Cheers to 2020!

Happy Holidays from the Razos! We hope you all had an amazing Christmas and wonderful New Years.

This season for us has both been busy and slow at the same time. You may have seen, but we recently made a trip back to the states to photograph a good friends wedding in Tacoma. During that time we were also able to celebrate an early Christmas with Hunter’s family, catch up with our church community, and preach the gospel to a local high school. While it was comforting to hear english, it already felt as though Germany truly was our home. We had not fully connected this thought until coming back to Germany and feeling the comfort of hearing German once again.

We arrived right before our community went on “break” for the holidays. Starting break gave us the opportunity to venture into the city a bit and become more confident in driving our manual car. For those of you that already know how to drive a stick shift, this may not  seem like a big deal. However, learning this skill has felt like a huge accomplishment and opens the door to what we can take on, how we can support our community, and gives a larger bandwidth for ministry. We are SO thankful for all of your support and feel so blessed to have a community here in Berlin that feels like family. We are so excited and expectant for what the Lord is going to be doing in this new year and we believe just as the physical Berlin wall fell, the spiritual wall that holds back the gospel is crumbling in 2020. We have already seen evidence of the move of the gospel in our middle eastern friends and we are contending and believing for a move of the gospel in Europeans as well. 

Here is a glimpse into what’s happening for the Razo’s!

• If you didn’t catch our last email, we are still can hardly believe that we received 3 year visas!!!

• Hunter and Miranda both made their first “business connection” and got to work on a project for a local business here in Berlin ( Lit-Lab https://lit.berlin/ ) They have amazing candles and it was fun to get to make an awesome connection and create a video for them. We even got invited to the owners halloween party! So much favor.

• We had to say some goodbyes to dear friends of ours back in November ( The Campbell’s and our friend Hannah right before we left for the states ) but they have moved on the word of the Lord to go back to the states and they are already seeing fruit in their home in Texas! Below are some photos from their going away party.

Our Kurdish friends even prepared DÖNER for us!

Hunter has started working a few days a week for our friend Martin’s landscaping business along with one of our Kurdish friends. (We even had the honor of going to a work Christmas party to eat authentic Kurdish food.

Kurdish Food

The girls from the Christmas Party

All of us enjoying dinner together

The men at the Christmas party

Our amazing food arrived!

• Hunter is also running our ministry night’s Instagram (@berlinfireandfragrance) and We are both learning how to work sound so we can be on the rotation for our ministry nights that we have on Thursdays. 

  • We both plan on participating in an online course to help us with our german learning this year.

• Miranda is excited to at the beginning of the new year go to a cafe in the city that has an English night where she gets the opportunity to get more connected with people in the city. 

  • We have also loved hosting our community’s family dinner once a month!

Some friends sitting and eating a meal together

Friends at one of our family dinners

Hunter even participated in the soup competition!

Elizabeth dishing up her award winning soup!

Would you join us in the following areas as we prepare for 2020? 

• Influential encounters with people who will become people of peace in their spheres. ( We are believing for representations of the gospel in universities, areas of business, and people

  groups ) 

• Financial blessing and provision for us personally, our community and those that will soon be added to it! ( if you want a beautiful example of what faith in finances look like, Hunter is currently reading the book Daring to Live on the Edge by Loren Cunningham, and highly recommends it! It’s a fairly old book but is written for every kind of person and is amazing at placing finances in their correct role and developing faith for greater finances.)

• Supernatural language advancement! We earnestly desire to be fluent in German and have heard and believe that the Lord will accelerate our ability to learn. 

• Lastly, clear vision from the Lord on what this year would bring! Our community is in a time of transition which the Lord has strategically allowed us to be a part of, and we will continuously wait on the Lord to reveal what he has for us.

Christmas Eve at our friend's the Renslows and their family.

Cozy Christmas in our Berlin home

One of the many gorgeous Christmas markets.

We have been so blessed by financial provision by the Lord. Realistically , we only have 25% of our income coming in consistently through supporters. Through perfectly timed large gifts, random bills being cheaper than expected ( even getting random promotions and credits), and work exactly when we needed it the Lord has provided for our needs EVERY single time. We are so grateful for this opportunity, leading us into greater dependency on Him to provide and have even been able to encourage others with the testimony of His faithfulness. 

Your support and prayers equip us to continue loving others here.

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ANOTHER ROUND TO THE “FOREIGNER’S OFFICE” AT 5 AM.

Waiting at the gates early this morning we found ourselves asking God to let us walk away with our visa. The problem is we still had very confusing financial report, and we needed some grace in areas that were gray. Honestly, our prayer was that whoever had the role of interviewing us would overlook our lack and at least let us walk away with a year long visa that would allow us to get our stuff in order.

