Blessings in Ubim
March 24, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We pray and hope that all of you dear friends are doing well! We are doing well. Thank God things are doing well and getting back to normal. We are being able to start back our services in the different communities. We are making plans to have special programs in these different communities and also have some special programs in schools. Since distance is a problem here, we want to go into the communities. One of the things that we are planning is to have a special pizza day in each of these places and different schools. If you would like to help us with this project, we would be grateful. We figure that it will cost around $400.00 for the places we plan on going.
Our Friday services in homes is doing well. In the village of Ubim, we have started night services. Kathy has been going there for 7 years and works with 50 to 60 kids under 15. Pray as we have services and reach out to the adults and families there.
At the main church, Pedras Vivas, we are doing fine and still working on training adults for different ministries. We hope and pray that they will see the need more and more to reach out to the lost people around us.
A special thing happened with one of the teenagers who stays here with us most of the week. He has helped Kathy in Ubim for several months. He wanted to continue helping there but because of being in school he couldn’t go. But he decided to ask the principal if on Monday he could leave a little earlier to go with Kathy. The principal said sure, bring a letter from your pastor saying that you’re going there to help every week. So, he took the letter. The day he went to talk to the principal it was a different person. She seemed to be giving him a hard time. After questioning him a lot he thought that she was going to say he couldn’t go. But was he surprised!!!! She said, you can go, and I also want you to play some praise songs here at the school and talk about God! He sent Kathy a message totally surprised!!!!! Praise the Lord. Pray for the teen. His name is Gabriel, and he is 15 years old.
Gabriel 
Friday Night Service 
Jump rope with kids in Ubim
We thank God for each one of you who pray and support our ministry. God bless each of you!
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy Barros
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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False Accusation Leads to Positive Opportunity
March 23, 2022
Dear Friends,
We are often looking for opportunities to get the message of the gospel out to people who wouldn’t ordinarily receive it, and we pray for guidance so that we can recognize those opportunities when they arise. The Lord recently answered those prayers with an opportunity that I couldn’t have imagined if I tried to for a hundred years.
In May of 2021 I wrote about a man who had been a Satan-worshiper for many years that had been won to Christ by the witness and behavior of his teenage daughter who attended our church. After his conversion and baptism, he had begun to study the Bible and was growing steadily in his walk with the Lord. An amazing orchestration of events turned that man into a vessel of God in getting the gospel to men incarcerated in the jail system here in our state. After living decades in sinful behavior, but never suffering legal repercussions, he was falsely accused of assaulting a young woman and ended up in jail for several months awaiting judgement. He had shared with me that he was not guilty of the accusation, and I had given him a small Bible that he could easily keep with him and read while incarcerated. After all the investigations and testimonies, he was released last month. The amazing opportunity that I mentioned earlier is that, while in jail, he began to devour the Word of God daily and his spiritual life developed tremendously. Instead of being angry and upset that he was falsely imprisoned, he saw that God had placed him in there for a reason, so he sought to serve the Lord faithfully in his predicament. He told me that his situation there helped him to more fully appreciate how Jesus willingly died our substitutionary death on the cross, though He himself had never committed a sin. His name is Francisco, and now he and I are developing a ministry where he’ll use his inside knowledge of life in jail to reach the inmates with the message of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. He is presently working on obtaining his chaplain’s license and he and I meet from time to time to discuss how to implement this new ministry most effectively. We are also combining our Projeto Vida team’s gospel skit presentations to accompany Francisco on some of his visits to the inmates. I would never have dreamed that a false accusation could turn out as such a positive opportunity, but I am extremely thankful that the Lord doesn’t need to wait on my creativity to provide doors for sharing the gospel. Francisco told me recently that being arrested and sent to jail is the second-best thing that has happened to him. The first, his being saved by God’s grace.
We finally “bit the bullet” so to speak and began having double worship services on Sundays. Our attendance had reached near standing room only, so we knew we had to make the decision soon. We had an excellent turnout on our first Sunday and a lot of our folks helped us by choosing to attend the service that wouldn’t normally be considered regular “church time.” By their doing this, space was freed up for both services’ attendance to grow without overcrowding. We are so thankful to the Lord for this growth “problem” and I’m grateful that our people are willing to step out of their comfort zone in order to grow God’s kingdom.
Charlene and I are grateful to you who pray for us and give so that we can focus on God’s calling on our lives to plant churches and disciple new converts.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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Rejoicing Over a New Believer in France
March 17, 2022
Dear Co-Laborers in Christ,
We hope this finds you enjoying the presence of the Lord in your life. Judy and I just returned from Florida where we spent just over three weeks taking care of my dad while my brother Paul recovered from a hernia surgery—a hernia brought on by physically managing the care of our father. We are grateful beyond words for the care that Paul and Wanda continue to joyfully give. After forty years of service in Brazil they moved to the USA to care for Mom, Dad and Wanda’s mother. The two mothers moved in the presence of the Lord four years ago. Dad and Mom were missionaries serving with support through Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years in three different regions of Brazil. Dad is now very limited mentally and physically.
