This morning, I was thinking of our supporters – and feeling a little troubled, knowing how much you sacrifice in your time in prayer, in your finances, and in other ways. I know that you pray for, give to, and invest yourselves in other ministries, including the ministry of your own daily lives. I know you face troubles and difficult situations and that you still give to others. Then, I was reminded that you are not just giving to our family, but that you are giving to God and his work, and that you are giving out of obedience to him. So, I am filled with thankfulness for you all over again, and also challenged to examine my own prayer life, our finances, and our daily lives so that we can also walk in closer obedience to the Lord. Thank you, again, for your partnership in his Kingdom!!!

In the past month, we’ve done more traveling! We’ve been able to visit Glen Elder, Bolton, and Derby churches and people from those areas. We were also able to hang out with some close friends from college and some of Chelsea’s extended family members for a couple of days in Missouri. Then, Brad and Chelsea spent some time in Colorado while the kids stayed with family members in Wichita. We are so thankful for the sweet connections and reconnections the Lord has allowed us to make with churches, friends, family, and each other during this last month.

This past month, we’ve also seen the need for more financial and prayer supporters, and we have also seen the Lord provide those in a short amount of time – we are 100% funded! If the Lord is still laying on your heart the desire to partner with missions in Africa, please feel free to sign up below or contact the EFM office about different ways to do that.

This week—our LAST week in the States—will be full of meetings, fellowship, family time, packing, shopping, logistical tasks, and emotions. We’d love your prayers for all of these things, as well as for our travel on August 18, 19, and 20. It has been an amazing time in the U.S., and we are also looking forward to being home in Rwanda soon.

Love in Christ,

Brad & Chelsea

Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

P.S. For those of you curious about our house wall project – the work has been completed!  We will have to rearrange the furniture and get settled back in, but we are so thankful that the moisture can now vent out of our walls instead of building up and causing problems.

---

We currently have 974 prayer partners and still have a goal of raising it to 1,200. If you know anyone who would like to pray for our ministry, please forward this form to them.

The post The Carpenter Family | Deputation Update | We are Fully Funded! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Thank you so very much for continuing to pray with us!

Would you please pray with us for the Lord to help us finish the remaining process of fundraising? God is leading us in exciting ways, and the expansion of his work requires more funds. We still need to raise about $2,000 per month in ongoing giving toward our ministry funds in Central/East Africa. These funds help with communication, transportation, and other things that are needed for whole-life discipleship and missionary sending in the region. We are confident that the Lord will lead those he is calling to give toward this ministry. Below is a group of future missionaries from Rwanda and the U.S. visiting a community in South Sudan on a recent trip.

If you have been giving and plan to continue, please let us know so we can know what to expect in the coming years.

One observation we have made is that many of those who have been giving financially for many years are over 60 years old. And in the last four years quite a few of them have passed away. We are asking God to raise up younger generations to catch the vision of God’s mission in the world. We believe that God asks us to give our time, prayer, finances, and lives to join him in what he is doing. If you have never given towards God’s mission among the nations, consider asking God where you should give and start by giving $5 per month to that ministry.

Is he asking you to join us with an ongoing monthly gift? If so, please see below for four ways to partner with us financially.

Thank you for partnering with us!

Brad & Chelsea and family

The post Partner with the Carpenters! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

We are so thankful for you who read our messages, pray for us, and support us! If you’re not already signed up as a prayer partner or as a financial support partner, we invite you to prayerfully consider if God would have you do so. We know he has called us, and that he will call others to be a part of this team! We are also so thankful for the other teams and ministries you are a part of, and we pray that God will empower each of you every day in every part of your lives.

It’s been about a month since we last wrote, and during that time, we have been able to travel to churches in Paonia and Denver, Colorado, as well as Plains, Haviland, and Hutchinson, Kansas. We loved visiting churches and spending time with family along the way – including a family vacation in Colorado. The past week, we have seen that all our travel is starting to affect all five of us in our emotions and attitudes a bit more. We need God to keep helping us and showing us how to still be loving and kind in the midst of this specific kind of deputation-tiredness.

However, everywhere we go, several people in each place show a special kind of sensitivity to our family. They give opportunities for rest, for fun things for our kids, and for helping with our kids when we are speaking or working. We have been so blessed to share updates from Rwanda with people who really want to know and who really care. One highlight was being able to present a (very short) basic training on some of the foundations of D for D (Discipling for Development) at Paonia Friends Church. We believe the Holy Spirit was moving in us, challenging us, and calling us to some new ways of thinking and living life with him and others.

We are so thankful for God’s protection on the road (for example: a punctured tire we were able to drive on until we found a place to fix it), for healing from sickness (yucky stomach flu on the way to Colorado), and for the amazing people we get to connect with in each place (if only we had more time with everyone!)

