October 2008 Kramertribe update

Another month has come and gone! This month has been a lot different than we could imagine both in the sense of joy and of sorrow.

Loss/Grieving

For those of you who have not heard, we had our second miscarriage of the year October 19th. Everything had been going great with our pregnancy until Saturday, October 18. We had heard the heartbeat the week before and everything seemed to be great. Then some bleeding started and didn't stop. A trip to the ER revealed that our baby's heart was no longer beating. The next day Dana passed the baby. We never thought we would experience this once let alone twice in one year. It has been a shock and disappointment to say the least.

We took last week off to grieve, rest and just be together. We were able to go on a lot of walks and a few dates. Last Thursday we made a short trip to Stillwater, MN, which is a beautiful town on the St. Croix River. We had a wonderful day there which included a hike and lunch at a bistro. We are easing back into things at Source this week. Though we are sad, disappointed and confused we are holding on to God's faithfulness and goodness. Please keep us in your prayers during this season.

Homeless Youth

This month we have seen a very encouraging increase in outreact to homeless youth. Every Friday night and two Tuesday nights of the month some of our staff are going out in search of homeless youth. A few weeks ago we cooked a big pot of soup, grabbed some coats and a few pastries and headed to Uptown. Unfortunately, the police had been cracking down on people that week and we didn't run into any homeless youth. Nevertheless, we shared the soup, coats and pastries with some other local homeless men and women.

We have definitely seen in increase of contact with homeless youth, travelers and older homeless people this month. The energy and momentum is growing as college students and others join us on this outreach nights. We have been able to host a few homeless couples and travelers at the Fallout for a night or two this month as well. Please continue to pray for the homeless youth, not only in Minneapolis, but in the world. Please pray for us and the other Source staff as we seek God's direction and creativity in reaching these young people.

Human Trafficking
Some of you may be aware that there are currently an estimated 27 million slaves in the world. This is more slaves than any other time in history! Much of these slaves are bought, sold and trafficked illegal to other countries. This last month God has burdened our hearts to pray and get involved in stopping human trafficking. A few of our staff and volunteers were able to attend a conference this month as well as a showing of the film, 'Call and Response.' The national and international 24/7 prayer family is also beginning to get very involved with stopping human trafficking. We are excited to see how God leads us and the doors he opens up in the coming months. To learn more about Human Trafficking please check out the following websites:
http://www.callandresponse.com/
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://www.humantrafficking.org/

This is one of the major 'issues' of our time and the church must respond! If you want to know more about human trafficking please email us and/or check out the websites above.

Our House
This month our house has gone through a lot of transitions. At the end of September our housemate, Kelsey, moved out after living in our house for 1 1/2 years! We were sad to see her go but knew that God had her in another season. After she moved out we felt the Lord leading us to leave her room open as a hospitality/prayer room. Within a few weeks of her moving out we ran into our friend Germ who was at our wedding. He, his girlfriend Val and his puppy, Dream have been staying with us for the last 2 1/2 weeks. They are both homeless travelers. It has been great to practice hospitality, share meals with them and just hangout with them. Though it can be straining at times it is worth it. Please pray for Germ and Val to know the Lord of Jesus. Also prayer for them as they will both be leaving to travel within the next week.

Our house also had the opportunity to go on a camping trip together this month. We headed up north to the Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth. The leaves were still vibrant and it was a beautiful weekend. It felt so good to get out of the city, to be in God's creation and to be together as a house. We continue to be so blessed by the relationships in our house. We are especially grateful in seasons like this when we are going through a lot of hardships. Everyone at the house has been so supportive and helpful. We know it would be nearly impossible to endure what we have without close brothers and sisters. Please pray for our house as we continue to seek to love God and to love our neighbors.