Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Well, the time is almost upon us. We are just a couple of weeks from departing Kenya and returning to the United States for furlough / home assignment. We are all excited about this but because we are so close to returning we are in almost total and complete shut-down mode here in Kitale. Shutting down operations here in Kenya while we are gone takes a great amount of time and a good amount of money. We have tried from the beginning of our ministries this term to build independency into the people and churches. We have been training them for a long time now and we believe they are ready to begin to stand on their own and lean on the Holy Spirit alone for their strength, wisdom and leadership. Thus, while we are not abandoning these ministries, they will be forging on ahead without us during the time we are in the States. I know it will be hard for them to carry on but it will be hard on me also as I wonder in what way they will proceed in my absence. I wonder if Paul worried much about the churches he started and the men he trained when he left a city and went to another city to continue to preach the gospel. OK, I guess I don’t have to wonder because he said did worry. In 2 Corinthians 11:28 he spoke of his “deep concern for all the churches”. But he also was able to trust in the Holy Spirit to take care of them and knew they were better off in God’s hands then in his own.
We are also in full shut-down mode with all our personal and living arrangements. Making sure everything here will run smoothly for six months is not easy. If there are problems I will certainly not be able to “run back to Africa” to see to things. The logistics of leaving everything for that long can be overwhelming, especially knowing there is little you can do if something goes wrong. Much of it we will have to leave in God’s hands.
Obviously, since we will returning home soon for furlough, we will also begin traveling to our various supporting churches in order to see you all and to give updates and reports of our work here in Kenya. After we have returned and spent some time with family and our home church, Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook, Ohio, I will begin contacting you pastors and churches to set up times for us to visit. So, I hope you will be expecting to hear from me. I can also be contacted via email at rojuta[at]gmail.com. We do not currently have a US phone so that is not currently an option. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [August 2013]
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
Dear praying friends,
It is now the month of August, and the time this year has flown by. I cannot believe how quickly this year has passed. It seems like the older I get, the faster the time passes. I am sure you all can relate to this as well. How we need to be busy in service to the Lord while there is still time and opportunity. Psalm 90:12 states, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Since I write month after month about ministry, I thought this month I would write something different. I enjoy reporting on the ministries, and I plan to continue to do that throughout the months ahead. I thought this month I would report more on how life is on the mission field, or what typical living in Africa is like. I know that this is probably interesting, and since I have not reported much about it, I would like to this month.
Life in Africa. How do you describe it? It has daily challenges that only the Lord can help us through. Many times it really gets hard. Why? Separation from friends, family, culture, customs, etc. Trying to understand the Swahili language when someone is talking a mile a minute in the language and your brain has just “checked out.” I have been there many times. It is exhausting just to try to follow what is being said, especially if it is said at a very fast rate.
Maintenance. There is so much maintenance, both on vehicles, compounds, places to live, etc. I rarely drive long distances because of the conditions of the roads. When a road is fixed, it usually does not last long as the conditions deteriorate rapidly. I usually take public transportation in a van, called a “matatu” here. The matatus are usually jammed with people, with people sitting four in a seat that seats two. Chickens on the buses and vans at times. People preaching on the public vans and passing around their hats and taking up an offering. Yes, life here is certainly different.
What about the family? Typically my wife spends most of the morning schooling with the children. We are so proud of McKenna and her progress. She is a smart little girl. Camille is coming along closely also. Our daughters have friends here, although most are older than them. As I said before, we continue to pray for children their age to play with. God will answer in His time. Cooking for my wife takes twice as long here as cooking at home. All is made from scratch. Something that would take 30 minutes in America takes 2 hours here to make. These are just some of the things that teach us patience here, day by day.
Through all the challenges of daily life on the mission field, God is with us each step of the way. He will never leave us nor forsake us. No matter what we face, He is there. As the saying goes, “No matter how rough or smooth this day, He is with us each step of the way.” Hebrews 13:5b says “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Are you thankful for that? We sure are.
Thanks again for your prayers, sacrificial giving, cards of encouragement, and emails. They brighten our days here.
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [August 2013]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
July 28, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope and pray that all is well with each of you and your loved ones. We are all doing well. This has been a month full of many happenings.
We took a few days break and went to Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, where we met our daughter KathyLee and her husband. We had a great time together. The boys enjoyed the beach. It was a little cold but they still got to learn to surf. This time of the year here it is winter.
