The Hendersons ~ On a Journey 4 Him Weblog...

Getting Ready to Fly

Last night, we went to the theater that we~ve been working in all week to show the Jesus film. As the evening went, the theater did fill with people. Ten more decisions were made! Altogether, there have been 240 decisions for Christ this week!  God is awesome!

311 in VBS

Gave away 326 pair of glasses!

5 Bible Studies

All these totals are what we have counts or records of.  We know there were more that were not accounted for....

Then, we went said our goodbyes and went to the church, which is close by. We presented our team and associational gifts to the church--a keyboard, stand, microphone, and sound system.  It was wonderful. I made special friends with a young man named Marcos. He was in my VBS group every day.  He, the other girls, and I all had a good cry.

Say a special prayer for Bro. Jimmy. His stomach is not feeling well. We will leave here at 11 AM and travel for about 4 hours on the bus to Sao Paulo. Our flight will be late tonight around 10. Remember all of us in your prayers!  We~ll land in Atlanta and will make it home sometime around midday on Sunday. Love you!

Another Great Day in the Lord...

This morning, we headed to a community nearby the town we were working. Children were waiting. It was sprinkling rain, but all was well. The entire team unloaded here. We handed out eyeglasses, and I had the pleasure of playing football, soccer, etc. with the kids. Many teenagers came today, which has been a first for this trip. They are so good at soccer! We just showed them a little love. I had the honor of sharing he evangi-ball with the kids, and many accepted Christ. They had to leave at 11 AM for school. The schools here are different. They all go in shifts. The older kids stayed, so we continued to play ball with them. Another unexpected group of kids came, so we got to play more! B. shared the evangi-cube with them, and many more accepted Christ. The money spent, the time away from home, the bleeding toenail....are all worth giving for the Lord. One day, in heaven, it will be so great to see these faces. The Bible says every nation and every tongue will stand before Him. What we are allowing God to do through us is not even a tiny smidgeon (is that a word) of what He did for us when He sent His precious Son, Jesus, to die for our sins! 

We still have the movie (Jesus film) for tonight. Pray hard for salvation to come to many!

Last Day With Church

Although it rained most of the day, yesterday was really a great day. Many still came through the rain to the eyeglass ministry. Many were caught at home because of the rain by the walking evangelism teams. They didn~t mind getting wet to witness--Praise the Lord! B. led one of my soccer coaches and his family to the Lord. It is so exciting to see the ripple effect through this city! Many are coming to know the Lord as their Savior. We did not do our regular VBS. We were bused to a nearby community. I was in charge of our group, and Bro. Tony was our translator. I was a little nervous with him being our leader. I guess that~s the way of the devil trying to get me insecure. It went great. Our bus would not turn or back in the mud down the road we needed to go, so Anna, Victoria, Bro. Tony, and I walked in. The place was like a daycare for the kids when they finish their school in the mornings. They tutor, play, and give snacks. We had 26 kids. All 26 raised their hand after I used the evangi-ball and led them in prayer to receive the Lord.  Is not God awesome!!!! The other half of our VBS team did a couple of lessons with younger children and even led some people they met to the LORD

We have made a new English-speaking friend in the city that we are staying. We have exchanged emails, which I think is pretty cool.

Today is a sad but exciting day! We will go to the church for the last time. We only have 2 translators since two had to travel 8 hours by bus to their homes today. We will miss Lizzy and Vinny very much! Not exactly sure of the plans, but I think we will host VBS at a soccer field.  We have to be very fluid, because plans change at a minutes notice. Tonight, we will have the film at the theater (Jesus). Pray for many to come. Then, we will say our farewells. We will leave the city around midday tomorrow headed to Sao Paulo.

Continue to keep us in your prayers

It~s great reading all of your comments. We love and miss you!

God is So Good!

Good morning!  We are doing great! I love it here. Yesterday, this city of Larajul Paulista had a big competition between schools with kites, dances, and so on. We got caught up in a parade. The kites are HUGEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  We met an English speaking student who helped translate what a teacher was saying to me.  Pretty neat. I love interacting with the people.

Yesterday, as we were packing our VBS bags, our soccer coach came in with 3 other coaches. I was able to witness using the evangi-ball. Although they did not make any decisions, one coach wanted 30 tracts and 50 faith bracelets. WOW.  They have much influence. They also got some eyeglasses while they were there.

VBS was great. It was our last day with those kids because we will be going to another community today and break up into two different groups. It was very sad to leave those kids. I had to hold back much so as not to cry like a baby. It~s so easy to grow very close with them. Today we had around 80 kids there. 26 received Christ after I used the evangi-ball.  God is so good!

We held a small service for Ms. Mabry~s sister, who passed while she is here. That was sad but very special.

Our numbers for the week so far are as followsÇ

131 decisions (counting the 26 VBS)

194 eyeglasses

188 VBS

3 Bible Studies

Keep us in your prayers. Pray for many to be saved and many to come see the film Friday night.

VBS Chaos

Wow, what a day!  No children showed up for the morning VBS, so we decided to walk many blocks to a gymnasium to find children. We got lost on the way and found a bakery with a follower of Christ that owned it. As we finally found the gym on the front side, a man drove up. He was in charge there and was a soccer coach. He invited us to come back at 4 and speak to his team. I felt led to show him the evangi-soccer ball, and although he did not accept Christ, he listened intently and took a tract.

The Cath. church here has much control of the people. It is very different from our Cath. churches. There are many other things involved, such as idolatry and spiritism.  They tell the people what can and cannot be done. We were told it could be them that~s telling the children not to come. However, at the evening VBS, we had over 30 show up. We took the children several blocks to the gymnasium, which was chaotic!!  They were loud and the soccer team was distracted as I demonstrated the gospel through the evangi-ball.  The VBS kids were moved outside, and I was able to go through the ball successfully. I was told that one kids was an evangelical. No one accepted Christ, but they did take faith bracelets, and we had the perfect number of 18!  I know that all of these events were not an accident, and seeds were planted.

