Projeto Vida Presenting the Gospel in Public Schools & Parks
July 24, 2023
Dear Friends,
Although Charlene and I have begun our US furlough, at the present, we are back in Brazil ministering together with our evangelistic team Projeto Vida. We also had the privilege to worship and serve together with our former church during their 11th anniversary. The new pastor, Cledson, asked me to bring the message and it was an honor and joy to do so. It is clearly evident that the Lord guided me correctly in choosing Cledson as the lead pastor. The church is very united and growing under his leadership.
The missionary couple that we sent to Portugal is doing well. Yago and Manoela recently held a community event to establish friendships and bridges with neighbors to win opportunities for sharing the gospel. They were joined by a couple of other Brazilian Christians and the worked together to share Christ’s love. They had dozens of neighbors show up and doors for future opportunities were opened. Please continue to pray for Yago and Manoela to locate the right home to hold the weekly meetings.
Projeto Vida had an amazing month of activities. The first week had to be spent doing maintenance work on the van and equipment, but the very next week was a whirlwind of ministering in 8 different public schools during 13 gospel presentations. Through evangelistic skits and personal testimonies, they shared the gospel to 1,635 students and staff in just one day. At the end of each presentation our missionaries interacted directly with the students, many of whom would seek them out to ask questions and share how they could identify with the message. Although we can’t ask the students to come forward and profess Christ publicly at the schools, these personal conversations revealed that at least dozens of students understood their need to surrender to Christ and did so at those meetings. We are so thankful to the Lord for this privilege to make Him known to so many that wouldn’t ordinarily step inside the doors of a New Testament church!
Charlene and I still have two more weeks of working together here in Brazil with Projeto Vida in the public schools and parks. We are helping by translating for some groups of American volunteers who are using their last weeks of the summer vacation to share Christ internationally. May the Lord use us for His glory. Thank you for your prayers and faithful support.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Currently Stateside on Furlough from Brazil
Phone: (813) 501-9328
E-mail: bobbymichael_1@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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Warm Send Off, Currently Stateside, Gospel Presentations Continue
June 1, 2023
Dear Friends,
Let me start out by announcing that Charlene and I have begun our stateside furlough and will be available to visit and share our ministries with you or your church in the upcoming months. Our contact information is:
Phone: (813) 501-9328
E-mail: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
Before leaving Curitiba, Brazil last week, we had a very warm send-off service from our dear church family there. I have left the pastorate in the able hands of Pastor Cledson Xenofonte. He has been my co-pastor and youth pastor for the past five years and the church has grown significantly due to his and his assistants’ dedicated labors. His wife, Fabiane, and he have two children (both teens) who are involved and dedicated in the church ministries as well. I feel confident that God placed Cledson on my heart to succeed me as pastor and I believe the church will continue to grow steadily under his leadership.
Although Charlene and I will reside this year in the USA, we have several mission trips scheduled that will take us back to Brazil a couple of times and at least on one trip to our new church plant in Portugal to assist Yago and Manoela. This couple has shown tremendous wisdom and a great work ethic as they are constantly setting up Bible studies and personal discipleship meetings. They are still seeking the right house to move to near the capital, Lisbon, so that they can reach a greater number of people with less waste of time and money on the highway from their present residence. Our church in Curitiba is contributing as much as they can so that they can afford the higher rent there and Charlene and I give personally as well. But since the currency in Portugal is the Euro and more expensive, they still need about $200 per month more to meet the additional cost of rent in the capitol. If you feel led of the Lord to give toward this investment in reaching the lost in Portugal, you may contribute by labeling your offering: Wacaser – Portugal Mission.
Our traveling evangelistic team, Projeto Vida recently returned from a three-week trip to the northwestern part of the state of Paraná. In the public parks and schools where they ministered, the gospel was presented to 1743 students and adults. Of these, 151 made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. We are so thankful the Lord continues to keep this window of opportunity open to us. We know that this privilege is being lost in more and more locations throughout the world, so we seek to take advantage of it to get the gospel out there.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Currently Stateside on Furlough from Brazil
Phone: (813) 501-9328
E-mail: bobbymichael_1@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
Amazed at God’s Goodness
April 26, 2023
Hello Faithful Friends,
So much has happened since I wrote last year that I am amazed at God’s goodness to us. It is actually quite encouraging to stop and write about it because it’s a way to reflect on and count our many blessings.
We have been experiencing steady growth at our church. So much so that we had to find a larger building to move to. The Lord guided us to a great location that will allow the church to keep growing. Part of my role in this process was to organize the packing and labeling of everything the needed to be moved so that we could find it and use it almost immediately after our arrival there. I had some great volunteer helpers working with me and I am very grateful for them.
