Dear Friends and Family, (The Pictures wouldn't load, so please forgive us. Pictures to come!)
February 7th 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 7th,
which is in the 32nd week. (The due date is May 2nd.) 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 3rd 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
