Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [June 2014]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
June 6, 2014
Dear Friends,
I’m a happy man! Nothing makes me happier than seeing God get glory through my life and the life of my family. I get my greatest joy from seeing my family happily engaged in spreading the good news of Jesus’ love to others, and I’m getting a double dose of that right now.
My wife, Charlene, has been such an instrument in touching the lives of the families of her aerobics classmates. For years she has faithfully been an example of kindness and love among them and lately her effectiveness has only increased. So much so that these ladies have spoken with their kids at home about Charlene and, now, these kids want to hang out with her and join with her as she interacts in the public schools and parks sharing the gospel. Now I know that part of the attraction to her is that she is beautiful inside and out, and another is that she is a source for them to train English as a second language, but I also am certain that her winsome personality is ultimately what leads them to decide that they want to spend huge blocks of time with her. Charlene would blush to hear any of this said and would immediately start pointing out her shortcomings as an individual, but that just shows that Christ is truly present in her life and is making Himself known through her.
The second dose of my happiness comes through our daughter, Jessie. She lives in Tampa, Florida and works assisting in various ministries at a large Baptist church there. Today I will get the privilege of having her arrive to coordinate a group of translators who will minister with us as we host a youth group from a Baptist church in Phoenix, AZ. Jessie has such a passion for sharing God’s word and love and she uses her dual language ability and network of friends to put together a wonderful team of volunteers to help us. I could not be happier… well, unless our son, Brennen, could be here too. But then again, only Heaven reserves the perfect life. We’ll be missing you something fiercely, little Buddy. He just finished the 10th grade in the USA.
We have one of our Projeto Vida motorhomes repaired and back in operation and have begun the body work repairs on the Alpha motorhome. The Lord saw fit to raise up the funds to pay for these expenses and we are extremely thankful. During the month of May we were able to take the gospel message into 9 public schools and spoke to over 4000 students. We know many were touched by the Word and several shared with us that they had surrendered their lives to Christ. This week, with the arrival of the youth group from Phoenix, AZ we will be taking the gospel into 6 more schools and also presenting gospel skits in three public parks. We are praying and expecting the Lord to make Himself known through these efforts.
We just received a container full of gospel booklets to distribute during the World Cup Soccer games that begin this coming Thursday here in Brazil. Most of you know how much Brazil is enthused about soccer, so you also can imagine what a door of opportunity is open for us to share these booklets among the crowds that will be showing up at the stadiums and sporting venues. We will be leading our church members to seek to pleasantly offer these gospel booklets at these events and be willing to take a personal moment to answer any questions or more fully explain the Word of Christ.
Charlene and I are very grateful for your prayers on our behalf. We are also thankful to God for using your sacrificial offerings so that we may continue to carry on our outreach ministries here in southern Brazil.
Thank you,
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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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [June 2014]
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
For those who don’t know me, I am Odali Barros. Baptist Faith Missions means a lot to me. I have been blessed by BFM in more than one way. First, I was saved through the ministry of a BFM missionary in Cruzeiro do Sul. Second, God has allowed me to be a part as a missionary. Third, my wife, Kathy Hatcher Barros, is the daughter of BFM missionaries. Baptist Faith Missions has impacted my life for the last 40 years.
I was the first one in my family to accept Christ as Savior. Today there are many family members saved. Many have become preachers and pastors. It is always a great blessing to see what God has done and is doing. Our older children are involved in the churches they attend. They also serve and take mission trips. We praise God that they also have a passion for lost souls. The three younger boys that are still at home are also involved in our ministry. Titus loves to work with the children. Jonas and Gabriel work in the music ministry.
The offerings that we receive help us in many ways. It allows us to do more things. The money is used from buying supplies for teaching, to gasoline and to rent when needed.
We would like to take this moment to thanks Brother Dave Parks for his care for each of us. He is always prompt and ready to help in any way he can.
We have been in our new ministry for 6 months. It is amazing how many communities there are around here that can be reached by car, but there are still many communities that can only be reached by boat. We had some one to offer us a boat for $25,000. At the moment we do not have that money. We are waiting on God‘s timing.
The work in the community of Ubim is doing really well. We have a class for children and service on Monday night. This week we had 2 mothers that came to see what the kids were doing, because they loved it so much. They said they would be back. Praise God!
