Who are we?

Rebecca and I are both missionary children who grew up in Brasil. God called us back to Brasil to serve him in the Northern region called the Amazon. We have labored here since 1984 alongside my father Joe Hawkins and my two brothers Tim and True Hawkins.

We have been members of Oak Trail Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas since 1979, and current Pastor Mike Whisenant.

We are Baptists and and our goal is to establish Baptists churches wherever the Lord leads us.

We believe, practice and preach the doctrines of Grace and hold to the authority of God's word.

What do we do?

ESTABLISH CHURCHES: 

Our goal in Brasil is the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the founding of churches according scripture. We believe in the great commission and that it is universal in scope; Mt 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

We teach in our Bible institute in the city of Manaus and in other institutes that have been established in Manaus and in the institutes our students have started in the interior. Our goal is to prepare Brazilian nationals to lead the churches we have started and to start their own churches wherever God leads them.

TRANSLATION: 

We translate books and studies from English to Portuguese, giving our men materials they could not normally find in bookstores. 

FREE BIBLES: 

We also distribute free Bibles in Portuguese to national preachers, missionaries and interior churches. Thousands of Bibles have been provided by the Community Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida by Pastor Henry Lewis and the church. 

CAMP:

Due to rising prices and lowering dollar exchange, our camp that was located four hours up river from the city of Manaus and was accessible only by boat is currently being sold.

SCHOOL FOR MISSIONARIES:

ACLIA has been closed down due to the lack of missionaries and change in government requirements.

PUBLIC SCHOOL:

Rebecca has used the public schools "Religion class" to reach hundreds of children in the vicinity of the Church in Campos Sales. We pray that we can get into other school in the area and around the city. Brazilian law requires that every school teach a religion class as long as denominations and churches are not exalted. 

RIVER MINISTRY.

We have struggled with the river ministry these last few years due to our new Church in Campos sales. Getting away has been hard, and with our travels to the Bible institute in the interior we have found ourselves away from the new Church too much to go on river trips as we have in the past. We made only one significant river trip this last term, but as our Church matures and gains confidence in the national leadership, we should be able to begin again on a regular basis. 

With the sinking value of the dollar, river trips have also become very expensive and fuel costs are elevated. Pray that we can find the time and finances to do this more often.

Our goal is to encourage Churches and believers on the river and in the towns where we have Churches. 

Where are we?

We serve in the city of Manaus in the State of Amazonas, Brasil, South America.  

We are currently in a suburb called Campos Sales in the northwest side of the city. It is a new suburb with many opportunities and we have been there since august 24, 2003. 

To see information and pictures of common sights in Manaus and the interior go to;

http://www.trekearth.com/search.php?phrase=Manaus&type=&search=Go

http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/manaus.jsp

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Hawkins family history.

The Hawkins that are still in Brasil.

Joe Hawkins (father)and Elaine, arrived in Brasil in 1957 and after taking language study in Manaus moved about 600 mile north on the Rio Negro. For the next 18 years evangelized the Rio Negro and was responsible for establishing churches in at least five towns and preached in dozens of villages. He moved to Manaus in the early seventies due to our youngest sister heart condition. In Manaus he and his partner Cecil Henderson started the Bible institute for interior leaders and Indians. He has continued to plant churches in Manaus since then and just recently turned his last church over to a Brazilian national pastor. Today his health is not good, and he and Mom (Elaine) do a tremendous job helping churches in trouble and encouraging preacher everywhere in Brasil. My father passed away on March 11th 2011.

Tim Hawkins(oldest brother) and his wife Betty have served in Manaus for the past 30 years. They have  been directly responsible for starting three churches in Manaus and have helped start many others in Manaus and in the interior. he has been director of the Manaus Bible institute for many years.

True Hawkins (younger brother) and Diana have also been in Manaus for twenty seven years. He and Diana have started three churches in the city and been responsible for many others in Manaus and in the interior. 

John and Neila Yelle (Neila is my sister) work in Rio Grande do Sul which is in the southernmost part of Brasil. They are working at starting a church in Caxias do Sul.

Robert and Melinda Crawford (Melinda is my middle sister), live in Ohio where they serve the Lord in their local church. Robert is a deacon and Melinda is always involved with the mission projects in that church.

Joe and Esther Martin (Esther is my youngest sister) living Lansing, Kansas where Joe Pastors. They have a wonderful ministry in Lansing and support many missionaries.