The eyeglass ministry is a big hit. Today, there were over 80 that came! Many are being led to Christ through this ministry and through our teams that are going door-to-door.  God is an awesome God. Continue to pray for our teams!!

Another Day Following Jesus...

Words cannot express the feelings that I have for these people.  I hope that Jesus~love will flow to them.  I am learning a few more words.  It is so sad to see so few people really know the Jesus that died and rose for us!  Continue to pray for the people~s hearts to open and that their religious background mingling with other things like spiritism will be bound by the name of Jesus. He can do all things. Unofficially, there have been around 30 decisions.  Pray like you never have before. We~ll have more evangelism, two VBS~s, and the eyeglass ministry. Friday night, we will show the Jesus film again.

We miss you back home!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SK!!!!  We hope that your day is wonderful. WE LOVE YOU!!

God is at Work!

Sorry that I have not updated sooner. Last night, someone was on the computer, and this morning the monitor was broken!

We have been hard at work, and God has been at work using us for His service. Yesterday, We attended Sunday School, where just a few adults and quite a few children were present. B, several others, and I had a house visit, where a grandmother did not want her grandchildren baptized because she did not feel that they were ready. This was no accident. We are able to share our testimonies and our story of Sk., who is also the very same age as one of the children! She had strayed from God, and was not sure if her God was bigger than her problems. When we left, she was shaking, but she attended the church service last night.  I was so excited! Again, she came this morning, bringing other family members to the eyeglasses ministry. She hugs me every time. I see a great change in her. Thank God!

Many have come in to get eyeglasses. Other team members are doing a great job with this, giving Bible stories and leading people to Christ. More teams are doing house visits. Since this weekend was a 4 day holiday for the people, it took most of the day to get the word out about our Bible Schools. I see a difference in last year, since we were not allowed to go inside the school. The principle said that a priest has put an idol in the school, and after other evangelicals were upset, so no one is allowed to speak about religion anymore. He promised us he would personally tell each class about VBS. Several of us stood on the street corner and passed about advertisements about the Jesus film that will be shown tonight and Fri. night.

Pray for the hearts to be opened. Many children are exploited by their parents for money or molested by pastors and such. Very sad!!  Pray for the darkness to lift, and the people~s eyes to be opened.

Talk to you more later....GOTTA GO get on the bus....

Bom Dia!! AKA Good Morning!

We are up and ready to ROLL!!!  We are so pumped. We will be traveling 10 km to a nearby town to have service at a store-front church, where we will be working at all week.

After service, several will minister by giving out eyeglasses. Some will get to speak on a local radio station about what we will be doing here. This is a plus since the local church (Catholic) controls most everything here. Maria (our local M) needs much prayer in all the NEW Baptist work that she is doing here. Pray for all the strongholds of Satan and his demons to be bound by the blood of Jesus Christ!! Several of us will be going to the park to play and establish relationships with the children. I can~t wait!!  Tonight, after we freshen up, we will have the BIG service.  Keep all of us in your prayers. Pray the people will see God~s love in all of us.  (Sorry about the marks--this keyboard is different from ours in the States--LOL)

Happy Birthday, Sy!!  We miss you and Sk. very much!!!!  We hope that your day is fabulous.  Have lots of fun at Bre.~s birthday party!!  Have lots of fun on the water slide. Thanks, Aunt T. for thinking about the babies while we are away.  We love all of you!

We Have Arrived in Brazil!

We have a computer in the hotel that we are staying, which is fabulous. Other than a delayed flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil, our travels have been wonderful. We thank God for that and thank you for all of your prayers!

We will try to keep you updated about this journey. We are 2 hours later than you are back at home. We have not been at our hotel but for about an hour or two. Our flights consisted of Gulfport to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Sao Paulo. Finally, we got on a chartered bus to our destination here at the Vale Verde Palace Hotel. B. & ER have already been enjoying the Brazilian food. It is delicious!

The last I heard, my brother made it fine through the surgery and was going to be able to return home. The surgery was done out patient.

Energizer Bunny

Today, I have felt like the Energizer bunny.  There's only one problem--I'm out of energy! I am working off of 4 hours sleep.  I feel like I've packed on and off all week long. I finally finished packing the kids' bags, and the bags have been delivered to Granny's. Today, I worked hard to finish all my items due. I even stayed until 6 to finish everything up. At least it is done now, and I am worry free!

B. stopped by today during his lunch and spoke to all of my kids about his M. trip to West Africa. They seemed to really enjoy it. At the end, he really got up close and personal about WHY the journey was so important. He did a great job! I haven't ever seen him get to the "MEAT OF IT" like he did today. It was very touching. The other teachers and I even got a little teary.

There's been a slight change of plans. Sk. will make it alone at his school party tomorrow, which is A-OK with him. Granny will be getting Sy. a little sooner than expected because my younger brother is having gall bladder surgery in the morning. I really hate that I won't be able to be with him and my family. I will be lifting him up in prayers though, and I hope you will do the same! It's scheduled for 8 AM in the morning.

Also, one of my good friend's grandfather passed away unexpectedly today. I will be unable to be with her in her time of need. Please pray for her family, too!

I'm not sure if we will find an Internet lanhouse where we're headed, but check often, and maybe I'll get to surprise you with some updates! We will fly midday tomorrow and will arrive in Brazil around 6:55 AM Sat. morning. Then, we will travel by bus for a few hours to our destination. Keep us in your prayers, and remember to pray for the people that God intends for us to encounter!