Missionary Blog Watch » Country highlights

2010 Tour of Thailand!

Jim — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:34:48 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about Thailand, as I hear about some of the challenges that the country is facing in the news. I did a check and discovered that, although we talk about Thailand a lot here, we’ve never really done a full feature on blog posts from there.

So, here’s a whole bunch of great posts! There are stories of real people (ie Raising Witnesses, A Look Into a Thai Person Coming to Christ), general glimpses into missionary life (ie First Quarter Highlights), lots of culture (ie Ordaining a tree, Thai alphabet song), news about the recent upheaval in the country (ie Crisis in Thailand : Update, Prayer for Thailand), and thought-provoking personal glimpses (ie Depression, It’s about time…).

Some incredible posts here, and some interesting pictures and video. Don’t miss this 2010 tour of Thailand!

A market in Thailand

South Africa has the Ball

Jim — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:34:39 +0000

Sorry. I tried, but just couldn’t resist. I just had to do a post on South Africa since, after all, the world’s eyes are on South Africa for the 2010 World Cup!

First, a couple of posts specifically about the World Cup. Next, some more general posts.

World Cup Vibe ========<() !!!! "I’m not really sure how to begin to describe the feelings from my first ever World Cup experience, it really was a stunning event…"
Unevangelized "According to OM’s 2010 World Cup Prayer Guide Siya Thandaza, the top unevangelized countries participating in the 2010 World Cup are…"

And now, more from South Africa…

Culture "The other day at the mall, I went to draw money from the ATM…"
Two from one blog: No Quick Fixes, thoughts on missions and technology, and Dumisani’s Reason for Existence "My last post referred to the tragedy recently experienced by a local Christian family whose eldest son committed suicide. Well, one day last week…"
Mama Marie says that she is now a rugby fan… "So Mom has decided she is a rugby fan. I think that’s rad, because rugby is awesome. It was so much fun! Trent took us and his mom and dad…"
Contrasts "On Saturday afternoon after Alan returned from a morning meeting, I ‘ran away from home’ for a while. I found a store that had moved, drove in a…"
plot 45 "Last week a received a random phone call from Sello Modiba, a member of the Stoffel Park Council. “Can we meet tomorrow?” I agreed even though…"
African Culture Shock (not really) "So, yesterday Given and I were ministering to a woman who lost her husband. During our visit…"
Mandela House & Hector Peterson Museum "In early January Rachel, Amber, & I went and visited the Mandela House and Hector Peterson Museum in Orlando West, Soweto. We had a fun day and learned some interesting stuff…"
Behind Bars "This blog is for a friend who wanted to know what it is really like living in one of the highest crime capitals in the World. Well, here goes…"
Ngikhuluma isiZulu "I speak Zulu. One of my passions is to speak to people in their heart language…"

2010 in Tanzania

Jim — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:33:39 +0000

Let’s visit the country of Tanzania today. I’ve been enjoying a lot of great posts from Tanzania … here are a few:

Mpe jina – Wow, that’s just cool.
hospitality and rest: answers to a missionary predicament – how do you find rest in another culture? Here’s one family’s answer.
Illuminate – just a picture and a caption. Love it.
Fishbowl – an outing and reflection as a family ends its time in Tanzania. Pictures here.
May – what he’s up to now that he’s back. In pictures.

All about Ukraine

Jim — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:03:55 +0000

Yes, I realize Ukraine is one of our most mentioned countries – but the fact is we have a lot of bloggers from there! And I don’t think we’ve ever actually had a post focusing just on Ukraine. So – let’s go for a tour, shall we?

Answers to Prayer – ah, the little and big challenges in the lives of missionaries!
I’m a Little Sheep – sometimes this translates well, sometimes not so well…
In the world, but not of the world! – the challenges of medical missions.
I Pray – ah yes, but how do you keep track of all those people you want to pray for? (from someone preparing to go to Ukraine)
March 2010 – another summary of ministry.
Found Him! – one of the people God is using in Ukraine!
Just a couple of pictures of Kyiv – the traffic and a quieter shot.
So what constitutes A nearly perfect Friday for a missionary?

