The second trip of the second round of Luke 10 Exploration Trips went out from June 5- August 2 to Ecuador. We had a team of four in Ecuador for two months and they were joined by four others who stayed for a shorter period.

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, plus as of July 2023 plans are being made by FSW to explore starting a new work among unreached people groups in Cambodia and surrounding areas. 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 Jerry Clarkson.

Who Was on this Trip & Where Did We Travel?

Edwin and Maria Giron (EFM), Jael Ayala (Coahuila YM Future Missionary), and Jose Olivas (Mexico YM Missionary Candidate) met in Mexico City and traveled to Quito, Ecuador arriving on June 6. Grace Anderson, (NWYM Future Missionary) and Jerry Clarkson (NWYM) traveled from the U.S. and landed in Quito the same day. The Girons were able to stay with the team until June 15. Jan and Meghan Cammack (NWYM) joined the team on July 6. The team remained in Ecuador until August 2.

After three days in Quito, our team traveled to Macas, Morona-Santiago Province in southeast Ecuador. Morona-Santiago, Zamora-Chinchipe, and the southern edge of Pastaza Provinces are the home of the Shuar tribes. We used a hostel in Macas as a base camp and traveled to several cantons (counties) of Morona-Santiago, as well as to Zamora-Chinchipe to investigate evangelism and the lack of evangelism among the Shuar. We stayed four to seven each in the towns of Palora, Taisha, San Jose de Morona, Santiago de Tiwintza, Gualquiza, and Zamora. Our team also traveled on day trips to Santiago de Mendez and Limon Indanza, as well as to Huamboya and Pablo Sexto. From these central towns, we visited Shuar in as many surrounding villages as possible. We were not yet able to travel beyond the ends of the roads, but we heard about many villages accessible only by rivers or trails and talked with some people from those remote locations.

What was our experience traveling here? How did the Lord meet us?

The Shuar are asking for Bibles, Bible training, pastors and pastoral training, and the establishment of churches. Many of the towns and villages have had Catholic influence and most of the larger central towns have two-four evangelical churches or other sects (though some of these do not seem to be well accepted in the village).

By visiting Shuar in many villages and hearing reports from surrounding villages we were able to identify many places without any evangelical presence that have an interest in hearing the gospel. Some places once had mission influence but the people from these places were not discipled sufficiently to have sustainable congregations. The younger generations from these places are unreached or under-reached. Some villages have never had churches but have heard the basis of the gospel at some time in the past. Many of these villages are asking for biblical training. Some areas were once well evangelized but now have no spiritual support contact outside of their own villages or areas. These areas are asking for continued discipleship and training in order to become sustainable congregations and networks of churches. Jesus seemed to direct our paths, open doors, and call us time and again to return to work in Ecuador as soon as possible.

Two Trip Highlights

Tomás’ Story

Jerry, Grace, and Jose traveled to Taisha and then to Panki at the edge of the road-accessible jungle. During an outdoor community meeting, Jerry and Jose had the opportunity to visit at length with Tomás and Patricio. Tomás’ house had burned two nights before. Tomas said to Jerry, “I went to my fields this morning and was praying while doing my chores. ‘God, why did my house burn down?’ I had no answer. Now that you have come I know that if my house had not burned you would not have stayed, We would have been in the fields and not been here to talk with you. We are Catholic. We have no priest, we have no church building, we have no Bibles. Can you come to teach us to pray and teach us about God? Come back as soon as possible…”. We heard similar stories in many towns and villages. We are called to be with the Shuar to show them Jesus.

Teaching Leaders

In south-east Canton Palora we were invited by contacts from last year to teach pastors and leaders from existing churches. We lived with the Shuar in Nantar village for a week. Jerry taught a series for five nights on spiritualism and animism. Jose and Jael alternately taught each night in response to topics and questions suggested by the people. Pastors and leaders (of other denominations) came from six surrounding villages up to an hour’s walk away. These leaders report that they no longer have contact with supporting organizations. These leaders asked for continued deeper training like what we provided for the week. This could be a secondary purpose of the mission in Ecuador. The town’s people also shared Shaur culture and language with us including hunting techniques and village history.

