Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [July 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
June 30, 2015
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I made a two week trip to Brazil this month. The trip was a tremendous encouragement and the Lord’s hand was clearly with us at every moment. We had the privilege to ordain two young men to the Gospel ministry and they will be taking the oversight of two of our outreach teams. Marcos, one of the young men, had recently returned from a year and a half of evangelism and church planting in India. The Lord blessed him greatly there and it is clear that he is called to be a minister of the Word. The other young man, Victor, has lead one of our Projeto Vida outreach teams on trips to the interior of Brazil where he and his wife, Fabiana, are highly respected and loved by their team members.
Alysson, our missionary to the Muslims in the Middle East has returned from his first trip there and reports that the Lord truly opened doors for sharing the Gospel. Despite what we see on the news channels, the majority of the common citizens are hungry for truth and love. We know that they have been fed lies all their lives and that makes it difficult for them to have open minds to Christ, but God is glorifying Himself greatly by bringing many of them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Alysson will be returning to that field again soon, so we ask that you pray God’s blessings on him.
Alek Rossi is doing a great job pastoring my former church in Curitiba, Brazil. We visited the services and we heard many great reports on his leadership from basically everyone who attends. The church continues to grow and we sensed real unity among the members.
Charlene and I have offered to help a local Baptist Church here in the Tampa, FL area as we also seek to help with the health needs of my father. We rotate with my siblings on a 24/7 schedule. I am thankful for this privilege. Thank you for your prayers and support.
In Christ’s love,
Furlough Address:
3912 Casaba Loop
Valrico, FL 33596
Field Address:
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
Phone: (813) 481-7007
Cell Phone: (813) 727-6405
Email: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
Give: Click here to give.
Read more
Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [June 2015]
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.
June 4, 2015
Dear friends,
Thank you for loving and praying for us. We sure are grateful. As you know, we will be in the States as of July 10th for Stateside assignment and are making final transition preparations for our ministry in Manaus.
The Church
The Lord has blessed the church tremendously in every aspect. We continue to hold all our ministry related activities at the private school. The worship services on Sundays continue to grow in attendance. The children’s club and the adolescents club on Saturday’s are always packed and the kids love it. We have gained the parents’ trust and already two couples have requested marriage/family counseling. Last Sunday we had more baptisms. The new pastor is transitioning successfully and the ministry team is following his leadership excitedly.
The Pastor’s Network Gathering
This last month the pastor’s network met twice. It is exciting to see how connectivity ignites new partnerships and ministry ideas. My brother-in-law, Michael Samples, spoke the first event and my Uncle David Hatcher spoke at the last meeting. We are always leave challenged to go out and work harder. There are always people who need Jesus.
Sharing and Training
The Lord has allowed me to speak at several churches this month. I have also preached at a leadership conference held by one of the churches in Manaus. This week I am in São Paulo speaking at a national conference with 800 people enrolled. I speak twice on the subject of church planting and will speak to a local church’s leadership team two days after the conference.
Please, pray for our family as we prepare to be in the US for a year. Specifically, for Sarah, Laura, Benjamin and Melissa as they adapt to studying in and American school. Thankful for all you do. Also, pray for us to sell our car in Brazil before we travel, so we may purchase one in the US.
Grateful,
Jud Hatcher
Read more
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
Read more
Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [June 2015]
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.
June 1, 2015
Dear Brethren,
The middle of last month I left for a long trip up the Juruá River. Zico (Francisco Nunes), who is our missions director at First Baptist, went with me.
The river has started its end of rainy season “retreat”. It has gone down at least 30 feet already, but the rains still haven’t stopped. It rained all day the day before our scheduled departure. Then, for good measure, it rained all day the day we had set for the trip. That was Saturday, May 16th. When I am out on the river, I don’t mind too much if the rains catch me, but I hate leaving when it is raining, so we didn’t leave until Sunday. The weather was cool and clear on Sunday.
About a half hour into the trip the engine quit on me. I had taken it out on Thursday to do a test run and all was working pretty good. It took me 45 minutes to repair. I had to pull off the carburetor, tear it all down, clean it then reassemble. After that it worked fine for the rest of the trip.
