September Update

Dear Friends and Family,


We pray that you are all doing well. We have a daily prayer time for our supporters, friends and family and we enjoy praying for each one of you. Some I have been able to keep up with through Facebook, but we would love to hear more from all of you. Please let us know how you are doing and how we can pray. We also want to be better about sharing our news here and we have so much good news to share!

After the birth of our little girl, and our return to Croatá in May, we were ready to get back to our work here. But where to start/restart the work? We were a little discouraged with people not wanting to do things during June and July. Then this month things have taken off.

We had asked previously for prayer for someone to work alongside us. The last year we invited a long-time friend of our family, who worked with SIBIMA, the seminary where my dad worked. The Lord answered our prayers and two weeks ago our co-worker Francisca Neuma came to Croatá to start working here. We’ve had a hard time finding a rental house for her. We had a home all lined up and when we went to get the key, the lady had given the house to her son to live in. So we went looking some more. She found an apartment and was told it would be ready this last Monday. Every day this week she went to get the key but the owner would have an excuse for not having it ready. Then Thursday morning, Todd woke up early with an idea and couldn’t fall asleep again. As soon as I woke up he told me about it.

We’ve also been looking for a place to start our Sunday school soon. And there’s this house, a nice big space, just across the street about 4 houses down that became available recently. We never considered it because it’s way too big and expensive for just one person. But Todd’s thought was that perhaps we could pay half of the rent and utilities for use of the space for the church and she could pay half to live there. We were hoping it would be R$500 or less, but it probably wouldn’t. This is when an idea comes from the Lord and the door opens wide before us because the idea came from the Lord. Neuma went in the morning to find the owner. He walked in to his store just as she walked in (he lives in another city). Then he tells her that the rent is R$400. He took her to see the house and within an hour was holding the keys. It’s so well built, big and clean, good sized, has an outside bathroom and so many other things. Besides that, it answers our prayers of Neuma living close by, a good location for the church, and she was praying for rent for R$200 or less and hadn’t been able to find anything cheaper than R$250.

It was so exciting that we all had tears in our eyes. The kids and I stopped school, ran over there to check it out, then came back and had an impromptu praise service. We are so encouraged and now have a lot to do as we prepare for starting Sunday school the end of September and a church service soon after. Several people and a church gave toward our church set-up fund, so we are going to be now buying benches and chairs, a small amplifier, some fans (it can be hot in the tropics J), Sunday school materials, Bibles and so forth. So thank you to each one that contributed to this fund. We had planned on using the space in front of our house to build an overhang to hold services but have become aware that it might not work out so well to use the donated funds toward building on our personal property. So this has been a big answer to prayer for guidance as well.

This next month will be busy going to Fortaleza to help gather the rest of Neuma’s belongings for her to finish her move. We will also be trying to wisely furnish the church area to be used best for the Lord’s glory. More importantly, we would like to put forth a strong effort to go to the homes of each child that came to VBS in July and give them an invitation for Sunday School. Then once we have Sunday School going well, we will start the evening church service (which is the main service here in Brazil). There are also thoughts of starting a puppet ministry in the near-enough future so that we could make our first big performance for Christmas. Todd has worked with this in the past and we want some type of ministry that would get the older kids in our group start “serving” the Lord. This is a type of discipleship that could give these kids some experience teaching the younger children. We are looking at plans for puppet stages and plans for making the puppets ourselves. Did I mention that our colleague Neuma just happens to be a seamstress?

