Dear praying friends,

Yesterday was a full day! Over the last 13 years, the worldly possessions we have been hanging onto in the US have been in several different locations. Some dear, dear friends in Staples, MN have let us store things with them; my parents let us store some things in a shed they had; and Elissa's parents had some of our things in their home.

Over the years, we have sorted through things and cut down on how much we still possess every time we come back on home assignment and both of our parents have moved!

Yesterday we combined all of our stuff in a single storage location, which will help us next time we come back on home assignment. It was beautiful to see some people in Staples again, people we love dearly after pastoring there, who came and helped us load the moving truck, and great to have help from family at the storage facility to get everything settled.

So now, we are down to the last packing of suitcases, cleaning of our apartment, seeing some people, family goodbyes, and boarding the airplane. We fly the evening of September 1!

Please pray for us as we finish things up. Pacing wise, we are in a good spot - without any sense of panic that we might not get everything done. That's great!!

We are also excited (and a little nervous) to get back to Berlin, but are also dealing with the struggles of leaving family again.

Here are some prayer requests!

1. Please pray for our team in Berlin as an intern leaves this week to return to the US after serving for 11 months. Our team is going to miss her!
2. Pray for us as we pack, clean, say good-byes, and travel to the airport. My next prayer update will be written from Berlin!
3. Pray for us as we reacclimate in places that are familiar but have changed.
4. We aim to re-enter ministry in Berlin, working closely with our team to reassess where we can utilize our gifts effectively and adjust responsibilities so that everyone feels they are in a role that suits them well. We all love working together, and have all, to some degree, been working in areas that have been necessary but not always great fits over the last year.
5. We are moving back into our apartment - where Joshua has lived for the last year, and our son Caleb is also moving back in! Living with independent adult children in the same house will take some adjustment, but we are looking forward to being so close to our boys.
6. Please pray for our families as we travel! It is hard on all of us to say goodbye, and God's calling for us to go to Berlin also means our family pays a heavy price with us being so far away.

Thanks for your prayers!

Mike