Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [July 2012]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
July 1, 2012
Dear Brethren and Fellow Helpers,
Praise the Lord; He has given us a wonderful month. Proverbs 17:6 speaks of the children’s children being a blessing for the old. This month our twenty-second great grandchild was born in Manaus. His name is Noah. His parents are Leigh Ann and Michael Samples. Leigh Ann is Paul and Wanda Hatcher’s daughter and Michael works with Paul in the School and Seminary. There were some complications in the birth but Mother and Baby are doing well after being born by C-Section.
Another good news is about the two younger daughters of Amanda and Philip Hatcher who live in France. The two older girls were saved and baptized last month. This month the two younger girls told their Mother and Dad they had trusted Jesus as Savior. We are thankful.
DRIVER’S LICENSE—In my last letter I mentioned the difficulty in getting my Brazilian Driver’s License. I received it after almost three months; it is good for two years.
ASSAI—Alta and I still make the trip to Assai every Sunday morning and we rejoice that we are still able to go. Please pray for this city of 20,000 people. Three different families whose children started coming have taken them out to take them to another church; they never attended any place before the children started coming to our Sunday School. Alta plans and has a great lesson for the children each week. Pray that the Lord will change the hearts of those parents.
URAI—The work is going well in Urai and the missions in Sussumo and Rancho Alegre. There are five or six young people who attend the Seminary and they are very active in the Lord’s work.
Great news from Manaus. The work where Paul pastors is going great and the Chapada Baptist Church where David and Pennie work is being greatly blessed. This month there were 360 people who trusted the Lord. All of these are followed up with special classes for new converts. Last Sunday there were over 3,000 in Sunday School. They have two services each Sunday night and they will soon have to go to two Sunday School hours in the morning.
The OLDIES—We praise the Lord we are still able to do and go. For our joy and contentment Alta and I still play for half an hour four or five times a week. She plays the organ and I play my Sax.
We thank you for your prayers and support.
Sincerely, in the Name above every name,
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Missionary Update: Sheridan & Anita Stanton in Peru [June 2012]
Sheridan and Anita Stanton have served the Lord in Peru for 28 years. Their main ministry is church planting and they have helped establish churches all over the country. Sheridan also works to train pastors and Anita works with the ladies' ministry and developing children's material.
June 23, 2012
Dear friends,
THE MONTH OF JUNE IS A MONTH OF REMEMBRANCE.
One year ago today my father, Ralph Stanton, went to his homecoming in heaven. I’m sure he is singing in the choir and probably has a quartet going by now! He loved to sing! We miss him, but would not want him to leave where he is now. I will see him again one day, and what a great day that will be. I can still hear my dad singing, “what a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon His face, the One who saved me by His grace…” Your prayers for my Mom today would be appreciated. She is doing well, but today has been a little tough.
Ralph & Virginia Stanton
June is also Founder’s Month for Baptist Faith Missions. This year celebrates seventy years of BFM since it officially began. Many of our supporting churches have given some very generous special offerings during the month. If your church has not given this special offering in June you can still do so! I was with the Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church of Ironton, Ohio on Sunday the 17th and they gave a substantial offering (over five figures). It has been suggested that every family of each church consider giving $70 dollars in honor of seventy years of missionary service of BFM. Baptist Faith Missions is blessed with a great legacy of faithful churches and Godly men and women dedicated to the cause of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and organizing New Testament Baptist Churches for the glory of our Lord.
SPEAKING OF GREAT LEGACIES – Marguerite Hallum, passed away in June; she was 94 years old. Marguerite was the daughter of Richard and Mary Hallum, the first missionaries to Peru for Baptist Faith Missions. Brother Hallum was fifty-two years of age when he went to Peru. He was cleared to go with the Amazon Valley Baptist Faith Mission (the original mission organization that became Baptist Faith Mission). However, in 1929 the Hallums lost all they had in the economic collapse of that year. After a few years Brother Hallum sold their small house and put the money in the bank in preparation once again for traveling to Peru. But in 1932, the banks collapsed again and once again they lost all they had. He was not daunted because he knew that God had called him to Peru to preach the gospel to the lost. Three years later in 1935 they finally arrived in Peru to live a life of service and left a legacy of what it means to live by faith in the promises of God. Today, there are over one hundred and sixty churches and mission works affiliated with Baptist Faith Missions in Peru.