There are several other prayer requests and praises we would like to share as well:
Praises and Prayer:
° Even though Julie hasn’t been able to start the Ladies’ Bible study up again, she has been able to start a Bible study with one of the ladies. She is very interested and a good friend. Her sister, Das Dores, who is a believer in the city of Rio de Janeiro, is fighting cancer and it has spread to several locations recently. Please pray for her—for the Lord’s will in her recovery or not, and for the Lord to use this to draw Souzinha to come to know Him.
° The kids have started 2nd and 5th grade and are doing well, Lily is growing and grinning and a joy to all of us.
° Julie’s mother had back surgery in July and is doing much better.
° Todd is doing Bible Studies with 10 boys in the mornings during the week. Please pray for these boys to grow in their young faith and to be a light to this community.
° Please pray for men to come to know the Lord and be leaders as our new little congregation starts—it’s never too early to pray for this.
° Please pray for Neuma and us to work out what will be best with the division of responsibilities and the reality of working together. We get along very well, but please pray for unity of ideas and purpose.
° Julie has also started a Bible study with girls on Monday evenings, called Princesses of the King. It includes Bible memory, lesson, singing and a craft. The girls are really enjoying it. We were made aware of the need to have a ministry directed toward girls when we had our VBS and only 4 girls came and over 70 boys came. The girls either don’t like, or aren’t allowed, to come because of the prevalence of the “bad” boys that we tend to work with. Please praise the Lord for the new girls that have come and pray for those that hear the gospel, to truly believe and be transformed.

Thank you again for your support, your prayers and your encouragement. We miss you all but are so glad to be chosen to do this work in Croatá. Thank you for participating with us through the ups and downs. This is definitely an up time but the Lord is right there with us when we are discouraged as well. God is so good and we will ever praise Him!

Serving together with you,

Todd and Julie Hendry
Michaela, Samuel and Lilyanne

Hurry up and wait...

Dear Friends and Family,

We made our mini-move to Fortaleza on March 7th and things have been going well.  Todd has taken two trips back to Croatá, managed to do some Bible Studies and preached in Portuguese in one of the local churches about 1 hour and 20 minutes away.  He is traveling this weekend to the church association yearly meeting about 4 hours away.  He has been busy, with preparing for the sermon, traveling, working on stuff at this house or while in Croatá, getting stuff done at that house, carting us to doctor and around town looking for a car seat for the baby.  He's had some great opportunities to minister in Croatá, help people in tangible ways, and sit down and talk about the Lord with several people in Croatá.  That's been wonderful for him.

On this end in Fortaleza, the kids and I are doing school as much as possible and we have gone to the doctor weekly.  The reports from the doctor are good.  I'm responding well to the blood pressure medication, so that's not as much of a concern anymore.  The baby is growing well.  She turned but then moved again, so we don't know where she'll settle.  The doctor has convinced us of why he wants to do a c-section, and it does seem for the best, though I'm not excited about it all.  I'm at 35 weeks gestation, so baby could come at any time.  Besides the normal discomforts of late-pregnancy, things are going well.  So we hurried to get here, and now are just waiting for her arrival. 

We would ask for prayers for Molly Goossen, our dear friend and coworker here who is a recipient of donated kidneys and a pancreas.  She had quite a scare and spent a few days in a local hospital, and then they quickly decided to go to the US to Mayo Clinic for better care.  Once they arrived there, they were able to determine the cause of her illness.  I don't know all the details, but I believe a blood clot damaged her transplanted pancreas and it's not longer functioning.  She has returned to being diabetic and insulin-dependent.  Thankfully, she had over 10 years of a reprieve from her diabetes, and thankfully her transplanted kidney was not affected by this sudden shut-down of her pancreas.  Please pray for them through their transition to the US for medical/home assignment without having time to hand things over here in Brazil.  The Lord is in control and thankfully a wonderful pastor is stepping in to help out.

My parents come down April 21st, on Sammy's birthday for a couple weeks.  We don't know if baby will wait until then or not.   But we are really looking forward to seeing them.  Please pray for my mother's health and comfort.  She is in quite a bit of pain due to fractures in her back and hips.

This last month saw Sammy loosing a front tooth and learning to ride his bike without training wheels.  He struggled for so long, but then one night just took off and loves his time on the bike.  Michaela is growing so fast and becoming such a sweet young lady in many ways.  She loves to help and is really excited about the coming of her baby sister.  Sammy has prayed from the beginning of the pregnancy for "mommy and the baby to be safe and for mommy to be brave."  Little did he know how much I'm struggling with the c-section idea.  I know it's common and advanced, etc., but I do struggle with it and giving birth in another country, is well, out of my comfort zone.  Thankfully I have the same doctor who did my emergency surgery 2 years ago.  So I'm in good hands.  But please pray for peace and for me to be brave, like Sammy always prays.

