Busy Past Month and More Coming

Closeup of kids singing at their Christmas Program
The whole gang up front--Julie playing piano

Father/Daughter Date last month
So cute I had to share!

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas to all! We hope all are enjoying their Christmas preparations and not allowing the busyness to threaten their worship of Jesus, the Word, being made Flesh, for us! We have been busy and fighting the fight, like so many, to spend time in the Word, to do fun Christmas activities with the children and keep the good Christian and Family traditions alive.

You might be surprised to hear that Christmas commercialism is just as strong here as in the States. The Christmas activities and decorations start going up in late October, because all the children get out of school for their summer vacation around the last week of November to the first week of December. So they spend the month of November preparing their Christmas programs. They don't have Halloween or Thanksgiving to hold their attention either, so they start right in from Children's Day the beginning of October (huge here) straight into Christmas.

Our Latest Activities

The biggest news is that we have celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being in Brazil on December 8th. It's hard to believe it's already been a year! And we can see how the Lord has been so good to us and taught us so much!

Over the last month, Todd has been pushing it really hard with his language classes. He's on a roll and been able to communicate more and more. That is such an encouragement to him, but he's trying to keep up the momentum in his classes to that he can finish. His hope is to be done by the end of February, beginning of March. He has a schedule lining up how he can finish by then, but because of all the holiday breaks he's getting a little behind. I don't think anyone realizes how hard intensive language learning is until you've experienced it. So please pray for perseverance and encouragement.

Todd also had the opportunity to speak at the retreat for the Ebenezer youth from the 4th-6th. It was quite a challenge to prepare messages while studying for Portuguese and we learned something very important--we can't keep up the college student pace, we're not that young anymore. When Todd was in college he took classes days, studied, socialized, worked til 2 a.m. and got up for class again by 7. We can't keep that up anymore! We loved the retreat where Todd spoke on the theme "What is expected of us?" The youth leader wanted to address the expectations Christ, the world and the church have of our youth and how they are to biblically respond. Todd spoke in English (three sermons is a little hard to prepare for in Portuguese) and our coworker Ivan Goossen translated. But Todd did read several of the Bible passages in Portuguese.

I, Julie, have been very involved in music over the last couple months. The small American school where Michaela has been going on Wednesday afternoons, asked me to teach music for the second quarter. So we spent the last 8 weeks preparing for their Christmas program while inserting some music theory for the Junior High and teaching the recorder for the elementary. Their Christmas Program was this last Thursday. The school has 10 students (including the 2 preschoolers), so the program took all of 15 minutes. It was fun though, and Michaela picked up on the recorder very well. She has quite the knack for music. And Sammy enjoyed just being able to be involved in the two group songs.

I am also singing for our coworkers' son's wedding this next Saturday. Here in the Northeast, most church musicians do not know how to read music. But to compensate they have an incredible talent to be able to listen to recorded music from professional artists and reproduce it. Almost all of them play by ear and do it very well! It was so fun participating in their music practice for the wedding. I am also working with the Ebenezer church on part of their Christmas program. They are going to be handing out invitations to the surrounding neighborhood inviting them to the Christmas program, so please pray for the message of Christ's birth and His reason for coming to earth to be abundantly clear. We would love to see many from the neighborhood come to know the Lord!

Both of the children are growing by leaps and bounds. Michaela is doing very well in school and is really loving her piano and music classes. She sits down to practice her piano without being asked and picks up her recorder to play her little tunes quite frequently. She has also learned how to ride her bike quite well. It took her only a couple days to be able to ride around the big back yard without falling and so that's one of her favorite activities. Sammy is becoming quite a little comic. He has all of us rolling at dinner time and we enjoy hearing the little things he comes up with. He is going to be the ring bearer for the wedding on the 19th. He's quite the popular little guy here because of this blond hair and blue eyes. It worries us sometimes, and everyone wants to touch him, but we keep a good hold on him when we're out and never leave either of the kids out of our sight. They both seem to be doing well with their adjustment here, though both of them talk about going to the States quite frequently.

This will be our first Christmas ever away from both sides of the family, so please pray for our families back home and for us to be able to form our own family traditions here on our own. It's actually a little exciting to start our own family traditions, but we still miss everyone back home.

I'll be including some pictures of the last couple activities we've been involved in and hope you enjoy! Have a wonderful, Merry Christmas! We miss you all and are so glad that we can stay in touch this way!

Serving the Incarnate Christ,

Todd and Julie Hendry

New News

Ladies Night Out
Breakfast with the Whole Group

Dear Friends and Family

Field Conference
This last week we have been in meetings with our coworkers. We were supposed to have our two bosses--the South American Regional Director from Ecuador and the Vice President of Field Ministries from Avant Headquarters in KC--come for our field conference. But both of them had problems--one with his visa and the other with his tickets. So the Lord in His infinite wisdom allowed us to have all arrived from interior, having arranged for people to take care of our responsibilities for the week, and we took it as the Lord directing us to use the week to continue to pray for each other and our ministries and also refine and focus our vision and goals for our collective ministries here in Northeast Brazil.

It's amazing to see how vast the field is and how huge a work it is, but the Lord IS ABLE! We have no doubt of it and fully believe the Lord is guiding each one of us to our goal of seeing every person in this area with the opportunity to accept Christ as Savior. We know that all men need salvation, and God wishes for none to perish. It is our responsibility and privilege to be the messengers and to train others to be messengers of the Good News of Jesus in this area.

The radio listening area is so huge that we have decided to divide it into Zone 1 and Zone 2. Zone 1 is the inner circle, closest to the radio station, that still has a large number of areas that are less than 1% evangelized. Part of our goal for the next six months is to do research on this area and find out what platforms we can use to reach this area for Christ. We know that the 24 Hour Christian Radio is the main tool God has given us to reach into these areas and we're trying to find out where the most responses to radio are, that already don't have churches, and which will be our next area of focus.

Prayer Points
Some matters of prayer that came out of the field conference that we would like to share are these:
1. One of the men from the home office was bringing some very important things down to Brazil for everyone on the field--parts to fix the mission computer, important documents, homeschooling supplies, our kid's Christmas presents and a wedding dress. They were also going to take back some things for us. Please pray for the more important things to find their way here and back.
2. Elwyn and Linda Goossen--There are a couple of situations with the radio staff that need prayer. Two of the staff are having very serious marital problems--please pray for God's resolution and His healing in these marriages.
3. James and Molly Goossen--In Guaraciaba they have had a very large response with requests for many Bible Studies. There are already a handful of believers that are meeting weekly. Please pray for God to protect these new believers from the attacks of Satan and for those that are so close to coming to know the Lord. Continue to praise the Lord for Molly's health!
4. Ken and Alisia Gustafson--Please pray for Beto and Sebastiao, two young men in the Pires Ferreira congregation who have shared a deep passion for seeing their relatives and friends come to know the Lord. Both of them were saved out of desperate situations--Beto being a drunk who would often be wheeled home in a wheel barrow and every one had given up as a lost cause and Sebastiao being the local drug runner who had a price on his head. Ken is teaching Beto how to read so he can read the Bible. And then he wants to learn how to ride a bike so he can go to a village a ways off and share the gospel with a friend.
5. Ivan and Mary Goossen--They are facing many major events in their lives over the next few months. Their son is getting married in December here in Brazil and the wedding dress is for his fiance. They are also in the midst of a construction project for church and finishing the guesthouse property here where we live to make it suitable for our field's needs.
6. Todd and Julie Hendry--Julie's possible melanoma spot came back negative--NO CANCER! That was a real praise! Todd and Michaela are getting better after bad throat infection and an allergic reaction and asthma with Michaela. Todd has started Cycle 19. We are on a schedule for Todd to reach cycle 30 by the end of February. Please pray for the Lord's speed and comprehension in completing his classes. We are also going to be starting to look for housing in Guaraciaba by the end of March. Please pray for the Lord's provision and blessing in this area. Also, Julie will be working with Christmas programs at church and at Michaela's school (she goes on Wednesday afternoon for Portuguese and they asked me to teach music until Christmas).

