Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [November 2014]
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings! Hope all of you are doing well. We are doing great and all are healthy. God has been so good to us. I just had my check up done and all is well. The boys and Kathy are doing well also.
The work is Ubim continues doing well. The children are faithful and are bringing others. The Adults are slower. The Assembly of God and Adventist churches are very strong in this community. Pray that God will open the doors so we can reach the adults and that through the children we can reach their parents.
We visited a community called Mutirão. It is about 30 minutes from where we live. We have been blessed with a lot to build a church. We went there last Sunday with my brother who knew where the lot was. We have made plans to get started. As we work on building we will look for a place that we can use to get started. They used to have services there so we are hoping to come across some of the people that used to come. There are so many little country roads around were we live. There is lots of work to do.
The work in Garca is doing well. One of the boys who lived with us, now a married man and a father, takes care of Alpha and Omega. Our son Titus is back there helping at the home and in the church. There are several that live there. Some of those who lived there when it was a children’s home and are now married and live there with their spouses. They are doing well. They had a special day for children and are now preparing for a Christmas special. Titus likes to visit the old people from the church. He goes to visit them and spends some time with them. They enjoy his visits.
We want to thank all of you that have been faithful through out this whole year, especially with your prayers and also with your support. Your prayers are a vital part of our ministry. May God bless each one of you.
Odali and Kathy
Odali and Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [November 2014]
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
Dear friends,
Discover how the Lord has blessed our ministry and how you can better pray for us. Continue reading to learn about our special children’s Evangelist event, church health and growth, evangelist luncheon’s, breakfast mentoring, pastor’s gathering, our preaching festival and the romantic couple’s night.
Children’s Day
This month we had a big Evangelist blowout on Children’s Day (a national commemorative day) with over two hundred people in attendance. The church mobilized through planning and giving. We had lots of games, Bible stories, theater, puppets and a toy for every child.
Church Plant Health
As the church has grown, so has our outreach and discipleship. We have decisions almost every week. Discipleship is a regular necessity. On March 2015, our church plant celebrates its third anniversary. Next year we plan to start our Bible & Leadership Training Institute and our first full time pastor will come on staff.
Evangelistic Luncheons
The Lord has blessed me with many opportunities to personally share the Gospel to several folks. A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of witnessing to a couple. The wife is the muse to one of the famous local carnival schools. Both listened attentively and I believe will surrender to Jesus soon.
Breakfast Mentoring
On a regular basis, you will find me at a bakery for early morning breakfast with the men of our church. A lot of mentoring, coaching and counseling happens over a couple of coffee and hot bread.
Pastors’ Gathering
Our monthly pastor’s gathering is always a success. Since our church meets at a restaurant and we have a good partnership with the owner, we have delicious food for a great price. After dinner, we worship together in song and our night’s guest speaker preaches for 45 minutes. It is always hard to leave as everyone lingers around chatting. The fellowship is tremendous.
Preaching Festival
Over the last several weeks, we have had a preaching festival. Every Sunday, three or four of our men preach for 7 minutes. We are currently on a series titled “The Relationships of Jesus”, and the messages are about a person who lived during Jesus’ time and how the Savior interacted with them personally. In all, sixteen men have participated in this exciting preaching festival.
Couple’s Dinner
This month we had our first “Couples Only” gathering. The night had a Parisian theme, with a French dinner served in five courses, romantic French music, four love songs performed by some of our couples and a special message.
Thank you for loving, praying and supporting us. We are grateful.
Jud Hatcher
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Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [November 2014]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
November 20, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Hello from under water Cruzeiro do Sul. We have had more rain in November than I can ever remember. The Tarauacá River is already out of its banks with hundreds of people driven from their homes. Even the Juruá River, which is much bigger, is almost to the top of the bank.
Speaking of under water and banks, let’s use the same words for different things. Brazil’s banks are making record amounts of money, but Brazil is “under water”. We are officially in a recession. Cruzeiro do Sul is really in trouble. Our inflation is always 3 times higher than the rest of the country. Last month our church was over $4,000.00 in the red in a budget of $20,000.00. We have 9 missionary families to support besides a few other staff members. Since my return to Brazil after a month’s vacation in the US, we have been able to recover much of the loss. We have 2 new missionaries to send though. I know many of you are going through much the same thing, so that will help you as you pray for us.