We have to thank several of you who have given toward the higher expenses we are experiencing with our temporary move to Fortaleza and the added expenses of having a little one.  Please do continue to pray for us to manage our resources that you all so faithfully provide.  God is so good and we trust in Him daily to meet our needs. 

Serving together with you,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Dear Friends and Family,  (The Pictures wouldn't load, so please forgive us.  Pictures to come!)

February 7^th was moving day!  We had the help of three missionary couples with three pickup trucks and a trailer, and it took 13 loads that day, plus a few since with our little pickup, but we are moved!  What an incredible blessing this house is to us.  The pile of dirt we sweep at this house after two days isn’t even comparable to the pile we’d sweep up at the rental house three times a day.  It’s so much cleaner, safer, and we fit!  Todd has worked so hard and I (Julie) am incredibly grateful for his hard work and the Lord’s provision of the loan.

Todd said the other day that he can see the Lord’s work through this project.  Because of his lack of complete fluency in Portuguese, he has a little more difficulty relating to the men in town than I do with the women.  So, it has been wonderful to see how much his Portuguese has improved in these last 6 months, as well as his reputation and relationships with people in town.  A few times in the last month he’s been invited to sit down and chat with men, and it has given him several opportunities to witness.  Please pray for open hearts and that they will be open to doing a Bible Study with Todd

We are so grateful to Ray and Debbie Pete who have been with us these last few weeks helping us get settled in and also fix up the rental house to turn over to our landlords.  Please pray for the Lord’s will for their future ministry here in Brazil or elsewhere. 

Please also pray for our continued good relationship with our landlords.  They have become dear friends and we pray that we can continue to invest in them even though we don’t rent from them.  Today is the turn over of the house and we are hoping they will be satisfied with all the improvements we did on the house.  

On February 11, Michaela turned 10!  She had a little party at home and then we celebrated with the children from Kids' Club.  She is becoming quite a young lady and she is an amazing help!  

Last week we took a quick run to Fortaleza for my prenatal visit.  We had been concerned with my “high risk” status, as well as with issues that we had with the births of our two older children.  There was a concern that I would need to do a c-section, which I really have been afraid to do.  When we did the ultrasound, we found that the baby is breech.  There is time for her to turn, but the concern is also that the umbilical chord is very close to her neck (which is what happened with the other two).  Also, it was seen in the ultrasound that my placenta is aging too quickly.  So, the doctor advised us that I should move to Fortaleza by next Wednesday, March 7^th, which is in the 32^nd week.   (The due date is May 2^nd.) The doctor will be monitoring the baby’s position and also the aging of the placenta to determine when the c-section will be.  My blood pressure is also starting to inch up, so he placed me on medication for that.

So now we are preparing for another mini-move.  The kids and I will be moving to Fortaleza for the next 2-3 months.    Todd will be attempting to run back and forth between Fortaleza, taking care of us and maintaining our Kids’ Club and Bible Studies here in Croatá.  We also want to help Neuma with raising her support for coming to work with us in Croatá, so we will be setting up a few meetings with churches in Fortaleza in order to do that.  So please pray for the logistics, the finances (paying our mortgage and bills on this house and rent and utilities at the mission house in Fortaleza, and the medical bills), and the safety of mother and baby.  Please also pray for Michaela and Samuel with yet another transition and with getting as much homeschool done as possible before the baby comes. 

We want to thank each one of the ones that read our e-mails, pray and give toward our ministry here.  This is such a time of change for us.  We are incredibly blessed by the miracle of this 3^rd child and are excited for her arrival.  We also regret having to “interrupt” our ministry because of the move to Fortaleza.  We know there are no interruptions or surprises with the Lord, so we know that all this is happening in the Lord’s timing and that He knows how things will be when we return to Croatá for continuing our ministries and Bible Studies.  

We read this morning in Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”  We trust in His plan for us, for the baby, and for His ministry in Croatá.  Thank you for praying with us. 

Serving together with you,

Todd and Julie Hendry

Life is full...

Dear Friends and Family,

I can hardly believe it's been so long since we published an update on our blogsite.  Please forgive us!  Todd has been posting updates about the house construction on a connected blog site, but I haven't had much on here about our family and ministry. 

