Busy days in Brazil - July happenings

Hi friends and family,

This month has been very exciting and busy one for us. We have had groups from two Churches and they came two days apart. The group from Warner Robbins Ga. did a vacation Bible School at the home of our member Gloria. The exciting thing about this is that some of these teenagers had helped in the construction of Gloria's house. They also participated in the Tuesday night meeting that is held in Gloria's home. In preparation for the Bible School we canvased the neighborhood , door to door to let the children know when we were going to be there. During this door to door visiting we were able to present the Gospel to various people. We were invited to do some work in one of the public schools and were fed by the kitchen workers and ate with the teachers and the principal. This group scraped the walls, sanded the walls and then painted in two class rooms.From there we went to the Vocational School where tile was laid and other jobs were done.The next group from Gardenside Baptist Church in Lexington Ky. was able to do a Bible School in the same public school where the others had painted. So one opened the doors for the other.Even though the students were on winter break the principal invited them back to participate and also their parents. The Principal is new to this school and she wanted to get the parents involved and get to know them and she used us as a tool. It worked for her and for us too.She also brought her twin boys. A great time was had by all!!! This group also painted in this public school.We went from the public school to the Vocational School where tile was laid and walls painted along with planning for a electrical class in the future. Opportunities are unlimited when you come to do whatever God has for you to do.

We made many new friends at the school and I have been invited to start an English class for the teachers and workers. Among the new friends we have made are the principals twin boys that are teenagers. The family is catholic and we were surprised when the boys began to attend our youth meetings on Saturday night. And then even more excited when they started to come the Church every Sunday. AWESOME what God does and lets you be apart of. This is a small miracle but it is a miracle.

To top off the month we had a baptism last Sunday and two were baptized. There are several attending new converts class and soon we will enter into the waters of baptism again. Praise be to God who gives the harvest. We are still deep in the planning for the Pastors conference here in November. Our Church in conjunction with Second Baptist Church in Warner Robbins Ga. will be sponsoring our first Pastors Conference. We will be inviting pastors from across Brasil to attend so that we can encourage them in their ministry. Pray for this conference with us as we desire to reach Brasil for Christ. And what better way than to encourage Brasilian pastors in the work.

As we are writing this letter our son Bryan called to tell us that our long time friend and brother in Christ, Fred Hearn has gone to be with the Lord. I remembered that when we were just coming to Brasil to help other missionaries Fred and Pat made the trip with us. Pray for this family in their loss.

Our vehicles are giving us good service but at the same time are costing much in the mechanic shop.It is imperative to keep the van running because it is our churches only means of transporting the people that don't have cars nor money to come by public transport. I have begun to have to make two trips on Sunday morning and on Sunday night as we are having many people coming. Praise the Lord for this. That brings me say that we need a bus. Please put this on your prayer list and if you can help with an offering to purchase a bus that would be AWESOME.

We have had many visitors this month but that does not mean that we are not looking for you. The bed is turned down and I can get new mints for the pillow as the other groups have eaten the last ones.

In His service,
Aj and Barbara

Febuary Newsletter

Hi friends and family,

I like to sit on the front porch in the mornings and drink my coffee, read my Bible, pray and anticipate the activities of the day. As I am looking at the road in front of the house this morning I see two branches (creeks), one on each side of the road. Instead of the river (the road being completely covered with water), yes it is raining again. Whatever the plans for the day are it is a must that you include rain as a possibility for the day. Enough about the weather, this is the day that the Lord has made! Let us be glad in it.

We were in the States for a few weeks with a seriously ill brother. He had had a stroke and was undergoing surgery and the family was called in because of the seriousness of the situation. Well we arrived as soon as we could but we were late and we found my brother dismissed from the hospital and at home. When we as a family (4 brothers and families) arrived at his home his countenance completely changed. When we entered he was down in the dumps but upon seeing us he became chipper and sat up immediately. Insisted that we sit down around him with gestures because he could not speak. How AWESOME is our God. So instead of a final farewell we had a wonderful family reunion. And on top of being able to minister and pray for him we just had and awesome time together. And that is how it is with problems sometimes He takes the bad and turns it into blessings.

Sorry that we were unable to visit with you all this time but this was such a quick trip and was dedicated to family. We are looking forward to coming home and spending time with all of you soon.

