The challenges of learning to live together – do we really know how to do it well?  And on a related topic, did you know arranged marriages are alive and well in Albania?

And now for something completely different.  An emergency delivery.  No, not a baby…

On the thought provoking side, On Adaptation (or, Should I Wear a Loin Cloth?).

While we’re on the topic of being a missionary, what’s this weird thing they call a furlough?, otherwise known as HMA- Home Ministry Assignment?

Some pictures and video – Happy New Year Shkoder 2010 and the Changing Face of Shkoder.  (Shkodër is a city in NW Albania)

Finally, what better way to get to know Albanians than to visit them in their homes?  Let’s do it, by reading Hospitality… the Heart of Albanian Homes.

I get this question a lot.  One of the best resources that I point people to is the blog carnival we had a while back – Advice for Aspiring Missionaries.  Our missionary bloggers provided a lot of wise advice.

Of course, there are other people and resources I point people to, based on their specific situation.

But another resource I’ve mentioned many times was the book Send Me: Your Journey to the Nations by Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor.

So I was delighted when Adrianna from InterVarsity Press contacted me to let me know there was a new edition out.  It’s called Global Mission Handbook: A Guide for Crosscultural Service.  Adrianna was kind enough to send me a copy to check out.  The authors – in reality authors/editors – were again Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor.

I say editors because in reality this book has contributors from all over the world.  Missionaries from everywhere to everywhere.  Which makes this book a rich variety of perspectives and ideas.

But let’s back up a little bit.  Just what is this book?

Essentially, it’s a guide and workbook, packed with practical ideas, resources, blanks to fill in, charts, and stories.  It’s directed toward both missionaries and aspiring missionaries, though mainly those early in their career.

What do I like about Global Mission Handbook?

I like the breadth of wisdom from so many who have gone before.  I already mentioned that.

I also like how the authors have made the book practical.  This isn’t just a book of mission theory.  It’s a workbook.  Fill in this chart, fill in the blanks to mark your progress, here’s something you can do, here’s something you can check out.

Here’s where you can develop your "Four Support Systems".  Fill in these blanks to create a "Personal Calling Statement".  Fill this in to find out your profile as a "Crosscultural Servant".

I love the breadth of topics covered.  Just listen to some of these titles:

• Evaluating Your Readiness with Real-Life Case Studies
• Short-Term Missions as Spiritual Exercise
• How to Choose a Sending Church or Agency
• What About the Poor?
• Your Professional Skills Can Have Kingdom Impact
• Living with the Darkness in Our Past
• Practical Ways to Give Roots to Missionary Kids
• Six Characteristics of Leaders Who Finish Well

And that’s only a hint of the many, many topics in this book.  Scattered throughout are personal stories of others who have made the journey, perspectives from mission leaders around the world, and resources for going to the next step.

I like how this book addresses current mission realities, and looks at trends.  The authors seem to be always looking ahead at the next challenge, and the next generation.

And yet, all of this is done without ignoring the wisdom of the past.  And more importantly, while focusing on the Lord as the director of world missions.

What do I not like about Global Mission Handbook?

These may be more "user errors" than anything else, but a couple of words of caution.  First, I was disappointed in the limited use of Scripture in this book.  Of course, in a way this book is the "question" and the Bible is the "answer".  The authors certainly don’t want to answer every question for you – they want to get you thinking, and questioning the right things.

So I would caution anyone reading this book – go back to the Bible first for your answers.  The advice and resources are great, but they need to be used with a solid foundation from God’s Word.

The second caution is like the first.  You could get the impression from this book that you can customize and personalize your experience.  You fill out the questionnaires and out will pop the best plan for you – only 7 easy steps.

Of course, missions isn’t that way.  We are a community, and "my way" is often not what goes.  Things take longer than my original 3 month – 6 month plan.

Most importantly, missions is not a lone wolf affair.  It grows out of the local church.

It’s obvious from the book that the authors would strongly agree with me – even be shocked I would bring it up.  This second point in particular may not so much be a fault with the book, but with us.

The only other thing I’ll mention is that this is a big book (by some standards).  303 large pages including appendices, with lots of text and few pictures.  But much of it is in small, bite-sized chunks.  It can be opened up, and a page or two read.  The reason it’s big is that it’s packed with so much practical information.

Summary

In the end, I would recommend this book especially to those interested in missions (short term or long term), and those in the early to mid part of their career.  The book covers such a wide variety of approaches, most people could find something of use.  Including:

• Singles on the field
• Those working with the poor
• Those wanting to use professional skills on the field (engineers, doctors, artists, etc)
• Those just thinking about missions
• Business as Mission
• Those raising funds for a project or assignment

… and many more.

If you’re a missionary, or thinking about missions, I encourage you to get this book.  It’s not expensive, and it’s something you’ll refer back to again and again as you work through various issues before the field, on it, and even afterwards.  It’s like sitting down for coffee with a small crowd of your favourite missionaries, and asking their advice.  Check it out!

In case you haven’t heard the news, here’s a summary.  Early Friday morning, a riverbank burst open sending sewage water suddenly on to one of Mexico’s major highways.  It caused accidents, explosions and a few deaths as it rushed suddenly over the highway and into the city, instantly filling hundreds of businesses and homes.  The last I heard 12-18 thousand people were affected.