Communication Problems
We have felt like we have dropped the ball as far as communication goes with our supporters and family. Part of it was a change over from the e-mail system to a new one that won't allow us to send mass e-mails. We tried to send out a request for everyone to become part of a google group and out of over 300 emails sent we only received 34 replies to join our google group. We are still trying to figure out how to deal with this situation and keep in touch. But mostly it's us--we have let life and busyness side track us for a very important part of our ministry--keeping you informed and letting you know how much you mean to us. We are working on our next prayer letter and hopefully we can establish our communication again with many of you that are probably wondering what in the world is going on with us. Thank you for your faithfully to us despite our weaknesses. You are truly a blessing to us and we would't be here with out you!

Serving together with you,
Todd and Julie Hendry

Burning Hearts

Praise:

• Wonderful trip interior--safety--God protected Todd during a police stop
• Todd still doesn't have a drivers license (was denied being able to make the application) but we have found the law that says he can currently drive on an international drivers license. (We are just concerned that the local police will not recognize it.)
• Faithfulness in support and prayers from our partners back home
• Julie's spot was found early

Prayer:

• Biopsy would reveal benign spot on Julie's leg
• Todd's health to return to full-strength
• Michaela's asthma
• Language school for both of us--especially Todd
• Faithfulness in homeschooling
• Michaela's been having a hard time missing family and friends in the States.

Dear Friends and Family,

We have just returned from a trip interior this weekend, to the town where we will be serving after language school for our internship. The name of the town is Guaraciaba and we have been incredibly challenged and blessed by all that is happening there!

Trip Interior
Part of the purpose of our trip was our field prayer meeting. Since most of our missionaries are spread out, we don't have a chance to gather for prayer on a regular basis, so we have started a weekly prayer program and have decided to meet 5 times per year for a day of prayer for each other. Our time together sharing what has been happening in our ministries and families was so special. We have a great team to work with and we thank the Lord for each one of them!

On Saturday, we all went to a little village called Olho D'Agua (literally Eye of Water) which is about 30 minutes off the pavement on clay roads, and we passed over at least 5 wet bridges (that we hear were way better than normal, but our little car struggled over them!). When we arrived, the leader of the church--a lay pastor--was lugging a sack of oranges he had just picked, for all of us to suck the juice out of. Here the people like to cut a hole in the top of the orange and squeeze all the juice right into their mouths. It's good hydration and so delicious! Then they slaughtered a sheep, and served that to everyone who came. But while that was cooking, everyone who could went on a tour of the area, visiting the local creek, the new water tower, the papaya plantation, along with black pepper plants, paprika, and so much more, concluding the tour with a couple hours of playing in the water falls, that eventually lead to the edge of the mountain and a really tall drop. Of course, no one got close enough to see the drop off, but enjoyed playing in one of the water falls that had about a 10 foot drop and pool underneath it. Everyone enjoyed the day so much--demonstrated by completely filthy but happy children at the end of the day.

In the evening, everyone cleaned up, and the lady of the house served the delicacies of the sheep--namely the liver, lungs and brain. Our family had a little bit of a hard time with that and I made sure I found some pieces of actual meat for the children. But it was a very special thing for them to give us and we didn't want to offend them--and everyone else was really enjoying it!

After supper, came the high light of the day. Over 116 people came for an evangelistic meeting that was done by shining the projector onto the side of a white-washed house. These homes are so hidden in the greenery of the mountains that you'd never guess so many people lived in that area. There was a time if singing hymns that a few of the believers in the area knew and I helped with leading the music. It's been a long time since I've done something impromptu like that and so I was pretty nervouse. But after that, they showed a translated Billy Graham sermon and testimonies of famous Brazilians who have come to trust in the Lord as their Savior. At the end of the service when James said "Good Night", nobody left. So another pastor came up and gave his testimony. They still didn't want to leave, so James did a comercial for the Radio Station and said that if anyone listened to the radio station the next Saturday and wrote in to tell how many times their village was mentioned and got it right, they would win a Bible! So everyone got excited about that! After all that, they decided to go home.

The next day we went to James and Molly's house where the believers from a church in the neighboring town of Sao Benedito come every Sunday to work with the beginning of a church in Guaraciaba. For several months they have been doing research surveys in the homes in that neighborhood asking what people know about the radio, about the Bible, about Jesus. Then they ask if they would like prayer, if they would like Christian literature, and if they would like to do a Bible Study. They have had so many responses to requests for Bible Studies that they have had to stop the surveys to catch up on meeting for the Bible studies. Over 70 people have signed up for them! Then James and Molly, and their Brazilian co-worker, Jordana, also do follow-ups and Bible Studies during the week.

There have been at least 7 people that have asked the Lord to be their Savior through these Bible studies so far and have completed all of the evangelistic studies. Now James and Molly have invited them to meet on Wednesday evenings for group Bible studies where they are teaching doctrine (what the Bible teaches) through narratives of the Bible. They also are working on teaching them some Christian songs. Many of the people are illiterate or barely literate and many have never heard the Bible stories, and they are thoroughly enjoying their new found faith and knowledge. Please pray for all the others that are doing Bible studies in the book of John to understand their need for a Savior and to accept Christ's gift of salvation. It is so exciting--we just wish we could be there now!

Later that night we went to their church and Todd spoke. When we arrived the whole town was without electricity and they conducted the service in the dark until about 10 minutes before it was over. We had several people, including the pastor, hoping that we will end up working with them on another church plant after our time in Guaraciaba. The Lord knows!

Personal
Yesterday we arrived home safely, uneventfully, and so excited to go back. We are really looking forward to being in our ministry and living interior. But we want to be faithful in what he has for us to do here still. So along those lines--please do pray for Todd's continued diligence with language study. And I am trying to work out a way to do my studies while teaching Michaela. It is important, and am planning on handing in cycle 18's work on Thursday. Todd is finishing 17 and will be starting 18 on Thursday.

We have had some health issues pop up lately and we would ask for prayer for them. I (Julie) went to the dermatologist a couple weeks ago and I showed her that there was a small spot of brown on top of the white scar tissue from my melanoma surgery a year and a half ago. Well, it looks like it is cancer returning--it's a very slim chance it is not, and we are praying for that to be the case. As Todd said, "God is a God of miracles!" She did a biopsy last Wednesday and we will get the results from the biopsy about the 9th of October. I don't know what will happen if it is, but we'll keep you updated.

Michaela's asthma acted up this weekend while in the mountains, so we would ask you to pray for us to keep it under control. We haven't found an asthma doctor yet, so we need to do that. Sammy is doing well, so no worries for him--except for all the tumbles he takes getting into things and just being a little boy. Todd has had a sore throat for the last 3 weeks, with no other symptoms until tonight when 9 red spots showed up on his back and neck. They look like an allergic reaction or bug bite, so we're not sure if the two are related or not. We are going to look into a doctor for him. We would also like him to get a blood test, to see how his kidney is doing, since we passed the two year mark on September 27th. Molly is doing really well and has so much energy for this ministry. She is so happy to be able to be involved and keep up with all the running around they do with visitation. And she is so good at it too! We just praise the Lord for her!

I know this is a long update--but so much has happened! I hope you enjoy hearing about the interior and all the exciting things the Lord is doing in the lives of so many people. I think next time I'll share some of the testimonies we have heard so you can be praying more specifically for them.

We truly could not be doing this without you! Our field prayed last Friday these verses in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." There are strongholds in the minds of everyone of these people that are being reached with the Bible Studies--wrong religious teaching through cults and other religions, idolatry, materialism, evolution and humanism, and so forth. Please pray that God's power would demolish every idea they have that fights against the truth of God's Word! That God may be glorified and names be written in the Book of Life from Guaraciaba do Norte! Please pray and know we are deeply grateful for all you do for us!

Serving together,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Way too long

This is the update I tried to send out a month ago, September 6th, and all of them returned--as far as I know. We are still trying to get the kinks worked out so we can send general prayer updates to everyone.

