23 de setembro de 2009
Some recent piuctures
Group from Heritage Baptist - Lexington, KY
Group from Second Baptist Church - Warner Robbins, GA
Group from Second Baptist Church - Warner Robbins, GA
Pastors Walmir and Epitácio at the Missions Conference
At the Missions Conference - AJ is in the blue shirt
August Letter - in September
Dear friends and family,
We did not get a letter written last month because we had the month
full of wonderful visitors. As a matter of fact the last three month
have been full of adventure and meeting new friends.Each group was
different and each one was special. We have had Virginia Beach and
they did evangelism in the schools. The Doss family and they were used
in many different areas. Georgia and they did work on the widows home
and evangelism in the neighborhoods where we have an established
mission point. And then Texas where my brother Fred is a member and
they worked in the main Church. And Kentucky who preached and taught
in several mission points.
We are in the process of doing follow-up on all these groups,
especially the school evangelism group. We have enough names and
addresses to keep us busy for the rest of the year. What a great and
AWESOME job left for us to do. I thank the Lord that even though the
people here are of various religious persuasions they are still open
to us presenting the gospel to them. Keep praying for our ministry
with the schools and in the neighborhoods. Your prayers are being
heard and they are very effective.
Construction is going good on the dorm. We now have the cement for
the ceiling pored and this was a great challenge. We had a working and
had 15 men come to help. We started early on Monday morning and worked
til late. Using the 2 concrete mixers for our mixing and they ran non
stop. Construction here is somewhat different to there in the States.
We cannot just call the concrete company and get a 15 yards of cement
delivered. I have to order the sand and the gravel and cement and mix
it on site. But I am not complaining because I have the 2 mixers and
others don't have that they have to mix theirs the old fashion way,
with hoes and shovels only.
The work process; even though a little bit antique, still gets done.
And for this reason it is good to visit a mission work and see that
process in action.All behind your PRAYERS, SUPPORT, and Gods abundant
blessings. Come see and help here in Brasil.Construction,
We did not get a letter written last month because we had the month
full of wonderful visitors. As a matter of fact the last three month
have been full of adventure and meeting new friends.Each group was
different and each one was special. We have had Virginia Beach and
they did evangelism in the schools. The Doss family and they were used
in many different areas. Georgia and they did work on the widows home
and evangelism in the neighborhoods where we have an established
mission point. And then Texas where my brother Fred is a member and
they worked in the main Church. And Kentucky who preached and taught
in several mission points.
We are in the process of doing follow-up on all these groups,
especially the school evangelism group. We have enough names and
addresses to keep us busy for the rest of the year. What a great and
AWESOME job left for us to do. I thank the Lord that even though the
people here are of various religious persuasions they are still open
to us presenting the gospel to them. Keep praying for our ministry
with the schools and in the neighborhoods. Your prayers are being
heard and they are very effective.
Construction is going good on the dorm. We now have the cement for
the ceiling pored and this was a great challenge. We had a working and
had 15 men come to help. We started early on Monday morning and worked
til late. Using the 2 concrete mixers for our mixing and they ran non
stop. Construction here is somewhat different to there in the States.
We cannot just call the concrete company and get a 15 yards of cement
delivered. I have to order the sand and the gravel and cement and mix
it on site. But I am not complaining because I have the 2 mixers and
others don't have that they have to mix theirs the old fashion way,
with hoes and shovels only.
The work process; even though a little bit antique, still gets done.
And for this reason it is good to visit a mission work and see that
process in action.All behind your PRAYERS, SUPPORT, and Gods abundant
blessings. Come see and help here in Brasil.Construction,
ministries, mix it all together and out comes lives changed,people
transformed and people saved.How AWESOME is the Lord we serve!!!!
We will try to include pictures but therein lies another problem.
Our telephones here are so unreliable and thus our computer also. It
impedes us in our communication with you all.Even as we speak(or
write) we are waiting for our phones to be fixed. Just another thorn
in our side, and don't we all have these little problems.
Barb has been in the States for the last 3 weeks visiting her mom.
