Missionary Update: The Wacasers on Furlough from Brazil [June 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
May 31, 2015
Dear Friends,
We have a carpenter steady at work getting the interior of our Alpha motorhome ready for travel. The body work looks great and it won’t be long before the motorhome is back on the road. In the meantime the team has been doing evangelistic outreach in local neighborhoods and the teams carpool to get to the locations hauling their equipment in a small utility trailer. We will be very happy to have the motorhome fully repaired and back to work soon.
Our young missionary to a Muslim nation, Alysson, reports that the Lord is truly opening doors of evangelistic outreach for him and his team. This past month he was invited by the mayor of a town into a public school to present their skits which portray the gospel through pantomime and drama. The mayor was so impressed with the presentations that he asked the team to make the same presentation in his office to his administrative team. Please pray that the Lord will use the message that was shared to touch the hearts of these leaders. Of course, not everything is easy working in a culture so steeped in false religion. After the presentations in the mayor’s office, Alysson was talking to some children in the street in front of the city offices when a Muslim man began to speak evil of Christianity and warn him not to speak of the cross of Christ. Also, the cost of living in that country is very high and he is living with a budget of bare essentials. He does not complain and shows a true spirit of servanthood.
My father’s health continues to decline and my siblings and I share the responsibility of taking care of him. I have had some wonderful conversations with him during these days. He terribly misses his bride of 64 years, my mother, of course, but he still finds peace and comfort in the Lord.
We are presently in Brazil for a couple of weeks to take care of some projects that we had begun before our furlough, but still needed our attention. We found the church doing very well despite many political problems going on around them. Some of the church members have lost their jobs due to a general chaos in the political arena. Their newly ordained pastor, Alek, is doing a great job and has the total support of the church. Tonight we will have the privilege of visiting there for the first time since we left in early March. We are looking forward to this privilege and the joy of being with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
A couple of weeks ago I was blessed to be invited to speak at the Seventh Street Baptist Church in Cannelton, IN and the Richland Baptist Church in Livermore, KY. Both the churches and their dear pastors and families hosted me with generous love and attention. I am extremely grateful to both for their faithful concern and support.
Continue to remember my family and me in your prayers as we seek to please the Lord with our lives at this stage in our ministry.
In Christ’s love,
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: Bobby and Charlene Wacaser in Brazil [January 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
Dear Friends,
We have just finished our first Missions Training Seminar for 2015! It was such an encouragement to see young men and women excited and willing to get better prepared to take the Word of Christ to the lost. After a week of classroom lessons, the volunteers went out into a couple of towns and cities to put into practice what they learned in class. We hope to hold 5 more such seminar/workshops throughout this new year.
I was away from the pulpit of our new church for 3 consecutive Sundays, but the reports from those who attended were great and that our newly ordained co-pastor, Alek, did a great job preaching and guiding the ministries in my absence. The Lord has truly shown that Alek is called to this ministry. His wife joyfully aids him and the church clearly loves them.
During this last month of ministry we had some amazingly diverse opportunities to witness the Lord at work around us, in us and through us.
Our young missionary, Alysson, who will be going to _________ in April shared with us how the Lord used him to lead a more mature man to rededicate his life to Christ this past month. The man has been a Christian for some years, but had backslidden into drinking and lax morality. His wife is a believer in Christ and never ceased to pray for him. After attending one of Alysson’s evangelistic meetings, the man repented of his sins and wanted to become active in evangelism himself. He started accompanying Alysson and his ministry partners on a daily basis and began to grow in his relationship with Christ. His wife and children now testify that he is definitely a changed man and they are living in harmony and walking with the Lord. We are trying to put together everything that Alysson will need to travel and spend two months in __________, which is a muslim nation. He understands that it may be very dangerous and that he could even be imprisoned or put to death for sharing the gospel there, but he feels certain that God is leading him in this direction. We are so thankful for young men with the boldness to trust the Lord with their complete surrender like this.
