Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [February 2015]
Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil since 1974. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.
February 05, 2015
Dear Friends and Co-laborers,
We greet each of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are thankful for God’s goodness and grace each new day. Praise God the Father for providing unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The New Year has come. The days pass us by, but the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ remains the same. We are fully blessed by Him. How we are grateful for all His mercies and marvelous Grace. Our prayer is that each new day we will reflect more and more of His Love in us.
Our special thanks go to the Park Ridge Baptist Church and Pastor Ben Glover for hosting a great Winter Missions Conference in sunny Florida. The fellowship with pastors, fellow missionaries and dear brothers in Christ was refreshing. The messages encouraged God’s people to serve out of a heart of faith and love. There were many testimonies of God working and saving people in various fields though the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks to the members of Park Ridge Baptist Church for all the hard work, wonderful meals and loving care for those attending.
The day after the conference, I left for Brazil. Thanks to all who prayed for my trip.
The first Sunday, we celebrated and organized Igreja Batista Nova Vida (New Life Baptist Church) in Manaus in the subdivision of Novo Aleixo. This mission started as bible studies and prayer groups in homes. The body organized with 65 charter members, of whom 12 were baptized that same night, and called Pastor Gustavo.
Saturday night, the deaf ministry had a special service. This service is led by deaf for the deaf. They had a great service with 168 deaf attending. The Gospel was preached in sign language; and as the invitation was given, eight deaf persons accepted Jesus as Saviour. Four of them were baptized the following Sunday.
During the week, most of the time was invested in paper work to meet government requirements. Pray for the gospel to continue to have free access in Brazil. Pray, intercede, and give thanks for all men, for leaders, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
We pray for you that your remembrance and knowledge of our Lord, the only true God, may abundantly increase in wisdom and discernment, that your trust and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ may be steadfast always, and that the love of his Holy Spirit may fill and overflow in your every word and action, with thanksgiving to God though Jesus Christ our only Lord and Life.
Love,
Paul and Wanda
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
rphatcher[at]gmail.com
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont, FL 34714
(239)227-6551
Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [February 2015]
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.
January 29, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope all is well with each of you and that you are enjoying the blessing from our Lord and Savior. We are all doing great and are in good health–praise the Lord. This last year of 2014 was a time of getting settled in and adjusted to our home in the Amazon. It is a little different than living in town. Just requires making plans when needing to go into town. But the weather in the middle of the jungle is for sure much cooler than in town.
The work in the community of Ubim is going well. We have a faithful group. We have been working with some adults that have come to us for help, some with health problems and some with family problems. This has opened doors to talk to them about the Lord.
We have been working with the church near us that is a daughter of Tabernacle Baptist Church where Paul Hatcher was pastor. They have just finished their new church building. The church has stared several different ministries: Couples, Youth, and Sunday School. It has been great to see these ministries growing. The members that are there have had very little training. We want to help them in this area also by taking them to seminars and doing training in the church activities. Pray for them and for us as we put this in action.
In Garça, things are doing great. The church I pastored that meets at the Alpha and Omega building is doing well they have just called a pastor. There are several people that live there. Most of them were teens form the home that have married and live there with their wives. The young man who takes care of things there is one of the first boys we helped before we ever had the home. He was addicted to crack and a thief. Today he is married and a father, minister of music and a lawyer. God works miracles!!!!!!! Thanks to all of you that have always supported our ministry. May God bless each of you.
We want to thank those who gave for the special offering for Thanksgiving. It came at a good time. Got new tires and fixed Kathy’s car. Thanks to all.
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: Bobby and Charlene Wacaser in Brazil [January 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
We have just finished our first Missions Training Seminar for 2015! It was such an encouragement to see young men and women excited and willing to get better prepared to take the Word of Christ to the lost. After a week of classroom lessons, the volunteers went out into a couple of towns and cities to put into practice what they learned in class. We hope to hold 5 more such seminar/workshops throughout this new year.
I was away from the pulpit of our new church for 3 consecutive Sundays, but the reports from those who attended were great and that our newly ordained co-pastor, Alek, did a great job preaching and guiding the ministries in my absence. The Lord has truly shown that Alek is called to this ministry. His wife joyfully aids him and the church clearly loves them.
During this last month of ministry we had some amazingly diverse opportunities to witness the Lord at work around us, in us and through us.
