Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [November 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,
I read the following post from a missionary friend who lives in Kenya about a half a mile from our house: “Just experienced the worst day we have ever had in our three years in Kenya”. There are good days and bad days in Kenya but to say this is the worst one we’ve ever experienced is sobering. I thought I was having a bad day myself, that is until I read that post. We are preparing to move again into a different house while here on furlough and things just weren’t going well. My patience was thin; the children were lazy; there was a lot to do; I couldn’t lift anything because I’m recovering from hernia surgery. Then I read my friend’s post and realized my day couldn’t be nearly as bad in comparison to the worst day in Kenya in over three years. I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective.
Me personally, I’ve spent over five years in Kenya (over 2000 days) and I have found that most of those days are challenging. There are many battles to fight, many challenges to face and many hurdles to overcome in serving the Lord. But I’ve also noticed while I’ve been in the States that each day here is also filled with its own individual challenges. So many people in Kenya are hurting and need the Lord. Here in the States the situation is the same – so many people hurting and needing the Lord. Are we going to be willing to reach out to people, no matter where they reside and call home, and to be usable tools in the hands of the Lord to bring Jesus into the life of these hurting people? Aren’t you thankful for second chances? Whether you’re one of those hurting people or whether you have failed to be someone who has reached out to help one of these hurting people I’m glad to say that we’ve been given countless second chances through the cross.
In furlough news, we have been traveling to various churches and reporting on our work in Kenya. I am once again finding God’s people in the various churches and various places around the country to be filled with grace, kindness, hospitality and love for one of God’s missionaries. I am grateful and thankful for churches that wish to partner with us in reaching the lost in Kenya and in starting New Testament churches in that far away land. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ can reach darkened lands but only after God places that burden on the hearts of His people. I see that burden in the hearts of the people and churches I am visiting. May God continue to fan the flames of missions in our hearts.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us and placing your Spirit within us. We praise you for the gifts of your grace, mercy and love. We praise you because you have brought us salvation through your cross. We praise you for your glory and majesty. Lord, may you draw our hearts to you. May you ever increase our faith and trust in your word and in you. Increase our love and grow our faithfulness. Thank you that you have transported us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Now, may we live as citizens of that kingdom of light and may the light of your gospel and grace shine forth from us here in our own land and to all the far reaching places on this earth you created so that those near and far may also experience your love and grace. Amen.
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
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [November 2013]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together since 1987. They are currently in the process of transitioning to Manaus to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
Garca, October 31, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope and pray that all is well with each of you and your loved ones. We are all doing well. Things have been a little busy getting things together and sorting last minute things.
We are excited with what God is doing here in the church. The new pastor and his co-worker are doing great. It is so wonderful to see things moving on. This next Sunday there will be six adults baptized. We will have a special service and baptism in the afternoon. Then in the evening we will be going to the church in Marilia where I will be preaching.
Some men from Haiti the Lord has sent the Barros’ way in Brazil!
It is normal for us to go out to do mission, but it is not normal for the mission to come to us. But that is what has happened to us. In the last few months a construction company has brought to us many men from Haiti to work here in Garca. We had talked about preaching to them. The new pastor was also very interested. There was only one small problem…they speak French and we don’t. Well, God took care of that in a very interesting way. Three weeks ago a young lady that was saved in one of our mission points many years ago had us over for supper. She wanted us to meet her husband and family. She also invited some friends over for supper too. We were having a wonderful time together and talking about all that was going in our lives and what we were doing. Then the young man that came over also mention that he had worked overseas. We asked him what language he spoke, and guess what? Yes, that right, he speaks French!!!!! Last Sunday they came to our church to meet the people from the church. They live in a city one hour away.
Odali and the translator God provided who “just happened” to speak the same language as the Haitians they were trying to minister to (French).
