Missionary Update: The Wacasers Stateside from Brazil [September 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
August 27, 2015
Dear Friends,
I am still learning how to live IN the world and not be OF the world, as Jesus taught His disciples. With all the recent news reports on the atrocities of Islamists around the world, I found myself developing a strong resentment and near-hatred for unknown people of Arabic origin. I know in my heart that Jesus came into the world redeem lost people from every nation and tribe, but the brutality of this particular ethnic group I had a hard time even desiring for them to come to salvation. That was until, this month, I had the opportunity provided by God to get to know a young Muslim man about the same age as my son. His name is Houcine and he is from Tunisia, Tunis in northern Africa. He came as an exchange student to the USA and was placed in a host home close to the church where my family and I are serving. He is a very pleasant person who is easy to be around and is extremely respectful and is always offering to help in any project. As I thought about his being here, I realized that the Lord was teaching me to love the way He loves. I would think of the Muslim people as a group, but not as individuals in need of a Savior. Now that I am in constant contact with Houcine, I am able to relate to him as a fellow sinner who is loved by Christ and who needs to be saved. I pray that my behavior and attitudes toward him serve to point him to the Lord and that, in due time, he may come to a saving knowledge of Christ and would take the Gospel back to his own family and nation.
Our church in Brazil recently celebrated their 4th anniversary. They were happy to see several new faces attending and are still growing firmly in our absence. I will be with them near the end of September for couple of services and training. Alek and his wife are doing a great job in the leadership of the church there.
Our evangelistic outreach teams from Projeto Vida had a unique opportunity this month in the capital city of Curitiba. They were invited to participate in a drama fair where the teams portrayed the gospel in skits and dramatic plays on a public stage. The theme was the horrors of the Holocaust, but our teams were able to adapt their scripts to convey the message of Christ in a public setting beyond the usual realm of evangelism. We are very thankful for the opportunities that the Lord provides for our ministry. We have seen that, as we seek Him and are bold to make Him known, He blesses and opens doors that we couldn’t even imagine possible.
Charlene and I leave in a couple of weeks to go back to Brazil to renew our permanent visas and to help in training leaders. You may have noticed in the world news that there is great unrest in Brazil. There are major rallies crying for the impeachment of the president for corruption and there is great unrest throughout the country. Please pray for us as we travel and that the Lord may prosper our journey.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
In Christ’s love,
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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2015 Thanksgiving Missions Conference
61st ANNUAL THANKSGIVING MISSIONS CONFERENCE
November 9-10-11, 2015 New Hope Baptist Church
Dearborn Heights, MI.-Pastor Terry Adkins
“FOUNDED ON THE WORD-FOCUSED ON THE WORLD”
JOHN 17:17
*For directions to New Hope Baptist Church or information on lodging please contact: Pastor Terry Adkins at 313-562-5579 or pastorterrynewhope[at]yahoo.com
MONDAY EVENING, November 9th
5:00 pm Dinner
6:30 pm Music
6:45 pm Singing
7:15 pm Message: Pastor George Sledd
Jordan Baptist Church, Sanford, FL
8:00 pm Singing
8:25 pm Message: Bobby Wacaser
Missionary, Curitiba, Brazil
TUESDAY MORNING, November 10th
9:15 am Music
9:30 am Singing
9:45 am Message: Pastor Michael Jones
Zion Baptist Church, Taylor, MI
10:25 am Singing
10:30 am Message: Pastor Doug Armstrong
Lake Road Baptist Church, Clio, MI
11:10 am Break
11:15 am Message: Pastor Bob Hopkins
Grace Missionary Baptist Church, Holly, MI
12:00 pm Lunch
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, November 10th
1:30 pm BFM Advisory Meeting
TUESDAY EVENING, November 10th
5:00 pm Dinner
6:30 pm Music
6:45 pm Singing
7:15 pm Message: Pastor Dan Hillard
East Keys Baptist Church, Springfield, IL
8:25 pm Message: Judson Hatcher
Missionary, Manaus, Brazil
WEDNESDAY MORNING, November 11th
9:45 am Music
10:00 am Singing
10:15 am Message: Kerry Smith, Assistant Pastor
New Heights Baptist Church, Ringgold, GA
11:00 am Singing
11:15 am Message: Pastor Harold Draper
7th Street Baptist Church, Cannelton, IN
12:00 pm Lunch
[You can download a Word document of the 2015 Thanksgiving Conference Schedule by clicking here.]
