The Best Job
May 12, 2024
Dear friends and family,
In one month, we will be looking back to the month of June when we stepped off the plane in Brazil to begin the journey of a lifetime. I will be the first one to admit that I was the reluctant part of this couple. We started our service for Christ in the town of Garça and are serving out of Caraguatatuba now. There have been 28 years and they have been the most fulfilling years of my life. We started helping Odali and Kathy Barros with an orphanage and I fit in there because all my young life I always had more children around me than was normal. So, working in the orphanage made me just at home.
I think I can say I have received more Happy Mother’s Day greetings on this Mother’s Day than the normal mother. Not only from the orphanage children, but from each church where we have served. The children adopted us as mother and dad.
I have continued for these years to gather children like a piped piper. Not only caring for them like a mother but nurturing them in the Lord which has more lasting effect.
I want to thank my blood children for being willing to share me with these children around the world. I have often heard AJ say that if he were choosing people to be missionaries, he would not have chosen him. I am here to confess that I would not have chosen me either. But He has been able to use us in spite of ourselves.
As this is the month of Mother’s Day, I can say that being a mother has been my best job and I am glad that He chose me for this job, not only for my children, but for all my Brazilian children.
Here are some pictures from our time in Brazil with some of the Brazilian children.
Thank each of you all for trusting us to do the job God called us to do.
In His service,
Barbara Hensley (Missionary Wife of AJ Hensley)
CONTACT INFO
AJ & Barbara Hensley
30524 Mimi St
Sebring, FL 33870-0530
AJ: 859-539-2302 | Barbara: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@gmail.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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News & Reports – May 2024
The Online Edition of the May 2024 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below.
*Remember you can click on any headline to view the post/letter on our website.
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Prepared in Advance for What God Would Have Her Do
[Re-printed from May 2019 issue]
This month we missionary wives have been asked to write the letters for the mission sheets, so here I go with the many memories.
This year we will be completing 22 years in Brasil. It seems as though it was just yesterday that AJ started his campaign to convince me to go with him to be missionaries to Brasil. As many of you all have heard, in the beginning I was hard to convince, but God is faithful, and He worked on my heart. So, when AJ told me that he was going before the Church on Sunday night to tell the Church he was surrendering to be a missionary, God put these words in my mouth, “I am ready”.
I have not regretted—not once—that response. Our first place of service was in Garça, Brasil, with Odali and Kathy Barros. I helped Kathy with the children and AJ worked with Odali. There I used all the various skills that I had learned in Owsley County, Kentucky, as the daughter of Pastor H. W. Baker, who was a mission pastor. We stayed in Garça for 6 years being parents to up to 21 boys. There are many stories that could be told of those years. Needless to say, we have many children who call us Mom and Dad there in Brasil. We share that honor with their biological parents and with Odali and Kathy. Of all the boys that went through our care, some have their own businesses, some are lawyers, others are in the business world, and another is finishing his studies to become a veterinarian.
Have you ever washed clothes on a wash board? I did as a teenager and again in Garça. Have you ever had to heat your water on a stove or in a big tub outside? I did as a teenager and again in Garça. Have you ever had to walk to Church? I did as a child and again in Garça. As I said before, God prepared me early for what He would be having me do later. In the words of AJ, “God is AWESOME!”
After Garça, we moved to Jacarei, Sao Paulo, where we had plans to open another orphanage. As we worked through the paperwork, we started a mission church and there I continued to work with children. We had several families in the neighborhood who did not have transportation to get to a Church. They also had children, so I worked with them on Saturday and Sunday in Bible schools and Sunday schools. But after two years we realized that we were not going to be able to get the approval from the mayor for the orphanage, so AJ began to pray for a sign to stay or move on.
Maybe you have heard this story, but God answered these prayers with a sequester. You see, we were living on a farm way out in the country and were a target for theft. This gave AJ his answer, so we moved to Caraguatatuba. There we worked with Pastors in two churches and then we opened a new work there.
My service for the Lord continued to be with children. With the help of one of the boys from the orphanage in Garça who came to help us in Caraguatuba, we had Saturday Bible school in the homes of various members.
As we began to look for a place to open a new work, one of the children from these Saturday Bible schools, who started as a babe in arms in these Bible schools, stopped us on the streets. He stopped us on the street and said, “Mrs. Barb, when are you coming back to our neighborhood to teach us?” So, guess what that sealed our decision as to where to start our new church.
Caragua Baptist Church came to life in this young man’s neighborhood. There again my job was with children. God sent many, many children to our location and we love them all.