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Manaus, Brasil, SA
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Missionary Update: Paul & Wanda Hatcher on Furlough from Brazil [June 2014]
Paul and Wanda Hatcher have been serving the Lord together in Brazil since 1974. Paul pastors Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus, Brazil. Their main ministry is church planting.
May 29, 2014
Dear Friends,
God is always so gracious and wonderful. We are all doing well; and, each new day we are glad and rejoice in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We continue to have great joy as we visit and renew our friendship with so many we have not seen by reason of our distance overseas.
Since we’ve been in the states we had the joy of visiting and sharing mission stories with the following churches:
- Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church – Pr. Earl Thomas
- Thompson Road Baptist Church – Pr. Dave Parks
- New Life Baptist Church – Pr. Steve Wainright
We have also been blessed as we attended services and saw old friends at: Bryan Station Baptist Church, Ashland Avenue Baptist Church, Heritage Baptist Church and in Florida: Park Ridge Baptist Church, Jordan Baptist Church, Chapel Baptist Church.
We have found a place to rent in Davenport, Florida; and we are grateful as the Lord has opened up the doors before us. That which was difficult He has made clear and easy. Thanks to our wonderful Lord and Shepherd. We appreciate all those who prayed for us as we were looking and moving.
We are in contact almost every day with our brethren in Brazil. Our family is all well and the churches continue to be blessed and grow with the adding of those saved. Final preparations are being made to help the church plant in Macapá, capital of the state of Amapá in northern Brazil to organize as a church and incorporate. Incorporation is a rather lengthy and complicated affair; but God always sees it through. It has been taking about one year to complete the governmental process.
I have a special prayer request to share: Pastor Adolfo Escote, pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Santa Etelvina, in Manaus, had retina displacement in both eyes and is in serious risk of losing most or all of his sight. Pray for God’s grace to be richly and abundantly supplied to him and his family, as well as healing from the Lord Jesus Christ.
God bless each of you; thanks for your prayer and faithful support to the work of missions. May God be your great reward. We pray for you that your remembrance and knowledge of our Lord, the only true God, may abundantly increase, that your trust and faith in him may be steadfast in all things, and that the love of the spirit may fill and overflow in your every word and action with thanksgiving to God though Jesus Christ our only Lord and Life.
Love,
Paul and Wanda
Paul and Wanda Hatcher
rphatcher[at]gmail.com
615 Key West Avenue
Davenport, Fl 33897-6300
(239)227-6551
Click here to give.
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Missionary Update: The Hensleys in Brazil [May 2014]
The Hensleys have spent nearly 15 years serving in Brazil. They run a vocational school and orphanage in Caraguatatuba and have also established a church and mission points throughout the city.
Dear Friends and Family,
Sometimes we don’t realize how fast our lives are going. I came to realize this in this past month. Barb and I went to the States for 3 weeks this month. I had my plans made to visit several Churches and get some needed check-ups done at the doctor’s office while Barbara visited her mom. We had purchased tickets for me to do this traveling so it would be easier for me to get to various Churches.
Well, we all know that our plans sometimes are not God’s plans. This time my plans did not combine with what God had in store for me. We got to the States on Wednesday and on Thursday I got word that my older brother, Big John, had been taken to the hospital. He did not make it to the hospital–the heart attack took him in route. I did not get to say hello nor goodbye to him. All our plans changed; however, one of the beautiful things that I can say is, that as brothers, we had an excellent relationship. Even more AWESOME I can say that he was saved and serving the our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Even though I miss him terribly, I know from his life and testimony he is in a much better place.
We are making plans to visit the States in January and February of 2015 and maybe the ticket that I could not use to visit some Churches will still be usable. God is in control and we ask for your prayers.
So allow me to put some more prayer requests in front of you all. As you know streets and roads here are not in the best of conditions so we have lots of suspension and tire problems. Add the fact that our vehicles are getting old (the newest is 2001) and well used. We are now having to overhaul the motor in my truck. I just did this last year and it cost around $5000.00 and now it looks like we will have to do it again. So please pray for our vehicles as they are ESSENTIAL in our ministries. If you are financially able to help us with this expense, THANKS in advance. Since we are on the topic of vehicles, our bus is now ending minor repairs and this preventive maintenance hopefully will prevent major problems.
