Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our friends and family!

We are pleased to be able to share our hearts as we close out this year and begin thinking forward to 2014!

While I write this, it is nearly Thanksgiving and we have so many things to be thankful for! God’s grace and love have been given abundantly to us this year! We are thankful to have been able to live in Africa for yet another productive year in ministry. Together Tony and I have trained approximately 309+ African people in Community Health Evangelism and/or our CHE specialties.

We are thankful for how the Lord has brought new expatriate workers to the field and called national (African) partners to implement Community Health Evangelism in their countries.

We are thankful for the lives of our children, Lauren and Devin, who have both entered new phases of adulthood this year. 

Lauren, as most of you know, was married to Aaron Wells this past August, and Devin had his 18^th birthday in November. Devin will be baptized on November 24, 2013 as a sign of commitment to Christ as he enters adulthood. We are so thrilled at the Lord’s faithfulness through our children and  HIS work in them.

We are thankful for our ministry team who has supported us financially and in prayer throughout 2013. Many days in Africa are hard, just like days in your lives are hard, and many times it is our praying friends and family members who have supported us through the hard days. The encouragement to keep going has been essential to our lives. We are so thankful.

We are also looking ahead to 2014!

In 2014, we expect to train 150 new and 150 existing Master Trainers in Community Health Evangelism in 12-15 training seminars. In some ways that doesn’t sound like much…but if you do the math…the total potential impact of 300 Master Trainers doing their job and teaching 10-25 local trainers for 1 year (who then each train 25 community volunteers), the potential of impact of one year of training is (drum roll, please…)…19 Million to 47 Million homes reached with the Gospel and healthy Kingdom living!!! Now multiply that times the number of people in each home! If they continue on and become more experienced, well then, the sky is the limit!

In July, 2014, Devin will graduate from Rift Valley Academy! We are excited for him and his plans to become a mechanical engineer some day! Following graduation, Devin plans to take a “gap” year to develop himself and figure out what is ahead. He will come back to Tanzania to be with Mom and Dad for a few months (Hurray!) and to visit some other ministries here.

In mid-November or early December 2014, we (Tony, Holly, and Devin) will return to the US for a time of furlough. Our intent is to get a rest from life in Africa, to rejuvenate ourselves and our relationships, spend time with Lauren and her husband, and to set Devin on a path toward adult independence. During this time Devin will learn to drive, determine where he wants to live, and pursue University or trade school options. As it is nearly a year away, we have not yet determined where we will live or many other details that will have to be managed.  Our ministry in Africa will be ongoing, and we expect will travel from the US to Africa from time to time. We’ll fill in details as they become known to us.

We know that you, our friends and family, also have plans ahead for 2014. We pray that the Lord will bring you many blessings and we trust Him to hold you in His hands through heartaches that might come your way.

Year End Giving!

As the year comes to a close, we know that there are many opportunities to invest into ministries and projects. We would ask that you prayerfully consider our ministry in your end of year giving and as you commit to 2014. Our ministry is growing fast, yet, our support is in the red. We are currently $800 short of the minimum monthly support required by ReachGlobal to remain in the mission field.  As you have read this newsletter, we hope that you can see the significance in of our work and the potential for people to be reached for Christ each year. Those projections are staggering, yet they are as real as the people they represent. Please consider continuing your support or joining our monthly faithful supporters. Special gifts significantly supplement our monthly support and increase our ability to expand our reach to other communities in Africa. Help us to end 2013 in the black and to make 2014 a life changing year throughout Africa.

To contribute to the Freitas' support, click here to print a response slip and mail to: EFCA Donor Services 901 East 78th Street Minneapolis, MN 55420-1300  Please note on your check  For Tony and Holly Freitas' Ministry Acct# 1647

May you commit yourselves anew to serving and loving him wherever you may be in 2014.

Love in HIM and Merry Christmas!

