June Prayer Letter

June 2020

Dear Praying Friends,

33 years ago, I looked across at her and thought, “There is no way I could love her more than I do right now!” Oh, how wrong I was!  Over the past 33 years, my love for her has just continued to grow and my appreciation for her has deepened into lifelong gratitude to the Lord for her. 

Michele has stuck with me through thick and thin, she has been by my side in the victories and defeats, in the times of blessings and in the times of want.  She home schooled our son from Kindergarten until he graduated and he just completed his third year in Bible college preparing to be a Baptist church planter in Oregon.  She stood by me as we buried our daughter and during the grief filled months that followed. She has weathered the storms of life and never left my side. She has prepared thousands of delicious and nutritious meals for our family and many others, she has sewn thousands of stuffed animals for sick children in hospitals, she has taught hundreds of children in Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible Schools and at youth camps and many have come to Christ as a result of her labors!  She teaches ladies in online classes as well as in person, she disciples recently saved women and children, she plays the piano and/or accordion for our church services as well as singing with me and makes me sound halfway on tune! She makes our video ministry possible with her tech savvy. She has packed up and moved more times than we can count, she has endured danger, crime and hostility to the gospel with faith and courage. She has given up so much for the cause of Christ and doesn’t complain or feel sorry for herself.

Why am I sharing this with you?  Because we just celebrated our 33^rd wedding anniversary and I am so very grateful to the Lord for my Proverbs 31 wife!! I am SO glad I waited on God’s best for me – no one else could have come through these battles with me except her.  God has truly blessed me with a treasure and I am so thankful and so honored to call her, “my wife”. 

Gratefully in love,

Mark Hale

May Prayer Letter

May 2020

Dear Praying Friends,

We had no idea how God was going to use a last resort option to reach so many with the Gospel! As the world shut down over the Corona virus, we were forced to consider another way to continue to minister to our church. With the help of my wonderfully techie wife, we were able to begin a video ministry.  During the ten weeks of quarantine, I preached two sermons on Wednesdays (English and Portuguese) then two more on Sundays (again in English and Portuguese) and Michele taught a weekly class for the children. These videos went out at the beginning, to just our church members and those who were attending, but God was just getting started!

As the panic spread and more countries shut down, others began hearing about our videos and asked to be included in the video list.  At last count, we have people watching our videos in ten countries: USA, UK, Brazil, Spain, Columbia, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic and Lithuania. Both lost and saved have responded to our videos and it is amazing to see how this pandemic has affected people.  Where before they would not have had time nor interest, at least temporarily, people are focusing on eternity.

  

Just as Jesus took the five loaves and two fishes and fed the multitude, so He has taken a small local outreach and turned it into an international video ministry that is continuing even though the quarantine has ended here in Portugal. Other countries are still shut down and many people are still requesting we continue this ministry even when their quarantine is over. Please pray with us that God would continue to bless this growing ministry and that many would be saved as a result.

Serving an amazing God,

Mark Hale

March/April Prayer Letter

March/April 2020

Dear Praying Friends,

After months of bad and depressing news, are you ready for some good news?!! Last year, following the leadership of the Lord, our son Joshua began courting Rachel with our permission and blessing. Earlier this year, they were engaged and on May 16th, they will be married in her home town in Missouri!! I would like to ask you to do two things:

1. Please pray for them as they begin their life together as a married couple. God has called them to be Baptist church planters in the state of Oregon after they finish their studies at Heartland Baptist Bible College.

2. Please pray the Lord will provide the many needs they will have in establishing a new home. We are not able to leave Portugal and they are not allowed to come here, so we will miss the wedding of our only child. The original plan was for them to fly here and have a second ceremony with our church in Lagos, but that is on hold until the countries open up again. Sometimes being a missionary is difficult, but although we are saddened, we are also thankful that God has brought this godly, beautiful lady into Joshua’s life and we are thrilled to have her as a much-loved member of our family.

With joy and gratitude,

Mark Hale

Update

On March 18, the Portuguese president declared a state of emergency and people were told to stay at home.  The Parliament confirmed this and the quarantine became official at midnight March 22. Everyone except essential workers should stay at home, except to go out to buy food, medicine, fuel, etc.

