Dear friends,
after six wonderful weeks in the US, we made it back home well and with all our luggage!
Many thanks to all of you who made these six weeks such a great time for us!
Our time in Fayetteville, NC, where dear Ann Owen hosted us was such a treat for heart and
soul. It is always hard to leave Fayetteville, I feel so much at home there. I even enjoyed the hot
weather, while Mark was very thankful for air conditioning.
The beach wedding in southern Georgia was beautiful, the announced scattered thunderstorms
were scattered somewhere else. For this occasion the Acostas, Cathrin's host family in
St.Marys, even moved out of their home for several days so that our whole family could be
together in one place. We as a whole family had not been together in two years.
Cathrin's churches and friends from St.Marys and Covington did a great job in preparing and
carrying out the many big and little things for the wedding.
Cathrin and Mike Wilbanks made their home at Mike's place near his parents. We were very
thankful for the miraculous recovery of Mike's father after his heart attack earlier this year. He
was able to come to the wedding which would not have been the same without him. Cathrin is
now working at the same place as before her time in St.Marys.
On our way up north, we had a short but meaningful visit with church friends and family near
Bloomington, IN, ate lunch at the Corner Cafe in Darlington where we visited Magdalena's
grave.
The Fourth of July weekend we spent in Saranac, MI, with our dear church family there. Mark's
parents even came down for that.
Then we went back with them to Irons for several days with Mary and Rachel. Joyann enjoyed preparing meals for us and having a family around the table once more. During that time, Don and Joyann (with Mark and Mary) looked at several places for independent living in Grand Rapids and made their decision to move to the one they chose on September 4.
In the meantime they have settled into their new place, and it sounds as if it was a good choice.

The following weekend we spent with Doris and Chad at their home in Detroit they had just
bought a few days before we came. 40,000 $ for a nice house sounds almost too good to be
true. In Detroit you can find something like this. Detroit really impressed me. The city is in a very
bad state, and there are many people who won't let it die. Among them are Doris and Chad.
They are the only white people in an all black neighborhood, and Doris' colleagues at work (a
credit union) think she is crazy for living there and shopping at Aldi's where an armed guard
watches over the parking lot. But there is no safer place than in God's hands.
Visiting our dear friend Anna Richards in Pennsylvania was very special, and also seeing dear
Fern Crabster after her move to independent living.

All this time we were hoping for Lisa to get one of the 65,000 visas, but she was not among the
chosen ones. We tried everything to help her get a visa, but nothing worked. Then God just did
a miracle! The University of Maryland wanted her back, and now she is enrolled in a second
master's course (urban planning) and working for the university in research. All deadlines had
passed, but the department head made it possible (with God's intervention, of course).
There also is a young man in Lisa’s life, David, a meteorologist she has known for quite a while
from church. We met him and really like him, and both of them are glad that Lisa can stay.

Susi moved back to Gupf to the first apartment she had twelve years ago. In a few days she will
begin her first few months of work, followed by three months of college. This will alternate for
three years. She would appreciate prayers for courage and perseverance. Being 33 years old
and a long time away from school, she is a bit nervous.

Coming home was very hard. First of all, Jana and I were homesick for America. And then we
came into a very difficult legal situation with our immediate neighbors. 21 years ago, when we
bought this house, the notary public had failed to make a certain entry into the land register, and
this had gone unnoticed until now. But the Lord gave wisdom and patience; the situation could
be clarified and settled without going to court, after three very challenging weeks of constantly
asking the Lord for peace of mind.

Doris and Chad came to visit for two weeks, and had another family member with them who will
introduce him or herself in March.

Jana had a good start of school. She is growing up in many ways, and life is becoming easier.

School started on September 2, after two weeks of prep work, training sessions and other
meetings. The first weeks of school were very chaotic until everything had found its place and
every student knew what language to take and on which level. I hope that I will have the exact
number of students in my two German classes soon. There might still be some changes.
There are a lot of new students, some came quite unexpectedly because their families had to
leave the country they were serving in, like Pakistan and Afghanistan. These transitions are very
hard for our students. Every year there is a big “turnover” of students. It is our prayer that our
students grow deep roots in Christ since they often cannot grew family or culture roots as
children of missionaries (MKs).

Mark did one trip to Romania and is planning some more. But there is a very difficult situation concerning his co-operation with GAIN. Lately, the planning and organizing for the use of the truck have been very confusing. Mark needs prayer for wisdom and good discernment for the meetings they set up to clarify this. The structure and the logistics of his
work might have to undergo some vital changes, unless he gets a clear word about when and for how long he can use the GAIN truck. There are people at the other end of the line who depend on the aid that is all packed and waiting to be hauled.