After waiting 4 hours to get our number which would allow us to get called into an office between scheduled interviews, our anticipation was rising. Having heard of difficult interviews in the past that led to year long processes before acquiring visas, we had no way of knowing what would come. Finally the number rang and we entered the door. We were greeted by a young woman who would be asking us about our visa. We explained that Hunter would be applying for a family reunification visa, at the recommendation of our previous interview back in September. In order for that to pass it had to appear that Miranda would make enough in freelance to support the two of us. The visa Hunter applied for allows him to have any job or no job, so they had to be sure that one person’s income can sustain them. Hunter’s work being more varied, we felt it was important that he wasn’t restricted by the type of visa. She then told us to go back to the waiting room and she would call us back in to discuss what else she would need. Going back to our seats we could only imagine what else would be asked of us.

OUR GUESS IS THAT WE WOULD NEED TO COME BACK ANOTHER DAY.

The time seemed to drag on forever as we waited for our number to be called again. We hoped that the amount of time it was taking was a sign that something good was happening. We walk in and the lady who had interviewed us was holding our passports and responds to us IN ENGLISH, which for the german bureaucracy is NOT normal. She turns to Miranda and says “I have for you a freelance visa”. At this point we nearly cry. We could not believe we were going to get it! Then she says …

“OH, AND IT’S FOR 3 YEARS”.

We obviously were believing for three years, but we had read and heard that this was very uncommon. Typically they give you a year to see whether or not your freelance is sustainable. Yet she continued to tell Hunter that he too would be receiving a 3 year visa. We nearly jumped out of our seats to give our interviewer a hug. Walking out to pay for our visas all we could feel was such freedom, finally being “allowed” to stay in Germany. As we write this we are filled with thankfulness to Jesus for his kind provision and to our supporters for believing, praying, and supporting us. We have felt since the beginning that our open door as, The Razos, for the gospel in Germany is through the creative world. We are no doubt still full-time missionaries, we simply have just been granted access to our lane. As we build our business we would love your continued support and prayer for revival not only through the arts but revival through unity and common purpose in the church of Europe. In the next few weeks, we will be sure to share what’s on the horizon and how you can support.

If you would like to donate monthly or as one time support you can do so by clicking the button below.

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We woke at 3:30 am…

…traveled an hour on public, and then sat for 6 hours. When the number we were given was finally called we nearly cried. We enter an outdated office and sit before a gentle looking woman who would decide if we had what it takes. Looking over the assortment of disqualified paperwork she responded with as much kindness as she could. 

This was the visa appointment.

Sitting at the dining room table we get a text asking if we can hop on a call. Finishing up lunch on our day off we agree to take the call in a few minutes, wondering if everything was okay.

This was the invitation.

Her hands look worn, tired from long days of work. She didn’t seem to fit in the crowd. An outlier, she naturally stood out. We were only there for an old thrifted jacket. After she kindly reduced the price of this jacket and we walked away, He spoke. “Not yet, go back”.

This was the open door.

Without knowing the ending to all of these stories you may be thinking, “What in the world are you getting at Razos?”. All of these stories are tied together with one common truth. God is faithful to provide. If we learned anything this last month, it is this: When God chooses to provide it certainly won’t look as you expected it, but it will be the best thing. So how do these stories end?

No, we did not get our visa that day but we did get something better.

Wisdom. The kind interviewer informed us that if we were to go back, get our papers in order and return when we were ready we could get a better visa with Miranda being the main freelance permit, and Hunter being under a spouse permit, which allows him to do any kind of job! With this knowledge she gave us a 3 month extension and sent us on our way. 

No, they were not in trouble…

In fact it was the opposite. Our friends, who are moving back to the states, were driving in their car and they reached out with an offer we could not refuse. They offered their car to us…

FOR FREE.

We could not even dream of asking for a gift like this. So you can imagine the shock we felt when the words came through the phone.

No, not yet. Meant Jesus wanted to share something with this kind women.

He spoke to us that she was a mother, that she was good at it, and that Jesus loved her. So we walked back to her and shared this simple truth with her. As she held back tears all she could say was thank you. Jesus knew what part of her heart needed to be touched and what would express his love to her.

He silences every fear when we step out in faith. Not only does he provide but he does it in a way that we could not even imagine.

Oh, we also did not know how to drive a manual transmission car, so they taught us that too!

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We are here!!! 