The Barros Family: Gabriel, Tito, Kathy, KathyLee, Jonas, & Odali
When we went on our break we took Kathy’s car because my truck’s transmissions was bad and I left it in the shop. Well, on the way back Kathy’s car heated all at once and stopped. Thank God we had left KathyLee at the Airport and had traveled 5 hours. That got us to Curitiba. God took care of us. There we have friends. They provided food and a place to stay. The next day we were on our way home on the top of a truck. We made it home safely. We took Kathy’s car to the shop too. Well, the cars are in order now.
The church is doing great. We praise God for the 10 people baptized last Sunday. There are others who have made professions of faith. We pray that they will soon be baptized also. We have several people that come to church that came from other churches. There are all kinds of churches in Garca with some really crazy doctrines. Mostly salvation by baptism and by works and mixture of all kinds of beliefs. So we have been teaching on what the Bible says about baptism–especially that baptism is not salvation. Pray for these new babes in Christ.
Those baptized last Sunday!
So many times we preach and come in contact with many people. Some times we may think that nothing is happening and that no one is hearing, that is when we remember that God is always at work.
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. -I Corintios 3:6
This week I was looking for a mechanic and I went to his home to talk to him. His wife told me that he was at his church doing some work on the building. So I went to his church, and when I got there…was I surprised! There with him were two others that I knew. Actually all 3 of them had worked with me and been to our church. Now they were saved and serving God. It is important that we keep on telling people about God. It is God that works on their lives and hearts. Praise God!
I want to thank all of you who prayed for me during my father’s death. I praise God that he was saved and that we are only separated for a short time.
Also we thank all of you for your prayers and support. Each of you are an important part of our ministry. God bless each of you.
Love
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Av. Victor Hugo Boaretto S/N
Garca, Sao Paulo 17.400,000
Brasil, SA
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Labor Day Conference 2013
MAKE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND THE LABOR DAY CONFERENCE IN THE INTERESTS OF BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS – September 1-2 at East Keys Baptist Church in Springfield, Illinois. Dan Hillard is their Pastor. You may contact him for more information at dhillard51[at]yahoo.com.
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July 2013 Mission Sheets [PDF]
Your July 2013 Mission Sheet is now available in PDF format. Follow the link below to view it!
The flip-through version is being contrary this month, but please don’t let that make you flip out–hopefully it will be up and running soon.
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FaithWORKS [July 2013]
PRAY AND PRAISE!
- HAROLD BRATCHER – PRAY for continuing health and strength – and for the Lord’s direction and provision as they search for a home to buy.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER – PRAISE GOD for all our dear and faithful missionary-wives and PRAY for them. PRAY for all the churches and missions in their ministry fellowship, and for all the pastors and their wives and families.
- JOHN AND JUDY HATCHER – PRAISE GOD for another believer and baptism in France! Read the exciting story of the work of God’s Grace in Samuel. PRAY for all the other contacts John and Judy are making – more ‘seeds cast upon the waters’!
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY – PRAISE GOD for the four mission teams who held Bible Schools, Back Yard Bible Schools, and helped do a significant amount of work on their church building. PRAY that they would continue to be in good health and that God would continue to give them strength to complete everything He wants them to do.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD – PRAISE GOD for fruit and growth in their several church plants. PRAY for their housing and vehicle needs for their upcoming furlough.
- SHERIDAN AND ANITA STANTON – PRAISE GOD for the opportunities God has opened up for him to preach and teach the Gospel in neighboring nations and help train pastors to meet people’s needs with Scriptural counseling. PRAY for upcoming church missions trips to Peru.
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE – PRAY for the challenges and opportunities they will all encounter and experience especially over the next year as Emily graduates from high school and they come to the States for furlough – and to enroll her in college to continue her education and vocation. Be sure that all our other missionaries will be praying for them!
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER – PRAISE GOD for the young people who have given their lives to serve Jesus Christ as missionaries this summer in the Project Life outreach. PRAY that God will call other missionaries to reach all the unsaved peoples of the world.
URGENT NEED FOR $17,000.00 FURLOUGH REPLACEMENT FUNDS
These furlough transportation expenses have been disbursed to purchase airfare tickets for two of our furloughing missionaries. BFM pays for their furlough transportation expenses when they are due a furlough. These funds are disbursed from the portion of the General Fund monies which are received from our Thanksgiving Offerings. Those funds from last year’s Thanksgiving Offering are almost depleted.
BFM provides many other services and benefits for our missionaries from the General Fund than just their monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. Those additional services and benefits are supplied from Thanksgiving Offering monies.
WILL YOU HELP US REPLENISH THE GENERAL FUND BY DESIGNATING YOUR OFFERINGS FOR ‘FURLOUGH FUNDS’? We will have already paid for the airfare tickets, but your offerings will help us replenish the account so we can provide the other future commitments we have made to them throughout the rest of this year.