The church in Weil am Rhein he is helping to re-establish is making good progress. Being located in a multicultural neighborhood, they are very open to help in the present situation we are facing. Germany is being flooded with refugees, as you all know if you watch the news. Many Muslim countries are “closed” to the gospel, so God is sending those people to us. That is one way of looking at this. Except for finding Christ, there are no real solutions to these problems. Please

pray for wisdom and good ideas to help.

This letter is quite long, I hope you were able to read to the end and maybe open the pictures I attached. This is now possible with our faster internet.

Thank you for being our friends and for all your prayers. 

--

Celebrate beauty wherever it is.

Speak truthful words of encouragement whenever you can.

Add a touch of hope wherever you go. M.W.

Dear friends,

here is the promised letter with our itinerary for our trip this summer. We pray that God will grant His blessing and protection.

(For all the European recipients: you can skip this part.)

June 10: arrival at Washington-Dulles where a rental car is reserved

June 11-21: Fayetteville, NC, Ann Owen invited us to stay with her so that Joan's house would not be overcrowded
June 12-14: EBF conference at Church of the Open Door

June 21-22: visit Marilyn Fabian in South Carolina

June 22-28: St.Marys, GA

June 27: Cathrin's and Mike's wedding

June 28-30: Covington, GA, spending some time with Mike's family and C's and M's friends

July 1-2: Standford Baptist Church, IN

July 2-6: Saranac, MI, Gallilee Baptist Church; time with friends and family

July 6-10: Irons, MI, Mark's parents and Mary

July 10-13: Detroit, MI, Doris and Chad

July 13-14: McConnellsburg, PA, visiting Anna Richards (and the Hodges?)

July 14-22: Maryland, with Lisa in Beltsville

July 19: EP Church in Annapolis, weekend at the Skinners'

July 22: back to Germany (23)

For our time in Fayetteville, I will prepare an online calendar where meetings and invitations can be posted, and send it out to those in that area.

Now some updates:

Mark is planning 2-3 trips to Romania, about 5 days each, starting tomorrow. He cannot use the GAIN truck as much as before and is looking into alternatives, preferably with Romanians involved.

Susi passed the test she needed to be accepted at the college in Lörrach. She will start school and work in October. Also, she is going to move back to Gupf to the apartment she had 12 years ago, next door to us. We are all very glad that we have grown towards such a good relationship with each other.

Lisa got the job she had wanted most and enjoys it very much. Please pray that she will get her permanent work visa her company applied for. There has been an unusually big rush on the 65,000 visas that are given out, so they decided to do something like a lottery to pull out this number from the 230,000 that applied, which - humanly speaking - reduces her chances of getting the visa to 1:3. If her company's check has been cashed by the middle of May it means that they will consider her application and very likely give her the visa. We do not want to think about the "if not". That would mean that she has to leave the US this summer.

Cathrin and Mike decided to make their home at Mike's house in Covington, GA. His dad has just come out of a very tough time after a heart attack, and they want to stay near Mike's family. We are glad for this decision. Wedding preparations are keeping them and others very busy. It will be a beach wedding near St.Marys, GA.

Doris and Chad are in the process of buying a house in Detroit. Prices are so low (30-40 thousand $) that they could pay it off in a very short time. They might get the one they applied for, but it is not sure yet. They would appreciate prayers for wisdom in this matter.

Jana and I are counting the weeks/days until we fly to the US. Jana loves US history and geography. We are planning to visit sites and places along this line, especially while in Maryland at the end of our trip. In the meantime, we have to wrap up the last few weeks of school and organize everything for our absence. We still need someone to stay at our house with Jack, our dog, and Jana's bunnies and guinea pigs. The ponies will be with the people who own the little white pony and will be well taken care of.

Please contact us about any ideas for us along the trip. As soon as we are in the US, we will re-activate our US cell phone and send the number to those who might need or want it.

We thank you for being part of our ministry and hope to see many of you soon.

Maria Walker
Revelation 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and language, and people, and nation.

"Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

Dear friends, when I read this verse in Zechariah 8:23 I decided to make it my prayer that people would say this to me. The situation described in this verse is a ratio of 10:1. Ten people will grab one Jew by his garment and plead with him to show them the way to the Lord. We know this will happen in the future, it is a prophetic word that will come true. But I know that God wants us to be light and salt right now where we are.

Sadly, it is often in times of extreme trouble that people (and even we ourselves) turn to God. The hunger for God's Word is the strongest in places and times where nothing else provides comfort for the soul. Whether it is Romania with poor and neglected senior citizens or Gypsies - or in Southern Italy where thousands of refugees from all over Northern Africa are squeezed together after a life-threatening sea voyage in little nutshells. Every day many don't make it. With no earthly hope left, many seek the Lord and find Him. What a challenge for the small evangelical churches that reach out to them!

We are glad that we can help by sending truck loads of clothes and other things they need. And those who receive these things are stunned that there actually are people who care!

