Tony and Agi Frei | Serving in Hungary

It is my desire and pleasure to share with you, my experience and thoughts about the EFM Worldwide Missionary Gathering that took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand between December 2-7, 2022. Originally, I was not going to participate in the Gathering in person due to my battle with long COVID-19, but David (William)’s and Adrian (Halverstadt)’s love and encouragement during an EFC-I Zoom meeting convinced me otherwise. The flight from Hungary to Thailand was 30 hours there and 26 hours back. On the way back, I caught a cold. It made my work in the church over Christmas more difficult, but our Father helped me through it.

 The time I spent in Chiang Mai with my brothers, sisters, and fellow workers was like a dream. The beautiful environment was like the entrance hall to Heaven! In fact, my ten-year-old students in the Primary School where I teach watched the video I made while there and one of them asked, “Uncle Tony, is it, Heaven?”. This is what Jesus says, “All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other” (John 13:35). I believe that we all felt this Godly love coming from each other. English is not my mother tongue, yet I felt loved and accepted by all present, despite the language barrier.

I am convinced that no online platform or virtual conference can replace in-person interaction and time spent together. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know my brothers and sisters in person. I have received tons of love and encouragement from them.

Our brother, Alan Amavisca’s teaching from 1 Samuel Chapter 14 was particularly interesting and valuable for me. It is a seldom preached passage of the Bible. We received a profound message from him, which then we discussed, applied, and internalized in small groups interactively. Special thanks to sister Lisa Halverstadt, who kindly and lovingly helped Sabino, his daughter Clariver, and me, whose first language isn’t English, during the small group discussions.

I am grateful to God that this is the church where we started planting churches 25 years ago, in accordance with Romans 15:20-21, which is our scripture of calling. We worked with our brother, Dr. John Williams for 20 years, and it is his love in Christ that I experienced in Chiang Mai from all the EFM and the EFC-I Council leaders. (I should mention everyone by name here really.) Jesus says, “The one who leads should be like one who serves” (Luke 22:26). I observed and felt this kind of serving love and humility by all the leaders in the EFM and the EFC-I Council.

On my return, I had a wonderful testimony to share about the Chiang Mai Conference. Numerous photos and videos brought the events to life for my brothers and sisters in Hungary, Serbia, and Croatia. We all feel blessed and grateful that we can build our church in Hungary and Europe as part of EFM. God has given us a real home in this family. We are so thankful for you all.

In Christ’s love,
Antal (Tony) Frei

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

World Wide Gathering 2022 | Chiang Mai, Thailand

During the first couple of days of December 2022, there were 67 Friends who showed up in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for the second EFM Worldwide Missionary Gathering. The first one was held nine years ago. Thirty-three of the 67 who came were missionaries (11 households). The rest were some of EFM’s staff and board members along with those that came to support the event (child care, worship, etc.). Members of the Evangelical Friends Church International Council were also there. They participated in the main program and had their own meetings in the afternoons. The gathering ended on December 6.
The following three points describe the purpose of the Worldwide Missionary Gathering:

• Missionary Care – every Christian worker needs to step away from their intense ministry context and set apart time and place for refreshment, rest, and spiritual reflection.
• Missionary Community – the EFM missionary team is spread over the globe. During the retreat, they find opportunities to meet, encourage, counsel, and pray for one another. They also have the opportunity to do the same with the EFM staff and board members who support them.
• Missionary Equipping – we consider how each missionary can become an equipper of equippers, helping them to focus not only on the next wave of leaders but upon the third wave of leaders. When the third wave of leaders become equippers of equippers, then we know we are fueling a movement.

These purposes were carried out through a program that featured the following:

• Worship in the morning through singing and then Bible teaching from Alan Amavisca of Friends Southwest.
• Presentations by and interaction with the EFM directors about the Luke 10 Initiative, EFM’s philosophy of missions,
  deputation and communication with supporters, and missionary care and coaching.
• Missionaries meeting together after lunch in small groups in order to get to know one another better and also to pray for one another.
• Rest and time to play.
• Evening worship and talks by Stan Leach about what it means to become equippers of equippers.

One highlight of each of these gatherings has been the street market on Sunday night in downtown Chiang Mai. We join the mass of humanity moving up and down narrow streets, sampling all kinds of Thai cuisine and also considering what gifts to purchase from the multitude of stalls. It is a lot of fun!
After the gathering, Alan Amavisca wrote a reflection based on a promise found in a very painful sermon the prophet Isaiah preached in Isaiah 24:14-16. He titled it, “The Song of the Righteous One.” He wrote: “Missionaries gathered from the east and west, the south and north. And they sang. I love participating in missionary conferences precisely because missionaries sing unabashedly—and joyfully (i.e., LOUDLY). They know the father and they love to worship him. In addition, the image of God-worshippers from all peoples, tongues, tribes, and nations is not just a future hope for cross-cultural ministers—they live it. Every time missionaries gather; they bring elements of their ministry contexts with them, and it flavors their praise. I love it! We had a time of worship before my last message and ended it by singing ‘How Great Thou Art.’ I noticed an extra level of volume in their singing for that song. When I went up to speak, I asked how many of them had a translation of How Great Thou Art in their own languages. All of them. I suggested we sing the chorus in each of our own languages. They shook the rafters in Hindi and Maithalee and Khmer and Hungarian, in Aymara, Spanish and Kinyarwanda. Stunning!”
Thank you for upholding this event in your prayers. We definitely felt the Lord’s presence among us as well as the support of God’s people around the world. Now we are back in our various places of ministry, eager to see how “The Song of the Righteous One” plays out in 2023!

Happy New Year to you and yours!
Dan Cammack
EFM Field Director

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