We immediately made plans to have a special day with the Haitians. This coming Saturday we are fixing a special supper for them. God is just fantastic! We are all so glad that God provided someone that spoke their language. Pray for them as we preach the Gospel to them.
We have pretty much everything packed and ready to go. We are just waiting for the funds to be able to send another truck. Pray for us, as we will be getting things together and in order at our new the next couple of months. We are excited about visiting the villages to make plans for the ministry. We especially want to start in those that have no Baptist church. We will start by visiting the villages where we can go by road, since we do not have a boat yet. When God provides us with a boat we will also be doing river ministry. We ask that you pray for us, that God leads each step of the way of this new ministry is our lives. It will sure be different for us. For the last 27 years, and 24/7 we have had teens in our home. This new ministry that God has touched our hearts to do will be refreshing and very rewarding. They years working with homeless and needed were a lifetime experience that God allowed us to be a part of. We thank God for those that were saved through that ministry. We are ready for the next step.
We thank all of you for your prayers and support. May God bless each of you!
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Av. Victor Hugo Boaretto S/N
Garca, Sao Paulo 17.400,000
Brasil, SA
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Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [October 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.
October 7, 2013
Dear Friends,
Last night was a great evening of celebration as another church was organized – Tabernacle Baptist Church of Japiim I. It was organized with 42 members and called Gilvani Brandao as their pastor. This church is in a community that is plagued with drugs and the accompanying violence. This community has been a long, hard battle; it’s great to see people saved and their lives transformed as well as the transformation of the neighborhood. Pray with us as the gospel continues to reach out to more and more communities and cities.
In my last letter I shared the story of Bro. Herman’s cancer and the difficulties his family was going through. A couple of weeks after I wrote, Herman went to be with the Lord. We await to see him in the resurrection with a glorified body. The funeral was a celebration of his life and thanksgiving for the many lives he touched. This became an opportunity for the church and God’s people to show Christ’s love to this family during these days of affliction. Pray for his wife and two sons as they make the adjustments to life without a husband and dad.
Wanda and I are doing well and send our love to each of you. We thank you for your prayers and request that you pray that God will continue to open opportunities to share the gospel.
In Christ,
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: Sheridan & Anita Stanton in Peru [October 2013]
Sheridan and Anita Stanton have served the Lord in Peru since 1983. Their main ministry is church planting and they have helped establish churches all over the country. Sheridan also works to train pastors and Anita works with the ladies’ ministry and developing children’s material.
October 8, 2013
Dear friends,
The big news this month is we finally bought a piece of property for the Calvary Baptist Mission here in Huánuco, Peru. In a few days a back hoe will be brought in to clean and level the lot so we can then begin digging the footers. A young Christian brother from one of our churches is an architect and is in the process of drawing up the plans. It has been a long time coming, and the folks here are excited! Please pray we can get the first floor under roof before the rains start in November.
Though we are getting older, Anita and I stay as busy as ever. She continues to work on the Sunday School Lessons for our churches here in Peru. She also has begun a Bible study with about ten women on Thursday afternoons. It has been such a success she is planning on starting another just for the wives of our pastors. I pastor the Calvary Baptist Mission, have two to three counseling sessions most days and teach my Monday night pastor’s class. On top of that I travel quite often to the different works here in Peru to teach and encourage them.
The end of August I was with the Faith Baptist Mission here in Huanuco. Brother Vladimir Espinoza is the missionary/pastor of this new work. We had a great time with the folks teaching them the fundamentals of organizing a Baptist Church.
In mid-September I traveled to the Northern Jungle town of Iquitos to be with the First Baptist Church. This is the oldest Baptist Church in all of Peru, organized in 1937 by BFM Missionary Richard Hallum. While there I presented a donation to the church from the family of Marguerite Hallum, who served with her father and mother in Peru until bad health sent Brother Hallum back to the States. Iquitos is the jungle city where the Amazon River begins. It is always hot and humid there. While there I also spoke to about twenty of our pastors about taking courses online from our Bible Institute. They were very receptive and excited about the possibility.