We had to go all the way to Thaumaturgo where they were expecting us for the evening service. The small open boat with 25hp motor took a long time. This leg was 190 miles. We finally got in at just before 6:00PM. We had a good service even though the electricity kept going off. The church is doing very well. They have bought lots on the corner beside their new building, lots and nice house across the street and a piece of land for their camp.
The next morning we went on up another 85 miles to Foz do Breu. We spent one night with the folks there, but because the river was going down so fast we decided to go ahead a make the visit to our 2 missionaries in Peru.
Bible study with five nationalities in Tipisca, Peru (Brazilians, Peruvians, Caxinauá, Ashaninka and one American)
We spent two full days visiting our tiny group of believers in Tipisca, Peru. José Maia and family (Brazilians) serve there. We also support a Peruvian family, Brother Eduardo. He, his wife and children are also Caxinauá Indians. We already have a building up, but not many believers. The little town only has about 300 people. There is an army outpost. The soldiers spend all their time and money on liquor and prostitutes. They are in the barracks most of the time and don’t come to church. There are a few Peruvians who have government jobs. A few of these come to services. The bulk of the population is made up of Indians from four different tribes. There are a few Brazilians in the town, too. This means that 4 languages and 2 other dialects are spoken. As you can tell this is one tough field of service. We decided to not have regular services, but informal Bible studies while there. We had 5 nationalities sitting around the table in José Maia’s kitchen. Songs were sung in 3 languages and 3 musical styles. This is fun, but daunting.
Missionary José Maia’s house
José and family are still living in a primitive thatch covered house that was on the property when we bought it. It was built by an Indian. Now it is falling apart. He will be building soon. I am going to buy the roofing for them and am building him a trailer to haul the lumber out of the jungle. They are trying to break through to the village through daily work with the children and teens. José and Eduardo also have started visiting the tribes along the rivers. This is all slow, hard work. All I can say is, WOW! What missionaries!
On the way back downstream we spent another full day and night with the congregation at Foz do Breu on the Peruvian/Brazilian border. We don’t have a missionary family there right now, but hope to fill this void soon. Pray with us about sending a missionary. The congregation is doing well though.
The Maia family playing with Peruvian and Indian school kids on our church property in Tipisca, Peru.
Further down river we stopped to visit our congregation and missionaries at Vila Triunfo. We were with them for 3 days. They now have electricity in the village. We were there for the installation of air conditioning in their wood frame building! How weird is that? The first night we held a couple’s meeting with 27 couples. The next night there were regular services with 148 present. Then on Sunday we had 184 in the morning and 217 at night. There was one profession of faith and request for baptism. Fredson and Auriane are doing one great job. The village has been transformed by the gospel. The village has cleaned up in just about every way. There may not be much they can do about the clouds of blood sucking gnats by day and voracious mosquitoes by night, though. My body is nicely dotted by tiny blood blisters, but so what else is new?
Zico and I travelled 970Km (606 miles) during our 9 day trip. We got to visit 4 of our missionaries in 4 locations. We were able to share the gospel to people of 5 different languages. One person was saved. We didn’t get rained on. Not a single drop. Even though the river was dropping so fast (7 feet one day) we didn’t have to even take off our sandals one day. I can’t remember the last time when I made this kind of trip that I didn’t have to wade through all kinds of mud. We were in the sun for many, many hours (protected by 100 factor sunscreen), but no burns. What a wonderful mission trip. HE was so merciful, again.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
Read more
Missionary Update: The Wacasers on Furlough from Brazil [June 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
May 31, 2015
Dear Friends,
We have a carpenter steady at work getting the interior of our Alpha motorhome ready for travel. The body work looks great and it won’t be long before the motorhome is back on the road. In the meantime the team has been doing evangelistic outreach in local neighborhoods and the teams carpool to get to the locations hauling their equipment in a small utility trailer. We will be very happy to have the motorhome fully repaired and back to work soon.
