2024 marks, for us, 18 years of being part of the EFM family and we are very grateful that God is giving us this new opportunity to continue a new stage of ministry in his global mission. In all these many years serving the Lord with EFM, he has amazed us by providing for all our family’s needs through his many generous people, for which our family will always be immensely grateful. Today we find ourselves in need to raise our financial support, and we trust, making our request in prayer, that God will allow us to continue in service with EFM by using more cheerful givers to partner with us and to be able to continue with our different tasks that will lead others to become more deeply involved in carrying out the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment. As we commit with the Lord full-time to this mobilizing ministry, it is necessary to take the opportunity to go on deputation and to be able to thank, give reports, visit, and reconnect with precious partners, churches, and groups. We wish and look forward to seeing many of you when we are visiting your area.

We are aware that the fruit that there is until today of several ministries that God has allowed us to carry out is thanks to the valuable prayers of our prayer warriors who have been part of our team by faithfully praying and showing us so much love. Although we have many people embracing us with their prayers, we would like to invite and include others to join our prayer team. It never hurts to have more prayer partners. Truly, we live the answers to the prayers of all of them.

On the enclosed card you can indicate that you would like to join us as a prayer partner if you aren’t one already! You can also give on our personal EFM donation page at https://catalog.friendsmission.com/giron or scan the QR code to the right. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. It is important to let EFM know that you plan to continue or increase your giving. If you are not currently giving, we would ask you to prayerfully consider supporting our missions mobilizing ministry.

If you want further information or would like to inquire about a visit, you can contact us through the EFM office or email us at maria@friendsmission.com.

Thank you for the support, faithfulness, and love that our family have experienced every day since 2007. You are a tremendous blessing to us.

Edwin and Maria Giron,

EFM Missions Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

You can partner with us through prayer and through financial giving.  We need and appreciate both!

We are aware that the fruit that there is until today of several ministries that God has allowed us to carry out is thanks to the valuable prayers of our prayer warriors who have been part of our team by faithfully praying and showing us so much love. Although we have many people embracing us with their prayers, we would like to invite and include others to join our prayer team. It never hurts to have more prayer partners. Truly, we live the answers to the prayers of all of them.

If you know anyone who would like to pray for our ministry, please forward this form to them.

We are currently at 42% of our ongoing monthly need. If you are a current monthly supporter, thank you. It is important to let EFM know that you plan to continue or increase your giving. If you are not currently giving, please prayerfully consider supporting our ministry as Missions Mobilizers!

There are four ways to partner with them financially:

• Online. Visit https://catalog.friendsmission.com/giron. You’ll be given the opportunity to indicate whether you are making a recurring or one-time gift.
• Credit Card. This may be given online (as stated above) or by calling the EFM office (303-421-8100) to give your information to a live person.
• Automatic Bank Transfer. Download the form here and email it Debby McElroy (EFM Bookkeeper) at debby@friendsmission.com. Please note that ACH payments are processed on the 10th or 25th of the month.
• Check. Mail a check to EFM, P.O. Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277. Make sure to mark your check “Giron Support” and note if you will be giving on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Pay to the order of “EFM.”

The post An Exciting Announcement from The Girons! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Mexico Friends has sent their first missionary to an unreached group!

It seems to us that each of you deserves to be included in celebrating what God is allowing Mexico Friends to achieve in obedience to the Great Commission. Firstly, let’s remember how the beginnings of EFM were through its first missionary field, which was in Mexico City. Now, 60 years later the country of Mexico has two Friends Yearly Meetings, Yearly Meeting Center Mexico, and the North Yearly Meeting. Both Yearly Meetings are joining their efforts to carry out the VM32 project, which is to start new ministries in states of Mexico where there is still no presence of Evangelical Friends, reaching out to the 32 states by the year 2032. But one of the most beautiful achievements this year for Mexico Friends is that God has allowed them to commission and send their first missionary from Mexico to Ecuador! Let’s all glorify God together for this step in the history of the Friends! In March, during the sessions of the Yearly Meeting Center that was held in Ciudad Juárez, pastors and leaders representing the Friends Churches in Mexico gathered together for a very special and blessed time as everyone surrounded, laid hands, and prayed in unity for José Olivas, a brave 28-year-old young man who is being obedient to the call to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ among the Shuar People in Ecuador. Edwin and I feel privileged to be part of and witness this event that marks a course in the history of Friends and the Gospel. All honor be to God!

