Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [May 2015]
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.
May 9, 2015
Friends and family,
It has been good visiting Churches and meeting new friends. We have been in Western Ky. with Pastor Foy and in the Perryville Baptist Church where we met new friends. We met with Pastor Dan Russell and the seniors at Immanuel Baptist Church and were able to tell them about Gods work here in Brasil. We also were at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, this is where Barb’s mom is a member, and they gave a generous offering to buy more chairs for our mission Church. Thanks to them and First Baptist Church in Bastrop, Texas who also gave for the chairs, we will be able to purchase more than anticipated. It is good to have these kinds of problems–not having enough chairs for the people to sit.
On our return to Brasil, my car was a little sick. It did not want to start, oh well you know, a new battery. We then proceeded to go to the mall to pay some bills and after taking care of business, we returned to the car. Guess what, the car would not start. So the battery was not the problem. After an hour of trying to start the car, raising the hood and looking (oh by the way, that also did not help), I called a tow truck. Three days later the mechanic called and said that my car was ready. It was an electric problem, about the size of your thumb.
This would not have been to big of a problem except that Barbara’s car was also in the shop and had been for about 6 weeks. Oh well–all’s well that ends well. We got both cars back the same day. God is good—and all the time. Or as I say AWESOME!!!
While we were home we were able to remodel Barb’s mom, Mrs. Reba’s, bathroom and bedroom. This was accomplished with the help of my brother Ralph from Paris and John Greatbatch and Barb. A real family effort. THANKS friends and family.
While we were in the States our Sunday School almost doubled. Another reason why we are in need of chairs and tables. As you know, we feed the children on Sunday mornings and some of those children do not have a place to sit. I am not complaining just relaying the AWESOME blessing.
We were in Garca, Sao Paulo, two weeks ago with the Seminary and after the classes we were able to attend a pastor’s conference there. There were around 500 pastors in attendance. It was very encouraging to see so many people interested in God’s Word. We were able to tell them about our seminary, Caragua Baptist Seminary, and created a great deal of interest among those 500. Hopefully next semester some of them will attend there in Garca. This semester we had 15 students in attendance. We were planning to have classes in three different locations; however, things changed due to circumstances. You guessed it, car problems. We were in two cars because of all the luggage we had due to two weeks on the road. Also we had books for the three classes, about 125 books. We were using two cars, mine and a rental. As we were leaving Garca the rental car overheated. Cracked radiator. It was just a pin hole but it rendered the car unusable. You would think —rental car -no problems—but these things happen. We lost over a day and this caused us to not have enough time for our Sao Paulo classes. We had to reschedule these for August or September. Then we moved on to Orlandia where we had 43 students. It was a great class and good fellowship. Our thanks to Dr. Edge from 1st Baptist Church in Bastrop Texas for the wonderful instruction on the Old Testament Survey.
In closing we are asking for the prayer warriors to put our prayer requests on your daily prayer list. Sunday School, cars, church growth, seminary, and music leaders in the Church. And oh! by the way, my car tires have no more treed, so I guess I need new tires. Pray for our needs and the wonderful people we encounter here in Brasil.
In His Service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [February 2015]
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.
February 12, 2015
Dear friends and family,
As you read this letter we will be in the States for a little while. We will be traveling to various of our supporting Churches to renew old friends and going to new Churches to gain new support as we have lost several of our supporting Churches this year.
We had a wonderful Christmas this year in our Church thanks to many of you there in the States. Your generous gifts made it possible for our children to receive gifts on Christmas day. It was an AWESOME sight to see when they received their presents. THANKS again!!!!!!! Many things that we are able to do here in Brasil would not be possible if it were not for your generous hearts.
We also had a wonderful Christmas at our home here in Brasil as both of our children, their spouses and children were able to be in Brasil with us. That was the first time in our 19 years on the mission field that this was able to happen. God is so AWESOME!!!!! Even though it was for only one week we were able to cram lots of things into those days.
Before we came to the States, we had the end of year service at Church and had a wonderful time with our Church family. We also had our last Sunday School classes on the beach. Yes, we took all the children to the beach and had their Bible study there. We also had their breakfast on the beach. There were many people watching as our children sang children’s hymns, recited their Bible verses and sat to hear their Bible stories. We then allowed them to wet their feet in the ocean. As you probably guessed, feet were not the only thing that got wet. After this we went to the Vocational School Property and had a church-wide lunch that also served as a party for Barbara and I as we were coming to the States.
