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.

Hensley Sound SystemBut 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

Click here to give. | Like them on Facebook.


Read more
^