So my time in Brasil has been an adventure where I have sat up all night rocking a sick boy, planned a wedding for one of the boys in our care, taken in people who are down on their luck, women who have been abandoned by their husbands and grandmothers whose homes are being flooded, and counseled women in their day-to-day problems…to name a few of the things that God has let me do.
I just want to say, “Thank You, God,” for working in my heart to make me willing to go on this adventure with AJ Hensley. We serve an AWESOME God. Thank you for all these memories and we look forward to many more.
In His Service,
Barbara Hensley
CONTACT INFO
AJ & Barbara Hensley
30524 Mimi St
Sebring, FL 33870-0530
AJ: 859-539-2302 | Barbara: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@gmail.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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A Marriage & Ministry Ordained by the Lord
April 29, 2024
Hello our dear praying friends,
Charlene here, taking advantage of the opportunity to share with you a little of our ministry world from this missionary wife’s perspective. Above and before all else, I want to say that it is a privilege to serve the Lord alongside my husband, Bobby, and also say that I have always been thankful for this calling. There are unique challenges I face serving in Brazil, but I also know that everyone has their own set of challenges just because we, as God’s children, are not of this world. The Lord told us in advance in His Word that, if we wanted to be His followers, then we would face trials, obstacles and opposition in this world.
The Lord definitely ordained mine and Bobby’s marriage and ministry. We are so different from each other in personality and skills, but He uses those differences to complement and complete us as a team. Bobby is a more visionary and big-picture sort of person, and I am a more detailed and “give me the plan” type of person. Does this cause problems? Sometimes, of course, but more often it helps us accomplish more as our differences work together to fill in the gaps that normally come up when trying to pull off a ministry or event.
My role provides me with a wide variety of experiences. For example, recently I accompanied Bobby on an evangelistic trip to several native indigenous tribes in the jungles of Argentina. We shared God’s love with 6 different villages all in one day. Their material poverty was apparent, but thankfully, the riches of God’s grace were shared with them and many of them became heirs with Jesus through the word that was shared. We also evangelized in neighboring Paraguay in 120-degree temperatures. I have to be honest and admit that I was very uncomfortable, but I do count it a privilege to have done that for God’s glory.
One of my favorite roles is to be an encourager to our team leaders’ wives. I know what it feels like to move to a new place, leaving friends and family and starting a ministry from scratch alongside my spouse. I am able to share that experience with them and how God always comes through to supply everything we need to be faithful and pleasing to Him. I also realize that it is my role and privilege from the Lord to support and encourage Bobby in what the Lord has called him to do. We really are a team and I’m glad to be on it.
Let me close by telling you how grateful and thankful I am for your prayers, love, and faithful support on our behalf. May the Lord richly reward and bless you as well.
Yours in Christ,
Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Currently Stateside on Furlough from Brazil
Phone: (813) 501-9328
E-mail: 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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Seeing God at Work in the Lives of Our Children
April 12, 2024
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is with great joy I write you once more. It’s a privilege to share with you all God is doing here in São Paulo City.
First, I want to share about God’s work in our children’s lives. Sarah is graduating from High School on June 10th. We celebrate her accomplishments and a new phase as she prepares to go to college here in São Paulo. We are grateful for God’s work in Laura’s life, as she demonstrates daily her spiritual growth and knowledge about Jesus. We praise God for Benjamin’s life also. He gives us so much joy as he develops not only in stature and academics but also in his faith and love for Jesus. Melissa, from all four, is who has grown the most in every area of life. She really has improved in her learning abilities, her performance in sports, her social skills, her confidence, and interest in spiritual practices. It’s amazing to watch them becoming young adults, and Melissa becoming a teenager, with all that phase brings (LOL). I’m thankful for your prayers; we need it so much!
Second, I would like to share the results of our First TBRI National Conference, organized by ABBA (Associação Brasileira Beneficente Aslan). We had people from six states, and more than twenty cities. We had five speakers, three representing Texas Christian University – Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, one from Pontes de Amor, an Adoption Support Group, and me. This conference was done by faith. I’m thankful to partners like Nikki and Jason Estes (iCG Pay), who raised funds and supported us from the start. I’m thankful for Srini Sirigire, he owns Whiztek. I’m thankful for D & A Papéis, and FlySkyCare. Without their contributions it wouldn’t be possible. I’m also thankful for an amazing team, who worked non-stop to make this conference a success. If you would like to support our ministries with Foster Care, and children and adolescents in risk and social vulnerabilities, please make donations to BFM and specify “Jud & Raquel’s Foster Care Ministry”.
