Dear praying friends,

Last Wednesday night, 25 people gathered at Envision Berlin to share a meal together, with lots of people bringing food to share. It was our first test of an event we are calling "Open Table", and there were a few bumps (we accidentally communicated two different start times!), but it was fun to see new connections being made!

On Sunday night, a winter storm came through Berlin, leaving a thick covering of ice everywhere. It took almost two full days for the trams to run again because the overhead lines that supply power to the trams were covered with ice, and the tram company only has a few machines in the city to de-ice those cables! That meant extra walking (I only fell once!) or finding buses that were running. What a crazy adventure!

Our sidewalks are still covered in ice - so we navigate slowly to get everywhere we are going.

On the good news side - we picked up our visas today! That was exciting. It is so good to have those cards in our hands. We have a resident who is still waiting for a response to her last inquiry, and we are still puzzling out why the visa office is having more challenges with our interns visas, so please keep praying!

Friends, most of you know that we are from Minnesota, that I was a youth pastor near the Twin Cities for 6 years, and that this last year we called a couple of suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul home. Elissa grew up in St. Louis Park and went to church just blocks from where Alex Pretti was killed on Saturday. As we read, watched, and heard from friends in the cities, we were heartbroken (and still have heavy hearts) about what is happening in one of the places we call home. Know that we pray often for those of you who are sharing the love of Jesus in the Twin Cities.

Here are a few other prayer requests:

1. We are still waiting for an important delivery for our new office-sharing space - now delayed over 6 weeks. Please pray it arrives soon!
2. Pray for our team as we spend some time together this coming week away from our site.
3. We have a couple of exhibits coming up in February and want to start renting desks in our office-sharing area. Please pray for the community God is bringing to us (and we are working to invest in). Pray that our neighbors come and enjoy the art! Our first major exhibit will be during Lent and will feature contemplative/abstract art that could spark interesting conversations!

Thanks for continuing to pray for us. Things feel heavy right now, and we know many of you are feeling this heaviness as well. I am glad we can support each other through prayer!

Blessings,

mike