Tony, Holly, and Devin Freitas

Additional news,

November:
    Tony spent the month of November in South Sudan developing new US partnership that will begin Community Health Evangelism training in a new ministry area called Owiny ki Bul (we don’t make up these names)! We also opened up a new airstrip for easy access to this ministry area. Welcome aboard to our new South Sudan partner, Monte Vista Chapel! Following those meetings Tony returned to Dar es Salaam for 3 days to attend an important meeting with our East Africa ministry director and potential new Community Health Evangelism team members. This meeting went very well. Once these new partners officially become part of our team then they will help with the workload in our growing ministry. A few days later, we traveled through Nairobi where Tony had the privilege of baptizing Devin during chapel at RVA. The following day we (Tony and Holly) both headed back to South Sudan where Holly facilitated a women’s cycle of life training and Tony facilitated a Business as mission or Micro-enterprise training for a group of Sudanese christian women’s ministry leaders. There were about 70 participants. On our way home through Kenya and we both had an opportunity to share about our ministry at a conference for 60 African national missionaries working under Sheepfold Ministries. Our ministry was very well received and many have asked for further training in Bi-vocational pastoring and in Womens ministry and womens health. There is no shortage of work for us here!

We then collected up Devin from School at RVA and headed home to celebrate Christmas.


Urgent Prayer Request:
  Over the past few days I have been receiving reports from South Sudan of “Coup attempt” that took place in Juba on Sunday. The conflict has now expanded into other towns. The situation continues to escalate and appears to be changing from a government issue to a more tribal issue. This change has the potential of taking the conflict to other parts of South Sudan.  Please keep South Sudan in your prayers as the country is still young and going through many changes. Instability within the government has the potential for tribal conflict to break out anywhere and at any time. There is a real fear of civil war breaking out and plunging South Sudan back into a nightmare that most would like to forget. Please keep the South Sudanese people in your prayers. Many of us will enjoy this Christmas season with our families while many people in South Sudan are just trying to keep their families safe from this chaos. Pray that they will get a glimpse of the joy that Jesus brought to this earth as a baby, the life that he lived and the sacrifice that he made for them. 

