Here are the incredible stories that people entered in this blog carnival:

• Faith Comes by Hearing – from Paraguay, the story of God’s grace in the life of a boy named Jorge.
• Seeing Lives Changed — Dayeinu! – wonderful thoughts about God’s blessings, starting with a man named Esteban in Mexico.
• One Life I Have Seen God Change – the boy was dying and ignored.  But not by God.
• Souls Unseen – you never know what that chance encounter will mean…
• Former gang leader uses rap to spread the Word – but there’s much more to the story than that!
• One Changed Life – changes in the life of a girl named Maria
• Nathan II – changes in a life and in a family
• "God, please, change me," I cry. – a harvest, and reflections on transformation

So often, as Christians, we look at the people around us, and at our own failures, and wonder what kind of influence we’ve really had.  But then we remember – it’s not us, it’s the treasure in clay pots (2 Corinthians 4:7).  It’s not us … it’s Him.

And this time, the topic is very special.  And it’s all about what God is doing.  Check it out on the Missionary Blog Carnival page.

By the way – if you’re a cross-cultural missionary with a blog, you’re going to want to sign up for the Missionary Blogger Update.  It will keep you up to date on the new carnivals and other things you need to know about.  As a bonus, it contains tips to make your blog even better.  This is just for missionary bloggers, it’s totally free, and you can sign up here.

The entries in this edition of the Missionary Blog Carnival totally exceeded my expectations.  I was amazed by the depth, thoughtfulness, and variety in these posts.  Thanks to everyone who entered!

This time I was asking for advice for people wanting to be missionaries.  The posts are below, and I’ve tried to put them in some vague order.  The ones at the beginning are more focused on people just starting to think about missions.  Then the posts focus more on people preparing to go, then advice for those already on the field.  We end with some summaries of the whole process.

Enjoy!

• Interested?
• wanna be a missionary?
• So you want to be a Missionary.
• Top 11 advices to people wanting to be missionaries
• So, You Wanna be a Missionary?
• For Those Considering Missions
• Taking the First Step
• How to Prepare for Missionary Service
• So ya wanna be a missionary, huh?
• Become a Missionary – The YWAM Way
• What we wish we had known
• So, You Want to Be a Missionary…
• Advice for Future Missionaries
• New Missionary: What advice would I give?
• Advice for missionaries
• Advice to New Missionaries…
• To the Nations! Part 1
• A New Season

One note: some of you who entered didn’t send me the link to a specific blog post.  I can’t enter you in the carnival if I don’t have a post to link to.  So that may be why you sent something in, and yet aren’t listed above!

There’s so much variety above, but I did notice at least two themes running through many posts:

1. We need the Lord, and we need each other.  The underlying importance of the community of believers (locally and around the world), and the importance of trusting the Lord, prayer, and studying God’s Word.
2. DO something.  Several times the idea was expressed that we need to stop saying "Well, maybe someday I’ll…", and start just doing SOMETHING.

Thanks again for your entries!  Check out the Missionary Blog Carnival page for information on the next carnival!

The topic this month is poverty.  I’m going to do a couple of things here.  First, let’s look at some posts on the topic, including our two entries:

• No Getting Used to It – Macedonia
• Poverty and Community – Mexico
• Keeping Our Eyes Wide Shut – United Kingdom
• Value? – Kenya

All right, now.  I decided to add something else to this post that you might find interesting.  We’re going to do a quick blog tour of some of the world’s poorest countries. Below are a few of the bloggers who are in some of these countries.  Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re working with the world’s poorest people, but I think if you visit these blogs you’ll learn a bit about these areas.  Now remember, at least half of the people in these countries live on US$1 or less per day:

• under the acacias – Burkina Faso
• Livesay (Haiti) Web Log
• HAITI – CORAM DEO
• Our Journey…… – Liberia
• Malagasy Musings – Madagascar
• Flaming Waters – Malawi
• Chats with Cindy – Niger
• Life in Niger
• wings118 – Sudan
• Faders in Africa – Sudan
• Strong Confidence – Uganda
• paradoxuganda – Uganda
• Jonathan’s McBlog – Tanzania

This post was written to coincide with Blog Action Day 2008.

I’m not quite ready to give up on the blog carnival idea – stay tuned for more!

This time the theme was Invisible Illness – things like multiple sclerosis, lupus, cancer, heart disease, migraine, chronic pain, etc.

I do want to mention one thing.  I was a little surprised about how few missionaries wrote on this topic.  I know a lot of missionaries, and I know that many many deal with invisible illness – in their family, or close friends, or in their ministry!  It just seems that this is something that is a huge part of many people’s lives, and yet it gets surprisingly little air-time.  Why?

• My “thorn in the flesh” (migraine)
• An Award and an Update (generalized anxiety disorder)
• Once Upon a Time – Like Last Month (chronic pain)
• Busyness and Attachment (attachment disorder/oppositional defiance)
• Praying about health
• How we deal…
• God’s Suffering Grace

To learn more about invisible illness, be sure to check out the materials at Invisible Illness Week.  There’s a conference this week, a blog here, and great materials for you, your family, and your church family all year round at Rest Ministries.

We’re going to have another Missionary Blog Carnival!  This one will coincide with Blog Action Day 2008, and will focus on the topic of Poverty.  If you’re a missionary and want to be involved, you can enter right now right here.  (Remember, this could be a new post, or one from your archives).  The deadline for entry is the 11th of October 2008.

Photo courtesy of Irish Typepad

It’s not just missionaries – most people travelling away from home love to get a care package.  You know, something that only Mom can make, or something you can’t buy in Mongolia.  Perhaps something for ministry, or the kids, or just something for fun.

I’ve seen missionaries writing about care packages.  Everything from Pop Tarts to balloons to children’s books.  There’s care packages sent because people are going through a particularly hard time – for example, when other shipments mysteriously fail to arrive.

Sending a missionary care package is an art form.  I’ve seen warning that duty may be charged on what you send.  The Brooks family has some great ideas for care packages for them, but also some warnings about what might not be a good idea.  I remember when the Knightly family posted a similar explanation.

What I would like to do is include a page here for visitors with ideas for missionary care packages. Obviously, some things are country-specific, but anything could give people a general idea what’s appreciated.

There was a day when used tea bags and torn hand-me-downs were sent to missionaries.  Today with so many things available globally, the needs of a traveller are much more specific (not that torn tea bags and soggy hand-me-downs were ever all that generous an idea.  Er…yeah).

So if you’re one of our bloggers travelling overseas, here’s what I’d like you to do. Write a post with the phrase “care package” in the title.  Write about what you’d love to get in a care package, but explain why (so I know what is country-specific).  You could also talk about packaging, ways to ship, what not to send, etc if that’s an issue.  Think big, small, unusual and creative.  Think ministry-related, personal enjoyment or family encouragement.  Then mention this post (so that your readers know you’re not just having a greed-attack).

Then check back here in a few weeks, and I’ll try to post the best ideas so that our visitors know how to help you.

Care packages are now a strategic way to encourage and be a part of ministry around the world.  Let’s see what our bloggers have to say about them…