Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [October 2013]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
September 26, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Greetings in Jesus’ Name from Brazil. Alta and I are doing well for two oldies. Alta has so much energy that I have a difficult task to keep up with her. Our weather is still very changeable and if you do not like what you have, just wait about five minutes and what you like will be along. Here, when you are having winter in the States, we are having summer. At this time, you are having Fall and we are having Spring; changeable temperatures every two days. Oh well, variety is the spice of life.
URAI–The work in Urai is going well with services being maintained at Sussumo mission, and Rancho Alegre. Presently, plans are being made to begin a new work in Serra Morena and in Nova America da Colina. Seminary Classes continue on Tuesday and Thursday nights with seven or eight students.
CHAPADA BAPTIST CHURCH CELEBRATED 53 years of existence on the 25 of September. The Pastor of the church is David Hatcher who was five years old when the church was established. When the work was begun, it was out in the boonies. Today, that area is the most active center in Manaus. The church has an attendance of about 5,000 each week. Let me tell you of one marvelous work of the Lord that happened recently. The Church had two special days of an Evangelistic program. One young man invited his father to attend. He attended with his son. Two weeks later the man was returning home and had a car wreck. He broke his neck and died. What a wonderful joy filled the hearts of many when they discovered that the dead man had trusted the Lord as his Savior on the night he came to the special service!
ASSAI–The new family working in this large town is being a blessing to many. Daniel, his wife Leticia, and their nine year-old daughter Milena, are working hard and God is blessing. They have special services for children and young people and then regular services for all. Several have been baptized. Please continue to pray for this family and this city.
SPECIAL NEED–Please pray for Sonha dos Santos. She is starting her light treatment for cancer and Valdir, her husband, has to take her every day for thirty days to the city of Londrina. This is a trip of 100 miles every day. Pray that God will provide their needs and heal this dear sister.
Pray for Alta and me that God will be our strength, wisdom and peace as we at weakened old age try to serve Him in spreading the Gospel through personal witnessing and prayer. We thank you who have been faithful in praying for and supporting us these many years. We love you.
Sincerely in Jesus’ Name,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Prayer Request: Projeto Vida Wreck in Brazil
From Bobby Wacaser, Missionary to Brazil on September 11, 2013
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please pray for our ministry partners, Projeto Vida! I just got word from Pastor Paulo that our Alpha team was involved in a collision with a small delivery truck. The driver and the passenger in the truck were killed. On our bus/motorhome there were some cuts and bruises, but nothing extremely serious.
Our prayers are with the families of the occupants of the truck. May the Lord comfort them and use this event to help them find Him to be their only source of strength and hope. Our prayers are with Victor, our driver who is terribly shaken by this event and all the other 12 missionaries who, too, are understandably distraught at this time. Thank you for your prayers.
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [September 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.
Friends and family,
What an exciting time we are having here in Caragua with the new Church start. This past Sunday we had 72 for our morning Sunday School program and 52 for our Sunday night services. God is really working in our Church. How AWESOME it is to serve our Lord and Savior.
Along with being an AWESOME month it has also been a lonesome month. Barbara visited her mother in the States and I had to serve alone for three weeks. Barb had a real good visit with family and was greatly missed here.
Our Church work continues to expand. We have started one small group meeting on Friday nights with 2 more being planned. This first group has already produced fruits in that 2 young people have confirmed their faith in Christ and have requested baptism. How AWESOME!!!
Sunday School!
Now for some more AWESOME news: We now have a Brazilian coming alongside to help in our ministry. His name is Rosevaldo Cavalcante and he is from Manaus. He is a product of Bro. Paul Hatcher’s work there in Manaus, Brasil. He his wife and two daughters will be a great asset for our Church. He will be serving in a 2nd Pastor position and his ordination will be Oct 27th . This date will be the Sunday before our Pastors Conference. This will be significant because two years ago at our first Pastors Conference Rosevaldo surrendered to be a pastor. God has been planning this for quite some time. His plans are AWESOME.
