April Newsletter

Again, sorry for not posting in the proper time frame. mkhq


Dear Friends,

Well we have had a very busy month. We began last year a campaign to help the widows of our Church in their homes. We are remodeling doing necessary repairs to their homes and painting and helping with necessities--food clothing and etc. The latest project was for a widow with 4 children. Thanks to Mt. Eden Baptist Church in Western Ky. we were able to lay tile in her 300 square foot home and painted inside and out.Then the ladies decided that a new house deserved new furniture. So they went shopping and returned with new beds and mattresses and chest of drawers and closet. This has been nothing short of a miracle for us, the Church and for the mother and family. How awesome it is to be able to serve our Lord and Savior and at the same time get to see His handy work. How AWESOME is the Lord we serve. (Check out the pictures at our Flickr site)

The ladies helped the first day in the morning and then in the afternoon we held a Bible School in the mission point near where we were working on the house. We had on the average 45 to 50 for three days. It was a blessing to see these children listen to the Bible stories and do the crafts.

Our new mission endeavor, the English Church, is going well and growing. We have had from 1 to 5 visitors every Saturday and the news is getting out about the service. The other new mission endeavor in Massaguaçu, is still giving us a lot of challenges. In physical labor we are repairing the outside walking area, painting and some general repair. There is also the problem of getting the electricity hooked up, I really don't know what the problem is there but we are working hard to get the work up and running. We have painted our Church name on the building and the service hours and the neighborhood is starting to pay attention. We will start visiting in the area this week to let the people know that we are in the area. We have already gotten some comments and not all of them are good.The other day a car drove by and stopped and asked if this is another place of hades and then drove off. This is just a sign that we are needed in this area.

This month we are planning to start the foundation for the dormitory for the Vocational School. We have gotten 2 donations for this project so we have enough to get started. This will enable us to have a few more young men in training. We are praying about two young men in São Paulo. It would be great to have them here helping in the construction phase. This will be a part of their training, learning a work ethic. This project will go slow as our Pastor is traveling for a month to Manaus and I and my son-in-law will be in charge of our Church here. Preaching, teaching and taking care if the needs of the people. Pray for us as the work, physical and spiritual is going forward.Also Barbara will probably have surgery this month so I will be occupied in all areas of life.

There is lots of work to be done, many friends to make, and beans and rice to eat so come on down your bed is turned down.

In his Service,

Aj and Barbara

Newsletter

Dear friends,

This month we have been busy on two of our mission buildings. In Morro do Algodão, where we almost lost the building because of the rainy season and being flooded two times, we are painting, have installed a fan for the services, and are building a wall in front of the Church building. There is still much to do. Services are now going on in this building and we are beginning to see a renewed interest in the neighborhood. While the building was being repaired we were having services in homes in the neighborhood and our attendance fell. But with God's help we will see this Mission growing again. We have services here on Thursday nights.

In the Olaria Mission we have put concrete in the front of the Church building, poured a sidewalk beside the building, and this week the water was finally connected. Attendance is growing in this Mission point. We have services here on Thursday and Saturday nights.

Our two Mission points that are out of the city are doing good. In Natividade do Serra where Pastor Jorge is working has 8 people awaiting baptism. We are seeing continued growth there. In Salesópolis where Pastor Luis is working we are in a bit of turmoil: we find that the people that come to visit this church have some reserve about going through the pastors home to get to the meeting place. If you remember, the meeting place in inside the home of the pastor. We have found a building in the center of town (on the main street) that is for rent and has 5 smaller rooms off a big room. It looks like it is tailor made for Church and Sunday School. As usual the only problem is the rent, Pastor Luis and Dani have found a smaller house to rent and this will help with the cost of the new Church building. However we serve an AWESOME God and He is in control. Pray with us for these works and the other locations we have within the city limits. Our desire is to start another work down the coast line, this is in the future so put this on your prayer list.

We are also doing some much needed repairs on the main Church building. We are repairing the roof where we have some leek problems and are doing some much needed painting. It seems that there is never any end to the amount of work that there is to be done.

This week-end we are planning a working on the newest place where we will be beginning another Mission work, Massaguaçu. When this building is ready we will begin services there also.

As you can see there is no lack for places to preach the gospel here in Caraguatatuba. I have told you about the works and have not even touched on the Seminary that is about to start again after the summer break nor the plans for the construction of the dormitory for the Vocational School. But I'll save that for the next letter.

We have one more prayer request for you this month. The value of the dollar is declining here in Brazil and as you can see our work is increasing so it makes it difficult to do all that we need to do here. But the one thing that we know it that we serve a living God and He is capable of all things if we just ask. So we are hoping that you along with us will ask Him to supply our need.

We would love to have you come down and be a part of these works. Just give some notice and we will turn your bed down and put some more water in the pinto beans.

In his service
Aj and Barb

February Newsletter

Friends,

We are back in Brasil after a quick trip to the States for the holidays. We took the opportunity to be together in the States with our entire family for the first time in years. Mary and her husband were able to go with us so that completed the family unit. We were not on furlow just on a family holiday. Our time there was wonderful.

Barb's mom had had a fall and we came to encourage her, but to be honest the main reason was that God had blessed our son and daughter-in-law with expecting our first grand daughter. We came to be present for the birth and God was good as he let us have two days with the most beautiful grand daughter we have ever seen. Her name is Briley Alaine Hensley and she and her parents are doing well. (photo included) What an awesome experience to get to hold your first grand child---just call me Grand Pa.