Last week I was up at 13,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains with the Central Baptist Church of Jauja, Peru. It was bitter cold there at night, but we had a great meeting with the church. Four souls were saved and numerous reconciliations. I had the opportunity to counsel with a few folks while there. Brother Dario Estuque is the pastor of this loving, visionary church. As you can see, Peru has a wide variety of climates and geographical regions; a very beautiful and diverse country.
We will soon begin video recording our Bible Institute classes. These will then be available to all of our students online around the country. The initial startup for recording equipment, webpage setup, etc is going to run us about $4000.00. Perhaps someone would like to help us out with this expense.
I would also like to encourage everyone that reads this to pray about giving just a few dollars more each month to the General Fund of Baptist Faith Mission. If each working individual gave just two or three dollars each month there would be sufficient to meet the missionaries needs. We’ve been running deficits during the past year and many cuts have been made. If you are a member of a church we encourage you to give it through your church designated for “General Fund” Baptist Faith Mission. Thank you so much. May God continue to bless you as you remain faithful to HIM.
Until next month.
Being “in Christ” by God’s grace,
Apartado Postal 140
Huanuco, Peru
South America
(614) 500-8823 – Internet Number
sestantonperu[at]hotmail.com – Sheridan
arstantonperu[at]gmail.com – Anita
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Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [October 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.
October 8, 2013
Dear Brethren,
Almost back to normal after the prolonged battle of 2 months with a flu. Besides all the regular duties, I have been back at construction jobs over the past 3 weeks.
We have been rebuilding the swimming hole at camp. Each of the last 3 weekends we have taken 30-40 people to work. We had three pieces of heavy equipment the first weekend draining and cleaning out the pond. Since then we have been rebuilding the walls and pouring concrete in the shallow side. We still have at least one more weekend before we can let it fill up again. All of us are beat at the end of Saturday. I usually get home around 9:00PM. Then early Sunday morning I am teaching 2 classes at church and preaching either the afternoon or evening service. Monday is supposed to be my day off, but this Monday I made 2 more trips to camp hauling building materials and getting the next step ready.
Working on the “swimming hole” at the camp.
We started a new chapel across river at Miritizal. We have already finished the foundation and slab for a new building there. That construction has taken a little of my time, too. Bev and I went over to visit them on their first Sunday night service. They had about 50 present for this first service. Since then the folks in the neighborhood have gotten used to the idea and started showing up. They had close to 100 this last Sunday.
We have had really good services at First Baptist with a few saved. Over 40 were baptized 2 weeks ago. Several of these are from our congregations.
I have had some good reports from places like Gama, Porto Walter, Vitória, Guajará, Rodrigues Alves, Serra do Moa and Pé da Terra. Folks are being saved and baptized. Everyone is complaining about the economy though. The churches and congregations are having a hard time supporting their pastors and workers. Our state is broke. We also had a young judge in Rio Branco that interfered with a lot of people’s personal investments. She (the judge) said she stepped in to “protect” the innocent from being hurt. Well we all know what happens when the government says, “We’re just here to help.” Many of you there in the States are probably going through the same thing. So, pray for us and we will pray for you!
Working on the “swimming hole” at camp.
We also had a big activity for our married couples this month. They called it “ChocoNight”. More chocolate candy than should be permissible in one building. There were over 200 couples. Many of these were visitors. It was a great opportunity to witness to these and encourage the home folks.
Bev and I also gave our first ever 4 week, 16 class course for couples who are getting ready to marry and newly weds. We also invited a few other couples to audit the classes as we want to have more people ready to help us with this kind of counseling. We had 20 couples to complete the course.
Sometimes all the building, studying, teaching on side issues and events make me feel like I am spinning my wheels without much progress. I guess these things have to be done, too.
