Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [October 2012]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings! Hope all is well with all of you. We are doing great. God has been good to us and we are all in good health. I got to go visit my father in Manaus. My brothers took him to Manaus to take care of him. He is now 92 years old. Actually doing good for his age. Hope that I can see him again soon and enjoy him while I can. Our hope is that he actually has accepted Jesus as his Saviour.
The church here is doing great. We have had new adults coming and on Sunday mornings many kids and teens are coming. Every week we have new kids that are coming and we are not even doing visitation. The kids are bringing other kids. It has been such a joy to see the kids growing and changing each week. It is wonderful to see them with a desire to learn more about God. What is so fantastic is that about 70% of them are in their teens. The drug addicted teen we mentioned in the last letter is still coming. Pray for him. His name is Clayton. We run the bus pretty much just in to neighborhoods. And these neighborhoods are enemies and have been for years. Each Sunday we see and improvement in their behavior. Pray for us that God will give each one of us wisdom to work with these children.
We have been working in getting each member involved in some area of the church ministries. Some have really taken action and are growing and others a little slower. But we praise God for those that have made the difference.
Here at the home we have 5 mothers with their children. The last mother who came for help has 3 children. The little boy who is 6 years old has cancer. He has been in treatment for 2 years. Hope that he will along with his family look to the Lord for salvation.
We want to thank all of those who have been faithful in your giving to BFM and for your constant prayers for each missionary families and our ministries. Your prayers are greatly appreciated. God bless each one of you.
We do not have any permanent plans for our furlough at this moment. We are still waiting for our children’s documents to get back to us. But I think that the documents are going to go all over the US before they get back to us. We first sent them to Chicago where we were told to send them, from there they went to California, and this week we got a letter that they went to Missouri. Well I guess we will have to be patient and wait on the Lord.
We will keep you informed on what is going on and our plans.
God Bless,
Odali & Kathy
**Please be sure to visit the BFM Facebook page to view a video of their kids at church singing. It’s a blessing and a half!**
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [September 2012]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
September 2, 2012
Hope all of you friends and supporters are doing great and enjoying the Lord’s blessings. We are doing great. We want to give a special thanks to all of you who have faithfully supported our ministry and BFM. We are very grateful for your faithfulness. Our ministries would be impossible or very difficult without your help. We also are very thankful for those who pray for our ministries. Knowing that someone is lifting us up to the Lord is so comforting.
We have had a great month here with those we work with and the adults that we have been helping and especially in the church. We have helped several families for short period of time. We are especially excited about our Sunday school. God has given us a special group of kids to work with. It is very hard to get teens to come to church just about anywhere. Even those kids that have been coming to church since they were little, when they become teens, they usually quit. Well, our biggest number is exactly teens that range from 12 to 16 yrs old. We are not even doing visitation. They are bringing their friends. It’s like having Alpha and Omega back for a day.
They arrive here at about 9:15 AM and leave here about 1:00 PM. How would you like a Sunday school that last 4 hours?!!! If they could, they would stay longer. These kids live in a poor part of town but worst of all right in the middle of drugs and prostitution and everything else that goes along with that. Not too many options right! That is why we try to spend as much time as we can with them. Last week we had 56 that came, not counting the adults.
Sunday Morning Service
SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE
We have two people that are coming almost every Sunday. Please pray for them. I will tell you just a little about each one. The lady is probably in her forties. She looks like she is anorexic, but is actually an alcoholic. She became that way after she killed her husband. Our prayer is that she will accept the Lord and Savior and receive forgiveness. So that she can live a new life. The other one is a teenager about 16 years old. A few Sundays ago I was driving the bus and got stuck at the bottom of the street where there is a big dip. I go down that street every Sunday and that had never happened. I believe that God had a purpose that day. When I got out to see what I could do and if I was going to need help, the teen came my way. He was drugged. He asked what I was doing, where those people were going and if you had to pay to go, and last if he could go. I answered all his questions and invited him to come. He said he would go but was going to get a friend. Well then I thought he wouldn’t be back. There probably is no friend. I was wrong!!! He actually got the friend and came. Watching him in Sunday school is so gratifying. I don’t think that he ever went to Sunday school. He is like a little kid. He wants to get involved in all the activities. Please pray that he will understand God’s love for him and accept Jesus as Savior also.
Tito (14), Odali and Kathy, Gabriel (12), Jonas (13)
We had a meeting with all our members and made plans for the church and made groups for the different activities that each one could and wanted to help in. Our son Tito age 14, who already helps in the toddler’s class offered to help with visitation and to make an invitation pamphlet to hand out. Yesterday none of the group had done anything, so he started making the pamphlet and asked Loran who is here form the US to help him. They got the pamphlet done and he went to hand them out. Loran offered to go with him and they went. We praise God for Tito. And pray that he will continue to let God use him.
Thanks again for your love prayers and support. God bless each of you.
