Dear friends, when Jana and I flew back to Germany on May 30, we left Indiana with temperatures over 90° F and arrived in Germany at 60° and the end of 3 weeks of rain. Several towns were totally flooded in the eastern parts of Germany, with only roofs looking out of the water. Now we have temperatures between 90 and 100°, and the land is craving for rain. The Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset because it is Ramadan. There are many Muslims living here, mosques are being built more and more boldly. Germans have less and less children, but our Muslim fellow citizens compensate for this with large families. And since Germany is not (yet) a Muslim country, life has to be carried on as usual, even for the Muslims who may not drink all day long.

I just read Isaiah 45, and the phrases struck me that sound a little bit like the Muslim statement of faith: (V.5) "I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no other God." - But Mohammad is not His prophet, but Jesus is His son: (V.21) "... there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except me. (V.22) Turn to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other." - If only the dry mouths of the Muslims were thirsting for the ONE GOD and the dry lands of post-reformation Germany were thirsting for TRUTH! And may we be ready to speak up and share God's love and righteousness with every open heart!

Right now, Mark is helping out at the moving company where his colleagues are either very profane Germans or not really practicing Muslims. It is a daily challenge and opportunity!

We are very thankful to be able to share that the blood work last week showed no raised level of PSA, that means that he does not need radiation. He has to have regular check-ups, but there seems to be no further evidence of cancer.

Mark stayed 12 days longer than Jana and I to help his parents move to Michigan where they are now living with their daughter Mary. That was very hard for everyone, most of all of course for his parents. But we are glad it is done.

Isn't it good that we have a permanent home in heaven, and we even do not have to pack up and move there in a big effort, but He takes care of this? We just need to be ready.

We want to thank all of you we met and we stayed with during our time in the US. It is always very refreshing and encouraging to see you all.

It was also good to see our "American" daughters and be at Doris' and Chad's graduation and meet Chad's parents. Doris and Chad also had a formal courthouse wedding, since the paperwork for a German wedding with a non-European is immense. But they still live separately until August 17 when they will have their church wedding over here. In Germany this is two-fold anyway. You need to get your marriage license at the city hall, and then you can have a church wedding. Doris and Chad spent the past months in Detroit, MI, where they did a summer internship with an inner city youth ministry. Chad will work with this ministry full-time, starting in September, Doris is applying for a job in business management.

All the girls will be come home soon, Lisa arrived tonight to help get things ready for the wedding. Then Doris and Chad are coming the following week, and on the same day Cathrin and MIKE will fly in. We have not met him yet. He works at the same place where Cathrin is doing her internship until Christmas. Cathrin really experienced God's fatherly love in a special way. She found a place to live for free with full room and board, with a family from a church Willard Larose got her connected with. And the internship is going very well.

Luke is also going to come over for 2 weeks. Lisa had a summer job on campus as a gardener for which she was very thankful. Now my yard is waiting for her skillful hands.

Susi had a final check-up this week. The occludor that patches the almost 1 inch wide hole between her left and right atrium is doing its job, everything is tight and in place, even though it will take some time for her lungs to fully recover from not having had the right blood supply for over 30 years. But she was able to pass her private pilot's license test, an old dream come true. And it was through the aviation doctor that this whole issue was found out about. So we are thankful that she did pursue this even though we sometimes wondered why she had to do this.

Jana finished her school year so much better than last year. We are very thankful for all God has done in her life. Now we are working to help her catch up what she is still missing in math, and she is making good progress.

Please remember us in your prayers that all the preparations for the wedding will go well.

Mark asks for prayer to discern what the "good works" are, "that God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them".

There are three specific areas:

1. Our mission partners in Romania are requesting a higher volume of deliveries of aid (clothes, shoes, household items, furniture, etc.) which they use for their outreach ministries.

2. Mark was asked to come and see the camps for African Muslim refugees in Sicily. One of my helpers in the warehouse developed this ministry of taking humanitarian aid down there which opened wide doors for the local churches to reach out to these desperate people. Now his advise is being asked on how to improve the logistics.

3. Christians in the Ukraine would like to receive humanitarian aid for themselves and for outreaches, but it is almost impossible to get truckloads across the border without much delay and enormous costs. Now there is the idea that the churches along this side of the border (Rumania, Hungary and Poland) could take in small amounts on day trips. And for this we need qualified local people to step up to this task and develop these "open doors".

By the way, we did get some good rain over night.

Thank you again for being our friends and part of our ministry. God bless you, Maria Walker