Dear praying friends,

Yesterday, I brought our last short-term team for the 2023 calendar year to the airport.

One of our interns and I met them at their hotel, rode to Alexanderplatz, where we went to the proper platform and waited for the train to the airport to arrive. It didn't. The sign showed that it was supposed to arrive. The recorded announcement told us about two other trains arriving and departing from the tracks, but our train never showed up. We also never got an announcement about it not showing up - the sign for the train just changed to announce the next arrival of the train to the airport - 32 minutes later.

So there we stood, one person in shorts because he thought it would be more comfortable on the plane, in temperatures hovering around freezing waiting for the next train to arrive.

Luckily - we had worked in lots of time for delays, so we were not worried about them missing their flight. The team leader had a great attitude and was very reassuring to her team. Everything worked out fine!

Last Sunday kicked off the Advent season, the season of waiting and expectation. Have there been "trains" in your life that you have been waiting for that have not shown up? How can we pray for you as you wait?

Here are some prayer requests from us!

1. Our Kickstarter campaign is winding down. With about one week to go, we are 91% funded. We just added a stretch goal: if we go 500-1000 over our goal amount, we can use the extra funding to add more art/illustrations to the book. Pray for us as we finish off the campaign!
2. It is budget season for our non-profit. It is always challenging as we try to project income and expenses when we often rely on things outside our direct control. Pray for us as we finish the budget int he coming weeks.
3. We are hosting a type of open-house (we are one door in our communities "Living Advents Calendar") on Sunday evening. Pray for good connections!
4. Several of our site participants are traveling in the coming weeks. Pray for safe travels!
5. Several of our site participants are staying in Berlin over the holidays, some spending significant time away from family for the first time during the holidays. Pray for them!

Thanks for your prayers,

mike