God has continued to work through His people here in France. Three weeks ago, Timo, an eighteen-year-old young man, contacted Philip indicating that he wanted to follow the Lord in baptism. He has been coming to church activities along with his family since he was in grade school. Timo has clearly expressed his faith in Christ for the last few months and grown spiritually in a very evident way. This is a great encouragement to us.
Some have asked us how far we are from the events in Ukraine. There are about two thousand miles between us and the ongoing conflict. Thank you for your concern and remember to pray for believers who are on site and people who need Christ in Ukraine and Russia.
Thank you for your faithful support in many different ways.
Your brother and sister in Christ,
John and Judy Hatcher
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Celebrating 8 Years of Caragua Baptist Church
March 16, 2022
Dear friends and family,
Time seems to be so short and seems that I am always running behind (this is maybe because of my maturity—age).
We have just finished two seminary classes in São Paulo taught by Pastor Raymond Edge of First Baptist Church of Bastrop, Texas. The classes were Old Testament Survey and an elective from the Old Testament, the book of Jonah. Our plans were to have these classes in person and to do zoom classes also; however, circumstances (COVID and finances) only allowed us to do the zoom classes.
Barbara and I are planning to be in Brazil for March and April. We will be visiting family in Caraguatatuba, São Paulo. While there, I will be preaching in a meeting at Caragua Baptist Church for the 8-year anniversary of the church. This will be the 26th and the 27th of March. It is AWESOME to participate in celebrating these 8 years of this church spreading God’s Word in Brazil.
While preaching and visiting in Caragua, I will also be visiting São Paulo and meeting with several pastors and two churches. São Paulo has just lowered its COVID 19 level, and this will allow me to travel more freely.
Please be praying for these pastors as their churches have lots of fear about COVID-19 and their financial ability to properly fight the pandemic. Not so different as from here, but there somewhat more severe.
The Bibles for the Guarani Indians have not arrived as of yet. I am hoping to be able to deliver them while there. How AWESOME will it be to be able to read God’s word in their own language. Pastor Valdival, the missionary working with these Indians, is now out of the hospital and doing well. We have been friends and have worked with him for 10 years. We were happy for him to get out of the hospital and hope to be able to see him when we are there.
Dr. Derek and I along with our wives will be going to a Pastors Conference in Recife representing Bluegrass Baptist Seminary and the work being done, talking to the pastors and those in attendance on July 18–22. Pray for this upcoming trip as we work to continue to teach God’s Word in Brazil. Thanks to all of you for the continuing prayers and contributions for the work God has called us to do here in Brazil. Without both of those we would have a greater problem doing our work. Thanks to Baptist Faith Missions and all the churches who support our missionaries. Keep up the good work.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
CONTACT INFO
AJ & Barbara Hensley
30524 Mimi St
Sebring, FL 33870-0530
AJ: 859-539-2302 | Barbara: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@gmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Adjusting Back to Life in Kenya
March 5th, 2022
Dear praying friends,
Another month has come and gone, and we are already into the third month of 2022. Time passes so fast, and may we be busy in our service to the Lord. This prayer letter will share current prayer requests, as well as update you on my (Nathan’s) upcoming ministry plans.
I am in the process of recruiting potential younger Kenyan men to disciple, train, and send out to start churches in their village areas. I have spoken with different men who have lived in Africa or are living in Africa about church planting, and they had a basic model to follow: recruit the men, (preferably men who are already employed), disciple them so they have a firm foundation in their faith, then send them out to villages to start churches.
This is the model I followed this past term, and it was the best progress of any prior term. Unfortunately, covid came to Kenya and we had to close things down. Now that it is possible to meet again, by practicing social distancing, and also masks are encouraged, we can continue.
Lord willing, I plan to start in a village called Taito, which is about a fifteen minute drive from Kitale town. In all of these endeavors, it is God that gives the increase. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 3:6, where Paul says “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Amen. It is the same today. We must trust God for the results in all our endeavors.
In family news, our daughters have adjusted well back to life here in Kenya. They are homeschooling, and my wife is doing a great job teaching them. She is very qualified, and I am blessed with all the sacrifices she makes daily, and for our family. Please pray both for her and our daughters as they continue along in this school year.
There have been many changes in the missionary community since we have returned, and unfortunately, the family that had a daughter our daughter’s ages moved away to another area. We are blessed that there are some Kenyan girls nearby who speak good English, and they are invited to play with them at any time. This is a major blessing. Would you please pray with us that God would provide other families with daughters that could be friends with our daughters? This is a big prayer request for us now, and we are waiting upon the Lord. Psalm 27:14 says “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” May we wait in faith, trusting Him each step of the way.
Thanks so much to each of you for your heart for missions. We appreciate the prayers, sacrificial giving, and letters so much. May God bless each of you.