Church is going great in Caraguatatuba with our Brasilian pastor Rosevaldo carrying on while we are in the States. Pray for the Church and the other ministries: vocational school, small groups, rehab group, prison ministry, Indian group, and seminary. Speaking of the Seminary, pray for the Seminary because when we get back to Brasil we will be taking it to 3 cities. Dr. Derek Colman is bringing another Seminary professor and they will be teaching Old Testament Survey. This new professor is Dr. Raymond Edge of Bastrop, Texas. An AWESOME addition to the Seminary! He attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem and also lived there for many years. His specialty is in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Our schedule while here in the States is almost full. We start next week and will be on the road for 5 weeks. I have already gained almost 8 pounds, what will 5 weeks on the road and eating out with everyone that we get to know on the road do? The South is going to rise (grow) again.
One of the ministries that is blessing my heart at this time is the Small Groups Ministry. We have 6 Small Groups started in different neighborhoods surrounding our Church. We are experiencing a great excitement behind these groups. We have people coming who do not come to our Church. We are happy to say that now some of those same people are now visiting our Church. AWESOME!!!! The one thing that I did not want to do in preparation for our trip to the States was to give over the leadership of my small group. We are meeting on a front porch on Tuesday nights. This group started with just one family and has grown to 19 in attendance. God is good!!!
In the area of our Church building there is a lot of growth. The city has built 719 homes for low income families. This is going to be an awesome ministry field. Also right across the road in front of the Church is another construction project going on, it is an apartment building. It is turning out that we don’t have to go to the field, the field is coming to us. Looking back at our establishing our Church, people were asking why this area? Well now we know, 2 new schools 719 new homes and an apartment complex of 120 apartments. We oftentimes think we are in control———!
We will be trying to squeeze in some time to do some remodeling at Mrs. Reba’s home. We will be staying with her on our off times.
Pray for our travels while we are here in the States. Also pray for our ministries as we are away from then there in Brasil. We will be going back in April so if you have some vacation time think about coming on down to see what God is doing in Brasil.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [January 2015]
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.
Well, Miss Barb and I have had a wonderful week and month here in Caragua. December has been very active, especially with the children at church. We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program with the children. The children completed some wonderful practices and the church was amazed at how well the program went. Not only that, but the children all received some wonderful Christmas gifts as a result of several people and churches in the States helping us with their presents. We are planning many things this coming year. We hope that with your prayers and your financial support all of these programs will be a success.
Let me review some of the things that we have accomplished this year. We have had some wonderful times at the Indian village. We have constructed a playground there and delivered over 50 food baskets to them. They received the food baskets with grateful hearts. This is a very poor tribe and they need a lot of help.
Some the other things that we have been able to accomplish this year, we have had four seminary classes. There were over 150 pastors from four different cities in attendance. This is helping reach more Brazilians for Christ. Because when you teach Pastors they go back and teach their congregation. In this manner we are able to spread God’s word faster and more efficiently.
Our evangelism this year with another Baptist Church and with our church has just been totally AWESOME. We had over 200 people accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have done a lot of discipleship this year and according to our records we have over 768 hours with one-on-one discipleship. I think this is just truly AWESOME.
We have also started small groups in different homes. We think this is going to be a great resource for our church. At this moment we have seven that have been started. One of these seven is having a hard time getting people to attend but we realize that you cannot be successful in all fronts at all times. We know that the Lord is in control and He’s going to make successful where He wants us to be.
We’ve also had another great opportunity, we’ve been certified as police military chaplain. This is really going to open up a lot of other areas for our ministry. Pray for us in this area as this will open up all the hospitals, the prisons, and other areas that are state-run in our area. Speaking about prisons, we have been able to minister with the youth prison and the warden at this particular prison is especially open to to our church visiting the prison. Evangelism there at the prison, which includes a basketball camp and some games that we have made for them, has been a great success and opened the door for our ministry there at the prison. We have had success in the evangelism part of our ministry there. At the prison, we have seen 54 of the young men accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have been able to give to the prison from our church 75 Bibles.
January 4, 2015 we celebrated our two year anniversary of Igreja Batista Caragua. We now have 44 members baptized with around 7 to 10 people moving their letters. In regular attendance in the big church service which is Sunday nights, we have around 60 to 70 people regularly.
We’re also here in our particular area able to minister and work in the public school system. This is really an AWESOME blessing as this gives our church exposure to many young people who might not otherwise hear about Christ. We are able to give an invitation at the end of each presentation in these.
Something we’re going to need a lot of prayer warriors for this year is going to be our pastors conference in November. As I have mentioned before we had 175 in their last pastors conference. We’re going to be praying for 300 in this years pastors conference, just another AWESOME way to reach Brasil for Christ. Pray for this ministry and if you would like to help a Pastor attend just send your donation to BFM marked “Pastor’s Conference”.