José Olivas will be arriving in Ecuador at the end of March and will be located in the Amazon area, where he will be closer and exposed to the Shuar culture. His main focus in the next two years will be learning and adapting to the culture and the language. José is being received in Ecuador by AMEE (Ecuadorian Evangelical Missionary Alliance) and by other leader friends with experience working with the Shuar people, valuable contacts that have been made during the years by the Northwest Yearly Meeting in the United States in their efforts to reach the Shuar. Edwin and I are committed to carrying out the role of being coaches for José, we have been coaching him for the last year and will continue to do so for the next two years.

Since Ecuador is one of the six places where EFM has committed to sending new families of missionaries, Mexico Friends are praying and expecting to work in unity and as a team joining efforts with those that God will send to the field in the Amazon jungle from the US to reach the Shuar people for Christ. We can see how God is moving and he gives us the privilege as EFM and Mexico Friends, to be part of the evangelization of the unreached. Praise him!

VM32 Update and Story

We also would like to invite you to give praise to God for the Ramírez-Peña family who are serving in Zacatecas State. In November 2022, Omar, Ariana, and their children: Omar Jr., Fabiola, and Jimena, in obedience to God’s call, left their home, their friends, their family, and their past back in their original town Xalatlaco, Mexico State to go out to start a new Friends ministry spurred on by the VM32 project. Zacatecas is considered one of the states with the most crime and kidnapping in the nation due to drug trafficking, but even so, this brave family told the Lord “Here we are, send us.” Just a year and a few months later, facing already some difficulties and challenges to start the ministry, they already have reached a group of 25 people that are being discipled, an average of 30 people are attending Sunday services and Bible studies during the week, and they have evangelized another 58 that accepted Jesus as their savior. Praise God! Edwin and I give thanks for the brave and hard-working Ramírez-Pena family to whom we have also taken the task of being their coach even before they arrived at the field. They have often needed encouragement, constant prayer, and help in discernment, for which we are grateful to God for being able to provide this type of help through having the privilege of being their coach.

Mexico: Another of the Six Fields Approved by EFM

In November EFM approved Mexico as one of six places to start new fields and send new missionaries, in partnership with the two Friends Yearly Meetings in Mexico and in support of the VM32 project. Why are we going? The population of Mexico is 131,468,000 and according to statistics from the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography), currently, the sad reality is that only 9% of the entire population are evangelicals. Can you see how big the need still is? The greatest need is in the center of the country, an area that is called the circle of silence in Latin America because there are less than 1% evangelical Christians. There are even towns where there are no evangelical churches and only 0-5 Christians can be found in an entire town. As is the case with a small town called La Estanzuela which is located in the state of Jalisco. In this small town of La Estanzuela there is a small group of seven women who have been evangelized by a person who is a member of the Friends Church in Las Vegas. These women meet regularly through Zoom with the person who evangelized them and they are discipled. On the last Luke 10 Exploration trip, the team arrived in this town in Jalisco, and all of us who were there could feel the hunger of these people for the Gospel and the need to have a missionary there to begin to raise a church. It was obvious how God showed us that fields like this one, which are ready for harvest, are found throughout the whole country, starting in the center. Let us pray together that God sends more workers to his fields because the harvest is ready. We need men and women of courage to go to those who are hungry and thirsty to know Christ and the truth of the Gospel in this country that is still very bound by other religions, idolatry, immorality, and crime. Would you be willing to say: Here I am, Lord, send me?

Prayer Requests

• Pray for José Olivas, his adaptation process, and learning the Shuar culture and dialect. Pray that God would open doors for Jose and even in his early years in the field he can present the Gospel and introduce Jesus to many.
• For the ministry in Zacatecas, may God raise up leaders to support the Ramírez-Peña Family and the ministry there. For the protection and safety of Omar and Ariana and their three young children (Omar Jr, Fabiola, and Jimena).
• For VM32, so that God raises up more brave people willing to leave everything to go to those who are hungry and thirsty to know the truth.
• For Edwin and I so that God increases wisdom in us to be able to be good coaches to these and other future new ministry initiators and missionaries.
• May God continue to open doors of opportunity so that Edwin and I can continue to do the work of mobilizing, training, and sending many more.