Mrs. Reba had a birthday and Barbara was able to be with her for this
day. It was a blessing for the both of them.
We are re-establishing the bus ministry and the children are anxious
to get back to Sunday School. We would like to take this time to thank
each one of you who have helped with the purchase of that bus. We will
continue to make payments on the bus monthly and it is being a
blessing. I took the van in for servicing after we got the bus and
after 2 days and $3,000 it was almost back in shape. Yes our roads and
over sized loads that we put in the van caused many things to need
repair.Now the S-10 needs to have the same thing done to it and I am a
little bit scared about the cost. Even with preventative maintenance
things wear out.
While Barbara was in the States myself and the other 2 pastors went
to a Pastors Conference. We had three days of refreshing and
rejuvenating. Pray for the Church here in Caraguatatuba as our
principal Pastor is going to leave on the first day of the year to be
a missionary himself. That means that we will be in search of a pastor
for our Church.We have 2 candidates for the position and all within
our ministry. It is good that we have these available candidates here
in our Church Pray for the Lord's will in this pastoral search.
And as usual, come on down the bed is turned down and the mint is on
the pillow. Come see what God is doing with your mission dollars!!!
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
July letter
Dear friends,
Well so much has gone on this month, I'm going to have to be careful not to write 3 letters in one.
To begin, we are working on the dorm for the vocational school. We are ready to put on the ceiling and pour the roof. The walls are completed and we are putting everything in place to pour the concrete on the top. This makes the ceiling and with this dorm we are planning for the future to put a second story sometime in the future.
Another awesome blessing, we are about to take possession of the bus. Yes, we are going to purchase a Church buss. With help from some people in the States, the sale of the old buss and projects the Church people are doing to raise money. What we are doing is borrowing half of the purchase price and we have raised the other half. We will be making monthly payments for the next several years to complete the purchase price. The Church has taken this financial responsibility.What a needed tool this is here in our city. It is just AWESOME how our Lord and Savior solves minor problems.
Now to some more AWESOME news, this time about evangelism. As I have mentioned we have had a Church from Virginia Beach coming down to do some presentations in our public schools. This group was 31 strong and they came to evangelise.This was planned and in the making for about a full year. Yes. public schools, the miracles we saw were AWESOME to say the least. Now if you are interested in numbers, after 8 days of ministry in the schools we collected over 1000 commitment cards. Of these cards we had 435 decisions to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Yes, miracles still do happen!! Pray over these people and our next job to do the follow up on these people. We will be putting the cards in the areas with the people that work in each area and they will begin the visitation. But primary interest is the 435 but each person that filled out the cards will get a personal visit from someone at our Church.This will open many doors for us to be able to share the Gospel message with many more people.
Here is one of the miracles that happened while this group was here. When we gave an invitation at one of the schools, one of the adult leaders in the group came to me and said that he had noticed a girl crying away from the crowd. I went to her and asked if I could help her or pray with her. She said she was a believer but had not been glorifying God with her life. I prayed with her and she rededicated her life to Christ. While praying some other girls circled around us. When I finished I asked the others about their spiritual lives, these other three accepted Christ as their Savior with tears in their eyes. And now on top of these blessings two other girls that were with them began to enter the conversation and Patricia said that she would disciple these girls.---how much more AWESOME could a week be?!!!
We are having a glorious time with the visitors that are passing our way and watching what God is doing through each and every one that comes to visit. Would you like to be a part of what God is doing here? Well it is easy, just come on down. The bed is turned there is a mint on the pillow and God is waiting to show you what He is doing here.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Well so much has gone on this month, I'm going to have to be careful not to write 3 letters in one.
To begin, we are working on the dorm for the vocational school. We are ready to put on the ceiling and pour the roof. The walls are completed and we are putting everything in place to pour the concrete on the top. This makes the ceiling and with this dorm we are planning for the future to put a second story sometime in the future.
