• Interested in construction?  Here’s how it’s being done in Mexico – and some Spanish words to go with it.
• This missionary in Mozambique has gas!  But maybe not enough…
• A place in Mongolia that has no-car days – how about that?
• Christmas activities in perspective in Mexico
• Christmas for Americans in Kenya – a little about gifts
• And how about a Thai view of Christmas as a Western holiday?  See what happened in this school in Thailand…
• Missionaries face tough questions.  How would you answer these ones? (Mexico)
• Sustainability in a children’s home – take a tour in Kenya.
• A good reminder from Thailand – The Nativity Story is Not the Gospel

I really enjoyed these glimpses into life and ministry in Japan from Robin White…

• 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!

Ok, scratch that.  So, missionaries get frustrated a LOT.  What do you expect?  They’re always chasing problems and lost people and all stuff like that there.  What have our bloggers been frustrated about lately?

• A (Damp) Day in the Life (Chile)
• FO and Complaining (Ukraine)
• Out of my control. (Japan)
• May I Interrupt You? (Kenya)
• spiritual triggers (Cyprus)
• Truck Blues (Brazil)

Anyone you want to pray for today?

Visit CRASH Japan here.

• By now most of you have probably heard about the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan today….
• Many of us are wondering how we can best respond to the devastating news of the earthquakes and tsunami that have hurt especially Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate ken…
• I can’t get my mind off my precious homeland, Japan. The news of devastation is heartbreaking and I know the news will only get worse before it gets better…
• We partner with numerous churches in the area that has been affected, including a church just two kilometers from the damaged nuclear power plant. We are gathering information…
• It’s a strange feeling living in Japan in an area with virtually no damage right now.  I have friends who are without water and food, trudging down to a canal to haul water by hand in buckets so they can use their toilets…
• Today things are becoming a little more real.  I woke up and tried to go to work this morning. I was expecting some trouble…
• It has been quite a shocking day for us all, and it’s taken some effort to find out about friends in various parts of the country. Amazingly…
• Another night of aftershocks. Wondering when this will end! Our mission is discussing ways to help our Japanese church ministry partners in the affected area…
• Tomorrow we head to Tokyo–it will be a different life. We’re told that there are gasoline shortages, stores are sold out of certain foods, toilet paper, etc. In addition…
• Just a quick note to let everyone know we’re okay. It is definitely the strongest earthquake we have felt in our 40 or so years here…
• Life is still a bit crazy here. We lived in Sendai for seven years, and many places we know well are affected deeply by the quake and tsunami. Pray especially for Pastor Hori and his family. No one I know has heard from them yet…

Most of you have seen pictures and footage of the devastation, but I’m including a short video here to remind us about what we’re talking about.

• First, a couple of posts from Chile – first, a glimpse of how Chileans are getting training to serve the Lord, and finally a personal story of the challenges of growing up adopted.
• Next, thoughts on testing from God in Kenya.
• Incredible stories of people coming to Jesus in Papua New Guinea.
• Getting… that… paperwork… can… take…. some…… time!  Adventures in Costa Rica.
• Missionaries are sometimes just outsiders wherever they go (including Mexico)
• Coming back to the field (in this case, Peru) for a second term…
• The incredible value of little tiny coins in Chile.
• Working together in Honduras (with some great pictures to show for it).
• Every missionary family has its own balance, and every missionary has his/her opinion about every person’s role.  Here’s how one missionary wife (or perhaps wife of a missionary?) finds balance serving in Paraguay.

Finally, a couple of posts from Japan.  First, a post entitled simply Earthquake, and then some thoughts on ministering to and praying for Japan.

Rissun is celebrated on 3 February and marks the beginning of spring. It is sometimes called Setsubun, although Setsubun can really refer to the beginning of any season.

Rissun is known as the bean-throwing festival. When celebrated at home, a male of the family will scatter roasted beans, saying "demons out, good luck in". At shrines, lucky beans are thrown into the congregation, who will attempt to catch them.

A missionary blogger writes about the festival from first hand experience.  Check out Demons out! Luck in! at Thomson Times | One Step Beyond.