Prayer Requests:
Our family health. There is a dengue crisis going on here in Brazil.
Our kid’s last two months of school, and future education plans for Sarah.
My dad’s health. He almost had a heart attack on April 10th. He’s on the waiting list for a heart valve transplant. His heart is very weak, and he is having symptoms such as shortness of breath, high blood pressure, and stomach discomfort.
My mom’s health. She was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in September 2023. She’ll go through chemotherapy and radio therapy in the next months.
We have two babies in our foster care program. Please pray God will send us more foster families, it’s a challenge to recruit Christians families to receive these little ones in their homes.
Our TBRI trainings. Many non-profit organizations ask us to train their staff and team. Pray for wisdom, and funds.
Pray for our Agape Baptist Church. We’ll have a community outreach this upcoming Sunday. Pray for salvation.
It’s an honor to serve Jesus Christ through Baptist Faith Missions. We feel privileged to be part of this great mission. Thank you for all you do for our family.
Raquel Hatcher
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
(872) 400-6522
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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Growth in the Last Year
April 10, 2024
Greetings to you all from me all the way over here in Kenya. As I do every year, I went back to read my letter from last year and was so excited to see that we are in a very different place this year! Last year, we were coming off more years than I want to count of severe stress, trauma, and struggle. We were learning how to lean hard into God’s grace and be okay with holding our joy in Christ in one hand while simultaneously holding struggle and grief in the other.
Though I won’t pretend we don’t still struggle (a lot) from day-to-day, the struggle has been different this year. God has given us a chance to take deeper breaths as the seasons of trauma seem fewer and farther between. Having said that, the seasons of trauma are still intense, and I often pray to see more spiritual and mental growth in our precious Chloe. When I take a step back, though, I see the tremendous growth that actually has occurred – not just in Chloe, but also in Roger and me. And I am so thankful.
Speaking of growth, there has also been a lot of physical growth in Chloe. She’s only nine years old, and she’s over five feet tall! That’s over six inches taller than the average girl her age! Her shoe size is even bigger than mine! LOL!
There have been other exciting changes for me personally this year. Last year I began teaching the elementary computer classes at RVA (Rift Valley Academy, for those who are unfamiliar). Over the course of the past 12 months, I’ve gone from teaching all the elementary computer classes…to actually rewriting the curriculum…to adding teaching 4th-6th grade Swahili to my job description…to actually writing a brand new children’s Swahili curriculum complete with books, activities, songs, interactive PowerPoint games, picture playing cards, and assessments! And having fun doing it! This is all while still doing the computer classes and getting my teaching certificate from Bob Jones University.
It hasn’t all been roses, however. God has had to really stretch me into these roles. I remember clearly the day I walked into my principal’s office in tears after my Swahili students had mostly failed a pretty big assessment using the original curriculum. I sat down and said, “Katy, I don’t think I’m the right person for this job.” She looked at me and said, in her wonderfully Scottish, straightforward manner, “You are exactly the right person for this job. Nobody else has the skills you bring to the table. You’ll figure it out.” That was it. There was no more discussion on the matter other than she was available to bounce ideas off of. Forty-eight hours later, an entirely new and mostly complete curriculum was in my head.
This has been a theme from God in my life this past year. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to Him with the heart cry of, “I’m not the right person for this job! I can’t do this!” And every time, He reminds me of two things. First, He reminds me that He chose me for this. Sure, there are probably reasons, but anything I bring to the table are things He built into me. I can’t take the credit for any of it – all the glory goes to Him. Second, he reminds me that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I don’t have to pretend I have it all together. I don’t have to “fake-it-‘til-I-make-it,” I don’t have to give in to toxic positivity that totally ignores the entire book of the Psalms, of Lamentations, of Jeremiah…and so many others. Because it’s when I am most broken that I am most aware He must provide the strength for me to put one foot in front of the other. And when He does (which He always does) it’s so obviously Him, that I must praise Him!
Some quick prayer requests from my mother’s (and daughter’s) heart. 1. Pray for my parents. They are really struggling with their health. My older brother Jim and his wife were helping to care for them, but Jim suddenly lost his sight last summer. So, you can pray for him, too, please. 2. Pray for my adult children. Life isn’t always easy, but God is good. Pray that they will taste and see. 3. Pray for Chloe. The support worker who has been with her for two years suddenly quit (long story), and she has a new one who is learning the ropes. In some ways we’ve taken ten steps backward. Lynn leaving has left Chloe feeling like she’s trash – like she ruins everything. She often tells me how badly she feels about herself and that I should just throw her away. This absolutely breaks my heart. 4. Pray for a Western teacher for Chloe. I know that sounds terrible, but the educational system here simply isn’t great, and the mindset of educators is very harsh. I truly believe this would be a game changer for her.
