We are excited to share this report from one of The Way Foundations Projects! This report shared by Yaw Sa Pa, Director of Discipleship.

Lebo and his wife are red Lahu that live in the village of Ja saw pa with their two children. Lebo has been a believer in Christ for about seven years. Before our Discipling for Development (D4D) team entered the village, Lebo’s perspective of Christianity was one of ritual and tradition and not one of the new life in Christ. After our team went to share the Gospel and teach the D4D course in his village, his perspective began to change. Now he sees that the heart of Christianity has to do with a transformed life in Christ and not just traditions and rituals.

Lebo and his wife are deeply committed to learning the word of God and both are beginning to grow spiritually and are developing a desire for change in their lives, to live according to God’s way.

The gospel coupled with D4D lessons are tools that the Lord is using to continually make Lebo’s life better day by day. As a result from God’s work in their lives, they now have peace in their walk with God. Lebo and his wife want to know God more and be transformed more into the image of Christ. Therefore, they have decided to study in the PET program. This is something we thank the Lord for!

Thanks for your prayer and your support.

From,

Charlee Kunakorn

Executive Director, The Way Foundation

The post March 2023 Testimonies from Thailand first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Thank you so much for supporting me and our team in prayer!

This has been a very good trip.

• Our five facilitators besides myself did a great job in their first experience facilitating these three workshops with our Discipling for Development (D4D) lessons.
• Our six hour facilitation in La Paz on Saturday was the best and had excellent participation. Santa Cruz was the second best, and we did well for our first seminar in Cochabamba. We found that people are not able to get to a 6:00pm week-day meeting on time, so we lost an hour of time for our two workshops in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
• It was great to have participants ask us good questions and show lots of interest. We have several church groups interested in our coaching, including Friends churches. They would like us to help coach their missionaries working with the Chimani people in the jungles. There were also some people with the Assemblies of God, and a Friends church in two of the cities who would like to disciple their communities holistically. A YWAM leader in Santa Cruz also showed interest.
• A few leaders of large denominations are not as interested as D4D does not offer money or projects for the development branch of their church denomination structure. Also the holistic approach doesn’t fit their spiritual discipleship vs physical development paradigms. This is good, because we need those people who really want our coaching.

• Of special note was the interest of two Christian NGOs, Food for the Hungry – Bolivia, and Compassion International – Bolivia. Both have had successful ministries, and they both feel they have not yet experienced the wholistic, empowering community transformation they have wanted to see. They are encouraged by Discipling for Development’s experience, and want us to train their leaders and staff, and enter a long-term, five-year coaching relationship! We have not worked with these groups in this way before, because they bring in outside money and projects in the communities which often results in dependency. We are being attentive to what God is doing. Back in 2007 God led the Navigator D4D team to begin coaching their first church group (Evangelical Friends Church of Rwanda) because God was clearly leading, and everyone on their team including Debby Thomas and Augustin Simparinka were so hungry, ripe, and ready for D4D coaching! That was a worthwhile investment! May the Lord lead us well now!
• It was a pleasure for me to be a part of this team. Judy took the finances, Gary did the overall leadership, Merry Lee organized the devotionals, Cintia took care of us in La Paz, Rodiz in Santa Cruz, and Henry Nogales in Cochabamba. Merry Lee coached one facilitation team and Gary in the other. As the main D4D mentor with Spanish I was able to focus on the key parts I had. Stefanie Chambi became my right-hand person as she clearly understands D4D and is able to clearly communicate as well.
• Gary was able to recover from an intestinal problem, and Judy as well from a cold that turned into bronchitis. Thank you for praying for our health!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Thank you very much for surrounding me and my team with your effective prayer!

David Thomas

The post David Thomas Post- Bolivia Trip Prayer Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Dear Friends,

I am spearheading an initiative with the Navigator’s Discipling for Development (D4D) team launching a whole-life community discipling ministry in Bolivia.

Trip Purpose

This trip is about connecting with church denominations and Christian organization leaders to give them a vision for whole-life disciple-making movements so that they can help connect us to the local pastors, leaders, and ministries who are ready to disciple their communities holistically. We will do this by giving three, six-hour seminars in the cities of Cochabamba, La Paz, and Santa Cruz. Later this year we will invite the people they recommend to some five-day seminars which give an overview of the Discipling for Development (D4D) ministry. From this D4D Foundations workshop, we are praying God leads us to leaders eager to implement and ready to engage us for our long-term, three- five year coaching.