Thanks to all of you for your prayer support for the new work. It is growing and lives are being changed. On our return we had a baptism and 16 new converts were baptised on Saturday night and were added to the Church role on Sunday.Since we started last year that makes 23 new brothers and sisters added to God's Kingdom. We still have several more for baptism and are planning another baptism this month. Awesome is it not?! We are now above 60 members and are averaging in the 80's for our principal service. We feel the Lord's presence with this new Church start.We are planning to organise this mission work into a Church in April. Keep on praying for this work and for the organization meeting in April. Don't forget to pray for the Vocational School, we are working on the dormitory for the boys and the work is going slow. But we are not discouraged, because we know that God is with this work too. Also continue to pray for the orphanage, the couple that was interviewed before we left has accepted the invite to come and be the parents at the orphanage. They will be coming as soon as they can finish some things that they had committed to do. And the Judge has said that as soon as there are parents there he has children to put in the orphanage.

As we work here we have a few basic needs. With all the expenses for our van and truck, it is becoming a real challenge to keep up financially. These vehicles are being used daily in our ministry and the roads are becoming a true challenge for the vehicles. Some of our roads are asphalt, some dirt, and the rest are holes with a little road around them. So you can see as the rain continues the roads become worse. The repair bills keep mounting ---however the ministry goes on. Pray with us for our vehicles and transportation needs. One of the greatest is a bus. Please pray that we would receive offerings sufficient to buy one. As you can imagine with the increase in members we need a bus to bring all of them to Church and have run out of room for Sunday School classes. We are in dire need of building more rooms in which to have Sunday school.. So pray for this need also.

Another AWESOME blessing I've been having is on Friday nights a "Servants Class" for 5 men. I have used all the qualifications and references for deacons as a basis for this class. They as well as I are receiving a great blessing from this class. I hoe to complete this class this week or next. This will possibly open the door for some of these men to serve as deacons in the future.

Well it seems all I have been doing in this letter is telling of our needs and prayer requests, permit me to put one more in front of you all, our son-in-law and daughter are looking at another place to serve the Lord and Savior. Pray for Walmir and Mary as they are considering where the Lord wants them to serve. Also pray for Mary as her dew date for our third granddaughter Ashley is at the end of March. I am going to be a grand pa again for the 3rd time. What an AWESOME blessing.

As I close this letter I ask that you keep praying as that is what keeps us going spiritually and keep giving as that is what keeps us going financially. Also think of coming down as that is what keeps us going emotionally.

Just remember that we can add some water to the beans and throw a few more grains of rice in the pot so a few more people at the table is not a problem. Hope to see you here in Brasil soon.

In His service,
Aj and Barbara

January 2011

Dear friends and family,

Happy New Year to all! Hope this letter finds everyone well and looking forward to an AWESOME new year. From what I hear a lot of you are suffering from freezing weather with snow. This may be a good time to leave your cold place and come on down to the heat of the tropics. A mission trip at this time of the year would get you out of that cold weather and put you into a warm climate where you can suffer for the Lord. Here we are suffering from the heat. But God is giving us some respite as almost every afternoon we get lots of rain. Today we will have to take everything out of the Church because yesterday it came a "chicken drowner" (probably about 5 inches of rain in about 5 hours) and it entered the Church. So we will have to do some extensive cleaning. As we sat on the front porch yesterday our street looked like a river. As we look at the changes in the weather--maybe God is telling us something.

The new work is going very well. We have had several services with over 100 people. The Lord is really blessing. We had a special Christmas program with and for the children and it was a success. Many visitors came and now we have the opportunity to visit them and take the gospel to their homes. Also our New Year service was attended by over 40 families that are members and several visitors. We praised the Lord and sang the new year in and then eat to our hearts content.

We are looking at many projects here on the Church property and also on the Vocational property. We are just waiting for the visitors to come and help us. What are your plans for vacation this upcoming year? Could you come on down and help us?

As usual our vehicles are undergoing weekly trips to the mechanic. Our roads are one big hole after the other and this does bad things to the vesicles. Our bigger expense right now is the insurance for these vehicles. We will have 4 to 6 months of payments to pay for the insurance. It is not like there in the States, you cannot make payments over the year. Here you have to either pay in one payment or they give you 4 or 6 months to pay. We have thought about letting it drop but here because we transport church people we have to have insurance. So between the holes in the roads and the insurance it is almost cost prohibitive to have a vehicle. I now understand why most Brasilians ride a bike or walk.