Our young missionary, Alysson, who will be going to _________ in April shared with us how the Lord used him to lead a more mature man to rededicate his life to Christ this past month. The man has been a Christian for some years, but had backslidden into drinking and lax morality. His wife is a believer in Christ and never ceased to pray for him. After attending one of Alysson’s evangelistic meetings, the man repented of his sins and wanted to become active in evangelism himself. He started accompanying Alysson and his ministry partners on a daily basis and began to grow in his relationship with Christ. His wife and children now testify that he is definitely a changed man and they are living in harmony and walking with the Lord. We are trying to put together everything that Alysson will need to travel and spend two months in __________, which is a muslim nation. He understands that it may be very dangerous and that he could even be imprisoned or put to death for sharing the gospel there, but he feels certain that God is leading him in this direction. We are so thankful for young men with the boldness to trust the Lord with their complete surrender like this.
We have some exciting challenges coming up in the first weeks of this new year. We have begun the discussing the plans for making the first new church plant from our own relatively new church. My leadership team will begin to develop the practical steps necessary to pin-point the precise city and neighborhood for this new work in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted on those details as they develop.
God was great to meet our every need in 2014. We know that some of you were attentive to His prompting to contribute toward our ministry needs and we are grateful. We also know that some of you do not have the means to contribute financially, but have prayed for us faithfully and we are also thankful to God for answering those prayers. The plans we have for this new year are greater than we can accomplish on our own. We must be guided by and supplied by the Lord to do what honors Him. Continue to pray with and for us that we will constantly be attentive to His direction for what we do and our attitudes towards Him. He is our true delight and we want to please Him.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)481-7007
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [January 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.
Well, Miss Barb and I have had a wonderful week and month here in Caragua. December has been very active, especially with the children at church. We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program with the children. The children completed some wonderful practices and the church was amazed at how well the program went. Not only that, but the children all received some wonderful Christmas gifts as a result of several people and churches in the States helping us with their presents. We are planning many things this coming year. We hope that with your prayers and your financial support all of these programs will be a success.
Let me review some of the things that we have accomplished this year. We have had some wonderful times at the Indian village. We have constructed a playground there and delivered over 50 food baskets to them. They received the food baskets with grateful hearts. This is a very poor tribe and they need a lot of help.
Some the other things that we have been able to accomplish this year, we have had four seminary classes. There were over 150 pastors from four different cities in attendance. This is helping reach more Brazilians for Christ. Because when you teach Pastors they go back and teach their congregation. In this manner we are able to spread God’s word faster and more efficiently.
Our evangelism this year with another Baptist Church and with our church has just been totally AWESOME. We had over 200 people accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have done a lot of discipleship this year and according to our records we have over 768 hours with one-on-one discipleship. I think this is just truly AWESOME.
We have also started small groups in different homes. We think this is going to be a great resource for our church. At this moment we have seven that have been started. One of these seven is having a hard time getting people to attend but we realize that you cannot be successful in all fronts at all times. We know that the Lord is in control and He’s going to make successful where He wants us to be.
We’ve also had another great opportunity, we’ve been certified as police military chaplain. This is really going to open up a lot of other areas for our ministry. Pray for us in this area as this will open up all the hospitals, the prisons, and other areas that are state-run in our area. Speaking about prisons, we have been able to minister with the youth prison and the warden at this particular prison is especially open to to our church visiting the prison. Evangelism there at the prison, which includes a basketball camp and some games that we have made for them, has been a great success and opened the door for our ministry there at the prison. We have had success in the evangelism part of our ministry there. At the prison, we have seen 54 of the young men accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. We have been able to give to the prison from our church 75 Bibles.
January 4, 2015 we celebrated our two year anniversary of Igreja Batista Caragua. We now have 44 members baptized with around 7 to 10 people moving their letters. In regular attendance in the big church service which is Sunday nights, we have around 60 to 70 people regularly.
We’re also here in our particular area able to minister and work in the public school system. This is really an AWESOME blessing as this gives our church exposure to many young people who might not otherwise hear about Christ. We are able to give an invitation at the end of each presentation in these.
Something we’re going to need a lot of prayer warriors for this year is going to be our pastors conference in November. As I have mentioned before we had 175 in their last pastors conference. We’re going to be praying for 300 in this years pastors conference, just another AWESOME way to reach Brasil for Christ. Pray for this ministry and if you would like to help a Pastor attend just send your donation to BFM marked “Pastor’s Conference”.
Well I’m going to shut up for now, but what I would love to really leave with everyone is a prayer request. Pray for our ministry here in Brazil and for more opportunities for us to present the gospel.
Hopefully were finalizing the legal paperwork for the operation of the vocational school. This is been an ongoing I would say problem but it’s really more than a problem. Here there is so much legalism involved in the paperwork that it is unreal. So it looks as though it’s going to happen this year for us to legalize our vocational school, pray for this to happen and for God to give us wisdom in the running of the School.
