Dear praying friends!

Ahhhhhh! We are back from two wonderful weeks of vacation with our kids. The last week we also were able to spend some wonderful time with our parents (so kids could have some quality time with grandparents!). What a blessing.

Grandparents have all made it back home safely, our boys landed back in Berlin. Elissa and I are back in Burnsville. Our hearts are full after some great time together and we are sad after saying more goodbyes, knowing that there are more to come in the coming weeks.

Monday marked three weeks until we fly to Berlin (landing on September 2nd) - which means that our coming weeks will be full of ongoing transitions!

Here are some prayer requests:

1. There is a short-term team on the ground from one of our partner churches (Crossway). Please pray for them and our team!
2. We have a rental agreement signed for our new colleagues, the Damons. I cannot even begin to tell you how much of a praise this is! Pray for some of the transition details that need to take place in the coming weeks (final walkthrough, getting keys, etc.)
3. We have had to restart our visa applications since we could not get an appointment in Chicago on time. So - first of all, this is no problem! We have always traveled to Berlin with our Schengen Visa (tourist visa), and then applied for a work visa when we are in country. On the other hand, the system keeps changing as Germany (at least in Berlin) tries to have more of the application process take place online, which means we are spending a lot of time (and money!) getting documents we have not needed in the past. There is a frustration here, but not a danger to our visa status. Please do pray that everything goes through smoothly!
4. We have said (and will say) a lot of goodbyes, which is very emotionally heavy. Pray for us as we continue to try to leave well - with all of the processing that is a part of that!
5. We have submitted plans to our landlord for the new space we rented for our office, and are waiting to hear back from them! Once plans are approved, we can start getting bids and start raising funds for the remodel!

I could list a lot more, but that is good for this week - with maybe one addition. Please pray for a beautiful combination of peace and stick-to-itiveness as we pack things up and get ready to return to Berlin!

Thanks for your prayers,

mike