Easter came and went while we were in the States. The Church held the service on the beach and had a baptism in the ocean. I missed the opportunity to do the first baptism in the ocean. Now that we are back and have done visitation, we are ready to have another baptism and who knows–maybe they will want to have it in the ocean. Isn’t God AWESOME???!!! We are getting ready to have our Mother’s Day service. We are planning for the mothers of the children that come to Sunday School to bring their moms who normally don’t come. The Bible says that ‘a little child shall lead them’, so we are getting ready to present Christ and Him risen to these mothers.
Also while in the States, I had a very thorough check-up. It seems that the only problem that I have now is sugar. (No I am not that sweet.) Hopefully I can avoid taking medication by exercise and adjusting my diet. Sometimes we don’t think about healthy lifestyles util we are too late. To be treated here in Brasil in our area, it would be a problem because our hospitals are not really up to date–and this is an understatement. So pray with me for me to eat right and exercise to get ahead of this problem.
The end of May we will receive a group from Centerville Baptist Church in Georgia. They are coming to work and evangelize. How AWESOME is that when God sense extra hands for the labor! Their project is to help at the Indian village constructing a playground for the children. We will have backyard Bible School for the children while the playground is being constructed. It is really hard sometimes to realize how AWESOME of an impact this has on an area. It is not important where you go–it could be at the Church, an orphanage, or to the Indians, but just the fact that a group comes here is wonderful for our ministry. Our people can hardly believe that someone cares enough for them to pay for their tickets to come here and help them. This shows that God’s love is abundant everywhere.
They took a group of faithful Sunday School kids to the zoo one Saturday on the church bus.
We got back to Brasil on Thursday and on Saturday we took a group of Sunday School kids that had been faithful in coming to Church on an outing to the zoo. There were 17 kids and some adult chaperones. A wonderful time was had by all. Some of these kids had never been to the zoo and had not been on a long trip. We traveled 3 hours on our Church bus and Barbara did not let anyone sleep. She kept watch and who tried to sleep got their face painted with lip stick. The kids were helping her to catch those who went to sleep.
We have, as always, hit the road running when we got back. There were many visits to be made and many lives to be helped by Gods Word. Pray for us–for our health, for our finances, for the ministry, for the plans that we are trying to complete at the Church and for the attacks that Satan is hurling at us.
We would love to have you come and see what God is doing here in Caraguatatuba and for you to be a part of this work. Come on down we will put some more water in the beans and throw some more grains of rice in the pan.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow [May 2014]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
May 9, 2014
Dear Brethren,
This year Hudson and I have traveled 2,341 miles on 3 rivers. We have visited 11 of our pastors and missionaries. We have visited and reported on 17 of our works. Last month, when it was time to write my monthly report I was at Tipisca, Peru. I used my satellite phone to ask Bev to send you a note letting you know my whereabouts.
On that trip to the upper Juruá River we visited 4 of our most distant congregations and 5 of our missionaries. The last 2 missionaries live and work on the other side of the border in Peru. Since my bigger boat and motor was still waiting for parts we had to go with the little 25HP outboard. Scorching hot tropical sun every morning and rain in the afternoon. This boat doesn’t have a top, so you know what the weather did to us. Layers of sunblock lotion in the morning and rain gear in the afternoon. It was fine though. We neither burned nor froze. The works at Thaumaturgo, Triunfo and Tipisca are all growing. Foz do Breu is stable even though several families have moved away.
This is in front of our building in Tipisca, Peru. Missionaries from left to right: Hudson, José Maia, his wife Silvania and Eduardo. Our luggage piled on the ATV is ready to head down to the river for our return trip to Cruzeiro do Sul.
After that trip I also went back to visit the congregation at Porto Walter 94 miles up stream. We are gearing up to start a new building there. Even one of our meetings with just members was on a Monday night and there were over 70 present to discuss the building project. They have been packing the old building on Sundays for some time now.