Here we are enjoying each other and coffee and debriefing our October trip in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I’m taking a selfy with Merri Lee Hipp beside me, Stefanie and Rodiz, and Judy Camp. Our team this January trip will also include Cintia Huayhua, Gary Hipp and Bruce Hook.

Trip Schedule

Praise God for:

• An amazing team God has put together with Rodiz and Stefanie Chambi and Cintia Huayhua in Bolivia; Gary and Merri Lee Hipp, Judy Camp, Bruce Hook, and David Thomas from the US.
• Partners on the ground who are doing so much to connect us to Bolivian leaders in ministry. We are thankful!

Prayer Requests:

• This will be the first time for Rodiz, Stefanie, Cintia, Judy, and Bruce to facilitate a D4D adult learning method using D4D lessons. They are all gifted and have experience. Pray for quickness in understanding what they will be doing. Pray for peace, dependence on Holy Spirit, and fun in the process. Gary and Merri Lee will be coaching two teams of facilitators.
• Ask God to connect us to those leaders who are ripe for discipling holistically and are already doing some good work in their communities. We want to meet those leaders Holy Spirit is leading us to who are ready to take the next steps, who are eager for our just-in-time-learning, people who say, “this is exactly what I was looking for!”
• Pray for a quick adjustment to the high altitude of Cochabamba (8,000 ft), and La Paz (11,000-13,000 ft). Pray for good health and protection from sickness.
• Pray for wisdom and safety for our team in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as their governor was imprisoned in La Paz just before the New Year and people are upset, with some rioting and blockading.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us in prayer for this trip!

David Thomas

The post David Thomas Pre-Trip Prayer Update: Bolivia- January 22-February 8 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Greetings Friends!

Thank you for praying with me during my November-December trip to Thailand!

Debby and I had a wonderful time relaxing on some beaches in Thailand during our holiday rest days. I especially appreciated swimming/snorkeling around an island and sailing a catamaran out into the Andaman sea. Our time with Evangelical Friend’s Mission’s Worldwide Missionary Gathering held in Chiang Mai was an excellent and encouraging time. I enjoyed connecting with our missionaries from all over the world. Debby and I participated in the first gathering in 2013, and it was wonderful to be there together again.

I especially want to share on my last week of coaching up in Chiang Rai with our wonderful Discipling for Development team with The Way Foundation (TWF). Scott Purser and I felt God leading us to focus on team building and helping Yosapa lead his D4D team well. We want Yosapa to lead by not doing everything himself, by relying on the strengths of others and by delegating responsibilities. BUT, three days before we were to begin coaching he tested positive for COVID-19 and stayed at home recovering. Who were we going to coach if our main leader was out? We are grateful he had a mild case and was able to recover quickly. On Tuesday we met outside at David and Marilyn Kibbe’s house were Yosapa could sit masked and away from us. The cool thing is that his teammate, Manat, hosted us and participated actively in all our coaching. Yosapa was with us for our last two days of coaching on Thursday and Friday. We saw Manat come alive by the way he answered questions, asked questions, and described the purpose for our key vision casting lessons. He showed a high level of understanding and ownership of his D4D ministry. Yosapa has an amazing team and was able to see Manat, MaoPa, and Jabo shine. God helped us reach our goal of developing Yosapa’s team leadership better than we could have figured out.

Julie did an amazing job translating for us between English and Lahu. We especially appreciated being able to connect well with Jabo and MaoPa and their wives. They are the D4D leaders as well as the local pastors in the two villages we are working in. They finished with a clear understanding of where we are, and the next steps ahead.

This was one of the “most interesting,” or “most difficult/unsure,” coaching times as we went into the week, but I felt like it was also one of our best coaching weeks as we finished. God is so faithful to lead us well. I also appreciate coaching with Scott Purser (Navigators D4D) who is able to ask excellent questions. I appreciate his different perspective from mine. We make a good D4D team.

