Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

We've had a very eventful couple of days recently. Some good news is that through the support of some people in our small group we've jumped up to 22%! We're praying that we can carry this momentum back home with us. Yesterday our small group held a great goodbye party for us. We ate pizza, played Apples to Apples, and enjoy this close fellowship one more time before we leave. It was hard saying another set of goodbyes.

It was generally a crazy day yesterday. We actually woke up around 6:00am so that we could have breakfast with Adam Gascho, our Germany team leader. He has been in the States the past few days doing some business. It was great to connect with him and hear more about what's going on with the ministry in Cologne. Then we had to be at both services at church because they had us up front and prayed for us during the service.

Our plan at this point is to leave on Wednesday morning for Ohio. We have a good amount of packing to do tomorrow, but we should be ready to go by then. We'll keep everyone updated on the move. Please pray for traveling mercies and for the transition back to Ohio.

Now that we are wrapping up our time in Illinois, I'm starting to feel like we're gaining some momentum. This past weekend we moved up 2% in our monthly support to reach 20%! No more languishing in the teens! We added three new partners in the last few days, and we're meeting some new contacts that are enthusuastic about what we're doing. Both Kathi and I are really encouraged by all of this. It feels good to be moving forward.

We also had a very surprising opportunity this weekend. Our church here in Illinois, Vineyard Community Church, let us set up a table in the lobby after our service on Sunday. I didn't think that this would be very fruitful and that the most we'd get would be some stares and a few awkward smiles. But, we had so many people come up and talk to us offering their prayers and encouragement. We even talked to a few people that might be interested in support us! We'll be doing the same thing next Sunday, so please pray in particular that we would be able to meet with these connections and make new friends next week.

On the whole it has been such an encouraging week. We moved in temporarily with our good friends Frank and Betsy this weekend. While it's frustrating at time living out of a suitcase, it's been great being able to hang out with them the past few days. They've done so much to encourage us and keep us worshipping God.

We also found out that some missionary friends of ours from Greater Europe Mission are trying to have a church that supports them transfer their financial support to our ministry. This missionary couple is on the verge of retiring, and they want to be able to help us out by connecting us with this church in Pennsylvania! I can't tell you how great it would be to get connected with a new church like this.

Along with all of these great things, we've added a few more people on to our support team! The percentage keeps creeping up, but we're renewed in our confidence that God will raise up all that we need. Thanks for all of your prayers, and please continue to pray that we would be renewed and encouraged in this journey.

We have an awesome answer to prayer! We found a temporary place to stay for a couple of weeks! At church yesterday, we were talking with our friends Frank and Betsy, and they told us that they are closing on a new house this week. They are engaged, and Betsy is going to be moving in to the house this weekend. I asked her jokingly if they had a spare bed, and she said yes. So, we're going to stay with Betsy for a few weeks while we finish up our work here in Illinois. It also ministers to Betsy because we'll be able to help with house work and moving while we are there. So, big praise on that front!

We arrived back in Illinois this week to begin our final few weeks here before we move back to Ohio. There's still much to do. We have about 10-15 contacts left in this area we'd like to meet with as well as fitting in some quality time with our close friends. One thing we need pray for in particular is that we have two churches in the area that our considering supporting us right now. Their missions committees have both met recently to talk about our ministry, so we're waiting on their decision. Please be praying that God would move in them to support us in some way.

We finding it hard the past few days to get back into the swing of support raising. With the disruption of the holiday and the new job situation, it's been difficult to focus on this part of our lives. We are still praying that God would bring us to 30% before we leave, but we have a long way to go till we reach that. Pray also that we would be faithful to do the work that needs to be done here.