How Can You Pray for Next Steps in this Country?

Our hope is to see the eventual establishment of discipleship centers in Taisha, San Jose de Morona, and possibly Palora in order to reach into Taisha and Mucuma areas, Tiwintza, San Jose, and south Taisha areas, and Palora, Huamboya, and north Upano valley areas. EFM has the possibility of partnering with AMEE to obtain visas and navigate other logistics. Jose Olivas has made plans made plans with Mexico Yearly Meeting to return to Ecuador in November and will be working for one year in the Upano Central Valley while learning more about the Shuar culture.

Several others on the team envision a possibility of missionary service in Ecuador with EFM if EFM approves a commitment to launching a new field. Please pray for Grace Anderson, Jael Ayala, and Jerry and Kerry Clarkson as they consider what it might mean to be faithful to the Lord of the Harvest as missionaries, with Ecuador heavy in their minds and hearts. Please pray for NWYM Board of Global Outreach as they discern with EFM and the Luke 10 Team’s vision and ideas for next steps in Ecuador. There is a growing vision for the possibility of EFM starting a new mission field in Ecuador!

What’s Next?The second round of Luke 10 Exploration Trips continues through October 2023. The EFM National Luke 10 Think Tank will meet on November 8, 2023 to look at which fields meet EFM’s CAN GO Criteria for launching new fields and begin making the first decisions as to where EFM will commit to deploying missionaries by the end of 2025. Are you Feeling Called to Join EFM? Are you interested in exploring missionary service? Do you know of anyone of any age who might be interested in exploring the idea of serving as a missionary overseas for two or more years? EFM is currently looking to contact and connect with people about opportunities to explore serving as missionaries with the Friends Church! To learn more, visit here or fill out this interest form!

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 Ecuador first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

These next trips to the Shuar People in Ecuador are taking place between June 5 and August 2! Jerry Clarkson (NWYM) is giving leadership to a team of four who will be there for two months, which includes Grace Anderson (NWYM future missionary), Jose Olivas (Mexico YM Missionary Candidate), and Jael Ayala (Coahuila YM Future Missionary). Maria and Edwin Giron (EFM) will be with this team from June 5-15. Jan Cammack (NWYM) and Meghan Cammack (NWYM) will join the team for over three weeks at the end of the two months to come home August 2.

Jerry Clarkson and Maria Giron provided these insights into this trip to Ecuador.

This year in Ecuador we will be returning to Morona-Santiago Province for the second time and also visiting Zamora-Chinchipe Province for the first time; both in Southeastern Ecuador along the Peruvian border and into the Amazon tributaries. When we visited some of these places in 2022, there was a feeling of welcome, or even an invitation, because there is a great need of trainers for discipleship and leadership as well as an opportunity for church planting in the greater area. We will be based in the small city of Macas and traveling for a few days at a time to various regions.

This second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Ecuador has several purposes, among them (and one of the most important) is to further strengthen relationships with contacts between the Shuar people and evangelical leaders. We will be investigating the areas of need, establishing or continuing relationships with people in these areas, and teaching in Nantar, Palora, and possibly other areas. This trip is also intended to give these three young people (Grace, Jael, and Jose) the opportunity to further explore their call to missions. And of course, the trip is about continuing to seek clarity from God to know where EFM will send missionaries to launch a new field.

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to cast out more workers into his fields.

Matt Macy

Director of Mobilization

To learn more about how you can join these trips or if you are interested in exploring missionary service, visit here.

The post Pray for the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Ecuador! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

“When you enter a town and are welcome, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’.”
Luke 10:8-9

As a way to praise the Lord for a successful Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Ecuador, I would like to share with all of you a glance of our many adventurous experiences during our time in the beautiful amazon jungle of Ecuador.

First of all, I would like to express our gratitude to everyone that joined our team by praying and giving. I want you to know that we clearly saw God at work starting by always experiencing his protection over each member of our team. We felt safe all the time and none of us suffered severe sickness (some only had minor stomach issues). It was amazing to see how at only a couple of days before taking off, all the finances needed to cover the trip’s costs were supplied and even above the expected. At every experience we were able to partake in, we knew Jesus was present.

