Right now, life feels like a whirlwind, and there is too much to describe it all here. Our time with Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting was a lot of fun, making new friends and getting to know some friends better.  This continued with the Future Missionary Retreat, and we are so excited to see how God leads these others who are seeking his direction! We had good fellowship and prayer time throughout this week, extending into the EFM spring board meetings. Then a too brief visit with some of my childhood friends, and a fun morning at Denver Friends Church. Each night, I expected all of us to be exhausted and drained in the morning. Each morning, we woke up with increased energy and excitement. This busy respite was so needed! We topped the trip off with a drive home through western Colorado, a visit to Arches National Park, a night with my brother’s family, and so much beauty throughout the drive that we were amazed.

Now we’re in the last stretch, preparing to list our house and head out on the road. June 27 is our departure date, it’s coming quicker than we’re ready for, but we’re excited too! It has been amazing to see how God is meeting needs through local believers whom we don’t even know, and to receive the help of so many family and friends with various aspects of the process.

One highlight of our time in Colorado was a visit to the Dinosaur Museum with some of the future missionaries. Alex is still telling people about it and can’t wait for the next one we find. He is a good encourager, “Mommy, look at Jael, she climbed the ladder! Good job, Jael!” Jael has finally started answering when people ask, “What is your name?” and has begun asking the question herself, multiple times a day, to everyone around her.  “Mommy, what’s your name? What’s his name (pointing to Alex)? …”. They are both loving warmer weather, with barefoot play in the front yard.

• For God to provide the right buyer quickly.
• For physical and mental energy as we finish the move-out/cleanup phase.
• For peace and protection as we begin this extended period of travel. Pray that we will be encouragers and that God will use us to build up the congregations/believers that we meet.

The post Liddell Family: June 2025 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

• West Chehalem Friends (Newberg, OR)
• Crossroads Community Church (Astoria, OR)
• Entiat Friends Church (Entiat, WA)
• Cherry Grove Friends Church (Battle Ground, WA)
• We went to an EFM orientation in Brea, CA
• Jonelle and the kids attended the Northwest Yearly Meeting Pastor’s Conference at Twin Rock Friends Camp on the Oregon coast.

It’s been a lot! A lot of travel, a lot of logistics to juggle, a lot of delightful, encouraging, refreshing time with the Body of Christ!

Upcoming: at the end of this month, we’ll be in Colorado for Rocky Mountain Yearly Meeting’s annual sessions, a future missionary retreat, the EFM board meetings, and to share at a church. Then we’re moving out of our house, putting it on the market, selling our cars, and hitting the road in the EFM van. In early July, we’ll be in Idaho, then we’ll drive east and visit some churches on the East Coast. September is COMPASS missionary training in Colorado, for the whole family. Lots to pray for!

One quick answer to a question we’ve been getting recently: EFM doesn’t take a percentage of missionaries’ support for administration costs. Administration and office expenses, etc., come from separate giving.  So, when you give to us or other EFM missionaries, your gift goes directly to our/their expenses.

The Kids

The kids had a rough spell in March when one of our cats escaped and didn’t return. We got a preview of how they might respond to upcoming goodbyes, and while it was hard for all of us, it helped us start practicing some tools that we hope will help in the coming months. They have loved meeting so many friends (or “pwends” to Jael), seeing cousins a bit, and finding playgrounds. Jael has been singing the ABC song, mostly repeating this section, “Q, R, S, T, U, W.” Alex reads books to her, and it is adorable. They love to help with things like loading and unloading the dishwasher, making breakfast, and vacuuming. Last time I told you about Alex thanking us for helping “my sister,” now Jael does it when we help her, “thank you for helping a sister!”

We currently have 278 prayer partners and have a goal of raising it to 500. If you know anyone who would like to pray for our ministry, please forward this form to them.

We are currently raising funds for our monthly needs. We are so grateful for those of you who have already begun supporting us financially and in prayer! We are currently 56% funded! Please partner with us, we would love to share in this ministry with you.

There are four ways to financially partner with us: 

• Online. Visit our personal support webpage here. 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 “Liddell Family Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post Liddell Family: May 2025 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Great news! Jonelle and Fred Liddell, the first household to respond to EFM’s Five-Year Goal are now halfway to their support raising goal. We celebrate God’s faithfulness and the generosity of his people. Join us all in gratitude for this significant development!

This is a major milestone because they can now join EFM’s missionary community full-time! They will pour all their energy into training for language and culture learning, partnership development, and preparing for the field. Once they finish this training and reach 100% of both their monthly financial need and prayer partner goals, they can deploy to the Balkans.

