A lot of excitement . . .

It's 4:00pm Germany time and I'm sitting here on my incredibly comfy couch in the basement trying to write a prayer letter, but I am as uninspired as is possible to be. It's not that the ministry isn't going well. Easter Sunday was very exciting. Our attendance has been a source of disappointment lately, but Easter was a shot in the arm for all of us. We probably had 70-80 people attend the service and the dinner that followed. It's not the number of people that was exciting because actually many of our regulars were out of town. It was the amount of visitors and how well people interacted with each other that was so encouraging. They stayed around forever after lunch and just talked. It was great. There's a little guy in my pre-teen youth group named Lukas. He came to Christ over 2 years ago and is a personal favorite of mine. He's super-excited about God and youth group and therefore such an encouragement! His family came Sunday. I have been praying for his parents' salvation for a long time and they were so supportive and open Sunday. His mom is German and claims Christianity and his dad is American and leans toward Buddhism. Go figure. Anyway, pray for this family if you think about it. His mom told me Sunday, "I have this feeling that Lukas is going to end up a missionary." Yeah, well I have that feeling too, only I think they're going to be surprised at who his first converts are! :-)

I have about 12 days before the flood of guests. My parents arrive on the 23rd for a week. I just found out last night that my brother, Travis, is coming on May 1st for a week (to plan a missions trip here with his youth group in July). I have about one week to catch my breath and then Brittany Good comes back on the 14th for the whole summer. Ben Vaught and Adam Reinking (BBC Alumni) arrive on the 15th for 2 weeks and my buddy Phil Graf (soon to be a Purdue graduate) gets here on the 23rd. That's just April and May. On June 10th, a Moody student arrives for a 6-week internship. On the 15th, Marty Dittmar and his family arrive for a month of ministry with us, bringing along another Purdue graduate and friend of mine. July 2nd, I fly back to the States to be in my cousin, Keri's, wedding in Chicago; and return to Berlin with my mom on July 10th, just in time for Travis' youth group and another church group to arrive on the 13th to help us with our "English-speaking Day Camp". Two BBC students are coming the first 3 weeks of August to help lead worship while our worship leader is on furlough. Then in September, Ken & Jinner Rudolph return for another European excursion. And finally, a group from Heritage, my sending church, come in October to lead our annual church retreat.

See . . . I should be incredibly inspired by this flurry of excitement, but the prayer letter just isn't happening . . .

My Grandma Walker has surgery today to remove a mass that was found on her lung last fall. The surgery's at 1:00pm Eastern Time. I'd appreciate your prayers, as would my parents since they are hoping to fly to Berlin 12 days from now if all goes well.