Speaking of the Pastors Conference our Church is sponsoring here in Caragua, we are expecting around 200 pastors from all over Brasil. This conference is to encourage Pastors!! The last conference we had almost 100 in attendance and was a very exciting conference. We had lots of positive comments and many questions about when we would do another. We are having this conference in conjunction with Second Baptist Church in Warner Robbins, Georgia and their pastor Jim Perdue and Pastor Mike Dorough. Also First Baptist Centerville, Georgia with Pastor Allen and Pastor David Grantham. And lest we forget the ladies, the ex-first-lady of the State of Georgia, Mary Purdue, will be speaking to our ladies in attendance. We are really excited about our Conference—pray with us for an AWESOME turnout and all of us to be refreshed our ministries. The conference will be held in one of our local Hotels here and the owner is a great Christian and has helped with this conference. Our theme is “TIMOTHY AND BARNABAS: Instructions and Encouragement.”
When Barb got home here in Brasil we began preparations for the group that was coming from Bastrop, Texas. They have been a tremendous help in the preparations of the house that the new pastor and his family will be living in. We are fixing the dormitory house on the lot for them to live. There has been painting, cabinet building, scrubbing of walls and floors and every other dirty and grungy job you can think of. But these servants of God did not cull any one of these jobs but did them with a joyful heart. I am commending them because when we invite some of you to come down and help us you say that you are too old to be of any help. So let me tell you that you are never too old. The youngest member of this group is 54 and the oldest is 82. So suck it up and come serve the Lord here in Brasil. You will love it!!!
As our Church continues its growth Igreja Batista Caragua [Caragua Baptist Church ] keep us in your prayers. The work continues because of AWESOME prayer warriors and supporters like you.!!
Thanks to all for your help financially and prayerfully. Sometimes just saying “THANKS” does not seem like enough— however, for now THANKS.
Come on down and see your mission dollars at work. The temperature is getting warmer and the water is getting just the right temperature so come see us and we will treat you so many ways you will have to like one of them.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Click here to give. | Like them on Facebook. (Their Facebook page has some videos of stuff they have written about!)
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Missionary Update: Harold Bratcher on Permanent Furlough from Brazil [September 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.
September 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 88 degrees and cloudy Kentucky home where the sun is not shinning bright right now. We thank The Lord that we do have a home in Lexington, Kentucky, in the Hamburg area, that we hope to move into before the end of this month.
This Mission Sheets month began July 10 and finishes today. During this period I heard 14 sermons, or Bible studies. I also had the privilege of preaching at the Labor Day Conference, at the East Keys Baptist Church, in Springfield, Illinois where Bro. Dan Hillard is the esteemed pastor. I was the first speaker on Monday, after hearing Bro. Bob Jones, Bro. David Pitman, Bro. Bobby Greene and Bro. Steve Wainwright. We enjoyed a most blessed time of great hospitality, great food and fellowship. We also participated in a small way in a good offering for Baptist Faith Missions. Thank you East Keys Baptist Church for the good accommodations and love offering. We also appreciate Bro. and Sis. Greene, who drove us to and from Springfield. They were excellent traveling companions and we look forward to going with them to the Thanksgiving Conference, The Lord willing. I am scheduled to be the second speaker on Tuesday morning, the 26th of November. Looking forward to speaking and seeing many of you there.
During this Mission Sheets period, we have also attended services at the following churches: Linden Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Ky; Clays Mills Baptist Church, Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church, and our home church, David’s Fork Baptist Church, all here in Lexington. We also had the privilege in July of celebrating dear Sister Ella J. Casey’s 92 Birthday. She has been a blessing to the Bratchers for over 60 years and still is.
I hope to continue to be a blessing to and see 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. The Lord permitting, until next month.
Yours in the Service of the Savior,
Harold Bratcher.
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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Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [September 2013]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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.
September 10, 2013
Dear Brethren,
Things have been going pretty good around here, but I have not been producing as much as I would like. I have had a kind of flu that set me back for a whole month. Most of that time I had fever, pain and a really bad cough. My lungs were stuffed. The doctor had to put me on antibiotics. Better now, but not fully recovered quite yet.
During that time one of my mission trips down river had been set several months back. I got the boat ready and had my backpack and gear setting by the back door. On the day of the trip I was really weak and dizzy, so I had to back down. Nevertheless, I encouraged Hudson, Ezi and Eliésio to go on without me. The river had come up a little, so they had clear sailing with my bigger boat. They visited 4 of our congregations and the church at Ipixuna. There were 4 professions of faith and good attendance. We have been working to get the church at Ipixuna involved in the mission work. They have finally caught the excitement and are visiting the works every month. They even bought one of Andrew’s boats and a new motor. We have been meeting with them regularly since 2009 to train them and get them going. It is finally working.
