Children’s Day Outreach
October 20, 2022
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope all is well with your family and churches. We are all doing well—praise the Lord. This month we had a wonderful experience with our church. We have been doing training and encouraging for the work and ministries in the church. We are trying to get more and more of the members involved. October 12th is Children’s Day here in Brazil. So, we planned a special day for them. It was great to see the members get involved. We had special kids’ music, puppets, games, and a trampoline outside for them. Also, we had hotdogs, popcorn and popsicles. Everyone had fun. We brought the kids from the village of Ubim. There was around 55 that came.
Pray for the village of Ubim as we are working to reach more adults. We have a couple that lives near that are helping us there. It has been wonderful having them. We are already planning to new places to have pizza day. Both of these places have to be done while the water is low. Because when the water is high there is no access to the villages. Now that the water is low it is good fishing time. We take advantage of the time and take different people to spend time with them. Through this we have been working with 2 that have problems with drugs. Today I took the drug dealer that lives near us. I got to talk to talk to him. I asked him not to sell drugs to the mother of the kids that lives here with us. Also, we asked if we could take his daughter to Sunday School. He said we could take her. Please pray for them and for us as we reach out to help them and to show them God’s love and salvation.
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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Ordinations, Outgrowing Space, & Couples Being Used in Ministry
October 20, 2021
Dear Friends,
I can’t use the word ‘proud’, because it would assume that some credit goes to us, but we are very grateful and thankful to the Lord for our couple’s ministry leaders, Edinei and Debora. The husband, Edinei was an eight-year-old boy when we met him 35 years ago. His dad was an alcoholic and his family had no interest in the things of the Lord. Charlene and I started a children’s Bible club in the garage behind our house and Edinei was one of the first kids from our neighborhood to accept an invitation to come. He started attending weekly and eventually brought several other members of his family. Edinei came to know Jesus as his Savior and Lord and has been faithful in Christian service for all these many years. His wife, Debora, was 11 when we met her. Her father and brother were doing some remodeling work for us on our house. We became friends with their entire family back in 1995 and since then, she, her mother, sister, brother, and several other family members have surrendered to Christ. Both Edinei and Debora volunteer many hours each month in ministering to the married couples in our church and in evangelistic events to married couples. This weekend they are holding a retreat where we will work together to evangelize and teach 30 couples for three days. Charlene and I feel like the two are practically our children, but more than that they are God’s children and our co-laborers in His service. We are thankful for them.
This next Sunday we’ll have the privilege of ordaining two young men to Gospel ministry, Cledson and Adriel. Cledson is our youth minister and has been doing a fantastic job together with his wife, Fabiane. Our youth group has grown from 8 to 35 under their leadership in the last year.
Adriel and his wife, Lorena, are our traveling evangelistic team leaders. That ministry is made up of 12 volunteers who travel by a 15 passenger van throughout Brazil and South America taking the gospel to public schools and parks. Adriel has proven to be a wise leader to his team and a very effective evangelist to students and adults. It will be a joy and blessing to ordain these two men as dedicated servants of the Lord in spreading the gospel and discipling converts.
October 12th is a national holiday in Brazil (a patron saint’s day). Informally it has become “Children’s Day” for more commercial reasons. For whatever reason the day is celebrated, we took advantage of the long weekend to do a special event to attract families with their kids to our ‘Children’s Day’ gospel play. Our drama team worked for many weeks in rehearsals and stage preparations to perform the play in two services. The team did an outstanding job, working with a great attitude and sweet spirit despite the long hours and the personal cost of travel back and forth to practice for several weeks. The Lord blessed and we did have one 11-year-old boy make a public profession of faith in the Lord. The folks who were on the team were also greatly motivated by their participation in the event and the great reviews from those who watched. In fact, someone who saw a video of the presentation who attends a different church has asked our drama team if they would give the presentation at their church as well.
The Children’s Day presentation also helped us to come to a huge decision. We must move to a larger building. For the event we just held, we asked the church members to divide into two groups in order have a smaller congregation at each presentation, allowing the people who would come as guests to have a seat in our crowded auditorium. It helped some, but our last service was stilled packed to the max. This with only half of our regular congregation in each service and more than 30 workers behind the curtains engaged in the presentation. We are presently in the process of signing papers on a larger building. We pray the Lord will guide and provide as we seek to grow this church and as we train leaders to go out to begin new works as well.
We are super excited with all that the Lord is doing through and in us.
Thank you for your prayers and concern for us.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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Children’s Day Celebration
October 20, 2021
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We hope and pray that all are doing well and being blessed. We are doing great, and God has blessed us and kept us safe.
This month has been really wonderful. After all the problems with the pandemic and not being able to have special programs, it was great to celebrate the special day we have for the children. Here in Brazil, October 12th is Children’s Day. The church I pastor, Pedras Vivas, had a special day and we brought kids in from the communities near us and also from Ubim. From the Village of Ubim, there were 87 that came. Since there are lots of small children, the mothers came with them. It was really great to see the members of our church getting involved in the activities and others in serving the food. The kids had lots of fun.
