Dear praying friends,

Man, this last week has flown by so quickly! We held our first pop-up exhibit last week, and man - that artist knew how to get the word out! She was everywhere inviting people, and the opening night we had a full house, even though it was a cold, wet, rainy night. The next days did not dry out much, but people still drifted in - most of them having been invited by Gelisa George.

That night we were also telling people about the opening of the exhibit that opens tonight. This exhibit is titled "Silence and Shelter", and it will run for almost all of lent - opening the day after Ash Wednesday and running until Maundy Thursday.

As I was talking about the exhibit to one young man who lives in Berlin, he said, "It has been a long time since I have heard words like Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and it is really nice to hear them from you." I had several other conversations related to faith and our beliefs - both in English and in German throughout the evening.

This week we have been busy on a lot of different things - but a lot of time has been invested in getting our new exhibit set up. I snapped this picture last night, after I turned most of the lights off, except for two new lights that we purchased a few months ago.

Pray for the opening tonight! We are excited to be able to host people in the community, friends we have invited, and the artist's connections, and we are all feeling the amount of time we have been "on" in the last 2 weeks - so we need a special outpouring of grace.

Last night we had our first "Open Table" event in our space, and although the turnout was pretty low this time - but the loneliness people in Berlin experience was a theme once again.

Pray that as we start to hold events and welcome people in that we can be (as we have been in our existing spaces - and now want to be on a street with more foot-traffic) a place of welcome, light, grace, peace, mercy, where we can enter into good conversations about things that matter!

Please also pray for our finances! The exchange rate has really been working against us. Please also pray for this amazing glass wall that we are waiting to be installed in our office-sharing space to create an acoustic room. It is one of the things that makes our space attractive to people looking to rent desks, but the company that is supposed to be manufacturing the glass keeps delaying production. We are 2 months past the promised delivery time now, and our contractor has given them one more week to fulfill the order. We really need it done!

Thanks for all of your prayers.

If you have something you would like us to pray for, send your requests this way!

Blessings,

mike