Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [September 2012]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
September 2, 2012
Hope all of you friends and supporters are doing great and enjoying the Lord’s blessings. We are doing great. We want to give a special thanks to all of you who have faithfully supported our ministry and BFM. We are very grateful for your faithfulness. Our ministries would be impossible or very difficult without your help. We also are very thankful for those who pray for our ministries. Knowing that someone is lifting us up to the Lord is so comforting.
We have had a great month here with those we work with and the adults that we have been helping and especially in the church. We have helped several families for short period of time. We are especially excited about our Sunday school. God has given us a special group of kids to work with. It is very hard to get teens to come to church just about anywhere. Even those kids that have been coming to church since they were little, when they become teens, they usually quit. Well, our biggest number is exactly teens that range from 12 to 16 yrs old. We are not even doing visitation. They are bringing their friends. It’s like having Alpha and Omega back for a day.
They arrive here at about 9:15 AM and leave here about 1:00 PM. How would you like a Sunday school that last 4 hours?!!! If they could, they would stay longer. These kids live in a poor part of town but worst of all right in the middle of drugs and prostitution and everything else that goes along with that. Not too many options right! That is why we try to spend as much time as we can with them. Last week we had 56 that came, not counting the adults.
Sunday Morning Service
SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE
We have two people that are coming almost every Sunday. Please pray for them. I will tell you just a little about each one. The lady is probably in her forties. She looks like she is anorexic, but is actually an alcoholic. She became that way after she killed her husband. Our prayer is that she will accept the Lord and Savior and receive forgiveness. So that she can live a new life. The other one is a teenager about 16 years old. A few Sundays ago I was driving the bus and got stuck at the bottom of the street where there is a big dip. I go down that street every Sunday and that had never happened. I believe that God had a purpose that day. When I got out to see what I could do and if I was going to need help, the teen came my way. He was drugged. He asked what I was doing, where those people were going and if you had to pay to go, and last if he could go. I answered all his questions and invited him to come. He said he would go but was going to get a friend. Well then I thought he wouldn’t be back. There probably is no friend. I was wrong!!! He actually got the friend and came. Watching him in Sunday school is so gratifying. I don’t think that he ever went to Sunday school. He is like a little kid. He wants to get involved in all the activities. Please pray that he will understand God’s love for him and accept Jesus as Savior also.
Tito (14), Odali and Kathy, Gabriel (12), Jonas (13)
We had a meeting with all our members and made plans for the church and made groups for the different activities that each one could and wanted to help in. Our son Tito age 14, who already helps in the toddler’s class offered to help with visitation and to make an invitation pamphlet to hand out. Yesterday none of the group had done anything, so he started making the pamphlet and asked Loran who is here form the US to help him. They got the pamphlet done and he went to hand them out. Loran offered to go with him and they went. We praise God for Tito. And pray that he will continue to let God use him.
Thanks again for your love prayers and support. God bless each of you.
Love in Christ,
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [August 2012]
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,
These last 6 weeks have been totally AWESOME. We have had Americans visiting with us from July 28th til August 2nd. They were a great help in the work. We have lots to tell you about. First we got three young men from different Baptist Churches and they came to spend 6 weeks to experience the mission field. With them, we began to prepare for the month of July. The second group arrived and we began the work that we had been planning. Our first Bible School of the month was in a very poor neighborhood.These children had never had contact with a group of Americans (North Americans) before so this created a stir in the neighborhood. I am sure that helped with the attendance. The children loved to hear English spoken. While one group was doing the Bible School another group was helping construct dividers for the office in the Social Center. Also they built an area where medicine could be stored waiting to be distributed at a later date. Lots of doors were opened for future ministry.This work lasted two days.
