Todd and Julie Hendry- Updates: Many joys

Dear Friends and Family,

As I recount our almost 10,000 miles in travels through the South/Southeast and Midwest of the United States over the last 3 1/2 months, we count many joys we have experienced in sharing and visiting with so many of you. The deep, lasting friendships we have with those we've known for many years, the deepening relationships we are developing with others as we get acquainted and meeting many new people has provided us with a sense of joy and contentment in the Lord. God has been so good to us through you. We have been truly blessed.

There have been many joys we would like to share with you:

Being able to visit with so many in such a short period of time. After this week, we will only need to visit two more supporting churches, both of which are scheduled in July and November. What a blessing to meet with the leadership of these churches, to reconnect and know that we are working together for the Gospel.
One of our greatest joys, truly, is meeting with the individual members of the churches and getting to know them. We have enjoyed these moments of fellowship, kindling new friendships. What a privilege we have to meet believers all over the U.S.!
In Brazil, we have had the joy of seeing God answer our fervent prayers and concerns about the continuation of His work during our absence. The Lord did greatly provide a young lady to live with Neuma in the interim from when Wendell and Sue Clark left and the Goossen's will arrive in August. And to top it all off, our coworkers James and Molly offered to have a small group of youth come down every Sunday to lead Sunday school singing and classes. Neuma and Isabel wouldn't have been able to handle that alone and GOD PROVIDED!
Thanks to many of your prayers, the logistics of getting bills paid and taking care of Neuma and Isabel while they are alone in Croatá has turned into a joy and not a burden. God is so faithful!
Through very difficult events in Brazil, namely the passing of a good friend of ours in the midst of terrible circumstances, we have been able to reconnect through Facebook with several people in Croatá. They have reached out to us, wanting our involvement in their lives as they struggle with this grief. We wish we could be there with them, but praise God for opening those heart-ways to us so that we can share Christ's comfort and His gospel through this difficult time.
On the home front, we have had many joys watching our children grow and develop. Michaela and Samuel have been working hard on their schooling and are not as far behind as we feared. Michaela has proven herself to be responsible and is growing as a young lady who loves the Lord. We praise the Lord for her. Samuel's eyesight is improving tremendously. He does need vision therapy to help his eye muscles recover from a year of stress, and we have seen an improvement in his ability to concentrate and complete tasks that were difficult for him. His health is also improving with fewer allergy attacks and colds. And it has been a joy to watch Lilyanne grow before our eyes. Her ability to communicate has grown by leaps and bounds. Where she knew very few words when we arrived, now she's talking up a storm, adding new words to her vocabulary daily. Julie's pregnancy has thankfully been uneventful after that first scare. We did have the joy of finding out we are having a little boy and we are excited to meet him sometime in early October.

The next few months still find us traveling and meeting with several people and churches. We are in Kansas City at the moment, visiting with a couple supporting churches and spending almost every evening meeting with our supporters. We have had such a rich time of fellowship!

After Kansas City, we will be traveling to Branson, this time with family from Maine and Saint Louis. Then off we go to Maine. We have been looking forward to our Maine trip and planning it since before we arrived in the U.S. Please pray that Julie will continue to do well in her pregnancy and nothing will hamper our ability to go to Maine. Todd will be speaking for the week-long camp at Fairhaven in mid-July. We will be speaking at our supporting church, Hermon Baptist after that. And we are still attempting to set up a couple more meetings with churches in Maine around those dates. Please pray for safe travels and no problems with our car as we add a couple more thousand miles to our itinerary.

Due to our increase in family size, the amount of support we need in order to return to Brazil has increased by $1200. We have also had several supporters decrease or stop supporting due to their ill-health or family financial problems which adds up to about $300. These are all issues that we fully support and understand, but now we are facing a $1500 deficit that we trust the Lord will supply in order for us to return to Brazil by the end of the year. To top it off, with the increase of one more child, we will now have to sell our five-seater truck in Brazil and are setting up a special project fund to help us raise money to buy a six-passenger vehicle when we arrive in Brazil.

If you know of any churches that we can meet with, that are looking to expand their missions program, or if you know any individuals that would be interested in doing the same, please let us know. We can send them information and if they are further interested we can set up a time to meet with them. We so appreciate those who already are self-sacrificial in giving to us. We do not like to talk about finances and do not want anyone to feel uncomfortable about this--it seems like it's all we hear about these days. But these are the needs that we are facing and know that the Lord will supply for our return to Brazil through His people. We trust that He will lead people to give either on a regular basis or to provide special gifts that will add up to provide for these needs.

We continue to look for housing in the St. Louis area for when we decrease our traveling in August and plan on staying put until the baby arrives. If anyone is aware of someone needing long-term house sitting or a mission/guest house that would be available, or any other ideas, please let us know.

Thank you for your prayers, for your support, for caring for us, and for the wonderful time of refreshment we have had at your homes and churches. We wish we could visit you all, and would really like to continue setting up appointments with as many people as we can fit into our schedule. The doctor has ordered no more traveling from August until the baby and I are able to travel after the birthAQ2, but that doesn't mean we can't find a way to meet in Saint Louis or after the baby arrives. We look forward to seeing as many as possible! You are one of our greatest Joys!

Serving the Lord together with You,
Todd and Julie Hendry
Michaela, Samuel, Lilyanne and baby boy