Missionary Update: The Wacasers Stateside from Brazil [October 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
October 4, 2015
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I just returned from a two week trip to Brazil. We had to count on family members to cover for us taking turns caring for my ailing father. While in Brazil we were able to have a meeting with our evangelism ministry, Projeto Vida, and make plans for the next few months of outreach efforts.
My young replacement at my former church, Alek Rossi, has been doing a great job. Everyone we talked to about how the church was doing gave excellent reports on how well he is pastoring the flock and teaching. We saw several new families attending and the church is still baptizing new members. Alek asked me to preach on the Sunday that we were present. It was a welcome privilege to be in my former pulpit teaching God’s word and seeking to make Him known to the lost. It was clearly evident that the members have truly embraced Alek and his wife as their leaders. It was also clear that the members have embraced the responsibilities of caring for their facilities. Actually, I got a little ironic laugh out of seeing how well they have done that. For 4 years I sought to transfer to the members the importance of attending to the small details of cleanliness and upkeep of the grounds while they also gave loving attention to the other members and visitors. As soon as we drove onto the property we saw that loving care had gone into the upkeep of every little detail. I want to think that my constant example and drilling the members finally took hold, but it would have been nice if they had shown that while I was still there. I love them anyway!
While I was meeting with the Projeto Vida leaders they shared how the Lord has been blessing this year. They still have two more months to work in the public schools this year, but already they have been in 6 states, taking the gospel to over 30,000 students and teachers. We also made preparation for hosting and training missionary volunteers in the upcoming months. There will be two international volunteers arriving early next year who will work and travel with the teams in active training. Also, we will coordinate the partnership with a group of nearly 50 youth who will share the gospel in some public schools and parks.
It has been many years since we have been able to participate in the Missions Conference on behalf of Baptist Faith Missions in Dearborn Heights, MI. We are really excited about being there again in early November. We hope to see many of our old friends there and are looking forward to making new friendships as well.
Thank you for your prayers and support,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Furlough Address:
3912 Casaba Loop
Valrico, FL 33596
Field Address:
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
Phone: (813) 481-7007
Cell Phone: (813) 727-6405
Email: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [April 2014]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
April 3, 2014
Dear Friends,
A gospel skit performed in a public school
I have to make a correction to my letter from last month, but it’s a positive correction. I mentioned that we would be sharing the gospel in public schools where we’d have contact with about 4000 students and teachers. It turned out that we were able to speak with over 6000! Each year for the past nine years, the youth group from the Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida has come to interact with us in sharing the gospel through our translators and partners in ministry, Projeto Vida. Every year has been a blessing and this year was no exception. In the public school presentations, where we use skits, testimonies, and a gospel message preached by one of the leaders, several hundred students at a time get a chance to hear a biblical presentation of the gospel. In these large school events, we can’t persuade those who hear and believe to make their decision known publicly. Many do surrender their lives to Christ at these events, but to know whom, we have to encourage them to seek us out privately after school hours. This setup makes it difficult for us to know just how many conversions occur during these public school events. Although we can’t always follow up every conversion with personal discipleship, we realize that those who truly come to Christ as Lord and Savior are saved eternally. In many cases we are only able to plant a seed, but we trust the Lord to see that someone else may water it, or even that we ourselves may be able to meet with them again and be instruments in their growth in Christ. This has happened on numerous occasions. No matter what, we know that a large number of people who had not heard the truth of God’s grace have now.
A gospel message shared in a public school
Charlene has been teaching English as a second language for several years. She is an amazing teacher because most of her students have become very fluent speakers. Her English classes have become one of our main avenues of having intimate contact with people on a continuing basis. Because she has classes with these students for several years, we become personal friends to almost all of the students. These friendships open doors of opportunity to share Christ with those who don’t know Him and for us to offer biblical counsel with those who accept Christ as Savior. Quite a few of her students have been saved and have become members of our churches through the years. Ana Paula is one of her most recent students to surrender to Christ. She was baptized a few months ago and has grown tremendously in her faith and obedience. Before, Ana Paula had a tendency to date really “rough” guys, who were not followers of Christ. She seemed to have a need to connect with guys that would distract her from living for Christ and who would play on her desire to help them with their emotional needs. Through her participation as a translator in our recent week of working with the youth group from Florida, she saw what a joy it was for those youth to boldly share the gospel and she heard many testimonies from girls who had thrown away too many years being hooked up with guys who didn’t seek Christ first in their lives. Ana Paula messaged me recently sharing how thrilled she was now because she is finding Jesus to be her source of joy and purpose and doesn’t need to derive her sense of self-worth from some co-dependent guy. She isn’t dating anyone right now and she said that she feels completely happy being that way because the Lord is giving her a joy that she never experienced before.
The youth group from Brandon, Florida with translators and Projeto Vida in the public park
The Lord is continually blessing our church in many ways. Last week our team who handles organizing the auditorium for services got a little nervous because we were running out of chairs for seating everyone. One of the most encouraging things about this was that we were not holding any special event. Of course, every time we meet to praise the Lord and study His word is special, but we had not made any special program to draw in a larger crowd. What the Lord is using to draw larger crowds is the excitement and joy displayed in the lives of those folks who are being transformed by the power of Christ in them. We praise the Lord and thank Him for the privilege of being His instruments of this grace!
Thank you for your prayers and support.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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