It feels so good to finally be here, after what felt like so long after saying yes, we are finally here! God’s timing is good and we trust Him! Thanks to the Lord our travels were so blessed and thanks to many of our friends and family who were faithfully praying, we didn’t run into any issues! Many of you may have known, but Hunter and I were doing quite a bit of traveling before we hoped on our plane to Germany, and were basically away for the last two weeks before we left. This meant that we really needed to have everything done before we left for our trips so that when we got back to Tacoma for the 60 hrs we were there, that we wouldn’t have to do much. 

Everything we own.

Minus the desktop computer that we shipped, and ended up getting lost in the mail anyway.

If I’m honest, packing was extremely overwhelming for myself (Miranda) in the leading months to us leaving it was easy to purge and have an idea of what we would be taking, but even my idea of what we would be taking was way too much in the end. It was also hard because I wanted to finish every last project (like sewing a shirt before I had to get rid of our sewing machine), use everything that I knew I couldn’t take to try not to be wasteful, like the chunky glass bottles of perfume and because Hunter was gone at different times than me, I gladly used the excuse that I didn’t want to pack anything that he might use, which really just mean that I didn’t pack. The only thing I successfully packed was my one suitcase full of clothes, and my clothes that I would wear for the next three weeks, everything else I imagined would just magically fit into what was supposed to be 6 tubs of stuff, that quickly turned into 9, mostly because no single tub could weigh over 50lbs. (Fun fact everything that we packed in those 9 Tubs weighs less than Hunter, Indie and myself combined!) Space most certainly was not the issue, but the weight was s pretty big hurdle! We actually had to evenly distribute our winter clothes between tubs just so certain tubs wouldn’t be half empty! While I was in Indiana for an extra week, Hunter worked miracles in packing 90% of our stuff into 9 tubs. It was so nice to be away for a week or so, just to not be surrounded by our stuff and the mess that was packing! Bless our housemate Katie for being so full of grace as we continually trashed the house with all of our stuff spread out making those decisions of “do we keep or leave”? And “where should this fit?” Once we were back it was an evaluation of all the random things we had left that we were waiting to pack ( like our Alexa speakers, our projector, our toiletries, etc ) that somehow needed to fit in our fully packed 50lb tubs... this meant going through everything, making tough calls, and repacking! It felt like every 10 minutes we were checking the weight of each tub, repacking, checking weight again, and moving on to the next tub. It was a bit overwhelming! We decided to check the website again, check and make sure that it was 50lbs that was allowed ( and check that it was actually 26 dollars for every 2 lbs it went over) upon reading, we read that there was a strict weight limit on carry-on bags ( which in my many years of traveling I have never run into! ) it was in that moment that I began to spiral into a deep panic, our entire packing was based on putting the heaviest things in our carry on’s including every piece of photography equipment we have ( about 60lbs!) and our vacuumed sealed clothes, as well as other random heavier things that fit. This halted me from even packing because it was a risk of packing a heavy carry on because they would either charge 26 for every 2 lbs over the 22 pounds and it would have to be checked if it was over 30 lbs. So it was going to be either really expensive or really bad, considering if our camera gear was checked, it probably would have made it to Germany just entirely shattered. You can imagine my fear, the possibility of giving up everything I’ve invested in for the last 10 years, impossible to recover with no income coming in to save for...  it was bad! Then there was the other fact that we were not  guaranteed to be able to take everything we were taking. We had paid in advance for us to take 6 pieces of luggage, and when Hunter called to make that reservation they told us that we could pay for more luggage  at the airport and that there would probably be space because the flight wasn’t that full, but I held tight that it was only a possibility and we labeled our tubs from low to high priority, realizing that there was a chance that we would have to leave 3 tubs behind! It was this combined that we were told that we would have to pay much more than we had anticipated to ship our computer ( the only thing we didn’t want to pack on the plane)  .... Hunter eventually figured it out but it was still a good $300 to ship it! I was a mess in the “what if’s” of everything and Hunter was able to bring me back to peace in prayer, and asked me if I had asked the Lord what he said we should do... I asked in that moment and felt like He said “it’ll be fine” haha but of course, I’m like “what if I didn’t even hear the Lord correctly?!” It would crush my spirits even more! But can I just tell you that the Lord is SO faithful, and everything went even better than expected. 

Our first hurdle was making sure everything fit in our friends mini van, we had measured it out the night before, but there is something definitely different about actually putting it in there. In total it was 7 Tubs, 2 suitcases, Indie’s massive crate, 2 duffle bags, and 2 backpacks. It was tight but with Hunter’s amazing tetras abilities it all fit! 

Sweet treat to welcome us to Germany from our sweet friends, the Roley’s.

