Buesgens Journey: Major Changes and 12 Month Review

Mar 08, 2024

*DO NOT SHARE online without our permission, for our security and the sensitive nature of our work.*

Spring Update

A Very Comprehensive Review

We can’t believe its already March! Due to travel, illness/recovery and unexpected changes, this update is coming to you a bit later than intended - THANK YOU for your patience! There’ so much we have to share with you. First, we’d like to share an update on fruit in the city over the past 12 months:

We’ve been able to consistently connect & share Truth, love & minister to many folks through the business and through our intentional living & sewing here. Will you rejoice with us in this small footprint of impact?

• Our business banker

• Two local car wash owners

• The night guardian by our house

• Two mom’s from Brock’s French school

• A young woman that manages a local restaurant

• A local rug supplier of Amazigh heritage in Agadir

• Brass light fixture artisan in Marrakech

• Wicker supplier/artisan & his family on the outskirts of Marrakech

• Rug and pillow supplier & his family of Amazigh heritage in the Marrakech

• Rug and pillow supplier of Arab heritage in Marrakech

• A Moroccan believer who makes meals for our family once a week

• The woman who cleans our home, the MENA office and the Airbnb

• The local believers who joined in the earthquake relief operation

• Our nanny & part-time Airbnb employee, who was baptized during this term by our team leader

• A local Moroccan gal who tutors our three oldest boys in French

• The family running the Argan Cooperative production location

• Owner of the business school just a block away from our business office

• The family who owns and runs the laundry operation we use for the Airbnb

• Business development representative in Agadir for the Argan Cooperative we work with

• Sooo many were supported in the 10 kilometer stretch of villages supported during the relief

• and countless others…

Major Update & Unexpected Changes

During our Winter conference in January, we met with our Area Director (AD) to understand the long-term vision for Morocco, discuss timing for the remainder of our term and future schooling needs for the kids. Here’s what came of that conversation:

Vision for the Future

Our AD shared the broad vision of placing Airbnbs in 15 different cities across the country in the next 3 years. Our team was one of the first Airbnbs to be up and running for this project. As we’ve shared in the past, the purpose of the Airbnb strategy is to come alongside & support the local, underground “family” - providing potential meeting spaces as well as opportunities for small businesses.

As he shared desired the timeline and growing pressure for this goal, he asked us to consider leading and managing this project on the ground, working alongside country leadership. As you can imagine, this is quite the task and will take a magnificent amount of effort to see it come to fruition in the next couple years. As a result of this request, the leader of our organization has asked us to shut down MENA Goods Co. in order to manage the broader strategy for the country.

So, we will be working to sell the current inventory in the states consisting of home decor and about 700 bottles of Argan Oil.

In the meantime, the two of us (Mandie & Ryan) have put together four separate strategies to roll out the Airbnb concept throughout the country. They are being reviewed by leadership now. This included reviewing the kingdom impact from several perspectives.

We're fully committed to what we’ve been asked to fulfill until the end of our term.

Remainder of our Term

Our team has accomplished so much and seen many changes over the last year, here are some high & low points:

March 2023

• Our property was ready and listed on Airbnb!

April 2023

• Hosted a short term team from River Valley Church

May 2023

• The W’s (young family) wrapped up their term and returned to itinerate and they hope to return this summer!

June 2023

• Team hosted 2 vision and prayer trips from the Tangier Launch Team

July 2023

• Two young ladies (sisters) concluded their terms and returned stateside

• Bed bug infestation & apartment renovations in intern housing

August 2023

• The M’s (couple) joined our team for a year after finishing their 2 years on launch team

September 2023

• G, a young teacher, arrived to do homeschool for our team leads

• ER visit with Brock, 3 rough stitches after taking a wooden swing to the back of the head [we felt the earthquake on our drive home, just two blocks from our house]

• Massive Earthquake (6.8 magnitude) just north east of our city, killing over 3,000 people

• Two new interns joined us from Bethany Global University for their global internship

• Weekly & monthly Earthquake relief efforts with locals and other like-minded workers (Sept - Dec)

• MENA Team managed relief/aid inventory hub for earthquake response (Sept - Nov)

• Goods shipment held and stuck in US customs… then miraculous release without any fees!

October 2023

• MENA Goods Co. featured at Sparkle Conference, the River Valley Church women’s conf.

• We said good-bye to our 1st two interns from BGU, returning to graduate

November 2023

• The L’s (young family) joined our team for their 2nd term

December 2023

• MENA Goods Co. Winter & Holiday pop-up in Woodbury, MN

• Earthquake Relief: 220 finished temporary winter shelters built in the mountain villages (Oct - Dec), 100 more to come this spring

January 2024

• Arab World Winter Conference

• Roll out of new strategy and internship focus for BGU interns (Jan - May)

• Mandie visit to Marrakech for medical eval.