Praise:
Todd reached the half-way point in his language studies
Michaela is doing well in 2nd grade and Portuguese classes
Good time of calm and rest lately
Have a good schedule for the family

Prayers:
Our family to grow closer to the Lord and each other
Todd’s Portuguese would continually improve
Julie’s Portuguese class and homeschool schedule
Documents needed—Todd’s drivers’ license, Permanent Visas, Brazilian SSN
Children’s transition and language learning
Trips interior over the next few months


Dear Friends and Family,

We again want to thank you all for your prayers and support for our ministry as we prepare to go interior to work with church planting in the least reached areas of Northeast Brazil. After all the busyness of taking care of the guest house, finishing 1st grade with Michaela and preparing her 2nd grade work, things have reached a comfortable pace. And we are praising the Lord for this time of calm. It’s the first time we’ve felt that life is at a comfortable, workable pace since, well, I don’t know when the last time was. With all the travelling for raising support, then preparing to come down, then arriving and setting up house, homeschooling in the morning and studying in the afternoons, then the container and preparing for mom and dad to leave—we’ve not had much down time but have always gone from one thing to the next. I know the Lord blesses us when we are active in service for Him, but I know He also provides rest and this time has been good for our whole family in that regard.

Todd has had a whole month and a half of classes with out any interruptions and he has made considerable progress. We were praying that he’d finish Cycle 14 by the end of August and was already in the middle of Cycle 15 at the turn of the month. He finished cycle 15 this week and has reached the half-way mark! What a milestone! It’s been a blessing for me to see him communicating clearly and understanding so much more. We’ve been involving ourselves more at church, attending Thursday night women’s and men’s Bible studies, and Awana on Saturdays and that has given us more opportunities for conversation and practice for Todd. We’ve also seen our children slowly learning new words and feeling more comfortable. Michaela has always enjoyed being around people, but now that she doesn’t know Portuguese, she fears not understanding what someone says and having someone laugh at her. Please pray for her little heart to take chances and learn to laugh at her own mistakes, they are unavoidable. Two weeks ago she started Portuguese classes and she is doing well with learning the alphabet and learning the phonetic sounds so she can sound out words a little easier. And she learned her first verse in Portuguese for Awana this week. It was 2 Corinthians 6:2b—“Now is the day of salvation!” Which in Portuguese is 2 Corintios 6:2b “Eis, agora, o dia da salvação!” She was so proud of herself and we were too! Until now she had been learning them in English and saying them to me at Awana. Sammy is pronouncing words very well and catching on well, but he’s so shy sometimes that it interferes with his interaction with other children. Thank you for praying for our children’s transition and language learning.

Please pray for wisdom for me as I try to fit in studying Portuguese back into the schedule. When I took a break from my studies, I was on Cycle 17 and now Todd is catching up. Our teacher is not really available for any more teaching time, so I may try to do it on an independent study level and then perhaps she can help me work through any problems we come across.

We have greatly enjoyed having all our coworkers back on the field. All of the accounting and care of the guest house have been turned over to Ivan and Mary Goossen, so that lightened the load considerably. We will be participating in our Field Conference with guests from the States the last week of October. The Field Conference is a time of spiritual renewal for the missionaries, a time of fellowship, and a time of rest. We are looking forward to our first field conference in Brazil.

We’ve received several questions lately that might be good to share with every one:
O What happened to your website? Well, the old one was taken off the air and after a couple months of trying to fix it, we decided to just start over. The new address is http://www.tjhendry.blogspot.com/. It has our updates from the beginning, plus links to photos and videos and other interesting things. We would love to have you stop by every now and then to see what’s new.
O Can we send a package? What should we send? Well, first of all—you don’t have to, but we sure enjoy it! About 7 lbs – 10 lbs was about $50 to send. So it is expensive. But if you insist, (smile) there is a list of items on our website that we can’t find here that would remind us of home!
O Is that crazy dog, Daisy, still chewing all your stuff? NO! Praise the Lord! We don’t know if dogs her age, 1 ½ yrs old, teeth, or what was happening to her. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped. That was a real answer to prayer!
O When are you planning to move interior? Well, Todd reached his half-way point in language school this week. We are estimating that he’ll be done by February, give or take, depending on if we get called away to do ministry trips interior. But that is according to plan. We started language school mid-January and took some time away during the container ordeal. So it will end up taking about a year of language school, which is the norm. We are hoping to go interior more often, to get a feel for the people and the culture where we will be living, and eventually to start looking for a place to live.
O Has the economy troubles in the States affected our support? Possibly. When we left we were at 98% of our support and currently we are at less than 85%. The two biggest setbacks have been due to problems in some of our largest churches. But we cannot fail to mention that two of our churches have increased our support, as well as a couple individuals. We know the Lord is in control and it is He that provides and guides. We still have not spent a bulk of our initial set up fund because we have been living in a fully furnished guest house. So we will start making purchases—things like beds, closets (they don’t have built-ins here), kitchen cabinets, dressers, etc—for our home interior. Please pray for wisdom to make good decisions and buying things that are flexible for different living situations. We have to use this money, according to the U.S. IRS rules, before the completion of one year here in Brazil, and we won’t know where we will be living then. So please pray for good choices in spending the money that others have given generously to us to set up house in the interior of Ceará.
O How is Todd’s driving situation? We have completed some of the paperwork that we have heard is required to get a driver’s license. Right now we are waiting for his Brazilian version of a Social Security Card to arrive. We still don’t know if they’ll allow him to get a drivers license until the visas arrive, but we are going to try.
O And where are you in the visa process? Our applications for the permanent visas were accepted back in January. The next step is for the Federal Police to visit us randomly at our home to make sure we live where we say we do. Once that visit is completed, our applications will be sent to Brasilia to be processed. Only after 6 months there, can we start looking for our name to be published in a Daily Public Journal. It will be in published in the journal for 6 weeks and we must go to the Federal Police and register during that time. If not, we have to start the process all over again. We are still waiting for the visit, and coworkers of ours have been waiting for about 2 years for their visit. So it may not happen for quite awhile. Please pray for patience and wisdom when to contact the Federal Police to check on our application progress.

Last week our church here in Brazil had a week of prayer and a national missionary from interior came to speak. His main point was the urgency with which evangelism must be faced. We’re not talking about some theological idea, but lives of actual people living in darkness and destined for a lost eternity. Our souls burn to be interior and start the work the Lord has given us to do here in Brazil. This week our field had meetings on Thursday and Friday to talk about business and about our vision and strategy for reaching the radio listening area. It was so exciting and encouraging to know that our time to go interior is nearing and to see the heart and passion of our fellow missionaries for the lost here in Brazil. As Ivan, our field director said, “This is what we must live and breath, second only to our relationship with the Lord!” Todd will be taking monthly trips interior and our field will be getting together regularly to pray and do research trips. It’s exciting to see what the Lord has in store as we work for the Lord to reach people for Him. The harvest is ready and we are looking forward to being involved in God’s work of harvesting souls for a blessed eternity with the Lord! The missionary from last week pointed out that every person who prays, gives, encourages a missionary is directly involved in that harvest. Thank you for your involvement, for your sacrifices in giving, for your energy expended not only on our behalf, but on behalf of the people that we will share the Gospel with and will choose to find eternal peace in Christ. Thank you!

Serving together,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Update 2009 July

Dear Friends and Family,

How are you all, our dear friends? Are you having a good summer? We would love to hear from you individually, hear how your summer is going and we would love to know your prayer requests and praises!
Here are some of ours:

Praises and Prayers:

• Julie’s parents are settling into life in Bangor, ME. They have found an apartment, car and have a phone number.


• Todd had a good time at the leadership conference. His roommate was a Brazilian pastor that only knew a smattering of English so Todd was able to practice his Portuguese quite a bit. His roommate and some other people he met were very encouraging, complimenting how good his Portuguese is after only 5 months (at that time) of studying. He is finishing his tests on Cycle 10 and will be doing his tests on Cycle 11 next week (sometimes the work overlaps). Please keep his Portuguese classes in mind as you pray. It was also a good time to connect with other missionaries and the pastors of two churches we know from Kansas. Those pastors were the keynote speakers at the conference.


