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Internet, or Not
The world is
getting smaller. Progress is a
global thing. Even Malawi has
changed since we first came (for
instance, we can now buy
cheese!)
 Internet
access, however, is one big reminder
that we live in a developing
country.
While
people in America are surfing the web at
4800 kilobits per second, we
get about... 3. And that’s if it’s
not school hours, business hours, or
cloudy (Lilongwe’s connected to the rest
of the web via satellite, after
all.) The big news is a fiber optic
cable that is supposed to bring fast
internet here in 2010.
All
that to say, if you’re wondering why we
haven’t posted on the blog or been on
Skype lately, that’s usually the
answer. Nothing to worry
about. It’s just cloudy this time
of year.
But
don’t let that keep you from
writing! We love getting emails and
Facebook messages and blog comments from
all of our friends, even when we can’t
write back for a couple weeks. It
means a lot to hear from you
all.
Church
Membership
Like
most international cities, Lilongwe has a
revolving door, with people constantly
coming and going for many different
reasons. So one of the big
highlights of last month was when 20
people became our church’s first
members. Like our city, we were a
mix of internationals, Malawians, and
other Africans. After the Sunday
service, we spent the afternoon having a
poolside barbecue.
Church
membership isn’t anything mystical; it’s
just a commitment to care for the other
people in our church like the Bible
describes. Having a group of people
who are all dedicated to those things
creates an environment of love,
accountability, service, and
worship.
Please
pray for our church members, including
those we’ll welcome in the weeks
ahead. Pray especially that we’ll
be faithful to grow in love for God and
for others, helping our church to be a
place of spiritual maturity.
What
the Rest of Our Life is
Like
In
addition to the major ministry activities
we summarize in these newsletters, our
day-to-day life is full of random
things. Here are a few little
snippets from the last few weeks:
 *Paintballing
with the youth group guys
*Visiting
a neighboring village
*Fighting off a
nasty bacterial stomach bug
*Babysitting the
Biedebach kids for an
afternoon
*Hosting 2
Ladies’ Bible Studies in our
home every week
*Shopping in India
Town for wire, fabric, wall anchors, and
door handles
*Sitting down to
eat fish, nsima, and relish with
our house painters
*Celebrating a year
and a half of marriage - and loving
it!
*Wondering why we
didn’t bring at least one spare bulb for
our only battery-powered
lantern
*Making
a wedding cake, and sending it to the
wedding via 7 minibus taxis and 3 bicycle
taxis
*Moving into our
house!
*Taking
the Biedebachs to the airport for their
furlough
*Having
a display case made for the crocodile
skull
 *Skyping
with our parents every Sunday (if we
have internet)
*Hiking
Nkhoma mountain for the men’s prayer
morning
*Trying
to find a
guard dog, and deciding not to
take the 3-legged one
Thanks!
Thanks
for being part of our team, for your
prayers and encouragement! We know
that this is not something we do on our
own, but that we have the privilege of
being a part of the body of Christ.
We are so blessed to serve here, and
cherish your prayers all the more in
these coming months! - Matt and
Rachel
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Floreen
Newsletter Update
-
Praise the Lord for His provision
of a house for us! We have moved
in and continually thank the Lord
for this great
gift!