Hello everyone! This month’s newsletter is a newsletter of opportunities—for prayer and for your direct involvement with some of what we have going on! Please read about the various sections to pray for us as we grow, and feel free to contact us if you have time or energy to devote to something (or feel led to be part of one of our projects or just WANT to help with some of what we have going on!)

First, we are looking for a vehicle for a member of one of our small groups. He needs to have a car or truck to use to go out and find work. He is a fairly large man (over 6 feet and over 400 pounds), so it actually needs to be an older, larger car OR a truck/SUV to accommodate him. If you have such a vehicle or know anyone who does, please let us know!

Next, we are updating the Common Grounds Coffee House that we run during Unite Game nights a few ways. First, we are doing some physical work on the coffee house area to make it more visible and more obvious what it does. The coffee counter is an old metal desk that we use; we plan to build a new counter out of a donated office desktop about waist height with bar stools in front of it so that it looks more like a coffee house. We also plan to add signs and some sign-ups for small group Bible studies and other involvement opportunities. We feel that this will make it more open for individuals to get involved in something more if they wish without scaring those who aren’t away. We could use the help of anyone who has the time and skills in constructing two wooden cabinets to put the office desktop on; we could also use help re-upholstering some chairs that we plan to use for Unite Game Night and/or just putting some fabric over the existing fabric that is fraying.

The other big update for Unite Game Night is that I am working on putting opening and closing instructions into an old computer that I got for Unite Game Night. These instructions will allow anyone who wants to volunteer as a barista to more easily do it since it will have the instructions about how to open up, the spreadsheet for recording any donations for food and/or drinks that we receive, and closing instructions. We will also load in some simple instructions about how to brew the various coffee drinks that we brew. We still plan to pray with anyone considering volunteering to make sure that it’s a good fit and helping them out in person at first, but the presence of simple, backup instructions should help others feel confident in manning the counter even if one of our other more long-term volunteers isn’t present. We have MANY opportunities to open up Common Grounds now for more than just Unite Game Night hours. Since Common Grounds is in The Gamers Guild (the card and board game shop that I opened up), it could run during any Gamers Guild hours, and baristas would have great interaction opportunities with those present in the store (often quite a few people from junior high age to middle-aged). We even have CATT-G (the FHSU Collegiate Association of Tabletop Gamers) meeting in our store Thursday nights—I just don’t have the time to open up and run Common Grounds since I am at the university at that time! All we need to serve and interact with that group and the many individuals who come in are the volunteers and a way to make it easier to volunteer, so I am working on just that.

Finally (as far as Unite Game Night goes), I wanted to let you know that you don’t have to want to serve coffee to come and interact with a ton of junior high, high school, and college-aged individuals! Every Friday night we are there playing a variety of board and card games; if you like board and card games and want to stop in and have some fun while developing relationships, you should feel free to come by! You never know when one of those people whom you get to know may want to have serious conversations or when you could help them out (or when they could help you out!). I hope that you prayerfully consider coming in sometime to play some games and get to know the many people who are part of the Unite Game Night community!!

Finally, it’s that time of year again! We are preparing for our Spring trip to the NOMADS missionary conference and (hopefully this time) our summer mission trip to the Emmanuel Ministries Children’s Home in Juarez, Mexico. Both trips are open to anyone, and we would LOVE to have you pray about joining us (or even just praying for us when we go). Please keep these upcoming adventures/opportunities in mind!

As we close, I do want to address the elephant in the room—the recent lack of monthly updates! I sincerely apologize for not getting the newsletter out the last couple of months! Your prayers and financial support are critical to what we do, and I need to do my part to keep you informed of it so that you CAN pray Please accept my apologies and know that I plan to do better from here on out! Thanks again for being a part of what we are doing!