{"id":25809,"date":"2024-02-06T12:16:55","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T18:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/?page_id=25809"},"modified":"2025-08-08T08:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:14:30","slug":"stories-of-transformation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/stories-of-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

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Did you know that every single donation and prayer makes a difference for our missionaries and those they are helping? Our goal is to ignite hope one relationship at a time. Thank you for your support! Enjoy these stories of transformation from across the world!<\/h3>\n

\"\"The following story comes from Edwin and Maria Giron, shared during the January 2025 Luke 10:2 Prayer Trip to Mexico. <\/span>The team was made up of nine men from Haviland Friends Church. We give glory to God because <\/span>h<\/span>e manifested <\/span>h<\/span>imself in many incredible ways. Based on the testimonies of each of these nine men, the trip was more than productive; each of them was tremendously <\/span>impacted<\/span> and transformed mentally and spiritually. The team visited the new Friends Church that started two years ago. This small congregation and its pastors were <\/span>greatly blessed<\/span>, encouraged, and edified by this team from Kansas. It was an intense week of prayer for this team that walked through the cities of Zacatecas and Durango, visiting and praying for families, streets, places, the pastoral family of Zacatecas, etc. We give glory to God for the impact <\/span>h<\/span>e made in the lives of the nine men through this trip<\/span> and <\/span>in the new congregation. We are also grateful and happy to have been able to help with the preparation details for this trip. We enjoyed being mobilizers!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The following is a story from our Friends in Bangladesh. Archona Adhikari is a regular attendee of the weekly \u201cAnannya\u201d (The Unique) classes and would not miss the class unless something bad happened. Anannya is a one-year women’s discipleship program.\u00a0 Before these classes, Archona was far from the Lord and made poor choices that resulted in no one in her area liking her and\u00a0there was no atmosphere of peace in her house.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One day a facilitator, Mrs. Lipi Biswas, was leading a class. The main theme of the class was forgiveness. She said that although we are sinners, Jesus forgave our sins. Forgiveness is essential to receive forgiveness of sins and God’s blessing. At the end of the class, Archana came to the facilitator and said, <\/span>“I have not been able to forgive a person yet and I cannot forgive her from my heart, because she has done me a lot of harm.”<\/span><\/i> The facilitator said to her, <\/span>“Do you like to carry a heavy load on your shoulder or do you like to be free, and move lightly?”<\/span><\/i> She added, <\/span>“Our Lord Jesus wants to carry our burdens.”<\/span><\/i> Jesus said, <\/span>“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened down, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). We must therefore throw all our burdens to Jesus.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unforgiveness is a burden that you have been carrying alone on your shoulders for many years. As a result, there is chaos in your mind, joy is gone, a pain is always chasing you…\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone in the class listened attentively to the facilitator. The facilitator then prayed to the Holy Spirit to help her forgive. At this time, everyone in the class extended their hands to her in prayer. The facilitator then asked Archana to say that prayer, pronouncing the name of the one whom she could not forgive. She said, “In the name of Jesus, I forgive \u2026\u2026. for \u2026\u2026 by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen\u201d. At the end of this prayer, a strange brightness appeared on her face.\u00a0 She was a different person. Now her life has changed. She doesn’t quarrel anymore. She loves everyone. She reads the Bible every day and spends time with the Lord. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>The following is a story from our Friends in Ireland. There was a mom who joined a baby group with her first child. She had recently moved to the area, and after a couple of months, she asked about the local church.<\/span>\u00a0She was told about the church and invited to a Bible Study where children are welcome.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>She came to the service with her family <\/span>and also<\/span> to the bible stud<\/span>y.<\/span>\u00a0 She has numerous questions and anxieties.<\/span> Our Friends <\/span>have been glad to befriend her, find resources for her, <\/span>preach<\/span>, and pray the blessing at their baby\u2019s baptism. <\/span>I am thankful that I can support her\/them as they navigate parenthood, marriage, and a relationship with God. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>This is a story from our Friends in Cambodia. After five\u00a0<\/span>v<\/span>ery difficult<\/span> years, <\/span>T<\/span>heara<\/span> and <\/span>S<\/span>aophorn<\/span> (husband and wife) are starting to see the fruit of their labor. <\/span>T<\/span>hey’ve<\/span> managed to plant a small church in their remote village that includes a growing youth and children’s ministry. After years of persecution and rejection, because of God’s grace and <\/span>T<\/span>heara<\/span> and <\/span>S<\/span>aophorn<\/span> faithfulness, an increasing number of villagers now associate the name of Jesus with love, peace, and the healing power.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/span>The following story of transformation is from our Friends in Bangladesh. <\/span><\/span>Sandhya<\/span> and<\/span> Biplob <\/span>were a married couple who could not stand to be around Christian people- they hated them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Their family life was not going well; there was always someone in trouble, there was no happiness, they <\/span>were in<\/span> debt, and they had a son who was often sick. <\/span>One day when she was visiting her <\/span>mother-in-law<\/span>, she heard God\u2019s Word being discussed and she stayed to listen. She felt a peace in her heart that day\u00a0and<\/span> f<\/span>rom then on, she <\/span>started regularly<\/span> attending<\/span> those kinds of discussions. One day, <\/span>the<\/span> Bible verse <\/span>John 3:16 <\/span>touched her very much<\/span> and s<\/span>he asked the pastor about it. The pastor gave her time and continued to explain God’s Word. After that, many questions started coming to her mind. <\/span>She spoke with her husband about these questions <\/span>and then<\/span> both approached the pastor and requested him to come to their house. <\/span>The pastor<\/span> answered their questions beautifully and read passages of the Bible. The pastor invited them to join the Sunday service. From then on, they continued to attend the service. <\/span>Three months later,<\/span> both of them<\/span> decided to accept Jesus as Lord. Now they have a lot of joy in their hearts. They were assured that they had a caring friend, Jesus. Even when they are sick, he is by their side and heals. They now read the Bible and pray every day, going to church together. There is not much abundance in their family, but there is a lot of happiness that Jesus has given them. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The following story of transformation is from our Friends in India. Pastor Chandan is a pastor here who has been faithfully working in our mission. He started with one church and now he is pastoring four churches. <\/span>H<\/span>e raised up a good number of lay leaders and they are taking care of the eight house churches.<\/span> He has started <\/span>an<\/span> online prayer<\/span> group that meets<\/span> every morning at 6 AM and over fifty people<\/span> have<\/span> join<\/span>ed<\/span> that<\/span> group<\/span>. Many people came to the Lord by this online prayer group. He has a Sunday school, <\/span>c<\/span>oaching <\/span>center<\/span> and a small primary scho<\/span>ol. By all <\/span>these, he is blessed by the Lord and his ministry is growing. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"The following is a story from our friends in Rwanda about breaking down language barriers!<\/span> It is really fun to be able to surprise people who don’t know me with my ability to communicate with them in their heart language. It breaks down barriers and immediately opens the door for a good conversation. I think one of the main things the Lord has enabled me to do over the years is to listen as an outsider to conversations and underlying beliefs. As an outsider, God has helped me to pick up on nuances, and several times, insights that I have been able to offer have opened a new understanding of what the Bible is teaching or ways that cultural belief has blinded people to what the Bible is saying. For example, I realized that even though people often talk about Jesus as Savior, that much of the underlying belief is that we must earn our salvation. It has been fascinating to unpack that issue and push towards a clearer understanding of our salvation by grace through faith that then transforms us and enables us to obey God.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Another story is, there was a time when the women gathered separately from the men to discuss some questions. The conversation was completely in Kinyarwanda and they were kind to me and helped me understand each question that we were answering, and I believe I understood the questions well. I listened as best as I could to each lady’s answers and usually understood the gist of what they were saying. When it came time for me to answer, I did my best, and they responded well.\u00a0I praise God for their kindness and understanding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"The following is a story of transformation from Mexico. <\/span><\/span>This year, an exploratory trip was carried out in two states of Mexico (Durango and San Luis Potosi). These states are part of central Mexico where the percentage of Evangelical Christians is very low. One of the greatest purposes and blessings of this trip was the participation of the two superintendents of the two Friends Yearly Meetings in Mexico, their wives, and other key leaders who said yes to this experience. It was very moving to hear the testimonies and comments at the end of the trip from these superintendents and leaders who testified that this exploratory trip exposed them to look at God’s fields and that the harvest is ready and is plentiful. Each of the participants of this trip returned to their homes challenged, with a different mentality, encouraged, and even more focused on moving forward with the project of planting more churches in the states of Mexico to contribute to the expansion of the kingdom of God and also to prepare and send more workers out to the fields. We give glory to God for allowing us to have this opportunity and the experiences we had during this trip, to spend time together with these godly leaders, to talk, pray, dream, plan, etc. This trip was truly purposeful, powerful and fruitful.