He started the very first Baptist Church in all of Peru; the First Baptist Church of Iquitos, organized in 1937. Marguerite was sixteen years old when her father and mother arrived for the first time in Peru in 1935. She labored with them for twenty years on the mission field until 1955. They labored tirelessly as great soldiers of the Cross all during the difficult years of World War II. The United States was hard pressed with the war effort and churches did not have a lot to send to the missionaries in the foreign fields but the Hallums carried on by faith. Faith is the middle name of BFM and like Richard Hallum, all missionaries know that nothing is guaranteed except the promises of God.
Anita and I attended Marguerite Hallum’s funeral in Hammond, Louisiana on Monday the 11th of June. I was honored to speak on behalf of Baptist Faith Missions. Most of the folks that attended her funeral were not aware of the Hallum’s long years of service in Peru and we did not know much about her after they left Peru. We discovered that after Marguerite returned to Louisiana at age thirty-six; she joined the Woodland Park Baptist Church along with her parents. She never married but she loved children and gave her life to teaching Sunday School; she taught for fifty-two years. She never drove an automobile and she never owned a home. She had a keen mind, wonderful since of humor and was loved by all that knew her. Most of the crowd that attended her funeral was folks that had been in her Sunday School classes. I can imagine that thousands of Peruvians were lined up in heaven to meet her when she crossed the threshold of Glory to say, “Thank-you, Marguerite!” I hope she has had a chance to meet my Dad by now; how I would have enjoyed observing that encounter! June has been a month of remembrance. Until next month.
In HIM by HIS grace,
Sheridan and Anita Stanton
Furlough Address:
1012 Balsam Drive
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 277-3716 – mission house
(859) 490-5370 – cell in States
(614) 500-8823
sestantonperu[at]hotmail.com – Sheridan
arstantonperu[at]gmail.com – Anita
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers [June 2012]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
June 9, 2012
Dear friends,
I have learned from my reading of the apostle Paul’s letters that we need to discern the difference between prideful boasting and glorying in the Lord. Satan and his demons would have us do much of the boasting and none of the glorying in the Lord. For fear of doing the boasting we sometimes leave off doing the glorying in the Lord and God is robbed of opportunities to be magnified. I don’t want to be guilty of either, so I will glory only in what God has done. But, He has done much. It boggles my mind to realize that during the month of May we had the privilege of sharing the gospel with over 19,000 people through our various ministries. We worked in three different states of Brazil and at the same time have made great progress on the auditorium of our new church building. We heard over 500 people profess Christ as their Savior. We give ALL the glory to God. I know that without God’s blessings and His Spirit’s working in and through us, none of this would be possible. We are thankful and we rejoice that He sees fit to provide us with these opportunities.
With opportunities and blessings like these come hardships, trials and persecution. Just this week we were attacked through the internet by a selfish and vengeful mother who is angered because her three kids have surrendered their lives to Christ and want to live for him rather than live for her. They are very respectful to her and have not abandoned her. But, her plan was for her kids to stay at home and use their income to make her life luxurious. When she saw that their surrender to Christ set them on a different course she took to the internet to attack our ministries. May God strengthen her kids in their resolve to live for Him and also to convict her of her selfishness and bring her to repentance and faith in Christ.
Charlene washing down the new windows (with a smile!)
I was able to get pictures of the windows and glass doors installed in the new church building. Check to see if they have been posted in this edition of the Mission Sheets. Also, we have nearly completed the laying of the ceramic tile floors. Ceramic in our area is less expensive than most any type of flooring, hence our use of it. It is easier to keep clean and costs less to install.
Charlene and a friend washing down the new windows!
