Dear friends and family,

Thanks to you, I have reached 100% of the support I need to go to Mexico for a year! Thank you so very much! Even further good news is that I have a prospective departure date: October 20th.

Last week, Zacatecas Friends had a congregational meeting to discuss and discern when they would be ready to receive me as an intern. This morning, at the time of writing, they notified EFM of the decision they reached (the above date). Further, they are looking into two potential housing options for me: either a student apartment at the preparatory school where Pastor Omar and his family work; or an acquaintance’s casita for an affordable rent. Whichever option presents itself as the more convenient in the coming weeks, I am very happy that I will be seeing the Ramirez family again very, very soon. And also that I don’t have to live in the cupboard under the stairs, which is as much a possibility for missionaries as it is for wizards.

In other news, I took a short trip to Seattle this month to visit family I hadn’t seen in several years, including my paternal grandparents and several distant cousins. I felt like I should visit them before leaving the country for a year. One day, my cousin Blake drove up from George Fox University (where he is a senior) to visit me and our grandparents. As our grandma prepared dinner, we sat in the living room while our grandpa regaled us with tales of his childhood (and present) mischief, stories from his time as a Marine, and his adventures in carpentry and halibut fishing.

Our grandpa, like his dad and older brothers, took pride in working with his hands all his life. Many years ago, however, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which has slowly sapped his strength each day to the present. He maintains a daily routine of walking and stretches to conserve his remaining physicality as long as possible. After gleefully recounting to us the accounts of a grumpy, old Norwegian man, Grandpa addressed us with a rare tenderness as he reflected on the course of his life.

“Sometimes life deals you a bad hand. Both of you know that, because you’ve both lost someone very early: Erik, your mom; and Blake, your brother. There really isn’t anything else to do but to play what you have the best you can, because you aren’t getting any more cards. I would not have chosen the hand dealt to me right now. But I have to ask Jesus for strength every day just to go on a walk around the block, and he is faithful to provide it. I want you guys to know that there isn’t anyone or anything else that could keep me going each day except him.”

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:30-31

Faithfully yours,
Erik

The post Erik Nilsen | September 2025 Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

In the last month, so many of you have reached out to support this mission trip, that I have gone from 27% to 86% funded! I am humbled by your generosity and the many, many unexpected donors. Once we reach 100%, I will be able to go to Mexico for this one-year internship, which hopefully will be very soon!

Since my last update, I have gone to the Huntington Beach Pier several times with North County Project to engage in street evangelism. Nick and Ivan (the new NCP apprentice after me) have been experimenting with new methods of public engagement. Lately, they have been writing provocative questions on a whiteboard and have invited passers-by to mark their opinion on the board. Many of them stay to converse and elaborate on what they think. We have encountered belligerent Muslims, outspoken Italians, recovering addicts, fellow evangelists, a paranoid schizophrenic who claimed to be the Holy Spirit (and still knew the Bible more thoroughly than those evangelists), and curious people seeking for truth and open to hearing more about Jesus. We were surprised and encouraged by how many we encountered in that last group, especially in Orange County.

Moreover, I am so happy that NCP continues to invite me to join them on their mission field as I wait to be sent to another.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. (Mark 6:34a)

Dutifully yours,
Erik

I am currently looking for supporters to partner with me in my next steps with EFM. You can support me through prayer and financial giving. I need and appreciate both so that I can reach 100% in both areas at this stage of my journey with EFM. I currently have 239 prayer partners and my goal is to have 250. If you know anyone who would like to sign up to be a prayer partner, you can send them this link.

Would you pray and consider supporting me financially in this endeavor? There are four ways to partner with me:

• 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 Erik Nilsen | August 2025 Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The question I’ve gotten the most is “When exactly are you going?” The simple answer is, when I am fully funded! As of right now, I am 27% toward the goal I need to meet before EFM can send me to Mexico. If you haven’t already, would you prayerfully consider giving toward my missions fund? And if you have, thank you so much for partnering with me in this missionary work! If you are so inclined, I particularly need monthly recurring gifts in order to meet monthly expenses, including food, housing, and travel.

