Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [April 2016]
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.
April 7, 2016
Another month has come and gone—sometimes we look back and say, “What did we do this month?” We are tired, haven’t taken any time off, our day doesn’t end until after hours—but with all this, we still cannot think what we have done for the Lord. However, through it all we are eternally grateful that the Lord has placed us where we are.
We have gotten our new Pastor moved to the city. He has assumed the premier pastoral role at Church. Their furniture is in storage as the house where they will live is occupied til the 3rd of April. We are taking advantage of this as they are living at our house. This is giving us much time with our two Brazilian granddaughters. Also, it is giving myself and Walmir time to talk and get everything in order at the Church.
We have been busy at the church building. We have painted the front elevation of the building and are working on the ceiling down stairs (this is the sanctuary). We are still using temporary lighting because the ceiling still has some work to be done on it. We hope to have the ceiling sanded, sealed, and painted within the next week. After that permanent lighting will be installed. What a blessing that will be!!
The new pastor, Walmir, and his family.
On Sunday mornings our Church is filled—Sunday School is going AWESOME!!! Over the last 3 weeks we have averaged 90 in Sunday School. Great is the God we serve!!! These children need lots of love and nurturing. Feeding them on Sunday morning is just the first step in the process. After feeding their hunger for food, we then feed their hunger for knowledge of the Lord. Then we can enter their homes and get to tell their parents about the Christ that is making a change in their children’s lives.
We have had Barb’s car in the shop for some time now and they say that probably next week we can get it out. Just another week (ha ha).
My health status is gradually getting better and now guess what? I think Barb is washing my clothes in extra hot water, they don’t fit any more. I need to lose some weight. We are planning to be back home in Lexington in August to complete my treatment. I will be having 30 rounds of radiation. Through everything God has been AWESOME!!! Hope to see many of you during this time.
We are still praying for some financial help with the stucco on our building, the cost will be between $2,500 to $3,000. Please make this a prayer request along with these others.
- my treatment and recuperation
- transition of Pastors
- work on our building
- new ministries
- Seminary that starts April 18 (we will be traveling so pray for safe travel, Pray for Dr. Derek our Seminary Professor, for strength and endurance and voice strength)
- We will begin to shop for our tickets to travel back in August so pray for good prices
- lots of ministry problems because God is at work and Satan is not happy.
If you are looking to plan your vacation for this year, we have a great place to vacate. We have the beach, the mountains and good fellowship with Christians. I am not saying that you will get time to visit the beach or the mountains, but that we have them. We can keep you so occupied doing great things for the Lord that you will forget that it was supposed to be a vacation. Come on down and we will treat you so many different ways that you will find one that you like. Your bed is turned down.
In His service,
Aj and Barb
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [March 2016]
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 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.
March 11, 2016
Dear friends and family,
We are back in Brasil and enduring the heat. My health is showing sign of improvement each day. We will be here in Brasil until the middle of August and then return to the States for radiation for 30 days. Continue to pray for my recovery and toleration of the treatments. God is in control and He is AWESOME!!!
I have had more time than usual to think recently and it is hard to believe that this year Barbara and I will complete 20 years on the mission field. We came after my retirement from the Lexington Fire Department. It is unbelievable what you can accomplish in retirement. Actually it is AWESOME! I truly feel that I am one of the most blessed men I know, to have been able to have served on the Fire Department for 23 years, take an early retirement and then to have served the Lord in Brasil for 20 more years as a Baptist Faith Missionary. My work for the Fire Department was to rescue lives from fire and my work for the Lord, though it is similar, is many times more important. Here in Brasil we preach the Word and save lives from a burning Hell. AWESOME is not a big enough word.
What a God thing—a true calling from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is hard to express how exciting it is and has been to be here in Brasil—seeing lives transformed and works established and so much more done for the Lord.
Now I want to tell you about some hard dirty work. Sunday a week ago our Church building was flooded. We had a “chicken drowned” and one of our downspouts broke loose at the gutter connections (this is inside of the Church building upstairs)—and while the storm raged, the winds came, and the rain came down. This was at the very ending of the church service and we noticed that the ceiling was beginning to drip right where we had one of our new speakers. This was due to the fact that we have not had the funds to stucco the outside wall, so rain penetrated the wall and began to flood the downstairs. Some of the ceiling was damaged and the sanctuary got a good dousing of water. While this was happening, some thought it wise to check the upstairs because we have not put all the windows in and they thought that some water might have entered there. But to their surprise, it was not just a little water but it was past ankle height because of the gutter letting all the water from the roof enter the top story. So everyone jumped in to help and there was lots of water pushed to the stairs and down to the first floor and then out the door—all the while some of the men were taking a bath under the downspout trying to get it back into its place to take the water out of the building instead of inside of the building. Through it all God was AWESOME!!! The only damage was to the one speaker and the dropped ceiling on one side of the room. It could have been so much more. One positive thought: we did not have to clean the church that week. (lol)
I would like to explain to you the unfinished wall outside of the church. We can only build and repair as our finances permit. So this is a BIG prayer request: “money to finish the outside of our building”. We only need about $2,500.00 to 3,000.00 to finish it. We have had an unusually long and continuous rainy season. It is not so bad as long as it doesn’t rain and have strong winds at the same time. When this happens we have to live at the church. But what is life without a few challenges?