We then took the group to the state of Rio de Janeiro where we had heard of an Indian tribe that we could take the gospel to. This tribe is the Guarani Indians. We arrived at their village by driving about 10 miles on a dirt road (that day it was mud). We did not have trouble getting there because being from Owsley County, Kentucky, we had experience on these kinds of roads. This tribe has been placed on this mountainside by the Federal Government and told to survive the best way they can. Needless to say, they have many, many needs. So knowing some of these needs beforehand we asked the Americans to bring warm clothes to distribute to the children as we are in our cold season. We united in the community Church and made bags of these clothes and hygiene supplies (soap, toothpaste, brushes, etc.). We then went to the village where we met with the Chief of the tribe, we gave him blankets for the cold and a special gift for him. We gave him a leather man knife with all the bells and whistles. This sealed our friendship. He then gave his permission for us to enter the village and work with the children. But now to add another twist–lots of the children did not read nor write in their language (Guarani) nor in Portuguese. And just some of the adults speak Portuguese. Their language is Guarani. This was a challenge to say the least.
Well we were able to get past all these problems and the Bible School was AWESOME with the help of the group from Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, and the help of the three young men that had been with us since June. One of the young men is from First Baptist Church in Centerville, Georgia, another is from Second Baptist Church in Warner Robbins, Georgia, and the other is from Garça, Brazil. God put an AWESOME group together to do this special project. While part of the group was doing a Bible School, the others were able to help in the construction of a widow’s home. They were able to build two major walls on the home and left some materials for another group to continue the work. We have heard that another Baptist Church from Rio has come this weekend to finish the house. While there, we discovered that there are at least 2 believing Christians. What an opportunity to tell people that do not know about our Lord and Savior about what He has done for them. I also found out that there is a Bible printed in their native language. One of the young men that was here called his Sunday School class and they received an offering on the spot for about 10 Bibles for this Indian tribe. I think we need to start a “drive” for Bibles for this tribe. What about 100 Bibles? That would cost about $1,000.00 dollars. Are you in for this? These Indians need lots of prayer–for personal health and housing just to start with–and all of but 2 of them for their personal salvation.
When the Porter group left, the parents of Ross, the young man from Centerville, came to spend a week before taking their son back home. They were able to finish some drywall in the office/school room at the School. While here, they purchased food baskets and were honored to deliver these baskets with them to the needy families in our Church.
Well, we have said “Good bye” to our three young men . They have made an AWESOME impact on our youth here in Caraguatatuba at Igreja Batista Novo Tempo. They are already missing them.
So we have an empty nest again. So if you want to come see us, the beds have been changed and everything is clean with a mint on the pillow. “So come on down!”
In His service,
Aj and Barb
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2012]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I suppose that if I am going to be an honest missionary then I need to report the good with the bad. Last month when I sat down to write my report I was excited and everything I wrote was good, uplifting, and encouraging. Unfortunately, what I have to write about this month I am not so excited about. It is not as uplifting or encouraging. I still hope you spend the time to read it, though, as true life and ministry is filled with ups and downs, with evil and good, with blessings and hardship, with encouraging times and not so encouraging times. Don’t get me wrong, I am not discouraged, depressed, nor down. It’s just that in the course of any ministry and work for God there are mountains and valleys.
Let me start with the church that we organized just last month (Kanisa la Baptisti la Shangalamwe – Baptist Church of Shangalamwe). It is still going strong and I still have high hopes for it. The people there love the Lord and love to worship and fulfill the commission of Christ. But what I have been waiting to happen has now happened. You might have guessed it. It has to do with money. The patriarch of the church finally approached us for help. He told us he didn’t have any food and that he needed our assistance. We have been dreading this from the beginning and the start of the group because we know well the two most likely outcomes from this scenario. Outcome #1 looks like this: We organize a group of Kenyan believers into a church; After some amount of time they begin to ask us for money, aid, and help; Having compassion on their needs we help them with monetary gifts, food gifts, etc; This begins a vicious, downward, irrevocable cycle that ultimately leads to DEPENDENCY and PATERNALISM; The church is ruined. Outcome #2 looks like this: We organize a group of Kenyan believers into a church; After some amount of time they begin to ask us for money, aid, and help; Knowing the problem of dependency and paternalism that is the sure outcome of us giving them money and gifts, we spend great amounts of time teaching them why they should help each other, depend on the Lord, and not beg the missionary for money; All the members of the church begin to realize