Love in Christ,
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [August 2012]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
Wow! August is here. For those of you that live in the US you are in the middle of summer. Well, for those of us who live in Garça, we are enjoying a wonderful winter, with the average temperature of 70 degrees. The sun rises and sunsets this time of the year are absolutely gorgeous!
One of the new things around here is milking cows. About a month or two ago Odali bought some cows. The boys have enjoyed going each morning to milk them. One of the cows loves cookies, well she love just about anything that is eatable. This has been a great time for the boys and their dad. They usually have other kids that go with them.
We have several new people living here with us now. They are adults or mother with children. There is a lady that is living here that is waiting for her house that is being built by the city. The city subsidies homes for those with low income and with no conditions of having a job that would guarantee them a good salary. These people lived in an area of danger. Marcia is here name. She has been coming to church along with her 13 year old son. His name is Alex. Alex has made friends with our boys and is like one of the family. Actually he has started calling Odali and I mom and dad. He has not seen or heard of his dad for many years. The last time he saw him, his dad was trying to kill his mom. Nice memories, right?! Pray for them, especially that they will accept Christ as Savior. Marcia does not read or write.
We are trying to work out a time to help her. We don´t know for sure if she has a difficulty or if she just quit her studies early. Also we have another lady here who has some learning disabilities. Since this area used to be coffee farms many people did not finish the studies. But she also does not read or write and does not know money.
Our church is doing well. We work on Sunday morning especially to reach out to the children and teens. Our city, like so many others have been taken over by drugs and prostitution. A junior age girl told her Sunday school teacher a few days ago that she didn’t know what would happened to them if our church ever closed. On Sunday they spend about 3 hours here with us. We have Sunday school and service them they play and eat then we take them home. Last Sunday we had several mothers. Most all the kids come from single mom homes. Our Sunday night services are especially for adults. Last Sunday we had several visitors.
We are planning on taking a furlough late November of this year. Our youngest daughter is having her baby then. It’s been 7 years since Amelia saw her dad. Also we have 2 granddaughters that we haven’t seen. So we thought that that would be a good time for us to take a break. We started on our boys documents and we hope that all goes well. We are not sure where we will be living yet. We are looking into finding a house to rent. Pray for us as we get things ready for us to take our furlough.
Thanks for your financial support and your prayers. Please continue to pray for us. May God bless each of you.
Love in Christ,
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [February 2012]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run "Alpha Omega Family Development," which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
Time does not stop or wait, it keeps on moving, we must not loss time in sharing God’s love to those around us. The real purpose of why God put us on earth!! The final goal is eternity. Unfortunately most of the time we spend planning our earthly gains and forget the best investment of all times. SOULS! I pray each one of us will remember that the coming of our Savior is closer each day. That we will use each opportunity we have to tell someone about Jesus. We need to live a life that others may see Jesus in us.
Last Sunday we had a wonderful Sunday school. But, there was a specific thing that happened that touched my heart. One of the ladies who live with us, who has used drugs most of her life, asked me to go get a friend to come to church. I went with her to get her friend. The location is the worst place for drugs in this town. As I drove up the streets was full of people just standing around, drugged, drunk or both. People just standing around, with know meaning to life. The ladies husband at first hesitated in letting her go, but the friend finally convened him to let her come. When we got to church the bus route that Odali drives arrived. All of a sudden the lady I brought was hugging a little girl. It was the ladies daughter that she had not seen for 4 months. Because of the kind of life she was living the courts gave the children to her sister that does not let her see them. What a place to meet, at God’s house. This is only one story, but like this one there are many others. Pray for these children and these families that we can above all things place in their hearts that God loves them and that He died on the cross for our sins. That is worth living for!!!! God’s plan for us is simple. Let us not complicate it.
We have had lots of rain here in Brasil. Thankfully where we live is so high up that we do not run the danger of flooding. But in other places they have not been so fortunate. Many places have had some serious damage.
God has given us the opportunity to preach to 5 states with out going out of our house! Maybe you’re asking how could that be possible? Down the road from our house a construction company is building over 700 houses. The company needed a place to sleep their construction workers and came to talk to us. We let them use one of the halls where we used to have the school. They pay for the utilities they use. They are from at least 5 different states.
Most of them are from state in northeast Brasil. A mission field right in our yard! At the end of each day they play soccer with the guys that lives here at Alpha and Omega. We have made it a project to gain these men by our testimony. They have been here for 2 weeks. We have had the privileged of several of them come to church. Pray for them as they hear the gospel that they may understand and receive Him as Savior. Can you imagine these men getting saved and then going back to their families?! We praise God for this opportunity!
Kathy with her brother, missionary Paul Hatcher, and her son Gabriel.
I took our 3 boys to camp last week. What a time of refreshing. It is fun to watch them grow and enjoy camp in a different way. They made many new friends from other churches. They just had lots of fun and fellowship with other Christian teenagers. I also had a great time with my brother Paul and his wife Wanda and my parents. It is not often that we get together.
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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