Serving him,

Maria Giron

EFM Missions Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

The post Maria Giron March 2024 Ministry Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

    Maria Giron | Serving as the Missions Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

What better opportunity to thank God than this! We are very thankful for this year, which has been a very exciting one for my husband Edwin and me, full of great opportunities to mobilize others towards accepting the challenge of going to the nations, to the unreached people, and continuing together fulfilling the Great Commission.

The following are some of the highlight events that we as mobilizers were able to experience God moving and we feel privileged that the Holy Spirit used us to impact the lives of others, especially the youth.

We will begin by praising God for the First Future Missionary Retreat in Aguascalientes, Mexico which was held in August with an attendance of 25 young people, between the ages of 16 and 30, from the different Friends Churches of Mexico and from Kansas, United States. They had the opportunity to meet and have fellowship for four days in a retreat house to be focused on exploring a possible call to be future missionaries or church planters. During these days, potential future missionaries had the opportunity to listen to speakers with experience in missions such as our EFM Field Director, Dan Cammack, and former missionaries Duane and Lois Davis, among other excellent speakers that God used to impact the hearts of those who were present. We witnessed young people passionate about serving Jesus, with their eyes full of tears saying, “Lord send me wherever you want, I am willing to go.”

The last week of September, Edwin and I were invited to be speakers at Barclay College’s Missions Conference in Haviland, Kansas. Although there are times when we do not feel capable of doing certain things, like sharing at a college student level, God knows our capability, and he manifests himself and we were glad to be able to meet with young people and inject a little of our passion for missions.

AMANA, Annual Conference of Hispanic Friends, was another important event in which we had the opportunity to participate, share, and testify to others about how God is moving through this mobilization ministry to raise up more workers determined to go to their harvest fields, especially young people! It was such an uplifting time where more than 200 people, including pastors and leaders from different Spanish-speaking Friends Churches from the United States, Mexico, and even Central America, gathered to have fellowship, encourage one another, and be edified and recharged with the Word of God through the excellent speakers. Edwin and I had the privilege of having two specific times in which God allowed us to challenge the audience and to continue injecting our passion for mobilizing others to missions.

At the end of each of these great opportunities we have discovered each time that the Lord is preparing, and calling brave men and women who are saying “Here am I, send me.” Praise the Lord Jesus because there is a feeling and hope that soon many more will be sent to his harvest fields.

In Him,

Maria Giron

Download this month’s prayer letter here…

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

Dear Prayer Partners,

Future Missionary Retreat in Aguascalientes

The first retreat for Future Missionaries in Latin America was held from August 7 to 11 with an attendance of 25 young people from the different Friends Churches of Mexico and from Kansas, United States. Most were between the ages of 16 and 30. It was such a special and exciting time. These young people had the opportunity to meet and have fellowship for four days in a single house to be focused on exploring a possible call to be future missionaries or Church planters. During these days, potential future missionaries had the opportunity to listen to speakers with experience in missions such as our EFM Field Director, Dan Cammack, and former missionaries Duane and Lois Davis, among other excellent speakers that God used to impact the hearts of those who were present. These days were of intense learning, prayer, praise, paying attention to God’s call to each one of them, and expanding their vision to the need that still exists to reach the third of the world that does not yet know about Jesus.

These potential future missionaries also had opportunities to sense the spiritual need through service and evangelization in the city’s downtown. It was beautiful to see how young people with gifts of music gathered from different churches and an incredible praise group was formed that guided us in worship through music.

At the end of the retreat, several of these young people 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.

Pastor Samuel Vásquez-Superintendent of the Northern Yearly Meeting, who was one of our mentors, testified 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. This is the time, he emphasized!

Thanks to all of you who were praying for this retreat, God certainly let his spirit be felt moving among us. We give all the honor and glory to God for allowing this event to unfold in a way that only he could have done it.