Last June we helped the families of The Way Foundation team discover the “Curriculum” of the ten key subject areas and issues they want to be discipled in. They have been using their Monday, whole team meeting time to disciple each other in the priority first three subject areas on this list. It was encouraging to hear testimonies of growth, including greater interest in God’s word through establishing daily reading habits and monthly financial needs met as a couple tithed first thing in the month before paying for their normal monthly expenses.

Join with us in praying for David Kibbe (“Grandpa” to many) as he had a rough bought with COVID-19. Pray that his lungs and body fully recover and that he regains his weight and strength. David and Marilyn have a valuable ministry discipling, mentoring, and coaching leaders of TWF, and David is currently focused on the important task of training up teachers for the Pastor and Evangelist Training- PET-(a two-year discipleship training course that he and Chalee developed and with which they are training many Lahu leaders).

Thank you for praying with us! Your prayers make a difference! I am grateful for your support!

David Thomas

The post David Thomas January Prayer Update- Thailand Report first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

I’m about two hours out of Chiang Rai in a Lahu village with Joshua, Solomon, Dan Cammack, and a few other Lahu men. They just played “The Old Rugged Cross,” and now “Amazing Grace” followed by “Oh Come All You Faithful” at a fast beat. There are two base guitars, two classical guitars, and Solomon on the keyboard. The local pastor is singing in Lahu. It is a pretty fun moment. A young couple and their baby just joined us!

We ate a delicious supper at the pastor’s house, which is where we will sleep tonight. But before we sleep we will watch Brazil vs Croatia’s World Cup match in their large multipurpose room (living, dining, sleeping, futbol watching, etc.).

Tomorrow is an area meeting for the TLCC group of Lahu churches Joshua has been serving in leadership. What fun!

We drove up Wednesday from Chiang Mai where Debby and I participated in EFM’s second Worldwide Gathering. Debby is now flying back home.

On Thursday, Dan Cammack, Stan Leach, and our Lahu The Way Foundation (TWF) leaders met and spoke about their partnership with EFM. On Friday, our Luke 10 Exploration Trip Team, including all of us plus Rusty Savage, Scott Calhoun, and Ben Kibbe met to hear from some local church planting couples and The Way Foundation leadership. They described their vision to take the Good News into unreached Lahu villages in neighboring countries.

On Sunday Scott Purser arrives on the bus. Scott and I will coach with our Discipling for Development team Monday through Friday. Tuesday will be spent in preparation for our Wednesday lessons with all the Way Foundation staff. They have been studying every Monday, working through the top three subjects in their curriculum list on the priority discipleship subjects for their staff. This came out of our June trip’s example of working through the Mobilization Phase lessons to arrive at their community’s syllabus.

Thursday and Friday our aim is to strengthen Yawsapa’s team leadership with work on the weekly meeting planning cycle, including good delegation and communication. We also want to lead them through the next lessons they will need to facilitate the Mobilization process in their villages.

Please pray for Yawsapa, Manat, MaoPa, and Jabo, the current Discipling for Development (D4D) team. Pray that they have the grace to be one as Jesus and the Father are one! (That was from a team building mini-lesson Stan Leach gave). Please pray that they are “one in Spirit!” (That was from Ernesto Ramirez on our EFM Luke 10:2 Prayer Gathering call).

Pray for the team to understand the Mobilization process they are in, and help them capture and put into practice the next lessons. The lesson called Appreciative Approach (also called Appreciative Inquiry) is an incredibly valuable tool and I want all of them to capture it this next week.

Pray for good health. Pray for Roy and Joy Lujan to fully recover from COVID-19. Roy was planning on coming with me this trip and had to cancel. Also, pray for David Kibbe to fully recover from his recent bout with COVID-19 here in Thailand.

We are now a couple of hours into this jam session, and the church sanctuary is filling up. I’m tired, and if I was home I’d want to go to bed, but I imagine that time will be hours away! It sure is fun being with these new friends, and especially with Solomon and Joshua.

I am counting on your prayer support for a successful coaching week. Thank you in advance for releasing lots of the Holy Spirit’s grace, favor, wisdom, and blessing over us this week!

