Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for continuing to pray with us as we walk and serve with Jesus in Central/East Africa. We are thankful for your partnership over all these years.

Brad has now been living in Rwanda for 20 years, and in June, Chelsea will have been here for 17 years. We praise God for the many ways that He has helped and empowered us to be a part of what He is doing!

Much has happened since we last wrote.

Thank you for praying for the trip to Burundi and South Sudan in December. The trip was great. It is exciting to see how God is leading Burundi Friends in preparing a plan to send missionaries to unreached people in Tanzania, and Rwanda Friends preparing to send missionaries to South Sudan in May.

In January, our EFC-Rwanda Friends hosted a team from EFM who led a 5-day Small Business Development training that we believe will be an important part of how God wants to give Rwanda Friends new ways to do His mission here in Rwanda and beyond. Mission through businesses is exciting and will open many opportunities for ministry in the communities.

On January 29–30, the Administrative Council of EFC-Rwanda met to discern the Lord’s plan for who the next executive leaders of EFC-Rwanda are to be. We believe that the Lord helped the group make wise decisions.

On February 14–16, we will have some important D4D meetings with David Thomas, one of our D4D coaches.

On February 17–18, there will be an important Pastors’ retreat. On February 19–20, there will be Yearly Meeting sessions to fill several other leadership roles for the coming years. Please pray for God’s blessing and help in those days of discernment and decision.

Please also pray for a retreat that Brad will attend in Kenya from February 19–24 with others working in Disciple-making movements. Pray for good connections with God and others who are doing similar work. Please pray for Brad to have special times that are renewing and refreshing with the Lord. Also, please pray for Chelsea and the kids, who will be home in Musanze.

We continue to be so thankful for the ways the Lord helps us stay healthy in general, and the ways He heals us when we do get sick. We are still praying for Brad’s stomach issues that interfere with his sleep. Our kindergartner, 4th grader, and 7th grader continue to show diligence and kindness at school, and we also all enjoy the school events that help us feel like a community. We are thankful to have rhythms of hosting special visitors and everyday home life—normal days and exciting days, work and rest. We pray the Lord blesses you with these things as well!

Brad, Chelsea, Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

The post Brad & Chelsea Carpenter | February Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Dear Prayer Partners,

Many things have happened since we last wrote. We are so thankful for your prayers and partnership in the whole-life discipleship movement here in East Africa!

From Saturday, December 13, until Sunday the 21st, Brad will be on a trip to Burundi and then South Sudan. Time in both countries will be focused on starting new mission work and partnership with our African friends. Please pray for wisdom and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and to each other, as we (EFM) work with EFC-Rwanda and EFC-Burundi. We are praying for God to lead us into the best ways of partnering together for more effective mission to the nations. Please pray for health, safety, and blessing over those who are travelling and for their families at home.

We are thankful that we are all fairly healthy after being sick recently. We are also really thankful that Brad’s parents are with us until the beginning of January! We look forward to spending this Christmas season with them and some friends in Musanze.

Most of all, we pray that all would hear about the hope that God offers through Jesus. May He be glorified all throughout the world!

Thank you!
Brad & Chelsea
Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

The post Brad & Chelsea Carpenter | December Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Dear Friends and Family,

As most of you know, I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi for a two-month summer internship with EFM, for more training and experience. I was part of a small team of others my age who are also exploring and preparing to serve as career missionaries in the future. EFM missionaries, Brad and Chelsea Carpenter, were my supervisors and mentors.

This internship took place in June and July 2025 and included:

• 1 Week: The EFM Future Missionary Retreat in Colorado. (Last week of May)
• 5 Weeks: Time in Rwanda including:
  • Culture bonding and language learning
  • Home stays with Rwandan families
  • Exposure/training in whole-life discipleship and its success in EFC-Rwanda
  • Learning about the lifestyle of the missionary family on the field
• 10 Days: Immersion into the dorms and student experience at the East Africa School of Missions in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (EFM calls it the missions training “boot camp.”)
• 2 Weeks: Time in Burundi; joining a student short-term missions team coming from Mid America Yearly Meeting
  • Engaging with the church at Burundi youth camp and other opportunities
  • Learning about the Burundi Friends Church history and the great example of their multiplication movement.
• For more information click here.

The most valuable part of this internship, for me, was to be able to see one example of what it looks like to be missionaries on the field. I had read many books about being a missionary, but being part of the Carpenters’ daily life gave me more confidence in being able to live as a missionary myself.

My next steps will include the Ecuador  Luke 10 Prayer Trip happening in October, and a year-long internship in Ecuador, as soon as the funds, visa, and other logistics allow.

I want to thank you guys for supporting me so well. I have been so blessed by all of your prayer. I know that so many people were praying for me when I broke my leg and now are praying for my discernment process as well as my upcoming steps, and I am so grateful. Prayer will continue to be so necessary!

I also want to thank you for your generous financial support. I had everything I needed for my internship. God is so good!

