The day after returning from Thanksgiving 2021, extensive water damage was discovered in our ground floor apartment. We had not seen or noticed it, but probably for months a slow drip behind our washer/dryer had been steadily seeping under the floor, all through the ground floor, and even making its way partway up the concrete walls. Yikes!

When a professional came to check things out, they confirmed that our floors and walls were soaked and had to be dried out. It was easy enough to stop the leak, but the big challenge was to dry out the whole foundation. Thankfully, the insurance would cover the expense, but the inconvenience was substantial. The job meant drilling holes in our floor and running huge fans blowing hot air under the floor for almost three months! The additional electric bill alone cost over 800,-€ (covered thankfully by insurance!), not to mention the manpower and rental of the machines, etc.

First of all, we had to move out for several months from early December until sometime in February. Where to go? This is where we saw one of God’a promises come true for us.

“28 Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and have followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”

Mark 10:28-31

When people heard that we needed a place to move for a few months, we were overwhelmed with all the offers! We had at least three options in Berlin alone, plus Cologne and even Turin, Italy to choose from. We could also have made a trip home to the States for those months. But with Christmas just around the corner, we decided to take the offer of some dear friends here in Berlin to use their apartment. They were headed out of the country anyway for those months, and it just made total sense to take them up on it.

What a