• Julie’s time at the Ladies’ Retreat went very well. Our Portuguese teacher went over her Bible studies and made sure the Portuguese was right. The theme was Intimacy through Personal Sanctity and Julie taught 3 lessons, the first on Obedience: The Acid Test of Love; the second on Intimacy with God: Daily Devotional Times; and the third on Sanctification: A Heart Like His. Several of the ladies responded with questions and further conversation. It was also a special time of getting to know the ladies from the Ebenezer Church and developing relationships with them. Please pray for several of the ladies that come from very difficult home environments.


• We were involved in the game time at the VBS for Ebenezer church Monday through Thursday evenings last week. They even used the missionary story about Dad and Mom during story time. It was such a special time for us to be involved and spend time not only with the people from the church but the 150 kids ranging from 6 to 15 that came from the neighborhood. It was a lot of work and we were tired every night, but we truly enjoyed the time we got to spend with the children. Todd enjoyed being able to play and connect with the kids (every child loves Todd) and practice his Portuguese in an unintimidating environment. Each person involved in games was in charge of planning the games for one of the nights and ours was Wednesday. The kids were looking forward to seeing what kind of games American’s play, so we had them peel bananas with their feet, balloon races, timed puzzle races and so forth. We had a good time and we could tell they did too. Both of our children were involved as well. Sammy was too young to be an actual VBSer, but since both his parents were helping, he was allowed to participate. He seemed to really loosen up a lot with the people at the church and loved game time. The other day, Samuel was singing some songs he learned in VBS, but since he doesn’t know the exact words, he was singing it in made up syllables—but they had the right Portuguese-sounds! We really think he’ll be picking it up quickly. All the children mobbed our children practicing the only phrase they know in English (“What’s your name?” but is sounds like “wuzynaymee”) a hundred times. It bothered Michaela and she needed a time out from being crowded and pulled everywhere by all the children who were fascinated with the American’s. We have tried to explain that they are just curious and don’t mean any harm, but it’s hard for her. Lately her main prayer request has been that she would learn Portuguese, so we would ask for you to pray along those lines as well. Imagine how hard it is for her to day after day not understand what people are talking about or laughing about, and wondering if it’s something you did or said wrong. She’s a trooper, but even strong people need a break some times. Please pray for her little heart to be encouraged and for her to learn more and more Portuguese.


• On the Fourth of July, while Julie was at the Ladies’ Retreat, Todd and the children went to the new American School where many from the American community (mostly missionaries but some business families as well) had an Independence Day Picnic. Todd made devilled eggs and brought Brazilian sausages to grill. Michaela met the administrator’s daughter and they played together all day long. That was such a blessing for Michaela to meet a new friend that she can actually talk with. There is an opportunity for Michaela to go to the American school on Wednesdays for Portuguese classes, so please pray that the classes and schedule would work out for us.


• We have had to do a little more than we expected with the Guest House. We had a wonderful time with a retired missionary, Eileen Adams, who arrived right before Julie’s parents left and stayed for a month. And we’ve been picking up and taking people to the airport pretty regularly, cooking meals, etc. Our co-workers, Ivan and Mary Goossen, who will be in charge of the guest house, arrive on August 6th, so besides the fact that we look forward to them taking over, we are really looking forward to having them here. Other coworkers, Ken and Alicia Gustafston, arrived last week and others, James and Molly Goossen, will be arriving next week from their son’s wedding in the U.S. Please pray for all the arrivals of our coworkers and field meetings coming up in the next couple months.


• This may be silly—but could you pray for the mission’s dog to stop chewing all our stuff! She has been sneaking in the house and chewing the children’s toys and floor mats, you can’t leave anything outside or she chews it, and she’s even chewed a t-shirt on a hanger on the line. She’s destroying quite a bit of our belongings and we aren’t quite sure how to stop her.


• Last week was our vacation—we spent most of the week going to VBS, but we were able to do a few fun things with our family. We were able to go to the beach overnight at a quaint bed and breakfast place and walk on the beach. Then on Saturday morning we went to a nice water park here in town. The Lord made it possible for us participate in a group rate through one of the churches, so we were able to go at quite a good discount. (If you know that side of Todd—he thrives on getting a good deal on things.J) The children really enjoyed the time we had with our family and another missionary couple we have gotten to know, John and Denielle Johnson. They left on Tuesday for southern Brazil where they will be ministering, so it was a farewell time for us as well. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by such great folks who work here in Brazil. The Lord has been very good to us by providing such wonderful coworkers and other missionaries from different missions that we can fellowship with. It becomes difficult, especially for Todd who doesn’t know the language well enough yet, to be fed through sermons at Portuguese-speaking church, so we do feel very encouraged by our times with other Americans who love the Lord. And Todd has been listening to sermons on the internet, besides our personal time with the Lord.


• We would ask for you to pray that our support level would not drop any further. We have had one church half the pledge amount because of difficulties at the church (that was our second largest giver) and there have been some other issues with another church. Please pray that these can be resolved. We are living on faith that God will provide through those that have pledged, or He may bring others along. This is His work and He is doing the work, not only here but through the hearts of those He wants to be involved. Another issue is that the dollar exchange has dropped a lot since we have been here. We budgeted for some drop but not this much. When we left for Brazil Dec 7 the American $ was worth $2.62 Brazilian but yesterday it reached a yearly low (so far) of $1.89. That’s almost a 30% drop in every dollar we spend here. We’ve heard that it goes in cycles like this and should be back up to where it was last year by Christmas time, so please pray for that. We still have a lot of home furniture to purchase when we move to our field of ministry when Todd finishes language school; we are using mainly the missions furniture, since the house we rent was provided furnished.
  
  Thank you so much for your prayers. Please write us back and let us know your prayers requests or just fill us in on your summers. We look forward to hearing from each of you. It helps us feel connected. We pray for you to serve the Lord faithfully in whatever He has given you to do, and we ask you to pray for us in the same manner—faithfulness and continued spiritual growth in our Lord.
  
  Serving together with You,
  
  Todd and Julie Hendry

Update 2009 June

Praises:

*Safety in travels of family and missionaries
*The wonderful time we had with our family
*Our missionary family's support and care
*God blessed all our plans to honor our parents
*Michaela twisted ankle is healing well



Prayer Requests:

*Safety and wisdom in managing guest house for a little over a month
*One of our supporting churches is going through a hard time.
*Michaela would finish school soon and not feel burnt out
*Good conference for Todd-perseverance and Portuguese practice plus encouragement
*Preparations for women's retreat-the women will grow in relationship with the Lord


Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you for all your prayers over the last month as we've been enjoying our time with our family together for the first time in 5 years. My (Julie's) oldest brother, Glenn, met three of his nieces and nephews for the first time. There were many going away parties for my parents, George and Anne Hicks, as they retire, along with the 60th Anniversary of the Bible College that my father has worked with for over 30 years.

Something I have been working on for several months was an illustrated missionary story of my parent's life. It started as a project for my Portuguese classes and the Lord led us to find an illustrator and have it ready in time for Dad and Mom's going away celebrations. It was done in honor of them, but they would want it to be for an even greater reason, and that is why we published it. First of all, it is to share the stories of the missionaries that have played such a large part in the spreading of the Gospel in Northeast Brazil. It is the first in a series of stories. Three others are in the works. Secondly, we hadn't found any missionary stories about Northeast Brazil on deputation. And thirdly, we pray this will help people in the churches in the U.S. and here to be challenged for missions in some way. It is bilingual so it can be used in both countries. (More about the book will be added to our new website soon. www.tjhendry.blogspot.com)

Anyway, this whole book was a surprise. All three of us children worked on it along with various other believers here in Brazil. And we enjoyed giving this to them as our retirement gift for all their dedication and hard work over 38 years, besides the fact that they are wonderful parents and we love them dearly.

But the time together came to an end. My brother Glenn left Friday to return to seminary and his job in California. And Alan left for Maine on Saturday to return to his job while leaving his wife (she's from Fortaleza) and two children here to spend time with her parents for a month. Mom and Dad left on Monday morning and arrived Tuesday afternoon to Bangor, Maine. They will be looking for a place to live, buying a car and going to visit family.