Thank you,
Grace Anderson

Please consider supporting my prayer trip and internship in Ecuador. I will need monthly recurring financial partners to get me through the one-year internship. You can partner with me by:

• Online: Visit the Field Intern donation page by clicking the button below. Once there, scroll down to find my name and select your gift amount. You’ll have the opportunity to indicate whether you are giving monthly or as a one-time gift.
• Credit Card: This may be given online (as stated above) or by calling the EFM office (303) 421-8100 to give your information to a live person.
• Automatic Bank Transfer: Download the form here and email it to Debby McElroy (EFM Bookkeeper) at debby@friendsmission.com. Please note that ACH payments are processed on the 10th or 25th of the month.
• Check: Mail a check to EFM, P.O. Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277. Please mark your check “Erik Nilsen Field Internship Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post Grace Anderson | September 2025 Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

I had an amazing trip to Burundi, with a short visit to Rwanda followed by a week of coaching in Thailand. I gave a post-trip report at Friendsview and was amazed at how many of the prayer requests from my pre-trip briefing were answered: In bold are my pre-trip prayer requests, followed by the answers.

Pray for my growth in moment-by-moment discernment of Holy Spirit’s voice and guidance on this trip! I had a greater awareness of Holy Spirit’s presence, a greater sensitivity to his moment-by-moment leading than I have had before. I also felt a greater ability to focus, to think clearly, and to be calm and centered. This for me was the best part of this trip.

Pray for encouragement for our Rwanda D4D team… Yes…

Pray for Rwanda and Burundi Friends leaders to catch father’s heart for the lost… Pray for clear steps forward in pursuing their growing missionary sending vision! We started the conference by listing out the key organizational components needed for missionary sending, then measured each example given according to these criteria. We finished with Rwanda and Burundi listing out the clear next steps to be taken in their journeys to build the structure needed to send out missionaries themselves. We finished with a high sense of ownership and excitement to take the next steps forward.

Pray for my facility and ease in translation between Spanish, English, and Kinyarwanda. We will have three leaders from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador sharing how God has led them to send missionaries to Cambodia. This connection was especially important as our African friends learned from our Central American friends in their story of sending missionaries to Cambodia. There was the sense, “If they can do it, so can we!” My language links between Kinyarwanda and Spanish grew daily. A special highlight was when Holy Spirit helped me translate Luisa’s testimony on Sunday from Spanish into Kinyarwanda, which was well understood by a large Kirundi speaking congregation.

Pray for God’s abundant grace to be over The Way Foundation team … pray for unity and growth as a D4D team for Yosapa and Manat! This was a huge answer to prayer as I discovered Yosapa is now empowering Manat, working with him as an equal team member, planning together, and delegating to him important responsibilities including facilitating lessons.

I got to observe Yosapa and Manat working together as they prepared Friday’s plan. Then I got to observe them facilitate their lessons with the Lahu leaders from the two villages they are working in. Yosapa is an excellent facilitator and is mentoring Manat well in his growth in facilitation.

Pray for excellent translation and stamina for Achi Po, Jason Byers, and Julie in Chiang Rai, Thailand! Achi Po and Jason served us well with excellent translation. They have improved a lot in the last year. Julie is our best translator, and she gave us two days. All three are involved in other ministries, Jason as a counselor, Achi Po as a teacher with his father Charlee, and Julie as The Way Foundations accountant. Their gift to the D4D team in translation is invaluable. One amazing thing about this trip was arriving Monday morning to find Yosapa and Manat each with a stack of the key five lessons printed in front of them – lessons they needed to learn this week to lead their villages in the next seven months. Julie especially (with Achi Po helping with one lesson) made this possible!

The crazy thing about my coaching time in Thailand is the back story: I found out at 9:30pm Sunday night that my fellow coach, Scott Purser was recovering from COVID-19, and that I would be coaching on my own starting the next morning. I was completely calm! We had an excellent plan, and the coaching needs of the team didn’t deviate from it. I depend on Scott, his wisdom, his excellent coaching, his moment-by-moment insight, his humor, … I appreciate going back and forth with each of us taking the next part of the coaching or lesson. This time it was up to me (and Holy Spirit). I followed Holy Spirit’s leading with moment-by-moment decisions, excellent coaching questions, excellent guidance, and a lot of joy in the process.

I could write ten more pages detailing how God moved, of the state of our D4D teams, of my observations of the growth and maturity of the Rwandan Friends Church, of personal testimonies of God’s blessing in families. I am so aware of God’s presence and favor and mega grace! He loves “doing way beyond all that we can ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20-21)!” I am so blessed to be doing this work, seeing Christ’s transforming power at work in people’s lives, and looking ahead to generations more who will be blessed through them! Thank you for being a part of my team!

Thank you again for partnering with me!

David Thomas

The post David Thomas’ Post Trip Report from Rwanda, Burundi, and Thailand! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.