that they will not be receiving money and gifts from this missionary (what they were probably expecting from the beginning) and slowly begin to drift away and make themselves scarce until they are no longer around; Those who have been “spurned” begin to tell everyone in the village that these are stingy missionaries that are selfish and unloving; We are left with no members in the church; The church is ruined. Those are the two scenarios that I keep seeing played out over and over again. After much prayer and wisdom seeking, Nathan and I decided to help the family by providing them with food. It was a very difficult decision because we never really know if we are getting the whole truth and because we are quite familiar with Outcome #1 above. We fear Outcome #1 even more because when we tried to ascertain the families’ financial situation we found out it is bleak. The patriarch of the family is 70 years old and has no job and supposedly no retirement. They have no farm or land to farm. Their children and neighbors are not willing to help them. They are taking care of four orphaned grandchildren. And, they have no hope for any future income. I kept asking them, “What are your plans for the future”? Ultimately, they have no plans for the future. Actually, Julie may have hit the nail on the head when she told me later, “Roger, YOU are their plan for the future”? I’m afraid she might just be right. I hope that we have made the right decision and yet can still stay off the path of dependency and paternalism. We will only know as things unfold in the future. On the bright side we do have two additional people who would like to join this small church. Nathan and I are scheduled to head out to Shangalamwe later this week to talk to them about salvation and baptism. Please pray for Baptist Church of Shangalamwe.
Briefly, now, because I am out of space. Please pray for our car situation. I have found out that the car I paid a lot of money for a couple of years ago was not properly registered by the authorities in the Kenyan government when it was imported (This happened years before I bought it either by human error or corruption). Bottom line: The Criminal Investigation Department wants to impound my car (which, if they do, I will never see it again). When I refused to hand it over to them they threatened to arrest me. I would like to avoid being arrested as well as having my car impounded and stolen from me. Please pray about this situation as well. (You can read more about this situation on Julie’s blog.)
See, I told you this month’s report wasn’t as uplifting as last month’s. Hope you read it anyway.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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July 2012 Mission Sheet [PDF & Flip-through]
Your July 2012 Mission Sheet is now available in PDF format. Follow the link below to view it!
You can also flip through the mission sheet at the following link:
Read BFM Mission Sheet [July 2012] (click on thumbnail to view once you get there)
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher in Brazil [August 2012]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
July 31, 2012
Dear Brethren and Fellow Workers,
Greetings from Brazil in the Name of our Great Savior. Alta and I have had a good month and have gone to our mission in Assai each Sunday morning. Our attendance has not grown but we have the promise that where two or three are gathered together in His Name He is present with us. His promise is His Word will not return void. We are trying to be faithful and one day the Isaac will be born.
God has blessed us in the old age of our life. It is a great joy to look back over the years and see how God has been faithful in all His promises. Our children are serving the Lord, all of our grandchildren are faithfully serving the Lord and our great-grandchildren are being saved as they come to the age of accountability.
Another great thrill is to see how God has blessed and is blessing the works that He gave us the privilege of beginning. Those works have also begun and are beginning other new works. We want to encourage you young persons to surrender your lives to serve the Lord. Make the surrender while young; you will never regret doing the best for your Lord and Savior.
(Just had a wonderful interruption of fifteen minutes–a phone call from John and Judy in France. The Lord knows how we love them and miss them.)
Last week we had a wonderful two-day visit with David. He came down to our State for the dedication of two new buildings: One in the center of Parana and the other in Curitiba where Bobby and Charlene Wacaser work. We praise and thank the Lord for how He is using our children in His vineyard. They are all so far away and sometimes the heart aches to see them. Kathy is the closest and we get to see her every two or three months.
All of the work is going well in this part of Brazil. In Urai the work is going well. The pastor, Marcio, is doing a good job. There are about ten young people and two young married couples who are faithful and working in the church and congregations. There are six or seven who study in the Seminary. Pray for us. At age 87, things are not so easy.
God bless you, we love you,
John and Alta Hatcher
Caixa Postal 112
Urai, PR, Brazil 86280-000
jhatcher[at]uol.com.br
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Missionary Update: John Mark & Judy Hatcher in France [August 2012]
Missionaries John Mark and Judy Hatcher have been serving the Lord in Tournefeuille, France since 1999. They define their ministry as “disciple-making,”
July 31, 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am writing a little earlier than usual. We have more than enough news for our allotted space in the the Missions Sheets, so we will share it with you and save what comes later for next month.