Another awesome blessing, we are about to take possession of the bus. Yes, we are going to purchase a Church buss. With help from some people in the States, the sale of the old buss and projects the Church people are doing to raise money. What we are doing is borrowing half of the purchase price and we have raised the other half. We will be making monthly payments for the next several years to complete the purchase price. The Church has taken this financial responsibility.What a needed tool this is here in our city. It is just AWESOME how our Lord and Savior solves minor problems.
Now to some more AWESOME news, this time about evangelism. As I have mentioned we have had a Church from Virginia Beach coming down to do some presentations in our public schools. This group was 31 strong and they came to evangelise.This was planned and in the making for about a full year. Yes. public schools, the miracles we saw were AWESOME to say the least. Now if you are interested in numbers, after 8 days of ministry in the schools we collected over 1000 commitment cards. Of these cards we had 435 decisions to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Yes, miracles still do happen!! Pray over these people and our next job to do the follow up on these people. We will be putting the cards in the areas with the people that work in each area and they will begin the visitation. But primary interest is the 435 but each person that filled out the cards will get a personal visit from someone at our Church.This will open many doors for us to be able to share the Gospel message with many more people.
Here is one of the miracles that happened while this group was here. When we gave an invitation at one of the schools, one of the adult leaders in the group came to me and said that he had noticed a girl crying away from the crowd. I went to her and asked if I could help her or pray with her. She said she was a believer but had not been glorifying God with her life. I prayed with her and she rededicated her life to Christ. While praying some other girls circled around us. When I finished I asked the others about their spiritual lives, these other three accepted Christ as their Savior with tears in their eyes. And now on top of these blessings two other girls that were with them began to enter the conversation and Patricia said that she would disciple these girls.---how much more AWESOME could a week be?!!!
We are having a glorious time with the visitors that are passing our way and watching what God is doing through each and every one that comes to visit. Would you like to be a part of what God is doing here? Well it is easy, just come on down. The bed is turned there is a mint on the pillow and God is waiting to show you what He is doing here.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
10 de junho de 2009
Here in our part of the planet...
Aj and Barbara Hensley
C.P. 1511
Caraguatatuba, São Paulo
Brasil 11672-300
Dear Friends,
Here today the weather is wonderful,awesome. It is about 72 with a slight breeze with sunshine--How AWESOME is the Lord.
We have been visiting Schools for the last 2-3 weeks getting a schedule organized for the group from Virginia Beach. What we will be doing in the schools is evangelism! Yes, that is right, the program this youth group will be doing is singing mimes some tumbling/gymnastic and Preaching the Word. Yes we will be giving an invitation for the people to accept Christ. What and Awesome opportunity the Lord is giving us here--to spread the Word. What a wonderful help these Young people are for our ministry here in Caraguatatuba. Here in Brazil usually you win a family--it starts with the children and then the parents come.
As you know we are still in need of a bus for our ministry here. Well before we came home in February Barbara started a project for the ladies in the Church to help with the purchase of the bus. We were given some scrap material and Barbara purchased some rubber backing and we went into the throw rug business.When we got back from the States the ladies had already made and sold R$700 reais worth of throw rugs. It is catching on and now behind the pastors some men are also helping. My "throw rug" is about 2/3 finished (I'm thinking about auctioning it off)ha!!! Keep praying as having a bus here is a necessity for this ministry with the children.
By the way, when we were visiting the schools the principal in one of the schools offered their school facilities for us (the Church) to have a Bible School there for a whole week. This school is in the neighborhood of one of our mission points and this will be really great for the ministry in that neighborhood.
Our home, needless to say, has lots of projects to complete but all is in His time. The interior is about 90% complete and the outside looks pretty much like all the neighbors, unfinished.
We will be returning to work on the School property probably in the latter part of this month. We got a donation for finishing the dormitory and after the summer ministry projects we will be full force again.
We have been back for over a month now and either my S-10 or the van have been in the garage this whole time. First the steering pump on the van then the muffler and tail pipe. Then the air on the S-10 and now all the tires need rotating and balancing. While there in the States we really enjoyed your good roads.Here it is a necessity to balance and rotate your tires every 5000 miles. So monthly there is a need to go over the vehicles and tighten everything up--or loose it. Just before I came home one of the shocks broke on the van right in the middle of the road and the tire just turned under the van. So just like others here --repair work accomplished in the middle of the road.