2013 FOUNDERS DAY OFFERINGS
Thank you for responding to our 2013 Founders Day Offering. Your offerings given in June were $20,492.00. They are reported in this issue of the Mission Sheets. Also, $1276.00 was given in the month of May. Together, those offerings total $21,768.00.
We bless God and thank you for every offering that was given. May God commend and prosper each one of you who participated.
What will we do with your Founders Day Offerings? We will apply them toward meeting the essential monthly financial needs of our missionaries. The standard monthly commitments we make to them each month amount to over $46,000.00. Those commitments are supplied from the monthly General Fund offerings “as the Lord provides”. When we don’t receive sufficient monthly General Fund offerings, then we reduce either the missionaries’ salaries or their housing/ministry expenses allowances. (We can’t reduce the $12,500.00 premiums we pay for their hospitalization.)
So, your offerings given to the Founders Day Offering will be applied toward those essential monthly disbursements. When we receive more General Fund supplies in any month than we need for that month’s disbursements, then the remaining overage funds are escrowed and kept in account to supply the deficit that we may suffer in another following month. So, that is what we will do with this month’s Founders Day Offering – we will hold it in store to meet the needs in other months.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFUL GIVING TO OUR MONTHLY GENERAL FUND!
One of the first places we look every month is the listing of the contributions to the Monthly General Fund. Why? Because the Monthly General Fund supplies the Essential Maintenance Transactions for our missionaries for that month. Your contributions to the General Fund make it possible for their essential living and ministry expenses to be met for that month. So, ‘Thank You! Giving Friends!’ for all your faithful generous and sacrificial giving month by month.
MAKE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND THE LABOR DAY CONFERENCE IN THE INTERESTS OF BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS – September 1-2 at East Keys Baptist Church in Springfield Illinois. Dan Hillard is their pastor. You may contact him for more information at dhillard51[at]yahoo.com.
MISSIONARIES’ FURLOUGH SCHEDULE
Harold Bratcher is retiring from active and faithful missionary service in Manaus, Brazil, and is relocating to live here in the States. He is selling his home in Manaus and is seeking to purchase a home here. If you wish to contact him before he establishes a permanent address, you may contact him at: 859.277.3716 / 1012 Balsam Drive, Lexington KY 40504 / or through his email address: harold_bratcher[at]yahoo.com
TATES AND RADFORDS – their plans at present are to be coming to the States in September and October respectively. You may correspond with them concerning any prospective plans you would like to make with them. Roger Tate rojuta[at]gmail.com & Nathan Radford naterad[at]yahoo.com
NEED FOR VEHICLES – Both the Tates and Radfords will need vehicles to use for their travels in the States during their upcoming furloughs. If anyone has a vehicle or vehicles you can loan them for their use, correspond with them at the above email addresses.
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [July 2013]
The Hensleys have spent nearly 15 years serving in Brazil. They run a vocational school and orphanage in Caraguatatuba and have also established a church and mission points throughout the city.
Dear friends and family,
How AWESOME is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When we start talking about plans (ie: for our Church construction), I’m thinking I see a year’s worth of work to make this building presentable…then miracles start taking place. After 4 groups come and go (over a month and a half), our church building is absolutely beautiful. What should have taken a year got finished in a little over a month and a half. AWESOME!! And I am thinking Jeremiah 29:11—For I know the plans I have for you—–it just reminds me that my God is watching out for me and my small Church here in Brasil. He knows what He has planned for us and we just have to let Him work His miracles. Just one more display of how AWESOME magnificent, all powerful, all knowing our God is.
So thank you to our groups: Pastor Foy and group from Mount Eden Baptist Church, Pastor Allen and Pastor David from Centerville Baptist Church, Pastor Dan Russell from Immanuel Baptist with the group from Central Baptist in Paris, Ky, and two firemen from Atlantic Shores Baptist Church in Virginia Beach. Our Church wants to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
So you ask, what got done in these short weeks: well, the Church was painted inside and out, one bathroom remodeled, one bathroom constructed, two mobile cabinets constructed, cabinet for the kitchen made, kitchen sink area remodeled and a new countertop added, dorm room at school painted, windows at our home painted, the floor in the Church tiled (200 sq meters), waterproofed the roof of the bathroom, water fountain installed, sound system installed, and electrical work done in several areas.
And now what is yet to be done: repair our overhead doors, install screens on the windows, install metal fence in the front of the Church building for security, remodel the balcony area for Sunday School rooms, and make cabinets for storage. In comparison, this list is very small.