We are very grateful to you who have been so faithful and generous in giving toward our ministries. We have been able to continue our building project without having to incur debt and we are very thankful for that. God has seen fit to provide the resources as they have been needed.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [June 2012]
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,
It sure is strange near the equator. One of the strange things about living here is that I lose all sense of the seasons that you all have back in the States. It seems to me that it should still be snowy and cold back home. It’s almost incomprehensible to me that you are heading into Summer and hot, sunny days. We’ve been back in Africa almost a year now and since the seasons change so little here (except alternating between dust and mud) all the days seem the same and I lose track of time.
Roger Tate & Nathan Radford with some of the Kenyans they are working with
Time, however, is something we shouldn’t lose track of though, is it? It passes us all by and we only have a short and uncertain amount of time to do the things our Lord wants us to do on this earth. I look back at the last year and think, “I’ve lost a whole year and haven’t done a tenth of what I wanted to accomplish”. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s the Lord that builds the house and that he will do what he wants to do in His own timing. Starting churches is slow, hard work that requires a lot of patience on my part (and I don’t really like being patient). But God is blessing and I am excited to say that we have been actively preparing one of our house groups to become a newly organized church and we have plans and a date for later this month to go ahead and organize this group into a new church of the Lord Jesus Christ. If all goes according to plan, on the last Sunday of this month we will organize this small group into a church, have a time of celebration and worship, and baptize three children who have trusted in Jesus and add them to the membership role of the church. We have been diligently teaching this group what it means to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ and we believe they are ready to move forward toward this end. Hopefully, next month I will be able to include a couple of pictures of the ceremony and first baptisms of Kanisa la Baptisti ya Shangalamwe (Baptist Church of Shangalamwe). This is all the Lord’s doing and we take no credit for it at all. I do not look back at this year and say, “See what I’ve accomplished.” In the end, all we can do is point towards heaven and say “All glory, honor and blessings to the King of heaven who does what He wants in all the earth.”
(As a side note: My wife has spent a lot of time putting together a blog to reveal insights into our lives here in Africa. It especially gives insight into her thoughts as a missionary wife and mother living in a foreign land. It is all from her perspective, which is obviously a very different perspective than the one I offer you each month. It contains some photos and she is working on adding links to others. If you are interested you can visit her blog at www.tatesinkenya.blogspot.com. Just to give you a little teaser about her site, if you go there you can read about the day I was arrested by the Police in Nakuru. Ha Ha. That should pique your interest.)
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God inEast Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [June 2012]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
Dear Brethren and Friends,
Greetings from two oldies in Brazil. God has blessed us this month. I told Alta, “It is not a sin to be old, but sometimes it has its difficulties.” Alta’s eyes are still doing wonderful and my hearing is great so between us we are seeing and hearing well.
My Brazilian drivers license expired the last of April and I am still trying to get my new one. It has been quite an ordeal. I was required to get three doctor’s statements that I was still physically and mentally capable of driving. Statements from a cardiologist, orthopedist and neurologist. After two months I have the documents in hand and tomorrow, the Lord willing, I should get my license.
ASSIS—Alta and I are still making the trip to Assis and during the month, four new children have attended. The new building that was built by the Chapada Baptist Church is certainly a wonderful blessing.
URAI—Brother Marcio is doing a good job in teaching and reaching out. There are five persons who are studying in the seminary as well as being active in the work. Last week Marcio took the young people to Rancho Alegre where they visited and gave out invitations for service that night. The result was good and they had a full house. Susumo is another congregation on the other side of town. Three young adults care for that work.
A PERSONAL WORD TO YOU OUR BELOVED BRETHREN AND FELLOW WORKERS.
Alta and I thank you for your faithful prayers and financial help for many years. It has not been an easy road, but it was not an easy road that our Lord walked to Calvary. When the first Church in Jerusalem continued the work after Jesus ascended, their story seems to indicate, especially their manner of giving, that Jesus would come very soon. They gave generously, some gave all. They did well even though Jesus would delay His coming. In the year 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and most of those had given were probably killed.
