June 30, 2005

Dear Friends

This past month was a real special kind for two servants of the Lord, whom He has blessed beyond their imagination. In Nashville our oldest child Lynn, and her husband, Ross, along with members of their family and many volunteers planned and realized the STONE SOUP FESTIVAL, a special event for families of children with special needs and their siblings. The event was held at the Nashville Convention Center. One thousand persons attended the Festival during the day.

Alta and I went to Manaus to visit our sons, Paul and David and their wives. While there, we visited our dear friends Harold and Marie Bratcher. After 47 years in Brazil still going strong in spite of some health problems. Paul and Wanda live at the same place where we reared our children. We were with them the first half of our trip. Visiting the School Alta and I founded a long time ago was a real thrill and heart warmer. They had prepared a special program for us and presented us with a beautiful plaque with these words: To Our Brother John and Sister Alta Hatcher. Our honor and gratitude for the dream of and creation of this School that has blessed many lives. We praise God for your lives, still full of vigor, flowering and fruitful in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see in your ministry the fulfillment of the Word that says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your understanding and with all your strength," as well as "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 30:30-31) May many more souls be reached through the testimony of your lives. With Love, from the faculty and students of the Baptist School of the Americas. Manaus, June 2, 2005." Some students said to us, "My grandmother or grandfather studied here."  Well, it was a great day and we will remember it for a long time.

Now, I am going to skip to France and then I will come back to our visit to Manaus. No, I am not having a senior moment. I am keeping the lives of our children in order. We rejoice in the Lord and praise Him for the victory in France where John Mark, our third child, and Judy, his wife, serve God. The world is a God hating and rejecting place but some spots are more difficult than others. Our hearts praised God for Joachim whom God saved and is the first person to be baptized by John Mark in France. After learning the language and many Bible studies in many places God gave a real victory; many more will come.

Coming back to Manaus, Brazil we visited with David and Pennie who are missionaries there and support their ministry by their Language School. After a week of Wanda’s cooking plus a week of Pennie’s cooking I was beginning to need special reducing exercises so there was no alternative—I had to go to the tennis court and play David for three or four mornings. No, I did not win all the games nor did I lose all. Just to be able to play at eighty was a great win.

At the Sunday evening services the church gave Alta and I a plaque which reads: "CERTIFICATE OF HONOR to Pastor John and Alta Hatcher for their 50 years of missionary work in Brazil and for a the 45 years of the founding of the Chapada Baptist Church. God be Praised!  Chapada Baptist Church"

Our other great treasure is Kathy, who along with Odali, her husband, care for over 130 children from broken homes and street kids. Can you imagine of being mother to 130 needy children from 1 to 18 years of age. No one has been blessed more than Alta and I. With our children and the children God has given us through the work of the Gospel we are the richest persons on the earth—what treasures God has given!  "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5.  "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine…thy children like olive plants round about thy table." Psalm 128:3.

Dear Friends, you who have supported us through the years with your gifts and prayers share these treasures and blessings with us. Let us press on with joy and dedication to reach the lost for whom Jesus died.

In Christian love,

John and Alta Hatcher

Faith Baptist Church in Marilia.  This work was started many years ago with services held each Sunday afternoon in the Rolling Chapel bus.  Today the Sunday School here has reached about 130 persons.  This is the work of the Baptist Church in Garca and the pastor is Gilberto Stefano, who was saved and baptized in Cornelio Procopio many years ago.  But the principal servant in the development of this work has been Maria da Silva.  She was saved in Manaus in 1958 in the Calvary Baptist Church.