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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [December 2013]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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 2, 2013
Dear Brethren,
The first higher waters of the new rainy season have arrived. The river came up a little in early November. Hudson, Manuel and I made a visit to our work at Porto Walter. This trip had been planned a couple of months in advance, but we were not sure which boat we would go in. The Lord sent enough water for me to go in my bigger boat, one with a top on it to keep us out of the sun and rain. It was smooth sailing with no sudden encounters with stumps or sandbars.
The building was packed for all 4 services. Hudson took the boat on up river for a couple of days to visit 3 other preaching points. There were 2 professions of faith at Novo Horizonte. Meanwhile, back at Porto Walter we had 4 more saved. We also had the biggest baptism service in the history of the work there. I baptized 26 on Sunday morning. Our missionaries there are Alexandre and Rejane. They are doing a great job.
Mike Creiglow baptized 26 people at Porto Walter, the biggest baptismal service in the history of the work there.
Also, in November I visited 2 of our chapels here in town. The first visit was to Cruzeirinho. This is our work on the west side of town. They are still in their wooden building, but are to start a new brick building early next year. The other visit was to Avenida São Paulo. This is on the north side of town. They, too, are doing very well. Right now they are putting in the ceiling and soon will be putting AC in the main auditorium.
Since we are packed out on Sunday night at First Baptist Church we decided to let the chapels start having Sunday evening services. We have still had mostly capacity crowds on Sunday night. It has now been 2 months that we did this change. So far we have had just 2 services with a few empty seats in the balcony of the home church. I have gotten so used to seeing the building completely full on Sunday night over the past 20 years that this new phase seems strange and a little scary to me. Gotta fill those seats!
We have works on the North, South, East and West sides of town. Not too long ago we added 2 more chapels. One is on the other side of the Juruá River and the other on the Northeast side of town in a neighborhood called Centrinho. Both of these already have property. Miritizal, across river, has already started their building. Foundation and slab are finished.
Bro. Creiglow helped build the first truss for the church at Guajará that is currently bursting at the seams in their old building.
Bev and I went to visit the congregation at Campinas. Luiz Alberto and Alcinete take care of this work. They have had some opposition from within over the past couple of months, which I have tried to help them with. We have met a number of times to walk them through the problems. Seems to be under control. One of the original members from when the work was first started is feeling threatened now that the work is finally taking off. They have outgrown their wooden building and will be starting a big brick building soon. There were over 200 present for the Sunday night service. They had almost that many in the morning.
Last week I visited the work at Guajará 5 times. Now that there is a road there I have been able to go just to work during the day. I have been helping them with the next stage of their new building. They are bursting at the seams in their old building. This week I built the first truss for them. Their carpenter will take over from here.
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: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [October 2013]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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.
October 8, 2013
Dear Brethren,
Almost back to normal after the prolonged battle of 2 months with a flu. Besides all the regular duties, I have been back at construction jobs over the past 3 weeks.
We have been rebuilding the swimming hole at camp. Each of the last 3 weekends we have taken 30-40 people to work. We had three pieces of heavy equipment the first weekend draining and cleaning out the pond. Since then we have been rebuilding the walls and pouring concrete in the shallow side. We still have at least one more weekend before we can let it fill up again. All of us are beat at the end of Saturday. I usually get home around 9:00PM. Then early Sunday morning I am teaching 2 classes at church and preaching either the afternoon or evening service. Monday is supposed to be my day off, but this Monday I made 2 more trips to camp hauling building materials and getting the next step ready.
Working on the “swimming hole” at the camp.
We started a new chapel across river at Miritizal. We have already finished the foundation and slab for a new building there. That construction has taken a little of my time, too. Bev and I went over to visit them on their first Sunday night service. They had about 50 present for this first service. Since then the folks in the neighborhood have gotten used to the idea and started showing up. They had close to 100 this last Sunday.
We have had really good services at First Baptist with a few saved. Over 40 were baptized 2 weeks ago. Several of these are from our congregations.
I have had some good reports from places like Gama, Porto Walter, Vitória, Guajará, Rodrigues Alves, Serra do Moa and Pé da Terra. Folks are being saved and baptized. Everyone is complaining about the economy though. The churches and congregations are having a hard time supporting their pastors and workers. Our state is broke. We also had a young judge in Rio Branco that interfered with a lot of people’s personal investments. She (the judge) said she stepped in to “protect” the innocent from being hurt. Well we all know what happens when the government says, “We’re just here to help.” Many of you there in the States are probably going through the same thing. So, pray for us and we will pray for you!
Working on the “swimming hole” at camp.
We also had a big activity for our married couples this month. They called it “ChocoNight”. More chocolate candy than should be permissible in one building. There were over 200 couples. Many of these were visitors. It was a great opportunity to witness to these and encourage the home folks.
Bev and I also gave our first ever 4 week, 16 class course for couples who are getting ready to marry and newly weds. We also invited a few other couples to audit the classes as we want to have more people ready to help us with this kind of counseling. We had 20 couples to complete the course.
Sometimes all the building, studying, teaching on side issues and events make me feel like I am spinning my wheels without much progress. I guess these things have to be done, too.
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: The Wacasers in Brazil [April 2012]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
April 5, 2012
Dear Friends,
The group of 53 youth with their adult leaders from Brandon, FL did arrive and we had a wonderful week of ministry together with them. Projeto Vida partners with them by providing several resources during their week here each year. The sound system, transportation, meeting hall and additional skits and music help to provide a more complete “package” for evangelizing in the public schools and parks. The cultural exchange between the Brazilian and American youth also serves to motivate both groups. Each year we see more teens from the US deciding to get involved in missions more completely and also we see many Brazilian young people energized by the passion and dedication the American youth exhibit.
This week we plan to begin pouring the concrete floor of the auditorium. We have practically finished the classrooms and bathrooms and hope to install the doors and windows, finally. I have had to strive not to get frustrated with this part of the project. The window company keeps telling me that they’ll be there “next week,” but “next week” has turned into “next month” twice. I have been to the company and they have shown me the glass already cut and waiting to be installed. They are custom cut windows, so I believe that there is no intent to rip us off. I hope that by my next letter to you I can include pictures of the windows installed. Keep us in your prayers, please.
One of the Wacasers' first works.
You may remember that I had to reassume the pastoral role at my former church due to some legal and moral issues the man we placed there caused. Anyway, we do have a man in whom we trust to take my place there now and soon we’ll be able to work fulltime at the new church and partner with him and that church on special projects of evangelism. We are thankful to Bro. David Hatcher and the Nova Igreja Batista in Manaus for helping us fill this role.
The two churches are busy this week calling on the people who attended our public park rallies and made professions of faith. We are inviting them to attend intensive Bible studies and introduce them to a life of walking with Jesus Christ. We hope and pray that we will be baptizing many of these people in the upcoming weeks.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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