Thank you for all your prayers and support! My love to you all!
Julie Tate
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.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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Changes in the Last Year
April 10, 2024
Wow! Another year of our lives has passed. Looking back, what do I see? What has changed? What is the same?
Last year at this time we were making final preparations to move house. We moved to France via suitcases…bit by bit. I often asked myself, “How on this earth have we accumulated so much stuff!” A gentle reminder of what are the truly important things to hold to. After a whirlwind of sorting, pitching, and packing we moved into our new place the first of June. Fortunately, we only moved about 2 miles from our old house, so it could be done in lots of small trips. Our church family helped with painting and moving the big items. We are settled and loving it! Of course, we have new neighbors and that opens doors for sharing the Good News. Also, we are closer to our son, Philip, his wife, Amanda and girls. No words can express the honor we have to be able to work alongside them.
Physically, John and I are well. We are thankful that we are able and capable of sharing the News!
To celebrate our 70 years of life and 50 years of marriage, our children gifted us with a trip to the States to be able to be together, all 22 of us for one whole week! We played, laughed, and just enjoyed being together. Our children knew that the best gift they could give us was time together.
The normal Bible studies restarted after the summer break. The Christians in Mazères continue to grow in their knowledge of God and how to live for Him. The group there are very attentive to one another’s needs and work together well.
The second year of the group in l’Union added a new person. We are having very in-depth and open discussions about Jesus and how He is the only Savior. Being on the front line and seeing the Holy Spirit move and work in ways we can’t imagine is exciting!
For the second year, John, Philip and Amanda and I have the privilege of going to the home of a Christian family that lives about an hour from us. There is no church in the area. John or Philip has Bible study with the mom and dad, and Amanda or I do a class for the 4 children. This past year the oldest child has trusted Jesus as Savior. What a privilege to share the Gospel and how to live it out wherever we are!
The hostess of the study in Mazères has had a burden for some of her friends who are English speakers. She asked if it would be possible for us to do an English-speaking study. Of course! It has been a blessing to see how God works!
Another new outreach is with a family that lives about 3 hours from us. I believe that John has shared how we came into contact with them. The lady continues to grow and bloom in her faith.
Lots of things have changed over the course of the year, but one thing is never changing: God’s immense love for us and the privilege of sharing it here in France! Thank you!
Judy Hatcher
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
2 T Impasse de la Picardie
31830 Plaisance du Touch
France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
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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53 Years in Cruziero do Sul
April 9, 2024
Hello from Cruzeiro do Sul, the furthest northwest city in Brazil.
First of all, I am not good at writing this kind of letter. It is very hot right now, probably the hottest it has been in a long time. We do not run our air conditioning all the time either, mostly just at night. I run a fan most of the daytime.
Mike and I are the oldest active missionaries right now and he is very active! We have spent almost 53 years together in Cruzeiro do Sul. Most of what I do is scheduled around whatever he is doing. As age creeps on me, I am slower and do not travel very far with him, especially on river trips.
We recently had a visit from Mark and Valerie Pyles, from Grace Baptist Church in Fairborn, Ohio. It was a very enjoyable time. We were able to show them our lifestyle, the city and many congregations in and around town. Mike took them on a boat ride. They got to see our camp that has many retreats during the year. They also visited our wonderful church. I do not think I have ever been part of a church like Primeira Igreja Batista (First Baptist Church). It is like no other I have ever visited. It is very mission-minded, lots of missionaries, solid Bible teaching and our members love to praise the Lord. You should hear them sing! Just ask Mark and Valerie. There are many souls saved, people coming to our church from other churches, and every couple of months baptizing an average of 15 plus. Mark and Valerie got to see Mike baptizing at a mission point called Gama.
Last month we celebrated Jesus My King—the whole month dedicated to Him as our King. All the lessons, sermons, songs, Bible-reading and memorization were with this theme, Jesus My King. Love my church!
I enjoy doing all kinds of crafts, besides it is therapeutic for me. I have done macramé, costume jewelry, decorative bottles and boxes, plus several other crafts. I decided since I am not getting any younger, I would try as many crafts as possible. I either sell them or give as gifts.
Love to all,
Beverly
You can read letters from the Creiglows’ first years in Brazil in our Legacy Library.
CONTACT INFO
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@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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