These last 6 months have been crazy.  Here are some things that we've been up to since the last post.

Todd praying with one of his Bible Study boys

• We started construction on our house September 1st and are praying that today will be the last day with the construction workers.  They are laying down the concrete for the sidewalk today and we as a family plan on celebrating tonight by eating supper over there tonight.  The painters still have to finish, and there are of course a myriad of projects that we will be completing to get the house ready for move in.  We hope to move in the end of January/beginning of February.  God is to be praised!  Financially, the Lord provided through a loan through Todd's parents.  We had no real idea how much it was going to cost.  We hoped that the amount we borrowed from them would be enough, but we thought we'd have to cut lots of corners (not paint the house, only finish one bathroom, not lay tile on the floors, etc.)  but the Lord stretched our money.  It has been amazing to see how we have spent way less on this house than if we had purchased a house and remodeled it to be usable (i.e. have a ceiling and a good bathroom).  We are so grateful to the Lord!  
• In October I (Julie) had some difficulties with the pregnancy and had to have two procedures done.  One was to try to prevent miscarriage.  Thankfully the surgery was a success and the issues have been resolved.  I was on bed rest off and on for a couple months, but since about month 4, I have been free to do whatever needs to be done here at home with discernment.  The pregnancy is going very well now and we are expecting little baby girl to arrive late April/early May.  Please pray for continued health and safety.  The doctor does want me to move to Fortaleza in March so that we can be in town, just in case.   It is standard for a missionary to be in town 6 weeks before, but the doctor wants me there 2 months early.
• In November the Lord opened the door for a Ladies' Bible study to start.  We have been using the Firm Foundations book from Goodseed Publishing, which is a chronological study of the Bible.  Between 3 and 6 women show up weekly, and several of them have invited family to come.  Please pray for us to find a day that works for everyone.  One of the ladies is finishing highschool, so she can't come during the week and another can't do it on the weekends.

  

  Christmas Program with Children from Kid's Club
  

• In December we worked on a Christmas program with the children involved in Kid's Club.  It was a lot of fun and several parents came, including all of the Bible study ladies.  
• Neuma, the Brazilian lady raising support to come work here in Croatá, has had some pledges for support.  That has been encouraging for her.  We plan to go with her to several churches in Fortaleza while we are there waiting for baby to come.  It would be wonderful to have her move here by the middle of the year.
• We are praying for the Lord to show us the correct timing for starting a Sunday School and Sunday evening Bible study with adults.  That Bible study would eventually turn into a church service.  We were all excited to start now in January, but now with the baby coming and us having to be out of town for a couple of months, we have decided to wait until probably June to start it.  We are planning on converting an existing old garage on our property into a covered area with a bathroom that could be used for services.  We also have a project for church set up: chairs/benches, Bibles and songbooks, a little sound system and microphones.  We dream about a projector, but that may be something down the line.
• Tomorrow we head into Fortaleza to welcome our new coworkers Ray and Debbie Pete.  They will be here for 6 months assisting the missionaries.  It will be wonderful having them here in Croatá for the month of February.  We will also have my parents come down for welcoming the baby, and then another friend from our homechurch in Kansas.  
• So the timeline is like this for this Spring.  But we must remember that the plans are made by man, but it is the Lord who brings them to pass.  We ask for your prayers for the Lord to accomplish His purpose and that we will be flexible.  
• January 18--Welcome Petes
• February--Petes at our home, work on construction of the covered area for meetings, perhaps host a work team from a church in Fortaleza
• March/April--move to Fortaleza waiting for baby, work with Neuma with meetings for her support
• Late April/Early May--Baby Arrives, hopefully my parents will be here for that
• Late May--welcome our friend from Kansas and move back to Croatá
• June or July--restart other Bible studies and start Sunday school and Sunday Evening Bible Study. 

Thank you all for your prayers and for those that gave extra Christmas gifts to our family and ministry.  Several have given toward the church setup fund and we are so grateful for those gifts.  It's exciting to see how God is supplying every need.  We pray for God to continue blessing each of you as you endeavor to serve Him in all your lives.

We love and miss you all.

Todd and Julie Hendry