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The following is story from our friends in India. There is a new believer<\/span>, D. S.<\/span>in Shyamnagar Friends Church who made a public testimony of baptism in 2021. He sells fish for a living. He has continued to grow in the faith since 2021 and started two new house fellowships. He says that in the morning he sells fish <\/span>but, in the evening,<\/span> he is free to tell people about Jesus. He <\/span>did<\/span> Bible training through our Bible classes. <\/span>Recently, he <\/span>did<\/span>\u00a0business training as well. He is so happy now. He says it is a new opportunity to sell fish <\/span>in accord<\/span>ance<\/span> with<\/span> the Bible and the teachings of his business training.<\/span> With recent encouragement, he started the ministry in the expanded area of Shyamnagar. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The following is a story of a transformed life from our Friends in Nepal. <\/span> In March during a screen of the<\/span> Jesus Film in <\/span>a <\/span>communit<\/span>y <\/span>in D<\/span>* <\/span>(a district <\/span>predominantly of<\/span> the Hindu Maithili community)<\/span>,<\/span> leaders <\/span>reported that there was a good response from the crowd as <\/span>they watched the end of<\/span> the movie depicting the story of Jesus. Many people were moved to come forward with questions the same night <\/span>as<\/span> the next day. A <\/span>few<\/span>\u00a0young boys from the same community came forward and were asking interesting questions about the life and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. They were guided into the nearest church for follow-up.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/span><\/span>The following is a story of a transformed life from our Friends in Cambodia. Sokha is the youngest of three sisters. When she was around ten years old, her parents divorced and both remarried, leaving their three daughters to fend for themselves. From a young age, Sokha worked as a farm laborer.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sokha (who is now married with three children) joined an evangelistic bible study. After attending the Bible study for a few months, she asked if leaders could\u00a0pray for God to heal a swollen lymph node (or tumor) in her throat that had been afflicting her for years. They prayed, and God graciously responded.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, as Sokha has surrendered more of her life to Christ, the Lord has transformed her heart, her family, and delivered her from alcohol and gambling addiction. He\u2019s also used Sokha to lead others to Christ. About a month ago, a small group of believers began meeting for Sunday worship beside Sokha\u2019s house.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"The following is a story of transformation from our Friends in Rwanda. <\/span><\/span>Clementine is a leader of women for the local government in her neighborhood. She was chosen by government leaders to be discipled in the whole-life discipleship group. Her story is a story of a \u201ctransforming\u201d person rather than a \u201ctransformed\u201d person, which is also true of all of us. She is a Catholic. She said that through D4D her relationship with God has deepened and that she has gained confidence that has enabled her to become a small group leader in her church. She now leads her small group in prayer and study. She has done various things to improve the health of their family, like putting cement on walls and tiles on the floor to reduce dirt in the home and purchasing animals to help provide for their family. She also started a money-making venture that she gained the confidence and courage to start through D4D. She has stewarded her products and increased what she can make. She also recently opened a shop. She said, \u201cWhat I learned in D4D has enabled me to grow this business and provide for my family.\u201d Clementine is learning and growing in various ways. She is in the process. We can trust God to continue to work in Clementine\u2019s life and draw her to himself as the D4D leaders in Musanze disciple her and the others in their church and surrounding community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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\"\"The following is a story of transformation from our Friends in Bangladesh. A. D. <\/span>i<\/span>s from the Kanaidia <\/span>village<\/span> and she is a student <\/span>at<\/span> the Friends Tutorial School. She was born in a Hindu family<\/span> and b<\/span>efore entering<\/span> the<\/span> Friends Tutorial School, she was very disobedient to her parents. She <\/span>didn’t<\/span> listen to h<\/span>er<\/span> parents, <\/span>she lied to <\/span>them<\/span>, and she did not <\/span>study or go to school. As a result, she was often <\/span>scolded <\/span>and<\/span> disciplined <\/span>by her parents<\/span>. <\/span>After enrolling in <\/span>the<\/span> Friends Tutorial School, she started <\/span>attending<\/span> Sunday School regularly. There she began to learn from the <\/span>Bible<\/span> and she<\/span> began to learn a lot about Jesus. She learned that Jesus was <\/span>humble<\/span> and he gave his life for us.<\/span> We are sinners, yet He loves us.\u00a0 She learned more about Jesus’ forgiveness<\/span> and<\/span> decided to obey Jesus’ teaching. Following the Ten Commandments of the Bible, she began to follow moral teachings such as honoring her parents, not lying, and not stealing. Her life began to change. She started going to school regularly from then on. She concentrated on her studies. Her life is no longer the same as before. She has become a new person.