In the meantime, EFM and I have been preparing the further training I will need on the field. Last month, I had a meeting with Carol Lewis, who will be my language coach over Zoom. While I currently display some proficiency in the Spanish language (“nerd Spanish,” as Marco Martinez of Haviland Friends has termed it), Carol will work with me to refine my language skills to communicate effectively as a minister of the gospel and the deep, nuanced, and intimate personal conversations that will entail.

As I continue to wait and prepare to be sent to Zacatecas, I have been attending the Spanish-language service at my home church, called Amigos Rose Drive. The congregation and Pastor Javier Marin have warmly welcomed and received me and my dad, who is also regularly attending with me. Javier, who is from Mexico City himself, has repeatedly expressed his excitement that I’ve been called to preach the gospel in his home country.

For me, it has been very touching to watch my dad enjoy immersing himself with me in a new culture while we continue to learn and practice the language. While the content of the songs and sermons aren’t that different from that in the English service, my dad has said that the Amigos service has been more engaging for him, since he has to concentrate more to listen and understand. During my first trip to Zacatecas earlier this year, my dad attended Amigos by himself every week, and he told me that the congregation would always eagerly ask him for updates about me.

I am very grateful for Amigos Rose Drive for how they are preparing me for life and ministry in Mexico, but I am especially happy to see my dad’s spirit reinvigorated by the same cross-cultural connections.

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

(Psalm 57:9-10, NIV)

Dutifully yours,

Erik

I am currently looking for supporters to partner with me in my next steps with EFM. You can support me through prayer and financial giving. I need and appreciate both so that I can reach 100% in both areas at this stage of my journey with EFM. I currently have 239 prayer partners and my goal is to have 250. If you know anyone who would like to sign up to be a prayer partner, you can send them this link. 

 Would you pray and consider supporting me financially in this endeavor? There are four ways to partner with me:

•  Online. Donate online here. Make sure to select “Field Intern | Erik Nilsen” at check out. 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 “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 Erik Nilsen July 2025 Fundraising Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

In December 2019, I graduated from Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas, and returned to live with my family in Orange County, California. I had made plans to join the Teaching Abroad program, newly absorbed into Evangelical Friends Mission, to go to China to teach English to university students. I had long felt a call to international missions, but was attracted to the model of offering a tangible service for a stipend, room, and board from the school. By March 2020, however, it was very clear that I would not be going to Wuhan, China, anytime soon.

In the following months, EFM continued to contact me about their Luke 10 Initiative to open several new fields to send new missionaries by 2025 and asked if I was interested in any of the fields being explored. At first, I felt uncomfortable with the prospect of the more traditional missionary route, since it would require me to fundraise and ask for money, which had no guarantee of success. I continued to discuss the prospect with EFM while finishing a master’s degree and working several jobs in HVAC, plumbing, t-shirt printing, and real estate (to name a few), and volunteering in my church’s youth group (Rose Drive Friends Church). We narrowed our focus to my passion for biblical literacy and teaching, and my proficiency in the Spanish language.

By the end of the year, I felt the weight of an impending decision to step out in faith. All of the other opportunities I had pursued had closed: my business ventures, my HVAC career, and even my ministry as a youth volunteer. Moreover, I had been living with my grandma since college and really needed to move on in life. Would I let go of my plans and follow Jesus on an unknown path, trusting in God’s provision? I prayed for direction, and I asked (pestered) trusted mentors at church whom I should contact to prepare for the mission field. I was introduced to Alan Amavisca and Nick Ward of North County Project, who welcomed me with open arms and began teaching me their methodology.

In 2023, Edwin and Maria Giron invited me to join them on a Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico, with a team of Friends Church members from both the United States and Mexico. There, I learned about Mexico Yearly Meeting’s goal, called Vision 32, to plant an evangelical church in all 32 states by the year 2032. I also got to meet several members of the Mexican Friends Church who were called to go evangelize and make disciples in communities far from home, including Pedro and Sandy Moscosa of Mexico State, and Sergio (Tyson) Contreras of Coahuila.

