Youth Bible Camp (by Amanda)

As many of you saw from a previous blog I had the opportunity to help at a youth Bible camp. I was asked to find a craft to do with about 45 children. I was slightly daunted by the task, but I really wanted to leave my comfort zone and do something with kids. I looked on-line and found a wire cross decorated with beads. One of the concerns I had with doing a craft was finding all the materials here in Mali. This craft looked easy enough and basic enough that all would be able to be bought here. After much searching and asking around I found wire that was about the right size that needed stripped (At least one and a half meter for each child). So Thom began stripping the wire and I began my search for beads. I now know that one of the best markets for beads is Badalabougou.
When camp began Thom had stripped enough wire for 50 children - because you never know when you will need extras! Well, 50 was not even close to enough and that night he ended up stripping 15 more. Our hands were tired, but the craft was a big hit. In fact, it was so big that they asked me to work with a second group of forty.
When they asked I was a little hesitant, but when they said the kids were asking for me to do it with them I just could not say no. One of the best parts about camp was teaching them “This Little Light Of Mine” in English (they already knew the song in Bambara) and now I need to focus on learning it in a new language.
Finally I would like to share the last day I went out there with you. On the last day they do a “little” test on all they have learned (it takes half the day). The rest is a celebration and they sing, dance, play games and just have fun. Even Miri and Hannah were included in the dancing. I want to share my appreciation for all who have been praying for me; I had a wonderful time.
Here's a picture of the kids and their crosses. There are many more pictures from my week at camp on our picture page here.

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Just For Fun

One of the hardest things about living in Mali is not being around our friends and family and sharing fun moments like baby steps. Hopefully, this helps.

(Our suggestion: click on the 'play' button and then pause the video while it loads. You can see the progress of the video loading by the red bar at the bottom. Once it loads or is nearly finished you can start it again and watch it all the way through.)

If you enjoyed this, we have a couple of other videos online, too.

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Thom ♥'s Amanda

Today, August 16th 2007, is our 10th wedding anniversary!

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Prayer Items This Week (by Thom)

A church from our home distract (Ohio Valley) emailed us last week asking us to send in prayer requests. After writing the email I thought that it would be nice to share them in this space. I'll try to remember to do this more often. Here's what I wrote back (slightly edited):

Here are just a few things from the McMurray's in Mali:
First, Amanda will be spending this week in the bush helping out with a Bible Camp. We're trusting the Lord that the week will be a blessing to the kids and that Amanda will be able to communicate well with her Malian co-leader and the children.
Second, our field's annual conference is coming up August 27th through the 31st. This year we are on the planning committee which is a new experience for us. Pray things go well in the planning and that the conference is a time of encouragement and refreshment for the other missionaries.
Third, my Malian right-hand man, Job, hasn't been working for over 2 months now since he broke his arm in a traffic accident. The bones aren't healing well and he now needs surgery - which should happen in the next week. I can tell he's (understandably) very nervous about this. Pray for his healing and his state of mind as well as for me as I try to do all the things he was doing before.
Finally, the lady who works in our house cleaning (her name is Jeanette) is gone this month. She's in Cote d'Ivoire visiting her family. Her dad died there last year and this is the family's official "death visit" which is very important. I'd like to ask prayer for her because it can be very dangerous for a Malian to be in that country right now.
Thanks for praying for us!

To expand on the first item just a bit, Amanda was asked to design a craft for the kids to do. What she came up with is this:
It should be a lot of fun, but a challenge too!

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Follow-up To Dinner Guests (by Amanda)

I am on a roll. I have been able to get two blog entries in a row written and now I am on a third! Those of you who are wondering what I have to write about should not be surprised that it is a follow up to our Tuesday dinner. All the things I worried about in the States seem to be pointless here. I should be more concerned with problems like not having power or the guests not understanding what day they have been invited.
Right before they were supposed to arrive I called and double checked that all was clear and it was a good thing I did. Pastor Christophe asked, “Was that tonight?” So we talked and he said they would be a little late which was no problem; I was just glad they were coming! The next issue was the power. We lost power a little before they arrived so we got to eat by candle light. Many of my concerns in having Malians over is that I won’t be able to communicate and that there will be awkward pauses, especially when his wife does not speak French and my husband doesn’t speak Bambara. So here we were all together and my concerns were for nothing as God transcends all barriers. There is the connection that goes beyond languages and we all had a good time. Praise God for his love and kindness to us.
PS. Oh, I forgot to mention what we had! I ended up making a beef pot pie. Our biggest trouble with it was explaining what it was! Thom looked it up in the French-English dictionary but it wasn’t there. He translated it literally but explained that it wasn’t really a pie like you would have for dessert. They seemed to like it though. I made a pineapple upside-down cake for the ‘real’ dessert.

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Passing The Blessing Along (by Amanda)

Friends,

I would like to let you know all the good things that have been done because of your wonderful gifts to my baby girls. We received a bounty of clothes, toys, bottles, pacifiers, and other provisions but as you all know: babies tend to grow. Our girls are no exceptions and have grown in strength, size, and personality. Miri is our little climber while Hannah is our giggler and they are just incredible.

My house help has neighbors and friends that are having children and because of your gifts I always have a little something to give to them. Our guard just had a baby girl (his 5^th daughter!) who is going to have the same name as me and we were able to share a bag full of nice baby clothes. I even found a toy to give.

Often it is hard to let go of these sweet baby things, but God has given so much and the Malians have blessed us so much that it is only right for you to share in the blessings. I know that all of you would want to do the same thing and it is because of you that it has been possible. So thank you for all your generosity!

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