But these groups did not just do manual labor, they also did Back Yard Bible Schools. We were able to do four. Two of these were in public schools. While the team for the Bible School was busy in the classrooms teaching God’s Word, another team was busy outside painting the concrete fence all around the school. We like to do some work project at the schools where we go because they do not expect us to. This shows them the love of God through the actions of Americans that not only come to their country to spread the gospel, but to help in anything that they can. One of our Bible Schools was at our Church and the children loved it. We also used this to gather more children into our new Church. Then we took the gospel to the Guarani Indians in Rio. There we also took food baskets to each family. You would have to see this tribe to know how much a food basket means to them. And while we were ministering to the Indians, we also ministered to the missionary that works with them. We took an offering on the spot to buy new tires for his car. The road he has to travel to get to the tribe is very bad and his tires were showing the fiber from the inside.
Some of their Sunday School children with a banner made for their church by some children in the states from Pellville Baptist Church.
During this time we have had two people move their membership so we are growing a little at a time. We are having on average 32-37 children on Sunday morning and we are fluctuating on Sunday night between 40 to 80. We are having Bible Study in the home of one of the newest members, English classes on Saturday evenings, and then Youth meetings after that. When the balcony is ready, we will divide the children into two classes and they will go into these classrooms. Then we will be able to have two adult classes in the auditorium. We continue to serve breakfast to the children on Sunday morning and we have several adults that join in. As we have said before, you need to feed their physical hunger before you can feed their spiritual hunger.
Needless to say, all of this activity has left us tired so I ask that you pray for our health to continue to be good and that God continues to give us strength to complete everything that He wants to do.
Our Sunday School children would like to give a shout out to the children in the States who made this banner for our Church. Thanks Kim Mitchell and Pellville Baptist Church. The children love their banner!!! And thanks to the other Churches who made banners as well. They are beautiful in the Church.
As you can see by this letter we have the room to host many groups. So if you and your Church would like to experience mission work up close and personal just give us a call and we can start planning your mission trip. We will treat you so many ways that you will have to like one. Come on down!!!
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: Harold Bratcher on Permanent Furlough from Brazil [July 2013]
Harold Bratcher served the Lord in the Amazon Valley for 52 years from July 15, 1959 through December 29, 2012. His dear wife, Marie, faithfully served with him for 51 years until her death in February 2011. The Bratchers organized over 20 Baptist churches and many other missions in Brazil. He is now on permanent furlough in Kentucky, still in the service of the Savior.
July 10, 2013
Dear Brothers of the Blessed Lord and Sisters of the Savior:
Once again we (Asa Mark and I) greet you not from the Amazon Valley of Brazil, South America, but from our temporary warm and rainy Kentucky home where the sun is not shining bright right now.
This Mission Sheets month began June 8 and finishes today. During this period I heard 7 sermons, or Bible studies. I also had the privilege of preaching three times. The first time at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Oldtown, Ky where Bro. John Lybrook is pastor, the weekend of the 16th. I also heard Stephen preach, as Asa Mark was in Brazil, taking care of the house sale. The second time was Sunday morning the 23rd of June, at the Berry Baptist Church of Berry, Ky, where Bro. Carl Morton is pastor. During the Sunday School hour, Asa Mark spoke and Stephen sang as we enjoyed a time of great food, preaching and fellowship. The third time was the following Sunday at the Calvary Baptist Church in Richmond, Ky, where Bro. Bobby Greene is the pastor. I preached at the morning service there while Asa Mark preached at the Clarksville Baptist Church, Bro. Bradley Johns, pastor. Then we all enjoyed a great meal, and Asa Mark spoke at the afternoon service. We appreciate my sister in law, Deane Cruise and my niece, Donna Lynn, attending that service. Then Bro. Bobby and Sis. Sandra took us to visit our dear friends, Carroll and Bessie Sowers. Also during this MS period, we attended several services at the David’s Fork BC, our home church in Lexington.
I hope to continue to be a blessing to many of you, during this first year of my permanent furlough. I would like to report and thank each of you that have supported us during these past 53 years. We appreciate the invitations we have already for this month, and look forward to seeing many of you soon. We hope to be in Western Kentucky soon. Do pray for us, as this week, we have started earnestly looking again for the house the Lord would have us have. Also continue to pray that the Lord will heal Asa Mark’s eye, as both doctors in Lexington and Manaus, have done all they can. He is certainly able, and may He receive all the glory. The Lord permitting, until next month.
Yours in the Service of the Savior,
Harold Bratcher
1012 Balsam Drive
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 277-3716
(859) 806-9827 cell
harold_bratcher[at]yahoo.com
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