March 13, 2025
Dear Friends and Supporters,
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
I (Dan) just recently read the autobiography of Hudson Taylor. I learned that he first arrived in China in 1854, but due to failing health he had to return to England in 1865, after having spent just eleven years on the mission field. Hudson Taylor felt that it was a great calamity to have to leave China, “just when it was more fruitful than ever before.” He later learned that it was a “necessary step toward the formation of a work that God would bless as He has blessed the China Inland Mission.”
Our family moved to Brazil in May of 1999 and, although there were difficult times of testing and trials, God was always faithful to guide us and provide for us. For nearly twenty-six years, we have seen God work in wonderful ways in Brazil.
As we mentioned in our last letter, God miraculously provided a pastor for the Deaf church in Arujá. We ask that you continue to pray for a pastor for the Deaf church in São Paulo.
In 2023, God began to work in our hearts about returning to the USA. Just as Hudson Taylor had a love for the people of China, God had given us a love for the Deaf of Brazil. Leaving Brazil was not in my plans, but Proverbs 11:14 says that “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” When we sensed that God was leading us to leave Brazil, Dan talked with the pastor of our sending church, Pastor Tyler Donough, as well as talking with several other men of God to receive counsel from them. They confirmed what we have been taught and believe, that when God leads, we must obey. After much prayer and waiting on God, He opened the doors at the right time for us to leave Brazil on February 11, 2025.
Let me pause here and say that we are not retiring, but rather refocusing. We are still active missionaries in need of prayer and financial support.On March 1, 2025, we became part of the BIMI ARM (Assistance and Relief Missionaries) Personnel. We will live in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and will start helping the Deaf ministry in our sending church. We also want to help other churches to start or rejuvenate their Deaf ministries.
With our experience of working with both the Deaf and Hearing of Brazil and in the United States, we believe that we can help and assist church planters stateside and around the world. We can have a greater impact in mentoring, helping and encouraging local churches and Deaf ministries. We speak English, Portuguese, and can sign American Sign Language (ASL), as well as Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS).
As part of the ARM Personnel, we will be available to preach in Deaf camps and conferences, as well as to encourage and counsel missionaries and foreign nationals that work with the Deaf. We have witnessed “first hand” the tremendous need for laborers among the Deaf for many years. The Deaf population is an unreached people group that is white unto harvest, while the full-time laborers among the Deaf are very few.
After having worked with the Deaf in Brazil for many years, we believe that the Lord has called us to do more for the cause of reaching the Deaf of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We would be happy to give a report in your church of our last four years in Brazil, and also to present what we believe that God is going to do to open up new opportunities for us in order to have a greater impact in the Deaf world. Another veteran missionary recently told Dan that, “God has greater things for you than you can even imagine.” We have already begun to schedule meetings. We want to visit as many of our supporting churches as possible, so please get in touch with us at pastordaniel.brasil@gmail.com, or you can call Dan at (839)235-7349.
Just as God moved Hudson Taylor back to England in order to do something even greater that what he had done for eleven years, we believe that God is moving us back to the USA for greater ministry opportunities.
Thank you for faithfully partnering with us prayerfully and financially these many years.
That all may “hear,”
Dan & Becky Bennett
Sent out by Southside Baptist Church, Rock Hill, SC – Pastor Tyler Donough