We’d appreciate your continuing prayers for:

• Our hearts, attitudes, and emotions during our travels.
• God to bring all the people he’s calling to partner with us – whether through prayer, finances, coming to Africa, etc.
• Our long lists of things we need to do – that God would help us do what needs to be done and let go of everything else.

Thank you, and God bless you all!

Brad & Chelsea
Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

We currently have 974 prayer partners and have a goal of raising it to 1,200. If you know anyone who would like to pray for our ministry, please forward this form to them.

We are currently at 84% of our ongoing monthly need. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. It is important to let EFM know that you plan to continue or increase your giving. If you are not currently giving, please prayerfully consider supporting our ministry in Central Africa.

There are four ways to partner with them financially:

• Online. Visit https://catalog.friendsmission.com/carpenter. You’ll be given the opportunity to indicate whether you are making a recurring or 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. Make sure to mark your check “Carpenter Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post The Carpenter Family | Deputation Update #2 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

In each town, we have had the privilege of sharing the Sunday morning message at the Friends Church, meeting with small groups, meeting with some people in their homes, and having some fun along the way! Over and over, we have felt overwhelmingly blessed by love and support. We have also felt like people in the churches have connected with the messages and stories from Central Africa – like about Africans growing with the Lord in every part of their life, and those Rwandans and Burundians who are willing to give up country, comfort, and money to start missions movements to the unreached people groups in South Sudan and Tanzania. We have all been challenged to surrender more to the Holy Spirit so he can empower us to join him in mission wherever we are.

At Quaker Ridge Camp, we had a great time at the Future Missionary Retreat, as well as at the EFM Board meetings. Not only was the Colorado mountainside a beautiful place to be with the Lord and with others, but it was also so invigorating to worship, study, and grow with this group of future missionaries, mentors, and EFM staff and board. I (Chelsea) was personally challenged by them and by the Lord to open my hands more in surrender to the Holy Spirit and be willing to do hard or scary things for and with the Lord, who loves me and loves everybody! Being at Camp Quaker Haven in Kansas was extra special for Brad and I, since we have loved growing up attending and working there, but hadn’t been back in about 20 years! We were privileged to be the speakers for two evenings there, telling the kids about Rwanda and our call as missionaries. We hope and pray the Lord used us (even though we’re not used to speaking to kids!) to show that he loves and calls all of us every day, normal people to himself and to be on mission with him.

After we had been traveling for a few weeks, Brad asked our kids what they were thankful for. And they answered, “we have so many friends wherever we go.” It’s been such a blessing to introduce our “old” friends to the kids, and also have them be brave and make new friends in each place. We are so proud of them for their patience with travel and their fresh perspective each morning, even after a hard night or stressful experience. We’ve been hot and cold, tired and kind of rested, high-speed and low-speed, and trying to make awesome family memories out of all of it!

Here are some of our memories and photos from this first month:

• Getting through that long trip from Rwanda to the U.S.
• Being welcomed to Wichita by our family and also by our church family.
• Attending our nephew’s graduation from high school.
• Enduring a long wait at baggage claim, only to have a long wait to rent a car, only to encounter some broken glass in the rental car!

• Swimming in pools and playing in splash pads!
• Sarai and Gideon sharing at Uncle Jeff’s school and at the children’s church.
• Attending a friend’s baseball game.
• Seeing the ocean and petting the sting rays at Kemah Boardwalk.
• Visiting the Space Center in Houston, with its massive rockets, models, and displays.

• Going on a bike ride in Denver with friends.
• Visiting kittens, goats, peacocks, and ducks at QRC (Quaker Ridge Camp).
• Hiking up Soldier’s Mountain and seeing deer on a morning jog at QRC.
• Making new friends with the resident kids at QRC and building an awesome place to play in called “Car Land”.
• Getting to hang out with our niece, who came along to help with the kids at QRC.
• Sarai attending CQH (Camp Quaker Haven) for the first time and loving it!

• Gideon conquering the swim test, doing a flip off the diving board, and reaching the top of the climbing wall at the CQH pool – all for the first time!
  Ian conquering his fear of the BIG SLIDE at CQH – and then asking to do it again and again!
• Celebrating our nephew’s 14th birthday!
• Seeing lots of family, friends, and mentors: laughing, and reminiscing.
• Spending some family time at a bookstore, a big swimming pool, and the science museum in Oklahoma City.
• Joining the Friends Church and all the town residents at the big ice cream festival in Chandler.
• Ian learning how to jump in the pool for the first time, thanks to a new and daring buddy.
• Special times with our family – playing Barbies, planting flowers, playing board games, playing soccer with cousins, flying drones, and laughing around the table.

Thank you so much for your support!

