Dear praying friends,

Yesterday, I got a winter weather warning on my phone, saying that we would be getting 4-9 inches of snow and 40-50 mile-an-hour winds. I wrote to the pastor of the church where we are scheduled to speak to the youth group tonight to ask him to keep me informed of any cancellations. My parents are visiting, so with the odd chance that the weather would keep us in the house, we swung by a grocery store to pick up some extra supplies, just in case. Later yesterday evening, the warning was downgraded to an advisory. This morning, the weather report just said it was going to be windy today.

Isn't that how planning works more often than we would like? We plan based on the information we know, and then the information changes mid-stream.

Some of you may remember that we were looking at renting some additional space last year, but because of the high cost of rent and some other details, we decided not to go forward with that plan. This year, we have made plans for Envision Berlin based on a variety of variables - and last week, another space became available in our building. We are still only in the exploration phase, looking at documents and praying about next steps. The space would allow us to do some things that would fit really well into our mid- and long-term vision, but of course comes with additional expenses (25,000 a year in rent and utilities, and an additional 25,000 to get the space set up.) Can you please pray for us as we enter into that process very cautiously? Our work over the last 4 years actually have some neighbors in the building ASKING us to rent the space (because they want us for neighbors!). How sweet is that?

Some other prayer requests:

1. Tonight we will be at the youth group in Cottage Grove, and on Friday we head up to Little Falls for the weekend. Can you please pray for safety traveling and that God continues to guide us as we preach, share, and connect with a variety of people.
2. I have been sleeping with my CPAP machine for 1 week now, and the machine says that I am having fewer incidents per night - so that's great! I am not getting as much sleep each night as I get used to the strangeness of the mask, the air blowing, etc., so it feels like a wash right now. Pray as I continue to adjust!
3. Our team in Berlin has a short-term team on the ground, and a lot of the public transportation system is on strike today and tomorrow. This is creating a lot of shuffling of plans. Pray for our team as they try to be creative in finding solutions!
4. Thanks for praying for housing! We have a place for our April interns, are working on solutions for our May arrival, and are still searching for housing for the couple joining us in September. Please keep praying!

Thank you so much for your prayers!

mike