Haircuts and ESL Classes Open Doors to Share Christ
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
March 1, 2019
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I started our English as a second language (ESL) classes in February and we are thrilled with the number of students who have signed up! These classes are offered for free on weekdays at our church facilities. Besides our English classes, other volunteers from our church give classes in their areas of expertise. These free classes draw students (and their parents) into contact with us which opens doors for sharing the love of Christ and the gospel to neighbors who wouldn’t ordinarily set foot in a Baptist church. Just yesterday, Charlene and I had the opportunity to minister to a young family who had started coming to our church through our English classes. The husband had a motorcycle accident and was taken to a local hospital. The wife didn’t know what hospital he was in and didn’t even know how to start looking for him. His cell phone battery had died and she couldn’t get in contact with him. In her nervous state, she could only think of our church to call on for help. One of our volunteers called around until they located her husband and was able to get them connected. Charlene and I took the wife to visit her husband in the hospital. I visited with him and prayed with him and was also able to visit two other motorcycle accident victims who were in the same room. Only God knows how those English classes might open doors of ministry through this family and others who participate.
One day I was cleaning out some unused material that was starting to accumulate at our church and I had an encounter with a gentleman named, Athanasios. He saw a piece of material that he wanted to use at his home and asked me if he could take it. I was happy to give it to him and that encounter opened a door of conversation about spiritual things. In our conversation I had the opportunity to share my testimony of how Jesus saved me from my sins. He listened to me graciously, told me where he lived and invited me to further conversations. I want to take him up on his invitation and will be praying for him to fully come to know Christ.
Our Projeto Vida teams have been working a little closer to home this past month. In a neighboring town, Sao Jose dos Pinhais, one of the workers was cutting a man’s hair. The man professed a certain knowledge of the Scriptures, but in the course of the conversation it was clear that he had never surrendered to Christ as Lord and Savior. He confessed that he was unhappy and was a guilty sinner. Our worker asked him if he was willing to repent of his sin and confess Jesus as his Lord right there, and the man accepted. He thought he had only gone there for a haircut, but he walked away from that meeting a changed man! We are so thankful that the Lord continues to give us so many opportunities for sharing His love and grace.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1[at]hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
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The Love of Christ Changes a Whole Family!
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
October 4, 2018
Dear Friends,
Our outreach team just arrived from a 3 week trip ministering in the interior towns of our state, Paraná. Most of these team members are seasoned missionaries with life experiences that have “toughened” them up and prepared them to deal with just about anything. But there were some interactions in a couple of towns that had even the most experienced missionaries overwhelmed with emotion. While receiving a free haircut, one young man began to share his life’s experiences. He had just recently been released from prison, which he fully admitted the guilt of the crime that sent him there. While in prison he had been beaten and tortured many times by other inmates. As he shared this with the worker, he didn’t shed a tear or even appear to be emotional. It was after the haircut that the missionary shared with him how Jesus had taken our punishment for sin upon himself and that the guilt and condemnation that we deserved was paid for because of God’s love for us when Jesus suffered and died on the cross. When the young man, who knew that he was deservedly in prison, realized how great God’s mercy and love for him is, he was overwhelmed with amazement and just broke down crying. After fully explaining to the young man what it means to surrender to Christ as Lord and Savior, the young man immediately did so. From that moment on he was totally different in his disposition and outward appearance.
In another town nearby the team was ministering in a public square. There was a teenage boy who hung around all day, but kept a distance and didn’t seem interested in talking with any of our workers personally. It was almost like the last second in a “do-or-die” situation in our public presentation of the gospel when the boy came over to one of our missionaries. He began to open up and share that he and his whole family were going through some very depressing experiences. All three adult family members in the home had lost their jobs and there was no more money to buy anything. On top of that, a close aunt had recently been stabbed to death before their eyes by her husband. The boy felt that there was no hope for him in the world. The worker started there with his confession of hopelessness and began to show him the great love of Christ. He explained the Scriptures to him and how to become a child of the King of all kings. The boy surrendered to Christ that moment. Afterward he ran home to tell his family and he brought them back to talk to the outreach team also. Through their sharing of the gospel, the whole family trusted in Jesus Christ and made their faith public. The family was so overjoyed with their newfound hope and the love they felt from Christ through the mission team that they couldn’t pull themselves away from them as they prepared to leave town. The team was also overwhelmed with how much love and gratitude they displayed and they couldn’t help breaking down in tears as they said goodbye. We are thankful that the local pastor has opportunity to begin discipling these newborn Christians and he is glad that his church is blessed with new life in it.
At our home church we held a couples’ seminar and there were several unchurched couples who attended. We attempt to put on four of these seminars per year and use them with a two-fold purpose: 1) to provide a venue for our members to invite their unchurched friends and family members and 2) to share the gospel of Jesus with the unsaved through our love and preached message. My wife, Charlene, is so instrumental in putting these events together. She does an amazing job with the details of the event like decorating and providing refreshments, but even more so through her captivating personality inviting friends she develops in her day-to-day living experiences. As I was counting how many visiting couples we had there that were not church members, I noticed that, of those that were present, fifty percent were Charlene’s invitees. I am blessed to have her by my side.
Please keep us in your prayers in the upcoming months. Like many of you, from now until the end of the year we have quite a few special events planned and they will require a lot of energy and resources to pull off with quality.
Thank you so much for your love and concern for us.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1[at]hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