We’re going to be home the second week or third week of January. We are planning to be there until the 13th of April. We are planning to renew fellowships with different churches and to give reports on what has been going on here in Brazil. If you would like us to come to your Church you can contact us at our e-mail address and we will see where we can fit yo into our schedule. Thank you so much for your time, your prayers, and your financial help over this year and all the years that you have supported us. Your prayers and your concern for us as we minister to the people of Brazil are greatly appreciated.
As always, we would like to invite you to come down and see what is going on here in Caraguatatuba. The bed is made and the food is on the stove. So COME ON DOWN!!!
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [December 2014]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. 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.
December 9, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Although I have been to several places over the past few weeks, I think I will concentrate on my last trip up the Juruá River. Let’s start out with some background.
In January 1966 the Lord called me to be a missionary. It was and has always been clear that I was to work right here in western Brazil. At the time I was only 17. On a Sunday night I made the call known to the church. On Tuesday night I preached my first sermon. Just after I turned 18 I went off to seminary in Manaus. Twice a year I would come back to Cruzeiro do Sul during school breaks. The first break I built a little wooden boat and Dad loaned me one of his motors. My first river trip was that same year and was to places beyond where Dad had been working in those first years of his ministry here.
At the time, there was a little church at a place called Campo de Santana. Dad visited them regularly. The next major village up stream is Vitória. This was my first stop on that first trip.
The full moon coming up over the Juruá river just before time for services to start.
The house that I stayed at belonged to Henrique Linhares. He was a first generation descendent of the northeasterners who came here for the rubber boom in the early 20th century. He was born at Vitória and at age 57 had never been to Cruzeiro do Sul. His wife, Dona Bastinha, (Little Sebastiana) was the local midwife. They lived in a big house made of bark floors and walls with a thatched roof.
There were no Christians (saved folks) on the entire Juruá River from that village upstream. I preached in Seu Henrique’s home twice a year from 1966 until 1978, the year I became pastor at First Baptist Church. I started preaching there 48 years ago. I played the accordion, sang hymns, prayed and preached the gospel to them for years sitting on a crude stool. The services were lit by little open flame kerosene lights. The whole village would come. Not a soul was ever saved.
In the mid 90’s we sent our first missionary to Porto Walter, which is about a hour downstream from Vitória in my fastest boat. We encouraged Mário to keep up preaching points at Campo de Santana and Vitória. A few people were saved. Then 6 years ago we sent Alexandre to Porto Walter, as Mário had moved to Cruzeiro do Sul. He sped up the pace of work at both villages. This year he led the little congregation to saw lumber and build their first building.
The new building at Vitória from the outside.
Last weekend I was there to dedicate the new building. What a difference from way back when. All the houses in the village, which has grown a lot, are made with nice sawed lumber and covered with aluminum roofing. The government put in a dirt road from Porto Walter and strung up electric through the jungle. As I stood in front of the building waiting for them to open up and turn on the lights I had a strange experience. Looking up stream and downstream there were strings of lights from LED flashlights and cell phones as people coming to church lit the paths along banks of the river. How different and strange from years ago. There were over 200 present for services on Saturday and Sunday. I preached about the timing of salvation, for obvious reasons. There were 2 people saved! What a thrill.
The new building at Vitória packed on the inside. Notice the kids sitting on the floor…they were very well behaved!
Some of the young Christians there are Sr. Henrique’s grandchildren. Some of them remember the services I held there. One of them came to me Sunday night and said. “I understand you clearly now, but back then I didn’t.” His thought was that my Portuguese has improved, but it hasn’t really. I explained to him that back then he understood the words, but not the message. Today he understands because of the Holy Spirit who opens eyes and hearts. What a comfort. What a victory at Vitória after all these years.
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: Bobby & Charlene Wacaser in Brazil [December 2014]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
December 8, 2014
Dear Friends,
We had to get out the baptismal pool again last week. We are thankful that Ella Mari surrendered her life to the Lord a few weeks after her friend invited her to our services. We have been witnessing to her and teaching her the Scriptures and she came to me after a Sunday evening service a few weeks ago to tell me that she wanted to be a follower of Jesus. We thank God that He is still transforming lives.