I have challenged our church to make this end of the year different. So many times, churches slow down the end of the year doing less things and sometimes having financial problems. We have planned a meeting with the men and women of the church to challenge them to visit and reach out to more people in the community. Pray that God would touch their hearts to see the need to tell people about God’s love.
How would you like to catch one of these? It’s called a pirarara. Come and visit us. One of the things we do to reach out to people by friendship is fishing. The last few weeks we have been able to go fishing and have taken some people with us. This young teenager in the photo is living with us. On one of my road trips with him he accepted Christ as Savior. God has blessed us. We are thankful to each of you that pray for us and give to the ministry. May God continue to bless you and give us wisdom to do His will!
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy Barros
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Using Friend’s Boat for River Mission Trips
September 23, 2021
Greetings to all of you who have been a blessing in our lives and ministry! We thank each one of you for your prayers and support! May God continue to bless each of you!
We are doing well, and God has blessed us with health and protection from any harm. In the area that we live, there have been some problems with 25 prisoners who had escaped from prison. They were attacking cars and also stealing in homes, but things have calmed down. Praise the Lord!
The services at the church and the missions are back to normal, and more of the people are coming back.
We are excited that next month we are going to have a special day like we used to have four or five times per year before the virus appeared. October has a day that is called Children’s Day. We are going to take advantage of the date and have a special event. We will be bringing kids and families from around the area and mission points. We will have a special service for the kids with puppets.
We have a friend that has a boat that he has offered to be used for missions on the river. This coming weekend he has invited me to go with his church on a mission trip of 3 days to the Village of Gapoaçu. Looking forward to this trip and it will be exciting to plan others. There are many villages that can only be accessed by boat.
We are finishing the baptistery at the church. We always had baptism on the riverside, but it is somewhat of a problem getting everyone there. So, we decided to finish it. Soon we will be having baptisms there. There have been several saved. Praise the Lord!
God bless each of you!
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy Barros
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
Read more
Praising God for His Protection; Getting Ready for Tapioca Festival
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
October 25, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We pray all is well with each of you. We are all well and praising God for His love and protection. We certainly saw God’s protection in our son Jonas’ life. He was helping a friend from church get his bulldozers out of the hole and they put a rope around a palm tree that we have here that is very strong. All of a sudden, they heard a snap. The tree was falling. It missed Jonas’ head and back and landed near his hips and got stopped by a bunch of dirt which kept the tree from falling in full strength on our son. Praise the Lord! No broken bones!!!! He has to rest for 30 to 60 days.
We had a special day for Children’s Day. We spent the day at the camp. Everyone had a great time. We had a service and games and swimming time—a great time for families to be together. We had people from the Indian tribe to come for one of our special events for the first time. They are from the community of Ubim. More and more of them are coming each week to the mission point.
This month we are already getting ready for our tapioca festival. Tapioca is a typical food here and is round like pancake. Then you fill it with different flavors and fold it. We are making 10 different flavors. We have the festivals for outreach to bring people to visit our church and present the gospel. Everything is free. When we invite people, they can’t believe it’s free. Also, we like to have these kinds of programs to get our members involved in reaching out to our communities.
We thank each of you for your prayers and support.
We are praying and looking for a new car. We are on the road a lot. Pray that God well lead us to the right deal. God bless each of you.
Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
Training Teams and Praying for a Leader in Limão
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
November 11, 2017
Hope all have had a good year! We have had a blessed year! We have had good times and hard times, but God has been there with us and for us. We serve a wonderful God!
We are in several places—there are still so many communities to be reached. This year we have seen God working in the lives of the members and bringing new people to know Him as Savior. Seeing the old members growing and reaching out to the people around them has been a real blessing.
We now have Sunday school at three of the churches. Kathy and I have been helping in two of the places. We are training the group from the mission in Iranduba. They are coming along and excited. The mission of Multirão already has a team that goes there. They are doing great and investing there with the people and the building. What a blessing! Now we are training and new team to go to the community of Limão (lemon). There is a great need for a church there. We are praying God will give us a man that will go. We will go in the beginning while they are being trained. Pray that God will raise up the right person.
We really need a building in the community where Kathy has the kids club. We run an average of 45 kids. That’s about all we can handle on the patio of the house. God has provided a church that will come and build, we just need to buy the land. A few days ago, Kathy found out that there are 2 lots that are being sold not far from the house where we have club. We have used this family’s home for over 2 years. We really are thankful, but we need our own place. Please pray that God will provide the money we need. From time to time we have different kinds of festivals to reach out to new people in the communities, so they can see who we are and so that we can meet them. This month we are having one and all the missions are going to come. We are excited and looking forward to what God has for us.