We have also been working (repairing) our Church buildings. The humidity here is extremely hard on buildings. The one mission point that has been condemned is waiting for some group to come and tear it down. Do you want to be this group?!!?
Our Pastor at Salesópolis, Luis, and his wife Dani, have two boys, the smallest is in need of surgery because he is drowning during the night when he sleeps. But the socialized medicine cannot get to this little boy until November.
We have had $500 dollars given for this surgery but we need $500 more. If you would like to help with this need mark your donation "boy's surgery". I will keep you updated on this situation.
Well, as always, we would like to invite ALL to come down and see the Lords work here in Caraguatatuba. Call ahead and we will put a mint on your pillow.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Caraguatatuba, São Paulo
Brasil 11672-300
Dear Friends,
Here today the weather is wonderful,awesome. It is about 72 with a slight breeze with sunshine--How AWESOME is the Lord.
We have been visiting Schools for the last 2-3 weeks getting a schedule organized for the group from Virginia Beach. What we will be doing in the schools is evangelism! Yes, that is right, the program this youth group will be doing is singing mimes some tumbling/gymnastic and Preaching the Word. Yes we will be giving an invitation for the people to accept Christ. What and Awesome opportunity the Lord is giving us here--to spread the Word. What a wonderful help these Young people are for our ministry here in Caraguatatuba. Here in Brazil usually you win a family--it starts with the children and then the parents come.
As you know we are still in need of a bus for our ministry here. Well before we came home in February Barbara started a project for the ladies in the Church to help with the purchase of the bus. We were given some scrap material and Barbara purchased some rubber backing and we went into the throw rug business.When we got back from the States the ladies had already made and sold R$700 reais worth of throw rugs. It is catching on and now behind the pastors some men are also helping. My "throw rug" is about 2/3 finished (I'm thinking about auctioning it off)ha!!! Keep praying as having a bus here is a necessity for this ministry with the children.By the way, when we were visiting the schools the principal in one of the schools offered their school facilities for us (the Church) to have a Bible School there for a whole week. This school is in the neighborhood of one of our mission points and this will be really great for the ministry in that neighborhood.
Our home, needless to say, has lots of projects to complete but all is in His time. The interior is about 90% complete and the outside looks pretty much like all the neighbors, unfinished.
We will be returning to work on the School property probably in the latter part of this month. We got a donation for finishing the dormitory and after the summer ministry projects we will be full force again.
We have been back for over a month now and either my S-10 or the van have been in the garage this whole time. First the steering pump on the van then the muffler and tail pipe. Then the air on the S-10 and now all the tires need rotating and balancing. While there in the States we really enjoyed your good roads.Here it is a necessity to balance and rotate your tires every 5000 miles. So monthly there is a need to go over the vehicles and tighten everything up--or loose it. Just before I came home one of the shocks broke on the van right in the middle of the road and the tire just turned under the van. So just like others here --repair work accomplished in the middle of the road.
We have also been working (repairing) our Church buildings. The humidity here is extremely hard on buildings. The one mission point that has been condemned is waiting for some group to come and tear it down. Do you want to be this group?!!?
Our Pastor at Salesópolis, Luis, and his wife Dani, have two boys, the smallest is in need of surgery because he is drowning during the night when he sleeps. But the socialized medicine cannot get to this little boy until November.
We have had $500 dollars given for this surgery but we need $500 more. If you would like to help with this need mark your donation "boy's surgery". I will keep you updated on this situation.