The young man who trusted Christ last month was baptized a couple of weeks ago. We do not have a baptistry so we just use a place that has “much water.” Theo asked to be baptized near his “fishing hole,” a location on a river not far from his house where he had fished with his dad and friend. We had a special afternoon meeting in this beautiful setting and a good number of believers and interest folks were there to witness the baptism, This included a couple of people (not in the pictures) that were just in the area. One of our men remarked that it may have been God’s way to give them the gospel. Theo was in his mother’s womb when she and his father first began coming. His father was the first person to trust the Lord and follow the Lord in baptism here.
John Mark Hatcher baptizes young Theo, who trusted Christ last month. He was baptized in a “fishing hole” not far from his house.
Though our attendance is usually down in the summer, we have recently had a good number on Sundays with a number of visitors. If my memory serves me well, we have had visitors every Sunday during the past month. One of these, this past Sunday, was a man we met at the neighborhood picnic last month. He seems to be quite interested and said he would return with his three boys when they get back from visiting their grandparents.
The Lord has opened doors for us to have increasing interaction with several families in our neighborhood. As a matter of fact we are watching houses for several people while they are on vacation. When they give us their keys and ask us to take in their mail, it is evidence that they trust us. When people trust you, they are more likely to listen to what you say. It is an indication that one has an effective life witness to them.
One of the families, whose house we are watching, moved in across the street from us last year. As they were preparing to leave, Judy got the idea of giving a CD to them that is Bible verses set to music sung by children. They were very appreciative and said that they would listen to it during their trip. This family has three primary school aged children.
A crowd gathers for Theo’s baptism
Another blessing during the last couple of months is that some who have trusted the Lord in the past have returned to participate more faithfully.
Philip and Amanda, our son and beautiful daughter (French way of saying daughter-in-law) return along with their children this coming Friday, the Lord willing. They have been in the states for six weeks to visit family and friends there. What a blessing it is to have them here working with us. As we have mentioned in the past, Philip works as an engineer to support himself and their family as missionaries here. It has been really encouraging to have participants from the congregation stepping up to the plate while they are away. Our job is to make disciples to Christ.
I will close, since my letter is long enough, with the news that Judy’s annual exam showed that she is still cancer free and now has been for over 11 years. God has truly blessed us with the opportunity to serve Him together. Thanks for your faithful participation with us.
Joyfully in Christ,
John and Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher[at]aol.com
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Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher in Brazil [July 2012]
Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil for 36 years. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.
July 9, 2012
Dear Friends,
We just came through a record high-water season – the highest in over a hundred years. The rainy season in the Amazon Basin begins in December and lasts until the end of June. During this season, the Amazon River and tributaries are at flood stage for three to four months. Most of the houses are built above flood stage, especially housing built on stilts in the swamp area. Many of the poor families build in these swamp areas because land is cheap, or they just “squat” on it. However, provisions were not made for such high waters as we had this year. As a result, about a hundred thousand people had to move from their houses and seek refuge in shelters or homes of relatives. One of the churches organized last November by Tabernacle Baptist Church was affected by the high waters and was totally flooded for about six weeks. Many of the members lived in lower areas where their homes were flooded for an even longer period. The church here in Manaus had a food drive and furnished food for members of that church and other families in the community whose homes were flooded. It is good to see the outpouring of love by God’s people and His church. The church there has continued to grow even through all this difficulty.
Since last writing you, we had four great joys from the Lord. Our first two are the births of two wonderful grandchildren. Melissa Nicole was born November 30 to Judson and Raquel Hatcher; and Noah Christian was born June 18 to Michael and Leigh Anne Samples. It is certainly a great privilege to have our three children and families (a total of seven grandchildren) near us for the time being, as the Lord wills. Neither Wanda nor I or our own children had the privilege of being near our grandparents as we grew up. So you see, it’s a big deal for us! We are grateful to the Lord and pray for them that they will at an early age come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, trust Him in every area of their life, and love others as Christ has loved them.
