Quick Update

Dear Friends and Family,

We wanted to update you quickly about this weekend. We are planning to go interior as a family today to look for housing. Todd's last trip house hunting was good, but we need to broaden our horizons of what's available. What he found was that housing was expensive and that the owners are seeing American dollar signs.

At one house the neighbor said the owner was asking $70,000 Reais (about $40,000) but when we talked with the owner he told Todd $120,000 Reais, almost double. To try to avoid the price increase because they see we are Americans, Todd is asking a pastor friend of ours to go ahead of us on Friday and look around, get concrete prices on the homes, and then he'll show us the homes. Sort of like a realtor, but with a twist.

We need wisdom to know if we should buy a home or rent and if we buy, how we would get financing. The home prices are cheaper than in the US but the quality is a lot more "rustic" too. So please pray for wisdom for us.

Another important event is our 10th Anniversary today. We will be celebrating it next weekend when a friend will be available to watch our kids. As we look back over the last 10 years we think "What a crazy life we've had!" It's been fun and hard, full of busy times and tremendous joys. We have two wonderful children to praise the Lord for and we're very excited to be given the responsibility to raise them up to love and serve the Lord. And we continue to love each other and grow in our love for our Lord. It's been an awesome adventure.

If we can characterize our last ten years with one word it would "Change". Maybe the next ten years we'll finally learn to settle down a little bit :). Maybe not.

Thank you for your prayers for us as a family and couple, and as missionaries starting a new work, our first time on the mission field! We really appreciate your investment in us through prayer and support.

You'll find below an update from a couple weeks ago. I realized as I started typing this one, that I didn't send the e-mail posting this update. Sorry about that! You'll be getting 2 for 1 now!

Serving the Lord together,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Decisions, decisions

Dear Friends and Family,

We have had quite a bit to share with you and we want to thank each one of you who has been praying with us. We have needed it for the main decision we've been faced with this month--where is the Lord leading us to bring the Gospel?

Easter Youth Retreat

You may remember that after Todd finished language school, he had one week to prepare his sermons for the Easter Youth Retreat at Pitombeira's camp in interior (inland) Ceara. Todd has a great way of connecting with youth and everyone enjoyed the camp. And our children loved it! This time there weren't sheep and butterfly's to entertain them, or a swollen river to cross. But they had a good time.

The lack of rain is a very serious problem in a place that completely depends on the rainy season as their source of jobs, income and food. Last year the rains started in December and went all the way to July. This year it didn't start raining until mid-March. The interior of Ceara is facing a serious drought, very little rain has fallen until now and it is rainy a little but consistently. Many farmers had already lost their crops, but some have replanted and we're praying for at least a month of good rains to be able to harvest this crop. As it is, the Northeast of Brazil is facing a grand Exodus of people going down south to look for jobs to send back to their families in the Northeast.

God's leading

Well, after the retreat, our family stayed interior and spent 4 days looking at 5 different cities that were possibilities for us to work in. We identified the two towns that are most needy of the Gospel and after much prayer and conversations with our leadership here on the field, we believe the Lord is leading us to the town of Croata. I've mentioned this town before and we're excited to be able to go there.

It's a nice little town, about 17,000 people . There are two evangelical churches there, with the number of believers at less than 1% of the populaton. Less than 170 people in the town know the Lord! It's probably closer to 100 people, but there's no way to know the exact numbers. The radio station run by our mission reaches there very well, and it will be a great tool for evangelism and partnership in helping build up believers.

Todd and 3 other missionaries went to Croata this last week and looked around for housing. There are several possibilities and they weren't able to see them all. So the availability of housing is not a problem in that town. Please pray for wisdom for us as we decide how best to proceed in this area of housing. We hope to go back interior as a family in the next couple weeks to be able to look at some other places. We want to send the right message to our neighbors about the kind of home we choose and choose the area the Lord wants us to work in, that won't be in "competition" with the other two churches. So we ask for you to surround us with prayer in this time of decision making. One problem we are facing is that almost all the homes that are available are in various stages of being built. So it may be June before we move. Please also pray for the Lord's timing with all of this.

Other Prayer Requests

Michaela is on the homestretch with finishing school. We are praying to be done by the end of May, which would work well if we don't move until June. And Sammy turned five this last month.

It's so hard to believe how much they've grown just since we've been here. We would ask for you to surround them in prayer through this transition interior. Michaela seems to have a hard time with change and we've been seeing it in her behavior during our trip and after we've been back. Sammy, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Please pray for them to adjust to living in a new town and for them to understand and grasp more Portuguese. It hasn't just "happened" like we were told it would, but we've not been surrounded by Portuguese speakers every day either. When we go interior we will be. So please pray for that part of their transition into new neighbors and friendships in Portuguese!

Thank you all for your prayers and support in this work. Please also pray for Todd as he goes to the regional Church association meeting this next weekend. This is a good opportunity for him to meet and connect with the local pastors of churches all through the State of Ceara. And also pray for us as we try to sell our car and buy a pick up truck that has been offered to us at a good price. Also, our main computer up and died on us. So many things are happening and we have a lot of decisions to make.

We thank you for surrounding us in prayer. We need it always and are especially encouraged by your prayers when there are so many pressures on us. We keep being reminded that this work is not a physical but a spiritual work, and the devil will fight us at every turn. May we all remember that and work to put on the armor of God to protect us and equip us for this spiritual battle for souls.

Serving together with You,

Todd and Julie Hendry