We are also having some tough times in our struggles with sin. The wife of one of our chapel pastors fell into adultery and she has not told him yet. One of our single missionaries has fallen into fornication with a lost friend who is now pregnant. We are dealing with other similar cases inside the home church. This has hit us as a wave. I could go on, but you get the picture.
Our missionary at Foz do Breu has decided to resign and become the associate pastor at Thaumaturgo. Pray for a replacement. This is a strategic, very important field right on the border with Peru. One of our Brazilian missionaries, José Maia, who we sent to Peru had his work visa cancelled and is in a huge battle to try to get a permanent visa.
Now, after all the gloom and doom, let me finish with some good news. This month I visited Cruzeirinho. They are growing steadily. They have moved their old wooden building up on the hillside and are building a new brick one. They already have the foundations, slab and some of the walls up. I started this building just before vacation. Porto Walter has finished their foundations and they are gearing up to pour the slab. I started this building program in late August. The work there is also growing. They have been caring for one of our congregations further up river at Vitória. They had been meeting in the school. They just put up a big wooden building and it is already under roof. I was supposed to raise the money for the roofing, but they did it on their own!
Last week we held a Family Workshop and couple’s retreat. At one stretch during those 5 days we had 48 hours of nonstop torrential rain. We still had good turnout. Besides the camp team, there were 42 couples at Salém (our camp).
Then a couple of weeks ago I presented and dedicated my youngest grandson at church. Devin is Andrew and Eline’s fourth child. He is 3 months old today.
Then to cap off the good news I got a call a few days ago from a brother in Rio Branco who decided to donate a brand new state of the art sound system to the church. He bought it at Brazil’s biggest technology fair in São Paulo. It is the most modern system in the world. He put the pile of boxes on a truck and sent a technician by plane to help us do the install. The tech, a half dozen of my guys and I took all day Friday and Saturday to tear out all of the old system and do a complete install from the ground up. I was skeptical about all they said it would do, but it works as billed!
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Please take some extra time to pray for me as I deal with the huge problems and challenges we are facing. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [November 2014]
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,
What a wonderful month it has been— yes there are problems that need solutions; yes there are needs that have to be met, but in all, God is so —so AWESOME!
The past two months we had the awesome privilege of doing another wedding. This one, for Barb and I, was somewhat special. This couple has been attending Church from the beginning of this new work. They have two beautiful girls and I had the privilege of baptizing one of these girls several months ago. To cut the story short, behind many hours of discipleship, counseling, and praying -the couple decided to get their life right with the Lord. After years of living together they decided to get MARRIED. How AWESOME is the Lord we serve. This is not an easy decision for most couples here in Brasil. Their wedding was beautiful, and now the rest of the story- they have asked to be baptized. They will need to have much prayer for them as they have chosen to obey the Lord in the two things in their lives. Satan will not be happy and try to destroy their relationship.
Other events that are helping to mark our Churches ministry:
1. The youth prison in our area. They house young men of 13 to 17 years of age. In the past two months we have had 10 more youth accept Christ as their Savior. What a field that is ripe for harvest. Would you like to come and be a part of this ministry, taking the gospel to these young men? On our last visit we were able to take Bibles to each of these young men. They are not allowed to have personal items in their cells but the one thing that they can have is a Bible. And thanks to many of you, we were able to purchase and deliver these Bibles this week. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
2. The Seminary. This ministry is helping to lay good foundations for the Churches that are to come. As a new Church start, we know the need for a good foundation for our Churches. And we know that this foundation is laid with Bible truths, so for the last year we have had two semesters of Seminary training. With this we have seen good results in respect to the spiritual walk of the members of our Church and this is a result of the training in the Seminary. Thanks to Gardenside Baptist Church and Pastor Derick in Lexington, Kentucky, who are sponsoring the Seminary and doing the teaching .
