JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER.OCTOBER 2010

John and Alta Hatcher  |  Caixa Postal 112  |  Urai, PR – BRASIL 86280-000

jhatcher@uol.com.br

Dear Friends,

This has been a great month spiritually, but not so great physically for me. Alta, also, has some dental and gum problems.  Praise the Lord, they have been solved and she is feeling better.

On the 13^th of September, we flew to Manaus to be with our sons and their families for a few days and to attend the Workers Conference at the Chapada Baptist Church.  This Conference was held as part of the festivities celebrating 50 years of existence as a church.

Our son, David and his wife, Pennie, are the spiritual leaders.  This church was the first one we had the privilege to begin in Brazil.  The church has had several good pastors and the Lord has blessed through the years.

The church has just built a new building which will seat about four thousand people.

From September 22 to 26, the Chapada Church held a Conference for training workers in different areas.  There were 100 pastors who attended from eighteen States of Brazil.  On the 50^th Anniversary of the church, there were more than four thousand people present.

We praise God for His blessings on His work through the years.  The Chapada Church has fourteen churches and missions in Manaus and other States.  Our hearts were filled to overflowing with praise for our Lord.

Will you take a moment now to praise Him for goodness and blessings?  It is your work, also.

Continue to pray for the new building at Assai.  The builder of the prefabricated structure is dragging his feet.  Pray that he will complete the structure soon.

Old age is not just creeping up; it has got us.  But, we are still telling people that Jesus saves and trying to get a work started in the needy city of Assai.  We need your prayers.

In His Love and Grace, John and Alta Hatcher

MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW  |  November 2010

Michael D. Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24     69980
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre       Brazil

November 3, 2010
Dear Brethren,
In my last newsletter, there wasn’t room to report on one of my trips up river, so here is that report and then some.

In the middle of September, I made a visit to Porto Walter. This town is about 100 miles up the Juruá River.

Last year we moved a new missionary couple there to take over the work. Alexandre and Rejane had 3 months of extra training here at First Baptist before we moved them. The work is finally taking off.

Getting there this time was very difficult. The river is still very low and for that reason I had to go by myself. It took three hours longer than normal. Almost twice as long. It worked out though and the visit was great. We had good crowds in all services. In fact on Friday night the building was full. On Sunday morning I baptized 15 people.

Then just a couple of weeks ago I went back to help them celebrate the sixteen years that we were finally able to get in there with the gospel. The trip this time was much easier as the river had come up 3 or 4 feet.

That makes a huge difference. It only took me 4.5 hours this time. Still more than normal, but lots better than almost 8 hours! The first night it was raining and the lights were out for most of the service. In fact, the electricity went off just as I got to the pulpit and came back just as I finished. I had to preach using just my flashlight and swarms of big flying ants had come out because of the rain. There were hundreds of them crawling all over me, including my face and in my mouth. I have a ton of these stories to go into my memoirs, so let’s just go on with the narrative.

The next 3 services we were back to the 21st century. We had the building full for 2 of these services. On Sunday morning I baptized another 10 people.

We are trying to get the church at Lagoinha to come back into closer fellowship with the other churches in the area. They had called their former pastor from an interdenominational seminary down in south Brazil.  He had completely isolated them and stopped all mission work. Although I sent many invitations for him to come to our preachers meetings, he never showed. I never even go to meet him before he fell into adultery and was gone. Now they have called one of our local guys. He and some of my guys got together and started planning a service at the village centered around the government land office a few miles past the church location. They asked me to do the preaching. Our 2 churches worked together to set up equipment and do all the visitation/invitations. The service was on a Friday night. Bev was able to go with me. It rained big time just before services. We still had over 150 people present. Hopefully this will be the spark that will get the church there excited about missions again. We hope that they will establish a permanent preaching point at the Sede (pronounced “seh”-“gee”), as the village is called.

Some of our men have opened a new work at a place up river called Luzeiro. It is a village between 2 of our other works. For years there were just a couple of houses. Since a dirt road has been put in and electricity, the place has grown to a full fledged village. During the summer they have been going there on motorcycles. In a few more days they will have to fall back on boats. There have been several professions of faith already and the attendance has averaged 70.