Now what will we do? Well, Todd is still being very faithful to his Portuguese classes and is doing very well. He understands a lot more and tries to communicate his thoughts as much as possible. The month of July is vacation month in Brazil and to us that means lots of church activities and conferences to be involved in. Todd will be attending a conference for church growth by himself, so please pray for good Portuguese practice and understanding. I have been asked to be the speaker at a women's retreat on July 3rd-5th. Please pray as I prepare what to speak and that the women will be challenged to deeper intimacy and personal sanctity. And, we will be working with the church we attend, Ebenezer Church, as they put on a VBS for their location. Besides all of that, our home needs some work! What with receiving the container and not having anywhere to put things (there are no closets), then having people here for 2 weeks, and helping Mom and Dad get ready to go, we need to get reorganized. So that will keep us quite busy as well.

The children are doing well. They have been busy with keeping up with mom and dad and we ask for you to pray for us that we would never allow the busyness of life to interrupt the precious moments we have with our children. Michaela is beautiful and funny. She's got quite the sense of humor and loves to play with the dog. We're still finishing up the last of her school work but she doesn't have too much more. Sammy is blossoming and spending a lot of time "doing school." He loves to learn to read and we've been enjoying his little antics. The other night he fell asleep at the dinner table with his head rolling from side to side, saying he "I...need...another....pillow!" Then when I laid him down, he started awake and said, "That wasn't me falling asleep, mommy! That was someone else!" He doesn't want to miss a thing!

Michaela understands that her grandparents are gone and now she's made several comments about her two sets of grandparents being far away. Sammy doesn't quite understand and he keeps asking if they'll be back in one more night-night. I told him we probably won't see them again for awhile, but he doesn't quite understand. We'll be spending a lot of time on Skype-the internet phone with video-I'm sure. That's a blessing I praise God for regularly.

Thank you for your prayers through this busy and emotional time. It has been sad but it is time to turn a new leaf and proceed with joy in the work to which God has called us--along with all the sacrifices and blessings. God has been reminding me that He knows and understands and also provides all we need to continue to serve Him joyfully and faithfully. May He be your comfort in your sorrows, your strength in times of weariness, as He has been ours.

Serving together with you,
Todd and Julie Hendry

Update 2009 May

Dear Friends and Family,

We are indeed amazed at how quickly six months has gone by since we’ve been in Brazil. We are still in the process of unpacking boxes and finding places for everything since we received our container. We so appreciate your prayers in what seemed at the time like an interminable ordeal. But the Lord was so gracious to us and allowed us to go through only what we could bear and no more (1 Cor. 10:13). It was at times a temptation to give up, or to become angry with the lack of consideration or scruples of the customs agent. But we are grateful to the Lord for allowing us the opportunity to see Him work and, wow, to see how so many of you responded to our pleas for prayer and lifted us up before our Savior. That has spoken volumes to us about the people the Lord brought together to not only support us, but to bring the Gospel to the people in the interior of Ceará. I just heard a friend of mine that I grew up with in church here in the capital say that she had no idea there were whole municipalities in her own state that had never heard the Gospel. It brought tears to her eyes and completely shocked her.

We know the Lord wants us here—He has made it clear in so many ways with how He provided our support when there is one of the worst financial crises in recent history, through making our documentation applications go so quickly once we got here, and so forth. In some ways we feel like we’ve been so busy we haven’t had time to think, but when we look back to see what we have accomplished, it doesn’t feel like it has been very much. We’ve been learning how time consuming simple things are here compared to in the United States. For example, it took me two mornings of waiting in lines and taking 3 tests to get my drivers license! And I didn’t even have to do any driving. But more than that, I think it comes down to the fact that our work of studying Portuguese for this first year, learning a completely new language for Todd, is a daily task that takes perseverance and endurance. It is not a number of accomplished projects, but a series of steps toward one big goal. So our number one prayer request is that God would give us both, but especially Todd, the grit, determination and the daily motivation to work and study hard. Please also pray for opportunities for Todd to practice in a setting that will not seem overly intimidating until he gains confidence in his ability to put words together and communicate his thoughts. We have had our schedule change for the better with the teacher coming to our home for classes in the mornings, instead of going to classes 30 minutes away in the afternoon.

I (Julie) have taken some time off from Portuguese classes, with permission from leadership of the mission, to be able to spend some time with my parents before they leave on June 22. After 15 years of living apart, I really wanted to treasure this time with them. We were so busy, thought, with homeschooling in the morning and language school in the afternoon, that we weren’t having the opportunity to spend very much time together. They are in the midst of selling their belongings and handing over all their responsibilities to others. Even though it is still busy, we’ve been trying to make some time. Mom has shown me how to make her famous relish and I’ll be trying to keep on the tradition for our family and the other missionaries here who enjoy it so much. I’ve also been trying to learn how to master mom’s biscuits, but that’s going to take some time. We are also preparing for many visitors to come through and for a going away reception in honor of my parents, so that’s been keeping us all quite busy.

I’ve been having a hard time letting my parents go, partly because what I’ve looked forward to (spending this time together for the last six months) has gone so fast, and partly because I’m used to being the one leaving and now I’m being left behind. The children have really come to love their grandparents they barely knew before. But mom and dad have been here for 36 years and they deserve to be able to be in their own home in the United States and rest. I know they’ll be busy there serving the Lord, but it will not be in a third world setting. So even though it is hard to see my parents go, I know this is best for them and also for us. It’s time for Todd and I to become more independent and we will be. After mom and dad leave, another missionary couple will be leaving for their son’s wedding. Two other couples are home on furlough, so that leaves only one couple, about 4 hours away, left on the field until the end of July. We’ll be about two months running the guest house alone, which will mainly mean feeding the dog, paying the bills and that kind of thing. But we’ll be on our own! J So please pray for wisdom! When we think of it we start to panic, wondering if we know where the right hospitals are if something should happen, who do we call if something breaks, that kind of thing. But the Lord is in control and we will not be truly alone. The Lord will be with us and our colleagues interior are only a phone call away.

Another matter of prayer is that Todd is no longer allowed to drive. We had our American driver’s license translated when we got here, but we later found out from the department of transportation here that the translation is only good for six months. So when the six months was up I was able to get my drivers license because I have a permanent visa. But since Todd and the children’s visas are pending, they do not have an identification number with the government yet, and he can’t apply for his driver’s license without this number. This visa process could last for two years, our co-workers’ has been going on for 18 months. Please pray for a resolution for this. We are going to call the American Consulate here in town to see if they have some kind of procedure they have already set up or if they can come up with a solution for us with the department of transportation, because we know of at least two other couples that are in this same situation. Except, they didn’t know the translation expired and were still driving on it.

Please pray for us for strength and that we will make the time to rest in the next month until mom and dad leave. We are hoping to take a few days as a family together before they leave. It will probably be another two years before we see each other again. Please also pray for Michaela and me as we try to finish up school soon. We have had several interruptions with moving and the container so she is about a month behind. She’s doing well though and her reading is getting better every day. Samuel is also learning to read—he knows all his letters and sounds and is putting 3 letter words together. He asked me if I would teach him to read, this was before his 4th birthday, and when I didn’t, I guess he decided to do it himself. So now that I see how he is ready for it, I’m working about 5-10 minutes a day with light instruction. I don’t want him to feel pressured to learn at all, so I’m taking it easy on him. I really didn’t expect to be doing this now but am enjoying it thoroughly.

Well, I must be closing now. Thank you again for all your prayers and encouragement. We would really appreciate hearing from you all and know how to better pray for each one of you as well. I would ask that you pray for some of our supporters, Bill and Gladis Gibson, he is going through chemo treatments for cancer. And also could you pray for my Aunt Gladys who was diagnosed with Lymphoma of the Brain recently and is in the hospital for treatment. We truly see you as partners in ministry and value you very highly. We want to be able to pray for you as well!

Serving together,

Todd and Julie Hendry

NOTE: P.S. Please check out our new Website at www.tjhendry.blogspot.com There are now links to YouTube videos and other important sites. Also, if your church would like a phone update from us in Brazil during a church service just give us a call or email and we will make ourselves availible.

Update 2009 April FINAL CONTAINER UPDATE

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!!!

Dear Friends and Family,
We have our belongings--on Tuesday! It's been like Christmas, especially for the kids. The first thing unloaded from the container was the children's toy box and the second was Sammy's birthday present. When Michaela saw her Clifford stuffed dog, she carried him around for 3 hours and wouldn't set him down! Everything has been accounted for and we are praising the Lord for His mighty work on our behalf!
We were supposed to have received everything last Saturday. Then we received a call from the dispatcher saying there was still a restriction on the release of our items because the shipping company in Sao Paulo hadn't communicated to the branch here in Fortaleza that they had received the payment. Their offices weren't open over the weekend and it was a holiday on Friday, so we had to wait until Monday. On Monday Todd, my dad and the dispatcher spent the whole day resolving one problem after another. First they confirmed the shipping bill had been paid, then they had to redo all the transportation paper work because it had been done for April and it was now May. Then, once the contents were loaded onto the truck, he sat at the gate for almost 6 hours because the port's computer system was down. It was close to closing time and still hadn't come up, so the dispatcher went to talk to the head person in charge of the port and he was mad that the people hadn't done a manual release. They said they couldn't because the paper for the manual release was in the computer and no one had a hard copy. So it was 4:30 by then, and the truck driver said that he wouldn't drive in the dark (it's dark by 5:30) with all the bad holes in the roads and bad rush hour traffic. Todd and dad went looking for a place to buy a heavy duty padlock for the container and the driver slept at a truck stop and would bring it at 7 a.m.
On Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. we heard the rumble of a semi-truck down the cobblestone road in front of our house. I ran to the window and saw this huge bright yellow truck and container! What an exciting moment! Our God won the victory! Praise the Lord! I ran into the kids room and Mickey was standing at the window watching the truck as well. We woke Sam up and all ran out to watch it come into the back lot up to the garage. God brought several friends to help us with the unload and we had everything unloaded by 9 a.m.
We had been told the total cost of sending everything overseas would be approximately $5000. For sending a whole household overseas we thought that would cost a lost less than buying everything over here. It turned out to be about $7200 total with the customs tribute we had to pay and all the extra shipping they charged us here (which we thought we had already paid). But the Lord has been good to us. We had saved up some money and it has covered the cost. And it has been such a blessing to have the things we have needed and knew were coming, so we wouldn't spend the money on it down here. Like batteries--we've been waiting for 6 months for batteries so our clocks would run! I also have a skillet now and some good sharp knives, we have Michaela's school books that we didn't think we'd go this long without, we will have a printer for our office, etc and etc. It's been a real blessing. We packed our things about two weeks before we left, the day after our Christmas celebration with Todd's family. We had to pack most of the children's Christmas presents with the plastic still wrapped around it. So they've had a blast finally getting to play with their Christmas presents, and both of them have worn a path around the place on their bikes and tricycle. It's been fun to see their joy and relief through this process!
Thank you for sharing in our struggles and in our joys through prayer and e-mails. I've been really looking forward to writing to you to share our encouragement and the joy we have experienced in not only receiving our belongings but in walking through this path with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We do pray that as we walk together for the Lord that we can be an encouragement to you to see the Lord's active and powerful work our behalf, even when we were so discouraged. We truly praise the Lord. Here are some excerpts of Psalm 115 that have been a blessing to me:
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
Why do the nations say,
'Where is their God?'
Our God is in heaven;
He does whatever pleases Him.
You who fear Him, trust in the Lord--
He is their help and shield.
The Lord remembers us and will bless us...
He will bless those who fear the Lord--
small and great alike.
May the Lord make you increase,
both you and your children.
May you be blessed by the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
It is we who extol the Lord,
both now and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!"

Serving the Lord together,
Todd and Julie Hendry

Update 2009 April CONTAINER UPDATE

QUICK UPDATE ON THE CONTAINER
Dear Friends and Family,

I have good news! At the last hour the Lord parted the red sea and we were able to get the liberation paperwork from the customs officials. They had been in a meeting all morning, and were supposed to be back to attending people at 1 p.m. Then we heard that they were out at lunch in the city, an hour and a half away. They finally arrived at 3 p.m., leaving only an hour to do it all before the port stops receiving paperwork at 4 p.m. Well, we did end up missing the deadline with the port, but the biggest hurdle was with the customs officials and God did do a miracle. I really believe it--there were over 20 dispatchers yelling to be attended when they finally arrived and they somehow found the time to see us and talk over the situation with us and then they signed the documents right there in front of us. I could have jumped up and down, but I didn't, not until later!!!!

So the port will not be open tomorrow because of the holiday, but they will be open on Saturday really early. We'll go there, give the papers to port officials and hopefully load the truck and bring it all home. We found out today that they had already charged us the extra port fees (30 days worth of charges for the 20 days it's been there) but that's another issue. We've been considering seeing if we can recover some of the money later on, after it's all been dealt with, so we'll see if we do that.

Thank you every single dear one for praying! We have felt your prayers, felt completely surrounded and accompanied by the prayers of his servants, by the Loving God who hears and answers prayer! Peace and confidence in the Lord's guiding hand would be how I would describe how I've felt today. This morning before I left for the port, I checked e-mail to see if anyone had responded and there were e-mails from so many people, saying they were praying and some were forwarding the e-mail to others, so everyone would be praying! Thank you. We are deeply humbled and in deep gratitude for your prayers on our behalf. Thank you. We know were are not alone in this mission. It's you, us and most importantly, God. Thank you.

Serving together with you,

Julie Hendry

Dear Friends and Family,

I keep thinking about Greater is He that is in me that he that is in the world. A friend just wrote that Pharoah didn't want to let the people of Israel go, and these customs officials don't want to let our container go, but who is greater? GOD!!!

We've just come back from another discouraging day at the port. The customs officials keep trying to flex their muscles and remind us that they are in charge and have threatened asking for receipts for every single new thing that we have brought down. We would never have done it if we had known, but hind sight is....I just hope we are learning what God wants, and it's probably a different lesson for Todd than it is for me. It's been hard on us. I think mostly because we're getting a big kick-in-the-gut experience with culture shock and learning how to deal with government officials in Brazil. Every Brazilian missionary I've met says, that's the way it is, and my husband says, we can forgive the wrongs but it is still wrong! What do I say? Both--because I'm from both cultures and I see it both ways.

We've been away from the kids a lot these last 3 weeks trying to get this resolved, and we're missing them terribly. Todd's had to miss school quite a bit and feels like what he's learned is seeping away a little. And I've even missed some homeschooling with Mickey which is such a high priority for me. One of the missionaries here said that's why we homeschool, because our lives aren't normal and they don't fit into a regular school schedule. That's comforting. We may homeschool all year around to stay on track, but we'll do it no matter what it takes!!! So please pray that we can get back to life as "normal", whatever that isJ, and be able to return to what is truly important, our family and our children, and the ministry God has called us to.

So please pray for us tomorrow since we are going to the port again to try to deal with this and get it resolved once and for all. Friday is a big national Brazilian holiday, so nothing will be done that day. And if it passes Friday, we pay another 10 days in storage fees. Please pray! We really appreciate it! Both Todd and I are worn out and just want to get it over with. Not a very good attitude, I'm afraid, and we're trying to work on it, so please pray for us to not give up, and to regardless of the circumstances show the love of Christ.