We would love to reach out more and more. We are praying that God will raise up more people that want to serve, and our other great need is a good car. We spend lots of time in the car. The mother church is close, but all others are at least 30 minutes away.
Thanks for your prayers and your gifts, God bless each of you!
Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Celebrating Children’s Day and Seminary Graduates
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
November 9, 2017
Friends and family,
Well I am sitting here in Lexington, Ky, being somewhat cold. It’s just amazing how different the temperature is here and in Caraguatatuba.
While in Caragua we were very busy working on the Church building trying to complete many small projects that needed to be completed. As it is with all buildings, you fix one thing and there are many more that come up.
We arrived there in time to help in the Children’s Day activities. We had around 90 children on Children’s Day and it was AWESOME!!!! There were almost too many children in attendance, but that is an AWESOME problem to have. Children’s Day in Brasil is similar to Christmas Day here in the States. They don’t celebrate Christmas in Brasil like we do in the States. We had sandwiches, pop, and cake for them to eat for breakfast. Then we had games and popcorn and cotton candy. They received beanbag animals and a small bag of candy. Then we sent them home on a sugar high to their parents. These children are all underprivileged children, so whatever they receive is a blessing in their lives. But what they need more than food is love. A smile and a hug does better for them than anything else. So, we spent the day hugging them and playing with them. We are sending some photos so that you can see some of the activities.
All enjoying the food on Children’s Day
The children praising the Lord
Serving the kids on Children’s Day
The graduating class in Orlandia
Our bus is a very needed part of the children’s ministry there and the last few months there have been various problems with it—leaking oil and water pump problems to name a few. We were able to get the things fixed but the next problem is to pay for the work. Thank you to those who have sent money for the work on the bus—and if you would like to help financially, that would be greatly appreciated. As I said earlier, this bus is a needed part of the children’s ministry, so your precious prayers are needed. The bus is a 24-passenger bus that most of the time carries up to 50 children. And with that many on the bus, we still are making two trips to pick up and to return them home. As you can guess, that brings with it a big gas bill per month. This is also becoming a concern. Prayers please.
Well the Seminary we began in Caragua has just grown beyond belief. Just this year we have had three graduations: Caragua, Nativity da Serra, and Orlandia. All of these locations are in the state of São Paulo, but they are not close together. There are more than 7 hours travel time between them.
The last graduation class was in Orlandia and there were 24 who participated in the graduation process. It is hard to describe the appreciation these pastors and church workers have for the training and instruction the are receiving at Caragua Baptist Seminary. This year there have been 55 people graduated from the seminary.
While in the States, we are working on getting a Masters of Divinity added to our program. What this amounts to is that we are having to jump through a lot of hoops. I never realized the amount of red tape that can be involved in seminary accreditation. Now I have an even greater appreciation for Lexington Baptist College that we had here in Lexington. As
Mary & Walmir graduated
of now all things are going AWESOME!! However, when we get one requirement met there seems to one more and then one more. Please keep Caragua Baptist Seminary in your prayers as we are reaching many Brasillians through the pastors that are attending this Seminary.
Here is just one of the many stories that have come out to these classes: one of the Pastors who has attended the Seminary is also a long-haul trucker and he has begun using his trips to get to know the other drivers. When he empties the trailer, he then puts chairs and a pulpit inside and when he goes back to the truck stops, he opens the back doors of the trailer, sets up the chairs, and invites the other truckers in and preaches to them. This has been a blessing and he is reaching many that would never come to a church. Pray for God to go before him in this labor of love.
Continue to pray for my health that God can continue to use me in Brasil as we continue taking the Seminary to the Brasilian pastors all over Brasil.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Click here to give. | Like them on Facebook.
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Children’s Day Celebration; Planning New Work
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
October 21, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings! Hope and pray that all of you are well and being blessed! We are doing great and have been blessed. Last month our 2 daughters and their families came to visit us. We had a great time with our children and grandchildren.
The ministry is doing really great. We have had several saved. One of the people who was saved is a man who lives in a community near the church. Two weeks ago, he asked me if it would be possible to visit the village and bring people on the bus. He said, “I worry about the children that live in the community. The name of this community is Lago do Limao, (Lemon Lake). Please pray for this community. We are planning on starting a work there.
This month we have had several special programs. In October there is a day called Children’s Day. What was really great is that many mothers come with their children. We have a service and then special activities for the kids. The mission in the community of Multirão is doing great and the people who work there are really excited and involved. The bus went and picked up the people from the community of Ubim for the Children’s Day program. We had 60 to come. Several mothers came with their children.
The mission in the city of Iranduba has had an increase and most exciting is that the older members are growing spiritually. They have had growing desire to serve the Lord and are excited about serving.
In communities all around us there are so many children and young people. They need to be reached with and taught about the Lord. In these places the drugs are everywhere. Please pray for us as we reach out to these places–that God give us the wisdom and means. Thanks for your faithful prayers and financial support.
God bless each of you.
Love in our Lord and Savior,
Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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