David Thomas

The post David Thomas December 2022 Prayer Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Prayer Update: Navigator D4D Exploration and Relationship Building Trip

To Cochabamba, La Paz and Santa Cruz, Bolivia October 17-24, 2022

David Celebrating Illimani’s appearing out of the clouds January 2022

Dear Friends,

David Thomas along with Gary and Merri Lee Hipp, and Judy Camp will be flying to Bolivia to connect with umbrella organizations that can give covering to begin our Navigator, Discipling for Development (D4D) work in Bolivia. Our purpose is to also connect with leaders who are interested in whole-life discipleship, to invite some to join us in an early 2023 D4D Foundations workshop. Out of those people who participate in the late January workshop we hope to develop some ongoing partnerships.

The Travel Advisory from the State Department for Bolivia is “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution:”
There is a “paro,” a strike or a city-wide “lock-down” planned to start Friday the 21st in Santa Cruz. We will fly into Santa Cruz the night of the 21st. They are demanding the national census be taken so that more resources can be allocated to their growing population. This means the city will be locked down. Our plans for Saturday morning will probably not work to meet in person, and we might have to present online instead. Roads will be blocked, so travel from and to the airport can be complicated.

How can we pray together for this trip?
My parents, Hal and Nancy Thomas, have served as missionaries for many years in Bolivia. Dad shared that he was always trying to connect a mostly spiritual gospel to the many physical, economic, agricultural, … (all of life) needs people faced. As he has come to understand Discipling for Development, and our work in Rwanda, Africa, he feels the timing of this trip is a Kairos moment, when God wants to connect the experience we have in D4D with a surge of hunger for a holistic gospel and for the empowering discipleship and leadership development that are a part of our D4D culture.
• Pray for divine appointments, for God to lead us to the people he is calling us to partner with!
• Pray for good health in the altitude: Cochabamba is 8,000 feet, and La Paz is 13,000-11,000 feet!
• Pray for excellent communication between Spanish and English!
• Pray for good listening on our part and discernment of how Holy Spirit is leading us.
• Rodiz and Stefanie Chambi will join us for all the travel within Bolivia. Pray for blessing for them as they take time out in their busy lives. Pray for excellent times together as a team!
• Pray for excellent connections and relationship building with various Christian leaders!
• Pray for Almighty God’s favor, grace and blessing to rest on us this trip!

Ephesians 3:20-21
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Thank you in advance for partnering with us in prayer for this trip!

David Thomas

The post David Thomas Prayer Update: Navigator D4D Trip to Bolivia- October 17-24, 2022 first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

MaoPa and his wife Eme have been or are involved in all of these ministry aspects of The Way Foundation. Both of them have been through the PET program and MaoPa has finished all the extension Bible school books. They also helped plant the church in JaSaPa, growing it from a small group with a few believers to now having a locally funded and built church building and a number of families in the village now following Jesus. As well as this he and his village have been chosen as one of the Discipling for Development villages The Way Foundation will be discipling in the next couple years. In the photos below, you will see MaoPa and Eme (on the left) and Yosapa, who works for TWF and has been mentoring and coaching MaoPa for at least six years (on the right with the guitar). I have gotten to work directly with The Way Foundation leaders, including Yosapa who has now become the leader of TWF’s Discipling for Development ministry.

The following is a great report from The Way Foundation that shows how Yosapa has been mentoring MaoPa and Eme in financially sustaining their family with the resources (tea bushes) they have on their property.

Building the tea roaster	Roasting the tea
Make the sealed bag and logo	Learning about tea

My prayer is that Yosapa and the other Way Foundation leaders would have all the grace, resources, and empowerment (and great coaching from us) they need to continue discipling MaoPa, Eme and with them the entire village of JaSaPa as they seek to see the kingdom of God rise up in their village transforming all broken areas of life including people’s relationships with God restored, relationships in the community reconciled, drug addictions broken, children and young people protected from trafficking, and families stewarding their resources wisely (including healthier and more sustainable farming practices). I pray that as people visit MaoPa and Eme, and this village of JaSaPa, they would say, “Wow, God is at work! What can we do to be a part of this?” My prayer is also that Yosapa, Solomon, Chalee, Majise and the other Way Foundation Leaders would know from experience what it looks like to disciple a whole community including church planting and the specific biblical teaching needed, and that these seeds of leadership development in them would multiply into their launching multiple whole-life, disciple-making, church-planting, community-transforming movements throughout their Lahu cultures and beyond into other cultures as well.