Special thanks to all the guest speakers and mentors who accepted the invitation to come and be part of this historic event: Ernesto Ramirez- Superintendent of Mexico Yearly Meeting-Central, Samuel and Cristina Vasquez- Superintendent Mexico Yearly Meeting-North, Sergio and Luisa Ayala- Pastors in Coahuila, Dan Cammack- EFM Field Director, Duane and Lois Davis- Former Missionaries, Cinthia Gonzales- Missions in India, and Edwin Isaac Giron- Youth Mentor.

Mobilizing

Edwin and I are grateful that God continues to give us the opportunity to develop this mobilization ministry that is a great way to recruit, train, and send others. Doors of opportunity continue to open, such as invitations to churches and Yearly Meetings to speak and motivate others to collaborate in missions and in starting new Friends ministries.

In the months of August and September, we have been able to visit some Friends congregations in Mexico to continue collaborating in the development of the Vision Mexico 32 planting project. We trust in God that next year we will be able to send two new families or individuals to start new ministries in those states of Mexico where Friends are not yet present.

Last week in September, Edwin and I were invited to be speakers at the Barclay College’s Missions Conference in Haviland, Kansas. Although there are times when we do not feel capable of doing certain things, like sharing at a college student level, God knows our capability, and he manifests himself so that his gospel may be known to all corners of the earth.

Please Pray…

• For the Annual Hispanic Friends Conference– AMANA, which will take place the second week in October in Pomona, California. Pray that once again, this event will be a blessing and edification to all who may be present. This conference is always a great opportunity to have a fraternity time that recharges hearts with encouragement.
• 
• For the trips that Edwin and I will be making the rest of the year. Some of these trips will be to Mexico to continue collaborating with the Friends Yearly Meetings in Mexico in the development of their VM32 church planting project. Please pray for our safety and wisdom and to keep us encouraged and healthy to continue with the tasks that God has entrusted to us.
• That God would continue to use us to recruit, train, and send many more to his fields ready for harvest. Please pray for the funding needed to reach 100% of financial support for this ministry.

Serving him,

Maria Giron

EFM Missions Mobilizer

The post Maria Giron September Ministry Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Beloved Prayer Partners,

First, thanks to each of you who have been following and praying for the second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Ecuador. I am excited to share the first part of the trip with you all.

Our team of six that included Jerry Clarkson from NWYM, Grace Anderson from NWYM, Jose Olivas from Mexico YM, Jael from Coahuila Friends Mexico North YM, Edwin, and I arrived in the city of Quito Ecuador on Tuesday, June 6.

Jimmy and His Family in Quito

Our trip began as a blessing to an Ecuadorian family and to us. We were welcomed and picked up from the airport by our friend Jimmy, whom we meet and who was our driver on the first trip last year and with whom Edwin kept in touch afterward. Jimmy is also the owner of a small modest hotel located in downtown of the city of Quito managed by his whole family, his wife and his three children. So, this time we decided to stay at their little hotel for a couple of nights before traveling to the jungle. Jimmy and his family were very grateful saying that it was a blessing to have us. Jimmy and his family are not yet Christians but have family who have exposed them to the Gospel. Edwin had several good opportunities to have conversations with Jimmy about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jimmy and his wife told us that a few days before our arrival, the wife received extortion threats by phone and their hearts did not feel at peace. Before our team departed, they asked us to pray for them, and they were even more grateful. It was a great opportunity that we felt came from God to be a blessing and testimony to this beautiful family.

Valuable Contacts

From Quito, we traveled to Macas, a city that is surrounded by Shuar people. There already exist several Christian ministries, but few that are really focused on reaching the Shuar. One of the main purposes of coming to Macas was to have meetings with people we considered key to the development of the Friends’ ministry among the Shuar. One of these people is Pastor Dario, who is the director of AMEE, which by its acronym in Spanish stands for Ecuadorian Evangelical Missionary Alliance. One of the functions of this non-denominational organization is to help missionaries, who have been called to serve in Ecuador, obtain their visas to be legally in the country and have legal coverage so they can develop their ministries. Another key person with whom we planned to have more contact and conversations with is missionary Pastor Patricio León. He has many years of experience working with the Shuar people and he has a heart for the rescue and restoration of Shuar children. He now has a role in helping to plant more churches and helping those that need motivation and leadership development. Patricio is very willing to mentor those who want to serve as new missionaries among the Shuar. We are greatly grateful for these valuable contacts that God allows us to have.