There was a 3rd reason for coming back to the States this time and that was Barbara's health. There were several tests that she needed to have done and past problems that needed to be re- checked. So she spent a bit of time in Dr's offices. Her previous problem had resolved itself but the Dr's discovered another small problem. We covet your prayers as we come back to Brazil to hunt a Dr for her so that the problem can be treated here.

Coming back to Brazil was quite a shock temperature wise. Here it is in the high 80s and the day we left the States it was 10. We are getting adjusted to the change and trying to get back into the routine. The ministries are going well considering the time of year, here it is holiday and everyone is either working as much as they can or is off somewhere on vacation. Here in Caraguatatuba we always have a decrease in attendance because of people working.

Our newest endeavor, the English speaking Church, is scheduled to start on the 16th of Feb. We are targeting the people that speak English and those that are studying in the schools that teach English as a second language. We covet your prayers as some of these people would never enter a Church if it weren't for something like this. When you remember this ministry we will be having the services on Saturday nights at 6:00 o'clock.

While we were home we were given a donation to help get the dormitory going. We have been saving another donation for some time now that was designated for the footer, so now we can get to work on this project. We will be making the blocks and letting them season while we are pouring the footer. Then we will start the walls. We will keep you up on the progress of this project.

While we are doing this we will need to attend to some construction problems that happened while we were in the States. Some of the roof on the mission point is Olaria blew off and needs to be repaired. Morro do Algodão still needs to be painted, tile on the floor and some concrete walks poured around the building.

We got back just in time to get the bills for the tax and insurance on the new van and our truck, believe me when I say, in the States we have it good in these areas. Also the repairs on these vehicles sometimes gets ahead of you because of the situation of the roads. Every 5000 miles or so I need to line and balance the tires. It is getting harder to keep up with these repairs as the dollar keeps dropping in value here. I know that we are not the only missionary that is having to look around to see where we can let somethings go for a while so I am asking on behalf of all of us for your prayers concerning our finances.

Pray with us as we minister here in Brazil and pray for our families there in the States and here in Brazil.

Speaking of family did I say that Grandpa is sending a picture of the gift that He sent to us on the 19th of January 2008? Well here it is, isn't she beautiful?!!?

I wish for God to richly bless you and yours this coming year.

Also don't forget--the light is on and your bed is turned down, so come on down.

In His Service,
Aj and Barb

Here is our first video

Check out this short video about us in Brazil .

Bible School Saturdays in Perequê

In the house of Sister Jandira















The days lesson was on Jesus and His Disciples






























Bible Drills















Coloring page

Van Pics

Loading the folks from Morro de Algodão to return home after Sunday Morning Sunday School.

November Letter

Dear Friends,

This month has been a little slow due to the fact that I have been down with various illnesses. For more than two weeks I have been without energy and having difficulty breathing. But you know what God does not need us to fulfill His work He just keeps on going even when we can't.

Let me tell you about the miracles and blessings that He has worked as I watched His handy work. Last month I wrote about the house we helped to remodel for the family that had lost the father and for the extra space for the services we were having there. This family was struggling financially because of the loss of the father and the 16 year old daughter was having health issues that was costing more than they could afford.This girl, Audriele, was diagnosed with cancer and the mother was distraught trying to get the medical help that was needed.The mother, by selling fish, was able to get the basic test done but the Doctors were undecided about the diagnosis and asked for a more extensive test. Here we have socialized medicine and the daughter was put on the list for this much needed test for the Doctors to be able to agree on her diagnosis. But the waiting list was one year and her problem was not going to wait for one year. Well the First Baptist Church in Bastrop Texas was here and the Pastor took this problem back to his Church and they sent money for us to pay for the test. This week at our prayer meeting Gloria, the mother, told us THE REST OF THE STORY. The Doctors read the results of the test and were shocked that there was nothing present that was on the preliminary testing, so they ordered another test to prove whether they were reading the test right or not. When the test results came back the Doctors could only shake their heads in disbelief. There no longer was any cancer and they were shocked, But we here in Caraguatatuba were not because we know the DOCTOR who is still in the MIRACLE business. Thanks to all who prayed for this girl and this family, continue to pray for the family because the mother has been diagnosed with heart problems and we need another miracle.

The blessing of the month is that the van/bus was purchased has been put it to use. This past week our bus broke down and we were able to fill the gap with the new purchase. Also we are able to do many more ministries because of this purchase. Thanks again to those of you that helped us with this purchase.

Good news about our Church building in Morro do Algodão (the one that has tilted over 12inches out of level). This building has been out of use for about one year and we have been holding services in homes. We now have returned to the Church building this is the second week. Oh yes there is still work to be done but this is not stopping our services. The things that are still needed is tile on the floor, sidewalks and paint.Thanks to our AWESOME God for each success.

Barbara and Edson have started another Saturday bible school in Pereque. On the first Saturday they had 10 children and on Sunday one of the children accepted Christ as Savior. We are excited to start again a work in this area as we don't have an ongoing work there at the present time. As is always the needed supplies are costly so we would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support to us here in Brazil.

The latest work has not begun as of yet because of the lack of materials for the preparation of the building. God was good to us in that He is providing the building for the first year without rent but we need to make some needed repairs. Therein lies the delay. The name of the neighborhood is Massaguaçu, remember this new work in your prayers.

We need two things(maybe three) from you there in the States, your prayers your financial support and your visits. If I were you I would be curious to see how your donations were being spent, so please come down and experience the work of God here in Caraguatatuba.

In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley