This Fall has passed quickly. The baby group has been going strong, and the women have taken on the task of carrying on when I have been away from time to time. We took the traditional “Christmas baby” photo (as you can see below). These women want to keep the group going in the New Year as well. I’m thrilled about that.

Toward the end of October, I flew to California so that I could attend my niece’s wedding and participate in some of the family time surrounding that. It was a beautiful day, and I am so glad I could be there.

In my last update, I spoke of my plans to complete my M.A. at Barclay College before the end of the year. I was also ready to start a Continuing Professional Development course at University College Cork (for Social Work). I was gathering the paperwork so that I could register with the Social Work governing body in Ireland (now, that paperwork has been submitted – all 40 certified pages…). The important people who review those things will very likely come back to me with some further requirements so pray for that process and that I am able to do what I need to do to be a Social Worker in Ireland!

If you have lived long enough, you know that sometimes all of our plans change in a moment and goals must be deferred. That happened to me on November 23. I went to see my GP because for months I have gotten more and more breathless with minimal exertion. The GP sent me to the hospital emergency unit, and after seven hours of tests and consultation, I was admitted to the cardiology ward with fluid in my lungs. I was there for five days and more tests.

This is what I learned: I have a bicuspid aortic valve (which sounds like a tooth) but essentially it means that most of you have three flaps on your aorta that let blood through, and I have two. My heart works harder to push the blood out. My heart is healthy and strong. It is not enlarged or diseased. The arteries are not blocked. But I have this valve that has been working hard all my life and it is hardening and narrowing and it needs to be replaced. This will be open heart surgery, here in Ireland. This is not emergency surgery, but it is important and urgent.

When I was released from the hospital, I made the decision to defer my M.A. at Barclay College until the Spring. I also deferred my studies at UC Cork until next Fall. I am scheduled for surgery on January 3, 2023. EFM and my home church have made it possible for my sisters, Joni and Sandi, to come over when I am released from the hospital to look after me at home. They will tag team, and overlap for a few days so we can spend time together. I am thankful for the care I have here in Ireland (so many people checking on me and offering assistance) and the care I have in the US (sending help and prayers). Basically, during this time of waiting, my job has been to NOT GET SICK (which means I’m home alone, a lot).

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I have set up a Caring Bridge site where you will find news of the surgery and recovery. You will find the link aquí.

Blessings,

Kathi Perry

The post Kathi Perry December Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

M. and K. L. | Serving in Asia

This time of year is always so full! For each of us, the fullness looks different, and it looks different from year to year. Regardless of the events, people, or things that fill this season, it is such a wonderful time of the year to truly find joy in what Jesus did for us, is doing for us, and will do for us! For our family, we will be returning to the United States for deputation right after the Worldwide Gathering in Thailand. It’s hard to believe that we have been in Asia long enough for this to be our second deputation. And, while we are looking forward to all the joys of being around family and friends this season, we are also grieving being away from our home in Asia. Despite the chaos of a typical Christmas season in Asia, we love getting to share the true meaning of Christmas with our friends.

Before leaving we had the opportunity to meet with many of our friends either in their houses or ours, and we gave Christmas packages so they would even then have the reminder of Christmas and whom we celebrate. We know that despite us not being there physically, we can rejoice that God has not left our village or valley. He is still working in the hearts of those that we love and those we have yet to meet. God has been faithful to us through our many toils these last (almost) eight years, and he won’t stop working because we aren’t there right now. We need to trust God’s timing for his workings to come. Just like Mary and Joseph had to trust God in every detail of the circumstances leading up to the birth of the Son of God, we must trust God in all the details of our lives, even when things end up looking differently than we expected.

We had to leave Asia early before the Worldwide Gathering because some of our visas expired. So, we have had the opportunity of spending time together as a family in Thailand. And while we would have rather been in Asia, being with friends, and working on establishing our business legally, or in America working on setting up a new home and visiting family, we are trusting God and his details. While in Thailand, M. became quite sick with a bacterial infection called scrub typhus, and we are very thankful that we were able to get answers and medication quickly so that he could have a fast recovery. We have also recently suffered the loss of M.’s grandmother and grieved the loss of her life while being an ocean away. It has reminded us of the importance of a legacy of a life well-lived for Christ. So, in all the fullness of this season, we, too, are striving to faithfully serve and obediently follow Christ in a way that points all those that we encounter to Christ! May your Christmas season be filled with God’s goodness and love during this beautiful season!

Love,
M., K., N., A., H., L., A., and B.