As you celebrate this benchmark, if you sense the Lord prompting you to support the Liddells through prayer and/or financial support, follow this link [their Classy page]. It would propel towards stepping into this amazing opportunity to share Christ’s love in a place of great need. It will be a great encouragement to them too!

Finally, I am honored to be a part of this expression of God’s relentless love to the world. I am grateful for people like you who faithfully help make it so.

The post Exciting News: The Liddells Reach 50% first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

“I thought you had left!” “So, when are you leaving?” We hear variations of this multiple times a week and usually reply with a smile and something about how it’s been going slowly, but we’re getting closer and will leave as soon as we can. That we have to be fully funded before we can leave, that we see how God had been using the “slowness” of the process. All those things are true. There are pieces we don’t usually say, though. “We’re struggling with impatience.” “Yes, it gets discouraging sometimes.” “Even as we feel deeper and deeper confirmation that this is God’s will, we struggle with insecurity and frustration in this indefinite transition time.” I have been thinking this week of a song I grew up singing: “He did not bring us out this far to take us back again, He brought us out to take us into the Promised Land.” He will finish the work he began. Please pray for our hearts in this process. For patience, for hearts in tune to the Spirit’s leading, for souls restored as we follow the Shepherd.

Briefly, we had a lot of fun visiting two churches in Oregon at the beginning of February, one Friends and one Lutheran. Fred was able to attend and speak at Man Camp in Idaho this last weekend for the Friends churches over there. We thank God for the hospitality of these bodies of believers, for the encouragement of their friendship, and for the joy of connecting with old friends and family on these trips.

The Kids

Both Alex and Jael have recently started talking about things they love. Usually, they are positive statements, as this from Jael when I was putting on her footie pajamas last night: “Feet? I WUB it!” Occasionally in the negative, as this from Alex when I grabbed him to wrestle and he wanted to be still “Mommy, I don’t yuv dat dame.”  They continue to be very thankful children, and Alex has started thanking us for both of them: “Thanks for helping my sister!”  Watching them play chase, alternated with fits of giggles, is a true delight! They fill our house with growls and roars, as they are often various kinds of dinosaurs.

Prayer requests:

• For more monthly financial partners so that we can reach the nearer goal of going full-time with EFM and the slightly farther goal of getting to Croatia and starting language school.
• That God would already be drawing a people to himself in the Balkans and would strengthen the believers and workers in this region.
• For faithfulness in the little things and the big things, the study and the friendships, the prayer and the drawing near.

Fred and Jonelle Liddell

Alex and Jael

We currently have 254 prayer partners and have a goal of raising it to 500. If you know anyone who would like to pray for our ministry, please forward this form to them.We are currently raising funds for our monthly needs. We are so grateful for those of you who have already begun supporting us financially and in prayer, but we have a ways to go. We are currently at 35% and need to be at 50% funded before we can transition to full time ministry. Please partner with us, we would love to share in this ministry with you. There are four ways to financially partner with us: Online. Visit our personal support webpage here. 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 “Liddell Family Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post Liddell Family: March 2025 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters.”

This time ended with a week and a half in San Diego, visiting Fred’s family and childhood friends and sharing at the church he grew up in. We expected joy together, but God gave far beyond our hopes. Family time was sweet, fun, restful, and active. We played at the beach, visited the zoo, and went to a dinosaur museum/play place that may be Alex’s favorite place ever. We spent time with friends who we hadn’t seen in months to years and had such a good time catching up. We saw Fred’s old home church in such a healthy place, with a lot of new faces and a lot of dear friends.

That visit started our next season of travel. We have two visits to churches in Oregon as a family coming up, and Fred will end the month with a weekend at Man Camp in Idaho, with men from the Friends churches there. We are very thankful for our new partners, in prayer and in finance, and appreciate your continued prayers for us to reach full partner support.

Kids Moments

Alex has a dual obsession with letters and dinosaurs. At the dinosaur place, he was completely delighted to walk around the corner and see a T rex model. Arms in the air, “A TYRANNOSAURUS REX!!! RAAAAHHHRRR!!! DINO DANA!!!” (Dino Dana is a kids’ show). He gets excited whenever he sees letters on our clothes, signs, or in books, and often sings the alphabet song. Jael was delighted to hold her baby cousin and loves wearing her stuffed animals in a baby carrier or “wrap” (a scarf) the way I wear her. We rode a miniature train in San Diego, and Jael was snuggled next to me, just watching the things going by, until we came around a corner and saw the bear statue. The whole train could hear her yell, “BEAR!” But they couldn’t see her beaming face when she saw it! Both kids love praying: Alex tells Jesus all about his day with its highs and lows. Jael isn’t always intelligible, but she is always excited to pray.