Well I’m going to shut up for now, but what I would love to really leave with everyone is a prayer request. Pray for our ministry here in Brazil and for more opportunities for us to present the gospel.
Hopefully were finalizing the legal paperwork for the operation of the vocational school. This is been an ongoing I would say problem but it’s really more than a problem. Here there is so much legalism involved in the paperwork that it is unreal. So it looks as though it’s going to happen this year for us to legalize our vocational school, pray for this to happen and for God to give us wisdom in the running of the School.
We’re going to be home the second week or third week of January. We are planning to be there until the 13th of April. We are planning to renew fellowships with different churches and to give reports on what has been going on here in Brazil. If you would like us to come to your Church you can contact us at our e-mail address and we will see where we can fit yo into our schedule. Thank you so much for your time, your prayers, and your financial help over this year and all the years that you have supported us. Your prayers and your concern for us as we minister to the people of Brazil are greatly appreciated.
As always, we would like to invite you to come down and see what is going on here in Caraguatatuba. The bed is made and the food is on the stove. So COME ON DOWN!!!
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.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: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [September 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,
This month has been a very busy one. Barb has been in the States, and this has been our Missionary Emphasis month, and we are adding more small group meetings to the schedule. Just AWESOME! Along with many blessings came more car troubles. But thanks to God, these were resolved with a head job on the motor – this cost only half what it would have cost to overhaul the entire motor. I am trying to look at the bright side. So now I do not have a pick up truck, I sold mine to lessen our transportation costs. I bought another used car with less age on it. It is just 4 years old. Please continue to pray for our vehicles as they are necessary to the mission work here.
Enough about cars, on to the next problem. On the Sunday night that the Missionary to the Jews here in Sao Paulo was to speak the entire sound system blew. But where there is a will, there is a way. We used the guitar equipment for sound. God blessed with two people rededicating their lives to Christ. AWESOME.
Speakers/sound equipment, with somewhat unstable energy, is hard to keep functioning. But with the help of some friends with lots of electrical experience and a background in small electronics and sound equipment, we now have a speaker working.
But all of our mics died! However, the blessing here is, Barbara was in the States and was able to talk to some of the Pastors there, and she brought back some used microphones to replace the blown ones. Thank you Churches that contributed.
As you can see we have a few needs not just wants. We need new speakers, the old ones are held together with bailing wire and chewing gum. Some Sundays they work well and some days they just buzz. The mics are working well, but we have a big worship group and we need more. Please pray with us about these needs. We are treading water with our old equipment until we can get new. I guess it sounds like we have been overwhelmed with problems these past few months, BUT we know that GOD is in control and we know the end of the story.
Wednesday prayer and Bible study has been absolutely AWESOME! We have been having more in attendance on Wednesday night than on Sunday night. We are seeing steady growth not only in Church but also in our small groups, (spiritual and in numbers).
This week we have been preparing for our 2nd semester of our Seminary. Dr. Derek Coleman of Gardenside Baptist Church in Lexington KY will be doing the lectures. We are expecting great things! This Seminary is to help our brother Pastors here in Brasil. This is an AWESOME outreach! What better way to reach Brasil for Christ than to train godly pastors. Pray for the weeks of August 8th through 18. We will be in Garca, Brasil for the first 5 days and then in Caraguatatuba for the last part. It will be 2 weeks of intense training.
Also during these two weeks we will have Dr. Cheryl Wolfinger of the International Sports Federation doing basketball camps in the schools. This is an AWESOME way to help evangelize our community. In addition to the schools, we will be in the youth prison (boys from 13-18 years old). So as you can see we will be very busy.
My Saturday English class has been growing by leaps and bounds. I have had up to 19 people in class. This is just another way I am trying to reach those that would not normally come to Church. We have gained one family for the Church from this class. Keep praying for this class.
Well I am going to shut up for now. But I cannot close this letter without thanking Baptist Faith Missions and everyone that helps financially and prayerfully with our mission here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil. It is Churches and individuals like y’all that make our ministry possible. One more time ‘THANKS’.
And as always, if you want to see your mission dollars at work “come on down, your bed is turned down and the porch light is on”.
In His service,
AJ and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Hensleys in Brazil [August 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.
August 5, 2014
Dear friends and family,
Here in Caragua we have had an AWESOME month! It has been very busy, tiresome, and the biggest blessing of all, very fruitful.