Read the Full Prayer Letter Here…

The post December 2022 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Hi all! Just a quick update to say THANK YOU! Thank you for praying and giving so generously. Last week, as we approached Christmas – the commitments to give, and the generous gifts given, added up to fully funded!

This means that with a combination of future giving, and generous one-time gifts toward support, we trust that my monthly needs will be met going forward, and I am able to return to Ireland NEXT WEEK.

Thank you! Thank you for welcoming me into your churches and lives these past months, while I have been in the U.S. Thank you for hearing my appeals and responding. Thank you for loving the Irish people and allowing me to go back and show them that love in real life.

I am scheduled to fly January 9, arriving in Ireland on January 10 – all going according to plan. So please continue to pray – for family and good-byes, for me as I pack and sort and try to remember ALL THE THINGS. Pray for flights to go as scheduled and all the details to come together.

Goodbyes are still tough, even after twenty years. AND I am looking forward to the “hellos” that wait on the other side of the ocean.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh literally means “May you have a thousand good things.” In English we would say, “thanks a million”.

Kathi Perry

The post Kathi Perri is Fully Funded! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  How was your Christmas? I pray you had a blessed time.

Thank you for your prayers and your support. We are very grateful in our hearts.

We intensified our preaching and discipling in the villages starting on December 1. We wanted to make sure the people who were going to accept Christ were ready in their hearts. As Christmas approached, our joy intensified. Our pastors and leaders when asked what gift they would like to give Jesus, always say, ‘We want to put new souls at Jesus’s feet.’ Because they know Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.

We had our evangelistic meetings in 22 different areas. Here is a picture of one of our open meetings. In one of our areas the police was informed. But when the police saw the crowd they just told us not to criticize other religions and we were allowed to continue.

When we gave the invitation for people to accept Christ, 70 Hindus, three Buddhists, and two Muslims accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. There was great joy among us. This time we had three separate areas where people accepted Jesus. One was our churches, the second was inside the jail, and the third was in India.

Testimony: Ex Muslim received Jesus and received her sight. 

She received Christ first and then she was prayed over, for her eyes to receive sight because she was blind. As the church service was going on, she got up from her seat on her own and walked to the front of the church and gave testimony that she was blind and now she could see. You should hear the loud cheer that resounded in the church.

Rejoice with us as the Holy Spirit continues to do incredible things.

Blessings,

B. and D. A.

The post An Amazing Christmas first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Dear Friend,

We are very thankful for your prayers, love, and support during 2021.

Thanks to your partnership my husband and I were encouraged and motivated to continue serving the Lord and being obedient to the meaningful tasks that he called us to work on for his kingdom during this year that is now ending.

In summary, what God, by his grace, allowed us to accomplish is as follows; please rejoice, and let us praise the Lord together!

Mission Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

God allowed us to have opportunities to share about global missions and about EFM on various occasions including giving workshops and preaching at events such as AMANA-the Hispanic Friends Alliance of North America and with Friends churches in the United States, Mexico, Central America and South America. These were mostly through Zoom.

Coaching Church Planters

We are currently mentoring four families of pastors and new church planters in Mexico. We give thanks and praise the Lord for these families so dedicated and faithful to their call. These families work hard, and the fruit is evident. Glory to God!

Please continue praying for:

• Jaime & Lupita Leon, serving the Lord as pastors in Sinaloa
• Israel & Daira De La Torre, leading the church in Aguascalientes
• Oseas & Jessica Chacon, starting a new church in Chetumal, Quinana Roo
• Omar & Aryadna Ramirez, starting a new church in Zacatecas

Vision Mexico 32

We are grateful to God for allowing us to continue to be part of the team to develop the VM32 project, which is focused on reaching Mexico with the gospel by planting a Friends Church in every state of the country by 2032. As a team we have made progress. This year we were able to send a family to the field and a second is almost ready to go. With these two families we will have a presence of Friends in 14 states out of the 32. Praise the Lord!

EFM Being Bilingual

Great strides have been made in making EFM bilingual through English to Spanish translations of EFM letters, updates, and emails. More Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters are having the opportunity to know about our missionaries, and about the new EFM goal. New people get to pray, give, and we hope that very soon there are Hispanic Friends also being sent to the new missionary fields.

Future Missionary Trip

It was a pleasure and a beautiful experience to have been able to lead, together with Matt Macy and Brad Carpenter, the trip for six future missionaries to Aguascalientes, Mexico in July. Two blessed weeks of culture learning, tangible experiences, and clarity to the call of these young people. We were very moved and encouraged by how strongly they feel called to be missionaries in the future.

