We thank you for your prayers for us and for the many ministry opportunities we have here in Zimbabwe and southern Africa. This past month we spent several weeks apart with Mike ministering in the Bulawayo area and Robin travelling to Swaziland to teach at African Christian College. Robin returned August 11, though she came home with a terrible flu that was going around the school. Unfortunately, she shared that flu with Mike and then his back went out! It has been a tough couple of weeks. Now we are on our way to Swaziland together. Robin will finish teaching the course on Microfinance and the Mission of the Church and Mike will help her to lead a Chalmers workshop called Business, Health and Home. During the weeks we are there, Mike will also be taking an online RTS course on Systematic Theology.
Once the courses in Swaziland end on September 18, we will travel to Johannesburg, South Africa where we will pick up our daughter Whitney at the airport. Whitney will spend about five weeks with us and will get to see a lot of southern Africa. We will spend a week or so on vacation seeing some of the sites in South Africa before heading to Cape Town where we will participate in meetings with a number of people from the South Africa team and from the home office in Atlanta. After those meetings in early October, we will drive the 1200 miles back to Bulawayo. Please be in prayer for us as we travel, teach and then have some vacation time with Whitney. Please also pray for the meetings in Cape Town.
This past month marked the beginning of the Presbytery of Bulawayo Economic Empowerment Project, which the leaders in Natisa have named The Jacob Project. You will remember that one of the goals of this project is to help needy families in the church so they can support themselves through their own work and also begin to tithe to the church. So far, 13 families have received chickens! Because of some problems with marketing broiler chickens, we all decided that the majority of households would raise “roadrunner” or free range chickens. There is a growing demand for this type of chicken, it costs less to raise them, and they sell for a higher price. An added advantage is that they reproduce from the beginning, so eventually they will provide a consistent source of income for families. In addition, the project can grow to include more families for less money because current growers can sell roadrunner chicks back to the project! Currently, 10 families each have 17 roadrunners and 3 families each have 100 broilers. We understand that the roadrunners have already begun to lay eggs. We hope you enjoy this series of photos from families participating in the project.
Please note that while the photos show a date stamp from 2011, church members used a digital camera in the community to take the photos this week!
Thank you for your prayers for us and for our friends in Natisa. This year has been especially hard for them since the rains did not come at the right times. They planted maize, which is their staple crop, but then it did not rain for six weeks. Since most do not have access to water for irrigation, they effectively had no harvest. And yet, they continue to press on, engaging in ministry and caring for one another. Recently, we received a gift for the purchase of maize meal for church members. The leaders identified the 33 neediest families among the three churches represented (Natisa Presby and two church plants in Dewe and Mazhayimbe) and purchased maize meal for them that Mike was able to help deliver. Please continue to pray for us and for our friend George Nyamukapa as we administer the chicken and goat project together. Please pray for our friends in the Natisa area as they care for their families at this difficult time. This week we asked the leaders of Natisa Presbyterian Church what was going well with the project. They said that people were very excited to have received their chickens. They were very happy that they were able to do the project in the way they wanted. Those interested in keeping roadrunners were able to begin with them, but others were convinced they could sell broilers. There are spiritual components to the project as well. Please pray that God will help these folks to grow in their walk with Him as they do these small income-generating projects.
Again, we thank you for your prayer and financial support. If you are interested in helping with the Economic Empowerment Project (The Jacob Project), please let us know or use the project number below. As a reminder, any funds given to the project will be matched dollar for dollar until April 30, 2016. We are so thankful for your support. We truly appreciate you. As always, please let us know how we can pray for you.
Blessings in Christ, Mike and Robin McMahan
Mike's email: michael.mcmahan1960@gmail.com
Robin's email: robin.mcmahan@gmail.com
U.S. phone that rings in Zimbabwe 770-573-0586 (6 hours ahead of East Coast time)
U.S. Address Mike and Robin McMahan 1600 N. Brown Rd Lawrenceville, GA 30043
Zimbabwe Address Mike and Robin McMahan 38 Clark Rd Suburbs Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
New Giving for Mike and Robin’s support account: Mission to the World PO Box 2589 Suwanee, GA 30024-0982
Presbytery of Bulawayo Economic Empowerment Project # 96707 ZW Mike and Robin McMahan support account #14781
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