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.