We pray that this trip has really impacted their lives and their future and one day not too far away we will see them serve in the field where God will send them.

Luke 10 Initiative and Luke 10 Trip

We are very happy to have been invited to be part of the Luke 10 Initiative team to explore Ecuador during the Luke 10 Trip. We are having zoom monthly meetings with leaders from the Northwest Yearly Meeting. The first Luke 10 Initiative trip is to Bolivia and Peru and will take place from January 3 -20, 2022 and the Luke 10 exploration trip is being planned to happen in June.

New Congregation in North Las Vegas, NV

We are excited to feel the move of God in the beginning of a new congregation. During this year the focus was reaching people who have fallen away from their relationship with Jesus or people that were not attending a church for a long time. Discipleship and trainings are taking place to lay the foundations for this new work.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

With gratitude and love,

Maria Giron

Missions Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

The post Giron December 2021 Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

In The Message translation of Matthew 6, it says, “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” God has provided for my everyday human concerns during my departure and certainly upon my arrival.

Close friends from Gateway Friends Church gathered at LAX to see me off and pray over my plane journey than they yelled goodbye obnoxiously while I went through security. I am blessed by these friendships and the deep care given to me by my second church home.

When I arrived to Ireland, I had the pleasure and blessing of staying at Brides Glen B&B which is owned and operated by Betty Stevenson’s and her family. Immediately, I felt the warmth of the Stevenson’s hospitality and strong commitment to the work of God in Ireland. Brides Glen is a working beef farm complete with new calves and cute barn kitties. Rhoda, Betty and David’s daughter, and her family live next door with their three children, Reuben, Rebekah and Gideon, who I have become quite attached to already.

Two weeks ago,  I moved into my own house in a densely populated neighborhood in Greystones called Charlesland. I am overwhelmed with the blessing and provision of God in the house that He has given me. I look forward to filling this house with good conversation, good food and good company. A few days after I signed my lease, God provided a wonderful new car for me with low miles and only four years old! The freedom of having my own vehicle will be paramount to my effectiveness in ministry as will my warm and safe house.

God has been providing for my “every day human concerns” in many different ways from highly responsive immigration officers to the generosity of my new church family at Greystones Nazarene Community Church. A few Sundays ago, I walked into the church hall on Sunday to find a table overflowing with household items like toilet paper, toaster, salt and pepper shakers and tea towels that had been collected for me and my ne house. Again, I was overwhelmed by the warm kindness and generosity of God through his people to me.

Thank you for coming along with me on this journey. A new journey began on November 3 when I arrived in Ireland. I am so grateful for all the ways God has provided for my “every day human concerns” and even more than that to remind me of His love for me and for the Irish people.

The post One Month in Ireland! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

As you may have heard by now, Roy and Jinky Twaddell are retiring at the end of this month (December) from 28 years of missionary service with EFM. When we first announced their retirement in June of this year the Twaddells had hoped to be in the U.S. by now to thank their prayer and financial supporters in person. Shortly thereafter Jinky became seriously ill with COVID-19 and is still recovering from it. The plan now is for Roy and Jinky to come to the U.S. in the spring of 2022 for what might be called a “retirement celebration tour,” and then return to the Philippines where they still plan to live out their retirement years.

When an EFM missionary retires we usually encourage their financial supporters to continue supporting them for an additional three months in order to fully fund their support and transition costs (Twaddells have been underfunded lately). This is the case with Roy and Jinky. If at all possible, please continue your financial support for them until the end of March 2022.

Another thing we like to do for EFM missionaries who are retiring is take up a love offering for them. Donations for the love offering for Roy and Jinky can be made now. Please mark it “Twaddell Retirement Love Gift” when you make that donation. As the retirement celebration tour draws near in 2022 we’ll send out a reminder about the love offering.

In closing, we and the Twaddells would like to express our appreciation to all those who gave to help cover Jinky’s COVID treatment costs. It touched all of our hearts deeply to see how quickly and generously those gifts came in. We also encourage you to be praying about who else the Lord would have you support once your giving to Twaddells comes to an end. We will send further information in February about how to do this kind of reallocation of giving, but you are welcome to contact the EFM office at any time to request changes to your recurring giving.

The Lord bless and keep you during this Christmas season!