2nd challenge was transporting all of that....into the airport. Thankfully our friend who drove us parked, and helped us bring everything inside. You should have seen the looks we were getting...no one really takes that much stuff on an airplane! We had to ask where to go, because there was no way we would be able to scoot in line with everything, so we pulled it all off to the side, and I proceeded to weigh everything while Hunter stood in line to check everything in.  My adrenaline must have kicked in because I was weighing those boxes like it was no bodies business, each one weighing exactly enough or slightly under ( one I think was just slightly over, but they didn’t charge us !!) Once we were good on weight we zip tied everything and it was good to go, and not once did they question if it was going to fit on the plane! Everything made it on with ease and it cost even less than what we expected!

Then the moment came... we lugged our heavy carry on to the next station to finish checking in, and the employee looked at our duffel bags and asked us to put it on the scale, and sure enough, they were heavyyyyyyy. But to our surprise, he was like “we can check these for free for you! “ What... no extra bag charge?! No overweight charge?! And we didn’t have to lug them all over the airport?! PRAISE! While our backpacks were still heavy, because they were on our backs no questions were asked, and we had no issues bringing them on the plane with us... it was seriously such a blessing.  And just like that all our stuff was headed toward the plane!

Indie’s first official Berlin walk!

Indie began to realize what was going on, She had flown once before on a 4.5 hr flight and wasn’t a huge fan. We had asked the vet if they thought we should give her some anxiety/ stress medicine and because she isn’t an overly anxious dog, they said it wasn’t necessary and probably wouldn’t have lasted long enough anyway. So we opted out and trusted it would be okay! The first step after getting to the airport was to get Indie’s weight on the scale with the crate and while she knows the command go in her crate, it was an immediate “heck no” from Indie and she couldn’t get away fast enough. It was quite the sight to see and people, myself included couldn’t help but chuckle. With heels metaphorically dug into the ground ( luckily it was tile...) she resisted hard. Ever since her first flight Indie had been good about making her self as obnoxiously big as possible so that doesn’t fit in the crate easily, but eventually upside down and backwards still with paws grasping onto the edge of the top of the crate she  was in. 10 seconds until the weight popped up and then she was good to get out of her crate for a few more minutes while TSA checked the crate.  The crate was checked, and it was time for Indie to go, she once again created a dramatic display and resisted going into the crate, even almost escaped in the SeaTac airport, but she made it and he sad little barks echoed in the airport until she was a good quarter mile away. It was a sad moment, but we knew she would be okay! 

I cant tell you the relief and shock we were feeling in that moment... we had no clue how the Lord brought it all together, but thanks to the kind employees of Condor, they made it such an easy and painless process!! We were doing it, we were on our way to our new home! 

One of our community’s homes.

Where we regularly meet for prayer, worship, and family dinners!

On top of that, we realized that our TSA precheck ( which we had purchased when we were traveling a lot for weddings to save us the hassle of taking out all our camera gear in security) We weren’t in a huge hurry, but the thought of taking everything out sounded extremely stressful, so we simply asked if they had forgotten to put our precheck on there and in less than a minute they did a quick fix and we were on our way! Also such a blessing. 

The plane ride itself, almost 11 hrs, was find, nothing really happened, pretty normal! But in our minds we were trying to figure out how we were going to juggle everything once we landed in Frankfurt, were we going to have to take all of that in the line through customs? How were we going to get it out the door? We would soon find out. 

We had an extremely smooth landing and we were off to see what awaited, praise the Lord border patrol was before baggage claim and while we felt majorly under interrogation and had to answer some tough questions, we eventually made it though. Knowing full well he could have just told us No. 

Then we headed to pick up our bag, and sure enough there was Indie just chilling there! So very excited to see us. We picked her up and not more than 200 feet were all of our tubs! They all made it! Then there were our suitcases and carry on bags. Now the question  was , now what do we do? The baggage area seemed pretty empty, and there was no one really around to really help, and the carts that you could rent were made for 4 or 5 normal sized suitcases... not massive tubs. We looked around and even tried to ask people if there were any bigger carts, one person we asked definitely didn’t speak any English, and the other... just suggested next time we don’t bring so much stuff. The area seemed to clear out even more, and we seemed pretty stuck... low and behold there was a random cart that were pretty confident we shouldn’t take, but so nicely fit 5 of the tubs, and then we were able to rent another cart to carry the remainder, and we were off, not 100 % sure what else we had to do to be good. But there were the doors and we essentially just left! It felt almost too easy... Actually right before we left, indie took the biggest pee I’ve ever seen ( considering she held it for 14 hrs ) right in the middle of the floor. We took some old t-shirts and cleaned it best we could and THEN went on our away. 