Our country is in the process of providing temporary quarters for those African and also Syrian refugees. Every county is turning some places into shelters, like gyms, former military quarters, old school buildings, etc. But not all Germans want these people. Many are afraid of these strange and desperate people. Who knows if they are not under-cover terrorists? There is a lot of fear on both sides, and there have been bad incidents of physical attacks and arson.

Does anyone have answers and solutions for these issues? I don't. Only God has a plan - even for these unwanted people. He knows what it is like to be unwanted.

The humanitarian aid we collect is in great demand, of course.

Besides all these challenges and his work in Romania, Mark is also still helping to re-establish our former church in Weil am Rhein who had to give up their facilities and had joined a church in another town years ago. Now they are having regular Sunday meetings in a part of town where the majority has a migratory background. Not many Germans live there, and this is a great chance to bridge the gap both between ethnic groups and spiritually.

 

And now some news from our family:

First of all, Mark, Jana and I will be in the US from June 10 to July 22. As soon as our itinerary is all set up we will send out another letter.

Jana got a very good report card for the first semester. Not all "A"s, but for her this is marvelous. She has a wonderful (male) teacher who has the gift of bringing out the best in his students. Her reading and writing are improving with the special program for her to learn to deal with dyslexia, and she still has a special math class for herself and another student until she has caught up with the others.

Lisa's job situation (in Maryland) is still open. Right now she is working for a large company where she does office work for their landscape architects. She could apply for a permanent job there, but this company does not do the kind of projects she would like to do. But she is very thankful that she is earning enough money to keep herself going and for all the experience she is gathering along the way. She had some job interviews and has to wait for the outcome. Her problem is that she does not have US citizenship. Her future employer has to apply for a work visa, and this costs him about 5,000 $. She needs to find a permanent job within the next few weeks, otherwise she has to go back to Germany this summer.

Susi is still unemployed. But with the unemployment benefits she can manage. In a few weeks she will hear if a great opportunity is going to work out. She would work for a weather forecast company as a student and do her bachelor's in international business management at the same time. We are glad that her health has been getting much better after they fixed that hole in her heart in 2013.

Cathrin and Mike are still in the process of planning their wedding (last weekend of June, Saint Marys, GA) and making decisions about their future. And living almost 5 hours apart does not make this easier.

From Doris and Chad in Detroit, MI, I hear that they are doing fine. They are both starting to work on their master's degree this year.

My school is going well now. I am teaching 2 advanced German classes (grades 5-8) with lots of opportunities to share my faith in Christ. Some students come from non-Christians homes and are sent to this school for missionary kids because of its high standards. I also do a lot of other things for the school, translating and organizing where my German is helpful. All this keeps me quite busy. But I still treasure my bilingual Wednesday morning CBSI bible study, where I translate back and forth for the opening and the lecture part. This is a great opportunity to reach German ladies and help them grow in the Lord. Some just come because it is bilingual and they can improve their English - and find the Lord along the way. And for me it is a valuable time of fellowship within my own small group of missionary wives. Kandern has a large English speaking population because of the Black Forest Academy. Quite a few missionaries who travel a lot or who can work from here choose this for their home base so that their children can attend this school without living in a dorm. Several missions have their German or European headquarters here. But most BFA students live in dorms. Some of their parents are working in very dangerous locations and are glad to have their children at a safe place.

And now I would like to add a few thankful thoughts on a part of our family life I have not written anything about so far.

With always enough money to live, we could not do things other families did for recreation and fun. But God has blessed us with a variety of animals in our own "family amusement park". This was not only fun and work but also a great playground to learn responsibility and invite friends. Over the years, we have had birthday parties, school field trips, youth group outings and visiting friends, and God reached out to all of them. For teenage girls it is wonderful to hug a big dog or a pony instead of hugging a bad choice. Around animals the heart of young and older people opens up more easily. Our animals were part of deep conversations and often heard the gospel shared. The ponies' manes dried many tears, and their ears heard laughter and shouts of joy. 

Last summer we had to part with our white mare Lea. She had had joint problems and suddenly could not walk anymore. Our girls had bought her with their own money 18 years ago. They had saved every penny for years. And living on the edge of a small farm town with pastures for free, this was affordable even for us. This pony turned out to be the most reliable, faithful and friendly creature. She was a big help in raising our girls, and she was my own physical therapist for many years, strengthening my muscles and easing my back pains. Even though it was very sad to let her go, we are very grateful for the many blessings God gave us through this animal and all the others as well. Years ago, this was also the starting point for our daughter Cathrin to become a therapist. We still have Avalon, the brown pony, and keep him together with another pony whose owners share the work.

But we could also talk many girls out of wanting a pony for themselves, showing them what it all involved. And it was highly appreciated by girls and parents that we shared our animals with them instead. Everything we own is from the Lord and belongs to Him. He can use it to His glory and to draw souls towards Him.

God bless you all, and may He use all of us to cause people to seek and find Him.

Maria and family