Well, as always, we would like to invite ALL to come down and see the Lords work here in Caraguatatuba. Call ahead and we will put a mint on your pillow.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
4 de maio de 2009
May Newsletter
Hello friends,
Well we have arrived back home here in Caraguatatuba Brasil. Our three months there in the States were full of travel and meeting old and new friends.It was just AWESOME getting to see everyone and in some cases to make new friends. If we did not get to see you or come to your Church this time please forgive us and we will try to see you next time we are in the States. It has been one of our best trips to the States ever. We made new friends in La. Ga. TX.Va. and our home state Ky. From these we expect to have new groups to visit the ministry here in Caraguatatuba. And along those lines, if we did not give you a personal invitation, I want to do so now. Come on down and see what is going on in God's ministry here in Caraguatatuba. Call and we will be waiting for you.
As we are getting ourselves back into the work and getting caught up on everything we see the great need for the bus. We are actively pursuing the funds to purchase the bus for the Sunday school ministry and the Church. In one neighborhood we are taking 3cars and our van to help carry the children on Sunday morning. This is definitely a prayer request for our ministry here. We were able to raise some of the money necessary while we were home and if you want to be a part of this need just mark your donation bus ministry. We have looked at buses and will be able to buy a good used bus for around $27,000.00 . We know we serve an AWESOME God and He will provide (maybe through you).
We are looking forward to several groups visiting us this year. Some will be ministering in our public schools, others will be evangelizing in neighborhoods and still others will be work groups. Notice I did mention PUBLIC SCHOOLS---pray for us as we enter the public schools here in Caraguatatuba. We have a youth group in Virginia Beach planning to visit in the latter part of June,please pray for them and us as this ministry unfolds and for many young people to see their need for Christ.
We are also getting our construction started back up on our vocational school as it has been on hold for 3 months. We are hoping to get the dormitory finished so that we can get it filled with young men to study in the Second Chance Vocational School.
Just a bit on the light side, while home in the States I became a much bigger person!! I'm not telling just exactly how many pounds I gained(but they were several). Now I am on a program to get smaller.---Why?---So I don't have to purchase new clothes.
Pray with us as we get settled back into our work here and looking for new works to start.
As always the bed is turned down and we will leave the light on, so come on down.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Well we have arrived back home here in Caraguatatuba Brasil. Our three months there in the States were full of travel and meeting old and new friends.It was just AWESOME getting to see everyone and in some cases to make new friends. If we did not get to see you or come to your Church this time please forgive us and we will try to see you next time we are in the States. It has been one of our best trips to the States ever. We made new friends in La. Ga. TX.Va. and our home state Ky. From these we expect to have new groups to visit the ministry here in Caraguatatuba. And along those lines, if we did not give you a personal invitation, I want to do so now. Come on down and see what is going on in God's ministry here in Caraguatatuba. Call and we will be waiting for you.
As we are getting ourselves back into the work and getting caught up on everything we see the great need for the bus. We are actively pursuing the funds to purchase the bus for the Sunday school ministry and the Church. In one neighborhood we are taking 3cars and our van to help carry the children on Sunday morning. This is definitely a prayer request for our ministry here. We were able to raise some of the money necessary while we were home and if you want to be a part of this need just mark your donation bus ministry. We have looked at buses and will be able to buy a good used bus for around $27,000.00 . We know we serve an AWESOME God and He will provide (maybe through you).
We are looking forward to several groups visiting us this year. Some will be ministering in our public schools, others will be evangelizing in neighborhoods and still others will be work groups. Notice I did mention PUBLIC SCHOOLS---pray for us as we enter the public schools here in Caraguatatuba. We have a youth group in Virginia Beach planning to visit in the latter part of June,please pray for them and us as this ministry unfolds and for many young people to see their need for Christ.
We are also getting our construction started back up on our vocational school as it has been on hold for 3 months. We are hoping to get the dormitory finished so that we can get it filled with young men to study in the Second Chance Vocational School.
Just a bit on the light side, while home in the States I became a much bigger person!! I'm not telling just exactly how many pounds I gained(but they were several). Now I am on a program to get smaller.---Why?---So I don't have to purchase new clothes.
Pray with us as we get settled back into our work here and looking for new works to start.
