While 2009 has been a year (and part of a decade) of ups and downs, both personally and collectively, the past 12 months have been possibly the most fruitful time in my writing since leaving school many, many years ago.  I believe the 72 posts on this blog for 2009 are representative of my creative faucet finally allowing my thoughts to flow.  It’s been quite a journey, and I’m humbled how many have joined me along the year.

A quick look at stats shows that individual visitors to Missionary Confidential more than tripled since the year began, and followers on the RSS feed and Twitter have shown rapid growth from the early single-digit days.  This is mentioned not to make me look good but to show that so many of you have joined in the conversation; there are over 200 comments made on this blog in 2009 (these are legitimate ones from real people; I pluck out all the spam and junk).  You come from countries such as the States, Taiwan, Canada, the United Kingdom (I know it’s not a country), Thailand and Australia, and I thank you for your participation and readership.

For the last Missionary Confidential post before we dive into a new decade, I offer links to some of my favourite 2009 posts from this blog.  These are not reflected in the “Our Best Posts” or “Popular Posts” lists you see to the right columns of the blog:

“Disappointment Avoidance”
“Obedience is not a formula, nor is it a means to an end, usually assumed to be success. Perhaps it’s a more Western ideal, even an American lesson, to put numbers and goals to ministry and heap attention only on those who accomplish this—all others need not apply.”

“The Best of Intentions: Missionary Superhero”
“Once you start labeling callings, then you have comparisons.  Is the man who loses his family connections when he converts to Christianity and becomes a pastor in his homeland less of a Superhero?. . .Must you give up things of earthly importance (possessions, status, career, relationships) to be a Superhero?  If one didn’t have to go through those things, yet is still following God’s calling, it doesn’t negate their ministry or make it any less special.”

“I’m Not There: Why the Missionary Can’t Have It Both Ways”
“Presence in a moment is something technology has yet to duplicate, and there’s just something more compelling about personal human interaction. For now, there is no substitute to physically being in the same moment, such as sharing a laugh in a coffee house or sitting in a park, experiencing the situation’s assault on your senses. Mission life is a dual reality, and the two can never completely merge.”

“Pulling Your Hand Out of a Bucket”
“For all the planning and preparation in coming to a mission field, it seems that the exit point (even in a year-only commitment) does not get much focus. I recognise that not everyone is built for the long haul, but if our witness is that we rush into situations and rush out equally as quick, we’re cutting ourself off at the knees.”

“Was, Not Am: What’s Wrong With Lifelong Missions?”
“In my experience, someone still active as a missionary was viewed as odd, especially if they had been in their field for a large number of years.  As we complete year after year of our foreign mission, the comments are becoming more pointed: “You will come back, right?”,  “I thought you’d get this out of your system”, or “You won’t do this the rest of your life, will you?”  Is it such a problem that I am planning on staying?”

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Regular posting at Missionary Confidential had been delayed slightly due to more supporters staying with us to inspect our ministry.  Add to that what might have been the Swine Flu (though I can’t be certain), and it makes for quite the interruption to daily life.  Thankfully things are falling back to whatever passes for normal in this missionary’s life, so more posts are forthcoming including:

“Reverse Furlough”: my thoughts on the pros and cons of supporters visiting your ministry in the field
“Scaremongering”: why rumours and gossip, veiled as “information”, end up harming missions ministry

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We’re on Twitter here at Missionary Confidential, so now you can instantly get a tweet whenever a new blog post shows up. Follow me at http://twitter.com/M_Confidential, and I’ll follow you.

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We’re glad to be back from our unexpected hiatus on the blog.  After all the house moves I’ve done over my life, why do I forget every time how much it throws our schedule?  And that several weeks into any new place, we still can’t find stuff?  Of course, the most striking revelation on this move is that, despite moving to our mission field with just clothes and laptops, we have accumulated so very much—and we don’t even own furniture.

To anyone moving to Europe and considering a “fully furnished” rental: the concept of fully furnished is extremely relative and up to broad interpretation.  My favourite example is, when viewing potential rentals, a four-bedroomed furnished semi had exactly this: a dining table and four chairs, a kettle, two single beds (in different rooms), and a dresser (should I include the 2 cm layer of dog/cat hair on the carpet?).  And the letting agent stood there acting as if all that were more than plenty for move-in living.  If any of our prior furnished places had really been furnished for actual living and cooking, we would own maybe a box of extra stuff, not 30 boxes worth!

But, hey, we’re blessed to be closer to the church that we work with, and this newest place is much better outfitted than most.  Most importantly, it’s a quieter location, so more writing is around the corner.  Look out for new material next week, and thanks for keeping up with us.

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Another Missionary Confidential blog-first: we’ve been featured on a Blog Carnival focusing on missionaries. A big shout out to Missionary-Blogs, and check out the “Advice For Aspiring Missionaries” at their blog. Don’t know what a “Blog Carnival” is? Here’s the Wikipedia on it.

Related posts:

1. Reverse Culture Shock, Kid-Style
2. A Blog Written From the MK Perspective
3. Other Missionary Issue Blogs Freshly Added

Realising that we’re a realtively young blog site, we’re pleased to announce that one of our blog posts has been featured on Wrecked For The Ordinary, an online publication that is (in their words) “for spiritual misfits.”  It’s a publication that we’ve been following for a while now, and it gives voice to the real struggles that Christians face throughout their walk.

Check out our article on their site here: New Year’s Confession: My Addiction to Anxiety

Related posts:

1. Interested in Short-Term Missions? Some Good Thoughts
2. New Year’s Confession: My Addiction to Anxiety