Reaching Out to Youth & Training New Workers
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.
September 30, 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We pray that all of you are well and enjoying blessings from our Lord and Savior. We are doing great and enjoying blessings from our Lord in our lives and ministry.
We have been saving an outreach for youth in the 3 communities where we have churches. The purpose is to reach new youth and also train new workers. We will have a total of 8 weeks, then we will leave the workers in these churches and go to new communities. We have had around 100 new visitors, plus the ones who belong to the churches. Although we live far from the city and with little commodities, it is unreal how much drugs are in these communities. Contact with these youth has reminded us so much of the Alpha & Omega Home. So, we are working in these churches with teens with the same needs. Pray for them and for the leaders as they reach out to them. There has been several saved. We are going to plan a baptismal service and a time of fellowship.
The mission we have at Ubim is going well. We are praying for God to show us a place to buy to build a mission. We have service on the porch of a couple’s home. It is getting a little hard to work with the group. We have a large range in ages. Pray with us that God will show us the perfect place. Kathy is training 5 of our youth to work with kids. It has been great to see them get involved.
We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. God bless each of you.
These are pictures of the youth program Odali & Kathy are having in three communities: Iranduba, Mutirão, and the mother church Pedras Vivas. They have planned eight weeks of reaching out to lost youth and training new leaders.
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: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [September 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.
September 1, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We pray that all of you are doing well and rejoicing in the Lord. We are all doing great. The Lord has been good to us and cared for us each day. The works here are doing well and growing. We had a very interesting experience last month. Here where we live, we raise our own fish and other animals. One of the kinds of fish we have is a fish that eats fish. So from time to time, we go to the fish plant where they package fish and get the leftovers. We had not been getting any because the water got so high that the plant was closed for some time. Kathy was going into town for some groceries so I asked her if she didn’t mind going by the fish plant to see if they were already open. The water was still high but Kathy stopped and asked the guard if he had any idea of when they might start back to work. Here is the interesting part. The guard asked Kathy where she was from. He noticed that she had a different accent. She said. “Well, I sound like the south but I was actually born in Manaus. My parents were missionaries here for many years.” The guard quickly replied, “Missionaries?! With what church?” Kathy said, “Baptist!” The man became very excited and said, “We have a mission but we don’t have a pastor. Our pastor left and said we could do whatever we wanted: join another church or shut down.” He had been saved through the ministry of missionaries I know. So the next day I went back with Kathy to the fish plant and met the man. So we got together and talked and they joined our church. So now we have a mission point in the city of Iranduba. This is the city that I was praying about starting a church. It is a city of around 50,000 and growing. Please pray for this work.
Kathy is working with a group of young teens that she is training to work with the kids clubs on Saturday is the community of Mutirão. This has been great—it is so good to see the young men growing and enjoying the work with the kids. Two of the guys like it so much they asked Kathy if they could go with us to Ubim on Monday also. So we have extra help that day also.
We are working on getting people from the church more involved in the ministries. For so long they just went to church and that was it. It is a slow process but things are starting to change. Pray that the members will see and feel a need to reach out to others.
Please continue to pray for us and the ministry: that God will direct each step and keep us safe as we are on the road a lot. We thank all of you for your prayers and your support. You are an important part of this ministry. God bless you!
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
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: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [April 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.
March 27, 2015
Greetings dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope all is well with each of you and your loved ones. We are all doing well, praise the Lord! Kathy and our son Tito are in the US for Kathy to see her parents.
Things here are coming along really well. Next month I will become the pastor of the church here that we have been attending and working with. My brother is going to pastor the church I was a pastor of in GARÇA, São Paulo. Also, we have a great blessing from a group that builds churches in Brasil. This group wanted to help a missionary son. Judson Hatcher told them he knew some that had land for a church and needed a building. We met with the people involved and, the Lord willing, in July we should have a building. All we will need to do is put down the floor and feed them. What a blessing! It is in the community called Multirao.
The work in Ubim is doing great! A few weeks ago it was pouring down rain so I called the people that we use the home to have services in and asked if it was raining. The lady said it was really raining so I told her we were not going. The next week when we went, we were surprised to find out that 7 kids had come any way. We told the kids we were sorry that we had not come and that we were never miss even if it was pouring down rain. It has been so fantastic to see the kids change. The adults are very slow. There are so many kinds of churches. So pray with us that we can be able to teach these people about salvation by grace. The churches they go to are works.
We had a Sister church from MANAUS to come out and do some evangelism in the church and several communities near us. It was great and several people got saved. Now the churches doing follow up visitation. The group also did some social work, like cutting hair, doctor, dental hygiene and mesotherapy.
There is one thing here that makes it difficult for some people to come to church. Many people do not have transportation. Kathy and I drive 2 cars to church every service to help take people to church. We are praying for God to helps us buy a van to be able to do more.