Barbara and I would like to thank each and every one of you who have brought or sent clothes to us here in Brasil. We do several things with the clothes, here is the process, we call each of the members to the house and open the boxes and say "cloth your family". Then when everyone has been clothed we are having a sale of the clothes for the neighborhood. In November we sold enough clothes to buy a new stove for the kitchen at the church. And this month we had another sale and we have enough money to pay half of the price for a new refrigerator. It is such a blessing to first see the church members leaving the house with sacks of clothes knowing that they would not have been able to have bought these clothes but they are receiving them for free. It is such a joy to see someone else using clothing that did not fit you anymore knowing that they are being put to good use. Come down and see if you can recognize something that you have left here in Brasil or have sent by someone else. Again thanks for your generosity.

I have been preparing for a series of classes with the men at Church. In these classes I am going to be teaching service, getting the men ready to serve. Our men have begun to meet monthly and the group is growing wonderfully. Yesterday's group had 14 men present. In the classes that I will be teaching I am including a wide range of subjects and the men are becoming excited about the class. Included will be evangelism, discipleship and deacon training. Please pray for us as we prepare for and start these classes.

Construction right now is at a standstill because we are out of money to do construction. But we are using the time in another area. We are having more time to make visits and other training of the church members.

The house Church is going very well. We average 20-25 on Tuesday nights. We also have a children's club there on the last Saturday of the month. This is good as you reach the parents through the children. From this neighborhood I have been working with 3 boys At the Vocational School. They are showing much progress. The other young man that is doing his training at the key shop is coming along real well. The owner who is training him says that he is a good student.

It seems like every month we have not accomplished nothing but when we begin to write it down we see that God is accomplishing many things through us. Continue to pray for us here in Brasil as we pray for you there in the States.

And Barbara and I would like to say again how grateful we are that people like you send people like us to tell the world about Jesus. Come down and see what your help is doing here in Brasil. The beans are on the stove and the table is set.

In His service,
Aj and Barbara

It's December - Newsletter

Dear friends,

Somehow it just does not seem as though it is time for the Christmas season, but it is here and I'm going to just have to go along. At home in the States I hear that it is COLD. Here it is in the 90's and the air is heavy. We have been having rain so with a lot of help --maybe I can see the rain as snow and get into the spirit. Have an AWESOME Christmas season.

This month has just flown by. Barb and I have been taking a "Bible Counseling " course in São Paulo.It has been a year long course and will be well used as the course was totally based on biblical principles for counseling. It was intense but we received our certificate of accomplishment this past Saturday.

Church is going very well with lots of work, both physical and spiritual to be done. We have had several teenagers accept Christ as personal savior---AWESOME. With this we have lots of work to do. That´s what it is all about. Construction is going at a slow pace at Church. Mostly because we have lots of projects that needs to be accomplished but don´t have the financial resources to accomplish them.

Sometimes the needs have to be prioritized ie; we need Sunday School chairs and tables. And these could double in use for breakfast for the children on Sunday morning. We need 12 tables and 50 chairs.We also need 4-6 more Sunday School rooms. We have 3 rooms and the rest of us are sitting outside. This so far has not been a problem even though we have been having lots of rain.

Speaking of rain, tonight during the service it came a "chicken drowner". The noise was so loud we could hardly hear the message. This is because the roof is tin and we need a suspended ceiling which would give some insulation for the sound and also for the heat. This morning service was heal in somewhere around 90 degrees temperature on the outside and on the inside also.(pix included notice everyone fanning). This is just another one of the needs we have for the Church building.

We also need some flannel grafts for the Sunday school teachers. You know what it is like starting from scratch you don´t have anything so you just improvise until you can get the necessary things for you to use. We know that we are on the winning side because with our Lord on our side we cannot fail.

With our Church being in the beginning faze we are being Awesomely blessed. Please pray for us, all the workers and the new members. Your prayers are our key to a successful new Church plant.

If you get tired of the snow and cold, just know that you have an open invitation to come on down and sweat with us. Your bed is turned down and there is a mint on the pillow.

