May 1, 2002

Greetings in the name of our Lord,

Thanks to all of you who prayed for me last month. I am recovering from whatever it was that attacked me. I am up to about one half speed with my stamina and tolerance for much work. Continue praying for me to return to 100%.

Speaking of prayer, Barb and I have been praying for one of the couples in our mission. They are not married and are living together. This is something we see with much frequency here in Brazil. You see, to get married you have to have a civil ceremony, and that costs about $150.00. Most Brazilians make only minimum wage and that is $200.00 per month, so they just live together. But this couple has accepted Christ as their Savior and God has touched their hearts. Our prayers have been answered. We are going to have our first wedding here at the Haven of Hope, in 30 days. There is another formality here in Brazil, you have to make a public declaration of your intent to marry and then wait 30 days to have the civil ceremony. We are basking in the Glory of the Lord, it is wonderful to watch the spiritual growth of young Christians. And also to watch as God shapes and molds their lives. How AWESOME is the God we serve!!

We continue with the maintenance work on the property, repairs and painting. I think it will never cease. But we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are getting ready to have workers from the States, this is always a great help. We would like to have all this completed before we come home the last of August. Mainly because we want to get started on the construction of the houses for the children.

The property is really AWESOME. It includes 3 houses for workers, two occupied, one waiting for the Lord to send the next couple. There is a central area for meetings and another large area for cooking and eating. There are 48 acres--plenty of room to build houses for the children. We paid the last payment on the 20th of the month, but to be able to make this payment we had to borrow $60,000.00. We had to borrow because many of the people who had pledged to help with the purchase were caught up in the decline of resources after Sept. 11. So if any churches, groups, or individuals would like to help pay off this debt, designate your offerings for AJ and Barbara's new work. We are greatly excited about the construction phase of the work, but first things first.

Thanks to you and your giving to B.F.M. we received our car allowance and were able to trade for a different truck. We stayed with the same style of truck. We got one 2 years newer but the big thing in the trade was that we got a diesel. This will be a two- fold savings for us. You see, gasoline is $1.95 per liter and diesel costs $.98 per liter, and we are getting 250 kilometers more per each tank of diesel. We are looking forward to this savings so we can put this extra money to work somewhere else in God's work here in Brazil.

Many thanks for your wonderful support and for your prayers. Without you this work is not possible. We are looking forward to seeing many of you this coming fall at the Thanksgiving Conference and at your churches.

In His service,

AJ and Barbara Hensley