One of my roles at the church is as an assistant teacher. I work with the kids ages 8 to 12. Through the course of my years teaching, I have evangelized and taught children who are now grown up, have gotten married, and now I’m teaching their children in my classes.
One of my favorite activities in our ministry is to coordinate the preparation and decorating for special events like marriage seminars and evangelistic outreach meetings. I believe that even in small things like this we should seek to honor the Lord with excellence. One of the challenges is to apply excellence with a limited budget. I enjoy the challenge, though.
As a missionary’s wife, there is one area that is not pleasurable, and that is the “goodbyes”. There are so many of them and for various reasons. Of course, there are the goodbyes when we leave family and friends when coming to our field of service, but there are also the goodbyes on the field to those who we’ve evangelized and prepared to go out as missionaries to new places. Recently we sent Yago and Manoela off to Portugal to start new churches. I had worked side by side with Manoela for quite a while and we had become very close. As much as I was thrilled that God had called her husband and her to go, it still hurt to lose that constant companionship with her. I’m very glad that we have the promise of an eternal home to enjoy fellowship again, and without the goodbyes.
Bobby and I are going to begin a U.S. stateside furlough near the end of May. If you or your church would be interested in having us come and share personally how God is using our ministry, feel free to contact Bobby at: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com.
I am so grateful for your prayers and concern for us and our ministry.
Yours in Christ,
Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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
Intensive Outreach
March 15, 2023
Dear Friends,
In my last correspondence I shared the marvelous news with you that Yago and Manoela, our missionaries to Portugal, were privileged to lead their first convert to Christ. Since then, they have kept up weekly Bible studies with Emanuel, the new disciple. This past Saturday, Emanuel braved the cold Atlantic waters and followed the Lord in baptism. He is thrilled with his daily walk with the Lord and the study of His word. At the same time, just as the Lord warned us, persecution has already begun. Some of his friends and family are trying to mock him and belittle his faith. Yago and Manoela were careful to point out to him to expect this kind of treatment and not to lose heart. In fact, it is a sign that the Lord is truly in and with him, for that is how the world and the devil treat God’s children.
Yago and Manoela are still searching for a house closer to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. They have begun several home Bible studies with believers scattered about in that general region. Where they live now is not conveniently located due to the cost of time and money getting to Lisbon. We are praying for them to find an adequate house or apartment within their budget where they can hold small groups and a weekend Bible club for children. Please pray with us for them to locate the right house for their work.
At our church’s new location, we have discovered some, let’s say, “interesting” challenges. We knew that the building would need some work done on a leaky roof. That was included in the contract for the property owner to fix back in December. Here we are in the middle of March and almost daily we are having to haul out buckets full of rainwater that drops right in the middle of our auditorium. The problem is being resolved, but it’s taking way longer than we anticipated and the constant rains require that we spend quite an amount of time mopping up water and moving furniture so that it won’t get wet. The good thing about this challenge is that our members are getting a good taste of investing their energy and resources into the Lord’s kingdom. We will be putting on a major Easter play production and we expect the building to be near full for two services. A leaky roof in the middle of a packed house could cause some very unpleasant scenes. So, pray that the workers can get the job done in time for the presentations and that the leaks are truly eliminated, please.
Today we went to the airport to pick up a team of 8 volunteer evangelists from Virginia. This is their 4th or 5th visit in about two years. They are some of the sweetest and humblest people we’ve met. But they are very bold in evangelism. They witness everywhere they go. In the markets, in the restaurants, in the parks and schools and the Lord has seen fit to bless with many people turning to Christ. They will be with us for 6 days of intensive outreach to over 4000 people outside of the church building. Mostly non-believers, for now, but we hope that many will be saved in these next few days of outreach.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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
New Believer in Portugal!
February 14, 2023
Dear Friends,
It has only been a couple of weeks since my last report, but we are so glad to report that some wonderful things have happened in that short period! I’ll jump straight to the best news of all. Our missionaries in Portugal, Yago and Manoela, were blessed to win their first Portuguese convert to Christ. You may have already read of this on the social media pages of Baptist Faith Missions, but we’re so happy for them and for God’s glory to shine, and we wanted to thank you who have been praying for their success.