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: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [October 2013]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together since 1987. They are currently in the process of transitioning to Manaus to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
October 4, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Time goes by so fast that it is hard to believe that it is already October. It seems like–with all our moving plans and getting things in order here–there is just not enough time. It is a good thing that the day only has 24 hours. Things are coming along pretty well. We have a truck almost ready to go. The trip is a 10-days trip if all goes well. Kathy has bought her plane tickets for the end of November. So if all goes well, our next new letter will be from Manaus. I will be going on the next truck, which will be taking most of our furniture. I plan on getting there a little before Kathy so I can get the house painted and ready for us to move in. Pray for us as we get our moving done. We thank God for His protection till now.
The things here in the church are doing great. The folks are adapting well to the new pastor and his co-worker who will be involved with the Sunday school department. He has been working with us since Bro. John Hatcher was in Garca. He also plans on continuing with the seminary. One of his great qualities is that he loves starting churches. We have a great relationship with the pastor so he is already coming even before we leave. We pray that that will help the people to create a relationship with him before we leave.
Even though we have lived in Manaus before, it has been many years ago. But probably the biggest change of all is going from living with hundreds to living with our family. We will always help people, because that is part of our work. But having a children’s home is definitely a different thing. I always want to do for others what God once did for me through other people.
Odali with his brother Edson who is suffering from leprosy. Please pray for his salvation.
I would appreciate your prayers for one of my brothers. His name is Edson. He is not saved and has leprosy. At this moment he is doing well with his treatment. But the illness has left him with some difficulties with the nerves in his legs. Please pray for his salvation. God has been wonderful to my family. I came from a very Catholic family. In fact, all of my brothers and my sister and several relatives studied to be priest and a nuns. I was the first to get saved. Thanks to a faithful BFM missionary, today there are many saved in our family. Praise God!
Thanks for all your prayers and your support. God bless each of you.
Odali and Kathy Barros
Tito, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Av. Victor Hugo Boaretto S/N
Garca, Sao Paulo 17.400,000
Brasil, SA
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [October 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
October 4, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Kenya made major international news this month but not for any reasons that are good. You probably saw or read in the news that a group of heavily armed terrorists from the group Al-Shabab entered into a heavily populated upscale mall in Nairobi and held it hostage for five agonizing days. They threw hand grenades, shot their AK-47s and killed people indiscriminately. Then they holed up in the mall with their hostages for five days while Kenya police and military tried to root them out. The terror, chaos and pain they caused is simply indescribable. In the end at least 69 people were killed with hundreds injured and many still missing. The mall was burned and partially collapsed. It was indeed a great and terrible tragedy. This terrorist activity touches our family personally. This is a mall and a place that we frequently visit whenever we are in Nairobi. Throughout the ordeal I kept thinking, “This could have been us. We could have been there”. This mall is very familiar to us and so all the pictures shown on the news were also very familiar except that these familiar places in the pictures now included smoke, bullet holes and corpses. But I wasn’t only thinking, “This could have been us”. I was also thinking, “Who is in that mall right now that I might know”? As it turns out, we did have personal connections there that weekend. A friend of ours was killed by the terrorists in the mall that weekend. She and her family are Muslims but on occasion she attended get-togethers at our house. One of her daughters is friends with Emily. We feared that her children were with her at the mall but fortunately they were not there. Please pray for the family of Shirose and pray that the Lord would use this terrible event to bring them to faith in Christ. We weep for our Kenyan brothers and sisters over this tragic and senseless incident and pray that God would bring healing to our beloved host country.
In other news, we have arrived in Dayton and are finally spending some time with our church family at Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook, Ohio. What a blessing to hear the Word of God preached and to worship with our church family. Each time we return, though, the dynamics are slightly different. We see less of the familiar faces at church and more faces that are not familiar. If we spend another thirty years on the field in Kenya there may be very few people left at our own home church that we actually know. I suppose that is the plight of a missionary. But our dear pastor of 30 plus years is still there and we still have many dear and wonderful friends there and maybe we will be able to make new friends as well before we head back to Kenya.