Would you join me in these prayers and consider financially supporting the work in EFM Thailand? If you would like to continue to receive news and updates about the work in EFM Thailand, please click here.

David Thomas

The post EFM Thailand Discipling for Development Ministry first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

I want to let you know how we are doing as well as give you some highlights from our work in Thailand, Rwanda, DR Congo, and some encouraging news from Cambodia.

First, from our family, here are some pictures of us celebrating our youngest daughter Alandra’s senior prom party. She is 18 and a 2020 high school graduate. We dressed up, danced, walked to the park, and took lots of pictures. It was really fun to celebrate her in this way!

I’ve also enjoyed some gardening with Gwen. I have a wonderful family and it has been a gift to spend this focused time with them! Gwen just finished her Junior year of Nursing at George Fox University. Debby is thriving in her work as a leadership and management professor in the College of Business at GFU, as well as head Leadership Coach (facilitator) for the Professional Development Academy. Aren is working in a biofuel engineering job in Bend, Oregon. Breanna graduates from GFU as a Doctor of Physical Therapy!

As I report on these communities in different countries and different situations, let me give you a framework to think about appropriate ways to partner with friends in these countries.

1. Relief: saving lives, urgent, immediate, temporary help in response to a devastating event, outside funding, and direction.
2. Rehabilitation: restoring and rebuilding what has been lost, largely directed and funded by outsiders, intermediate term.
3. Development: empowered communities moving beyond the status quo toward God-centered wholistic improvement. Long-term. The people of a community direct the process (with Discipling for Development we mentor communities in this process).[i]

Thailand-Lahu, May 2020

Chiang Rai, Thailand, The Way Foundation working with the Lahu people:

Our team is doing well. Chiang Rai started social distancing early and kept the Coronavirus from spreading. For many hill tribe peoples including the Lahu, living secluded in their villages is not a problem. They had a good rice harvest last November, and the bountiful forests are close by. April is Thailand’s New Year, and so it is always a slower month. Village chiefs are also careful to quarantine anyone coming back to their village from the outside.

Rwanda, Africa, Discipling for Development through the Friends churches and beyond:

I’m impressed with our Northern Regional leader, Gerard, and his encouragement of all the leaders in his region, among many of whom are our D4D leaders. He has assigned each leader to give an encouraging devotional for every day of the month on their WhatsApp group. Our Rwanda D4D leader, Tertullien, has developed some great goals for our D4D leaders to focus on discipling their families using all the D4D training they have received during this time they are at home with their families. Tertullien says they will finish this quarantine time with more experience in discipling and over 100 more people discipled using our D4D lessons.

Many in Rwanda are hungry and some organizations are doing relief work. Tertullien and team are working on a “Rehabilitation” plan to help people in our small groups to get back on their feet economically.

Uvira, DR Congo, Discipling for Development team with their Friends churches:

Devastating floods ripped through Uvira the weekend of the 16^th, 17^th, and 19^th of April resulting in two neighborhoods wiped out, many homes destroyed, many people displaced, and many people killed and or missing. It is still the rainy season and they have had some more floods. All roads from within Congo and from Burundi were destroyed with four major bridges washed out. The local UN Pakistani troops worked tirelessly with local leaders rescuing people and trying to save the town from further destruction. Our Friends church leaders on the ground Lusungu and Manasseh have been involved with rescuing people, identifying bodies, housing refugees in believers’ homes and in schools, etc. EFM raised some funds and was able to help with a small food distribution our leaders carried out. The Mayor is presenting his plan for rehabilitating Uvira this coming Monday. We are praying we can find a useful project that EFM, CEEACO can partner in that will benefit the town of Uvira and build relationships. Two months ago the Mayor hosted our three main D4D leaders from Rwanda who did a three-day vision casting workshop. The Mayor is a Christian man who wants to see his town of Uvira develop in an empowering, non-dependent way. He has invited our D4D team to mentor his town through this process. Pray we can steward this opportunity, these relationships, and this present crisis well.

Stung Treng, Cambodia (northern province, on the Laos border), Scott Sward a Friends missionary partnering with YWAM (Youth With A Mission).

