Missionary Blog Watch

Here's another brand new short-term missionary blog for you.  This one is all the way from Spain.  Alex decided to do his internship there, and he arrived late last month.  At the moment he is exploring Cáceres, a town of about 88,000 in western Spain.  This blog is so new that the most recent post is entitled El Primer Dia (the first day).

You can check out Adventures in Spain, or catch the news feed at baumerman.blogspot.com/atom.xml.  If you'd like to see some long term missionaries in Spain while you're at it, read the Ginters in Spain Journals, Madrid Cadys or David Pritchard.  There are more to come!

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New pages and updates (and 7 new bloggers)
February 4, 2006 11:29

If you haven't looked lately, you may notice some new pages.  I'll let you find them for yourself, but they're both on the navigation bar to the left.  I'll give you a clue - one starts with a "P" and one with an "S".

On top of that, the Blog list has once again been updated.  I've been trying to make that a rare event, because it is a bit of work, but with the recent avalanche of new blogs the time had come.  So now you'll see 120 missionary blogs featured there.  This is representative of the over 180 blogs I'm currently watching.

There are changes and additions to every category, but the most are, as always, the brand new bloggers.  In honour of the many bloggers that have come online in the last 3 months especially, here are just 7 that are worth checking out, if you haven't already:

Partnering with Parents - preparing to move to Niger

Jeannette's Randomness in Ukraine

The Grays in Indonesia

Burns Abroad in Papua New Guinea

John Doss Missionary Newsletters/Updates in Austria

The Life of Jon in Dominican Republic

Scottspiel in Cameroon (currently in Canada)

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Pictures, videos, and other random posts
February 9, 2006 09:12

Recent posts of note from around the world:

homesick in France - some things one missionary misses when far from home

From Ukrainian Adventure, some beautiful pictures of ... Nepal!  Her favourite is here, and some more mountains here.

Sara is Becoming a Thai musician - look at that cool Sah Duang!

Photo courtesy of Boyznberry

A whole bunch of new pictures over at Our Cameroon Adventure - penguins, kids, baboons...

The Roes tell us to quit whining!

Rain, Planes and Earthquakes - from Papua New Guinea, a new perspective on earthquakes and one of those BIG beetles

So would you like your chicken alive or dead?  Thoughts on Dinner and internet access in Kenya

Marcus writes in The Write Stuff about the challenges of ... well, writing.  For the internet and elsewhere.  Right.

A couple of videos from Mexico about Xochimilco, from Finding Direction and Mexico Movies

Another one from Mexico, about the challenges Mexicans must face - Chained Chairs

Great pictures from Congo at Jessica's Adventures in Language and Travel

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Calling all missionary bloggers!
February 11, 2006 13:42

Earlier this month I emailed most of the missionaries that are represented on this site.  We're trying a little project that I'll tell everyone about later in February.  This is just a reminder to all blogging missionaries - you only have until the end of February 14 to post your special post.  Don't forget!  If you're a missionary blogger, and you didn't get an email for some reason, and you would like to be involved, contact me and I'll let you know what this is all about.

Thanks to those of you who have already posted!  I've enjoyed your thoughts so far.

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Losing clothing, building huts and big issues...
February 15, 2006 08:28

There have been some great posts in the last few days.  Originally I intended to post about individual posts, but with over 180 blogs there are so many at one time I just hate to do that!  Today's mix is more eclectic than ever - get ready for the dangerous, the glorious, the sorrowful, the thoughtful and the hilarious...

What should Christianity look like?  Some reflections from Boukouma

On the practical side, now you can learn How to build a grass hut

Struggling with a practical theology - what is the gospel?

On a cultural/social note, Alan reflects on Europe's crisis

Deadly snakes and very sincere giving - "Dig Down Deep and Give Your Best to God"

Ministry and death - Carol writes about Michael

In other news, the McMurray's discuss the reaction to the infamous Muhammad cartoons in Mali

What a picture - check out Water and Spirit (part 1) from Thailand

Experiencing travel - who isn't tempted to read a post entitled Undressing at Airport Security?

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Bible passages they love...
February 20, 2006 08:26

Earlier this month I emailed every missionary blogger I could.  Why?  To find out what some of their favourite Bible passages are!  And some of them took the time out of their busy schedules to share with us.

I've created a new page with three of the best posts (I can't call them the best - how do you choose?!), and links to a number of others.  Missionaries all over the world shared some of their favourite passages, and wrote about what those passages mean to them.  What better way to see into the hearts of these bloggers?

I hope this will be the first of other group efforts.  There are a lot of questions I would love to ask 190 missionaries and their families!  But I thought this would be a good one to start with.

Thanks to everyone who posted!  Go now to see the Bible passages they love...

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Fun facts about our 200+ blogs
February 22, 2006 22:19

That's right - Missionary-Blogs.com is now keeping track of over 200 missionary blogs!  Ok, I'm not going to keep updating you whenever I get a few more blogs in the aggregator, but this is a milestone for the early days anyway.  In honour of the event, here are a few not-so-important facts about the blogs that we're talking about here:

First in the alphabet:  Adventures in Ecuador

Last in the alphabet:  Western Niger Fulani

Blog with the longest name:  On the top side of clouds, the sun is always shinning!

Shortest:  In Step

Country with the most bloggers:  TIE - Brazil and Mexico

Blogs that use trackback:  22

Newest blog:  brushed

Month with the most new blogs:  August 2005

Blog titles that include the word "missionary":  13

Blogs started in 2006:  16

Blog posts yesterday alone:  about 30

Of yesterday's posts, about 33% were about ministry, 10% were fun stories/links/etc, and 10% were theology/Bible/philosophy related

Blog titles that include the word "blog":  16

Top countries from which visitors to this site come:  USA, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, UK, Costa Rica, Malaysia

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On the lighter side...
February 24, 2006 19:10

And now, a few from the lighter side.  First, some cultural education...

La-La-La-Lengua - if you're going to eat tongue, you might as well dwell on the fact

Western versus Asian Toilet - someone with experience tells us which one is better

And how about just plain cuuuuuute:

No...this is not our new daughter! (unless there's some real monkey-business going on)

Isn't he cute - yup

And a few other bits and bites:

Sometimes Theology's Like This - uh oh, this one actually makes a point!

And I sometimes find French pronunciation hard! - say this 5 times fast (an hour or two of tongue twisting agony)

I'm Afraid... - oh, I feel your pain!

Picture of the Day - poptart malfunction

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What it's all about (from PNG)
February 24, 2006 21:16

PNG photo courtesy of Chris Potter
The Mibu people are a small tribe in Papua New Guinea, who until recently had neither literacy nor God's Word.  Joey and Brooke Tartaglia with their three children Shiloh, Marietta and Solomon have been working to change that.  Literacy classes have been a success, and more and more are learning to read their own language for the first time.

But the Bible teaching has also begun, and the struggle between God's power and tradition has begun.  What is true?  What is power?  Why?  These are the questions that the people will continue to struggle with as they learn more.

You can visit the blog of Joe and Brooke Tartaglia, but the post that really caught my attention was this one:
Really Great News!!!!
...and it really is!  Man, moments like this are what it's all about.  Why there aren't more people clamouring to get to the mission field after reading things like this, I'll never know!

You can read more articles about the exciting things that have been happening among the Mibu - this one from December 8, and from last week Bible Teaching Versus Tradition.  In a little less than 2 weeks (9 March 2006) Joey and coworker Chris Walker will be teaching about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  Can we pray that God's light and power will break through?

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