Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [April 2013]
Dear Friends,
I want to start with some really great news! Next Sunday we will be baptizing 4 new converts. The Lord is blessing our efforts as we seek to share the gospel in our new community. We have seen a steady increase in attendance in our services and we hear great testimonies to what God is doing in the lives of those who are applying the messages from God’s Word in their lives. We have nearly completed the construction on the building, needing only to place the final one third of the ceiling tiles by the end of this week.
The group of teens from Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Florida came last month and worked diligently sharing the gospel through skits and personal testimony. There were 55 of them, including their adult sponsors and we were privileged to have our daughter, Jessie, come with them as our translator coordinator. Our translators here in Brazil also did a wonderful job of voluntary service for nearly a week. The Lord used all the effort and dedication to bring many people to Christ in the public schools and parks. During the week, the group as a whole was able to share the gospel with over 4000 individuals. Projeto Vida, our outreach partners, served as an essential element in transporting the teams, providing the public address system and also prepared the meals for over 100 people twice daily. The service of hosting this group of young people each year has yielded marvelous results. Several of the teens who have come in the past years have since accepted the missionary call for overseas service. Also, many of those who have received Christ as Lord of their lives through their gospel presentations are now faithfully involved in local church ministries. We have another group of youth coming in August of this year from the Houston, Texas area. We are looking forward to seeing how God will use this group also for the glory of His name and for the salvation of many lost ones.
We had a mountaintop experience around the middle of the March, literally. As often as possible we schedule a mountain climb with those who’ll accept the challenge. Our purposes for these excursions are: 1) to provide an opportunity to establish a deeper friendship with folks who aren’t yet attending church, 2) seek to display our relationship with Christ in an “outside the church building” environment, 3) motivate both our church members and prospective converts to take care of their bodies through strenuous exercise, 4) teach all the participants to appreciate and praise the Lord for the beauty of His creation; the lovely mountains, rivers and forest around us. We have discovered that these mountain excursions serve as a good way to invite non-church goers to a church event that doesn’t seem threatening or “churchy.” Once they have participated with us on one of these climbs, they almost always follow up by coming to our church services.
Our American Football training camp is coming up in early June. We are still hammering out the details so that we might make the best use of the personnel who’ll be involved. We have the participation of at least one former NFL player (Johnny Mitchell – former Dallas Cowboys, and New York Jets), his brother, Gregg Booth – former Arena Football. We still have opportunities available for high school and college coaches and players to teach and execute the skills of the sport. Please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom on how to best administer this training camp for the spread of the gospel among the Brazilian athletes and their families and staff.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
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