• A thought provoking post that will make you think twice this Merry Christmas (Angola)
• People in one community in Mexico are thankful for this new church meeting place…
• Missions – are we getting anywhere?  This blogger in Canada thinks so – read Does Missions Work? Worldwide Evangelical Explosion from 1960 to 2010
• Praise God for those reaching this often-forgotten group in Ukraine.
• Numbers and pictures give a glimpse into the ministry in Haiti:  compiling statistics, loving women, thanking God
• What more can I say?  Tree, Thy Shall Be Moved!  (Er… shouldn’t that be thou shalt be moved?) (Ecuador)
• In Ukraine and out of Ukraine, life is never dull.
• You know you want a little culture from the Republic of the Congo… so here’s More on food and daily life
• Recognizing the reality in Japan – Bible Study in an Unreached People Group
• Let’s get creative in Japan – what a great idea… Gifts from Jesus

Stay tuned – lots more to come!

Once in a while I like to feature blogs from countries that are less often mentioned – so here are some posts from countries you haven’t heard from quite as much…

• Back to Blogging (Albania):  It has been almost 9 months since I wrote on this blog! Yikes…. where did that time go? We have had a very busy several months which would take too long to catch you up on so I am going to settle for the highlights and get back to the story-telling of our ho-hum lives that we find fascinating!
• Searching for a Good Drink of Water (Angola):  (VOA) A recent study from the Catholic University of Angola shows that well over 50% Angola’s population lacks access to safe water and sanitation. The study was carried out by experts from the Center for Studies and Scientific Research in Angola…
• Alas… Camp is over! (Canada):  Well, we’ve come to the end of summer camps for 2011 – and a wonderful summer it was. It was a summer fraught with great challenges and great blessings… God is indeed Good! For those of you who have checked in…
• Before and After! (El Salvador):  This past week we were all at the camp property for a three-day youth conference called Dinamica Jovenil. A professor from the bible institute in Argentina was our guest speaker and the topic was…
• Things I love about Germany:  Krista has started putting observations about Germany that she has been having as we’ve returned to our small village after being in America for a year on Facebook. Here’s the…
• Water Day (Ghana):  We are back at Yendi – finally home. We are also back in our Ghanaian rhythm – like the flow of water to our house…

Today, let’s look closer at missionary bloggers who are talking about disciple making – reflections on how they feel it should be done, stories about how it is being done, and even posts about how challenging it can be…

• Disciple making and makers (France):  Tom Julien just completed a week of teaching at the Château de St. Albain where he expounded on Ephesians 4:11-16. His teaching on maintaining balance in ministry was thought-provoking…
• Photos from our "Guns ‘N Roses" Baptism (Canada):  Here are a ton of fantastic photos of the baptism taken by Robert David. Unfortunately, you can’t hear the music…
• Is Francis Really That Crazy? (Ireland):  "Missions" or The Mission?  I was reading the final chapter of Luke this morning and was struck once again (Luke 24:45-48) that Jesus’ vision and his commission has always been about…
• September 2010 Update (Ukraine):  You may have read about record breaking heat waves, forest fires and grain shortages in Russia. Though Ukraine is…
• Short Term Missions: A Personal Expereince (Brazil):  For years, I have seen people impacted by a short term mission experience. First, while I still lived in the States and then as people have come to visit through the years. Angie Duplaga, a teacher…
• Reading with Nathan (Mexico):  One of my life goals is to disciple my kids. If you read the Bible, you’ll understand that…
• Culture 101 (South Africa):  (Leigh Writes) always comes a point in our spiritual journey when our faith in Jesus and our culture reach a disconnect. A point where we have to choose who we are going to follow.For many of the kids we work with…
• Do You Need a Bible Degree to be a Long-Term Missionary? (Thailand):  Because the need for people to hear the Gospel on the mission field is so urgent, it is sometimes claimed that doing a lot of Biblical studies or earning a degree in Bible is not necessary to be a long-term missionary…
• The Feast and the Cross (Uganda):  Sort of stuck in Luke 14. A good place to be. After meditating on how we steel ourselves for battle only to find out that the draft letter is really an invitation to a party . . . kept reading and…
• Discipleship and Mentoring in a Russian Context (Russia):  Karen and I came to Russia with the plan to church plant. Our desire was to plant a church that would reproduce itself and hopefully spark a…

I’m actually mentioning it because I enjoyed their recent post, Don’t Reduce It To Polemics!.  It’s a great summary of thoughts on sharing, evangelism, "felt needs", etc, particularly in the context of Quebec, Canada.  Here’s how it starts:

Last week I had a fascinating discussion concerning "evangelism" with a group of pastors.