The next two joys are also very dear to our hearts. Two new churches were born here in Manaus in the last six weeks. The first is Impact Baptist Church in the community of Ouro Verde. They have made a great impact in their community through their Christian love for one another. The second one is the Victory Baptist Church in the community of Cachoeirinha, also a very loving church, comprised mainly of young couples who are very excited about the Lord. Both churches are very committed to knowing God through the study of the Scriptures , to encouraging each other to trust God in the big and little things each day, and to modeling the love that Christ has shown us.
The sowing and reaping continues. Our prayer is that Christ’s will be fulfilled in us – “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
Thank you for your support. Pray for us always. May God bless you.
Love,
Paul and Wanda
Your missionaries to North and North East Brazil
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
Avenida J. Carlos Antony, 172
65063-150 Manaus
Amazonas, Brasil SA
hatcher[at]argo.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [July 2012]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am excited to report to you this month of the new developments in our church planting ministry. As you hopefully know, our goal here in Kenya is to start independent, self-reliant, self-governing, and self-reproducing Baptist churches. We were privileged to be able to see part of that goal come to fruition this month. I have read Nathan Radford’s monthly update and know that in it he has mentioned the start of this church. I would like to fill in the details of that day when the church was organized.
Justino Signing the Church Covenant
After months of teaching and preparing, on the Sunday morning of June 24th, we organized a small group of believers into the Kanisa la Baptisti la Shangalamwe (Baptist Church of Shangalamwe). Shangalamwe is a small village off the beaten path where Nathan and I have been working for many months. Richard Wafula is the owner of the house in which the group meets and the leader of the family there. Richard is over 70 years old which is quite an old age for most Kenyans (he is in very good health and very good shape as it takes him nearly two hours one way to ride to town from his house on his bicycle). He has lived long enough to remember pre-independence days forKenya when the country was ruled by the colonial British.
On the 24th of June, Nathan, Julie, my kids, and I rose early in the morning to make the half hour drive to Shangalamwe and arrived at Richard’s house at 8:30am. We shared chai (tea) with the group members as it was still pretty chilly that morning. After chai we began our worship. We praised our God and Savior in song and drums, lifting up our voices to glorify the Head of the church that was about to be organized. After we finished singing and praying, Nathan reminded the group what it meant to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ and what was needed for the group to move from group status to becoming a New Testament assembly. He then proceeded to read the covenant that had been written for this occasion. In short (this is a very brief summary) the covenant expressed the intentions of the members to organize into a church, to function as the body of Christ on the earth, to follow Christ as its only Head, and to diligently search the Scriptures and obey all it commands for a New Testament church of the Lord Jesus. Nathan then read the membership requirements for becoming a member of the new church (these are what you would expect for any Baptist church: You must be a believer in Jesus as your Savior, you must be Scripturally baptized, you must express your intent on becoming a member, you must sign the covenant, etc). All of the members then signed this covenant and membership requirements.
Explaining Baptism before Baptizing Candidates
Following this we had baptisms to perform. We left Richard’s house and walked 25 minutes to the lake where there was enough water to immerse the candidates. I then had the privilege of baptizing three children who had previously trusted in Christ. I baptized Nuhu (Noah) – age 13, Musa (Moses) – age 10, and Timina – age 8. While standing in the water I explained the meaning, purpose and method of baptism because the whole practice of baptism inKenya is wildly misunderstood and misapplied. Afterward I baptized the three children. After finding a secluded and private bush in which to change into dry clothes we walked the 25 minutes back to Richard’s house and added the names of the three children who had just been baptized to the membership role of the church. We all then sat down and I taught from Acts 2:40-47, showing what kinds of things the first church inJerusalem did and challenging this new church to follow the same kind of model. We finished with more singing and prayer and with thanksgiving in our hearts and smiles on our lips we headed home.
It was truly a blessed day, one I would like to repeat here inKenyamany times. Please pray that God would richly bless with spiritual blessings the Kanisa la Baptisti la Shangalamwe and that it would grow in obedience unto maturity. To our great God be all the glory.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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