We are ready now to expand. Not only have there been classes in Caraguatatuba, there also were classes in Garca, Sao Paulo and Orlanda, Sao Paulo this year. In the three areas of classes this year we have had around 150 students and more than half are pastors. We see this as a great tool to reach our State and our Country, Brasil for the Lord. So we are expanding our vision of reaching more people for Christ. So maybe your question is “How do we reach more people for Christ?” behind a seminary. The answer is —Training pastors from various regions and sending them back to their Churches to train others.
This coming year we are planning 2 more semesters of seminary in 4 regions of Sao Paulo. The last of April and the first Week of May are the planned months for the first part of the year and then a fall semester hopefully in September. There will be an added city, the city of Sao Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world. It is over 54 miles across. This will add many new students to the Seminary. And these new students will spread the gospel even further and this is our goal for the Seminary.
The two cities outside of our city are both around 8 hours away from Caragua. So this means many hours of travel and much wear and tear on our vehicles. As you have heard in other letters our vehicles are old and giving us much trouble in repair work. But thanks to several Churches there in the States, we are being able to keep our heads above water in the payment of the repairs. Thanks to all who are helping.
We have had to sell our oldest vehicle as it was costing more to keep it running than it was worth. We have managed to purchase a semi-new vehicle with a loan from the States and are hoping to get many years of use out of this one. The bus continues to have problems but that is to be expected because of the age. But we will hold firm as the bus is a large part of our ministry. We bring many children to Church with this bus. So pray for our vehicles as the roads are better than they used to be but they remain the worst enemy.
Through it all, God is AWESOME!! We may have problems but we know that we serve an AWESOME God. With your prayers and financial help we can be successful.
Keep us in your prayers and THANKS one more time for your continued financial help.
We are gearing up for the summer season here and are anxiously awaiting your visit next year. There are many things to do for the Lord here, so come on down and help us. Your bed is made and the light is on on the porch.
In His service,
Aj and Barb
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher on Furlough from Brazil [November 2014]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
October 29, 2014
Dear Brothers and Partners,
Days and months pass quickly. At the age of eighty-nine we have discovered that life passes more quickly than we could have imagined. Another wonderful truth we have discovered is: God never fails! He is with us and brings joys into our lives at every stage and age. Our address is: 15905 Mercott Court, Clermont, FL 34714; our phone is : 229-529-8497.
The present joy and blessing is: Our son Paul and wife, Wanda, have purchased a home in Florida and invited us to live with them. Willa, Wanda’s mother also lives with them. We thank God for their love and kindness. I do not drive any longer, and they have been more than a right arm to us. Needless to say, after being separated in our work for so long, we are enjoying the sweetness of their fellowship.
Paul and I have been working on the re-editing and printing of my book “Meet the Holy Spirit”. On Saturday, we will go with him to Arcadia, to the Temple Baptist Church where Brother Doug King is pastor. In November we will be going to Dearborn, Michigan to the Annual Mission Conference at New Hope Baptist Church where Terry Adkins is the pastor. On this trip, the Lord willing, we will make stops in Georgia and Lexington, KY.
The works in Brazil are going well. Pray for our son, David. He is in Brazil disposing and caring for all the things and house and two old cars we had there. He is being a great blessing to us.
May God bless each of you. We thank you for your love and support you have given for many years.
Sincerely in the Name of our Lord Jesus,
John A. and Alta Hatcher
John A. and Alta Hatcher
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont FL 34714
229-529-8497
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Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [November 2014]
Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil since 1974. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.
November 01, 2014
Dear Friends,
Blessed be the one and only true God and Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says, “Rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice;” and certainly, this is a great way to start each new day granted to us by our loving and gracious Heavenly Father. God’s provision is always good and appropriate for each situation that comes our way – great reason to praise and rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I enjoyed a great trip to Brazil! Last letter, I was seated in the airport in Panama waiting for my fight connection to Manaus. About six hours later that night I debarked at the Manaus airport. Our son, missionary Judson, along with his wife, Raquel, and four children were there to receive me. I stayed at their house the first half of my stay. On arriving at their house, our son-in–law, Pastor Michael, and wife, Leigh Anne, and two children were waiting. Many hugs and kisses – wonderful to be with each of them – short visit – as it was late and the children had school early the next morning. I saw our daughter, Michelle, after her shift at the children’s hospital, and her son after school. The last days, I stayed at Michael and Leigh Anne’s house. Both Judson and Michael were great hosts. It was certainly great to see them all and hear and see how God is working in each of their lives.