And who can explain the rewards?  Rewards that will only really be known in eternity – and yet we see glimpses now.

Here are some examples of both…

• A Diamond in the Rough… The village is dirty.  Walking on a dirt road so full of animal manure that you simply can’t dodge, through a tunnel of thistles blocking all view, the word ‘beauty’ simply cannot be used to describe the scene…
• Low-Hanging Fruit… The spiritual harvest is ripe, but sometimes we need reminded. Saturday, as our team prayed together before Tea House, we asked God for…
• Another Reason We Love to Blog and facebook… We have “met” many wonderful people through our blog and facebook. Many we will never “meet” in person but feel like we know because we share our lives with each other. This past Saturday we had the opportunity to meet in person one of those people…
• Ramadan is over…… Ramadan is the most holy month for Muslims and the month that it is celebrated depends on the lunar calendar (so it changes every year). It is a time where they fast from all intake (eating, drinking, smoking, etc.) from sunup to sundown for one month…
• Why is this so hard?… We had the refrigerator “dropped in” a week ago, and we’ve been staying in the house since Wednesday, yet, we don’t feel we’ve made much progress. I don’t remember having to be so inventive or innovative before in moving into a home…
• Prayer …Are you a person who believes in the power of prayer? If so, our family needs your prayers. We strongly believe that the fervent prayers of many are absolutely…
• God’s Orchestration… I love to see the Lord work His Salvation miracles. His works are Master Pieces of sweet music. They are arrangements that only He can make happen. Two weeks ago I began my second attempt at…

• tanzanian kids say the darndest things – what are the most common greetings this person gets from kids in Tanzania?  I never would have guessed…
• And by the way, from the same blog, these pictures give a great view of life in one corner of Tanzania:  mwanza to mwakiwasha
• And now that you’ve travelled through Tanzania, why not visit Japan?  Here’s First thoughts on Japan
• Here’s a ministry to seniors in Ukraine – check it out Monthly evening for senior citizens
• Joys and challenges when it comes to this outreach in Moldova:  We are up and running!!
• So you’re thinking about going to Brazil, or praying for Brazil, and you want to know What’s it like…??  This blogger recommends some books.
• A great post about school and ministry in South Africa:  Back to School
• Finally, a story of life in Togo.  Got the time?  Read Long version: Ambulance, taxi, moving truck.  In a hurry?  Check out Short version: Ambulance, taxi, moving truck

In the past I’ve posted about posts based on cool pictures – ones that caught my attention.

This time I ignored content altogether – at least to start with – and just looked for titles that caught my attention.

You know, other than "Our May Newsletter".  Or "Even more photos of our trip".  Or my favourite, "(no title)" (that’s what shows up in my rss feed reader when you don’t bother to put a title).

No, these titles caught my attention – and it turns out that people who write good titles tend to write good posts too!

For example, who could resist a missionary blog post about Tap Dancing (Kenya)?  Or how about the tantalizing Catching Creatures on Camera! (Columbia).

New Bible Study and Peter Pan! (Indonesia) brings us even more creatures among other things.  Mixing together topics that don’t usually go together makes an interesting title – though it’s not great blogging practice!

Everyone loves to share an opinion, right?  So that’s why I clicked on Input Requested (Indonesia).

And of course there’s always the finish-the-sentence posts, like A Garbage Can Full (of what?!) (Rwanda), and Take this hot chocolate and (and what?!) from France.

How about a shocker like Before Wii (Venezuela).  There was something before Wii??

All right, I’d better get this post done – here are a few more that caught my eye…

• Become Nothing (Niger)
• I miss being sick… (Japan)
• Battling bats, and Romantic Roaches (Uganda)
• "Gossip" …or perhaps ~ (Niger)
• The "God-Father" (Peru)
• 3 lines, 5 guys, 17 syllables, and a billion diapers (Tanzania)
• In Which I Prove We Will Acheive [sic] FTL Speeds by 2050 (Thailand)
• The Biggest Holiday of the Year (Peru)
• Note to self: remember to appreciate these things (for more than a day!) when I get back to the UK… (Thailand)

Which is your favourite title?