Nantar-Shaur Community

After last year’s trip, Jerry maintained contact with evangelical leaders from a Shuar community called Nantar located deep in the Amazon jungle. These leaders said that the need for discipleship and leadership training is huge and that we were welcome to return to teach more about the Word of God. Jerry since then had a strong feeling to return with teachings for a few days. So, we returned to Nantar! Other leaders from other Shuar communities were invited, who came every night for a week to learn, some walked a couple of hours to get from their community to Nantar. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and worship with our Shuar brothers and sister. It was a beautiful experience to hear them praise and sing to the Lord in their own dialect.

Exploring other towns.

During our stay in Macas, we asked Pastor Patricio what other places he would recommend we visit to learn more about the area and its needs. He gave us a list of several places. Our team ended up exploring a beautiful place called Limon, where walking through the plaza we found very kind people with whom we were able to talk and they gave us information about the cost of living, what are the sources of work and income for people and informed us about the communities of Shuar and Ashuar that are around. More and more we realize that God shows us that the need is plentiful there

Jose, Jael, and Grace

We are thankful for the three young, brave ones who went on this trip with us and who are staying in Ecuador with Jerry Clarkson until August 2. José Olivas is seriously looking to return for a long-term stay, to serve the Lord among the Shuar people. José is a leader serving in the Amigos church in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. So serious is the feeling of his call that just before this trip, he left his job of seven years and he is in the process to apply for a visa to return to Ecuador, God willing, at the end of this year. Jael Ayala is the daughter of the pastors of the Friends Church in Nueva Rosita, Coahuila, Mexico, and she is currently studying at a Bible college preparing to serve the Lord wherever he sends her. Grace Anderson is a brave girl from NWYM exploring her call to missions. Edwin and I were very happy to have this time with them and to see their desire to be obedient to God’s call. God bless their hearts.

Serving him,

Maria Giron

EFM Missions Mobilizer

The post Maria Giron’s Time in Ecuador first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

The second part of the trip was visiting several towns in the state of Jalisco, in which we also took time to get closer to the local people to pray for them and learn about their needs. There are so many needs, but the main one is the absence of Jesus in their lives. What stands out was the visit to a small town called La Estanzuela in the Municipality of Cocula, Jalisco where we were invited to visit a group of people that meet regularly to learn about the Bible. They have been evangelized by a person who has been a member of the Friends Church in Las Vegas that has traveled there every year for several years, sowing the seed of the word of God and who follows up through Zoom meetings. Currently, the group that meets is only women, thirsty for the word of God. Our team had the opportunity to be with this group of women and worship together. It was a very special and blessed time. After our worship gathering, God opened doors for us to visit individual families in their homes, giving us the opportunity to present the gospel to several men as well. What was planned to be a one-day visit turned into two days where God showed us that this land is ready for harvest and workers are urgently needed. It should be noted that in this town there is no evangelical church yet. During our stay, God revealed himself to women, men, and children in special ways to such a degree that we were able to present Jesus Christ and we saw several of them receive him in their hearts as their only personal Savior and our hearts were very touched. We can tell you many stories of encounters with people whose lives were undoubtedly changed just by laying our hands on them in demonstration of God’s love and praying for them.

In the end, we can say that this trip had several divine purposes that have effects in eternity. Not only exploring, but it was also a time of opportunity for the kingdom of God to come into the lives of many people. To God be all the honor and glory!

Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to pray and read our updates. Thank you for the support and confidence you give us to carry out these important trips for the development of EFM’s vision of sending more missionaries to new fields!

Please join us now in supporting our next trip that Edwin and I will be leading. The second Luke 10 Exploration trip to Ecuador (from June 5 -15) to continue seeking discernment from God to work among the native Shuar ethnic group. There is still an opportunity for you to help us go with your financial support and your prayers. God bless you even more!

