Impromptu Party (by Amanda)

As I was fixing dinner yesterday evening the doorbell rang and I thought ,"Who could this be?" I wasn’t expecting anyone. It turned out to be a neighbor who has twin girls a year older than Miri and Hannah. She said that they wanted to come over and wish Miri and Hannah happy birthday. I gave her a confused look and said, "But their birthday is in July!" "Oh, the guard said that it was their birthday” she told me. She then asked if her kids could make a visit anyway because they would be so sad to hear that there was no party and she asked if now was a good time. Although I was in the middle of cooking dinner I said yes since they rarely come over and I wish they could visit more.
When they didn't come soon after I began to wonder if I had misunderstood. I finished dinner and we all sat down to eat. Then the doorbell rang again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the kids had returned. I had Miri and Hannah and three little girls plus one teenager play a game of Disney Princess Memory in the playroom (Miriam won). At the end of the game I handed out balloons and candy and sent them on their way so that concluded our impromptu birthday party. The little girls who came will probably never realize that the party was spur of the moment, but hopefully they went home having had a good time even if it was short.
Ah, life here is never dull and rarely plays out by the plan.

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Tuareg proverb:
Ta n-ameri salah, ta n-amiksan sadsa.

(translation) The (word) of a friend makes you cry; the (word) of an enemy makes you laugh.

“Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:6 NIV

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Six Years (by Thom)

Six years ago our plane touched down in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and I first planted my foot on African soil. Time flies by, doesn't it? I went along with seven other men from Lima, OH to help build a radio station in the remote town of Tougan. I had no idea at the time that I'd be returning to Africa, much less call it home someday. Yet in His infinite wisdom the Lord called me and my family back less than one year later. He is amazing!

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Prayer Items Update (by Thom)

Two weeks ago we sent out an update to those on our prayer list (sign up here if you haven't already) and I thought it would be good to update that here. First, here's what we sent out on January 23rd:

Some prayer concerns - some urgent, some not so much:

1. Thom's dad was admitted to the hospital last night with pneumonia. Please keep Eugene in your prayers.

2. Dry (and dusty) season is upon us here in Dakar and it's been very rough on Hannah. She has been having a hard time breathing, especially at night, which in turn keeps Amanda from getting much quality sleep. We're looking for a local option for a humidifier to put in her room. Please keep this whole situation in your prayers.

3. We just received news that the people coming out to handle our audits won't be able to come at this time. Although audits aren't necessarily 'fun', they are an important part of our ministry. Would anyone out there reading this be qualified to run an audit of our mission finances and have the means and time to fly to Dakar, Senegal to perform this ministry? This would likely involve spending a week here in Africa and going over the books for 2 or 3 fields. This isn't a job that requires a CPA-level person but some experience with auditing would be strongly preferred. Thanks for prayerfully thinking through this. If this is a need you feel called to please send me an email and I'll get you in touch with someone in our National Office who can get things moving along.

4. All of us will be travelling this weekend to a city in the north of Senegal - St. Louis. This will be our first time up there and we're excited to see the missionaries and their work up there. We'll be gone Sunday through Wednesday. Please pray for our safe travels.

The Lord has been good to us:

• My dad is now home from the hospital and doing much better, I'm told.
• We didn't find a humidifier but we were directed to an allergy medicine that has made a huge difference for Hannah. She's now sleeping through the night and only coughing occasionally!
• We're still waiting on the Lord to develop something here. We had one offer that couldn't work out. If this is way you feel called to put your skills and gifts to use, please let us know.
• We had a great (and safe) time in St. Louis, Senegal! It was great to see our teammates up there and get a feel for how they live, their ministries and their challenges.
  

Thanks to everyone for praying for the Gospel to spread in West Africa (and our very small role in all that)!

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:
Nebbon bi ci dënnu tuabéer, ba tax ko tëbëntu, mungi ci xàbban te mu ne tekk ak moom

(translation) The hump of animal fat which hangs from the chest of the ram, and incites it to manifest its power is also found on the steer, which however remains calm.

(explanation) Modesty is something to be valued. When one boasts of something whether it be knowledge, strength or fortune, there is always someone else who has far more yet without feeling the need to boast or show up the vanity of others.

“This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Meet Me In St. Louis! (by Thom)

Earlier this week all four of us had the blessing to travel to the city of St. Louis, in Northern Senegal. This was the capital city of French West Africa back in colonial days and today is where all the new missionaries go when arriving in-country for their Wolof language study. We have a team up there of 4 families currently, including a new family that just arrived last month. This was our first trip up to see where they minister and how they live. It was a very interesting trip. I'm still trying to process everything I saw and felt but it was definitely a world-apart from Dakar. I felt the city was much more spiritually oppressed; I certainly admire the courage of those missionaries up there.

A few quick facts about St. Louis, Senegal:

• It also goes by the name Ndar, its Wolof name.
• The heart of the city is built on an island in the Senegal River, although most people live off the island. There is one bridge that connects the mainland to the island.
• The city was built up during the French occupation so there is a strong colonial influence to the architecture.
• Fishing is the dominant industry. It didn't look like it but the neighborhood where the fishermen lived is one of the wealthiest in the whole country.