Even though this is not a D4D ministry project yet, Scott’s work is so encouraging I want you to know about it. I visited his team in February and am hoping to partner with them soon using D4D to help them disciple the Kavet people. In late March and early April Scott said, “Christians in the province of Stung Treng joined together to educate the public about COVID-19, distributing more than 10,000 leaflets.” Last week Scott wrote, “These last two weeks I’ve had the chance to be part of an amazing team that has assisted the Provincial Health Department of Stung Treng in educating village chiefs and police officers about COVID-19. Tomorrow the adventure continues.” I love the way they are coming together as Christians to help their government in a tangible, needed way working together for the kingdom goal of protecting Cambodians from COVID-19. They are empowering leaders and building important relationships throughout the province. I can’t wait to see what further blessing comes out of their being faithful to steward well these opportunities!

God is on the move during this unprecedented time in history. Instead of a crown (corona) of death we will see Jesus’ crown of life. We have been focused on the exponential curves of infections and deaths from the coronavirus in countries throughout the earth, but instead I believe God will bring an exponential growth of people coming to faith in Jesus, of disciple-making movements and churches multiplying and thriving throughout the earth. Almost the whole earth has heard of the Coronavirus by now, but there are still areas and even whole people groups who do not know the good news that their Creator loves them, that Jesus lived and died and lives now to save us and to reconcile us back to right relationship with God, with each other, and with the world around us. Jesus says in John 10:10, “the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy (COVID-19), but I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly!” The promise I keep praying as a “now” promise, not just a future promise is Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

I would love to know how you are doing during this crisis time. Write me a note if you would like.

I am grateful for the privilege of partnering with you and working with all these wonderful people.

David Thomas

[i] (D4D Lesson also borrowed from “When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself” by Corbett and Fikkert

The post David Thomas | May 2020 Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Psalm 2:8

Our brothers and sisters working in The Way Foundation in Chiang Rai, Thailand (friends through Damascus and Winona Friends Churches in Ohio – EFC-ER) are praying about the communities they will be discipling over the next few years. They have been going through a process preparing their team to mentor a community through a transformation process where the community overcomes the things that hold them down in poverty and release the blessing of the Kingdom of God among them. They have come up with criteria and they have taken many trips to help them discern the most “ready” communities for this work. They are also actively seeking insight from the Holy Spirit to know which communities to select. Even though we don’t know which communities they will select, we can join them and Jesus in asking the Father for these specific Lahu communities. We believe that the transformation that will happen, a clear example of God’s Kingdom come among the people of these villages, along with all the leaders who will be developed through this process will be the foundation of a growing disciple-making movement reaching deep into the rest of the Lahu speaking cultures and beyond them into other people groups.

Join me, our Lahu brothers and sisters, and Jesus as we “Ask the Father” for these communities, for the Lahu nations, and for the nations God wants to reach through his Lahu church (their inheritance)!

David Thomas
Whole-Life Discipleship

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The post July 2019 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

A few weeks ago, our D for D team spent six days with the Goma group. They described challenges such as health issues, lack of infrastructure, kidnappers, mob justice, people not giving service without bribes, and many other examples of dysfunction. One of the pastors has often used the phrase, “if God wills it” when we talk about making goals and plans. I was struck with how heavy that phrase was as he spoke because they don’t know what’s going to happen tonight or tomorrow. In the US or in Rwanda we typically carry out our plans without catastrophe ruining them. But our friends in Goma have many things outside of their own control that can keep them from their plans.

So, we felt a confirmation as we met with them that God has called us to confront darkness. Jesus is greater than any of the issues that they face, and we can be a part of how God would chase away the darkness and bring his life and light into the lives of these leaders and those they will disciple in the time ahead.

We asked them to set goals for growth for 2019 and several of them responded with a great sense of inability or insecurity, saying “I can’t do that.” We spent quite a bit of time looking at scripture and looking at many different times people felt like they couldn’t do things and God told them that they can because He is with them. So, we are praying for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done in Goma and Uvira, in Burundi, in Rwanda and beyond, as it is in heaven.

Brad and Chelsea Carpenter

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The post June 2019 Prayer Letter first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.