The Creiglows have started a new congregation across river at Miritizal, where they are pouring the slab for a building. Right now the congregation has about 20 baptized members. The attendance is in the 70s. They are still meeting in a nearby school and they hope to have them under roof before the rainy season.
Pastor Pedro is in southern Brazil for several months working on his masters degree. At present that leaves 4 of us to pastor First Baptist. One of the ministries that he took care of was couples. One of our elders is taking care of the events that were on the calendar. The general supervision and starting of new projects with the couples has come my way. We have started a new 4 week, 16 class course for the young couples who are engaged and about to marry. I invited several other young couples who are already married and 2 older couples (married longer) to take the classes as training for their marriages and as future teachers/counselors. This is a ton of work right now, but should make this kind of counseling lighter in the future.
Since our building is full and overflowing every Sunday night, we are now permitting our chapels to have services at 8:00PM Sundays. Up until now the 6 chapels only have services on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. I was at Avenida São Paulo for their first Sunday evening service. They had a really big crowd and 2 professions of faith. I spoke and coughed for 15 minutes, but the Lord got me through it and blessed.
Zico just got back from a visit to the works on the upper Moa River. All is well. The new building at the mountains is almost finished. Not being able to go on these trips is killing me!
We had another really good service on Sunday night. Overflow crowd and many visitors. This is normal. There were 3 people who had been out of church who came back, one request for baptism and 5 professions of faith. One couple (both are doctors) who I had invited were there for the first time. Many other first time visitors, again.
We have paid R$200.000,00 (about US$100,000.00) on the new property, so far. Still have another R$300.000,00 to go. Please pray. We need to finish paying off the 18 acres for our future expansion.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. 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: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [September 2013]
Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil for 36 years. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.
September 9, 2013
Dear Friends,
The Lord has given us a good month, beginning with a three-day men’s camp. The objective of the camp was to encourage men in their Christian maturity. The lectures dealt with our deeper relationship and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, encouraging them to trust Him in all areas of their life and Christian service. Our desire is that they might be fruitful before the Lord, demonstrating the fruits of the spirit, and bring the light of the gospel to those who are unsaved. Our prayer is that the Lord would send many laborers into fields that are ready to harvest.
Last week I made a trip to Sao Paulo to visit Herman and his wife. Herman was one of our staff members and also taught juniors in Sunday school. About two months ago he was diagnosed with a tumor at the top of his spinal cord and was taken to Sao Paulo, about two thousand miles from here, to do exams to determine the needed treatment. Being in a very high risk area of the body, the biopsy procedure to determine the type of malignancy did not end well, and left him paraplegic and unable to do simple tasks like swallowing. He also temporarily lost his speech, which he has now regained as well as very slight movement of his hands and toes. They were both self employed, so being out has put them without any income. It has been amazing to see the great outpouring of love as our church members have given generously freewill offerings to meet their financial needs. We had a great visit with him in the intensive care unit; he and his wife are very encouraged in the Lord and very aware of God’s faithfulness and goodness despite the difficult circumstances. Please pray that their faith will continue strong whatever the affliction may be.
While in south, a dear friend drove me five hours further to visit my parents. It was great to have three days to visit them and enjoy one another’s company. I wish we could see them more often, but we are certainly grateful for each opportunity we have.
Sunday evening I was invited to speak at one of the churches organized last year. It was great to revisit those lovely people and see the original members remaining strong and the addition of new families through salvation and baptism.
All the family is doing well after several weeks of flu amongst our children and grandchildren. God is marvelous and supplies all our needs and grants us joy at all times. Thank you for your prayers and continued support.
God bless each of you,
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
Avenida J. Carlos Antony, 172
65063-150 Manaus
Amazonas, Brasil SA
hatcher[at]argo.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [September 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
September 9, 2013
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I had to make an emergency return to the USA because of the accidental death of her oldest brother, Wayne Adams. Charlene and her family are being greatly comforted by the Lord’s grace. I took the opportunity at his funeral service to share the gospel and preach the Word of God. God blessed and touched Charlene’s youngest brother’s (Kelly) heart. Both I and another brother-in-law shared the gospel with him on a couple of other occasions during our short stay there in Georgia. We are praying that Kelly will fully surrender his life to Jesus as Lord and Savior.
