Matt and Rachel
Floreen
Our Address until
March
2009:
24817 Walnut
Street, #2
Newhall, CA
91321
www.AfricaStories.com
info@africastories.com
December,
2008
Issue
#2
Please direct
all
financial
support to:
Grace Ministries
Int’l
Grace Community Church
13248 Roscoe Blvd.
Sun Valley, CA
91352
(818)
909-5700
www.gracechurch.org/ma
gmi@gracechurch.org
One-Way Tickets
to Malawi!
We have our
tickets to move to Malawi! We’ll
be leaving on a jet plane on March
20th. We’re going to stop in
Connecticut for a couple days to see
our brand new niece or nephew (who is
due on the 15th!), and then we’re
flying out of New York on the
23rd. It takes a couple days to
get to Malawi, even from the east
coast, so we’ll arrive in Lilongwe on
the 25th of March.
Support
We’re wrapping
up our jobs this month, so as of
January, we’ll be on full time support.
It’s been such a blessing to see
the Lord provide over the last
month! With our hope in the Lord
for His provision, we’ve had many
people ask us what we think
about...
Raising Money in
a Falling
Economy
(a
little article by
Matt)
"Is now really a
good time to quit your job and start
living off of donations?" It's a
valid question, one we've thought about
a lot the last few months. And
we're confident that the answer is
"Yes." In fact, we're convinced
that there's no better time to go than
right now.
Make no mistake
about it; we're not privy to secret
information about an upcoming market
rally or favorable changes in the laws
of charitable giving. But what we
do have is a rock-solid confidence that
God has directed us towards Malawi this
spring. If you haven't heard me
or Rachel describe the process God has
used to lead us, just ask us about
it. We love recounting it,
because it's not a story about what
great risks we're taking - it's about
how clearly God has shaped us for this
particular place. We're so sure
of those things that we're willing to
trust Him for the money to make the
rest happen!
We realize that
it requires faith for you to support
us, too, sometimes faith in large
measure. We've been greatly moved
already by the generosity of some of
our friends! If you've been
thinking about giving monthly and are
wondering when we will start needing
it: we will begin living off of support
at the end of this month. And if
you're interested in supporting us in
non-financial ways, we cherish that
too. Regardless of your
involvement, we invite you to join us
in this journey of faith. Take
note of today's date, and the dollar
amounts above. Over the next few
months, as God provides for our needs,
we hope you can help us remember back
to this time of uncertainty and join us
in praising His
faithfulness.
You can find
more information on partnering with our
ministry
here.
Prayer
We know that
prayer is an essential part of joining
the ministry in Malawi and faithfully
pursing the gifts, talents, and
opportunities the Lord has given
us. Please pray with us!
-
Praise the Lord for giving us such a
wonderful opportunity to serve Him
and love the
church.
-
Please pray that we would love Jesus
more every day. This is
critical to everything that we hope
to be involved with in Malawi and the
USA.
-
Pray that we would be able to raise
all the financial support we would
need to be able to depart in
March.
-
Pray for wisdom as we make decisions
about what goes, what stays, when,
where, and all the details of
relocation.
-
Pray for our time with family and
friends in these months, that we can
ministry to them and enjoy the great
opportunities to be loved by them!
Want
to Know More about our Scouting
Trip?
We’re posting a
blog series on our trip to
Malawi. To see the wildlife, the
local grocery stores, and hear about
our house and car hunting, keep an eye
on
our
blog!
|
Newsletter Coming your Way!
It took a bit of
looking around, but we found a newsletter
format that we liked! These same
newsletters will be posted on our
website, but if you're anything like us,
getting them via email is a lot easier
than having to remember to go check the
website every month or so. However,
if you have a great memory and don't want
anything else in your inbox, there's an
opt-out link at the bottom of the page.
Otherwise, you're already signed up
for the Floreen Newsletter Updates and
will get an email update about once a
month.
Scouting
Trip  We
had a great opportunity in October to
visit Malawi for 9 days. This
wasn’t a “do you like it?” trip, though
it was Rachel’s first time to Africa; it
was more an opportunity for us to get to
know some of the people and to see what
it will look like for us to live
there. And we are excited! We
had a great time connecting with the
people and learned so much about Malawi
on this trip! Our heads and hearts
were just bursting by the time we got
home!
Ministry
Overview 
International
Bible Fellowship has been in existence
for about 5 years. For the first 4
years, they didn’t have a pastor.
They had a variety of men fill the pulpit
on Sundays, but most of these men were
involved in full time ministry or
business elsewhere, so there was no one
specifically dedicated to shepherding and
caring for the church. About a year
and a half ago, Brian Biedebach accepted
the pastorate position and the Biedebach
family moved from South Africa to
Malawi.
The church loves
the Biedebachs, and we heard several
people relate how grateful they are for
the preaching of the Word of God and the
counseling with the Word that Brian
ministers on Sundays and throughout the
week. The church has approximately
150 people who attend now, and this has
given Brian more than enough to keep him
very busy. He is running the
administration of the church, preaching
on Sundays, leading youth group on
Wednesdays, teaching at Bible study on
Thursdays, and teaching homiletics
classes at African Bible College as well.
Rolling Up
Our Sleeves - What We Get to
Do
The Lord has
gifted Brian with the strength, energy,
skill, and vision to work hard in the
ministry, but wouldn’t it be great if
there were someone to come alongside him
and shoulder some of the responsibility
with him? Brian loves preaching,
counseling,
and
shepherding people. Matt
loves organizing things, making
things work, and coordinating
programs with discipleship.
 The
talents and skills of these two men
complement each other so well! We
are so excited to be the ones to go
work alongside the Biedebachs, using the
talents and skills that the Lord has
gifted us with to further the ministry
that is already taking place at
International Bible
Fellowship!
What Ministry Will
Look Like for the
Floreens
 First
of all, our goal is to settle in to life
in Malawi. We still need to find a
home, purchase a vehicle, and figure out
the new routine of life. Many
people we’ve talked to about life on the
mission field have said that this process
takes about a year. We’d love to
move through this process quickly, but we
also don’t want to have false
expectations that we really don’t need
this adjustment time. Our next goal
is to help develop leaders within the
church. We’ll be working in the
church, but we don’t want to be working
alone. We want to strengthen the
believers who are there as they learn and
grow in ministry. And finally, one
of the goals we're praying toward in the
years to come would be to see
International Bible Fellowship become a
training center to strengthen churches
throughout
Malawi.
Plans for the Next
Few Months
Both of us will be
quitting our jobs at the end of this
month and putting our time and energy
towards transitioning into life and
ministry in Malawi. We will be on
two big road trips as we continue to
raise support, we'll be spending time
with family and friends - many of you! -
as we know those chances will become
fewer in the months ahead, and we'll be
packing and shipping things to Malawi.
Even without working full time,
these will be busy months, be we're
really looking forward to them!
We're excited about what the Lord
has planned for us, and so thankful that
we get to travel this road with
you!
Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Our warmest wishes
to you all as you celebrate Jesus'
birth! We hope you have opportunity
to celebrate the holidays with friends
and family, and that your hearts are full
of joy as you marvel at God’s wonderful
gift of salvation through His
son!
Matt and
Rachel
|
Floreen
Newsletter Update