NOTE: Our website has been down for the past couple of months and I have not been given any idea of when it will be back up. Until then please check our blog site which has links to updated pictures and a couple of new You Tube videos. The link is: http://www.toddandjuliehendry.blogspot.com

Serving together,

Todd & Julie

Prayers:
OUR CONVERSATION WITH CUSTOMS AGENT ABOUT THE CONTAINER. THAT IT WOULD BE RELEASED AND DELIVERED TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY THE 22ND!!!!
The 4 young ladies who accepted Christ at camp Wisdom in parenting and making time for our family Website issue resolved Language School Wisdom for field on where to place us once language school is through


Praises:
Sammy had a good birthday today--4 years old!!!
Todd's preaching at camp was a blessing
4 Young girls made decision to accept Christ


Our container is in Brazil God's continual provision and blessing in our lives






Dear Friends and Family,
We have an urgent prayer request regarding our container. It finally arrived in the port at 12:17 am on April 13th. We have 10 days to get it out of the port or else we have to pay storage fees for the last 10 days and the next 10 days, even if we get it out on the 11th day. Because it arrived at 12:17 a.m.(April 13), we praise the Lord we have until tomorrow to get it out (April 22). Today was a Brazilian national holiday, so we weren't able to do anything with it. We went on Monday with confidence that we would be able to get it out and bring our belongings home, but at the very last minute the head customs agent decided that he thinks we are bringing too many things that are new and that we are trying to either sell things commercially or something like that. And he refused to speak with us to be able to explain everything. Todd, my father George, and I are going to the port very early tomorrow morning to try to talk to him and explain the things he has issues with our shipment. For example, we heard that batteries are very expensive in Brazil, so we brought a package of 48 A, 48 AA, and 48 AAA. We have children and we go through them pretty quickly. But those quantities are unheard of here, so they think we brought them for resale. That's just an example, there are other issues. Please pray!!!! Please pray for wisdom and clarity for Julie as she speaks in Portuguese to this head brazilian official. Please pray that he would be understanding and not charge us import tax on everything. Please pray that we can get it out tomorrow so we don't have to pay all the storage fees. We're learning a lot through this, mainly to hate our stuff and know we would never do it again. There have been tears of frustration. Please pray that we would graciously go through this time of testing, that we would reflect Christ to these unsaved officials, and that we would grow and learn what God has for us to learn through this experience.
Also, Sammy had his 4th birthday today. He was so excited and had a very good time. We took him to this fast food restaurant that has free playground equipment to play on. It started raining (remember it's rainy season) pretty quickly after we got there, but he was excited to have been able to play on them. Some of the items in the container are his birthday presents (Mickey's been waiting ever since February for hers), so we gave him some today and he knows that he has some more coming. Please pray for God's wisdom for us to teach him and for his little heart as he grows, to know and love the Lord.
Our trip interior went wonderfully. We had such a good time and are very excited that we will be serving the Lord interior, away from the big city. Todd's preaching went well and the Lord used it to bring 4 young ladies to know salvation. We also saw the city we're considering living in for our ministry. There are some others that have surfaced as possibilities, so please pray for wisdom as we seek the Lord as a field for His direction.
Please also pray for an issue we're having with our website. It's been down for a couple months now, due to some technical issues at the mission and we have not been able to figure out a solution. Please pray for us to be able to find another free place to put our website, so that we can make it available to those that want frequent updates. We've made many contacts through our website, so it is very important. Plus, you guys can access our pictures and videos. So please pray for that to be resolved soon.
Once again, continue praying for language school. It has been greatly interrupted with this whole container business, but Todd is getting a lot of "field" experience being around Brazilians a lot these last two weeks. Thank you for your prayers! We could not and would not be doing this if it weren't for the Lord providing you to be our partners in this work. You have been such an encouragement to us continually with your e-mails and skype calls. Thank you!!!!
Serving together,
Todd and Julie Hendry

Update 2009 April

Praises:
--Language school--Todd is in Cycle 7 and Julie is in cycle 12!
--We have been safe in traffic
--Julie's parents were not hurt in a traffic accident last Friday.
--God always showing us He is trustworthy
--James and Molly have moved to Guaraciaba to the start the new work
--Our children have been getting along and doing well

Prayers:
--Final preparations for Todd's sermons for the retreat this weekend.
--Safety in travel to the interior for the retreat
--People would come to know the Lord in Guaraciaba--wisdom for James and Molly
--Friendships for the children
--Language school--opportunities to practice, perseverance in studies
--Culture shock won't discourage us
--Continued safety in traffic
--The container would arrive--more details below

Dear Friends and Family,

What a blessing it has been to us to hear from so many of you who have received our newsletter! Thank you for your prayers, your encouragements, your questions! We have already had times of feeling on the other side of the world--which we are--and we miss everyone so much! So hearing from you was a real encouragement!

These next two weeks are going to be very busy! We have two main events going on. The first is that we are supposed to be out of town on Friday really early through Tuesday afternoon because Todd is the speaker at the Easter Retreat for the interior churches. We are also supposed to take a trip after the retreat to visit the city of Guaraciaba do Norte where we are planning to work after language school. Our coworkers, James and Molly Goossen, moved there two weeks ago to start the work. Please pray for opportunities to witness and lead people to the Lord, please pray for contacts and the beginnings of a church in Guaraciaba. The second is that our container is supposed to arrive on the 11th. This is the third date we've been given, so please pray for the Lord's timing. I keep saying I'll believe it when I actually see the container at the port. We have lined up a Brazilian dispatcher to help us get the container out of the port and to get through the red tape. Please pray for him to have wisdom of when and with whom to file the paperwork. Please also pray for the Lord to give us favor in the eyes of the officials, that they would be honest and not want bribes in order to release our belongings. Please also pray for the financial side of things--that the cost would stay as low as possible.

We are enjoying and working through adjusting to living on the other side of the world. There are the wonderful things--being close to my parents, enjoying fellowship with the other missionaries, getting to know Brazilians in the churches and making friends with them. Plus the warmth and sun, the rainbows--lots of rainbows when it's sunny all the time with bursts of rain, living so close to the beach, and the tropical fruit are all things we are really enjoying. But we have a hard time understanding the extremes all around us. People of extreme poverty and wealth all around us. You can buy a meal for a whole family at a side of the road stand for $2.50 or there are really upscale restaurants that cost $30 a plate. Most things are expensive, yet most people live off of less than $200 per month. And the bugs, need I go into detail :)! And we do struggle with the absolutely crazy traffic. Please pray for safety and that we will always be alert in traffic.

Language school has been going well. Todd has increased his class time with two teachers and his speed and pronunciation are improving. He's been able to go to a road-side stand with his teacher and order the meal by himself in Portuguese. Our portuguese classes are structured around cycles and there are 30 of them in the program. Todd just finished cycle six and I just finished cycle 12. Of course, it's not fair because I already know Portuguese, but I'm realizing how many bad habits I have and that I didn't know it as well as I thought. My teacher is always telling me to "Think! Pense!" Because I say things the way I always have said them instead of the way that I should. But we're working hard on it daily and it will come!

Thank you again for your prayers. We love and miss you and welcome any e-mails from you all. We are praying for you too, so please send us your prayer requests!

Serving Together,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Praise:
--We were able to buy a good car at a good price
--We were able to buy internet service, finally!
--We were able to apply for our permanent visas for Todd and the kids just before our tourist visas expired—This was huge!
--We have been enjoying being with Julie’s parents
--We have been able to communicate with Todd’s parents and family well over Skype
--Starting language school
--We have a date for our container to be sent on February 5th

Prayer:
--Safety on the roads—it’s impossible to explain how crazy it is
--The Federal Police would process our visas without problems
--The children’s mischievousness has been getting them into trouble
--Perseverance and hard work with language school—understand it well
--We are having trouble finalizing the documentation for our car
--We have experienced several delays with our container—please pray that there wouldn’t be anymore


Dear Friends and Family,

It’s hard to believe that 6 weeks have already passed since we’ve been in Brazil! It’s been a whirlwind of new experiences, the holidays with the mission family, setting up house, looking for a car, getting documents together and getting language school going. It’s been a real blessing to be near my parents. They have enjoyed watching the kids while we run around and the kids have really loved having the run of the place. I feel like this update has been long overdue and I want to thank each of you for your notes of encouragement and prayers for us.