We have some exciting challenges coming up in the first weeks of this new year. We have begun the discussing the plans for making the first new church plant from our own relatively new church. My leadership team will begin to develop the practical steps necessary to pin-point the precise city and neighborhood for this new work in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted on those details as they develop.
God was great to meet our every need in 2014. We know that some of you were attentive to His prompting to contribute toward our ministry needs and we are grateful. We also know that some of you do not have the means to contribute financially, but have prayed for us faithfully and we are also thankful to God for answering those prayers. The plans we have for this new year are greater than we can accomplish on our own. We must be guided by and supplied by the Lord to do what honors Him. Continue to pray with and for us that we will constantly be attentive to His direction for what we do and our attitudes towards Him. He is our true delight and we want to please Him.
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)481-7007
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [October 2013]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
October 4, 2013
Dear Friends,
So many opportunities surround us that we have to really focus so as not to attempt to put too many irons in the fire. If I had four times the number of committed volunteers than I have now, we still wouldn’t be able to fill every opening that’s available. That is why I must focus on multiplying leaders. My natural tendency would be to run from one urgent situation to the other, trying to handle each need, but I would only poorly address the issue and would soon be off in a rush to poorly address the next urgent situation. The Lord is helping me understand the Apostle Paul’s instructions to Timothy to take what I’ve learned from the Scriptures and teach it to faithful men who will then teach that to yet other faithful men. Alek, Tony, Daniel, Ruvian, Rafa, Brennen, Marcio, Aurelio and Guilherme are several of just such men. I am investing my time, energy and resources in them so that all of us may be more effective in spreading the Gospel and developing followers of Christ. These young men are exciting to train and their exuberance in their walk with the Lord helps me to stay encouraged as I see growth in their spiritual lives. As a result of their increase in knowledge and faith, our church is growing steadily and we are able to plan to launch new churches in the near future.
Two of the men mentioned above, Tony and Alek, are putting audacious faith into practice. They both want to serve as pastor/missionaries, so they are seeking ways to earn a living for themselves and their families, but reduce the hours they have to work at their income earning jobs so that they will have more time to invest into ministry. Tony is praying for a job that will allow him to work about 9 days a month and will still pay about what he makes at present as a mechanic. In order for him to get this job, he had to take a written test (which he already passed) and will still have to take a physical test to confirm the position. He isn’t just sitting around waiting for the Lord to miraculously give him the job, though. He was overweight for the job description and couldn’t meet the physical demands. Ever since he began praying for the job, he has been cautious of his eating habits and has been exercising daily. He has lost over 40 lbs and has increased his overall physical strength. Alek’s job opportunity will require that he pass a very difficult written exam. He has been investing time, energy and funds into his studies to prepare for this test while he prays that the Lord opens the door. They both understand that faith without works is dead. They know that only the Lord can give them these jobs, but they are working diligently to exercise their faith through deeds. In fact, it is because they trust the Lord that they are motivated to prepare themselves to walk through the doors when they open. These men are great examples of the type of leaders we want in our churches. I pray that the Lord will bless their faith and give them these jobs so that they will have more time available for ministry.
The Alpha team bus that was damaged in the accident last month will require some extensive and expensive repairs. The initial estimate is around $7,000. The Alpha team missionaries borrowed the Logos bus that was not scheduled for interstate travel and continued their journey to Rio de Janeiro to minister in spite of the trauma and sadness they suffered from the death of the other vehicle’s driver and passenger. The Lord blessed their three weeks of ministry and evangelism and many people became followers of Christ. We still need to do the repairs on the Alpha bus and will need the funds to do so. If you sense that God would have you to contribute to this need, please label your gift, “Alpha Bus”. It would be greatly appreciated and used to take the gospel to the lost in locations where there are no churches.
Charlene, Brennen and I are very grateful to you who pray for us and who give financially that we may live and serve the Lord in southern Brazil.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen 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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