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October 2013 Dear Friends, We praise God for the work that He continues to do in Africa while allowing us to be a part of His plan. So much time has passed since our last newsletter. We are now writing a monthly update and will be posting it on our new Facebook page “Freitas Family Flyer.” Look us up, “like” us, and get more frequent updates! Our “summer” was filled with both ministry and personal praises. It is amazing how quickly we are moving in to the “fall” months of October and November!   Personal Praises: Holly spent most of July in Washington State and in Indiana hosting a bridal shower for Lauren, and then helping her with the wedding plans and preparation. It was a great time for Holly to spend with her folks, sister, many nieces and nephews, along with several friends. Devin and Tony arrived to the US after boarding school let out for Devin on July 13. They went directly to California where Tony had appointments and meetings and Devin spent several days with Tanzanian missionary friends who now live in the Reedley/Fresno area.  On August 10th, we celebrated the marriage of our daughter, Lauren, to Aaron Wells. We had a great time of blending families and building lifetime relationships. We are so blessed that Aaron comes from a wonderful Christian family. Many of our extended family was able to attend the wedding, making it a mini-reunion and great opportunity to be together. We had a wonderful time of family fun and look forward to continuing the relationships we’ve developed. One special memory was a “family blessing” that took place on the evening of the rehearsal dinner. All of the family members, from grandparents to tiny cousins, lined the pathway to the site of Lauren and Aaron’s engagement, each holding a candle to light the way. At the top of that small hill, two families became one as we surrounded Lauren and Aaron in prayer and Christian blessing. How blessed we are! Following the wedding and after a surprise fix-up of Lauren and Aaron’s apartment, Tony, Holly, and Devin drove from Ohio to Washington D.C. where we, for the first time, visited several of the Smithsonian museums and saw other historical sights and documents. Two days was a bit short for the visit, but we had a great time seeing what we could. While there, we stayed with some long-time friends and enjoyed our reconnection after several years. We were also able to meet with a key ministry partner and church that is making it possible to train many more church planters in South Sudan. Upon our return, Devin headed off to Kenya to complete his final year of high-school at Rift Valley Academy. We had such a great time with him during his break and the wedding that it made it very difficult to, once again, say goodbye. We are really missing him and counting the days until his next school break. Ministry Activities:  While in the US, Tony met with one of our South Sudan church training partners in Alabama. His task was to encourage a short-term team and help them prepare the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) lessons t they would teach in Parajok, South Sudan. This was the second in a series of three trainings that church leaders in Parajok will receive on how to reach their people by meeting the physical and spiritual needs within their communities. Generally, Tony would travel with the team to the training in Parajok, but because of the wedding he, instead, trained them and sent them on their own. The team did an amazing job and the Parajok church leaders are very excited about the new approach and motivated to initiate CHE ministry in their communities. The Alabama church was very encouraged by their experience in Parajok and has expressed their intention to expand their ministry (of training pastors in CHE and pastoral development) to many new areas of South Sudan. This was a huge answer to prayer as requests for training are constantly coming in. In early August, a group of newly trained South Sudanese church planters headed out for a four-week mission to the areas where they will be planting churches. While there, they surveyed the area, developed relationships with community leaders, and sought the Lord’s leading for the new churches that will eventually form. During the summer, Holly completed her ReachGlobal online teaching certificate. The certificate allows her to facilitate online training for ReachGlobal and other missionaries. At the moment she is developing courses in wholistic community development so they can be taught online around the world! The Internet is an amazing tool! In early September, Tony and Holly co-taught a one week module course covering “Principles of Wholistic Community Development” at Reach Tanzania's leadership training school in Dar es Salaam. The training provided students the opportunity to experience a new participatory learning style as well as to learn the principles that drive wholistic development: participatory learning, community ownership, integration of physical and spiritual ministry, and sustainability. The students enthusiastically embraced the new concepts. In the weeks after the course, they will be applying what they’ve learned in order to practice new skills. The first South African Women’s Cycle of Life (WCL) Training of Trainers (TOT) took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from September 16-20. Throughout the training, the Lord was surely with us. I, Holly, was reminded again that although participants come to the training in order to gain information and understanding about women’s lives, they too, are women with many deep hurts. The WCL training, worship, and prayer times led many of these women to reveal their deep hurts and areas of vulnerability, allowing the other ladies and Holy Spirit to minister to them. Such times allow healing to take place in the hearts of those who will minister to others. This ministry to our trainers is as valuable as any that we do when preparing them to teach others. I thank the Lord that He was able to do His work through the training and to touch the hearts of the participants. Some personal stories included one of the women (K) who has only been able to have one child. Her husband wants to have many children and has just recently taken on another young (22 year-old) wife that he brought home to the house to live together with the first wife. K is heartbroken and has felt rejected by her husband and worthless because she cannot have another child. She knows that Jesus loves her and has moved from her home to escape the situation. She is finding strength in the Lord, and knowing her value in God’s eyes has been an encouragement to her. Multiplication—as we consider the potential long-lasting results of WCL CHE training, we realize that our efforts, however small, are multiplied in God’s economy. The encouragement of both participants and facilitators cannot be underestimated as it is the empowerment of these people that will lead to community, national, and regional movements. In turn, through the CHE strategy, these CHE leaders go forth to train trainers who form the basis of the CHE programs. We modestly predict that each of the participant training team members (10) will train 10 trainers in the materials they have learned. Several of the trainers will be training entire church women’s groups. If the recipient (100) trainers, in response, train only 10 CHEs, who then teach women in 10 homes, our efforts will have reached 10,000 women with the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ and health education that could save her life and the lives of her family members and neighbors. The next Women’s Cycle of Life Training of Trainers will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from October 16-20. Please pray for peace and safety for those who will be traveling to the venue. Tony was in Uganda October 8-10 for meetings with South Sudanese leaders to plan the schedule for the next church planter trainings. Then October 21-28 Tony will assist in hosting Bible narration training for illiterate cultures in Dar Es Salaam. He will be in South Sudan for most of November. Holly will meet him in Juba, South Sudan, at the end of the month where we will co-facilitate women’s ministry health and Micro-enterprise trainings. As always, our schedule remains busy and full of opportunities to share God’s good news and bring lasting change in communities.