My next trip was down river to Ipixuna. The parts were still not in for my motor, so I took my smallest boat with 20HP. I had just run it a couple of weeks earlier, but it still decided not to start when we launched the boat at Guajará. I worked on it for 2 hours right about noon. Boy was it hot. That threw us behind by 2 hours, so we did not get in to Ipixuna until 8 at night. Fortunately the river was very full, not many logs floating down and my flashlight is very bright. We spent 3 days with the church. The church there partners with us to do missions in our general plan for the whole Juruá River on that section. We checked on the 4 works that we established and put into their care.
This month I also visited our missionaries and works at Guajará, Pé da Terra and Rodrigues Alves.
Here at the home church things continue to progress. There have been several saved. There were 23 baptized in March and 33 in April. We are always losing people who move away. Last month we only lost one family! That is quite a victory for us! We continue to work on the annex a little at a time as funds trickle in. Attendance was not that great at the beginning of the year, but has built back up steadily.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [May 2014]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
May 9, 2014
Dear Friends,
I am constantly encouraged to invest in the lives of people around us by the way the Lord keeps raising up new kingdom warriors. Toni, a recent high school graduate shared with a couple of weeks ago that she’s certain the Lord wants her to dedicate next year to evangelism through our outreach ministry, Projeto Vida. I have been observing Toni’s spiritual growth for about 4 years and she truly has a servant’s heart and a passion for the Lord’s glory. She also demonstrates the love of Christ to everyone around her.
Projeto Vida has had a series of struggles with mechanical breakdowns recently. My friend and church member, Antonio, has offered to rebuild the engine of one of our motorhomes for practically nothing. We are also still trying to put together the resources to repair the damage on our Alpha motorhome that was sustained in a serious accident late last year. I don’t have a church member who does body work, so we’ll have to find an honest and reasonable repairman for that task. Even with two of the motorhomes out of commission, we were able to get into several cities with our evangelistic teams this past month. Many people heard the gospel and several surrendered their life to Christ.
An interesting thing happened a couple of weeks ago as we were getting prepared to put on a gospel presentation for our Easter service. Elias is an old hippie one of our friends introduced to us a few years ago. Elias likes to set up lighting and sound systems for parties and presentations. While visiting our church with a neighbor he heard that we were going to have a theatrical presentation and he offered to loan us his very expensive equipment and help us set it up. It came in very handy and opened a door for us to interact with him and his wife beyond the church’s scheduled services. We have gone out with them on a couple of friendly outings and have used the opportunities to share our relationship with Christ with them.
Thank you for your faithful 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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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [May 2014]
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We praise God for all the things that He has done the last couple of months. As we mentioned in our last letter, we were visiting the communities that are within an hour or two from where we live. After going several places, we have finally found several places to work. One of the communities is called Ubim. There were a couple of adults who used to go to the church where my brother is pastor. They moved to this community. While we were there visiting the town, we asked some people if they knew these people. Praise God, the first person we asked knew them and where they lived. We went to their home to visit them and ask them if they would like to have services in their home. They said, “Sure you can have services here.” Praise God!
While we were visiting one day, I decided to go by the school and see if there was a possibility of using the school building for some special program. Well, was I surprised when I talked to the principal. Said, “Sure, and it would be great if you could do something for the kids in school. You can come every Thursday if you want and stay from 9:00 to 11:00 am.” We will have our first program with them next week. We are really excited. There are 300 kids in the school from 1st grade to 8th grade. We will start working with 180 kids from 1st to 4th grade. There are some kids that come to the service we have on Monday that go to that school. We are really excited and looking forward to what God is going to do in this community. This community is right off the river, a highway on one side and the Amazon River on the other. On the river side you go to an Indian village. Toe this village you have to be invited or have permission from the chief. The chief´s daughter has been to one of our services. Also, we visited another community farther away. We had visited it before and were checking to see if they had a Baptist church. There is no Baptist church but we did find a Baptist man who wants to have services is his home. God has just done so many wonderful things. We are already making plans to get started there.
This month we also helped at my brother’s church with a fundraiser. They are trying to finish the church building. The building they use does not belong to the church and they need to move. The fundraiser went well and the raised $ 3,000 dollars. They were all very excited. We were glad we could be of help to the church.
We thank all of you for your prayers and for your financial support. Please continue to pray for us as we work in these new places that God will direct us each step of the way, and that many may come to know the Lord and Savior. God bless each of you!
In Christ,
Odali, Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
Blog
Manaus, Brasil, SA
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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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