The End of House Hunting (by Amanda)

I have met with success! We have found just the right house for us. (Well, maybe I should say Thom and I found just the right house for us - with a lot of help from our missionary mentors, Gordon and Cheryl) The last time we went out to look at houses we went to “the one”. Do you want to hear about it?
I thought we might choose that day; we went to another that I had already seen. I was thinking this was the house we wanted. It was a little pricy, and a little large for us, but I really liked many things about it. Seeing it again, I realized it wasn’t the right house, though. Thom also felt it wasn’t where we should be. We then went to a house where I loved the garden. However, too many other things were wrong with it. Again, Thom felt the same way. Then we went to one we had just heard about. It was love at first sight for both of us. It is missing some things: it doesn’t have cupboards in the kitchen and it has no closets. Most importantly there is no bathtub, but we made a deal with the owner and he is willing to put in a bathtub and air conditioning. The other things (cupboards and closets) the mission helps with the costs. A nice thing about the house is that it is not too far away from the mission. One of the best things about the house is that from the roof you can see all the way to the river and you have a great view of Bamako. This was probably the thing we most love about the house. Continue to keep us in prayer as we prepare to move and get the house ready. At times I feel a little overwhelmed at what needs to be done to move here. Thanks for all your prayers until now; I know they helped me along as I searched.
One more thing: we know people will be requesting photos of the house, but we probably won't be able to post those until after we return from Dakar near the end of March. But rest assured, when we can, we'll post photos!

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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!

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Reflections (by Amanda)

Note from Thom: A few months ago I wrote about how we ended up in Mali as missionaries with the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Two weeks ago I reflected on the fact that it had been exactly two years from the time I visited Burkina Faso and fell in love with Africa. Now, Amanda offers her perspective, two year after-the-fact, on the path the Lord led us on to serve as missionaries in Bamako, Mali.

Two years ago this month I would never have imagined where I am today. Thom was just getting back from a short-term missions trip to Burkina Faso and I had just finished a couple weeks of prayer with one of my closest friends. Through this time of discovery I felt God had helped me let go of many things both physical and emotional. I knew deep in my heart God was calling us, Thom and me, into the ministry. I hadn’t talked to Thom much while he was gone, just two brief conversations and I did not know where his leadings were, but I decided I would have a contingency plan. That is, when I began figuring out how soon we could be debt free I would have us use the money I had been saving for a car and pay off the rest of our school loans and then we could be ready to go where God was leading. I thought this through so that when Thom came home and said, “What do you think about missions?” I would be ready to go where Thom felt God’s leading, because I knew God was working in his heart too.

When Thom arrived home two days later he asked, “What do you think about missions?” The Lord had already prepared my answer: I told Thom that in about two years we could go, but I wanted to be certain that who we went with was what God wanted. I told him I wanted the neon sign, the big, open door, the huge road, the way that could not be mistaken. None of this searching and begging for an organization to use us! I wanted clarity so I could look back and say this is how we knew. After this Thom began to look at possibilities to see what ministry opportunities were available.

That is were it all began and it has been a rollercoaster ride ever since. Through a connection Thom had made at speaking engagement we met a wonderful lady named Nancy Pierce who forwarded our name to C&MA national office. Then it came: the neon sign, the path that could not be mistaken. The office asked if they could interview us by phone and they did. Then the office asked us to apply - no begging from us; we didn’t have to search for the opportunity. God gave it to us. So here I am two years later sitting in Africa learning my third language and writing this story! I said two years and as it happened we would be ready to leave in six months! When God moves, He doesn’t mess around. During these two incredible years much has happened, but in each step God has given assurance and encouragement. I am looking for the great things God is going to continue to work out in our lives and cannot express the astonishment I feel each time I remember how He chose us.

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Our Trip to Dogon Country And More (by Thom)

Wow! What a trip! Amanda and I went with our friends, Stan and Jaynee Walker, to the cliff dwellings near Sangha, Mali. Sangha is located in Dogon Country, an area of Mali where people have lived in the cliffs for centuries. Unlike the Native American cliff dwellings in the American Southwest, these are still inhabited. Dogon Country is a far drive from Bamako. We left at 7 am, and didn’t arrive in Sangha until about 6 pm, and early the next morning we went out to tour the cliffs. We rented a guide, which you really need to do here to appreciate the area. What we saw was amazing! People live today at the base of the cliffs still, often having to climb the steep ascent of about ¼ mile several times a day carrying water uphill. Life is still very primitive there, with very few traces of outside influence. Further up the sheer faces of the cliffs are the remains of a previous tribe of people to lived there. They had to climb up ropes to go home, sometimes climbing 500 feet or more! Again, water and food would have to go up the ropes as well.

One of the interesting things we saw was that some people have left the cliffs to live in the valley. This is very important because the people tie the cliffs to their animistic beliefs. To move to the valley is to renounce all faith they have in their idol worship. There have been Christian & Missionary Alliance missionaries in this area before, and the influence they had here is striking, praise the Lord!

After our trip to Sangha, we went to Koutiala and toured the new hospital. When Amanda and I visited for the dedication, we weren’t able to go inside. This was our first time to see inside since early November: what a difference! You could really see what is going to happen there.

