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News for Friends, Family, and Partners August 22, 2006 Dear Praying Friends, We have now been in Quito for a month, and thought you would like an update. We have been so blessed by your prayers and God's faithfulness! Here are some highlights: We had hoped to find a house, but instead God provided us with a great top floor apartment about three blocks from Alliance Academy, where Whitney and Waverly will attend high school. The apartment is larger than we had hoped for, so we have space for those who want to come visit! Since it is a top floor apartment, we have a big terraza (patio), which is great for cooking out or just enjoying the view. We can even watch the girls walk all the way to school! We were amazed that we found an apartment so quickly, and that the landlady was able to have it ready so quickly. Most of the 6 apartments in the building are owned by either our landlady or other members of her family. The daughter we deal with most of the time is a Christian, and was excited to find that we are Christian missionaries. We were amazed at the speed with which our cable and internet were installed. It had to be a record for Ecuador! We were also blessed by the movers who brought our things that had been stored here in Ecuador since we left in 2004. They were able to deliver all of our things, unwrap them (even couches were wrapped in cardboard), and check for broken items in about 2 1/2 hours! Also, for those of you who had been praying for safe arrival of all of our things, we are so glad to report that all of the trunks we brought arrived. Also, the things that Faith Presbyterian church brought also arrived. Don't stop praying, because we still have another trunk due in September, and hope to pick up three or four more things from folks in October. We are so thankful that God takes care of even small details! We did arrive in time to be a part of the final work team who visited Quito this summer, Faith Presbyterian Church from Birmingham, AL. We had a great time working with them and Iglesia Crisitana La Gracia (Grace Christian Church), which is a reformed church on the North side of Quito, in a neighborhood called Carcelen. The work team worked on a construction project extending the previously very small living quarters of the lady who is caretaker of the church grounds. They also participated in La Gracia's Vacation Bible School, which had about 70 children attend, about 80% of whom were not from the church. La Gracia is really working hard to reach out in their neighborhood. The Saturday night before the VBS, they did an evangelistic film and talk in a nearby park. The turnout was great, and a number of children came to VBS as a result of this outreach. In addition, the week before, church members went all through the neighborhood with flyers advertising the VBS. This church is fairly mixed economically speaking, which is exciting for us. We believe that there are some very interesting ministry possibilities for us through this church. We still need to visit two other churches before we decide where our church home will be. We are looking for a good fit for Whitney and Waverly, but also ministry options for us. We will not be limited to ministering in the church we attend, however, we know that closer relationships will be built in our regular church, and that these will lead to ministry options. Many at La Gracia are hoping that we will decide to stay there. The youth group is great, and has received the girls with open arms. In fact, today they are leaving for a youth retreat with the La Gracia youth group. It is primarily student led, and the girls are excited about that being a ministry where they could be actively involved. Please pray that God will show us where to be involved on a weekly basis, as well as open doors for ministry in other churches. How are we adjusting? Some things are easy to adjust to, and others require more time and patience. We are re-adjusting well to city living, and walking to many places. Amazingly, and we thank you for praying, we are all adjusting fairly well to the altitude. We still huff and puff some when we walk uphill, but even that is getting easier. The weather has been good, and it has not been too cold for us, but it is the dry season. Many of you know that we were praying for a warm house, and we are very thankful to report that our apartment is very warm. We get good sun in the mornings, and most of the day. It is a bit harder to adjust to some realities, such as the fact that just because something is available here, it does not always mean that you can find it! We went to four pharmacies before we found a contact lens solution that we can use, and then only found one box. There are some things you just have to stay on the lookout for, and whether you need it or not right now, you should buy it. Like baking soda! Amazingly, it is not always available. What now? We are still finding a few things for the apartment (like coffee tables!), but are fairly settled. Whitney and Waverly are making some friends, both at La Gracia and here in the neighborhood (this is a big praise!). School starts for them on August 31. Mike has an interview at a language school on Wednesday, and hopes to begin classes at least three days a week. And Robin will hopefully begin to study Quichua very soon. In addition, we are preparing a Chalmers micro-economic development talk for the Latin America Retreat which will take place in Panama in October. We have about 80 minutes to present. Our preparation will be extensive, so Robin will spend a lot of time over the next month trying to figure out how to put 8 hours worth of training into an hour and a half! Pray that God will make clear what to include, what to leave out, and will help us to get others excited about pursuing more training. We have seen so many possibilities for ministry already! Would you pray with us that we would not step in with our own great ideas, but that God would make clear when and how to become involved? We are so excited about the many opportunities. A couple of women on our team are working with a group of Quichua ladies. Robin has talked with them about the possibility of introducing a school savings program. The timing is good, because school here in the mountains begins in early September. By the beginning of October the women could begin to save for the coming year. Talking to them while the realities of all the costs to begin school are still fresh would make good sense. In addition, we have heard of many other natural opportunities. Please be praying. What about our support? We want to express our sincere thanks to all of you who have prayed and given financially. We still lack about $200 in monthly support, but continue to trust God's provision. We also still lack about $1000 in the one time support that we need. Thank you for your faithful prayers and giving. You know that God uses all of us to accomplish His purposes, and we are blessed that He is using you to have us here. As we mentioned before, we have lots of space in our new place. We hope that some of you will come see us. If you think that your church would like to bring a work team next summer, please contact us as soon as possible. Amazingly, we are already beginning to make plans for next summer. In addition, if you would like to bring a team sometime other than summer, we would also love to talk to you. We are putting all of our contact information below. Please note that there is a US telephone number where you can call us. It is an internet phone, so it is just like calling Atlanta. We pray God's richest blessing on you all, Mike, Robin, Whitney and Waverly McMahan Contact info:
Mike email: mmcmahan@mtwla.org
Address in US: c/o Mission to the World Address in Ecuador: Casilla 17-08-8403, Quito, Ecuador
US Phone: 770-573-0586 August 22, 2006
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