Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [May 2012]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
The mountain trek was absolutely beautiful for our little group last week. The weather had been overcast and rainy for the last several days and the forecast for our hike was more of the same. It was a holiday here and we hoped that we’d be able to take along several new friends who had shown interest in our message at the new church. So we prayed for a decent day and made preparation to head out at dawn the next day. The Lord saw fit to bless us with gorgeously clear weather and a nice 40 degree temperature. The cool air helps to keep the body cool as we climb two mountains to reach the highest peak in our region. The peaks aren’t monsters in altitude, being only slightly higher than a mile. The greatest challenge is the distance we have to hike and the terrain we have to do it in. The trail is in a dense Atlantic forest and the round trip is 10 miles. It took us 4 ½ hours to reach the highest peak where we ate lunch and turned around to return. The whole adventure provided us with 10 hours of unbroken time together with our unsaved friends where we were able to share the gospel and the abiding presence of Jesus in our daily experiences. Leo, one of my friends, has become more and more interested in knowing Christ because he likes what he sees in our relationship with the Lord beyond the walls of the church building. We thank God for answering our prayer for good weather, but we thank Him even more for using us to share His love with those dear people that He has placed in our sphere of influence. Oh yeah, and I thank God for the health to be able to enjoy the amazing beauty of His creation up close and personally.
In my last letter I mentioned that we would begin to pour the concrete floor of our auditorium. Well, I’m happy to report that we just finished doing that last week. Now we are beginning to lay the ceramic tile of the floor. This is a process that should take around two weeks. One young man and I are the volunteer helpers of a man whom we’ve hired who knows what he’s doing. I understand the process, sure, but he’s got the experience and I think everyone who will use the facilities will be glad that I was just the helper providing the tools and material for him.
I still didn’t get to show you pictures of the installed windows with this month’s letter, but the glass company has assured me that Monday May 14th that they’d be installed. Hopefully next time I can post the pictures. God willing!
Our former church’s pastor, Afonso, and his family have been very busy since their arrival a little over a month ago. They have been making a lot of visits to get to know the members and have also gotten to know the new visitors. They have a very winsome way and are rock solid in their Bible beliefs and teachings. God has already blessed and they have baptized two new members and have two others studying the Scriptures with them in preparation to be baptized also. We are happy to see our former church enthused with their new pastor and also excited to be involved in reaching out to their community to win others to Christ. The two churches are each working earnestly to reach their immediate neighbors, but are united in purpose and hearts to reach together our broader scope of unreached people. We thank the Lord for like-minded co-laborers.
Thank you for your prayer on our behalf. God hears and answers mightily. We also want to thank those who have contributed to Baptist Faith Missions so that we may continue to minister in the place where God has placed us. May He bless you for your faith and generosity.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [April 2012]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
April 5, 2012
Dear Friends,
The group of 53 youth with their adult leaders from Brandon, FL did arrive and we had a wonderful week of ministry together with them. Projeto Vida partners with them by providing several resources during their week here each year. The sound system, transportation, meeting hall and additional skits and music help to provide a more complete “package” for evangelizing in the public schools and parks. The cultural exchange between the Brazilian and American youth also serves to motivate both groups. Each year we see more teens from the US deciding to get involved in missions more completely and also we see many Brazilian young people energized by the passion and dedication the American youth exhibit.
This week we plan to begin pouring the concrete floor of the auditorium. We have practically finished the classrooms and bathrooms and hope to install the doors and windows, finally. I have had to strive not to get frustrated with this part of the project. The window company keeps telling me that they’ll be there “next week,” but “next week” has turned into “next month” twice. I have been to the company and they have shown me the glass already cut and waiting to be installed. They are custom cut windows, so I believe that there is no intent to rip us off. I hope that by my next letter to you I can include pictures of the windows installed. Keep us in your prayers, please.
One of the Wacasers' first works.
You may remember that I had to reassume the pastoral role at my former church due to some legal and moral issues the man we placed there caused. Anyway, we do have a man in whom we trust to take my place there now and soon we’ll be able to work fulltime at the new church and partner with him and that church on special projects of evangelism. We are thankful to Bro. David Hatcher and the Nova Igreja Batista in Manaus for helping us fill this role.
The two churches are busy this week calling on the people who attended our public park rallies and made professions of faith. We are inviting them to attend intensive Bible studies and introduce them to a life of walking with Jesus Christ. We hope and pray that we will be baptizing many of these people in the upcoming weeks.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: Bobby & Charlene Wacaser in Brazil [March 2012]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
March 8, 2012
Dear Friends,
I nearly didn’t get this letter prepared! I have a group of 53 youth and adults coming in from the Tampa, Florida area tomorrow and, with all the preparations involved, I almost forgot to share with you what the Lord has been doing around here this past month. I mentioned last month that we were going to hold a family camp during Brazil’s Carnaval holidays. That camp went really well. We had a very good turnout and we were especially happy to have some families participate with whom we have been sharing the gospel for a while. These families were very receptive to everything we taught from God’s word and have seemed increase their interest in things relating to the Lord.