The churches in north and northeastern Brazil are doing well. Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus has been doing remodeling of the Sunday school rooms. The church is hoping to complete the project by the end of October. It’s looking very nice and will be more usable and energy efficient. Energy cost in all Brazil is very high but especially expensive in Manaus. Pastor Michael Samples, our son-in-law, is doing the teaching and leading the church in our absence and is doing a great job.
Pastor Ivanildo Ross is visiting the new churches in the northeast to encourage them and help them with various issues. Some have not been able to complete their incorporation process in order to transfer the church facilities to each organized church. The legislation is complex, and often confusing, making it a challenge and, sometimes, reason for discouragement. The churches are doing well and growing despite the challenges. Pastor Ivanildo has been encouraged by the commitment and love the pastors have for the work of the Lord. The time in Brazil was productive and encouraging. I thank each of you who pray for God’s work in Brazil. Thank you indeed. God is answering the prayers.
Therefore, as recorded in the Scriptures, “I encourage first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, presidents and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher.”
Thanks again for your prayers and generous support to the work of missions in Brazil; may God be your great reward. We pray for you that your remembrance and knowledge of our Lord, the only true God, may abundantly increase in wisdom and discernment, that your trust and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ may be steadfast always, and that the love of his Holy Spirit may fill and overflow in your every word and action, with thanksgiving to God though Jesus Christ our only Lord and Life.
Love,
Paul and Wanda
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
rphatcher[at]gmail.com
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont, FL 34714
(239)227-6551
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Missionary Update: Bobby & Charlene Wacaser in Brazil [November 2014]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
November 6, 2014
Dear Friends,
With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up we are more vividly reminded to be thankful for all that the Lord is doing for and through us. We are thankful for the health to work and the faithful support you give us through your prayers and generous giving. We are thankful that our children love and live for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our young missionary, Alysson, who had spent a couple of months evangelizing in the Amazon jungle is now preparing to go to _________ on a two year mission project. He will be working together with a group that specializes in youth evangelism on college campuses. Although the culture will be a major contrast to what he experienced in the jungle, he knows the basic need of humanity in any culture is to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I will give you periodic updates as Alysson’s mission preparations develop.
Later this month we will be ordaining to the ministry my co-leader, Alek Rossi. He has proved himself to be solid in the word of God, full of integrity and character and gifted in teaching and leadership. He is married and his wife, Livia, exhibits all the biblical traits of a godly woman and she is supportive of his leadership at home and in ministry. In just over one year Alek and Livia have led our youth group to grow from 5 to over 30. Not only has the group grown numerically, but these youth study the Scriptures daily and we can see them living out the teachings of God’s word. It is wonderful to have a co-laborer who can handle the Scriptures faithfully and we are certain that his ordination is a step in the right direction, for his life and for the church.
In Brazil, the school year ends around the first week of December. Since our main venue for our Projeto Vida teams is in the public schools, our traveling teams will work hard until the break and then we’ll suspend most of their activities until the early part of February when school starts back up. Only one team will remain active throughout this period working to help local churches with Vacation Bible Schools and various evangelistic outreach projects. The Lord allowed us to overcome some serious obstacles during 2014. We were able to get all our bus/motorhomes back operating after some expensive repairs were needed and accomplished. We are thankful.