Our young missionary to a Muslim nation, Alysson, reports that the Lord is truly opening doors of evangelistic outreach for him and his team. This past month he was invited by the mayor of a town into a public school to present their skits which portray the gospel through pantomime and drama. The mayor was so impressed with the presentations that he asked the team to make the same presentation in his office to his administrative team. Please pray that the Lord will use the message that was shared to touch the hearts of these leaders. Of course, not everything is easy working in a culture so steeped in false religion. After the presentations in the mayor’s office, Alysson was talking to some children in the street in front of the city offices when a Muslim man began to speak evil of Christianity and warn him not to speak of the cross of Christ. Also, the cost of living in that country is very high and he is living with a budget of bare essentials. He does not complain and shows a true spirit of servanthood.
My father’s health continues to decline and my siblings and I share the responsibility of taking care of him. I have had some wonderful conversations with him during these days. He terribly misses his bride of 64 years, my mother, of course, but he still finds peace and comfort in the Lord.
We are presently in Brazil for a couple of weeks to take care of some projects that we had begun before our furlough, but still needed our attention. We found the church doing very well despite many political problems going on around them. Some of the church members have lost their jobs due to a general chaos in the political arena. Their newly ordained pastor, Alek, is doing a great job and has the total support of the church. Tonight we will have the privilege of visiting there for the first time since we left in early March. We are looking forward to this privilege and the joy of being with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
A couple of weeks ago I was blessed to be invited to speak at the Seventh Street Baptist Church in Cannelton, IN and the Richland Baptist Church in Livermore, KY. Both the churches and their dear pastors and families hosted me with generous love and attention. I am extremely grateful to both for their faithful concern and support.
Continue to remember my family and me in your prayers as we seek to please the Lord with our lives at this stage in our ministry.
In Christ’s love,
Furlough Address:
3912 Casaba Loop
Valrico, FL 33596
Field Address:
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
Phone: (813) 481-7007
Cell Phone: (813) 727-6405
Email: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
Give: Click here to give.
Read more
Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [June 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.
June 01, 2015
Dear Friends and Co-laborers,
We greet each of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are so thankful for God’s goodness and grace. We do not cease to be reminded, and Praise God the Father for providing unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He so graciously supplies our every need and much more; we want to always be grateful and gracious to others even as God has been to us.
There is an update on the new church plant in downtown Manaus that I mentioned in a previous edition. At the time I wrote, the team was planning and praying for the building permit to be issued. The building permit was issued and building began immediately. As they get the building ready they are meeting at another location. On the Mother’s Day Sunday service five people made public professions of faith in Jesus Christ. During the week the team has been busy refurbishing and painting chairs to use in the new location. The roof is now on; the building on completion should seat three hundred persons.
Michael Samples, the new pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church, is being richly blessed by our Lord Jesus. They are growing locally and very encouraged about the doors God is opening to sow the gospel, make new disciples of Jesus and form local churches. Pray for all the mission efforts of Brazilian Baptists to spread the gospel in the highways and byways. Pray that God will give wisdom and that we will have open hearts to hear His bidding and precious instructions. Pray that God would bless in the making of thousands of true disciples and hundreds of churches to the glory and exaltation of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The family is all doing well and in good health serving the Lord. We are grateful for all the blessings Jesus abundantly pours out on us and all His dearly loved children and disciples. We thank God for your continued prayers and financial support.
We pray for you that your knowledge and remembrance 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. God bless each of you richly through Jesus Christ.
Love, Paul and Wanda
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
rphatcher[at]gmail.com
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont, FL 34714
(239)227-6551
Read more
Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher Stateside from Brazil [June 2015]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
May 28, 2015
Dear Brethren and Friends and Fellow Partners in the Mission Work in Brazil,
Needless to say, we feel deeply the absence of the work and dear friends in Brazil. God is faithful. We are receiving wonderful news about the work there. We want to share it with you.
In II John he writes, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth…”
We rejoice in the news from Brazil. The work continues to grow and glow!
THE FIRST PLANT 60 YEARS AGO
The Chapada Church was founded with 24 members, including Alta, four of our children, Lynn, Paul, John Mark, and David. Kathy was three years old and very present. God blessed this beginning and through its sixty years there have been some very good pastors. The present pastor is our son, David. The name of the church was changed from Chapada Baptist to Nova Igreja Batista (New Baptist Church). Every year in the month of April they observe The Word Festival. For the entire month special emphasis is given to reading and memorizing of the Scriptures. This past month the final night of this occasion there were 7,000 persons who attended in the two services. We praise God for His blessings!