We have been blessed to have the group from 2nd Baptist Church in Warner Robbins, Georgia with us. Pastor Mike and the group were to say the least, AWESOME. While they were here, we visited a local school. This is a new city school near our church. It is a very large school, and is new. The city closed several small schools and put them in this new facility, and it is going to be a model school for the area. We were able to enter this school because we knew the principal and one of the teachers. We did not know that the lady who is the principal there was one that we had met earlier with one of our groups. After renewing our friendship with her, we were able to go back to the school on the second day and also received an invitation to bring our groups whenever we wanted to. So we were able to talk with the English students (around 200). We also did craft projects with them, and with this craft project, we were able to witness to them. However, we were not able to give an open invitation, but we did plant many seeds of the Gospel. Several of the students came to Church on Wednesday night. We also got to know the Vice-Principal, and he and his daughter have been coming to our English class on Saturday nights at the Church. How AWESOME is the God we serve!!!!!
And now to even better news – on our prison visit, we were able to witness to the boys there and give an invitation to them. At this visit, we had a man from the States who gave his testimony of how God saved him from a life of addiction. And God used this to bring 52 young men to know Him as their Savior. How much better can it get? These young men range in age from 13-18 years old. Yes, this is a prison for young men (boys). We now need more Bibles to give each one of them one.
We have been ministering in this prison for about 2 years and have already done a vocational class for them. We are unable to bring them to the vocational school at present because of our need for more legal paper work. Keep praying for our vocational school.
This month that we are entering will be our month of “mission awareness”. Starting on the 10th on Sunday evening and the next 4 weeks, we will hear from 5 missionary works here in the state of Sao Paulo. The first will be the missionary to the Indian tribe that we are assisting in Patiti. This is a city about 2 1/2 hours from Caraguatatuba. Another missionary is from Sao Paulo city where he ministers to the Jews. The next is from Eufrata, the orphanage where we are helping. The next will be from the rehabilitation center here in our city where we work weekly with the people that are trying to get off alcohol and drugs.
Then to complete our month, we will be hearing from our friend in Sao Paulo city who is pastoring an inner-city church. He will be preaching on “Faith Promise” as a way for us to support missionaries. Pray that our Church will catch the vision for missionaries.
Well as you know, all news in not nessarily ‘glow’ news, so here is the rest of the story. The devil really knows where to attack. So, today as Barbara was taking Edson (our Brasillian son) up the hill to the next city to enroll in a college closer to Caragua, her car quits. You guessed it, blown motor. What made it obvious was the trail of oil on the highway. I don’t know why this little Chevy 2001 year model car with almost 300,000 miles lets us down. Now listen, this is the 3rd car in less than 8 months that has blown a motor. So I need to tell you that we really need your help financially. We will be trying to see where we can get the best price for the work that will need to be done, but without your help, we will not be able to get any work done.
Well this is not the end of the world – and there are so many good things that are happening. All we here can say is “THANK YOU, LORD!” for all that is happening! AMEN!
Like I have a tendency to say, if you would like to see what God is doing here in Caragua, just come on down. We will show you everything and put you to work. That way you can be a part of what He is doing here. But if you cannot come, send your offerings so that we can continue spreading the Word.
In His service,
AJ and Barb
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Hensleys in Brazil [July 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,
Here we are again at the end of the month and I feel like we have just begun the month.
Praise God we have had an AWESOME month: We have had a group here that dedicated themselves to evangelism. They came from various Churches in various states and met here in Caraguatatuba. We spent 2 days training and then headed out into the neighborhoods around the Church. We shared the Gospel with many people and in 10 days 64 people came to know the Lord as their Savior. We began the following week to have small group meetings in the homes of those who accepted Christ. At the first meeting, we had over 17 people in attendance. These small groups are to disciple those who are new in the faith and to train them how to do daily Bible studies and have quiet time with the Lord. The next step is to train our Church members to be disciplers so that they can teach these new Christians.
From all of this we have seen an increase in attendance at Church. We are having from 2 to 6 visitors each service. God is at work here in Caraguatatuba. To Him be the glory!
During this time, two of our youth accepted Christ as their Savior. It is so exciting to see them on fire for the Lord. We took a group of young people to an orphanage on the other side of Sao Paulo to spend a week taking care of the children and the home while the regular caregiver takes a vacation. These young people got up at 6:45 every morning and had their quiet time from 7 to 7:30. Then their day began…… They made breakfast, helped the children with their personal hygiene, cleaned bathrooms, cleaned bedrooms. While some went to the wash room to do clothes, others went to the kitchen to start lunch. After lunch they had another time of Bible study. Then there was time to play with the children and then help them with their home work. During that time, the adults were building a playground for the children. Don’t forget the evening meal that had to be prepared and dishes and pots and pans that had to be washed. After all that was done, they gathered together again for a time of devotional lead each night by one of the young people. There were 6 adults that were there to help also, but it warmed my heart to see those young people taking the lead in these activities. Two of the children at the orphanage accepted Christ as their Savior during that week. Even more impressive was today I returned to finish some work with some of the men from our church and four more of the children had accepted Christ and they were having their time of Bible study and Quiet time. God is AWESOME!!!!!!