We are looking forward to the Seminary next month. We will be completing the 4th semester and looking forward to a graduation in the coming months. Continue to pray for the students and the Churches they represent.
Because of my health we thought it time to call our Brazilian pastor. The church voted and we called Walmir Quaresma. He and his family will be assuming the pastorate on the 13th of March. Barbara and Jenny Thompson went and worked 4 days packing their house and then when the move got here, PJ and Jenny were a great help in the getting it off the truck. Thanks PJ and Jenny for your help with this and many other works here in Caragua. This couple has been here helping us for 3 months. We have an apartment just for these kind of missionaries. You too could do this kind of missionary work here with us. Pray and come on down. Let us know if you would like to visit the work here in Caraguatatuba.
Your bed is made and waiting for you. Come on down!!!
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ and Barbara Hensley in Brazil [June 2015]
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.
June 3, 2015
Dear friends and family,
What an amazing (AWESOME) month, needless to say we have been busy with our mobile Seminary traveling to Garça São Paulo for a week—teaching, visiting, and making new friends and spending time with old ones. We were also able to present our Seminary to a group of pastors. There were around 500 local pastors and leaders. What a great week.
As we were leaving Garça, the rental car of Pr. Deeic had a problem with the radiator. It sprang a leak and we had to have it towed to São Paulo about 250 miles. Then we had to hire some transport for us to get to São Paulo with our luggage. This lost us a full day in our schedule. As a result of this, we lost the class in São Paulo til September. As a result, Dr. Derek and Dr. Edge were able to spend the weekend with us here in Caraguatatuba. Then we continued to Orlando where we spent the second week of Seminary classes. It was two weeks of great classes and much learning. We returned home elated by the results but really tired.
The dates for the fall semester will be announced soon. Our hopes, desires and plans are to have this seminary in 5 different cities: Garça, Sao Paulo, Orlandia, and next year also in Rio de Janeiro. All this can be accomplished by prayer. So here is a BIG prayer request: start praying for the seminary and all that God has in store for this upcoming semester. We feel that this Seminary will be one of the ways that Brasil can be reached with the gospel.
We no sooner got the Seminary classes finished than we began planning for the groups that are coming in June. We will be doing evangelism in the schools and catching up with some of our construction needs. What a blessing to have Churches coming down to assist with the ministries here in Brasil. AWESOME!!
Running out of space and seating for Sunday School.
The repairs and construction projects involve painting two homes on the school property, putting a roof on the front porch of one of the houses, and working on some more room for Sunday School. It is good to have space problems. Our Sunday School has doubled in the last months. So we are out of space, as you can see in the photo, and we don’t have enough seating either. By the way, we would like to give a shout out to Churches that have helped us with the purchase of new chairs. Thank you all so much.
Not only are we out of space, our sound system is old and giving us continual problems. Please pray for help in this area. What we really need is new speakers, but you know what? Problems are good—they keep us on our knees, and looking up. We serve an AWESOME God!!!
We have our small groups back up and running since our return. We are seeing many new faces that are not involved in our regular Church services. We are using our small groups to minister to people that would not normally come to the Church; however, we are praying that after some time attending the small groups they will want to come to the other services also.
We are planning many evangelistic and ministry projects in the coming months. Pray with us and for us as our goal is to win many souls for Christ.
We would love to have you all come and see what God is doing here in Caraguatatuba, Brasil. The light is on and the beans are on the stove. So come on down.
In His Service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [May 2015]
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.
May 9, 2015
Friends and family,
It has been good visiting Churches and meeting new friends. We have been in Western Ky. with Pastor Foy and in the Perryville Baptist Church where we met new friends. We met with Pastor Dan Russell and the seniors at Immanuel Baptist Church and were able to tell them about Gods work here in Brasil. We also were at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, this is where Barb’s mom is a member, and they gave a generous offering to buy more chairs for our mission Church. Thanks to them and First Baptist Church in Bastrop, Texas who also gave for the chairs, we will be able to purchase more than anticipated. It is good to have these kinds of problems–not having enough chairs for the people to sit.