Much of my time has been spent in preparing for traveling to our various supporting churches. I’m running through my checklist of all I need to do in order to begin our traveling: Design and create the DVD – CHECK; Develop and print the prayer cards – CHECK; Update pictures and information for the display board – CHECK; Call pastors and schedule traveling dates – IN PROCESS; Appropriate all equipment for showing the DVD – IN PROCESS; Prepare messages – IN PROCESS. Throw into this mix a seemingly endless running of errands, appointments and phone calls and I am easily finding enough tasks to keep me busy until we begin traveling to the various churches. I also have other speaking engagements that I am preparing for and for which I need the Lord’s help and guidance.
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
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [October 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
October 4, 2013
Dear Friends,
So many opportunities surround us that we have to really focus so as not to attempt to put too many irons in the fire. If I had four times the number of committed volunteers than I have now, we still wouldn’t be able to fill every opening that’s available. That is why I must focus on multiplying leaders. My natural tendency would be to run from one urgent situation to the other, trying to handle each need, but I would only poorly address the issue and would soon be off in a rush to poorly address the next urgent situation. The Lord is helping me understand the Apostle Paul’s instructions to Timothy to take what I’ve learned from the Scriptures and teach it to faithful men who will then teach that to yet other faithful men. Alek, Tony, Daniel, Ruvian, Rafa, Brennen, Marcio, Aurelio and Guilherme are several of just such men. I am investing my time, energy and resources in them so that all of us may be more effective in spreading the Gospel and developing followers of Christ. These young men are exciting to train and their exuberance in their walk with the Lord helps me to stay encouraged as I see growth in their spiritual lives. As a result of their increase in knowledge and faith, our church is growing steadily and we are able to plan to launch new churches in the near future.
Two of the men mentioned above, Tony and Alek, are putting audacious faith into practice. They both want to serve as pastor/missionaries, so they are seeking ways to earn a living for themselves and their families, but reduce the hours they have to work at their income earning jobs so that they will have more time to invest into ministry. Tony is praying for a job that will allow him to work about 9 days a month and will still pay about what he makes at present as a mechanic. In order for him to get this job, he had to take a written test (which he already passed) and will still have to take a physical test to confirm the position. He isn’t just sitting around waiting for the Lord to miraculously give him the job, though. He was overweight for the job description and couldn’t meet the physical demands. Ever since he began praying for the job, he has been cautious of his eating habits and has been exercising daily. He has lost over 40 lbs and has increased his overall physical strength. Alek’s job opportunity will require that he pass a very difficult written exam. He has been investing time, energy and funds into his studies to prepare for this test while he prays that the Lord opens the door. They both understand that faith without works is dead. They know that only the Lord can give them these jobs, but they are working diligently to exercise their faith through deeds. In fact, it is because they trust the Lord that they are motivated to prepare themselves to walk through the doors when they open. These men are great examples of the type of leaders we want in our churches. I pray that the Lord will bless their faith and give them these jobs so that they will have more time available for ministry.
The Alpha team bus that was damaged in the accident last month will require some extensive and expensive repairs. The initial estimate is around $7,000. The Alpha team missionaries borrowed the Logos bus that was not scheduled for interstate travel and continued their journey to Rio de Janeiro to minister in spite of the trauma and sadness they suffered from the death of the other vehicle’s driver and passenger. The Lord blessed their three weeks of ministry and evangelism and many people became followers of Christ. We still need to do the repairs on the Alpha bus and will need the funds to do so. If you sense that God would have you to contribute to this need, please label your gift, “Alpha Bus”. It would be greatly appreciated and used to take the gospel to the lost in locations where there are no churches.
Charlene, Brennen and I are very grateful to you who pray for us and who give financially that we may live and serve the Lord in southern Brazil.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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