We want to thank all of you for your constant prayers and support. May God bless each of you.
Odali and Kathy
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: 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: 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
Blog
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [September 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,
We praise God for all he has done in our life and ministry. We thank Him for His watch care and guidance each day.
The work is coming along and growing each day in the community of Ubim. The children are so receptive. The come every week and don’t miss and have been bringing their friends. My brother’s church was going with us to the services, but as of the beginning of the month, they started a mission point in another village. We praise God for this. We have plans to start in 2 other places. We are looking at the city of Iranduba. It has a population of around 70,000 and apparently only one Baptist church that looks closed. We saw a building this week that would be perfect. It has a nice size auditorium, 4 room and bathrooms. Pray that if this is the place that God will help us be able to rent it.
We have people working with us to learn how to start a new work and also learning how to work with the children.
The church my brother pastors moved in to the new church building the last Sunday of July. We pray that they will continue to be excited and will reach out to the people around them.
We thank God that He allowed Kathy to go see her parents in the US. She got to stay there 2 weeks. She had a great time and was also able to see our 3 children that live in the US.
Pray for us as we make plans for each community we work in. We are looking at possibly renting a place in Ubim so we can have services on Sunday. The family that has opened their house for us to use have been wonderful. But, needless to say, this limits us. Pray with us that God would show us just the right place.
We thank each of your for your prayers and your support. May God bless each of you tremendously!
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: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [June 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.
For those who don’t know me, I am Odali Barros. Baptist Faith Missions means a lot to me. I have been blessed by BFM in more than one way. First, I was saved through the ministry of a BFM missionary in Cruzeiro do Sul. Second, God has allowed me to be a part as a missionary. Third, my wife, Kathy Hatcher Barros, is the daughter of BFM missionaries. Baptist Faith Missions has impacted my life for the last 40 years.
I was the first one in my family to accept Christ as Savior. Today there are many family members saved. Many have become preachers and pastors. It is always a great blessing to see what God has done and is doing. Our older children are involved in the churches they attend. They also serve and take mission trips. We praise God that they also have a passion for lost souls. The three younger boys that are still at home are also involved in our ministry. Titus loves to work with the children. Jonas and Gabriel work in the music ministry.
The offerings that we receive help us in many ways. It allows us to do more things. The money is used from buying supplies for teaching, to gasoline and to rent when needed.
We would like to take this moment to thanks Brother Dave Parks for his care for each of us. He is always prompt and ready to help in any way he can.
We have been in our new ministry for 6 months. It is amazing how many communities there are around here that can be reached by car, but there are still many communities that can only be reached by boat. We had some one to offer us a boat for $25,000. At the moment we do not have that money. We are waiting on God‘s timing.
The work in the community of Ubim is doing really well. We have a class for children and service on Monday night. This week we had 2 mothers that came to see what the kids were doing, because they loved it so much. They said they would be back. Praise God!
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Manaus, Brasil, SA
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [May 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,
We praise God for all the things that He has done the last couple of months. As we mentioned in our last letter, we were visiting the communities that are within an hour or two from where we live. After going several places, we have finally found several places to work. One of the communities is called Ubim. There were a couple of adults who used to go to the church where my brother is pastor. They moved to this community. While we were there visiting the town, we asked some people if they knew these people. Praise God, the first person we asked knew them and where they lived. We went to their home to visit them and ask them if they would like to have services in their home. They said, “Sure you can have services here.” Praise God!
While we were visiting one day, I decided to go by the school and see if there was a possibility of using the school building for some special program. Well, was I surprised when I talked to the principal. Said, “Sure, and it would be great if you could do something for the kids in school. You can come every Thursday if you want and stay from 9:00 to 11:00 am.” We will have our first program with them next week. We are really excited. There are 300 kids in the school from 1st grade to 8th grade. We will start working with 180 kids from 1st to 4th grade. There are some kids that come to the service we have on Monday that go to that school. We are really excited and looking forward to what God is going to do in this community. This community is right off the river, a highway on one side and the Amazon River on the other. On the river side you go to an Indian village. Toe this village you have to be invited or have permission from the chief. The chief´s daughter has been to one of our services. Also, we visited another community farther away. We had visited it before and were checking to see if they had a Baptist church. There is no Baptist church but we did find a Baptist man who wants to have services is his home. God has just done so many wonderful things. We are already making plans to get started there.
This month we also helped at my brother’s church with a fundraiser. They are trying to finish the church building. The building they use does not belong to the church and they need to move. The fundraiser went well and the raised $ 3,000 dollars. They were all very excited. We were glad we could be of help to the church.
We thank all of you for your prayers and for your financial support. Please continue to pray for us as we work in these new places that God will direct us each step of the way, and that many may come to know the Lord and Savior. God bless each of you!
In Christ,
Odali, Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Manaus, Brasil, SA
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