Speaking about that bridge.... wow. I can't believe it holds as much traffic as it does. I took some pictures of it (like this one) and some while driving over it. There is a crew of welders who work all day welding back pieces that fall off.
We took several pictures during our trip up there and posted several of them to our picture page (here). As the picture above shows, we took a horse-cart ride around the island. Miriam & Hannah loved it!

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Strange Thought (by Thom)

I would have written this yesterday but our internet wasn't working.

Yesterday morning I was getting ready to head to the office and thinking about an upcoming trip we're taking to visit some missionaries we serve. Amanda and the girls are coming along and the twins are so excited to ride in a car. I thought it was odd how expectant they were acting until I realized that riding in a car is no longer mundane to us. We occasionally take a taxi cab here in Dakar and we've ridden a few places with other missionaries from time to time, but for the most part we haven't been in a car much since arriving in Dakar. In fact, I realized yesterday that I haven't driven a car since June 2009! I am certain this is the second longest stretch I've gone in my life without driving (the first 15 1/2 years of my life were obviously the longest stretch). It's strange to think about! What's the longest you've ever gone without driving a car (assuming you were able and had a license)? Any other seemingly-mundane tasks you've ever been struck that you've realized have somehow passed out of your daily routine? Feel free to share in the comments.

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New Pictures (by Thom)

I posted some new pictures today of Miriam & Hannah. Bike riding, hair do-ing, and forts are prominently featured! This one is one of my favorites. It's hard to believe how tall they are getting!

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Any Finance People Out There? (by Thom)

We just received news that the people coming out to handle our audits won't be able to come at this time. Although audits aren't necessarily 'fun', they are an important part of our ministry. Would anyone out there reading this be qualified to run an audit of our mission finances and have the means and time to fly to Dakar, Senegal to perform this ministry? This would likely involve spending a week here in Africa and going over the books for 2 or 3 fields. This isn't a job that requires a CPA-level person but some experience with auditing would be strongly preferred.

Thanks for prayerfully thinking through this. If this is a need you feel called to please send me an email and I'll get you in touch with someone in our National Office who can get things moving along.

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December Car Fund Update

For the past several months we’ve been mentioning our need for funds to purchase a car in our new country of service. Our goal is $25,000. That’s not a magic number or anything, and probably won't allow us to buy a new car (vehicles are much more expensive in West Africa), but it's our goal. If we can raise more we will be able to buy a sturdier, newer vehicle.

In December we received gifts of $855 bringing our total to $16,607 or 66.4% of our goal. Here's our fund-raising thermometer:


If you would like to help with this need there are a couple of options. You can send a tax-deductible gift to:

The C&MA
Thom McMurray Vehicle Special
P. O. Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935

There's also a secure way to make your donation on-line, through the C&MA's website. If this interests you, click here.

Thanks for considering this and praying for us. We appreciate all the support we've received to-date and it's exciting to realize we're about two-thirds of the way there! We'll keep this updated and hopefully start to see this car turn more red in the months to come.

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:

Balaa ngaa dundal ña ca mbedd ma nga dundal ña ca kër ga.

(translation) Before you feed those on the street, feed those in your house.
(alternate translation) Charity begins at home.

“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate
family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Benefits to living in the tropics (by Amanda)

~cross-posted from Facebook --

Yesterday we had corn-on-the-cob. How cool is that! A young lady came to our door selling it for 100cfa an ear (which is about twenty cents). It was delicious and she will be bringing us a dozen more ears on Friday (mmm....). I actually was able to use my corn stickers for the first time in about six years, since leaving the United States.
Thom said, "You brought them here? What for"? Well now we know. :)


Oh - before I forget! Thom added some pictures from our Christmas to the website. Want to see them? Click here.

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2009. We Hardly Knew Ye (by Thom)

Year-in-review lists are just about as popular this time of year as New Year's resolution lists. This has been a big year of transition for us. We said goodbye to Mali in January, spent more time in the US during our furlough than we expected, moved to our new home in Dakar, Senegal, Miriam and Hannah became US citizens, etc. We didn't blog a lot the first half of this year but I thought I'd look back at which blog posts had the most views.

1. August – New Pictures
2. June – You Are the Light of the World
3. February - Kid Prayers
4. January - 2008 Photo Countdown
5. June - Passports!
6. December - Christmas Crafts
7. October – Health Concerns Update
8. November, December – Monday Proverbs
9. August – Setting Up In Dakar
10. September - Ten Reasons Why I’m Committed To Alliance Missions

Interestingly enough (to me, anyway) it's pretty spread out over the year.

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:

Waxi mag doyula weddi.

(translation) One should not contradict the words of old men.

“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your
father....” 1 Timothy 5:1 NIV

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the McMurrays in Senegal!

Luke 2 (NIV)

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.
4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

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