Turns out Shane our dear friend who was driving almost 6hrs was going to get there a little later due to some traffic, which was fine with us considering we had no where to go and no where to be. We were just sitting and waiting, and because Indie with us a few people stopped and asked to pet her and see her, and this little boy was just enthralled with her. His mom asked if it was okay to come closer, and the little boy was just so happy. The woman (who spoke amazing English) who was waiting for her mom to come visit and help as they prepared to move, was from Iran who had come to Germany to study biology.  Right off the bat, this was such an answer to prayer. Taking Indie was a decent amount of extra work for us, and extra expense, but I felt like the Lord would use Indie to open doors and conversations with people, and for that prayer to be answered within the first 30 minutes of being in Germany, meant so much! 

Shortly after our conversation ended and we said goodbye and wished each other best of luck, a airport worker came up to us speaking in German, basically saying that we weren’t allowed to take this cart and that he needed it back ( at least that’s what his body language said ) We just tried to tell him that we needed to take it out to the curb to where we would eventually be picked up, and he so graciously brought it out there for us!! (Amen!) Reassuring us that it was okay. From there it was a 6hr journey and then we were here....our new home!! 

45 DAYS AWAY

Preparing for the Journey

We are officially 45 Days away from our flight to our new home in Germany! It’s been a whirlwind as we have remained working full-time ( if not more) for our respective jobs, as we are both leaders and have a responsibility in our workplaces to help them transition for our exit. Balancing our jobs, finishing our photography and video business, packing up/selling our stuff, and doing regular life on top of that has been insane! But the Lord is kind and he has been so faithful to show us HIS perspective on how he is training us for the things that He has for us. 

We also owe many of you a HUGE thank you. Without you that have supported us both in prayer and finances, we we wouldn’t have been able to purchase our plane tickets as well as see provision in other ways! We have bought our plane tickets in faith knowing we have little, but the Lord delights in our obedience and we’ve seen breakthrough in our lives because of this! We still would love to raise around 8,000 more before our move to help with the cost of moving as we will need to find housing rather quickly. Rent is around what it is here in Tacoma anywhere from 700 (one bedroom/studio) - 2000 dollars per month. The Lord has blessed us with an awesome situation for the first month that we are there, being that some of our missionary friends will be in the states shortly after we arrive, and we will be watching their house and dog while they are away for the month of July. However, in order to obtain our visas we will need to find a place of residence fairly quickly. We are excited to know that the Lord has the perfect place for us there, but would love to invite you to prayer that we would find that place smoothly and quickly!  Other moving expenses include visa application, food, furniture ( as we are bringing no furniture) transportation (public transit) and other unexpected expenses that are bound to arise! 

VISA DECISIONS

For Visas we have been back and forth on what sort of visas we want to apply for and after praying and also seeking wise council we have decided to try and apply for freelance visas (rather than missionary visas) believing that this would open doors and opportunities to share the love of Jesus in the creative marketplaces of design, video, and photo. Originally there had been some hesitancy on applying for freelance as there could be the chance of finding a rhythm of life and losing focus on the reason God has us in Berlin. As we have prayed and asked, we believe that by laying everything down and putting God first and foremost in the equation, that He can and will use even the “work” for His glory.  The Lord taught us that if we were willing to lay down what we thought we needed and trust him that he can and will give us the desires of our heart that He would provide. (Psalms 37:4) With that said we are still going into Germany to first and foremost share the good news of Jesus with anyone the Holy Spirit leads us to, with the longer term goal of not only being self-sustained but also able to support other missionaries.

If you would, please join us in continued confirmation in this decision and that there are no hiccups in the application process! 

Next weekend we are getting ready to have a garage sale, and start selling most of our things. As we prepare, everything is becoming more and more real! We are so excited, but it’s easy for the enemy to come with attacks of doubt and fear. Another important prayer request is  that any attacks from the enemy would be silenced, and that we would continue to find our peace in the victory of Jesus. 

The Razos

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HOW CAN YOU BE PRAYING?

• Financial support - $8,000 (before we move) 

• Freelance Visa Discernment/ grace in finding work

• Quick Housing/ Lots of life in Berlin requires secured housing

• Peace in Transition

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THANK YOU!

We’re Moving & We Want You to Join Us!

Berlin, Germany in 2019

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Okay, so you may not move with us, but…

We’d hate to do this without you. If you’re getting this message it means you’ve given some interest in being in the know with what our move to Germany looks like!

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So Why Berlin?