They wasted no time after their arrival in Portugal in reaching out to the lost people there. The young man, Emanuel, whom they were privileged to evangelize, considered himself anti-God for much of his life. In fact, you may have watched the movies “God’s Not Dead”, 1 and 2,” that were in theaters a few years back. Emanuel was invited to go see # 2 by a Brazilian Christian friend living in Portugal and he accepted. While watching the movie, he identified himself with the atheist college professor. Similarly, his mother had died very young, and he was angry and confused at how a “good” God would let his mother die and it made it difficult for him to believe God was real. But at the same time, it got him wondering about the existence of God and, when Victoria, the Brazilian Christian friend asked him if he would accompany her to a Bible study, he accepted. Another interesting note is that Yago and Manoela did not know Victoria or she them, but on Baptist Faith Mission’s social media pages she read about their arrival in Portugal and she reached out to them to come help her evangelize her friend through a Bible study. They do not live in the same city, but they were happy to drive to meet them for this purpose. At the very first study, Emanuel, heard the gospel, believed in the Lord Jesus, and surrendered his life to Him for salvation! We are still praising God! Yago and Manoela have agreed to go weekly to meet with Victoria and Emanuel to begin discipleship training. Our continued prayer is that Emanuel will be instrumental in reaching his friends, family, and acquaintances with the gospel as well. It has only been a little over 2 months since this missionary couple arrived in Portugal and to already have a Portuguese adult turn to the Lord is astoundingly great news!
Our church did begin having services in our new location as we planned. What we didn’t plan for was the amazing turn-out in attendance. We had been having a packed house in our former location with an average of 225 in attendance. The very first service in our new location was attended by 309 people. A few of those were some curious neighbors as to what kind of church was moving into their neighborhood, but they were warmly welcomed, and some have decided to keep coming. We still have lot of renovations to do on the building and classrooms, but many of our members are stepping up to the challenge, coming out several times a week to build, paint, clean, and pray for spiritual growth. God is truly blessing our faith, and beyond it. We do at least have room now for continued numerical growth at our new location. May the Lord see fit to fill it quickly.
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support. Charlene and I are very grateful.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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
God is Still Marvelously Saving Sinners!
January 31, 2023
Dear Friends,
“A blast from the past,” I think is an expression that seems to pop up occasionally. That is what I got a few days ago. And it was a good “blast.” She is a lady now, but was a nine-year-old girl when we met Tabitha in 1987. In our first church plant in Curitiba, Brazil, Tabitha was a round faced little girl who we invited to our children’s Bible school. She and two of her younger siblings would come regularly to church each week. She was taught the gospel and she memorized Scripture and learned a lot about God’s will for her life. Despite several years of showing her love and biblical teaching, Tabitha chose to lead her own life and it was not in the direction that she learned in our Bible studies and church services. For many years she was involved in demon worship and witchcraft. The “blast from the past” came last week when Tabitha messaged me, sharing that she had treasured all our teaching and examples in her heart and had finally surrendered her life to Christ! She has been marvelously saved from her life of sin and asked me if I would baptize her as she begins her new life in obedience to God. Oh, how amazing is our Savior’s grace!
Our evangelism team, Projeto Vida, has just completed its first Missions Training Seminar of the year. We had volunteers from several Brazilian states participating in this three-week experience. The first two weeks were spent in biblical and theoretical studies, and the last week was the practical application of what was learned in the classroom. During this edition of our training seminar, the volunteers accompanied our veteran team of missionaries to native Indian tribes in the neighboring countries of Paraguay and Argentina, as well as to a settlement on the Brazilian side of the shared border. Day and night the volunteers and veterans shared the gospel with hundreds of lost individuals, from little children, even to the tribal chiefs. The Lord blessed greatly and many of them openly confessed Jesus as their Savior. We’ve partnered with a local Baptist church to begin the discipleship process among those who have been converted.
Our missionaries to Portugal, Yago and Manoela, reported that they are learning some very important and helpful lessons as they reach out to the lost there. One such lesson was learned shortly after they arrived about the city where they thought they would reside in and begin a church plant. They discovered as they visited the city that most of the city’s population is made up of “vacationers”. That information helped them realize that it would be very difficult to establish a thriving church with a population that is mostly transient. They are in the process of moving to a city where the population is more permanently established. They have begun regular fellowship meetings with some other Brazilian Christians they discovered also reside in Portugal. Their main purpose, though, is to win the Portuguese people to Christ, not to form a Brazilian church in Portugal. Later this year, Charlene and I intend to go there to take some supplies and to lend some leadership training. Please pray for the success of Yago and Manoela’s ministry efforts in Portugal.