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Missionary Update: Bobby & Charlene Wacaser [August 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
August 3, 2015
Helping to take care of my father has been quite a different experience from my mission routine of the last 30 years, to say the least. First, I can say that it is a privilege and, in an ironic way, a joy to do it. I’m sad that he has lost so much of the independence and strength that he always displayed, but I truly am thankful for the opportunity to spend large blocks of time in close conversation about the really important matters of life. He has shared with me his testimony of his conversion to Christ and the thoughts and conversations that he and our mother had about how to raise me and my 7 siblings. His strength continues to decline, but his spirit is at peace with God’s will for his remaining time on earth.
Charlene and will be making another trip back to Brazil in September to renew our permanent visas because they will expire before the end of the year. We are scheduling our trip in such a way as to be of the most help to our ministry partners there. I will be teaching at the mission training school of Projeto Vida and will also do some intensive training at our former church. We are looking forward to seeing our Brazilian family for a couple of weeks during that visit.
Projeto Vida had a very busy month of ministry. The Alpha bus, though not quite 100% complete, was back on the highways and took a team of missionaries two states away to aid the ministries of several local churches. The team was very helpful in teaching and encouraging the youth of those churches to heed the call to go to the lost with the gospel. The team taught some innovative ideas for gaining a hearing among one’s own peers and age group. Their own experiences were helpful for these young people to see that evangelism and outreach doesn’t have to be rote, canned or outdated. They stick to the Scriptures in their message, but use creative means to gain a hearing from folks their own age and beyond.
The Logos team was busy in the public schools both near Curitiba and in the state of Minas Gerais, about 15 hours away. This group had the privilege of being instrumental in bringing over 500 people to make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. One of the missionaries had the privilege to lead an older couple who had been Catholics all their lives to a personal relationship with Christ. They knew a lot about Jesus, but they had never known how to KNOW Jesus. After hearing the gospel clearly both the man and his wife surrendered their lives to the Lord and were immediately overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness.
There was another man who seemed irreligious who was angry at God because he blamed Him for his son having walked away from the family. The missionary from the Logos team shared the story of the Prodigal Son and explained to the man that all we have behaved like that prodigal son by walking away from God, but that God, like the caring father in the parable patiently and lovingly waits for his lost children to come home. The man understood and embraced the message and surrendered his life to Christ also and was full of gratitude to the missionary for sharing God’s word with him. We are so thankful for our faithful mission teams and to God for guiding and sustaining them. We also thank you for your faithful prayers and support so that we may continue this outreach.
In Christ’s love,
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
Give: Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [July 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
June 30, 2015
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I made a two week trip to Brazil this month. The trip was a tremendous encouragement and the Lord’s hand was clearly with us at every moment. We had the privilege to ordain two young men to the Gospel ministry and they will be taking the oversight of two of our outreach teams. Marcos, one of the young men, had recently returned from a year and a half of evangelism and church planting in India. The Lord blessed him greatly there and it is clear that he is called to be a minister of the Word. The other young man, Victor, has lead one of our Projeto Vida outreach teams on trips to the interior of Brazil where he and his wife, Fabiana, are highly respected and loved by their team members.
Alysson, our missionary to the Muslims in the Middle East has returned from his first trip there and reports that the Lord truly opened doors for sharing the Gospel. Despite what we see on the news channels, the majority of the common citizens are hungry for truth and love. We know that they have been fed lies all their lives and that makes it difficult for them to have open minds to Christ, but God is glorifying Himself greatly by bringing many of them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Alysson will be returning to that field again soon, so we ask that you pray God’s blessings on him.
Alek Rossi is doing a great job pastoring my former church in Curitiba, Brazil. We visited the services and we heard many great reports on his leadership from basically everyone who attends. The church continues to grow and we sensed real unity among the members.
Charlene and I have offered to help a local Baptist Church here in the Tampa, FL area as we also seek to help with the health needs of my father. We rotate with my siblings on a 24/7 schedule. I am thankful for this privilege. Thank you for your prayers and support.
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
Give: Click here to give.
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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
Give: Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: Bobby & Charlene Wacaser on Furlough from Brazil [May 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
May 8, 2015
Our young missionary to the Muslim culture was greatly shaken upon his arrival to the field in more ways than one! Shortly after he arrived at the airport in Nepal, a major earthquake occurred. There was chaos everywhere, as most of you already know from news reports. Alysson was there and he and many others were stranded in the airport for four days without any way to continue on their travels. Soon the food in the airport ran out and his only intake was water and some candy for a couple of days. We are very thankful, though, that he was not injured, or worse, and now he has moved on to his field of ministry.
