants to help determine what God's timing for htm might be always feels like we are treading gently into sacred space. There are things that are really hard for us to know, and that is one of them! Creating enough space for people to pray and determine God's timing is really important, especially when there are deadlines!

We have also started packing. You might think that it should be easy. After all, we did not come with that much stuff when we came back. Yet, some new clothes, a lot of books, new tools for guitar setups, etc. - and the weight adds up pretty quickly. So, we decide - what comes with, what stays, what do we sell or give away.

Our son Joshua has finished his tests in Germany. He will find out by Saturday what his results were. We are really proud of him completing this 3-year program, and are excited to hear how he did!

I have a fun week ahead - I turn 52 on Friday and get to hang out with 3 of my siblings. On Saturday the Picconatto family is gathering, on Sunday we are going to a concert to hear one of Elissa's favorite musicians, and on Monday we start driving to Nashville. On Tuesday, our family will be reunited - oh happy day!

Pray for us as we work to bring our Home Ministry Assignment year to a close and prepare for reentry in Germany. In the year we have been gone, interns have come and gone, colleagues from the US on other Alliance teamshave transitioned to Home Assignment or to other fields, other colleagues have returned from home assignment, and our team has shifted some of its practices in our absence. We even rented additional office space while we have been gone! We are returning to the same apartment, but we know that everything will not be the same in much of our lives. Pray for us as we reenter to be gracious and show good-will, to not be demanding, but instead to learn how things are working now and fit into them well.

A few other quick requests:

1. Pray for safe travel for us as we drive and the boys as they fly!
2. Pray for motivation in this liminal space. Being in between is hard, but we don't want our time here to end with franticness.
3. My visa application in the US has been pre-approved, but now the consulate is asking me to schedule an appointment, of which there are none. We will also submit Elissa's tomorrow (I was hoping to piggy-back hers with mine, but the system doesn't allow it.) Pray that everything continues to go through and that we can get an appointment! We are testing the system to see if applications from here will be easier than applications in Berlin are proving to be!

Thanks for praying!

mike