In His service,
Aj and Barbara

Hello Friends,

And the work goes on.......! What on AWESOME God we have. It is just great how things come together. With our new work it seems there is a never ending list of "things-to-do". But it's a wonderful problem to have. We have just about got the interior of our building inhabitable and having the appearance of a Church. We have completed the pulpit and painted the walls, tiled the floor, arranged a sound-control area, put our name on the front of the building, we are fixing a kitchen,and next week we will install our permanent entrance doors. And along with all this you can imagine the mess that goes with "on-going" construction and renovation. Hey, I'm not complaining, I'm rejoicing! Continue to pray with us as the new work progresses.

We have already had our second baptism and are planning a date for our next one. How blessed we have been with growth. We are averaging in the high 70 and low 80. We are praying about buying more chairs s we only have 100 and have space for over 200.

You know I just love bragging on the Lord and how He works in our lives and the life of our Church. Not only is all this work going on in the Church building but we have started a house Church on Tuesday nights. This work is going AWESOMELY. We have met in this neighborhood for 4 weeks and have had in attendance the first week 20+ second week 20+ third week 44 and fourth week 31. And just this past week we started a children's bible study on Saturday afternoon we had around 25 in attendance. It is just great to see the children's interest in learning more about the Bible and hearing Gods word. During the week we have discipleship two nights in our home. Also other members are doing the same in their homes.

I've been talking a lot about the new work but lets not forget our training school. I have been working with 4 young men (boys) in the school.We are doing some woodworking and working in the key shop.The boys working with wood are anxious to have class every day but I can only have class two days per week. The locksmith training is every day of the week for half the day.Lots of young boys here are interested in learning a trade and we are able to make a difference in a few young lives. One of our four boys just was suspended from our school because of behavioral problems in regular school. Not only are we teaching life skills but they are learning other things such as attitudes, Church attendance, to have good grades at regular school, respect for others and other disciplines. These young men need to be a productive member at Church at home and in the community. I am working with two of the young men and they are really opening up about their lives and family problems.

With all of this going on what are some of our more urgent prayer request? First off we need a bus!!! Here a good used bus runs about $30,000 dollars. Also we are holding Sunday School classes outside and this means that we need more class rooms. We are trying to keep all of this in prospective as this building is rented. We need property for our future so we can build our own Church building. And as we are looking to that end we have been looking for lots. We have had a petroleum company move into our town so that means that prices have gone up on many things but not the salaries of our people. But that means that the price of land has sky rocketed. So you can see that purchasing land is a dream (a great prayer request) but nothing is impossible for our God.

Well I will hush for now but will just say "U-all come"! Come on dawn and see and experience a new work start, see the love and excitement and how the Lord is working in such an AWESOME manner. Continue to pray for us.And THANKS for your financial support and prayers. Without your help this work would not have this success.

In His service,
Aj and Barbara

Newsletter

Dear friends,

I no sooner turn around and another month is gone. But that's OK because it gives us a chance to look back to see what has happened and lets us plan for the future.

This has been one of our most active months here in Brasil. Between funerals, ministry, discipleship, and construction it is just AWESOME what is getting done here.

Our new mission Church is going AWESOME.For about 3 weeks straight we were averaging in the 80's; however we have slowed somewhat to the mid 70`s. We are planning a baptism on the 24th of this month. We have between 20 to 30 candidates for baptism. How AWESOME He is!!!!!!The discipleship we are doing is really taking from our schedules however the results are worth it all. When your students come and ask how can they better study the Bible it just makes you want to jump for joy. Don't tell anyone --but I can´t remember when I have had so much fun.

We have a couple that we are discipling and their backgrounds are opposite. He was raised in another denomination and she was raised without any Church background. They are growing with leaps and bounds. He is knowledgeable in the Bible and she is not. To watch them grow in the Lord is amazing. He is wanting to work more in the Church, ie driving the Church van and working at the Church when he is not working his own business(He installs air conditioning and works on appliances). And she is like a sponge, the more she learns the more she wants to know. He is in his late 40's and now he is calling me Dad.

When you are starting a new mission there is always many needs and this time is no different. One of our greatest needs is transportation. Our van is doing more than double time work and still we need help with the transportation. This said maybe this helps you understand that one of our primary needs right now is a bus. A dependable buss will run around $35,000 dollars or more. With the exchange of the dollar falling every day it will probably cost more. Pray with us for this need.