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13 NIV

In Obedience to Him,
Maria Giron
EFM Mission Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

The post An Update from the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Mexico first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

One of the tasks that is exciting for me, as a Missions Mobilizer, is to be able to translate prayer letters from English into Spanish and thus be able to give Spanish-speaking Friends the opportunity to learn more about EFM and our missionaries’ ministries and needs. Besides that, my husband and I are interpreters at the monthly EFM Luke 10:2 Prayer Gatherings! We love going out to mobilize the churches, teaching and preaching about missions. It is exciting to see how interest in serving the Lord in other nations is awakening in the hearts of young people.

I am very grateful that God still gives us the opportunity to continue working hand in hand with Mexico Yearly Meeting. We are a part of their team to develop their new church planting project, Vision Mexico 32. This project’s goal is to establish a new Friends church in each of the 32 states of Mexico by the year 2032, sending two-three families of new planters per year. As we see the hand of God working on the results, my husband and I have committed to coaching the new planters that are going out into the field; we are currently coaching four of them.

We ask for your prayers in the coming months, as my husband and I are excited and preparing to lead the follow-up Luke 10 exploration trips to Mexico and Ecuador, seeking discernment and confirmation from God to know where to send new missionaries to launch new fields. We are praying and would like these teams to include future missionaries. Please pray for God to send more laborers to his harvest.

Luke 10 Exploration Trip #2 to Mexico: April 4-May 01
Luke 10 Exploration Trip #2 to Ecuador: June 5-15

I am excited to share our new ministry video. If you would like to use it and are unable to download it from YouTube, please contact Krista Alvarez.

We are enthusiastic and looking forward to these wonderful ministry opportunities. So now I would like to invite you to be part of, helping me to continue to carry out this mobilizing ministry and all the tasks and roles that God is sending us to do as we carry out the Great Commission, through your support, firstly in prayer and, also, financially. My financial support is down to 63%, I pray that God will touch more hearts of joyful givers who would want to partner with me and be a part of what he is sending us to do for his kingdom. Another need we have is to raise funds to carry out these second Luke 10 Exploration Trips. The one to Mexico will cost $1,600 per person and the one to Ecuador $2,000 per person. Some can go, others can pray, and others can support with their financial contribution. Edwin and I can go, would you please consider supporting these trips and being able to go with us through your prayers and financial giving? You can do so in one of the following ways: Make donations to our upcoming Luke 10 Exploration Trips here. Make sure to select “Projects | EFM Hispanic Friends Mobilization | Luke 10 Trips and Mobilizing”. Make recurring commitments to our ministry here. Make donations or recurring commitments over the phone at 303-421-8100. Make donations and recurring commitments by check mailed to EFM, PO Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277. Please make sure to mark your check with “Maria Giron” or ” Giron Luke 10 Trips”. Please include a message to EFM that you are committing to recurring giving.

I am sincerely grateful for so many of you who have faithfully been praying for us, supporting us, and showing us so much love during our 16 years of service with EFM. God evidently loves me and my family and one of the wonderful ways to show it is through you! Thank you!

“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Luke 10:2-3 ESV

In Obedience to Him,
Maria Giron
EFM Mission Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

The post Maria Giron April 2023 Ministry Update first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Receive affectionate greetings in this beautiful thanksgiving month where we can publicly thank God for so many blessings in our lives. Please let us share with you some of the exciting events that my husband and I were able to be involved in throughout this fall. We invite you to praise the Lord together with us through this ministry update of us mobilizing more people to be part of what and how our Lord Jesus wants to continue to engage Friends in missions around the world.

AMANA

After three years, on October 6-9, the pastors and leaders of Hispanic Friends Churches reunited in person for the first time at the Hispanic Friends Conference in Chicago, IL! Edwin and I are very happy that we have been made part of the organization of this great and beautiful event. AMANA stands for Ministerial Alliance of Friends of North America. This conference was a great blessing for all of us who were able to attend. Meeting again with other Hispanic pastors and Friends leaders was uplifting for everyone. The attendance was about 120 people and there was representation from various states of the country from the west to the east and from Mexico.

We are grateful that we were given the opportunity to have a specific time to share with all of them the goal of EFM and about VM32. Most of those who were present were not very aware of these two huge visions of God, and it was very encouraging to all who heard the details. Praise God!