WORKS IN MOST STATES
It is not my purpose to give the names of all the cities and villages where work has been realized. I have worked in several states. The Tabernacle Baptist Church where Paul was pastor until last month has started dozens of churches in Manaus and in thirteen of the twenty-six States of Brazil. Praise the Lord for the ministry of this church.
CORNELIO PROCOPIO
Valdir dos Santos, pastor of this church sent a letter telling of God’s blessings. He writes, “We are writing to give you birthday greetings on your 90th. We are thankful for what you did for us here in Brazil. The joy of our hearts is: We will be together for all eternity. Our church has increased. We have sixteen students in the Seminary this semester. We love you and Alta. Valdir and Family”
URAI–RANCHO ALEGRE
A letter from Pastor Marcio and family give good news about several places. The letter says, “Sunday, Mother’s Day, The building was full. There were thirty-four mothers. In Ranch Alegre we are building a new building. We were able to buy a lot at the entrance of the city. Until built, the church is meeting in the house of brother Claudimir. Happy 90 years, Brother John!”
Dear Fellow-Partners, we thank each of you who have prayed and given offerings to make this work possible. May you rejoice in the results and may God continue to bless each of you.
Your missionaries,
John A. and Alta Hatcher
John A. and Alta Hatcher
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont FL 34714
229-529-8497
jhatcher1925[at]gmail.com
Read more
Missionary Update: Jud & Raquel Hatcher in Brazil [May 2015]
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.
A MIRACLE BABY
A few weeks ago, a family in the church (Dyego, Thamires and their 14 month old son) found out the she was 20 weeks (5 months) pregnant. The following week the mother had complications and the doctors suggested an abortion. The baby was expected to die before completing full term. While at the hospital, the mother went into labor and the baby was born prematurely at 21 weeks. Baby Laura Victoria was born with 22oz. Twice, she had resuscitated procedures within the first 24 hours of life out of the womb. Uncertain if the baby’s vital organs were developed to survive without the breathing machine, the doctors gave no hope. One doctor stated, “At this point, we literally need a miracle for her to live. Her lungs are not developed”. Well, guess what, she is alive and well. She is now 3 weeks old, all of her organs are perfectly formed, is breathing on her own and is gaining weight. Praise the Lord! Please, pray for this little baby and the family.
Laura Vitoria
MOTHERS’ DAY CELEBRATION
Last Sunday, Dyego (baby Laura Vitoria’s father) invited all of his extended family to come to Mothers’ Day service to give thanks and celebrate the baby’s life. Four generations of the family were present and one of the uncles surrendered to the Savior. I believe there are still more to surrender as well. Pray for salvation decisions.
PASTORS’ NETWORK
This month’s pastors’ network gathering was a great success. Each month we meet at a different church and this time we held it at “Life Seed Baptist Church”. My brother-in-law was the guest speaker. We discussed a church planting strategy used in China, India, Kenya and Honduras.
One of the churches in the network is in the process of relocating to a better location within their neighborhood. We took up an offering and began a fundraising campaign among the sister churches to come up with the $50,000 to purchase the property.
I am in the process of passing the leadership “baton” of the Pastors’ Network to another pastor. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, May 26. Pray with us regarding these matters.
Some of the folks at Ativa
PASTORAL TRANSITION
The pastoral leadership at our church plant “Ativa: uma Igreja Batista” (Active: a Baptist Church) is well underway. The pastor and his wife were received with open arms by the church and are excited about the future. Everyone is enthusiastic with the Evangelism and discipleship strategies for reaching new people. This next Sunday’s baptisms will be under the new pastor’s leadership. In June, we will finalize the legal transition necessary with government offices. Pray for us as we work through this process.
RETURN TO THE STATES
In July, we return to the US for a one-year State-side assignment and plan to live in Lexington, KY. You can reach us at (859) 544-9040. Let us know how we can serve you and your church.
Grateful always,
Jud Hatcher
Read more