February 2024

• Wind down of MENA Goods home decor and Argan oil initiatives

• Mandie traveled to Spain for medical procedures

• Contacted 17 teams for potential Airbnb partnership convos

• Annual maintenance & upgrades to Agadir Airbnb

March 2024

• Proposals and initial actions for country-wide Airbnb strategy

We’re exhausted just recounting all of it… As we looked to the future we did not want to leave our team in a bind. After the meeting with our AD, he agreed the best plan would be for us to return stateside this summer - citing team changes, future goals and our need to build further financial support. We plan to return to MN in June. This works out well as the W’s hope to return this summer and our team leads have accepted a new post beginning this fall; they will be relocating to a new country mid-summer.

Educational Needs for our Kids

As I mentioned before, we wanted clarity for the educational needs of our kids as they near high school and will require more consistent options. Our leaders agreed with this need and have given a clear solution that answers both the need to support our kids as well as our work/travel needs for the Airbnb assignment… leaving Agadir and relocating to a different city in Morocco. Tangier is the most likely option as it has strong schooling options for all our kids for now, with the strong possibility of boarding school for high school. There are great team options available to us there as well, so we are seeking the Lord about this change.

That said, with many forced changes and more to come in the future, we are praying about next steps. We are prayerfully considering our leader’s request for the Airbnb project: this would have us returning to Tangier after itineration.

We are also entertaining a new position that has been proposed to us from a different region. Still praying through the details of that, but we’re trusting the Lord for guidance and wisdom. Please join us in praying for clarity in this decision. We just want to live in obedience.

“How Are You?”

As a family we are doing ok. We had some concerns about pains in Mandie’s stomach for several months. After a procedure in Spain, 2 polyps were found. One was precancerous. The other highly cancerous. The doctors believe all has a been removed. A blood panel in 2 months and another procedure in 11 months will tell us more.

After the procedure in Spain, she rode along with the two other worker ladies to another city in Spain. As they began walking, Mandie felt very dizzy and lost a fair amount of blood. They took her to the ER. She thought she was going to die along the way. The ER doc indicated that doc who performed the procedure should have required 10 strict days of rest afterward, but Mandie was never told this and it wasn’t shown in the documentation either. (Overseas medical, gotta love it)

Mandie is feeling better physically, but we will wait to see what the blood panel says in a couple months and another, more in depth, review would will show in a year.

The kids are doing well and trying to double up their daily studies because their homeschool teacher, Emily, will need to return to the states earlier than planned to prepare for her next assignment. She has been such an amazing blessing to our children and to us. It is difficult to put into words…the way she has been a part our family and our team over the past year and some months.

Join us in Praise:

Mandie’s health (clear answers & positive outlook)
Airbnb periodically used for a local gathering of believing women
Reliable Nanny (local believer) that administers pre-school work & cares for our littles
Emily, our amazing homeschool teacher. She leaves us in April and hopes to return to attend the launch team by next Jan.
Sharing and relationship building happening through a local conversation club
Mobilizing local believers (young adults) to join in relief efforts & outreach in villages
Continued amazing relationships & open doors with our artisan/makers
Media ministry follow ups with local believers and seekers
Interns & short term-ers sharing the Word and discipling seekers

Join us in Prayer for:

Other prayer requests are wisdom, stateside housing, vehicle and financial support.

Housing:

We have options for some of our time at a River Valley house. We also have an option of a place with reduced rent, but it is unfurnished, so we’ll need to handle planning and logistics for that.

Vehicle:

We are looking into options and have several requests out there. We have one great lead starting in Sept. but will need a vehicle over the summer. Praying for the Lord to provide a clear path this.

Financial support:

Several families have had financial changes and have some new organizational positions which have caused a reduction or a stop to their giving. We love them all dearly and understand. We pray blessing and favor over their families.

That said, we will return to the states this summer to build further financial support and prepare the kids for a full year of school in one location.

This has been quite a detailed overview. Thank you for making it this far and celebrating all that God is doing and will continue to do.

We are so grateful for your prayers, encouragement and on-going support.

We are praying for blessings and favor on you and your those you love, as YOU carve YOUR way forward. Looking forward to hearing about the details from your side.

Sending you our love and prayers from North Africa,

Ryan & Mandie & the Family

P.S. More of the unreached in Morocco need an opportunity to hear of Jesus’s saving grace for the first time. Please join us with monthly financial support for the sake of the kingdom give.buesgensjourney.com