In 2024, EFM announced a partnership with NCP to train future missionaries for their new mission fields and invited me to train for ten months as one of the first wave of future missionary candidates in this new process. The experience was both hallowing and harrowing, and I was the only one to complete the program in its first year. Earlier this year, EFM sent me to visit Pastor Omar Ramirez and his family, who have been raising a new church body in Zacatecas, Mexico, with the purpose of getting to know the Ramirez family and their congregation in preparation for ministry with them.

After returning and debriefing with EFM, I am proud to announce that I have been accepted for a 12-month field training internship in Zacatecas, Mexico, in which I will be learning directly from Omar how to facilitate ministry and Christian discipleship in Mexico, assisting him in serving his growing congregation, and engaging in long-term cultural and language immersion. This opportunity is an enormous answer to prayer, and I am excited to follow God’s calling in my life to missions, and to partner with EFM and Mexico Yearly Meeting in reaching the weary and the discouraged in Mexico for Christ.

For those who have followed my journey up to this point, thank you so much for your constant love, prayers, and support, through good times and difficulties, as God has continued to transform me into the image of his son as much as the people to whom I minister. For those to whom my story is new, thank you for joining me in ministry and becoming part of this story—a small chapter of God’s greater story of the redemption of all the nations of the earth.

Dutifully yours,

Erik E. Nilsen, M.A.

Evangelical Friends Mission

eriknilsen1@gmail.com

620-349-9249

The post Erik Nilsen’s Internship in Mexico! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

A 10:2 Prayer Trip is an annual trip to the mission fields where EFM has committed to sending missionaries. Teams are asked to pray for the soil (Matthew 13:1-23) and pray for the workers (Luke 10:2). Teams are sent or guided by sponsoring regions/yearly meetings of the new EFM fields that have been leading exploration. 10:2 Prayer Trips will target appropriate communities for prayer walking and interceding that “the Kingdom come, and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven” in those places.

Earlier this month, a 10:2 Prayer Trip took place in Mexico. The following is a report written by team member Trent Jacks.

A group of nine from Haviland Friends Church traveled to Mexico beginning January 1 through 9. The group included Michael Scott, John Bertram, Todd Follette, DeWayne Bryan, Nathan Macy, Austin Ackerman, Andrew McClosky, Luke Ballard, and Trent Jacks.

The first stop was in Zacatecas, Mexico. The group visited for three days under the direction of Omar Ramirez, pastor of the recent church plant and Ernesto Ramirez, Mexico YM Superintendent. We spent time visiting the homes of the church members, praying for their families and the various needs as they shared them. We prayed for the cities of Zacatecas and Guadalupe, for the members of the Church, the pastor’s family, as well as for future workers needed for the harvest.

The second stop was in Durango. We met with a local pastor to learn what areas already had a Christian church and what areas needed to be reached the most. We split into two groups and visited a couple of potential communities. We prayed for the area and the unreached people there. We agreed with the Mexican leadership that the community of Juan Aldama was a good place to consider a new church plant.

One of the many highlights for the group was the bold evangelism of an 8-year-old boy, Edwardo. He is being raised by a single mother of three, Sylvia. She is a faithful attender of the church. Edwardo brought other children to Christ during a church youth gathering in the park. He didn’t need coaching or encouragement. He simply wanted to share Jesus with everyone he met. He was bold as a lion.

Please continue to pray for the unreached people of these two communities as well as the new converts in Zacatecas. Also, pray for more workers to bring in the harvest.

The post A Report from the 10:2 Prayer Trip to Mexico first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

By November 2024, EFM had made a commitment to launch seven of the nine fields that were under exploration. Those seven fields are now moving on to the prayer and pre-launch planning phases. See more information here.

The post Pray for the 10:2 Prayer Trip to Mexico first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

By Fall 2023, 17 teams had been sent out to explore 11 different potential new mission fields since EFM’s Five-Year Goal launched in 2021. In November 2023, EFM made a commitment to launch 6 of the 9 fields that were still under exploration. Those six fields are now moving on to the pre-launch planning phases. See more information here.

A Luke 10 Pre-Launch Planning Trip occurs after EFM has made a decision of commitment to launching the mission field. EFM commissions Field Study Groups to complete a Pre-Launch Planning Report, which often requires further trips to obtain the details necessary for EFM to be able to deploy missionaries to a location to launch a new field.