Our church will hold its first service in our “new” (for us) auditorium this coming Sunday. We held our last service in the old auditorium last week with standing room only. By God’s grace, we were packed! In my message to the congregation, I encouraged the members to invest themselves in what the Lord is doing. In an amazing show of enthusiasm and desire to serve Jesus, a large portion of the congregation showed up with tools and willing hands and hearts to move our equipment and furnishings to the new location. Many of them are working every day until 11:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. installing equipment and arranging furniture to be ready to launch our first service in the new location after having worked all day at their regular jobs. I thank the Lord for the privilege to pastor such a dedicated group of brothers and sisters in Christ. We have a lot of work ahead of us to adjust to our new installations, but this group of volunteers makes it a joy, and not a burden.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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
Welcoming 2023
December 31, 2022
Dear Friends,
I’m writing letter this on the last day of 2022. Throughout the past year I was baffled at how often I heard people, even some professing to be Christians, murmuring about how bad 2020, 2021, and 2022 were. For two main reasons I could not and would not join in with them: 1- No matter what the circumstances, we know that our great and good God is in control and is orchestrating them all for our benefit and His glory, and 2- When we looked back at those three years, we noticed that all of our ministries and most of our personal experiences were greater than or as great as any in our lives. So, if 2023 is anything like the last three, we welcome it with welcome arms.
I just received news from our missionaries in Portugal, Yago and Manoela. They are very excited about the opportunities they are having to share the love of Christ. They pray daily for wisdom and discernment from the Lord so that they will recognize the best timing and ways to gain a hearing from their Portuguese neighbors and acquaintances. They have already had several chances to do that and continue to look for more. Our church members pray for them and keep in touch through social media. We trust that in God’s perfect timing He will use them to win many lost Portuguese people to salvation in Christ.
Two weeks ago we closed a contract on the new and larger building where we are moving our church services. We will be able to have the whole congregation together at one time and we’ll be able to host larger events for evangelism. Our members seem to be enthusiastic and voted almost unanimously to make the move. Early this month we’ll be moving our equipment and in the first week of February we should have our first service at the new location. There will be some big challenges in the remodeling process, but the Lord has given us a peaceful assurance that this the right direction for us.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. May the Lord bless you in this new year.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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
Thanksgiving & Commissioning Service
November 19, 2022
Dear Friends,
This past week, our church celebrated our thanks to the Lord for this year’s provisions as well as His calling from our midst, Yago and Manoela Guedes, to go to Portugal as missionaries. We had a commissioning service for them and a Thanksgiving banquet at the same event. It was truly a joyous occasion. It was the first time that our entire church could get together at the same time and location for nearly two years. We met at a church member’s farm that has a pavilion that was large enough for us all. Yago and Manoela will have arrived in Foz do Arelho, Portugal by the time you are reading this letter. We will be praying for them and seeking to support their ministry efforts as they seek to reach the spiritually lost there. There is less than 1 percent of born-again believers in Portugal and this young couple will greatly need the Lord’s wisdom and power in sharing the gospel and winning lost souls. Please pray with us and for them as they seek to serve the Lord and obey His commission. If you believe the Lord is guiding you to aid this couple, you may contribute with the memo: “Wacaser-Portugal Mission”.
It has been many years since I have had any health issues and I am extremely grateful. These past two weeks, though, I have struggled with laryngitis and have had to call on my co-pastors to preach in my place. I haven’t felt very ill, but my voice was too weak and raspy to communicate without being a distraction. I am grateful to be able to count on these young men who are doing an excellent job of faithfully delivering the Word. I seem to be much better today (Saturday) and intend to preach at both services tomorrow. Challenges like this are great reminders to me of just how much I depend on the Lord for every large and small grace. I pray for His strength and ability to honor Him with my mind and my voice.
Just a little reminder that in Brazil, below the Equator, we are entering into our summer months and the 3-month school break. Since the public schools are our traveling evangelistic team’s main venue for outreach, we change our focus during this period to assist the home church with the Christmas program and to minister to the poor and homeless in our own city. The volunteers who are from other cities will get a couple of weeks to return home to visit with their families on the holidays but will return shortly after New Year’s Day to begin preparing for the outreach trips scheduled for next year. The Lord blessed greatly this past year as we were privileged to share the gospel to over 40,000 people in public venues. Thousands of those who heard responded by surrendering their lives to Christ. All honor and glory to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Charlene and I are so thankful for the faithful prayers and support on our behalf. We humbly acknowledge and recognize that you sacrifice from what you could use in any number of ways but choose to give so that we may minister here. We thank the Lord for you and pray that you may be eternally and richly blessed.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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