Because of the government's guidelines, we began having online services on March 22.  Mark is recording sermons in Portuguese and in English for Sundays and Wednesdays.  If you would like to watch them, here are the links:

This is the link to our church's Vimeo channel in English:

https://vimeo.com/channels/1552987

This is the link to our church's Vimeo channel in Portuguese:

https://vimeo.com/channels/1552985

Thursday, April 2, the Portuguese government extended the state of emergency an additional 15 days. Our church folks are watching the sermons Mark is recording and staying in touch. A new convert and her mother are in a discipleship class via video calls twice a week. We have had more opportunities to witness to people. God is blessing during this quarantine!

The streets in Lagos are empty.

Michele displayed pictures of our church folks 

to "help" Mark preach to an empty room!

A member of Michele's parents' church in Brazil 

sent a photo of himself watching a sermon.

A member of our church in Lagos also sent a photo.

February Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,

It was the music that drew him.  He had moved to Portugal just a few weeks before, lived in a renovated garage his boss rented to him and was working crazy hours to save up enough to have his family move from Brazil to join him. Our son, Joshua was home last summer and was preparing to return for his third year at Heartland Baptist Bible College. He was working with us at the church building and was playing some godly music from the college on his phone. That was what F. heard and what drew him to our church building.

Although he didn’t understand the English words, he understood that the music he heard was of the Lord and not the world.  He came with a look of amazement at finding a Baptist church in the neighborhood where he lived.  He talked with Joshua, found out the service times, took some literature and began attending services when his work schedule permitted.

Ever since that encounter last summer, F. has been attending when he isn’t working and now his wife and children are here in Portugal and attending as well. He has many questions which we answer from the Bible and he is growing closer and closer to truth. Why is this family here?  All because he heard godly music!  Music is a gift from God and should glorify our Lord and Savior.  Even when the words are in a different language, the music itself is a testimony of the Creator of music.  Please pray for F. and his family that they would continue to come, that they would understand and soon be saved.

Praising God for His music,

Mark Hale

December Prayer Letter

December 2019

Dear Praying Friends,

The birthday party was well advertised, almost everyone knew about the celebrations.  Buildings and homes were decorated and folks hurried in their last-minute preparations.  Special music played over the radio and in the stores, and even entire movies were made in commemoration of the birthday. Feasts were planned and prepared and children were excited about the coming festivities.  Everything was ready, let the celebration begin…

But on the morning of the advertised day, all the beautifully wrapped gifts were given to others. The feasts were consumed, then the adults napped while children played with their new toys.  Later, the wrapping paper was collected, the trees were put away, the leftovers are finally gone from the fridge, but what did the One whose birthday it was receive?  Although it was supposed to be a celebration of His birth, what did we give Him? 

Did we give anything to Jesus to celebrate His birth?  Did we give anything to Him in gratitude for coming to save us from our sin?  How did we honor the King for His birthday? 

Mark Hale

November Prayer Letter

November 2019

Dear Praying Friends,

He was loud, proud and stubborn, constantly refusing to submit before the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Instead he insisted he had to do good works to earn his way to heaven. He occasionally attended services at our church but sat in the back loudly sighing whenever eternal security or the all sufficiency of Christ was preached. He even came to a few of our Bible Institute classes but eventually left in anger when confronted by the biblical truth that only through the completed work of Christ on the cross can anyone be saved and kept saved.

He died during the night two weeks ago, his face a frozen mask of terror, his eyes staring into the horror of what he saw in his last moments of life. Sadly, we know where he is and that he now knows that only Christ could save; but it is far too late for him.  Our hearts are grieved for this man and so many others down through the years who rejected Christ’s salvation until their deaths.

Praise the Lord, in the last two weeks, four adults have been saved as a result of this tragedy! Family and friends were all shocked and God used this unexpected death to bring reluctant adults to Christ! Only God could use this horrible situation to bring these four to His Son.  Praise His name!!

Please pray for his lost wife, Ana, that she would come to Christ before it is eternally too late.

Working for the night is coming,

Mark Hale

Brother Aristarco preaching at the funeral.

A group photo after a Sunday morning service. 

The man in the pink sweater accepted Christ that day.

The young lady standing fourth from the right is another one 

of the four who have been saved recently.