August 5, 2005

Dear Friends,

July was a busy month. We have many reasons to be joyful and thankful. Wanda and I held our granddaughter, Sarah, for the first time. We had a great time being grandparents. We had an additional blessing as all the children and spouses were home for two weeks. The window of opportunity to have the family together is rare due to the distance of living in different countries. We had a wonderful time, and rejoice for the family God has given us. We are especially glad for the vision and commitment they have for God's mission in their lives. Leigh, our oldest, is married to Michael Samples; they live in Virginia Beach, VA. He is pastor of Genesis Baptist Church, a church for Portuguese-speaking people. Our son, Judson, and his wife, Raquel, along with their four-month-old Sarah, also live in Virginia Beach, where Raquel is studying. Both families hope to soon be back in Brazil to help in the training of leaders and starting new churches in each state. Michelle, our youngest, is in medical school in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Alan, our three-year-old foster grandson, was here also. He lives at the Alpha and Omega Children's Home in Sao Paulo. Michelle gives him special attention. We appreciate your prayers for our family.

A new mission church was started this month in the subdivision of Alvorado (means "sunrise") in Manaus. The missionaries working there will be going to other states to start new churches in about five weeks. These are the missionaries: Gilvant and Helen, Girlan and Lea with their children Gabriel and Gabriela, Guedryan and Artemizia, and singles Maria, Eder, Lane and Emerson. This is their second church plant, and some of them have been involved in three. They are also training the pastor and team that will continue with the work at Alvorada when they all move to northeastern Brazil to the city of Natal in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and to the city of Joao Pessoa in the state of Paraiba. Mid-August, Girlan, with his family and Lane, who is a civil engineer, will be the first to move to Natal and remodel the building for church services (it was built for usage as a restaurant). This is nearly three thousand kilometers from Manaus. There are no connecting roads. The move is a thousand miles down the Amazon River to the city of Belem and then, on by truck or plane. As soon as remodeling is complete, the rest of the team will move, hopefully by the first of September. As soon as the church is started in Natal, we will begin remodeling the building in Joao Pessoa. This building will need quite a bit more work done on it. We hope that by the first of October the church services will begin there.

We were very happy to receive Mission Adventures here in Manaus this month. They helped with some of the final painting of the building in Alvorada and were involved in the visitation, along with translators, for the first service in the mission church. They also did street visitation at another mission point, where Brother Massey spoke. He also spoke at our 57th anniversary service at Tabernacle Baptist Church. We enjoyed the fellowship and appreciate their work here in the new mission. We express our gratitude in the name of the missionaries at Alvorada for the sound system bought with the investment of the Mission Adventures team. That team was formed of Randy and Barbara Jones, coordinators; Pastor Ed Massey, his wife Pat, and daughters Amanda, Heather, and Meagan; and Andrew Oaks, Jason Robinson, Jeffrey Wesley, and Shawn Dobbs, all from First Baptist Church, Science Hill, KY; Devin Brooks, from Elmridge Baptist Church, East Peoria, IL; and our son, Judson.

We rejoice in the Lord for the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Charleston, West Virginia, that is partnering in the investment with the Brazilian church to start the new work in Natal; the purchase of the building and the support of the missionaries for the first year. This is an answer to prayer. The missionaries, Pastor David Mitchell and Mount Calvary Baptist Church, and myself and Tabernacle Baptist Church are excited about this great opportunity to start a church that, hopefully, will be a seed factory to start many other churches in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. Pray for all of us on behalf of this new church plant.

We are praying for other partnering churches for the church plants in the cities of Joao Pessoa and Recife. If you or your church feel led of the Lord to join in these new church starts, please contact me at hatcher@argo.com.br or 1-757-271-1025.

God has opened the door for the school to expand to college level. We are starting with degrees in Education, Business, Foreign Trade, Industrial Management, and post-graduate classes in the field of education. We had almost given up on this longtime project because of the bureaucracy to get accreditation. The Lord made it happen in a way we never expected. Classes start on the 8th of August; nearly four hundred passed the entrance exams. Praise the Lord for the opportunity to influence the higher education system in Brazil with the Gospel.

In the midst of all this, Wanda spent four days in the Tropical Hospital (for infectious disease) with malaria and some other complications. The Lord surrounded her with Christian doctors, nurses, and lab specialists, mostly from our own church. After a couple of weeks of rest, she was back to health and normal activities.

September 3, 2005 update:  After six weeks, the new work in Alvorada was passed on to the new leadership.  During that time there were 35 new converts being followed up on, getting involved in Bible study.  Eleven of these have already been baptized.  They are receiving a few over a hundred youth on Saturday evening and a few over a hundred in the family service on Sunday evening.  Praise the Lord.

The ten Brazilian missionaries who started the work at Alvorada have all now arrived in Natal and Josio Pessoa to start the new works in those two northeastern coastal cities.  The remodeling of the building in Natal is well under way; they expect to be ready to start services in another two weeks.  The remodeling in JoSo Pessoa is just getting started; they expect it to take a month.  They have made many new friends already who are anxious for the missions to get started.

Continue to pray for this endeavor of starting churches in the capital city of each state.

Our love,

Paul & Wanda