About the building that we are renting for our Church services: it is a warehouse and property which includes 3 rooms and one bath.The main structure(the warehouse) opens into the area that is between it and the 3 rooms and one bathroom. We are remodeling the warehouse to be the meeting area and the 3 rooms are serving as Sunday School rooms. We had to take the small kitchen area and make it into a second bathroom. Now we don't have a line at the door of the one bathroom door. Now like all good Baptist we are in need of a kitchen.We are now using a 2 burner gas camp stove and the refrigerator sits alongside it. And it is always cool in the makeshift kitchen as it all sits outside And with the rate of growth we are having we also need more Sunday School rooms.At this time I am looking at how I can meet these needs but building temporarily because we are renting the area and someday will move to a permanent home. At that time we will want to take as much of the things we are building with us as possible. Building temporary will allow us to dismantle and take them with us. I can not put a cost on this construction until I have done some more research.Another need that we have is a sign on the front of the building so that people will know where we are congregating. These are just some more things for youto pray with us about.

Here in Brasil we have Children's Day and it is a holiday that is celebrated greatly as they love their children, as a matter of fact it is celebrated more than Christmas. So Yesterday our Church had Children's Day at Church. We were blessed with 105 children and 55 parents and workers.In town one of the bus services loaned us a buss to pick up the children. This just showed us how much we need a bus of our own. Imagine bringing all those children to Church each Sunday.

You may be thinking why do they need so much help, do the Church members not help? Yes they are helping but our folks here are just everyday folks and here in Brasil the minimum wage is about $307 dollars a month. So the tithes and offerings is paying the rent and utilities and we need help with the other things. Thanks to you folks we are able to do much more and will continue doing with your help.

Thank you each and every one for reading and listening. What an AWESOME God we serve. And Thanks one more time for your continued financial and prayer support. Also for your support for Baptist Faith Missions because without them we would not be serving here in Brasil

In His service,

Aj and Barbara Hensley

Newsletter

This month has been really fasting passing. I don’t know if this just happens when you start approaching the senior years…… or what.

The ministry has kept us really busy this month. A little over a month ago I was privileged to lead a man (55yrs) to the Lord. The reason I was in their home for this visit was the wife frequents our church and requested a visit to pray for and with her husband. Half way through my presentation he accepted the Lord and said I want this (LIFE ETERNAL) more than anything else. It was one of those times you really felt the Holy Spirit working. Then this month he enters the hospital and after two (2) days he goes to be with the Lord.

I was able to do the funeral for the family and we spent around two (2) days with the family comforting them in their loss, and exhibiting our love, “Christianity” to the family. During this time the church ladies and Barbara really did an awesome ministry-caring for the widow and immediate family. Also during the funeral (IN SÃO PAULO CITY) I was able to witness to his extended family approximately one hundred plus (100+) people, tell them about where he was now, and present Jesus Christ to them also. How AWESOME is the God we serve.

In our Sunday School two (2) weeks ago we had five (5) children, 12-15 years old, accept Christ. Our Lord is really working in a special way, opening doors and making it possible to reach many others. Pray for these young people.

It seems as though we have made lots of “sick visits” this month, but regardless of the circumstances for many visits, people are accepting Christ. Just in our home visits this month, with the Holy Spirit working we have had nine (9) people accept Christ. How AWESOME He is, whom we serve.

Our youth this past Friday and Saturday went to São Paulo for a youth rally. There were sixteen (16) in all and they really came back “changed-up” to do even more for the Lord.

As I am writing this letter I am doing hospital visits for another man with cancer. Before he went into the hospital I visited with him and his family. He already knew Christ but wanted me to talk with his family to make sure they also had what he had in his heart.

Our vehicles have really given us a challenge this month. I had the “bicos” cleaned in my diesel S-10 and was also informed they needed to be replaced. The van’s side door needs the rollers replaced and our list goes on. Lots of our repairs are from everyday use, and our roads are always a challenge for our vehicles.

Construction work has been slower than slow. It has been raining almost every day and makes outside work very hard to accomplish.

Because of this in climate weather “raining”, I have had to change our roof tiles between the rain drops. Barbara finally got tired of the buckets and I had to get to work.

Well, as always our doors are open. Why not come down for a visit and see what the Lord is doing in Caraguá Brazil.

Pray for us as we minister here in Brazil

IN HIS SERVICE

AJ & BARB