A few undigested thoughts:

First of all, (and this may be the most controversial) it seems that we need to take care in using the term "evangelism". I prefer something else; like maybe "being a witness".

Why? "Evangelism," at least in my experience with many, many churches, automatically connotes some sort of argument…

What do you think?  Stop by the post and share your thoughts.

St-Jérôme Quebec
Photo courtesy of Yvan Leduc

• Serving in Canada, the Karch family talks about a typical week and a few typical days.  (Incidentally, there’s no such thing as “typical” for a missionary)
• We can’t leave out those in the Yukon (Canada) – here’s their Mid-summer update
• Let’s move around the pole to Russia.  What is The Voice of Silence?
• How about Siberia, Russia?  I love this little slice of real life that Leif and Jami share.
• More changed lives in Russia at this wedding picnic!
• A good reminder from Kelly (on her new blog!  Looks great!)  This one is in Norway.
• Also in Norway, here’s a great question.
• A lot of people blogging about school starting – here’s one from the UK.
• A great slice of life from the UK – check out this ad for the summer holidays!
• A few goings-on in Ireland in this Miscellaneous Update
• And while we’re on miscellaneous, how about some random too (also from Ireland)?

But I would finally like to announce the winner!  Coming from Canada and serving in Australia, please send your congratulations to Bill Hutchison!  Here’s his care package post.

Circumstances being what they were, I didn’t follow all of the care packages advice, but Lord willing over the next month or two Bill and his family will be receiving some books as a thank you from all of us.

As you can see, Bill is preparing for his Australian Citizenship Test (in just over a week).  He also just celebrated his birthday (see what he did), and is struggling with lacking tools he uses for his work.

If you’d like to contribute to this site and surprises like this for the missionary bloggers we talk about, just throw some change into the tip jar!

I wrote about the resurrection also as part of a series over the weekend.

Hidden in the continant of North America are a few large areas with very few believers.  Amazing considering the Christians and resources that are available right there.  One of these areas is Québec, Canada.  Québec is the largest province in Canada, covering 1,542,056 km2, and home to over 7.5 million people, the majority French speaking.

Do we have any missionary bloggers in Quebec?  Mais oui! Rob and Martine Karch can be found at Bringing Hope to Quebec, a blog with pictures, video and stories of what God is doing in one corner of the province.  Thier news feed isn’t working at this time, but you can explore their website.  There’s lots there about their ministry and the need there.

The title of this post came from one of their posts entitled Seeing… and Seeing.  Read about an activity this group of believers did and how it got them thinking.  And remember to pray for Québec.

So what are missionaries talking about these days?  Snow, of course!  Those in colder climates are talking about the snow they have, and those in warmer climates about the snow they wish they had (or the snow they’re glad they don’t have!).  If you’ve been missing the snow, here are a few snowy posts to get you in the winter mood…

• Two from the Copelands in Canada – It Finally Looks Like December (the bright side) and Try Again, Shall We? (the dark side).  By the way, great idea including the answering machine message!  Anyone else care to try?
• Cuuuuute slide show – Our Snow Angel (but these guys want to schedule their snow – check out Let it snow, Let it snow (but only on the weekdays))
• From Chuck, this … disturbing … video  First snow day in America
• I guess this isn’t Oaxaca – Brrrr….It’s Cold! (they closed the schools?)

It’s been a while since I’ve featured a short term missionary here.  Part of the challenge is that I usually see how good the blog is after the short term trip is half over.  But this one I’ve caught right at the beginning…

James Witherow, originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, is now preparing for a tour which will include North America, Russia, and (I believe) England.  He’s training and doing ministry in Canada with his team, and will be leaving shortly for the overseas portion of his year.  His blog is called THE REALM OF ALCAR, and you can even subscribe to his feed at encaitar777.blogspot.com/atom.xml.

It should be exciting to hear about James and his team as they serve the Lord in Siberia and beyond.  Leave him a comment and let him know you’ve prayed for him!