The journey of our YES to Berlin began a little over 2 years ago. As many of you may know we got married in August of that year and made our first move as The Razos to Tacoma, WA. We had sensed that Tacoma would not be our forever home and knew that by moving here we were purposefully making the declaration to Jesus that we were open to however he wanted to lead us.

Shortly after our move to Tacoma the Lord had called our friends Shane and Elizabeth Roley to begin work in Berlin alongside refugees of many nations. We followed them on the first team to what would become our future home and had a powerful time of ministry and experienced the Lord in many ways. However, it wasn’t quite time to make the move. We both felt the Lord had something for us in Berlin, but that our work in Tacoma was not quite finished.

Within the last year the Lord has opened up doors for us to minister in a local high school (where revival is breaking out and kids are saying YES to Jesus each week!) , prepared and stretched us in knowledge and practice, and allowed us to connect to his heart in profound ways. it’s clear why he would have kept us here for this time.

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The Wait is Nearly Over

As this last season began we were asked to lead another trip back to Berlin and this time the Lord would not fall short in grabbing our hearts for this city. He made it clear that the wait was over and that it was time for us to be launched into the next adventure.

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How Can You Join Us?

In order for us to start the next adventure we need two types of support. The first and most important being prayer. We believe prayer precedes any revival and we need people in our corner, praying for breakthrough before us and for clarity in vision. As we send out updates we will be sending prayer opportunities for you to join us in this next season.

Secondly, as the type of Visa we will be aquiring will prohibit us from receiving income from inside Germany, we will need to receive all of support from outside our new home. In order for this transiton to run smoothly and for us to begin this next year, we are looking to raise $4,500 monthly prior to our depature in June of 2019.

We need people like you to be one time donors and monthly supporters. If you feel the tug of the Lord on you’re heart to be that, then follow the link below and you can begin to support us in that way.

Follow the link below and use this code:

BerlinServe.HMR

Recently my friends from Tacoma, The Roleys, and Delany, moved to Berlin and more specifically the Templehoff district in Berlin.

The Templehoff airport, near their home, houses one of the largest refugee camps in all over Europe. Which is convenient if the goal of your ministry is to work with refugees. In the short time that they have been there, they have established connections with refugees, started a baseball outreach, and have connected to two other groups partnering together to serve and bless the refugee people in Berlin. 

In may, Miranda and I have a chance to return to this amazing city and serve these beloved refugees alongside our friends. In order to do that we need to raise a little over $2000 each. If you would like to support us, you can do so by following this link. Our first deadline of $200 is the 25th of January and the following deadline of $1200 will be on February 20th. 

https://citycentral.formstack.com/forms/berlin_2018_fundraising

Miranda and I get the opportunity to lead this trip together and look forward to the chance of growing in this form of ministry together as well as learning how to better serve people of different cultures, languages, and backgrounds.  We believe this trip will be an amazing chance to serve but also to be transformed ourselves into more effective and powerful lovers of people. We find ourselves so thankful to be leading this trip and to be sent by our home church in Tacoma, City Central Church.  If you have any questions about the trip or would like to know more, feel free to connect with us at MIranda@therazos.com or Hunter@therazos.com. 

Never have we seen a city so raw and vulnerable. 

Berlin, Germany has truly dealt openly with their past. From the monument to the "Murdered Jews" to the clearly marked remains of a wall torn down it is so evident that Berlin has chosen one thing above all others... "We will not forget, and we will move forward". This hit us so deeply on our first day in Germany as we were lead through the city by our amazing new friend Tim, a local missionary that we got to hang out with all week. He showed us not only the reminders of the past, but also spoke of what the Lord has been showing his family for the future of this city. 3 years ago when the Ashworths and the Campbells, both missionary families that we partnered with, moved to Berlin neither really new what the Lord had in store. Shortly after both had moved to this City thousands of refugees flowed in. Then the Lord began to make clear the intention of his heart for these beloved people, as well as their purpose in the land. 

Thousands of refugees have come to Christ from Islamic backgrounds in Germany within these last few years. People who previously had no ability to hear the Gospel, short of a supernatural visit from Jesus himself. Our friends in Berlin have been so faithfully pouring into the work there and have seen and experienced so many amazing encounters with refugees and their first encounters with Jesus. God has been so kind and faithful to lay the ground work. This is truly a time of harvest for the Church. 

Our experience in Berlin has left us so hungry for more and filled with a desire to return to these people and this land. We are so excited for what is happening and we were so blessed to experience it first hand. During our time there we were able to minister in a few different ways. Two of the nights our team lead nights of prayer and ministry for anyone who desired to join. At one point somewhere around 18 nations were represented and 4 different languages were being translated at once.