I think we have conquered the mechanical work on our vehicles. Only Barb’s car now needs the overhaul job finished. Then we will be ready to start it all over again. But that is the way it is with old cars–there is always something to be done. God has been good through all this expense, and He is providing through you, our faithful givers, so that we are able to pay monthly on the bills. THANK YOU ALL.
We are expecting visitors the middle of the month and one of the things that we are planning to do is go back to the prison and resume the work that we have been doing there. Please pray for the inmates there and that God would greatly use us there.
Summer is about half over so that means you still have time to come down and enjoy our winter weather. We are having temperatures of about 69 to 72. So if you want to get out of the heat, come on down! Your room is ready and we will put more water in the beans. Come see what your mission dollars sent through Baptist Faith Missions are doing here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Hensleys in Brazil [June 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.
Friends and family,
This month has turned into a wonderful time of ministry in our area. We have, with the help of our friends from 1st Baptist Centerville Georgia, completed another drywall project in our Church building (this area we will be using as a storage room). What a blessing. We were also able to do a Bible School at our Church and there were 53 kids more or less. We also painted the lower half of the Church building dark blue, and it completely changed its appearance.
We put many months of planning into the projects that were accomplished and when the group arrived we hit the ground running. Everything turned out wonderful. After the work here at the Church building, we went to the Indian reservation in Parati to build a playground for the children. Now this playground area as it turned out was a monster of a project. It took three days of intense, muddy, hard work.
As we were working the children started to work with us. Helping carry logs, set up our tools and building their own things with our scraps. Needless to say the work slows down when children appear on the work site. But it was just AWESOME!!! Now you might ask, ‘Why did we build this playground for these children?’ The answer is simple, we want to reach that village for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Chief of this tribe is 95 years old, and on our other visits, he shows up to greet us and receive the presents that we bring him (usually I take a knife or a baseball cap or something personal for him) and he goes back to his home. This time as the construction began to take shape, he climbed up on a rise and began to watch (either the work or the children playing and us interacting with them). I think for the first time he began to see us differently. This tribe has a missionary working with them and we just work with him in these endeavors. We and he are allowed to witness to these Indians only in their homes, but this time that was different also. As we gave them their food baskets (there were 25), we were allowed to pray with them where we were working. As we were taking the group picture, the Chief disappeared and then returned with the most beautiful bow and arrow. He then presented it to me as the group leader from him and his tribe.
Now that might not seem like much to you. However we were told later that this is the first time the chief or the tribe has given a present to an outsider. We are working toward the goal to open this tribe so that the Gospel can be preached there freely. In the 3-5 years that we have been going there, we only know of 5 people that have accepted the Lord as their Savior. That does not seem like much, but that is 5 that will not go to hell.
It is our prayer that you pray for them and the work that goes on there. There are around 250-300 people that are in this tribe. They ALL need to know our Lord and Savior as their personal Savior.
It has been just an AWESOME month of work here in Brasil.
On the other side, our truck has just gotten out of the garage getting the motor overhauled and back on the road. Thanks to Pastor Todd and Church for the financial help. Our bus got out of the garage last Saturday but went back in on Monday. As they were removing some parts to do some minor work, the brake drums fell our in their hands. So we will be without a bus until these repairs can be done. We have had the shocks replaced, broken springs replaced, and the drive shaft support was hanging on by one screw, and now the brakes. But God has protected us through all this. We could have had a big accident if any one of these things had finished breaking on the road. But God protected us. Is He not AWESOME!!! And through all these expenses, He is supplying our daily needs.
Keep praying for the Church as it is growing each week. Sunday night we had 82 in attendance. There seems to be 5 or more visitors each week. To God be the glory!
Keep in your prayers the seminary in September, the Indian village, the prison ministry, the rehabilitation center and the orphanage and our health. Thank you in advance for your prayers. And if you want to help with the expenses for the bus you can contribute through Baptist Faith Missions.
This month has also been one of celebration: Barbara and I have had our 48th anniversary and I am having another birthday. Thanks for all the well wishes.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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