Kyiv, Ukraine

Blogs from Haiti – the Earthquake and its Aftermath

Jim — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:09:53 +0000

It’s an appropriate time as the world focuses on the unbelievable disaster in Haiti – to focus on some blogs from Haiti. Some of these have written more or less on the earthquake and the aftermath. If you want to hear about what’s really happening on the ground, this is a great place to start:

The Livesay [Haiti] Weblog already has several updates every day since the earthquake.
The Highway to Haiti – again, daily posts on what’s going on and ideas about how to help.
HAITI – CORAM DEO – just one post so far with stories and word pictures of what things look like
The Krul Family – posts from a missionary with Mission Avaition Fellowship. MAF is another organization working trying to provide relief in Haiti. The author of this blog has several posts, and has been able to get pictures of Haiti and the earthquake devestation up here.
how can they hear – again, posts at least every day with lots of pictures. Also some helpful thoughts about how those of us outside of Haiti can help.

A community in Haiti after the earthquake.
Tiny dots in the picture are people going through the ruins.
Photo courtesy of United Nations Development

Let’s visit South Africa

Jim — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:45:43 +0000

I’m glad to say we’re gradually seeing more blogs from South Africa. Here are just a few posts to give you a glimpse into what’s going on in that part of the world:

Interesting post that has some things to say about fighting racism yesterday, today and tomorrow…
Don’t read this post unless you want your heart broken – somedays are hard
This is a longer post, and an older post, but talks a lot about some aspects of culture – so here it is, a little late – NEW YEAR UPDATE
And from our veteran bloggers in South Africa – this post about the reality of HIV in South Africa: Down To Earth With A Bump

Cape Town (also called Kaapstad or iKapa), South Africa

Focus on Guatemala

Jim — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:33:10 +0000

Although we often talk about Guatemala here, we’ve never actually done the Guatemala tour in a blog post.

So let’s take a look at some recent posts from the country of eternal spring:

Some glimpses of a team’s visit to Guatemala and what they did there (and quite a picture of the local volcanoes!).
An interesting story about sharing with widows and orphans in Guatemala
Be honest – I know a lot of you want to read this one… a day in the life of a wife and mom missionary in Guatemala!
This was just a monthly update, but I thought the honest sharing about activities and struggles was something worth including.
Kind of along the same lines, but very different activities! A great post giving you a hint of the many languages in the country, and the challenges of the cultures.
This is not a single post, but a series why I love Guatemala. Mostly pictures, it will give you another taste of the country.

Blog Visit to Peru

Jim — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:01:14 +0000

I’ve got a treat for you today – some varied posts from the country of Peru. There are a growing number of blogs from this country, both new and old, and it’s about time we featured some interesting posts. So stay tuned for some thoughts about ministry, the country, and every a recipe!

The glory of God in Peru
A classic – Tres Leches cake!
Visiting the jail, and what happened there
Where do you go to do ministry?
We’re new here – check it out!
Just a glimpse of life in Peru – Manolo and Nelsi
So, you’ve been in Peru 6 months. Any observations? Yes!

In the Villages of Sudan

Jim — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:05:44 +0000

I’ve been enjoying the stories of the travels of Loriann in Sudan. She just wrote a couple of posts about her "Ganza trip", listening to and sharing with people in villages in Sudan. The Ganza are a tribe of people in Sudan, and it’s fascinating to hear about their lives and concerns.

You can read about it here: Overview of Ganza Trip:Day 1, and then Overview of Ganza Trip: Day 2. Here’s and excerpt:

On a personal note, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more overwhelmed in my life on a cultural, physical, and spiritual level. Culturally I felt the pressure of what it would say about me as a woman if our second round of cooking in the bush turned out like our half cooked beans the night before. In this culture, the visitors are served first, then the men, then the women and the children. We didn’t have enough plates for everyone, so Kristin and I served food and then waited for the men to finish, wash their plates and then serve the next people. On a physical level, I was rather hungry and felt anxious about the long day of hiking ahead of us and looked at the pot of dwindling food…

I discovered another journal of fellow travellers here at Sizzin’ in Sudan. Worth a read if you’re interested in serving God in this amazing country!

A visit to Mozambique

Jim — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:49:19 +0000

Photo courtesy of Mozambique-Moments

It’s been a while since we’ve done a country highlight, so let’s check out Mozambique.

The Republic of Mozambique is a country in which Portuguese is spoken. There are between 21 and 22 million people living there on the east side of Africa.

Let’s start with a video with many images of life and ministry in Mozambique.

Next, here’s a time of reflection from Laura who is working in a children’s home.

Finally, the challenges of Scripture recording on the field.