While we may have blessed some with our prayer, it was truly such a blessing to offer prayer to such kind, loving, and powerful friends. I am filled with hope for the nations when I think of those who are coming to Christ in Germany as we speak. The refugees who are coming to know Jesus move in such power and authority that I truly believe they will bring revival not only to Europe, but back to the Middle-East and beyond. 

We also were lead in Evangelism this week by our friend Solomon who is a refugee living in Berlin from Libya. Solomon came to Christ in relationship to the Campbells and Ashworths after several amazing encounters with Jesus himself, and his story is not all that unique. Many of the refugees, we spoke to, who have come to know Jesus all started with seeing Jesus in a dream or vision. Encounters so deep that they can describe how Jesus looks.

Solomon lead us so well during our time on the streets. He basically told us that people would come to us. If they wanted prayer they would say yes, and if not they would leave. That is exactly what happened. We went to a park and waited for the people to come. We didn't hold signs or have any real way of attracting people to us, we simply waited on benches and believed that Jesus would bring those in need to us. Person after person came by and many accepted prayer. Everyone who did accept prayer were so thankful, and in many cases they hadn't really planned on coming, they just decided that that day they would take a walk between their work or whatever they had going on. Jesus brought those to the ones willing to say yes. 

We also had many other ministry opportunities as we walked throughout Berlin, had families over to the house, and encountered people in our path. If you'd like to hear more about any of these encounters or have questions about anything we experienced you can message either of us directly. We would love to explain in greater detail or hop on a call to chat about the trip! 

Thank you to everyone who supported us in our trip. It was such a blessing and we are so stirred by what Jesus is continuing to do in the nations. Luckily for you and I the same Jesus in Berlin is the same one that wants to encounter you in your very room now. So do not hold back, ask Jesus for more, he wants to reveal himself and he desires nothing more than to let his Love be known. 

Open Doors and Greater Possibility... 

Berlin, Germany has opened their doors wide to all refugees in need. Refugees from all around Europe, The Middle East, Africa, and beyond have found sanctuary in this small geographic area. Within this group lies people who have previously been cut off from the Gospel and are now located in a place open to the preaching of the good news and to the message of hope. 

*photo by ekballo project

While circumstance is undeniably and unbelievably awful, we believe that it is the goodness of God to bring hope and peace in a time of chaos. Such a time is this to be sent into the nations to bring the message of hope and better days. We truly believe the Gospel in action changes everything, from a meal served in love to everlasting life. That if we would move in the rhythm of God's heart, healing would come and people would receive real love. Most of all this is not just for the far off missionary, but for the neighbor next door and the co-worker beside you. 

It's our hope that this trip would bring clarity to feelings we have had about the future as well as lay a foundation for the ministry organization being laid by the Roleys. As far as work on the ground goes, we will be helping lead a ministry conference for new believers, help with local efforts, and support the missionaries already there. 

We are TWO WEEKS from our deadline, time has really flown, and we would covet your prayers and support as we work to raise the last two thousand that we are in need of. Thank you to everyone who has helped us get to past the first half of the funds.

You can help support us by clicking (here).

(Support the Razo's here)

+ scroll on to find out more about the trip.

*photos by ekballo project

There is a crisis happening in the world, the war in Syria has misplaced more than 11 million people, many have fled to nearby middle-eastern countries and some to Europe. In a time where the US is becoming more and more hostile to the acceptance of refugees, what else can we do?

*photos by ekballo project

In mid march we seek to give some hope to a misplaced and hurting people in Berlin, which currently has an open door policy to all refugees. Our friends, Shane and Elizabeth Roley (The Roleys) will be moving to Berlin to work alongside local missionaries and help minister to the Syrian refugees. We will be joining the crew headed that way for a trip that will be foundational in the formation of new relationships and the building up of the local ministry. During our time there we will get the opportunity to serve and bless the local missionaries and new Syrian friends, as well as bring relief in needed areas. If you want a great inside picture of what is happening in Berlin, check out this , the most recent Ekballo project documentary about these missionaries in Berlin.  

*photos by ekballo project

In a time when it seems we can have no impact, we have but two choices, love the one in front of you and send others to love in the places we can't go. 

*photos by ekballo project

We are so thankful to everyone who has already supported us! We are a day away from our first deadline and are still in need of funding for this trip. To meet our first deadline we will need $900 each. We would love to have you partner with us. You can help support us by clicking the link below and choosing the name Hunter or Miranda from the list. 

GIVE HERE. 