Our first experience emerging and touching the Shuar culture was astounding. This happened at the Shuar community Tuwasip near Palora where we were welcomed by their tribe’s chief and his son. They had a chicken soup dinner prepared for our team and a special place up a hill, for us to sleep, where we could contemplate the beauty of being inside the sonorous and green jungle. After dinner we kept sat down and listen to the chief share talks about their people’s traditions and cosmovision. While we were listening to his stories, something unexpected happened, God surprised us with the visit of the chief’s mother who joined us and sat with us. She started telling us that she was already a Christian and was very happy with our visit! The most impacting moment was when, in her own words, she invited us to come and teach their children and grandchildren about the gospel of Jesus. She even mentioned that there is land available to build a church. Those words from the mother had a great impact on our hearts, we knew that it was God confirming why we were there and showing us, at that moment, that indeed the harvest is plentiful and ready.

It is known that there are still tribes of Shuars interned in the remoteness of the Amazon jungle that know very little about the gospel or even have not heard of Jesus Christ. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know a little more about them by traveling in little canoes up the Amazon River for over two hours arriving at a village where we met a small group of evangelicals Christians. There we learned that for the Shuar it is very significant that visitors accept their drinks and food to be accepted in their village, so we were tested to see if we love the people by how we responded to the food they offered us. We were able to taste from freshly collected, alive worms, fish, rooster soup, snails, and other jungle delicacies. We are greatly thankful that we were blessed by meeting Carlos, a Christian Shuar that was our guide and our way to be able to be accepted and enter the Shuar village.

Among many other experiences, to see clearly how great the need is, God allowed us to learn about the need to work, protect, and defend children. Many of them suffer violence, abuse, and mistreatment. There are some rescue centers run by Christians who are asking people to come and help the children.

We are also grateful to have been able to meet leaders and missionaries who are dedicating their lives to the hard work of evangelizing the Shuar people, as was the case of a Korean family that has been living and working with the Shuar for almost eight years. We could see exhaustion in them, one woman even had the freedom to express, with tears in her eyes, some of their great challenges they are facing as family and the rejection that their nine and ten-year-old boys have suffered from the local kids. Her testimony touched our hearts, and so we were happy to be able to visit them, encourage them, hug them, and pray for them. We also appreciate the contact we had with other leaders and men of peace that God allowed us to encounter so that we could carry out the exploration trip in effective ways.

Please join us in praising the Lord that we were able to have the joy of navigating deeper into the culture of the Shuar people. We have surely grown in love, respect, and compassion for those that have not yet been reached with the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Luke 10:2

Serving him,

Maria Giron
EFM Missions Mobilizer

The post Praising God for our Trip to Ecuador! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The Luke 10 Exploration Trip to the Shuar People of Ecuador travels May 30-June 16. Team leader, Ken Comfort (NWYM), along with Jerry and Kerri Clarkson (NWYM), Maria and Edwin Giron (Maria is EFM’s Missions Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends), future missionary Rebecca Reimer (EFC-MAYM), future missionary Jael Ayala (EFC-Mexico), and Beatriz Apaza (Bolivia) make up this scouting team.

The Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Greece travels May 30-June 10. Team leader Jim LeShana (NWYM), Kenn Dirrim (missionary serving among refugees in Greece), Ron Maestas (FSW), Jan Cammack (NWYM), and future missionaries Josiah Muhr (NWYM) and Libby Penrose (EFC-MAYM) make up this exploration team.

How Can You Join?

Are you interested in exploring missionary service? Do you know of anyone of any age who might be interested in exploring the idea of serving as a missionary overseas for two or more years?

EFM is currently looking to contact and connect with people about opportunities to explore serving as missionaries with the Friends Church!

To learn more, visit here or fill out this interest form!

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to cast out more workers into his fields.

Matt Macy
Director of Mobilization
matt@friendsmission.com

The post Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Ecuador and Greece- How You Can be Praying first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.