However, since then the flood waters have continued into more neighbourhoods.  Last night I toured the area, and sewage water was still flooding in.

Many people lost everything.  However, along with the believers in the area we hope to provide some small help in Jesus’ name.  The flooding is only a few minutes away from our home.

If you’d like to help, you can contact us via the link in the video.  It seems this massive flooding has received very little news coverage, and help is slow in coming.  Many people still have no homes, no clean water, nowhere to go.  This is a great opportunity to get help to where it’s needed.

We’re hoping to start serving breakfast to as many people as we can over the next couple of weeks, and supply a few necessities to those who have nothing left.  We’ve been able to build some relationships with people in the area, which is a big help.

Thanks for taking the time to consider helping out!

Cross Global Link, is an organization that brings together mission agencies and churches so they can work together.  They have put up a site to help connect people who want to help directly with those who are "on the ground" helping the people of Haiti.  The site is called Haiti Hub.

There you can go to Needs in the menu and see recent needs that have been posted, and who to contact.  Everything is in real time, so the site will be constantly changing in response to the current needs in Haiti.

Also, don’t forget to read the previous post on Haiti, if you missed it, with current notes from missionary bloggers actually in the country.

• From Peru – a glimpse into the joys of red tape that missionaries so often face – The Cafe – The Latest and, well, not the Greatest
• From Romania – a very random post, but a very good question.
• Do you want to learn something about Chile?  Now’s your chance – ask your question right here!
• The story of Manwellcito (he hates it when she calls him that) from Ecuador
• Check out a Middle Ages festival on May Day in Germany
• Finally – a post about the cold and flu season that has nothing to do with H1N1! (Brazil)
• Some thoughts on Twitter: Short And Sweet from a missionary perspective (Ukraine)
• Time to meet just one child in Bolivia – Child History 7.0

Missionary Moms – I know there are many of you out there.  And actually, this one really applies to missionary Dads too!

Recently I got an email from the author of a unique blog, entitled Missionary Moms (ForMissionaryMoms.com).  The author is Ashley, and she lives with her husband and 2 kids in Russia.

The tagline on the blog is resources and encouragement for motherhood and ministry, and that’s what you’ll find there.

Thoughts on being a Mom in another culture, resources, tips, ideas – all kinds of great stuff there.  And the blog is still quite new – only started last month.

I think it’s a great idea, and seeing the comments already on the blog, I see I’m not the only one.  If you’re a Mom, or even a Dad, serving in another culture, you’re going to find lots here to get you thinking.

For example:  International travel with kids: some great tips.  And Motherhood and Ministry: A ministry of example.  And how about Make-It-Yourself: Toys?

Find the RSS feed at http://formissionarymoms.com/feed

Thanks, Ashley! 

The problem is, he’s one person in one place, and so, of course, doesn’t have the time and knowledge to write about places all over the world.

We get visitors from all over here, so David wanted to send a shout out to anyone who who’s interested in writing a brief post.  There needs to be a photo, a brief article (one or two paragraphs) and a prayer.  It doesn’t have to be fancy (although I’m sure he doesn’t want junk either!).

If you’d be interested in writing just one or two articles to help develop this project, you can contact David using the address on his about page (#4).

Thanks!

Renae has collected post cards, and now she wants to mail them.  She would be willing to mail a post card to a missionary of your choice, along with a little text or verse of Scripture.  So the post card would be from you, and she would send it.  You can read more here – Free postcards for missionaries! **UPDATED**.  Sounds like fun!

Stop what you’re doing! Have you nominated your favourite (or favorite for you Americans) missionary blog over at Eric Ragle’s site?  No?  Well, let’s get moving.  The interest in the awards has been somewhat half-hearted this year, and it’s time for that to change.  Why?  Because many people were first introduced to some excellent missionary blogs (myself included) after these awards last year.

As far as I understand, you don’t have to nominate in every category.  Just swing by and nominate your favourite missionary blog, then go back if you think of something else.  It’s just a nomination – it won’t go on your permanent record.  And it will only take 5 minutes or less.

How to nominate:
Nominations are open until January 5 2006 (but don’t wait until then!).  You’ll need to go to Eric’s forum and register, then post your nominations in the appropriate thread.  That’s it!

I strongly encourage you to click on a few blog entries that you see on the front page to refresh your memory.  Also, you can see the partial list of missionary bloggers here.  There are almost 70 blogs on that page, and well over 110 represented on this site.

Note: Please don’t nominate this blog.  Nominate one of the excellent missionary individuals or families that blog that I’ve written about or listed.  This site exists for them!

If you have a blog, or people you can email, please mention the Evangelical Blog Awards.

Take a couple of minutes to read “Peace only” from August 21, 2005.  We’re on our way to the market with Steve, stopping to talk with people along the way.  The conversation is powerful.  I especially enjoy Steve’s inclusion of proverbs.  The title of this entry is a Fulani proverb – Ko jemma boni fuu, weetu means Even if the night is bad, morning will come.

Read other proverbs in a July post Fulfulde Sweet-talk.

Visit the main Voice in the Desert site.