In June 2024, the a pre-launch planning trip took place in Mexico. The following is a report written by team member, Maria Giron.

This team included Ernesto Ramirez (Superintendent Mexico YM Central), Elizabeth Gomez (Director of ITA -Friends Theology Institute), Samuel and Cristina Vasquez (Superintendent of Mexico YM North), Sergio and Nancy Cardona (Pastors Friends Ciudad Juarez), Sergio Contreras (Future Missionary from Coahuila Friends Church), Ximena Maldonado (Future Missionary from Coahuila Friends Church), Angelica De La Cruz (Future Missionary from Coahuila Friends Church), Matt Macy (EFM Director of Mobilization), and Edwin and Maria Giron (EFM Missions Mobilizers).

We explored several towns in two states. In San Luis Potosi, we went to Mexquitic, Moctezuma, and Salinas de Hidalgo. In Durango, we went to Vicente Guerrero, Durango City, Guadalupe Victoria, and Juan Aldama. We also visited Omar and Aryadna Ramírez, church planters in Zacatecas to encourage them and learn how EFM could send additional new workers to help them.

Edwin and Maria Giron met a woman named Martina in Las Vegas who is originally from a town in Durango but has not been able to return to her place of birth, and she has not seen her family for more than 20 years. Martina, a few years ago, accepted Christ, and she is the only one in her entire family who knows about salvation and the Gospel. Maria, knowing her story, told Martina about the plans to explore Durango and Martina, eagerly and excited, asked us to go take the Good News to her family in a little town called Juan Aldama. When the team arrived in Martina’s town, we asked some women who were sitting in small chairs at the door of their house if they knew Martina’s family because we had come to visit them. The two women pointed us towards the house across the street and told us these words: Can’t you also come visit us? Very clearly, at that moment, we felt that it was a special invitation made by God and that he was opening the door since we had heard that the people in Durango are very distrustful and do not easily establish a conversation, much less invite you into their homes.

After visiting Martina’s family, where to the glory of God, a 20-year-old young woman declared her sin and accepted Christ into her heart, we then went to visit these two women sitting at their door, and as we began to tell them that we were a group of Evangelical Christians preaching the Word of God, they invited us into their house inside the living room, one of them saying: Please come in, we want to listen more carefully to what you have to say about God. Soon, they began to call other relatives and neighbors, and soon, the house was filled with more people asking for prayer and listening with hunger and attention to our pastors’ preaching. That moment was a Kairos moment where God poured out his spirit, and seven people accepted Christ into their hearts! It was an amazing experience in which we clearly knew that God was calling us there.

In both states, the harvest is plentiful and ready for harvest. God is opening doors of opportunity to launch new ministries to continue expanding his kingdom in these places where more than 90% of the people are bound by other religions and fear because of the problems of drug cartels, immorality, witchcraft, and many other of Satan’s lies that have them cut off and very far away from having a relationship with our Savior.

The most compelling needs and skill sets needed in this country are church planting, personal evangelism, one-on-one discipleship-making, leadership making, marriage counseling, experience in psychology, addictions therapy/treatment, and kids ministry.

This team recommends the following types of people should answer the call to go to Mexico. People with the ability to establish conversations and relationships with new people. People with the ability to evangelize and disciple communities from scratch. People who are willing to live in very modest places or rustically in small towns. People who are willing to invest time and effort in local people. People with a focus and mentality of going to serve and present Christ to those who need a personal relationship with him. Preferably, people with influence in Spanish or a knowledge of the language or willing to immerse themselves in the culture and learn the language.

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative.

The post Report from the Pre- Launch Planning Trip to Mexico first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The team started the next day by having the first conversation with EFM’s Director of Mobilization, Matt Macy, who shared a devotional based on Luke 10 and about EFM’s framework, vision, and mission. The purpose was to get acquainted with each other as we head towards the future where we intend to partner, form, and send multinational teams. After our first formal meeting, we all departed for the first part of the trip where we explored three different towns in the State of San Luis Potosi.