On our return to Brasil, my car was a little sick. It did not want to start, oh well you know, a new battery. We then proceeded to go to the mall to pay some bills and after taking care of business, we returned to the car. Guess what, the car would not start. So the battery was not the problem. After an hour of trying to start the car, raising the hood and looking (oh by the way, that also did not help), I called a tow truck. Three days later the mechanic called and said that my car was ready. It was an electric problem, about the size of your thumb.
This would not have been to big of a problem except that Barbara’s car was also in the shop and had been for about 6 weeks. Oh well–all’s well that ends well. We got both cars back the same day. God is good—and all the time. Or as I say AWESOME!!!
While we were home we were able to remodel Barb’s mom, Mrs. Reba’s, bathroom and bedroom. This was accomplished with the help of my brother Ralph from Paris and John Greatbatch and Barb. A real family effort. THANKS friends and family.
While we were in the States our Sunday School almost doubled. Another reason why we are in need of chairs and tables. As you know, we feed the children on Sunday mornings and some of those children do not have a place to sit. I am not complaining just relaying the AWESOME blessing.
We were in Garca, Sao Paulo, two weeks ago with the Seminary and after the classes we were able to attend a pastor’s conference there. There were around 500 pastors in attendance. It was very encouraging to see so many people interested in God’s Word. We were able to tell them about our seminary, Caragua Baptist Seminary, and created a great deal of interest among those 500. Hopefully next semester some of them will attend there in Garca. This semester we had 15 students in attendance. We were planning to have classes in three different locations; however, things changed due to circumstances. You guessed it, car problems. We were in two cars because of all the luggage we had due to two weeks on the road. Also we had books for the three classes, about 125 books. We were using two cars, mine and a rental. As we were leaving Garca the rental car overheated. Cracked radiator. It was just a pin hole but it rendered the car unusable. You would think —rental car -no problems—but these things happen. We lost over a day and this caused us to not have enough time for our Sao Paulo classes. We had to reschedule these for August or September. Then we moved on to Orlandia where we had 43 students. It was a great class and good fellowship. Our thanks to Dr. Edge from 1st Baptist Church in Bastrop Texas for the wonderful instruction on the Old Testament Survey.
In closing we are asking for the prayer warriors to put our prayer requests on your daily prayer list. Sunday School, cars, church growth, seminary, and music leaders in the Church. And oh! by the way, my car tires have no more treed, so I guess I need new tires. Pray for our needs and the wonderful people we encounter here in Brasil.
In His Service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [February 2015]
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.
February 12, 2015
Dear friends and family,
As you read this letter we will be in the States for a little while. We will be traveling to various of our supporting Churches to renew old friends and going to new Churches to gain new support as we have lost several of our supporting Churches this year.
We had a wonderful Christmas this year in our Church thanks to many of you there in the States. Your generous gifts made it possible for our children to receive gifts on Christmas day. It was an AWESOME sight to see when they received their presents. THANKS again!!!!!!! Many things that we are able to do here in Brasil would not be possible if it were not for your generous hearts.
We also had a wonderful Christmas at our home here in Brasil as both of our children, their spouses and children were able to be in Brasil with us. That was the first time in our 19 years on the mission field that this was able to happen. God is so AWESOME!!!!! Even though it was for only one week we were able to cram lots of things into those days.
Before we came to the States, we had the end of year service at Church and had a wonderful time with our Church family. We also had our last Sunday School classes on the beach. Yes, we took all the children to the beach and had their Bible study there. We also had their breakfast on the beach. There were many people watching as our children sang children’s hymns, recited their Bible verses and sat to hear their Bible stories. We then allowed them to wet their feet in the ocean. As you probably guessed, feet were not the only thing that got wet. After this we went to the Vocational School Property and had a church-wide lunch that also served as a party for Barbara and I as we were coming to the States.
Church is going great in Caraguatatuba with our Brasilian pastor Rosevaldo carrying on while we are in the States. Pray for the Church and the other ministries: vocational school, small groups, rehab group, prison ministry, Indian group, and seminary. Speaking of the Seminary, pray for the Seminary because when we get back to Brasil we will be taking it to 3 cities. Dr. Derek Colman is bringing another Seminary professor and they will be teaching Old Testament Survey. This new professor is Dr. Raymond Edge of Bastrop, Texas. An AWESOME addition to the Seminary! He attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem and also lived there for many years. His specialty is in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Our schedule while here in the States is almost full. We start next week and will be on the road for 5 weeks. I have already gained almost 8 pounds, what will 5 weeks on the road and eating out with everyone that we get to know on the road do? The South is going to rise (grow) again.