THE BLESSING is: They saved all they had given!
This is true for us today. All invested in the Lord’s work will be received in Heaven with His benefits.
We love you, in the Name of our Lord Jesus,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Missionary Update: John Mark & Judy Hatcher in France [June 2012]
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making,”
Dear Co-Laborers,
We thank God for the blessings He has showered on us during the past month. You are among those blessings. Your faithful giving enables us to continue doing the work God has called us to do. Your prayers make us effective. The Sunday meetings in Tournefeuille have been well attended and there is evidence of growth in those who are believers. The Bible studies in various locations are also doing well with interested participants.
About half of the attendees in the Bible studies and Sunday meetings have not professed faith in Christ. It is encouraging when we notice their interest in spiritual matters, especially when they ask questions which indicate the Spirit of God is at work in their hearts and the Word of God is having an impact on their thinking. This has been the case this month with some of those who have not yet made professions of faith.
Attentive listeners in a children's class at Tournefeuille
We have also had a number of opportunities to present the Good News in contacts outside of regular meetings. This is very important and usually results from a long term commitment to the process that starts with making contact and continues with the training of disciples after they have publicly committed their lives to Christ. Activities involved take place in this sequence:
- Look for opportunities to make new acquaintances.
- Spend time with people with whom we become acquainted
- Listen to people in order to know them and build up credibility to get a valid hearing for the gospel.
- Converse with people about God, His Word, and the Good News in Jesus Christ.
- Pray continually during all of these steps since we can do nothing. It is Christ Who works through us.
- Read and study the Bible with those who show an interest. We usually begin studying through the Gospel according to John.
- Continue to study the Word of God with those who make a profession of faith helping them discover and put into practice the commands of Christ. This includes Baptism and participation in the assembly of believers using the abilities that God has given each one for the good of the body of believers and a witness to non-believers.
A number of important activities are on the books for the next couple of weeks. They will be history by the time many of you read this letter. Those who received the news electronically can pray for the upcoming Youth meeting, Ladies day, and Gospel concert. Please pray for Yoann, the husband of one of the believers. He attends regularly and needs Christ.
Your team mates for Christ in France,
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com
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Mission Sheet [May 2012]
Your May 2012 Mission Sheet is now available in PDF format. Follow the link below to view it!
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [May 2012]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
Dear Brethren and Friends,
Greetings once more from Brazil in the precious name of Jesus. On April 30th I had my 87th birthday. No celebration, just thanksgiving to God for His many blessings in my life.
In the month of December our immediate family spent ten days together in the home of David and Pennie in Manaus. Needless to say, every moment we had together were joyous and precious. We praise and thank God every day for our wonderful children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.
Annual Family Camp
The first week in January was the family camp directed by Pastor Valdir dos Santos of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cornelio Procopio. Our son, Paul, was the special speaker for the week. His messages on rewards and crowns were very profitable and of course Alta and I were thankful to have Paul and Wanda for the camp and with us a few days at home.
Thankful for the Blessing of Serving in Brazil
We thank God many times for giving us the joy and privilege to serve as missionaries in Brazil. When we have camps and gatherings that sometimes have about 400 persons, we recognize that all have come from churches that God has used us to sow the first seed. During our almost sixty years here we have not started works from other churches’ members nor begun works in cities that had a Baptist Church.
Present Works
We are presently members of the Urai Baptist Church. Marcio Faria Moraes is the pastor. He was saved in the Duartina Baptist Church we started years ago. His wife Carol was baptized at nine years old in the Garca Baptist Church. The church has three missions and other evangelistic activities. Alta and I are still able to go each Sunday morning to Assai Mission. Praise the Lord I am still able to drive the forty miles. I am in the process of renewing my driver’s license this week.
Pray for us. We seem to be getting older and have some aches and pains. We are thankful to God, our Heavenly Father, for your faithfulness in praying and giving to supply our needs in His work in Brazil.
We love you,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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