In less than a week we will be in Spain!!!

WE ARE ON OUR WAY! Our financial support now meets the requirements of TEAM and we have 750 prayer partners! After waiting much longer than we wanted to, the speed has now zoomed to high velocity:

Last Tuesday: the embassy notified us that the marriage certificate was not the up-dated version. We immediately make the necessary phone calls to figure that out and obtain the correct document. We found out that the county had used the old format on the first one. Sharon’s brother’s family arrived for the big Thanksgiving hurrah.

Last Wednesday: The remaining relatives arrived to make 12 in all. We went ahead and bought 2 tickets for Madrid, leaving December 8 and returning January 5 in case the visas are not granted before we leave.

Last Friday: we received word that Peter’s visa has been approved!

This Past Sunday: Yaszbet Zannis from Faith Presbyterian Church sent us a lightening quick Spanish translation of the new document. We also said “Goodbye” to our son Ben and wife Hannah.

This Past Monday: Peter Ellis, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, ran around to 3 different agencies, drove to Albany to obtain the new documents, and mailed them to the Spain embassy.

This Week: packing boxes and suitcases, arranging shipment, phone calls.

Next Week: move out of the lake house, go to DC to pick up passports and at least Peter’s visa.

Wednesday: Leave 5:30 pm Richmond, VA. Arrive Madrid 7:50 am Thurs.

Dec. 12-13^th: First retreat with new team coworkers.

After That: Find and move in to an apartment if possible before we receive 3 visitors for Christmas.

January 5^th. Sharon will probably have to return to D.C. to pick up her visa.

We give thanks to God for your partnership as we head for Madrid, Spain

Motel 6, 33 Rescued Miners and Las Tablas

How much of your life savings would you use to decorate your room at a Motel 6? This question in a recent study prompted us to remember how short our life is on this earth and how transitory are the things that we tend to give importance to. We want to thank all of you who have chosen to invest in rescuing lives for eternity in Las Tablas.

We are not in Las Tablas yet. We are still in the U.S.A….and have had the privilege to meet more brothers and sisters in Christ who are serving faithfully in their churches. We are encouraged to see their concern that their local body not stagnate by thinking only of its own interests, but that it gain fresh life by helping to birth other churches. We have been on the road every weekend but one. This weekend will be our last trip. We will be with the Alethia Church in Harrisonburg, VA where our daughter attends. In October we did presentations in NC at Gardner’s Baptist in Macon, Lake Gaston Baptist in Littleton, and Springs of Life Baptist Church in Durham, as well as Salem Baptist Church in Richmond, VA, and Common Ground Community Church in Portsmouth, VA.

In Las Tablas, the week of October 17-24 witnessed the first event that our teammates the Muhas and Chamorros had planned together. A couple who are friends of the Chamorros came from Argentina for a week’s stay and spoke/preached several times. One lady received Christ at the ladies’ meeting! While not all was smooth sailing, they did learn more about how to function as a team!

Thanks to all of you who joined us for our day of prayer on October 9^th. We have peace that by the time that church budgets are approved in November and new families come on board we could be 100% supported. We are at 97% as of this date. We are happy to announce that TEAM already gave us clearance to leave for Spain. We plan to leave for Madrid the first week of December and stay up to 3 months if our visas have not been granted. If the visas are approved by then, we will return to D.C. to pick them up and then return to Spain for good.

On October 13, after spending 69 days trapped a half mile down in the San Jose mine in Chile, 33 miners were rescued. What a testimony of a concerted effort by a nation to rescue those trapped miners. The two of us watched in amazement as they pulled out the first miner in the Phoenix-2 capsule. The world celebrated as each miner was lifted to surface. In watching this rescue we thought of our upcoming ministry in Las Tablas and saw many similarities. Las Tablas has a similar need of people who need to be rescued. It requires a powerful drill bit to penetrate hardened rock so deep, many resources, teamwork, and so much more. Together we can make a concerted effort to take the powerful gospel message. It alone has the ability to penetrate hard hearts. And the rejoicing in Heaven for every soul rescued will far surpass what we recently witnessed in Chile!

Almost there - 15% left to go

A year ago, we did not know that we would still be here in the U.S.A. But after Paul and Barnabas’s 1st missionary assignment they stayed in Antioch a long time with the disciples, reporting all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. We are not finished reporting yet and challenging churches to be concerned about a corner of the world called Las Tablas. When we leave for Spain, the Lord will have tripled the number of people who are praying for this work! At present we are up to 84.5% support. We are in the process of generating, certifying, and translating various documents like police clearance, medical clearance, and marriage license. After we receive the letter of invitation from Spain we must take all of the documents and the applications to the consulate in D.C. After Spain’s Consulate receives our requests for working visas, it will take about two months for them to be approved. By this time the remaining 15.5% of support needs to be in place before we can purchase plane tickets.

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18: Number of occasions since January 1st that we have shared with churches and individuals who already support us.
30: Number of occasions since Jan. 1st that we have shared the Las Tablas Project to prospective churches.
48: Total number of presentations since January 1st.