Until next month,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
naterad[at]yahoo.com
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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News & Reports – March 2022
The Online Edition of the March 2022 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.
*Remember you can click on any headline to view the post/story on our website.
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A Few Thoughts on Glorifying the Lord
Tuesday, March 1
Hello dear friends,
We are so grateful for your prayers and financial support. Our family is doing well. My treatment is over and side effects have subsided. Laura still has a long way ahead of her as she learns to hear again through her left ear with the cochlear implant. This month we celebrated Raquel´s birthday. We also enjoyed time with my cousins David and Dulce Hatcher during the beginning of the month. The ministry in São Paulo is doing well. Jonatas and Charis´ training and exposure trip to the States was a great success. Our children were greatly influenced by them during their time with us. We are truly grateful for what the Lord is doing during our Stateside assignment. I want to share something a little different with you this time. May I share a few thoughts on glorifying the Lord with you today?
God ultimately expects us to give Him all the glory. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36). “To the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:11). So, how do Christians go about giving God all the glory? Here are two ways:
God receives the glory through our Faithfulness to Him.
God receives the glory when we demonstrate faithfulness. “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). Faithfulness is evidenced when providing an account of what was entrusted by the Master. Matthew Henry states, “to the trust reposed in him… keeping back nothing…when he seeks not to please men, but God; and not his own glory, and the applause of men, but the honor of Christ” is how a Christian is found faithful. Our thoughts, plans, and actions should be developed based on God’s principles found in Scripture. Faithfulness is an issue of personal integrity. Luke 16:10 states, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much. Steadfast faithfulness to God goes beyond what the human eye can see. God examines the faithfulness of heart. We demonstrate our faithfulness and testify of Him by our internal and external mission. Faithfulness brings glory to God.
God receives the glory when we give account to Him.
God receives the glory when we provide an account of what He entrusted to us. The parable of the talents reveals this concept, “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them” (Matthew 25:19). Everything a Christian is entrusted with is settled before God. It is impossible to omit anything from Him. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Scripture is unequivocal regarding giving an account before the Master, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). Another verse says, “they will give account to him who is ready to judge” (1 Peter 4:5). The Master can search the heart and test the mind. “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jeremiah 17:10). Each one of us must provide an account to God of the responsibilities entrusted to us.
Those whom He has entrusted must prove faithful, to use our talents, to maximize His Kingdom for all of us will stand before him to give an account. We do all things to give Him the glory.
May our commitment to give glory to God through our lives embolden us to live faithfully knowing we are accountable to Him for the talents he has placed in our lives.
Grateful,
Jud Hatcher
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
(872) 400-6522
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Sharing God’s Word & Love with Others
February 25, 2022
Dear Friends,
When we read God’s word, the Bible, and see how He has acted in the past, it helps us to know more about Him, about what pleases and displeases Him. His word also helps us to know how we should behave in our own lives, in the circumstances and opportunities that we face daily. I have learned from God’s word that He is intricately interested in every little detail of our lives, of my life. Yes, He wants me to revere Him (fear Him) and obey Him because of that, but He also wants all my actions to be done from a heart that adores and loves Him. I am grateful that He is also very gracious and merciful toward me because I fail so miserably at that.
Early in February we had the privilege of working together with a group of 8 adults who seem to understand what it means to serve God out of love. There were four men and four women from Virginia who wanted to be used of the Lord to share the gospel to those folks who wouldn’t ordinarily be found in a church service. We first took them with our Projeto Vida ministry team to speak to a men’s and women’s drug rehabilitation center. Oh, how the Lord blessed! Several of the interns gladly received the gospel and surrendered their lives to Christ. Then we set up stands in a public square to offer free haircuts, blood pressure readings, health advice (one of our volunteers is a medical doctor) and family counseling. Through those means of contact we also had the privilege of sharing the gospel and several more people came to know the Lord personally. In the same week, we were invited by the city council to minister to the homeless population who come seeking aid. Our volunteers shared their testimonies of their salvation and walk with Christ and a few more individuals surrendered their lives the Lord as well.
After our American brothers and sisters returned to the States, our outreach team traveled upstate to minister in some public schools. In just a few days we had the privilege of sharing the gospel message with over 3,000 students and staff members. In the schools we are allowed to speak freely of Christ and share our testimonies, but we can’t extend a public invitation to accept Christ as Lord right there. But after the presentations in front of the crowds, we are allowed to carry on personal one-on-one conversations with the students and staff and many of them gave evidence that the Holy Spirit had spoken to their hearts, and they sought further information on how to have a relationship with the Lord. We had not even arrived back from our trip before we started receiving emails and messages from the school administration telling us how much of a transformation they were seeing in some of their most difficult students. We are so blessed of the Lord to have this open door of opportunity. Please pray that it will remain open and that we will be able to use it to the best of our ability for God’s glory.
Thank you so much for your prayers for us and your faithful financial support. May the Lord richly bless you.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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