Projeto Vida in a public school
One of our Projeto Vida teams will be returning today from a 5 day trip into the interior of our state. There were 15 volunteers participating, sharing the gospel through drama skits, choreographed music, testimonies and preaching. They had the chance to present the message to over 400 people during these days. The town where they were working does not have a single New Testament church in it. It is just one of the thousands in our region of Brazil that is without a gospel witness. I am meeting with my team leaders to pray for the Lord’s direction on how we might best begin to plant churches in these cities. It breaks my heart to see entire regions where the Name of Jesus is not known or praised. We are seeking to change this situation with God’s help and direction. Pray together with us.
One thing that we do know from Scriptures about how to reach these folks with the gospel is to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers. We believe that the young men and women that are coming to our services and participating in our ministries are the next generation of missionaries to these locations. We are teaching them the Word of God and training them from our experience how to get the message of salvation to the lost who are without Christ. We train as many as possible and pray that God will place an unquenchable burden on their hearts to take the gospel to these folks. We don’t know which ones will be the “goers”, so we prepare them as if they all are going and let God work out the specific calling details.
Another year is ending in which the Lord met our every need and blessed us with much fruit in our ministries. We want to take this opportunity to thank you who prayed and/or gave so that we might be in this part of God’s mission field in 2014. May the Lord bless you in 2015 and may His Name be further glorified as we seek together to share His love.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)481-7007
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [November 2014]
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.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings! Hope all of you are doing well. We are doing great and all are healthy. God has been so good to us. I just had my check up done and all is well. The boys and Kathy are doing well also.
The work is Ubim continues doing well. The children are faithful and are bringing others. The Adults are slower. The Assembly of God and Adventist churches are very strong in this community. Pray that God will open the doors so we can reach the adults and that through the children we can reach their parents.
We visited a community called Mutirão. It is about 30 minutes from where we live. We have been blessed with a lot to build a church. We went there last Sunday with my brother who knew where the lot was. We have made plans to get started. As we work on building we will look for a place that we can use to get started. They used to have services there so we are hoping to come across some of the people that used to come. There are so many little country roads around were we live. There is lots of work to do.
The work in Garca is doing well. One of the boys who lived with us, now a married man and a father, takes care of Alpha and Omega. Our son Titus is back there helping at the home and in the church. There are several that live there. Some of those who lived there when it was a children’s home and are now married and live there with their spouses. They are doing well. They had a special day for children and are now preparing for a Christmas special. Titus likes to visit the old people from the church. He goes to visit them and spends some time with them. They enjoy his visits.
We want to thank all of you that have been faithful through out this whole year, especially with your prayers and also with your support. Your prayers are a vital part of our ministry. May God bless each one of you.
Odali and Kathy
Odali and Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [November 2014]
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in Manaus, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
Dear friends,
Discover how the Lord has blessed our ministry and how you can better pray for us. Continue reading to learn about our special children’s Evangelist event, church health and growth, evangelist luncheon’s, breakfast mentoring, pastor’s gathering, our preaching festival and the romantic couple’s night.
Children’s Day
This month we had a big Evangelist blowout on Children’s Day (a national commemorative day) with over two hundred people in attendance. The church mobilized through planning and giving. We had lots of games, Bible stories, theater, puppets and a toy for every child.
Church Plant Health
As the church has grown, so has our outreach and discipleship. We have decisions almost every week. Discipleship is a regular necessity. On March 2015, our church plant celebrates its third anniversary. Next year we plan to start our Bible & Leadership Training Institute and our first full time pastor will come on staff.
Evangelistic Luncheons
The Lord has blessed me with many opportunities to personally share the Gospel to several folks. A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of witnessing to a couple. The wife is the muse to one of the famous local carnival schools. Both listened attentively and I believe will surrender to Jesus soon.
Breakfast Mentoring
On a regular basis, you will find me at a bakery for early morning breakfast with the men of our church. A lot of mentoring, coaching and counseling happens over a couple of coffee and hot bread.
Pastors’ Gathering
Our monthly pastor’s gathering is always a success. Since our church meets at a restaurant and we have a good partnership with the owner, we have delicious food for a great price. After dinner, we worship together in song and our night’s guest speaker preaches for 45 minutes. It is always hard to leave as everyone lingers around chatting. The fellowship is tremendous.
Preaching Festival
Over the last several weeks, we have had a preaching festival. Every Sunday, three or four of our men preach for 7 minutes. We are currently on a series titled “The Relationships of Jesus”, and the messages are about a person who lived during Jesus’ time and how the Savior interacted with them personally. In all, sixteen men have participated in this exciting preaching festival.
Couple’s Dinner
This month we had our first “Couples Only” gathering. The night had a Parisian theme, with a French dinner served in five courses, romantic French music, four love songs performed by some of our couples and a special message.
Thank you for loving, praying and supporting us. We are grateful.
Jud Hatcher
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