We have returned to our work in southern Brazil where the Lord continues to bless. We have had new visitors at virtually every service for the last several weeks. We are also seeing a greater commitment to involvement and Bible study in the lives of those attending regularly. We held what we call “WordFest 2013”. This event is a challenge for the members to read a full book of the Bible (on this occasion it was Deuteronomy) in a 3 week period of time, and to memorize a full chapter of the Bible (Psalm 136) during the same time period. We had about 50 percent of the congregation to successfully complete the challenge. This was our first WordFest at the new church and we are hoping to have a better rate of participation and completion on our next one. Still further, we saw and heard of the blessing this feasting on the Word brought about in the lives of several of the participants.
Our winter is gradually coming to an end. Amazingly in our city we saw snow for the first time since coming here in 1986. We had heard that snow fell and “stuck” back in 1975, but we it hadn’t snowed here since then. It must be that global warming junk that caused it. Now that warmer weather is moving in, we should also start to see even greater increases in attendance at our services. The longer days will also allow us to get out on the streets and find more people available with whom we can share the gospel. Our missionary interns (3 youth from the USA) left a few weeks ago to go back to college. Their stay with us was a blessing to us and we hope it was to them also.
One of our Projeto Vida evangelistic teams will be leaving tomorrow to go to some poor neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro for 3 weeks. There will be around 14 volunteer missionaries traveling in the motorhome/traveling headquarters. They will be assisting a local Baptist church there in taking the gospel into the public schools and parks. Since I last wrote to you a couple of months ago we have presented the Word of God to over 10,000 people through skits, testimonies and messages preached. Many individuals surrendered to Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Pastor Paulo Novaes, the main leader of Projeto Vida, had a serious automobile accident a few weeks ago while returning from a weekend of ministry and a wedding he officiated. He had spent 3 days and two nights in strenuous ministries and was exhausted, but felt that he needed to return to our home base by the beginning of the following week. While driving in the mountains, he dozed at the wheel and hit an embankment and flipped the vehicle on its top. By God’s grace no one was seriously injured. He did suffer a head laceration that required 17 stitches to close, but thankfully, nothing more serious happened. His wife, Luiza, uses a pacemaker and was accompanying him. Also his sister-in-law, who has a transplanted kidney, was with him and neither was seriously injured. There was another young man, Daniel, who was in the front seat and he also escaped injury. The gravity of this accident and the total destruction of the vehicle only prove that the Lord was protecting them. They all are greatly used in taking the gospel to thousands and their death would be a great loss to our ministries. We are thankful for His gracious care and protection.
Thank you for your constant and effectual prayers on our behalf.
May the Lord bless,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [September 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,
Back in the United States of America after two plus years. Things don’t seem to have changed that much since we last were in the States. The last time I returned to the States, after our first term, everything looked and felt strangely different. Kind of like when you look outside through an old window that has darkened or settled. After a while those kinds of windows begin to ripple and warp and everything you see through them is slightly distorted. That’s how I saw everything upon my return after our first term. Now we have returned after our second term and most everything seems normal to me, not distorted or as if I’ve just passed through a time warp. I don’t know how to interpret this but I do know that this time is different.
Our travel time was long but uneventful and without difficulty. It took almost four days of travel to arrive at our final destination (my parent’s house in National City, Michigan). It went like this: Drive from Kitale to Nairobi; Overnight in Nairobi; Fly from Nairobi to Istanbul, Turkey; Delay in Istanbul; Fly from Istanbul to Chicago; Overnight in Chicago; Fly from Chicago to Flint, Michigan; Drive from Flint to National City. Needless to say we were all very thankful and glad to have arrived. God was gracious to us and we all arrived safely and even with all our luggage. So much detail and planning had to go into making this whole trip work and to close up things on the Kenya side that I think I’m still worn out from all of that. But we’ve been able to spend some good time with my parents and now we are back in Flint spending some time with Julie’s parents and soon we will be heading to Dayton where we are looking forward to reuniting with our beloved church family.
There is still much to pray about. We are all well physically but we are all fighting emotional and spiritual battles. I feel so sluggish in body and mind, but especially sluggish in soul and spirit, almost like I’m weighted down. Furlough is a challenging time for Julie. All the stress of constant change and constant traveling weighs her down. Emily has left Africa and faces the challenge of college while the rest of her family will be living on a different continent. Amy misses Kenya and the life she has made there. It’s not that she isn’t excited about being back in the States, but again, it’s not what she’s used to. Josiah is doing well but he also is facing all of these things along with us, probably without showing any wear and tear.
We love you all. We’re so thankful for all your love, prayers and support. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
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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