Although the earthquake itself was not a good thing, we can already see how the Lord used it for His good purposes. Because of the disaster and despair that followed, the people are now much more open to outsiders coming in with whatever help they bring. The people are open to have their more important spiritual needs addressed also. Alysson is struggling to communicate the love of Christ to a people who have never heard of Jesus Christ amidst many physical and spiritual challenges. We are praying for him and supplying him with whatever physical needs that we can.
During the last month our Projeto Vida buses were working together with the group of youth that comes each year from Brandon, Florida to spend a week evangelizing in the city parks and public schools. This year there were 48 people in the group and the Lord used them greatly. They spent one day ministering to a group of over 200 adults of street dwellers, homeless folks who meet at a city park each week to receive a hot meal, are loved on, receive counseling and hear the gospel preached. The youth group performed skits which clearly communicated the love of Christ and several of those folks surrendered to Christ. As an extra blessing, the young people who ministered were also touched by the Lord as they learned just how greatly the Lord could use them when they are willing to step outside of their comfort zones.
Since my mother’s passing away, I have been trying to help my family in the care of my aging father. Our return was unexpected, so my family and I are attempting to adjust to some challenges here in the US. My son’s schooling situation is one of our greatest difficulties because of all the red tape involved, but I think we are finally getting somewhere.
Charlene and I had the wonderful privilege of attending the annual Baptist Faith Missions Conference sponsored by the Thompson Road Baptist Church this past month. We were so well received and taken care of by the good people of the church and it was a joy to be able to fellowship with so many of our missionary brothers and sisters who were in attendance. We also had the privilege of renewing old acquaintances and making new friends with pastors and members from other supportive churches. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support.
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
Give: Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: John & Alta Hatcher on Furlough from Brazil [May 2015]
Missionaries John and Alta Hatcher have served the Lord in Brazil since 1955, planting over 70 churches that are still in existence.
March 26, 2015
Dear Brethren and Friends:
We greet you in the Name of our gracious Lord Jesus. We have enjoyed a great month of His blessings that He has supplied through the love of Paul and Wanda. God has given opportunities to witness personally to persons we encountered in the stores and streets. Please pray the seed sown will bear fruit to His glory.
The outstanding event of the month was the Memorial Service of Alice Joyce Wacaser. She is the mother of missionary Bobby Wacaser. The service was held in the Ahava Baptist Church, Ahava, Florida. The service was a blessed testimony of her dedicated Christian life given by her children and friends to an audience of several hundred people.
Other than several children, she is survived by 28 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. The songs sung by her children revealed the joy, happiness and spirituality of her life and the wonderful effect on the lives of her children and their families.
The life of Alice was a spiritual blessing to her children and to all who knew her. She will be missed but she awaits all her loved ones and friends in her home in glory. It will be a joy to meet her there!
May God give us the Grace to influence others as Alice Joyce Wacaser has.
We thank you for your love and prayers in the Name of our Lord Jesus.
John A. and Alta Hatcher
John A. and Alta Hatcher
15905 Mercott Court
Clermont FL 34714
229-529-8497
jhatcher1925[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Wacaser on Furlough from Brazil [April 2015]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
April 5, 2015
Dear Friends,
In my last correspondence, I shared with you that because of my mother’s diagnosis of acute Leukemia I would be making an emergency trip to the USA and would begin a year’s furlough from Brazil to help look after my parents. Four days after my arrival my mother passed away. I did arrive in time to spend some hours with her while she was still conscious. She had been a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ for many years and she was prepared to go and be with our Lord. My father has many health challenges and I am working together with my family to aid him. He now lives alone at home, but we take turns staying with him since his needs require 24 hour care. Thank you all who have been and are praying for me and my family.
Before I left our church in Brazil, I officially turned the pastorate over to my co-pastor Alek Rossi. It has only been a few weeks, but from pictures and reports from him, the work there continues to progress. I made some financial commitments to that work before I left and will maintain that support and for as long as necessary. Alek has a very able team of volunteer helpers and we expect to hear encouraging news of how the Lord will use them in the future.
Our young missionary, Alysson, is getting ready to leave for a Muslim country in Eastern Europe this month. We are excited about his upcoming opportunities to share the Gospel where the Word of God is not known. We pray for his safety and fruitfulness in evangelism. He is very aware of the possibility of danger and persecution, but he trusts that the Lord will be his source of protection.
Charlene and I plan to attend the Spring Missions Conference on behalf of Baptist Faith Missions at the Thompson Road Baptist Church in few weeks. It has been several years since we’ve had this opportunity and we are really looking forward to greeting old and new friends and brothers and sisters in Christ there.
If you would be interested in having us come to visit with you or your church, feel free to contact us at the contact information provided with letter.
Thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support.
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
Email: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
Give: Click here to give.
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