Things are going great at First Baptist, too. The last 2 Sundays we had 7 saved and several requests for baptism. Last 2 Sundays the building has been packed in the 8 o’clock service. This past Sunday we did not have our 6:00PM service because of the presidential election. The polls closed at 6:00PM and many of our members and others had to work.

By the way, our new president is a former non-repentant communist terrorist. Back in 1969, she participated in the kidnapping of the American ambassador to Brazil! She is also pro-abortion, for gay marriage, and anti-American, anti-free press, and is still a strong socialist, with all the economic baggage that goes along with that. Many of you probably suspect that the US government is leaning toward socialism, but you are still several miles “right” of us here in Brazil. I’ll pray for you if you’ll pray for me!

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.

In Christ, Mike Creiglow

ODALI AND KATHY BARROS  |  November 2010

Dear Brother and Sisters,

We are doing great and hope that all of you are also being blessed of the Lord.  Joy comes through serving our Savior and not in how we feel.  Knowing that God is faithful to us each day should bring joy to all of us.  If God were to give up on us for just a few seconds we would be in total despair.  What a wonderful God we have the privilege to serve.

Here in Brasil there is a day dedicated for the children like there is for father and mother’s Day.  It is on October the 12^th.  We had a special day for the kids Sunday afternoon from noon to 6 pm.  We had 150 kids under 13 yrs old.   There were about 60 more people 14 yrs. and older. We put ribbons with their names on all the kids 13 and under.  Also we wrote their names on labels that were later put on bags with treats for the scavenger hunt.   At the end of the day the kids had to hunt for the bag with their own name on it and not take any one else’s.  What a challenge!!!!  Well actually that went pretty well.  I believe there were only 3 or 4 that we did not find.  We had many parents that came with their children.  Had 2 mothers that came and asked me if the could come to church with there kids.  I told them that not only could they come but that they actually should come with their children.  That coming to church as a family was very important.  We had all kinds of activities.  Our church has lots of young adults.  The games that we used were made by the youth. Every one put effort in their work and the results were great.

We had hot dogs, pop corn, cotton candy and fresh juice for every one.  Of course that always goes over well.  Eating is every ones favorite hobby.  Before the hunt we gathered every one to give the instructions on how the hunt was going to be. But before we did that we sang some songs and them the youth did a drama of the prodigal son and then I shared the gospel with all those there.

On that day we had several adults to come with their children.  After all was finished, those from the church and those who live here with us at Alpha and Omega played some ball and just had a great time of fellowship.  It was a great day and God gave us an absolutely gorgeous day. The weather could have not been better. Enjoy the pictures.  I even got dressed as a clown.

We have had 3 mothers that have been coming with their children since that Sunday.  Our desire is that we can get more and more parents to come with their children.  Most of these people are just Catholics because they were born in those families.  So they have no beliefs at all, they just live life as it comes and strive for material and earthly gain.  This coming week is Memorial Day here.  We have planned a special dinner. Each member of the church must bring at least one visitor.  Two weeks ago I asked each member in church to write the name of at least one person that they were going to try to bring to the dinner.  Each person invited is going to have their name at the table setting along with the person who invited them.  We are anxious to see what is going to happen.  It seems as though most every one is working hard to get their visitor to come.  The goal is to bring new people that have not been to any of your churches services and dinners.

Something exciting  is happening in our church.  Here in Brasil music is not taught in school like it is in the U.S.  So there are very few people that play instruments.  A pastor friend of our told us about a teacher that went to his church and was teaching the kids at his church.  We contacted him and he said he would come to our church also.  WOW!  He just asked for money to pay for his gas. We could not ask for any thing more.  We have some studying piano, guitar, bass, drums and voice lessons.   He is a great teacher and has every one really excited about learning.

We praise God for this opportunity that he has given the members of our church.  Our three boys are also studying.  Our son Gabriel, who already plays drums in church, is learning how to read music also.  Tito is taking guitar lessons and Jonas drums.  The oldest student is Mrs. Fatima, and she is learning bass.  We were totally surprised when she asked take bass lessons, especially since she is very quiet.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

May God bless each of you and your families.

