Odds and Ends (by Thom)

A lot has been going on lately. I thought I'd take a few moments to catch everyone up, and let you know a bit about our schedule in the coming weeks:

• First, we found a house! A few weeks ago, Amanda wrote a couple of times about our house search. She should be writing again about the experience soon. From my perspective, it's a great place and, as an added bonus, we can see the river from our roof!
• We mentioned our trip to Sangha, Mali with our friends, Stan and Jaynee Walker. After returning to Bamako after the trip we went through the mission's financial books, clearing up issues and problems. Things went very well, and we had a wonderful and productive time!
  
• Amanda and I are going to be flying to Dakar, Senegal soon. There will be a conference for all the field bookkeepers with the C&MA at our regional offices in Dakar. We'll be taking a little vacation time before the conference to enjoy a little more of Africa. We will leave March 6th, and should return Friday the 17th. Please pray for our travel and the time we will have both in relaxation and work.
  
• I wanted to chime in and say that I really enjoyed reading Amanda's post recounting the chain of events that led to us serving as missionaries in Africa. If you loved it too, feel free to write her at mcmali@gmail.com
• Finally, we have had some recent requests as to how someone can help with our ministry expenses. We are already fully supported in terms of our day-to-day living expenses, but we currently have very little financial support for ministry things. This would include costs related to, but not limited to: starting a video ministry here, helping the poor, church-building costs, and Amanda's desire to begin a ministry to woman with young children (like a Good News Club). If you would like to help with the costs of these ministries, your donation is tax deductible. You can find all the information in the right-hand column on this blog. The donations are to be clearly marked "McMurray Work Special".
  

Thanks to everyone who prays for us. The feedback we get from this blog is so encouraging. We've recently had several people find us through Google searches and other ways. I think I'm going to write something about that soon. The way technology is bringing the mission field closer to the Western world is amazing!