One of the ministries that is blessing my heart at this time is the Small Groups Ministry. We have 6 Small Groups started in different neighborhoods surrounding our Church. We are experiencing a great excitement behind these groups. We have people coming who do not come to our Church. We are happy to say that now some of those same people are now visiting our Church. AWESOME!!!! The one thing that I did not want to do in preparation for our trip to the States was to give over the leadership of my small group. We are meeting on a front porch on Tuesday nights. This group started with just one family and has grown to 19 in attendance. God is good!!!
In the area of our Church building there is a lot of growth. The city has built 719 homes for low income families. This is going to be an awesome ministry field. Also right across the road in front of the Church is another construction project going on, it is an apartment building. It is turning out that we don’t have to go to the field, the field is coming to us. Looking back at our establishing our Church, people were asking why this area? Well now we know, 2 new schools 719 new homes and an apartment complex of 120 apartments. We oftentimes think we are in control———!
We will be trying to squeeze in some time to do some remodeling at Mrs. Reba’s home. We will be staying with her on our off times.
Pray for our travels while we are here in the States. Also pray for our ministries as we are away from then there in Brasil. We will be going back in April so if you have some vacation time think about coming on down to see what God is doing in Brasil.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [November 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,
What a wonderful month it has been— yes there are problems that need solutions; yes there are needs that have to be met, but in all, God is so —so AWESOME!
The past two months we had the awesome privilege of doing another wedding. This one, for Barb and I, was somewhat special. This couple has been attending Church from the beginning of this new work. They have two beautiful girls and I had the privilege of baptizing one of these girls several months ago. To cut the story short, behind many hours of discipleship, counseling, and praying -the couple decided to get their life right with the Lord. After years of living together they decided to get MARRIED. How AWESOME is the Lord we serve. This is not an easy decision for most couples here in Brasil. Their wedding was beautiful, and now the rest of the story- they have asked to be baptized. They will need to have much prayer for them as they have chosen to obey the Lord in the two things in their lives. Satan will not be happy and try to destroy their relationship.
Other events that are helping to mark our Churches ministry:
1. The youth prison in our area. They house young men of 13 to 17 years of age. In the past two months we have had 10 more youth accept Christ as their Savior. What a field that is ripe for harvest. Would you like to come and be a part of this ministry, taking the gospel to these young men? On our last visit we were able to take Bibles to each of these young men. They are not allowed to have personal items in their cells but the one thing that they can have is a Bible. And thanks to many of you, we were able to purchase and deliver these Bibles this week. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
2. The Seminary. This ministry is helping to lay good foundations for the Churches that are to come. As a new Church start, we know the need for a good foundation for our Churches. And we know that this foundation is laid with Bible truths, so for the last year we have had two semesters of Seminary training. With this we have seen good results in respect to the spiritual walk of the members of our Church and this is a result of the training in the Seminary. Thanks to Gardenside Baptist Church and Pastor Derick in Lexington, Kentucky, who are sponsoring the Seminary and doing the teaching .
We are ready now to expand. Not only have there been classes in Caraguatatuba, there also were classes in Garca, Sao Paulo and Orlanda, Sao Paulo this year. In the three areas of classes this year we have had around 150 students and more than half are pastors. We see this as a great tool to reach our State and our Country, Brasil for the Lord. So we are expanding our vision of reaching more people for Christ. So maybe your question is “How do we reach more people for Christ?” behind a seminary. The answer is —Training pastors from various regions and sending them back to their Churches to train others.
This coming year we are planning 2 more semesters of seminary in 4 regions of Sao Paulo. The last of April and the first Week of May are the planned months for the first part of the year and then a fall semester hopefully in September. There will be an added city, the city of Sao Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world. It is over 54 miles across. This will add many new students to the Seminary. And these new students will spread the gospel even further and this is our goal for the Seminary.
The two cities outside of our city are both around 8 hours away from Caragua. So this means many hours of travel and much wear and tear on our vehicles. As you have heard in other letters our vehicles are old and giving us much trouble in repair work. But thanks to several Churches there in the States, we are being able to keep our heads above water in the payment of the repairs. Thanks to all who are helping.
We have had to sell our oldest vehicle as it was costing more to keep it running than it was worth. We have managed to purchase a semi-new vehicle with a loan from the States and are hoping to get many years of use out of this one. The bus continues to have problems but that is to be expected because of the age. But we will hold firm as the bus is a large part of our ministry. We bring many children to Church with this bus. So pray for our vehicles as the roads are better than they used to be but they remain the worst enemy.
Through it all, God is AWESOME!! We may have problems but we know that we serve an AWESOME God. With your prayers and financial help we can be successful.
Keep us in your prayers and THANKS one more time for your continued financial help.
We are gearing up for the summer season here and are anxiously awaiting your visit next year. There are many things to do for the Lord here, so come on down and help us. Your bed is made and the light is on on the porch.
In His service,
Aj and Barb
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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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.
But 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
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