We had our missions training seminar near the beginning of the month followed up by a practical missions trip to four different towns. The Lord provided us with tremendous opportunities for sharing the gospel through dramatic skits, personal testimonies and Bible preaching. There were over 3500 people present at our meetings during the extended holiday and many listeners professed faith in Jesus Christ. We have begun regular Bible studies with 69 of those and hope to see them baptized and growing in their relationship with Christ soon.
The construction at our new church work continues steadily. All the plumbing should be working by the time you read this report and we have had a steady increase in attendance at our meetings. We are very grateful to you who have contributed to this new church plant. God has used you to do several things that we are aware of, and probably many others that we aren’t. Our own team members have given graciously, but they have been further encouraged by seeing that they are not alone as they economize in their family budgets. Having the joyful news that other brothers and sisters care and also want to see God’s name glorified in spreading the gospel is very motivating as they feel the pinch of tightened resources from their giving toward the new work. Now they are praising God for using you to assist them in making Him known. Thank you very much.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this report, tomorrow a group of 53 is arriving to work with us. We will be taking the gospel to six public schools during the course of a week and reaching out also in public parks and squares. We are especially happy that our daughter, Jessie, will be coming with the group as their translator guide. My team and I will be very, very busy during the course of this week, but we are very excited about the fact that many thousands of people will hear of our Lord Jesus Christ from folks who have made a great effort to come share His love. We pray God will be glorified and many will come to know Him personally.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: Bobby & Charlene Wacaser in Brazil [February 2012]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
February 8, 2012
Dear Friends,
Charlene isn’t really fond of public attention. She will speak in public if it is for God’s glory. She will stand in front of a class and teach for people to come to know the Lord, or to know him better, but not because she enjoys the limelight. She hates either side of a camera, and a microphone even worse. But recently I was mentally going over nearly all the names and faces of the people we have involved in our new work and I see that these relationships began with contact with Charlene. She is unassuming, but is amazingly captivating. Though she is beautiful, other women don’t feel threatened. Though she is shy, she notices others in their need and gets beyond her comfort zone to reach out to them. This letter will become public soon, and knowing her, she’ll be embarrassed, but because of what I’m about to say, she’ll be glad it was written after all.
You see, Charlene doesn’t start up new friendships because she seeks attention to meet her needs, nor does she make herself available to help others because she feels incomplete herself. Her motivation behind all these acts and attitudes is her love and gratitude to God, who through Jesus Christ, has given her joy, salvation and a purpose for living. With Charlene, I can say, Thank you Lord for calling us into a relationship of love and service for your glory and our happiness.
School started back again this week, so our main venue for taking the gospel to unreached masses has opened again. Projeto Vida started planning and practicing this week to have gospel skits and musical presentations ready to go into the hundreds of cities where there are no evangelical churches. We are also getting the buses/motorhomes ready for highway travel. The first two weeks of February are spent training new volunteers and tweaking programs and preparing equipment. Last year we reached nearly 100,000 people with the gospel through this ministry and we hope to do the same or better this year, with God’s help.
Bro. Wacaser in front of their new work.
The construction on our new work is progressing steadily. We had to install some protective fencing around the property because of the constant threat of theft, so we are now able to install electrical wiring and bathroom fixtures that would otherwise run the risk of being stolen. It would be nice to live in a world where we didn’t need to spend our precious little resources on barricades, but this is part of the reality that we face in a fallen world. We pray, hope and work in such a way that some of those who would today steal from God’s servants, may shortly become his servants. But in the meantime, we need to keep our guard up to safeguard what has been entrusted to us to build a lighthouse in the community.
They have installed some protective fencing around the property because of the constant threat of theft. Now they can install electrical wiring and bathroom fixtures that would otherwise run the risk of being stolen.
We have Brazil’s Carnaval week coming up soon and we are really excited about the opportunities for evangelism that are available. Our mother and daughter churches will be holding an evangelistic camp for the entire family (as opposed to “youth camp”). We are encouraging all our members to invite lost families to participate since this holiday weekend is usually a carnal mess in Brazilian culture (picture Mardi Gras over the whole country, not just in one city). Also, Projeto Vida will be heading to three beach cities to evangelize right out among the throngs of party-goers, being with them, but not like them. We have seen some amazing results in years past through this avenue of outreach and we are praying that this year will be even greater.
We are thrilled to have all these ministry opportunities to make our great God and Savior known. We thank Him also for your partnership with us in this endeavor. May you be blessed for your love, prayers, concern and support of our ministries.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Manoel Valdomiro de Macedo, 2281
81170-150 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
Click here to give.
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