Prayer Requests:   1. Continuing church planter training in South Sudan. 2. Contentment as we settle into our new, smaller home and reduce our living expenses. 3. Lauren and Aaron as they begin their new married life together! 4. Devin as he starts his senior year in high school. Pray the Lord will enrich his life this year and give him a vision and plan for his future. 5. That God will continue to bless our efforts in ministry. Contact info: Tony.Freitas@efca.org Holly.Freitas@efca.org Facebook Blog Printable Newsletter

To contribute to the Freitas' support, click here to print a response slip and mail to: EFCA Donor Services 901 East 78th Street Minneapolis, MN 55420-1300 Copyright © 2013 ReachGlobal - EFCA, All rights reserved. You gave permission to Tony & Holly Freitas to receive their email newsletter. Our mailing address is: ReachGlobal - EFCA 901 East 78th Street Minneapolis, MN 55420

           Freitas Ministry Update,

 Wedding:

Please keep us in your prayers as we celebrate Lauren's wedding in August. We have learned that one of the most difficult challenges in our lives as missionaries in Africa is not being able to be a bigger part of Lauren and Aaron's lives as their relationship developed over this past year. We have known Aaron for many years now and are certain that he will make a wonderful husband for Lauren.  Holly is currently in the US for Lauren's bridal showers and to help Lauren with final preparations for the wedding. I am currently on a flight to Alabama to meet with a church that I am working with in one of the villages in South Sudan then, on to Indiana to be with Lauren and Aaron.

Intern Update:

On July 1st we said goodbye to our 5wk intern, Hope,  who came out to work alongside Holly and get a feel for what a life of ministry in the mission field would be like. Holly kept her quite busy with language learning, understanding culture, relationship building and working through the books "Cross Cultural Connections" and "Africa Friends and Money Matters". I believe that Hope now has a very clear idea of what it means to serve God in the mission field and what the life of a missionary looks like. I have a strong feeling that Hope is hooked on missions! 

                                                                                                 

     Our New Home:

Ministry is going amazingly well! Because of our extensive travel we have decided to move into a much smaller 1 bedroom guest house on our South Africa friends property. This will help reduce our living costs and redirect those savings toward our travel into the many new areas where ministry is expanding i.e.; South Sudan, Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda as well as Kigoma Tanzania. Holly is beginning the process of releasing the Maasai to do their ministry among the other Maasai as they are eager to move ahead on their own. Over the past year, Holly and I have been developing a new ministry strategy where Holly trains the pastors wives in women's health from a biblical perspective and womens ministry while I train the pastors in CHE and bi-vocational pastoring. This combination of training has led to an amazing expansion of ministry with many new opportunities. We have to choose those opportunities wisely!  We have a saying, "If your visibility goes beyond your ability you will lose credibility"! Pray that we stay within our ability as it is sometimes tempting to go beyond!

        We have a new teammate:

We had a newly accepted ReachGlobal missionary visit our team in Dar Es Salaam last month to see if ministry in Dar would be a good fit for her. During our lunch meeting with Glennis, she became so excited about the work that Holly and I are doing that she has decided to join our CHE ministry and become a part of our CHE training team. This was an unexpected answer to prayer as we have been praying that someone would come alongside us to take on some of the workload.  CHE wasn't even on her radar and likewise, Glennis wasn't on ours. Glennis has allot to do before coming to the field and then a year of language learning, culture learning and CHE training when she arrives so it will be awhile however, the process of reproducing ourselves and the development of an actual CHE team is very exciting. 

        Church Planting Movement:

We have just completed the first of six trainings for new church planters in South Sudan. These church planters will be trained in Effective Church Planting, Pastoral/Congregational Development, Bi-vocational Pastoring, CHE, and Bible Orality for Illiterate Cultures. We currently have 25 potential church planters who are being trained. I expect that this training will take approximately 1yr. Holly will be facilitating a Womens Cycle of Life / Womens Ministry class for the wives of these pastors and other potential women's ministry leaders. We are excited to see the beginning of this important movement to plant churches in new unreached areas.

   Ministry continues in our absence:

July 30th - August 7th A team from Gadsden Alabama will be traveling to Pajok South Sudan while we are in the US for Lauren's wedding. Tony would usually travel with the team however, we have wedding plans so the team will be on their own. Their pastor, who has been to this village before,  will lead the team so the team will be in good hands. This well trained team will be completing the final level of CHE training, "TOT" (trainer of trainers) 2&3. The churches in Pajok have embraced this training and have already been using what they have learned so that they can meet both the spiritual and physical needs of their community. Historically, the churches in South Sudan have been seen by the communities as only caring for the spiritual needs of the people and that the church does not care about their physical needs. Jesus clearly cared about both!  These churches will now have the tools that they need to be a reflection of Christ's ministry to their community.

Holly and I appreciate your commitment to our ministry and ask that you stand with us and lift these important requests before our Lord.