Thank you who gave and prayed faithfully toward this.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)481-7007
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [November 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
November 5, 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I did something this month I never really expected to do; I made my first solo trip into the African bush. And I survived! Let me tell you, it is a lot more stressful and “weighty” to go by yourself, be the only one responsible for your life and health, and be the only one taking care of everything. It’s a lot more taxing, nerve-racking, and challenging when it’s just you and the stuff you can carry in your backpack on your back; when the mere exposure to the elements (the fierce sun and brackish water) can kill you; when you only personally know one person within a hundred mile radius (and you don’t know him very well); when no one you will be going to see speaks any English or even Swahili except that one person you know; when you don’t know what you will be eating for the next four days; when you have no idea what to expect; when your surroundings are straight out of a National Geographic magazine. But like I said, I survived, and now I can even write about it.
My main ministry has been and will continue to be our church planting ministry here in the town of Kitale. But just a couple hundred miles north of Kitale are villages of people that have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ before and where the message of the gospel has never been proclaimed. Is it worth it to put yourself through some dangers, through some risk, through some stress, and through some discomfort to be able to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with such people? I hope our answer is “Yes!”
My trip started from Kitale by boarding a shuttle (public van for transportation) to Makutano. From there I boarded another shuttle with 7 seats in it. The driver managed to stuff 17 people into that shuttle made for 7. He drove us down the long escarpment and into the bush. From there I jumped on the back of a 125cc motorcycle for another 1½ hour drive further into the bush, through narrow paths, over rocks, past camels, and through multiple 100 foot wide river beds (some completely dried up and some that still had water). I finally arrived at Benson’s compound where I stayed for the next four days. Benson is the Pokot pastor I went to visit. His compound consisted of a small hut to sleep in, a small hut for cooking in, a small hut to store food in, and a goat corral. Every night I was there, people emerged from out of the bush to gather at Benson’s compound for a time of worship. These 2-2½ hour worship times included singing, testimonies and me preaching the Word of God. We also had a Sunday morning worship service at the church (no building, just a large tree under which we sat on wooden planks propped up off the ground with rocks). This service was 5 straight hours of singing, testimonies, Roger preaching…singing, testimonies, Roger preaching.
These are the Pokot members of the evangelistic team! (L to R: Petro, Benson, James, Christina, __, and Salome)
The highlight of the trip for me was the all-day Saturday evangelistic circuit we made. The evangelism team was made up of three Pokot men, three Pokot women and myself. We walked 5 miles through the steaming hot bush to the village Benson had chosen for us to share the gospel in. There we began “hut to hut” evangelism with each hut being about a 10 minute walk from the last. At each hut where we stopped, we sang songs, and I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each stop probably averaged about 30 minutes. This was not a completely unreached area but none of the people we visited were Christians. I enjoyed watching one of the older Pokot men on our evangelism team. Petro (his English name) never spoke during the public evangelism and sharing of the gospel; but while others were speaking or singing, or while I was preaching, he would look for people wandering around on the paths outside of the compound, grab them by the arm, and drag them over to hear the message. If a child got up to wander off, he would track them down and bring them back to make sure they heard about Jesus. While follow-up will have to be made to ensure that the conversions are real, I was thrilled when some Pokot people at different compounds trusted in Christ as their Savior; 4 at one compound, 3 at another, and 2 more at yet another. After we were finished with our evangelism tour, we walked the 5 miles back to Benson’s compound. The fierce sun beat down upon us the whole day. By the time we returned, I was so exhausted that I fell into a chair and immediately fell fast asleep, slumped over but still sitting in the chair. When I awoke, still groggy from my slumber, I found all the other Pokot team members had found grassy, shady places to lie down and sleep. I rejoiced the next morning when two of the women who trusted in Christ had walked the five miles to Benson’s “church tree” for the Sunday morning marathon worship.
Now that I’ve returned to Kitale, I have to decide how I will proceed with this Pokot ministry. There are totally unreached villages tucked up in the hills that Benson wants him and me to visit. These people have most likely never seen a white man, never seen a book, never heard of Jesus, are probably involved in witchcraft and animistic or spirit worship, and may wear animal skins for clothes. I would love to reach these people and share the gospel of Jesus with them. But, honestly, beloved, most of the trip was physically and mentally exhausting. Was it miserable? Yes. Was it rewarding? Yes. Does God have future ministry plans for me up there? Pray with me as I seek His face and His will in this matter and see how He would have me minister to His dear lost children in Pokot.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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