As always the bed is turned down and we will leave the light on, so come on down.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
3 de abril de 2009
April Letter
Aj and Barbara Hensley
C.P. 1511
Caraguatatuba, São Paulo
e-mail: ajcaragua@gmail.com
011-55-12-3888-4189
Dear friends,
These past two months have almost been a blurr. We arrived in the States on the 6th of Feb. and started the trek that has taken us to speak in more than 12 Churches. However I'm not complaining at all, we have seen many old friends and made new ones. And for this we thank God. Allowing us to do all this and keeping us safe in the travel.In the various Churches where we have been many are planning a trip down to see us this year and do some work there on the mission field.This does not sound like too much travel but we are getting to the place that we would rather walk than to ride.(ha).
While staying with friends in Jasper Georgia we became acquainted with the man that was doing some yard work at their home. We told him about our work and invited him to come down and visit us in Brazil. This week we received a check from this man as he wants to help with missions. How AWESOME is the one that is in control!!!
In each of the Churches where we have been we have told them about the greatest need that we have there in Caraguatatuba. That is the need for a Church bus. You know that we have had 2 buses in the past but before we came we had to sell both of them for scrap metal as they had almost rusted through in various places. You can imagine how hard it became to push these buses to get them to start. We are trying to raise enough money to buy a new-used bus for our Sunday School ministry. The children have been unable to come to Sunday School because of not having a bus. WE have been using the Vocational School van to bring as many as we can pack in but this week the Federal Police stopped the Van and made an inspection. And they found that the extinguisher was out of date so they confiscated the documents. Now we are without any way to get the kids to Sunday School. We are working on getting the documents back but they tell us that we have to be there to get them. So it will be a while before transportation is available. Our prayer is to be able to purchase a bus when we return to Brasil and with your help this will happen.Make your checks to BFM designated to Aj's bus fund.
We would love to have you come down and see the work. Call us and Barb and I and our daughter Mary and her husband and our granddaughter would love to help you plan your trip.
If we were unable to see you this trip we are sorry. But holler at us and we will make plans the next time that we are in the States.
Thanks for your love and support for us on the field in Brasil.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
C.P. 1511
Caraguatatuba, São Paulo
e-mail: ajcaragua@gmail.com
011-55-12-3888-4189
Dear friends,
These past two months have almost been a blurr. We arrived in the States on the 6th of Feb. and started the trek that has taken us to speak in more than 12 Churches. However I'm not complaining at all, we have seen many old friends and made new ones. And for this we thank God. Allowing us to do all this and keeping us safe in the travel.In the various Churches where we have been many are planning a trip down to see us this year and do some work there on the mission field.This does not sound like too much travel but we are getting to the place that we would rather walk than to ride.(ha).
While staying with friends in Jasper Georgia we became acquainted with the man that was doing some yard work at their home. We told him about our work and invited him to come down and visit us in Brazil. This week we received a check from this man as he wants to help with missions. How AWESOME is the one that is in control!!!
In each of the Churches where we have been we have told them about the greatest need that we have there in Caraguatatuba. That is the need for a Church bus. You know that we have had 2 buses in the past but before we came we had to sell both of them for scrap metal as they had almost rusted through in various places. You can imagine how hard it became to push these buses to get them to start. We are trying to raise enough money to buy a new-used bus for our Sunday School ministry. The children have been unable to come to Sunday School because of not having a bus. WE have been using the Vocational School van to bring as many as we can pack in but this week the Federal Police stopped the Van and made an inspection. And they found that the extinguisher was out of date so they confiscated the documents. Now we are without any way to get the kids to Sunday School. We are working on getting the documents back but they tell us that we have to be there to get them. So it will be a while before transportation is available. Our prayer is to be able to purchase a bus when we return to Brasil and with your help this will happen.Make your checks to BFM designated to Aj's bus fund.
We would love to have you come down and see the work. Call us and Barb and I and our daughter Mary and her husband and our granddaughter would love to help you plan your trip.
If we were unable to see you this trip we are sorry. But holler at us and we will make plans the next time that we are in the States.
Thanks for your love and support for us on the field in Brasil.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
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