Something outstanding and exciting for me at the conference, was being able to meet three young people who approached us to let us know about their strong feeling to explore the possibility of being future missionaries! Talking with these three young Hispanics filled my heart with great hope and I see how God is already calling and raising up more missionaries among Latinos. Glory to God!!

We praise the Lord that during this conference we were able to experience Psalm 133, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! … For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore”.

Lastly, we want to thank God for our brothers and sisters of the Friends Church in Chicago. Despite not being a large congregation, they made great efforts to host this conference and offered hospitality with great quality and love. May God bless you greatly!

Business as Missions- Small Business Development Training

We are thankful that God allowed an important opportunity to have been able to hold a four-day intensive of Small Business Development training in Aguascalientes, Mexico for pastors and new church planters from Friends of Central Mexico Yearly Meeting. We thank God for the hearts of EFM leaders to want to continue supporting the Friends of Mexico in their church planting efforts. We are thankful that God has allowed a partnership with Global Disciples to make this training possible with Friends in Mexico. The trainees, about 25 people, came from several cities in Mexico. We were inspired by their commitment and engagement in this intensive four-day training. Certainly, this training changed the mentality of the trainees regarding church planting and how a business can be a very good tool from God to reach many more for Christ and to have a financial income to support their families.

We had a very exciting time at the closing celebration service as we prayed for the new church planters who are preparing to go out into the field to let more people know about Christ through starting new Friends works.

We would like to thank our good friends and leaders Trent Jacks from the Mid-America Yearly Meeting and Jeff Davis from Friends Southwest, who left their families and jobs for a whole week to support us in this training and have made a very strong and special impact in the kingdom of God.

EFC-MAYM Friends Women 2022 Retreat: “He Tells Me I am His Own”

What did I know that God would show me again that he loves me so much! After having a busy summer of many ministry trips around North America, he had such a special time prepared for me by reminding me that “I am his own”. The invitation to be part of the Mid- America Friends Women’s Retreat was very unexpected! Participating in this women’s retreat was not on my calendar, but it was on God’s, because, as I mentioned, he loves me so much! I am so grateful and blessed for the opportunity to have had this experience and be able to meet with women whom I admire and love. It was very motivating for my life, to feel once again the affection from the Friends Women of WFC-MAYM who for so many years have blessed me with their love, prayers, and support. Many thanks to the beautiful women, full of grace and love, from Chandler Friends Church for having adopted me that weekend and making me feel a part of their group; it made my experience even more pleasant and blessed.

International Friends Church Multiplication Conference 2022

The online International Friends Multiplication Conference took place in November, and we are grateful for the opportunity to participate a bit in promoting this event among Hispanic Friends. Although we did not get the maximum response in participation that we expected from the Spanish-speaking and Latin American churches this time, it was of great value and edification for those of us who were able to participate and obtain information and tools to continue our function as a church of Jesus Christ to spread the gospel by multiplying him in many others.

We are grateful for the efforts of leaders who worked so hard to put it all together and bring together the important speakers and teachers to share. We appreciate and acknowledge their tremendous work and pray that all the workshops and teachings that we now have available can be shared and many more pastors, leaders, missionaries, and church planters can use these to be more effective in multiplication.

Prayer Requests:

• That God may continue to guide us, and may his Spirit cover us with his grace and wisdom to effectively carry out our mobilization ministry, and may many more may be trained and sent.
• That God would open more doors for us at Yearly Meetings, churches, and with people individually to be able to raise more prayer and financial support as we go out on deputation early next year.

Thank you very much for your time in reading this letter and have a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. To God always be all the honor and glory!

With Thanksgiving Serving Him,

Maria Giron
EFM Missions Mobilizer

The post Giron Fall Ministry Update 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.

Maria Giron | Missions Mobilizer for Hispanic Friends

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, 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. And at every experience we were able to live, 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 welcome by their tribe’s chief and his son. After dinner we kept sat down and listen to the chief share 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, out of 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 held 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 Evangelical 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 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.

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, she even had the freedom to expressed, with tears in her eyes, some of their great challenges 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 be encountered with 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 surely now have grown in love, respect, and compassion for those that has not yet been reached with the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Serving Him,

Maria Giron

 Click here to download the full prayer letter…

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