Having completed the first part of this trip, during our first debriefing time as a team, our mutual sense about these towns was that most people in these places are not very open to having a conversation with strangers. In fact, some of us experienced rejection, hardness of hearts, mistrust, and hopelessness in the lives of the local people because of the many cultural conflicts that they have suffered, for which we know that the reality is the need for Jesus’ love in their lives, in their families and their towns. Since the first town we visited, God directed us to talk to some key local people who informed us that before there had been other denominations of evangelical Christians that had tried to initiate ministries around this area and they all failed and left, the one pastor that lasted the longest had a ministry for one year without much fruit.  Even having experienced these hard spiritual soil towns, our team still agrees that it is precisely to these hard places where workers are most needed to come in the name of Jesus to bring the gospel of truth, grace, and love of God.

Please continue praying for our team of 12 as we continue with the second part of this trip traveling through towns in the state Durango.

Please pray…

• For safety and health.
• For continued conversations about the partnership between Mexico Friends and EFM.
• To be able to have encounters with the people of peace in each town.

The post Mexico Pre-Launch Planning Trip Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Dear Prayer Partners,

Future Missionary Retreat in Aguascalientes

The first retreat for Future Missionaries in Latin America was held from August 7 to 11 with an attendance of 25 young people from the different Friends Churches of Mexico and from Kansas, United States. Most were between the ages of 16 and 30. It was such a special and exciting time. These young people had the opportunity to meet and have fellowship for four days in a single house to be focused on exploring a possible call to be future missionaries or Church planters. During these days, potential future missionaries had the opportunity to listen to speakers with experience in missions such as our EFM Field Director, Dan Cammack, and former missionaries Duane and Lois Davis, among other excellent speakers that God used to impact the hearts of those who were present. These days were of intense learning, prayer, praise, paying attention to God’s call to each one of them, and expanding their vision to the need that still exists to reach the third of the world that does not yet know about Jesus.

These potential future missionaries also had opportunities to sense the spiritual need through service and evangelization in the city’s downtown. It was beautiful to see how young people with gifts of music gathered from different churches and an incredible praise group was formed that guided us in worship through music.

At the end of the retreat, several of these young people were given the opportunity to talk about what they experienced individually, and each of the testimonies was one of hope since the majority are willing and determined to go wherever God wants to send them.

Pastor Samuel Vásquez-Superintendent of the Northern Yearly Meeting, who was one of our mentors, testified that he can see that what has been sown for a long time in the churches of Mexico, now shows fruit through these young people, and now is the time in which God is pouring out his spirit on them so that they are the ones who reach those who remain unreached. This is the time, he emphasized!

Thanks to all of you who were praying for this retreat, God certainly let his spirit be felt moving among us. We give all the honor and glory to God for allowing this event to unfold in a way that only he could have done it.

Special thanks to all the guest speakers and mentors who accepted the invitation to come and be part of this historic event: Ernesto Ramirez- Superintendent of Mexico Yearly Meeting-Central, Samuel and Cristina Vasquez- Superintendent Mexico Yearly Meeting-North, Sergio and Luisa Ayala- Pastors in Coahuila, Dan Cammack- EFM Field Director, Duane and Lois Davis- Former Missionaries, Cinthia Gonzales- Missions in India, and Edwin Isaac Giron- Youth Mentor.

Mobilizing

Edwin and I are grateful that God continues to give us the opportunity to develop this mobilization ministry that is a great way to recruit, train, and send others. Doors of opportunity continue to open, such as invitations to churches and Yearly Meetings to speak and motivate others to collaborate in missions and in starting new Friends ministries.

In the months of August and September, we have been able to visit some Friends congregations in Mexico to continue collaborating in the development of the Vision Mexico 32 planting project. We trust in God that next year we will be able to send two new families or individuals to start new ministries in those states of Mexico where Friends are not yet present.

Last week in September, Edwin and I were invited to be speakers at the Barclay College’s Missions Conference in Haviland, Kansas. Although there are times when we do not feel capable of doing certain things, like sharing at a college student level, God knows our capability, and he manifests himself so that his gospel may be known to all corners of the earth.