Thank You,

Hunter and I are in Tacoma, WA! ( I'll post an update about that soon and give more details for those that might be interested) But we are so thrilled to be here and be a part of the community. One of the perks is getting to be with a bride and celebrate months ( really just a month ) before, and I must say this was one of the most beautiful bridal showers I have seen! Ana has certainly surrounded herself with wonderful, strong, encouraging women, and the love they poured out on her was so evident throughout the celebration.  These ladies thought of the littlest details and helped the party be full of tons of oy and fellowship, so happy I could capture it. 

When I met these two, I knew right away that their day would be one filled with lots of laughs and even more love. It was obvious with their dedication towards each other throughout intense schooling and long distance, their love for one another was SO strong. No matter what came their way they had an attitude of joy and a response of love and I couldn't have been more thrilled to be invited to capture their day.

 The time of day of the ceremony (10 am, complete with a 7 am first look which was SO beautiful) the perfect overcast (yet very chilly) weather, and the location of this wedding made it so spectacular. Even more spectacular was the fact that Michelle and Harrison are two amazing human beings. They chose to get married at the gardens at the  Indy Zoo, but little did they know that April wouldn't bring them the warmest weather. They stuck it out so wonderfully and in a beautiful setting started their life together surrounded by friends and family that loved them dearly. So many highlights came from this day, but enjoy the story of the new Mr. and Mrs. Hines. 

Last year I subscribed to the magazine Kinfolk. Kinfolk's beautiful simplicity combined with its impactful words became immediately so inspiring to me. With its focus on life and community, I  attempted to imitate it's simplicity in the way that I photographed, and also pair it with a couple quirky artful images. Enjoy this excerpt from this kinfolk inspired set. 

Photography has a beautiful rich history full of processes that are far from the digital realm we are so familiar with. This past semester I got to experiment with a process called cyanotype which is a mixture of chemicals and contact printing objects or images on a material to form a gorgeously blue print. While some of the cheapest processes around and historically known for making copies I combined this way of printing with some images from a found roll of school class images and a digital negative of a star map to show that in some way we are all connected. I enjoyed removing myself from my everyday work and artistic choices to challenge myself in making something far out of my comfort zone. Enjoy!  

As I wrap up my senior year of college, these past 2 semesters being some of the most intensive yet, I can't help but be overjoyed where I am. This semester was extra special as I got to work with my future husband to create an awesome work that I could have never dreamed up on my own, and also help be a part of something that is so much bigger than myself. I learned so much through the process, and ultimately the show was such a success. 

The class took so much authority and was able to see the potential and beauty in a vacant spot downtown, and transform it in just a few short months into something beautiful. A place filled with art, activity, and most importantly people. 

Ultimately that's what Hunter and I's show was about: seeing people. Seeing people for who they truly are, avoiding jumping to conclusions despite the fact that we are all guilty of it, and at the end of the day learning to love more generously than we hand out assumptions. For those that were able to make it to the show, thank you for your support, and for those that were not, enjoy these little snippets of our installation, and a semester's worth of work.  

ARTIST STATEMENT

From many differing angles, a person, place, or thing can appear vastly different than from the other varying options of perspective. Some perspectives we have are more favorable, some feed into our preconceived notions and assumptions, and some of these might be helpful, while the others hold potential of harm. This harm could distance, disengage, or disillusion us from that which we see. How would one receive a correct perspective on that which they observe? Is it possible to create assumptions that bless and benefit? Can we simply observe and predict in order to create favorable outcomes with the person, place, or thing we have observed?

Our work is a deep look into the complex frustration of assumptions made, and received. These assumptions have disengaged us, hurt us, and disillusioned us from the reality and truth of that which we see. We constantly struggle through the attempt of giving the fair chance and creating a space for strangers to be accepted instead of unfairly defined. In an attempt to hear, before perceiving, we have flipped a traditional model of communication, in order that the viewer might understand before seeing, blinding us from our desire to assume and predict. We have vulnerably presented ourselves, confessing that we struggle with this assumptive nature. We are learning to understand, believe, and then perceive. How will you perceive us? What are your assumptions? Will you join us in our pursuit? 

I don't shoot proposals very often, in fact the only other proposal I did was a complete surprise to me, I just so happen to be documenting something else when it happened. But when I got asked to help out with my suite mates proposal, I was so excited! Kelsey is such a dear friend, a beautiful young woman, a sweet and gentle heart, and her man ( now fiancé) balances her so well. On the day before Valentines he popped the question, and she said yes! I'm so happy for them, and their new lives together. Congrats to the future Mr. and Mrs. Brothers! 

With Love,