Your fellow servant in Christ,

Dan Cammack

EFM Field Director

• Donate online aquí on Roy and Jinky’s personal EFM donation page and designate “Twaddell Support Philippines” or “Twaddell Retirement Love Gift.”
• Donate by credit card over the phone at 303-421-8100.
• Mail a check marked with “Twaddell Support Philippines” or “Twaddell Retirement Love Gift” to EFM, PO Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277.

The post December 2021 | Continue Supporting Twaddells Through March 2022 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

It’s Harvest Time, Let’s Celebrate!  

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

Pastor Tertullien, our Discipling for Development (D4D) leader in Rwanda, said, “Tell Debby and our Navigator coaches that it’s time to reap the results of all the seeds you’ve sown in past years!” Tertullien’s letter goes on, as follows:

We are praising God that many of our D4D leaders are doing well. Our national church leaders have good testimonies from applying D4D principles in their lives. For example, they are building their own homes, and even putting in place pastoral retirement plans (something that has long been a need). We see that D4D has impacted the Evangelical Friends Church of Rwanda as a whole. Our mentees also demonstrate more holistic transformation than seen in past years.

We are expanding by crossing denominational lines here in Rwanda, mentoring leaders in Congo and Burundi, and we hope to send our own missionaries to other countries. We thank God for new leaders who will continue the work with D4D as we continue expanding. For sure the kingdom of God is coming in Africa! We have a tool!

Even though COVID-19 has been challenging, it has become an opportunity to use the D4D “problem solving process” and to discover different ways of doing things, to expand our understanding, and to continue to do evangelism and discipleship.

When we recently visited our D4D communities, we saw the difference our way of thinking makes. The people we are working with have progressed! Family education is more purposeful and effective. Personal Development Plan achievements are more successful. We see God at work even in the difficulties.

After sharing Tertullien’s texts with my wife Debby, she said, “We confronted the barriers of dependency, poverty mindset, so many unmet needs of our pastors and their families, as well as the overall poverty of our believers. We praise God that he gave the insight to overcome those barriers!” Tertullien goes on to say:

We celebrate pastors’ holistic transformation, moving out of dependency. Our testimonies will make your tears for happiness. You will harvest your seeds sown. We have seen that you were prophets, and your prophetic messages are now fulfilled.

How? In the lives of our pastors and the lives of our Christians. In the transformation of various communities like Musovu and Kirambo. Our Friends Church denomination is now independent. Our new leadership structure, our decision making, our yearly meeting and local church leadership – all are self-supporting in every way.

Our mind set has totally changed!

Click here to download full prayer letter…

The post December 2021 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The post December 2020 Kibbe Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Bangladesh Newsletter

December 2020

What dreadful days everyone is going through! In January, no one understood what is going to happen in the days and weeks ahead. But, even then, God is good! He is always good! In that time of uncertainty, God gave us a verse:

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Let me share some of our joyful work that the Lord has helped to do in the midst of this crisis period.

A Day with Children: It was a joy to spend a day with 52 children on 16 November. It was the first public program of this year. There was lots of fun, including Bible storytelling, skits, learning new songs, and eating together. May the Lord raise this new generation for his kingdom work!

Friends Church Multiplication Conference: We were able to connect globally through Zoom and YouTube and attend the Friends Church Multiplication Conference in November. A small group of people attended with us online and our city leaders and volunteers joined us at the EFC office. Many could not attend this conference because of language problems and not having access to the internet. We have planned to take the materials from the conference and organize them into a training program December 15-17, 2020. We are expecting 23 pastors and leaders will join with us. Pray for the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.

Discipleship Training: We had our second public training program. 25 lay leaders participated from six Friends churches. Our local team worked very hard organizing this training. Husbands and wives mostly attended. Pray that the Holy Spirit leads them everyday.

Mothers Gave Birth Children: We are so happy that some of our churches have given birth to new churches. Three new churches were born and 67 new believers took a public testimony of baptism. The Lord’s family is growing!

Food Distribution: By the grace of God, we were able to distribute food again to needy people. It was a great blessing to the believers. We are so thankful to those who have shared their love to these people.

Tube-Well Installation: We were able to install five tube-wells after a flood for drinking water. People are now getting fresh water for drinking.

1. For our Church Multiplication Training Seminar from 15-17 December. Pray that we can develop many multiplier disciples in 2021.
2. For our community Christmas party. We have selected 50 communities to share the Christmas story with. Pray that the Lord prepare many hearts to receive him.
3. For our elder son, Steve, as he is at Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas. His new semester will begin in January. Pray for his studies, good health, and courage to take any challenge to fulfill our master’s goal.

The post December 2020 A. and M. A. Newsletter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.