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"The following is a story of transformation from our Friends in Cambodia. Sokha is the mother of three small children, and an agricultural laborer at a local rubber plantation. When she first started attending an evangelistic Bible study she rarely smiled and <\/span>frequently<\/span> complained about marital disputes and health problems. A few weeks later she asked the leaders to pray for a cyst in her throat. According to her, she<\/span> i<\/span>mmediatel<\/span>y<\/span> experienced the cyst shrink in size. Since then both her and husband have committed their lives to Christ, she smiles and laughs often, and actively shares the gospel with neighbors and friends.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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\"\"March 2024<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This story is from our Friends in Nepal. Shyam is a <\/span>56-year-old<\/span> man <\/span>born into a Hindu family<\/span> that<\/span> practiced its rituals. <\/span>H<\/span>e <\/span>heard the gospel through elders <\/span>in h<\/span>is<\/span> village as a child and followed their example. <\/span>H<\/span>e would go with them to read the bible and pray.<\/span> Once he was married, he moved to a new city and<\/span> while there, interacted with h<\/span>is<\/span> new<\/span> family members<\/span> who<\/span> were<\/span> Christian. <\/span>H<\/span>e made a public testimony of baptism though he did not know much about Jesus. <\/span>A few years later, he walked away from his faith, moved around, and was eventually invited to a local church which he started attending regularly.<\/span> I<\/span>n this church<\/span>,<\/span> he was<\/span> discipled by <\/span>the p<\/span>astor and eventually accepted Jesus Christ as <\/span>h<\/span>is<\/span> personal Savior.<\/span> He took the CHE TOT training and after that, a one-month discipleship course.<\/span> These trainings encouraged <\/span>Shyam<\/span>\u00a0to grow in <\/span>h<\/span>is<\/span> faith and to share <\/span>with others.<\/span> Though he is a<\/span> day laborer,<\/span> he does not<\/span> work all the time<\/span>. <\/span>H<\/span>e plans<\/span> to do pig farming<\/span> which the church gave h<\/span>im<\/span> funds to start.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>e is thankful for all of this and how God has provided. <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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February 2024<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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This story is from our friends in Mexico. The First Retreat for Future Missionaries in Latin America was held from August 7 to 11, 2023 with an attendance of 25 young people from the different Friends Churches of Mexico and from Kansas, United States. Most of the attendees were between the ages of 16 and 30.\u00a0 During these days, potential future missionaries had the opportunity to listen to speakers with experience in missions and focus on exploring their call to missions or church planting. These days were filled with intense learning, prayer, praise, paying attention to God’s call, and expanding their vision to the need that still exists to reach the parts of the world that do not yet know about Jesus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These potential future missionaries also had opportunities to sense the spiritual need through service and evangelization in the city\u2019s downtown. At the end of the retreat, several of participants 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.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One pastor who was there as a mentor,\u00a0shared 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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January 2024<\/h3>\n
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This story is from our Friends in India. Badal and Pratima are a couple from a Hindu background and come from the Dalit caste, one of the underprivileged groups of India. Pratima started a training program at our sewing center and learned the skill of sewing clothes. We shared the gospel with her and visited her home to teach her and her husband more about Jesus. After six months, she and her whole family came to Christ and accepted Jesus as their savior. Before she learned how to sew, her husband was the only one who earned a livelihood for their family and now Pratima contributes to their income and can help her family financially.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pratima was given a sewing machine so that she would not have to pay rent for using the sewing machine. Jesus\u2019 love has impacted her life by providing training for sewing clothes. Her life has improved, and her sister-in-law is also a student at the sewing center, learning the same skills so she can also provide income for her family.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know that every single donation and prayer makes a difference for our missionaries and those they are helping? Our goal is to ignite hope one relationship at a time. Thank you for your support! Enjoy these stories of transformation from across the world! The following story comes from Edwin and Maria Giron, shared […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"full","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-25809","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry","6":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25809"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28450,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25809\/revisions\/28450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}