Please Pray…

• For the Annual Hispanic Friends Conference– AMANA, which will take place the second week in October in Pomona, California. Pray that once again, this event will be a blessing and edification to all who may be present. This conference is always a great opportunity to have a fraternity time that recharges hearts with encouragement.
• 
• For the trips that Edwin and I will be making the rest of the year. Some of these trips will be to Mexico to continue collaborating with the Friends Yearly Meetings in Mexico in the development of their VM32 church planting project. Please pray for our safety and wisdom and to keep us encouraged and healthy to continue with the tasks that God has entrusted to us.
• That God would continue to use us to recruit, train, and send many more to his fields ready for harvest. Please pray for the funding needed to reach 100% of financial support for this ministry.

Serving him,

Maria Giron

EFM Missions Mobilizer

The post Maria Giron September Ministry Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Ten exploration teams made trips to ten different destinations and peoples between April 2022 and March 2023. These trips were the first round of exploration in discerning potential new fields for EFM to launch as part of EFM’s Five-Year Goal. It was determined that eight of those destinations require a second trip for further, deeper, exploration. Further exploration will help EFM to begin making decisions about where to make commitments in November 2023 to send North American households to launch new fields. See more information here.

The following is a report written by trip leader Maria Giron.

The members of this team were: Maria and Edwin Giron (EFM), Marco Martinez, (EFC-MAYM), Erik Nilsen (FSW), Ernesto Ramirez (Superintendent of Mexico YM-Central), Elizabeth Ramirez (Director of Mexico Friends Theology Institute), Pedro and Sandra Moscosa (Future Church Planters- Mexico YM Central), Wilmer Vicen (Coahuila Friends YM-North), and Tyson Contreras (Coahuila Friends YM-North).

In the State of Jalisco, we traveled to Ameca, Mixtla, Cocula, the little town of La Estanzuela, and San Martin de Hidalgo. In the state of Nayarit, we traveled to Tepic, Compostela, Zitacua- a Huichole Town, and San Blas.

In each city or town, it was very evident how God led us to very kind people willing to talk with us and tell us about the needs of the families in that place. On this trip, we noticed more open-heartedness in people to listen to the scriptures, in some cases, as if people were hungry to know more about God through the Bible; as if they were realizing that religion is no longer enough for them.

We had at least four cases in which, while the team was together having a devotional or simply praying in the middle of the town’s plaza, somebody heard us and approached asking for prayers for healing. Sometimes we thought that they were street vendors asking for money or selling objects, but we were wrong, it was as if it were God sending us evidence of the need that exists in the people of those territories.

In a town where we were invited to visit a small group of women who met frequently to study the Bible, after having a time of worship together, we saw how God opened the doors of their homes and many of those women invited us to enter their homes to pray for their sick ones but also they each shared their stories with us, in which we noticed that in each family there was a tragic story that has left marks of pain and suffering in their hearts. God made us raise our eyes to see many people without a shepherd and hopeless. God raised our eyes to see how the fields in those places are ready for the harvest.

One afternoon we arrived at a town called Zitakua in the state of Jalisco where a large community of Huichol people live. We walked a bit through the streets until we reached a multipurpose court, and our attention was drawn to see many young people gathered there to play or see others play volleyball. We stood there and some of our team started chatting with some of the kids who were watching the game, to our surprise a young man asked for a bible because he had never read one. Soon one of our team ran to our car and brought several Bibles to give away. Other young people, seeing that Bibles were being given away, also approached, and that’s when two of our young future missionaries began to read Biblical passages and presented the good news of the Gospel to those young men. That was a divine and Kairos moment for those young men and without a doubt with great effect for eternity.

• Pray with great intention so that God raises up brave people who are willing to say “Here I am Lord, send me now.”
• Pray for the searching, the recruiting, and the sending of those who are ready.
• Pray for the city of Cocula. It is a potential place to start a new church in the state of Jalisco since it is a growing city, with enough resources and it is a central city from where many surrounding towns are supplied, and perhaps many towns where ministries could be developed.
• Pray for Zitakua- The Huichole’s Town. We detected a feeling of welcome in this place, especially among the young generation. In the youth, we could perceive a curiosity in them to learn about Jesus through reading the Bible.
• Pray for Mexico Yearly Meeting as they work with and take the next steps for those wanting to plant churches in Jalisco.

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative.

Matt Macy

Director of Mobilization

The post Report from the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Mexico first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.