In Christ,  Odali and Kathy Barros

BOBBY CREIGLOW  |  Mission Representative  |  November 2010

November 2, 2010
Dear Brethren,
Upon my move to Lexington, it seems there has been no end to the contacting, and the paper work to take care of all of the transitions with banks, insurances, utilities, etc. I think I have contacted most of them, and am now in the follow up process, to make sure that all has been taken care of. Today I was able to acquire the services of a doctor, and my first appointment will be next week, on November 10.

Before leaving Science Hill, many months ago, I planned and set in motion the seventh annual Missions Conference, for First Baptist Church, where Brother Ed Massey is pastor. The conference was held from Monday through Thursday during the last week of October, and in my opinion every thing went very well, with very good preaching from, Missionary Ernest Lawson, Missionary Judson Hatcher, Pastor David Pitman, and Pastor David Parks.

I will be on the road traveling during the month of November visiting Seventh Street Baptist Church, Cannelton, Indiana, Bible Baptist, Harrisburg Illinois, Faith Baptist, Kirksville, MO. The Thanksgiving Conference, New Hope Baptist, and visiting family in Ohio, before returning home. After that I do not plan to make other long trips, but will always be available to serve wherever the Lord would be pleased to use me.

In His Name.
Bobby D. Creiglow
615 Lane Allen Rd.
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 309-2025
bob4bfm@insightbb.com.

NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD  |  November 2010

November 10, 2010

Dear praying friends,

Another month has come and passed so quickly, and we are now near the end of the year 2010. It seems that time goes so quickly, and Lord willing, soon we will be in the year 2011. May we ever be mindful of the opportunities that the Lord gives us to serve Him and to be mindful of the time we have to give our lives in service to Him. This prayer letter will give a current ministry update, a family update, as well as share prayer requests.

It is great to be back in our home country of the United States of America. Although we miss the people of Kenya and the ministries there, we are also happy to be home and get to spend valuable time with friends and family, as well as those who pray for us and sacrificially give to support us. Each of you are such an important part of the ministry in Kenya and we thank the Lord for you. We could not do it without your help. The Lord has provided a place for us to stay in West Virginia beginning in January, as well as a vehicle and the majority of the furnishings. We wish to thank each of you for your assistance, as it has really helped us in the transition back to our home country and getting settled in for our furlough. May God bless each of you who have assisted us in any way with our furlough needs. Thank you for being so mindful of the needs of missionaries. Philippians 4:19 says “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” What a precious promise from the Word of God this is, that we can trust Him to provide for our needs.

Please continue to pray for the ministries in Kenya in our absence. The ministry in Rafiki is continuing presently through a Kenyan that was trained in the Bible Institute and who had gone repeatedly to Rafiki to minister there, so we ask you to pray for him and the people there. They are continuing independently of me in any way, and I am sure this is a test of faith for them, so we ask you to pray for them, that they would be indigenous and stand on their own in my absence. This is a challenge, as the country is dependent, but prayer would be much appreciated for this ministry as I am now in the States for an extended period of time.

Also, please continue to pray for the other ministries, both the annex prison and the hospital ministry, in our absence.  We wish to thank anyone who has come personally to see these ministries firsthand, sent supplies to be given to the ministries, prayed for or financially supported the works. May God bless each of you so much. We will keep you  updated.

Please also continue to pray for Carrie and the pregnancy, as she is due the second week of February 2011. So far, all is progressing well, for which we thank the Lord. What a blessing children are and we ask you to pray that this new one would also continue to develop well in the womb.  1 Samuel 1:27 states “For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:” We thank each of you for continuing to remember the new little one in prayer as well as for Carrie and her health during the pregnancy.

Please also pray for us and our health as we have both individuals and churches to visit while are home. Please also pray for the vehicle, that it would do well traveling and not have any major maintenance issues. Please also pray for me as I begin to contact churches and pastors, that the Lord would lead and guide us in these endeavors. I plan to send a DVD of our ministry out soon, so please also pray that these will all arrive well without any problems where they are designated to go.