We live on a property owned by the Avant Ministries Brazilian branch. There are two identical homes facing each other with a courtyard in between them. One house is for the guest house managers to live in and the other home is for the missionaries who come into town. There is also a two bedroom apartment at the back of the property. It is much smaller than the other property the mission owned and they are using the money from the sale of the other property to fix this place up. My parents live in the house for the guest house managers, we live in the furnished home for the missionaries and James and Molly Goossen, who needed the kidney and are the strategy coordinators for church planting, are currently living in the apartment while they plan where to move next for ministry. My parents will be here until June and then our other coworkers who manage the guest house, Ivan and Marry Goossen, will be returning from their home assignment in August. The other missionaries on the field, Linda and Elwyn Goossen and Ken and Alicia Gustafson work in two different cities interior (meaning away from the coastal capital city of the state). Eventually, we will be joining them in their work in a different city interior.

On the 3rd of January we finally were able to buy a modem with internet access after 5 trips to the store to buy it. Because we don’t own any thing here or have any bills in our name we couldn’t prove our address and they wouldn’t give it us. But we finally were able to get it and after some software problems were fixed we were able to get online! What a praise to be able to talk consistently with our family and friends in the U.S!

On the 5th we bought a little Honda Civic 2003 for our family. We had been considering buying a small pickup, but the cost of fuel is so high and driving in the city with a big vehicle is really hard to do. So we decided our best option was to buy a little car just big enough for our family while we go back and forth to language school five days a week.

On the 7th we were able to make our application for the permanent visas for the children and Todd. That was such a big blessing and relief. We had gone the day before to turn in the paperwork and we were told one of the documents the Brazilian consulate in the U.S. gave to us for us to fill out for them in the U.S. is not acceptable here. So we had less than one hour before the businesses closed and after going to several that said they couldn’t or wouldn’t do it for us, we found one that was willing to do it. She had never done one like it but was willing to go out of her way to help us. The kids and Todd now have protocol numbers and documents stating that their permanent visas are in process awaiting approval. And here’s another amazing thing. In the U.S., if we had applied for the visas at the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago, it would have cost us $900 plus all the traveling fees (you have to do it in person) and the legalization fees of each document ($20 per document). Here it cost us only about $420. We praise the Lord for that savings, especially after having to spend over $600 for the tourist visas for us to come down.

On January 12th Michaela started back to school. She is doing well with reading and math. We are doing her school from 9 to 12. While we are homeschooling, Sammy “does school” with us or runs around with Grampie and Nana, watching Nana cook or working with Grampie around the house. Both children really enjoy visiting their grandparents, who are taking care of them while Mommy and Daddy are at school in the afternoons, and their daily visit to Aunt Molly and Uncle James. They also have enjoyed the two dogs, Branca, a long-haired white mutt, and Daisy, a very rambunctious puppy Rottweiler. They have met a few other children at church and while visiting some of my Brazilian friends. But for now their world is mostly here at the mission property.

On January 19th we started language school with two very good teachers. Dona Edissa (Mrs. Edissa) has been teaching Portuguese to American missionaries and their children for over 35 years. She was one of my parents’ teachers 36 years ago! She is very good at what she does, teaching the phonics and grammar, and knows exactly how to explain things. Pastor Jenuan is a pastor of the one of the local churches who has a degree in Brazilian Portuguese and has taught several Americans as well. He is our conversation teacher, who helps us with practicing our pronunciation. Todd has been very encouraged, though very busy, with his classes. He already understands a lot more and is able to pronounce things so much easier in just one week of classes! Dona Edissa said that she can always tell from the first class whether her student is going to be able to pick things up quickly or not and she was very encouraged with how well Todd is picking things up. Todd is taking classes 5 afternoons a week and I am taking classes three afternoons a week. For my classes I am concentrating on reading to expand my vocabulary and studying grammar to be able to write and translate properly. They push us hard and we are glad for that, but please pray for us to be able to work hard while doing everything else that is needed. Todd has about 4-5 hours of homework every day and I have about two. So our days are full.

We have had several delays with our container that we are having sent. This is mostly due to the lack of communication we experienced for several weeks after we moved. Todd has spent quite a bit of time now catching up with the men at the ministry who is sending it for us. They have had some sickness and injuries that have caused hardships on their part as well. Please pray for this to be able to be sent soon. We feel a little unsettled and unable to do things efficiently without our things and the children have been missing their toys. Once it’s sent, it still has to travel safely and then pass inspection once it reaches the port. Please pray for the customs officials to look at us leniently and not charge us import tax. This is supposed to be free from import tax since I am a permanent resident and we are allowed one move of family every 10 years. So please surround this with prayer!

Thank you our dear friends, family, supporters, prayer warriors for surrounding us with your prayers and encouragement. It’s easy for us to feel alone or disconnected but then all we have to do is remember that every bite we take, every thing we wear, the lights we use while we’re studying, the gas for the car, is because of people back home who are giving because of the ministry that God has given us—you and us—here in Brazil. We do not take it for granted and we pray for you every day. We really want to hear how you are doing—prayer requests, praises, struggles, joys. May God richly bless you for your sacrifices and hard work for the work of the Lord!

Serving the Lord together with you,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Update 2008 December

Dear Friends and Family,

Here is the Christmas letter we tried to send to you, but because of problems with my computer it wouldn’t send!!! Many things have happened since the week of Christmas, so I’ll send another update with the latest update! Thank you for your patience and now it looks like we’ll be able to e-mail regularly.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We hear that many of you have been experiencing very cold weather and many have snow and ice! You will have a white Christmas hopefully! We are going to be experiencing a form of “White Christmas” as well as we plan to go to the white sandy beach after our Christmas dinner on Christmas day. It’s going to fun!!! And we’re very excited to be spending our first Christmas with Julie’s parents. It’s going to be a real blessing!!!!
We are definitely having a good introduction to Brazil with the heat, humidity, things breaking and people everywhere. In a city of over 5 million, it’s hard to get anywhere without experiencing considerable delays with long lines and waiting to do anything. The Lord has been so good to us with my parents here to help us with every detail, the other missionaries going out of their way to help us and make us feel welcome, and the local believers in the church in the city being so excited to have us here. They already have Julie helping with the music for the Christmas program on Christmas Eve!!

We are busy setting up house and looking for a car. In looking for a car we ask you to pray for wisdom because we first need to be acquainted with what is available and then try to make the best decision possible.

We want to avoid what the Brazilian’s consider a “rich” people car to avoid looking like the rich American, but we also need something that will fit our needs, the size of our family and will run well for a while. We might wait until the beginning of the year to buy to avoid paying fees for this year.

We will be starting language school mid-January, hopefully by then be able to run our house a little independently and have meals here at home on our own. I’m learning how to shop for groceries and cook down here, and Todd is learning that things aren’t as convenient here as they are in the States—having to run all over town to find the parts needed to fix the oven, the armoire, surge protectors and the washing machine that have already broken!!! And we have to do that while depending on others to drive us around.

God is teaching us many things from His heart and we pray we are learning the lessons He wants us to learn. As my father reminded me, God’s goal is not for us to serve Him, it is for us to have a relationship with Him and to be completely dependent on Him. So He will allow and bring things into our lives for the purpose of our growth. Praise the Lord that He is with us, that God sent His Son to be with us and to lead us into relationship with Him, and that even though He is in heaven, He is still with us and guides us each day. Many have been asking for our address so it is included at the end of the e-mail. Our Skype address is thendry777 and we get on there pretty regularly. We’re trying to get our own internet service as well, we’ve already been there twice and still have to go back. As my parent’s said, "Welcome to Brazil!"

Please continue to pray for the Todd and the children since their adjustment is the biggest. Samuel is just small enough not to be bothered too much by the language differences. He just plays with everyone regardless. Michaela has had a hard time at times and gets sad that she can’t talk with anyone. But this last Sunday she really connected with a little girl, Gabriella, who wants to "teach" her Portuguese and they played really well together. Todd is having a hard time with not knowing how to speak in Portuguese, since he’s such a friendly guy, but he makes the best of it and has found some young people that like trying to talk with him. Please pray for his language school and for him to be encouraged through this phase of ministry.

Thank you for your prayers! We are so blessed to have family and friends to pray for us and be interested in all that is going on. May your Christmas be one of great Joy not only with family and friends around you, but in the Lord who gave all, His only Son, for you!

With love and prayers,
Todd and Julie Hendry