Prayer Requests:

– For our preparation, that we will be learning what we need to, sharing what God wants, and will be faithful in this waiting stage.
– For the kids, that their hearts will draw near to God and will find peace in the changes as we prepare and as we move.
– For the Balkan people, that the Spirit will draw them to him and that they will find the true rest that comes with letting go of control and hatred and turning to the one who is love.

The post Liddell Family: January 2025 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

“I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”

Since our last newsletter, we visited three more churches in northwestern Oregon, attended my grandpa’s memorial service, and had a few days with some extended family around Thanksgiving. In each church we visit, we learn just a little bit about the ways that congregation is being God’s hands and feet to each other and in their community. You are such an encouragement to us! Feeding the hungry, serving your neighbors, making disciples in prisons, giving care packages to the homeless, and providing a safe place for children after school, God is working through you. May you continue to be faithful and to see the goodness of God!

When we’re home, we’ve been working on setting up prayer and planning teams for our new field, meeting some new contacts who can help us understand this region and its people better, and slowly putting our affairs in order. All of us needed this slower time, where we could have more of a routine. Fred is seeing some encouraging things at work, starting with the hiring of a new IT director who will come on full-time in January. The kids are doing “school,” playing, coloring, singing, reading.

We hope that next Christmas we’ll be in the Balkans! In the meantime, we need more monthly financial partners, more prayer partners, and wisdom as we prepare to go. Please pray, and if you feel drawn to join with us, please do so!

Prayer Requests:

– For Fred as he transitions out of his IT manager role and out of his job altogether.

– For the kids that they will love God early, will feel grounded as we are moving around and moving away, and that we will care for them well.

– For the people in The Balkans, that they will see the light of Christ, know the Prince of Peace, and make the Father’s name known in their communities and beyond.

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Fred and Jonelle Liddell

Alex and Jael

The post Liddell Family: December 2024 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Then we all traveled to Newberg, Oregon for the Global Outreach Conference that I’ve been helping plan (as part of the Northwest Yearly Meeting Board of Global Outreach), the annual Missions Banquet, and Yearly Meeting (our denomination’s annual sessions). I am on the above-mentioned board and serve as our church’s representative at the business portion, so it was a busy few days! During the sessions, the representatives gave their endorsement of the Eastern Europe field for the Luke 10 Initiative and recommended changing its name to “The Balkans” to more accurately reflect the area we are looking at. In addition, we have several new prayer partners, and several churches asked us to schedule a visit with them. We are working our way through that list, getting those visits scheduled. If you would like us to share at your church, please email me at jonellel@friendsmission.com to set up a time!

Helping Grandpa with stroller during Yearly Meeting

Jael “helping” Grandma set up before church

A lot of my extended family lives in the Newberg area, so we enjoyed spending some all-too-brief time with uncles, aunts, cousins, and second cousins on both sides of my family. We also got some precious time with my grandpa, the kids’ last great-grandparent. This family time, the conversations with old and new friends at Yearly Meeting, and the increasing interest in the field of the Balkans were such encouragement and joy!

It has been a busy summer already and that will continue, but it will be shifting focus somewhat. We are fully in the partner-raising stage, looking for individuals and churches who would like to join us as prayer partners or as monthly financial partners. We hope to be on the road most weekends, driving to different churches and meeting their congregations. We would love to meet with any of you who are interested in learning more about how God is leading us.  Some of you have already partnered with us and we are very thankful for you! We’d love to meet with you, too, and learn more about how we can uphold you in prayer. If you are not our prayer partner and want to be, welcome! And if you are ready to become a financial partner, welcome to you too!

Prayer Requests:

• Fred’s position in the city is shifting, possibly just temporarily, and that brings a lot of unknowns and a lot of new responsibilities. Please pray that he will be faithful in his work while we are fundraising and that God will give him the strength and focus to fill both roles (IT interim manager and EFM candidate) well.
• Please pray for us as we are on the road a lot. Pray for safety, for health, for the kids as their routine is mostly gone right now.
• Please pray for the Balkans, that God will prepare us for this place and that he will raise more workers to go. Pray for the people, that he will soften their hearts towards the gospel and will bring deep peace and healing to troubled minds, souls, and relationships.

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Fred and Jonelle Liddell

Alex and Jael

The post Liddell Family: August 2024 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Sickness took down each team member, one at a time. Our rental host served us a homemade Bosnian breakfast. Missionaries told of great need and great difficulty in building trust to start ministry. Bombed-out buildings remain a feature in every Bosnian town we saw. The corner store lady nearly cried when we said goodbye and gave us candy when we left. Pastors shared about how God is moving and gave us a better understanding of the difficulties of ministry in this region.

We spent a lot of time on airplanes.

At SeaTac airport, checking in for our first flight.

Thank you for your prayers. We met with pastors in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and missionaries in both of those countries and Montenegro. God brought us men and women of peace who welcomed us, offered insight and advice, and provided us with opportunities for ministry and partnership if EFM moves forward with this field.

The team is recommending moving forward with this field of southern Croatia, possibly including southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina/northwestern Montenegro. We are feeling called to go to this field and are planning accordingly. However, the final decision on whether or not to approve it won’t be made until the November board meetings. We continue to feel a strong call to EFM and have discussed a “plan B” if this field isn’t approved, which would likely be working with Muslim refugees in Greece. In the meantime, our family will be busy with deputation, fundraising, continuing to build relationships here and abroad, and maintaining the activities of “normal” life.

Part of our team at Stari Most in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The kids walked a ton, but sometimes they needed help. This is in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Family Life

On the home front, Fred continues to work in the city and to run tech for our church. Jonelle has been busy with the kids, planning a missions conference for later this month, and family things. Alex continues to love dinosaurs and cars, sings all the time, pushes the stroller on our walks, and is fascinated by letters. One of his current favorite things to sing is the last line of the alphabet song “w, x, y, i, z,” and he sings it every time he sees letters on something. Like a box, a book, a shirt. He is working on his first memory verse and a simplified catechism. Jael’s vocabulary grows every day. She loves building with blocks, playing chase with Alex, petting the kitties, and reading books. She is a bundle of sunshine and energy.

Alex wanted to “help Jael walk”.

And here Alex is walking Daddy.

Snuggles on a long day in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Below).

Prayer Requests

Please pray…

• For Fred as he juggles family, work, church, and missions things. Pray for peace, for energy, that he will be a light in his workplace.
• For our interactions, as we are with family, friends, and visiting churches. Pray that we will be an encouragement and a witness.
• For our preparation, that we will be diligent in study, faithful in drawing near to Christ, and will clearly discern his leading

Thank you again for your prayers and support!

Fred and Jonelle Liddell

Alex and Jael

The post Liddell Family: July 2024 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

A few days after Dad was confirmed to be cleared, we got word that another team member, Stan Leach, would not be able to go due to a family situation that needed his presence. Stan is the Executive Director of EFM and went on the last trip we took to this region. We were disappointed that he would be absent but supported his need to be home right now. Long story short, we gained another team member in his place, Patrick Neifert, and are again praising God for his orchestration. Patrick has experience in career missions and in leading short-term trips, and we are thankful to have his experience and discernment added to our team.

So, we’re back to five adults and two kids: Vivian Titus went on the first trip, Jon Fodge (my dad and our pastor), Patrick Neifert, and our family. Throughout this planning process, we’ve been trusting that God will put the people he wants on this team and that he will direct our time on the ground. Your prayers are a vital part, and we ask that you continue to pray specifically for a few things:

1) For team unity in discernment and for a clear answer to whether or not EFM should open a new field here.

2) For our conversations and interactions, that God would prepare our hearts and those of the people we will encounter. That we will listen well and witness to the Gospel well, and that we will be an encouragement to the pastors and missionaries we meet with.

3) For the health and safety of our team and that the kids will travel well. We have long flights and anticipate a lot of time driving on unfamiliar roads.

We leave on Friday, land on Saturday, and have two weeks in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Are we packed? Mostly! Are we mentally prepared? Probably! Are we trusting God’s leading and excited to see what he does? Definitely!

In him,

Jonelle, for Fred, Alex and Jael

The post The Liddell Family: June 2024 Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

When we settled in Sequim, we rejoined the church I grew up in and I was soon on the missions committee and the regional missions board. That meant I was more involved with Evangelical Friends Mission (EFM), as they are the missions sending agency for our denomination (Evangelical Friends).

Fred began working full-time for the City of Sequim in the IT department. He also took over most of the video streaming for our church. We have enjoyed the time closer to family.

As we prayed about where to start in missions and when EFM seemed like the place to start. We began making connections and asking questions. EFM was just beginning to look at opening several new fields and was exploring where. We were interested in Eastern Europe, though willing to go anywhere, and ended up as the team leads for the Eastern Europe trip. EFM calls their scouting trips “Luke 10 Exploration Trips” after the passage where Jesus sends the disciples out. The goal is to follow the Spirit’s leading and see both where the needs are and where the Spirit is saying “You must work here.”

We went on that trip with several goals. We had the goal of seeing if God was calling EFM to that region, looking for a “no,” a “here,” or a “look a little wider but you’re on the right track.” We had the goal of discerning whether God was calling us personally to apply to EFM. And, we had the goal of discerning more clearly if God was calling us personally to that region.

God answered the first goal with “Look wider.” The second goal with, “Yes, apply to EFM.” The third goal with a growing feeling that we are drawn to this region, but as we have explained recently “We feel drawn to the Balkans but we feel called to EFM.”

After the trip, we started preparing to apply. Fred took the Perspectives course (I took it in college). We’ve been getting our affairs in order and looking at logistical issues with moving overseas. We have felt God’s gentle and increasing confirmation of this direction. We applied to EFM last summer, were accepted as candidates in April, and now are fundraising and discerning where exactly we’re going!

Updates on Our Candidacy

If you missed our candidacy announcement, you can read that online here!

Thank you for your prayers! For the last few weeks, we’ve been busy with startup tasks related to being candidates. Things like working out our support package, finding a missionary coach, prayer card contents and photo, lots of moving pieces. With that on top of normal life and other extra projects picking up right now, we’ve been busy and struggling a little to keep up with it all. But God is good and has been smoothing the way before us.

Now that those initial tasks are done, we will be moving into a stage of more intense preparation, with some reading homework and some additional training. We are also doing the parallel tasks of discerning our field (in conjunction with EFM personnel) and fundraising for our support on that field. EFM requires that their missionaries be fully funded before they go to their field, so this process of sharing what we’re doing and seeing how God provides will continue for the foreseeable future.

Hopefully, we will have more clarity about the “where” and “what” after our trip in June, but at this point we anticipate one to two years of initial language and culture learning, at the same time as we start building relationships and connecting to the community. What ministry looks like after that will depend somewhat on where we are. If we are in the region of the Balkans that we’re looking at, we expect to do a lot of one-on-one discipleship, Bible studies, and likely things like nursing home ministry and young adult game nights.

Luke 10 Exploration Trip

From June 7-22, we will be in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina on our second Luke 10 Exploration Trip. There will be two or three other adults on the team, along with the four of us. We’ve made a lot of progress in the last few weeks, booking airfare, housing, and rental cars for the trip. More exciting, we have several local pastors and a couple of missionaries in a few cities who are scheduled to meet with the team. We are very excited to learn more about how God is working in this region, what the challenges are, and where the opportunities to join his work might lie. Just a few weeks away, it’s coming fast!

Family Life

Recently we’ve been enjoying more involved stories from both kids. Alex’s stories are mostly intelligible and often feature dinosaurs, cars, and some blend of extended family members. He’s started incorporating those themes into songs too, though he often sings the original version of favorites such as Old MacDonald, Jesus Loves Me, Baby Shark, Going on a Rocket Ship, and Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus. Jael’s stories are almost entirely unintelligible but are told with great feeling. She also loves to sing but chooses her own melody regardless of the song that is playing.

The kids enjoy playing with each other more now, not just near each other, and can both participate in some games with us, which is great fun! They love playing “Roar,” where one of us (usually each of us in turn) is a dinosaur and chases the others while roaring. A favorite twist is when someone stops to ambush the others, causing the kids to collapse in a heap of giggles.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for this candidacy phase, that our preparation will be thorough, that our time here as we prepare will be good, and that we will draw nearer to Christ as life gets crazier.
• Pray for God to show us who we will be working with (the people group or region) and to give us a great love for those people.
  Pray for God to increase our love for the people we are leaving and to help us leave well.
• Pray for peace on our trip in June. That our conversations would be good both within our team and with the locals and workers we encounter. Pray that the kids would do well on the plane rides and transit as we go to and from Europe and drive around to different countries.
• Pray for our kids, that we would love them well, would have a home centered around Christ, and that we would ease their transitions as much as possible. Pray for them to love Christ early and to hold to him through everything.

Thank you again for your prayers and support!

Fred and Jonelle Liddell

Alex and Jael

The post Liddell Family: May 2024 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.