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Prayer requests:
1. That our letter of invitation will be processed quickly at the Dept. of Justice in Madrid
2. That we would be renewed at each new presentation with enthusiasm and zeal.
3. That our remaining needed support will be pledged by the time our visa is approved.
In Philippians 4:14-20, Paul thanks the church in Philippi for their financial gifts that assisted him in his time of need … “not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to you account…. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” Several have asked how they can contribute to helping complete what is lacking in our support.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:
August 1- a.m. Calvary Fellowship near Asheville, N.C.
August 3-4 The Molero family will accompany us on our final visit to our home church, Faith Presbyterian in White Rock, S.C.
August 8- a.m. Guilford Baptist Church in Sterling, Va.
August 11 – p.m. Summerset Baptist Church in Roxboro, N.C.
August 15 – a.m. Creekside Bible Church near Charlotte, N.C.
August 19 - early September – Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York.

Celebrate with us - We are at 82%

This past weekend we had two celebrations. One was the 4th of July which we enjoyed on American soil with our family and a church picnic, plus we watched the Capitol extravaganza on TV. But even better than that was receiving the news that we passed the 80% mark in our support raising! That means we can now start the application process for our visa for Spain.

Here is what part of that will involve. Our field office in Spain will send us a letter of invitation to work in Madrid. We understand that this letter will be from the National Church organization with which TEAM partners. Together with that invitation we will need to submit a police report and our marriage certificate translated into Spanish to Spain’s consulate in Washington DC. It will generally take two months or more from the time Spain’s Consulate receives our request for a visa till it is approved. Trust and pray with us that the remaining 18% of support will come in by the time our visa arrives.

Also on the 4th our church planting partners, Scott and Lorna Muha, flew out of the Miami airport for Madrid. We received word that they arrived safely and were even out apartment hunting today!

Right now our son Ben and his wife Hannah are in Taiwan. Ben will be there for a week and Hannah will stay for a month. They are helping out with camps and teaching English as a second language.

Heather is looking forward to a week off from her teaching job in South Korea at the end of this month.

Melissa is into her third week at Williamsburg Christian Retreat Center.

4th of July Feast - Enjoying that corn!













Melissa and Amaris enjoying fishing

Pictures from our trip West

Peter With Latin Pastor at the Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville, KY


















With the Newmans in Jonesboro, LA
Home where Elvis grew up in Tupelo

April Trip West

McMillan Messenger May, 2010

April Trip North & West: Louisville, KY: Lavalette, WV; Gainesville, VA; Tupelo, MS; Siloam Springs, AK; Longview, TX; Jonesboro, LA – See more pictures on our blog at www.psmcmillan.blogspot.com

Three weeks from now we will have been back in the USA for a year. We are encouraged that from 65% our monthly support is now up to 76% of the needed $8090 monthly. Three more churches and two more families have pledged to take on our support for which we are grateful!

Of the other 170 new churches in VA, NC and SC we have contacted there are about 27 that have expressed interest in partnering with us. Pray that Peter would have wisdom as he emails and calls them to set up a time to speak at their church. 7 churches are praying about what their partnership should be. For those whom God has chosen to be our partners pray that the Lord will give the faith to trust him for the resources for that partnership.

I find myself asking the question; “How many more churches will I need to contact?” “Do I have faith that the Lord will raise up the partners we need?” I was encouraged by something that I read by Alexander Hay about George Muller:

George Muller, being called of God to care for orphan children in Bristol, England, and having no resources of his own with which to do it, trusted God to supply all his material needs…It is said that George Muller had great faith … but in what aspect was it great?... Faith, moreover, is not a commodity that we can have in store, and add to until we have much of it, and employ to accomplish great things. It would be wrong also to believe that faith gives power in proportion to the amount we may possess… The power is not of us at all; nor is it wielded by us. The power is entirely of God. It is He who works. Our part is only to believe He will do it…In George Muller we find a man, who in first place, was obedient to God’s call…Muller’s faith consisted simply in obe

dience and believing God would do his part.”www.ntmu.net (answer for workers/Faith’s Simplicity)

As a couple we know that the Lord has called us to be part of a church plant in Las Tablas, Madrid. We are encouraged by 1 Corinthians 1:9 “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

By Faith Our Tentative Schedule:

May 16^th: Sunday am and pm. -Flat Creek Baptist Church, Lynchburg, VA

May 19^th: Wednesday pm. - South Strand Community Church, Surfside Beach, SC

May 30^th: Sunday am. - Sumner Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC

June 15^th : Move from Chapin, SC to Virginia

June 15^th- July 9^th: Visit churches in NC & VA

June 25^th: Covenant Community Church, Fredericksburg, VA

June 30^th: Apply for Spain visa

July 10^th – August 1^st: Visit churches in PA,NY,MA,NJ

August 15^th: Packing for Madrid

August 30^th: Be in Las Tablas, Madrid