Love,
Brad & Chelsea
Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

We currently have 973 prayer partners and have a goal of raising it to 1,200. If you know anyone who would like to pray for our ministry, please forward this form to them.

We are currently at 81% of our ongoing monthly need. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. It is important to let EFM know that you plan to continue or increase your giving. If you are not currently giving, please prayerfully consider supporting our ministry in Central Africa.

There are four ways to partner with them financially:

• Online. Visit https://catalog.friendsmission.com/carpenter. You’ll be given the opportunity to indicate whether you are making a recurring or 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. Make sure to mark your check “Carpenter Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post The Carpenter Family | Deputation Update #1 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The Carpenter Family | Serving in Rwanda

Brad and the D for D (Discipling for Development) team recently attended a celebration where they heard several testimonies of transformation and praised God for what he is doing in and through the people participating in D for D.  At this celebration, a woman stood up – we’ll call her Alice. Alice is a leader in the local government who works with women, and she is not a member of the Friends Church. But, along with other community members and church members, she was invited and welcomed into the D for D group to learn and grow together. She shared powerfully about the different things she has learned about whole-life transformation in Christ! She was casting vision for continuing to pass on what she’s learned to the women that she leads, and to the whole community!

Left: “Alice” giving her testimony. Center: We always love visits from David Thomas Right: The D for D celebration Brad attended.

In some ways, it feels like we’re finally moving toward our dream of seeing whole communities, not just church members, being transformed in their relationships with God, self, others, and the environment – of seeing God’s Kingdom coming! We look forward to our continued walk alongside these discipleship groups in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo as they disciple those in their churches and those outside. And we’re excited to keep seeing that happen in South Sudan, Tanzania, and wherever else God would lead us.

May God help each of us look outside our home, church, and comfort zone to love, serve, and disciple.  May we be inspired by Alice and her testimony!

Brad & Chelsea

Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

Left: Sarai with friends at school. Center: A young friend who just started preschool. We were excited to meet him on the road after his school day.  Right: Talking with Pastor Gerard in our yard.

Download the full prayer letter here…

The post March 2024 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The Carpenter Family | Serving in Rwanda

Discipleship

The D for D team is following up with teams from five local churches in Rwanda, ten Burundian team leaders, and three Congolese team leaders. Each of these teams is working to finish the phase of whole-life discipleship called “Mobilization”. We are helping them to lead their communities to catch a vision for whole-life transformation, to recognize with joy the many resources that God has given them and the main barriers that are holding them back as a community, and to catch a passion to use what God has given them to pursue solutions towards wholeness related to each barrier. Please pray for each group to successfully finish this process so that they can enter into the “Empowerment” Phase.

Missions-sending

The Lord continues to stir the hearts and minds of Evangelical Friends church leaders in Rwanda and Burundi toward sending out their own missionaries. When you receive this message, we will have finished a gathering of key Friends leaders from Central and East Africa focusing on God’s heart for the redemption of the nations. We will seek to learn and share from each other and seek God’s direction for the next steps for each of our groups to obey God’s call.  Please pray for the Holy Spirit to remove barriers that might prevent us from reaching God’s plan for this time and pray that the Spirit will illuminate and empower each participant to hear and respond to God’s loving invitation to work with him.

Masters’ Studies

Brad has continued taking courses through Fuller Seminary. The courses have been challenging and enlightening in the areas of interacting with people from other cultural contexts. He has been especially struck by the vision of the Gospel fully taking root and being translated into each culture.  Brad is recognizing that it is very difficult to fully surrender our own cultural biases to be open and ready to learn from our African Friends and their perspectives and insights into the Gospel and Biblical teachings. These insights feel especially important as we look towards Central African Friends and EFM partnering together to start new mission work among other people groups.

Family

It has been a joy to have Brad’s parents here for several weeks; we love anytime family can visit!  We’ve had some wonderful family time, and also times of refreshment when they took care of the children and helped us in different ways. Chelsea is staying busy with home and family tasks, as well as some financial, communication, and administrative work.  Sarai (10), Gideon (7), and Ian (3) are entering their last month of school before summer break.  They like their school but are also looking forward to a fun and busy summer!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. We are so thankful you are on our team and that we are all on God’s team!

Download full prayer letter here…

Praise God… That he has been helping Brad to work hard and learn a lot in his classes. He is so thankful for the relevance of all that he is learning. That Brad’s parents were able to come visit. That Chelsea was able to participate in a small women’s retreat with some dear friends in a beautiful place. Please Pray… For the D for D teams moving through the Mobilization phase into community-specific lessons that address their main concerns and for God to help them move forward. For God to raise up people from among our African churches to go as missionaries and others to send them. Pray for Sarai, Gideon, and Ian as they finish up the school year. Every day at school they navigate academics, relationships, spirituality, language, and culture.

The post May 2023 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.