I’ve posted pictures of our whole trip at our picture page, so please stop by. If you have any questions, please email us at mcmali@gmail.com .

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Ask The McMurrays (by Thom)

When we get the same question posed to us by different people, we realize that maybe more people are wondering the same question. When this happens, we try to answer the questions in a column called “Ask The McMurrays.”

We’ve been asked a couple of times now about the local reaction to the European political cartoons depicting Muhammad. Mali is a country that is 90% Muslim, and the president is also Muslim. We’ve read the news reports of rioting in various parts of the world: Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. However, the response here has been decidedly different. I read a local paper today, and it described a protest march that happened this past Saturday. The march was quiet and uneventful. In fact, when you read about “moderate Muslims”, Malian Muslims could be the poster child. There are extremists here, and their numbers are growing slowly, but they are a small minority. I talked with my Malian colleague today and asked him what the average person thought about the characters. His response was what I expected – most people don’t like them, and think they shouldn’t have been published, but believe in the freedom of the press. Whereas most Muslims in other parts of the world have complained about the act of depicting Muhammad, people here complain more about the context of the depiction.

One more thing: my colleague pointed out that many Christian churches here in Mali makes it a point to not discuss Muhammad in terms of evangelism. We can talk about Jesus openly, but when Muhammad enters the conversation, they will become defensive. That’s a good reminder to keep Jesus in front, and point to the Truth.

By the way, if you have a question about our missionary life in Bamako, Mali, please drop us an email at mcmali@gmail.com. If your question is specifically for Thom or Amanda, please indicate that in the email. Feedback is a wonderful way for us to know what interests those who read this.

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House Hunting (by Amanda)

As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been asked to move so the mission can turn our house into a Guest House. I wasn’t looking forward to the process, though. I thought that house hunting would be tedious and boring, but what a surprise! Let me take you with me on my adventures from my first trip. First I went over to the Roedding’s house because they are going to be our right hand couple in finding our house. Gordon and Cheryl have been in Mali for a good, long time and know their way around. We piled into the car and started. We didn’t go look for a realtor here and we didn’t look in the newspaper or in a magazine; instead we went look at chalkboards. To help you understand, there are these chalkboards set up on the sides of the street for information on buying and renting houses. The houses listed are usually in the quarter of the city that you find the chalkboard. At that chalkboard there usually is a guy who knows where the houses are and can show them to you. He gets into the car and takes you around to see the houses that you are interested in.

What fun it is here to look at houses! The architecture is so different for each one. The halls in many of the houses are like navigating through a maze and many houses have kitchens outside. I am happy to say that most houses have bathtubs so no worries there! Some have nice yards; some have no yards. Some have roof access and some don’t, but you will not find hardly any with the same outward appearance and definitely not the same inward appearance. I have seen some real great houses and some not so great houses. I am going out again today to look at one or two and have seen some that could be ‘the one house’ for us. I ask that you pray for us that God would close and open doors so we would know where God wants us.

Just for fun, here is a brief description of the one of the worst houses that we saw. It was quite bizarre: it had one bedroom, one bathroom which was off the living room/dining room, the kitchen was on the other side of the courtyard (outside) and that was it. The doors on the house were mustard yellow and the house was a reddish pink. The worst house, though, we did not even enter. The wall around the house was not in good condition the house itself had widows with screens falling apart. It had a fake brick façade that looked terrible and the front screen door was falling off its hinge. We decided that it had more work than it was worth taking the time for!

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Memory Lane (by Thom)

Two years ago today I was in Africa for the very first time. (To read about this, click here) Back then, I had no idea this would be a permanent thing for me and Amanda. In fact, I was hoping to lead more short-term trips and building more radio stations in West Africa. God had a different plan though, and now Amanda and I have been missionaries in language school and Mali for over a year. This past weekend, at the Koutiala hospital dedication, many missionaries from Burkina Faso came and I got to see them for the first time since that trip two years ago. For me, it was great to see Steve Nehlson and his wife Amy, as well as Tim Albright again. Because of these people, I was able to throw away my incorrect assumptions of what a missionary does and is. I realized there is a place on the mission field for people who can fix computers, edit video, understand radio, and of course keep financial books.

It was great this past weekend to hear about what is going on in Burkina. I got to hear of friends I made there, and also of the radio station we worked on in Tougan. (It should be going on the air shortly!!) On another note, when I first realized we were going to be missionaries, I was really hoping that would lead to Burkina Faso. However, with the friends I’ve made here – both missionary and Malian – I’m so glad we ended up in Mali. This whole weekend reminded me of the truth of James 4:13-15 (NASB) -

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."

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Back From Koutiala (by Thom)

We arrived back safely from the hospital dedication in Koutiala, Mali on Sunday. It was a wonderful time and the hospital has a great future ahead of it. I took some photos and they are available at our picture page. To see them, click here.

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Je Suis Content (by Thom)

In English, the title means "I am happy" today. Not just because the Steelers won Super Bowl XL, but also because I got to see the game live! Even in remote Mali, things like this happen from time to time. I got a last-minute invitation to watch the game at the Marine house in Bamako. A 21-10 Steelers win over the Seahawks was icing on the cake!

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