In closing, during this Thanksgiving season, may we ever be mindful to be thankful of the many blessings that God has given us.  There are so many things to be thankful for, such as family, health, the Lord’s provisions, and opportunities that He gives us to serve Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” We wish each of you a great Thanksgiving holiday as well as Christmas holiday next month. May God bless each of you. Please note our new address in the States.

Serving in Kenya,

Nathan and Carrie Radford  |  315 College Street  |  Youngsville, PA 16371

For ministry donations:

Pastor George Sledd  |  Treasurer of BFM

P.O. Box 471280  |  Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280

JOHN AND JUDY HATCHER  |  November 2010

John and Judy Hatcher
November 10, 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord. We Hope the Thanksgiving Conference has proved a blessing to all who attended. We appreciate New Hope Baptist Church for their hosting of this annual conference.

The Lord continues to bless the work here. One of the main events of the past month was Vacation Bible School. Though the attendance was not as high as we have had in the past because some families were out of town, the fourteen children who came did not miss a day. This made it possible to have good continuity. Four of the children who attended had never been in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School in the past. The mother of two of these new children came with her children two days and showed quite an interest. She said that she plans on coming to Sunday Services.

The theme for the Bible Study this year was “Jesus said, I am the … Bread of Life…Resurrection and the Life…Good Shepherd…Light of the World. The missionary story was a history of missions in the Amazon. This revolved around Francisco Santiago the first believer under the ministry of Joseph F. Brandon, the first missionary with Baptist Faith Missions. Francisco Santiago was the pastor who baptized me. The children were enthralled by the pictures of the Amazon.

We want to again express our thankfulness to the young folks of Concord Baptist Church who gave part of the their Vacation Bible School offering for the support of the Vacation Bible School here in France. It is important for children to realize that they can serve the Lord.

The five Bible studies and the children’s club are going well as are the Sunday services.
There is a new couple that has been coming regularly on Sundays who were just blessed with the birth of their first child. The mother professes to be a believer but not the father. However, this young man expresses an interest and we hope that he will soon trust the Lord.

Thank you for your faithful support. May the Lord richly bless your service where you are as well.

Your servants for Christ sake,  John and Judy

BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER  |  November 2010

November 11, 2010
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Ph: (813) 436-9980
E-mail: robertmw@brturbo.com.br

Dear Friends,
There is a little saying that I use quite often when speaking to people of the circumstances in which they or we find ourselves: “If you’re not dead or in hell, then you have reason to give thanks.” I know that I am constantly receiving God’s grace, but as the holiday of Thanksgiving comes around this year, I am all the more conscious of just how gracious the Lord is to us. Our health is great. My children know and love the Lord. My wife and I are happily married and have been for 30 years. We are privileged to be a part of one of the most godly and biblical mission organizations in the world. We are blessed to have been called of the Lord to serve Him fulltime in evangelism and church planting in maybe the most receptive nation in the world. With the advance of the internet, we have been able to connect with and share the gospel with old friends that we haven’t seen or heard from in over 30 years.
Was there ever a generation or individuals as blessed as we? Yes, Lord, I am giving Thanks! You deserve it and so much more.
Our new church planting team met again this past Monday to discuss our next practical steps for launching our new work. Each team member (or married couple) is working at trying to meet new friends in the neighborhood and getting them interested in beginning a home Bible study until we have a facility (house or building) large enough to hold a congregation. Charlene and I were at the home of a family last night and we were very well received. They show a lot of interest and we pray that they will be the first to come to Christ in this new work. The other team members have said that they are meeting with folks also and they are hopeful that some will soon become followers of Christ.
Projeto Vida, our itinerant missions ministry is out in full force into three different states and won’t return until just before Christmas. One team is working in the public schools of some of the roughest neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. Rio has some very beautiful natural attractions such as its beaches and mountains, but at the same time, it has some of the saddest and dangerous living conditions in the world. Our team there is in constant need of prayer and God’s provisions. We are so thankful that the Lord has given us the privilege of seeing hundreds of Rio’s citizens come to saving faith in Jesus Christ and made a part of a local Baptist church there.
I spoke with Guilherme, the child prodigy, this past week about our plans to have him visit and learn at the Creation Research institutions this coming winter. We are trying to get all the needed arrangements made so that he and his mother (he will be 15 years old when he travels) will not run into any major hindrances. They must get visas, airline tickets, land travel and lodging and eating funds. Please consider giving so that this young man may have the opportunity to be exposed to in-depth science based on Biblical principles and return to Brazil where he will certainly be instrumental in shaping what is taught to this generation of youth. Guilherme’s intelligence has been recognized nationwide and I believe his profound command of true science from a Biblical worldview would greatly help support the spread of the gospel in Brazil. If you feel so led to give, please label your offering “Wacaser/Guilherme.”
Our next report should come out around the time that our daughter, Jessie, will be arriving from Florida to visit with us here in Curitiba, Brazil. We are so proud of her. It has been nearly two years since she left home to go study in the USA, and we have heard and seen how she has grown in Christ and remained faithful in her walk with Him without daddy and mama’s oversight. She has also led several of her new friends to Christ and in true discipleship. Thank you, Lord! Nothing could make our heart more glad.
God bless you who pray and give so that we may live and serve in this corner of the harvest field.

In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser

AJ AND BARB HENSLEY  |  November 2010

Hello Friends,
And the work goes on…….!  What on AWESOME God we have.  It is just great how things come together. With our new work it seems there is a never ending list of “things-to-do”. But, it is a wonderful problem to have.  We have just about got the interior of our building inhabitable and having the appearance of a Church.  We have completed the pulpit and painted the walls, tiled the floor, arranged a sound-control area, put our name on the front of the building. We are fixing a kitchen, and next week we will install our permanent entrance doors. And along with all this you can imagine the mess that goes with “on-going” construction and renovation.  Hey, I’m not complaining, I’m rejoicing! Continue to pray with us as the new work progresses.
We have already had our second baptism and are planning a date for our next one.  How blessed we have been with growth. We are averaging in the high 70 and low 80. We are praying about buying more chairs.  We only have 100 and have space for over 200.
You know I just love bragging on the Lord and how He works in our lives and the life of our Church. Not only is all this work going on in the Church building but we have started a house Church on Tuesday nights.  This work is going AWESOMELY. We have met in this neighborhood for 4 weeks and have had in attendance the first week 20+, second week 20+, third week 44, and fourth week 31. And just this past week we started a children’s Bible study on Saturday afternoon, and we had around 25 in attendance. It is just great to see the children’s interest in learning more about the Bible and hearing Gods word. During the week we have discipleship two nights in our home. Also other members are doing the same in their homes.
I’ve been talking a lot about the new work but lets not forget our training school. I have been working with 4 young men (boys) in the school.  We are doing some woodworking and working in the key shop.  The boys working with wood are anxious to have class every day but I can only have class two days per week. The locksmith training is every day of the week for half the day.  Lots of young boys here are interested in learning a trade and we are able to make a difference in a few young lives. One of our four boys just was suspended from our school because of behavioral problems in regular school. Not only are we teaching life skills but they are learning other things such as attitudes, Church attendance, to have good grades at regular school, respect for others and other disciplines. These young men need to be a productive member at Church at home and in the community. I am working with two of the young men and they are really opening up about their lives and family problems.
With all of this going on what are some of our more urgent prayer requests? First off we need a bus!!!  Here a good used bus runs about $30,000 dollars. Also we are holding Sunday School classes outside and this means that we need more class rooms. We are trying to keep all of this in prospective as this building is rented. We need property for our future so we can build our own Church building. And as we are looking to that end we have been looking for lots. We have had a petroleum company move into our town so that means that prices have gone up on many things but not the salaries of our people. But that means that the price of land has sky rocketed. So you can see that purchasing land is a dream (a great prayer request) but nothing is impossible for our God.
Well I will hush for now but will just say “U-all come”! Come on dawn and see and experience a new work start, see the love and excitement and how the Lord i8s working in such an AWESOME manner. Continue to pray for us.  And THANKS for your financial support and prayers. Without your help this work would not have this success.

In His service,
AJ and Barbara