Projeto Vida Travels 6,000 Miles to Share the Gospel with Different People Groups
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
October 11, 2016
Dear Friends,
We had hoped that Projeto Vida would be able to purchase an 18 passenger travel van before our scheduled mission trip to the Lower Amazon River basin, but the Lord had other plans. Instead, 25 of our dedicated followers of Christ set out in an old travel bus on a 6000 mile trip to take the gospel to many different people groups. The first stop was in the slums of Rio de Janeiro shortly after the Olympic Games. The teams shared God’s word in public schools and parks.
Leaving Rio, the bus then set out for Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, over 1000 miles away. Again, the teams were allowed to go into the schools with Gospel skits and testimonies. Many students heard the gospel for the first time in their lives. After a few days in Brasilia, the bus began the next leg of their journey to northeastern Brazil, in the desert region. Along the way the old bus began to have a few problems. First, two of the large tires blew out at the same time. After repairing them, which was not cheap, the differential gear box tore up and the bus had to be towed to a repair garage and be repaired. The original price would have been above our ability to pay, but the garage owner felt led of the Lord to give a deep discount and with the offerings of some of you, we were able to pay for the new price and get the bus back on the road.
The journey continued northward toward Maranhão where our teams had the privilege of taking the gospel to some Indian tribes. There were quite a few who surrendered to Christ during that stop. All of the team members had to learn how to adapt to the culture somewhat to gain and entrance into the people group. The different foods and unfiltered water left several of the workers ill for a few days.
Next, the group went on to the mouth of the Amazon River where it spills out into the Atlantic. They left the old bus in the last town and got on board an old river boat to travel up river for 4 days. There were over 50 people aboard that boat and everyone had to sleep in hammocks crisscrossed in every available space. The teams stopped at many small villages along the river banks to share the gospel with folks, many who had never heard the Gospel of Christ clearly presented. There were dozens saved in these visits. Our team was traveling with some missionaries who lived in the region and who would be taking note of the villages with multiple conversions to return to begin routine Bible studies and new church plants when possible.
On this journey there was a young American man named Christian Wertz from my church here in Florida. He engaged in a game of “football/soccer” with some villagers on an improvised court that was made of roughly planed boards covered with dirt and sawdust. He got a large splinter in his bare foot which got badly infected and he had to be taken to the nearest health outpost to treat him. He recovered quickly and returned to help the team evangelize in more villages on the return trip to where they left the travel bus.
On the return trip to their headquarters in southern Brazil, Projeto Vida didn’t experience any mishaps. The team arrived after a 34-day trip and having seen hundreds of people profess Christ as Savior and Lord. One of the side benefits of the trip was that while they were helping a local church in northern Brazil, two of the members felt led of the Lord to contribute enough funds for Projeto Vida to purchase their first 18 passenger travel van. Now they will be able to make more trips similar to this one at a much reduced cost and much quicker. Praise the Lord with us!
In Christ’s love,
Bobby Wacaser
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 [March 2016]
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
March 5, 2016
Dear Friends,
It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord provides opportunities to make Him known to others on a personal basis. I’m still not great at it, but I am learning to look around me as I live life day by day to see where God is opening doors for me to share His love. This week’s opportunity came in what seemed on the surface to be a mistake on my part. We have been living in our neighborhood for several months and early on, we met a Christian family who lives a few houses down. They have several teenaged blond haired boys. As I was coming home and was several blocks away I saw a blond teenaged boy walking down the street toward our home. I assumed that he was one of our neighbor’s kids, so I stopped to offer him a ride the rest of the way home. As I began talking with him I realized that he was not their son, so I apologized for my mistake and started to drive away. He called out to stop me and asked if I really would give him a ride since he was still quite a way from his home. When I told him that I would he got into my car. His name is Cody. On the way to Cody’s house I found out that he had been suspended from school for what, he said, was a false accusation of vandalism; putting glue in the teacher’s seat. I knew I only had a few minutes with Cody, so I used his suspension, whether his fault or not, to begin sharing how the Lord had found me in my youth, when I was a vandal (and worse) with the love and forgiveness that only Jesus can give. I told him that God loved us, and despite our sins, truly wants to have an intimate relationship with Him. I didn’t presume him to be guilty of vandalism, but I did want to share with him that the Lord sent His Son Jesus to save us from all sin if we will just believe and surrender to Him as Lord. Our ride was short, but I continue to pray that God will use the message I shared with Cody to plant a seed which will eventually bear fruit to the glory of God in his salvation.
Gratefully, my dad still doesn’t have any pain. God continues to answer the prayers of many to bless both him and us, his kids. We can see that he becomes feebler as each week passes. He is sleeping approximately 22 hours per day and even in his hours awake he is often confused. Charlene and I will be leaving to go to Brazil for 2 weeks starting tomorrow and we are hoping that he can endure until we return. Please pray for him about this, if it can please the Lord.
As I mentioned, Charlene and I will be leaving tomorrow to go back to Brazil for two weeks. We will serve as hosts and translators for a group of 40 youth from Brandon, Florida. Our outreach teams, Projeto Vida, are getting geared up to receive and assist us in getting the gospel to several public schools during Spring Break. We expect to be in about 8 public schools during in one week’s time. Please pray that the Lord will open the hearts of many to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior and that He will also protect the group from spiritual and physical harm.
I’m looking forward to our next letter when I expect to report the results of this trip and of the many conversions to Christ that we hope to see from these efforts.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
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: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [July 2015]
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.
Running out of space and seating for Sunday School.
July 6, 2015
Dear friends and family,
What an AWESOME month we have had here in Caragua this month with our Church. Lots of work and ministry thanks to these groups: Pinehurst Baptist, Pinecrest Baptist, First Baptist in Centerville—all in Georgia—and Central Baptist in Paris, Kentucky.
These Churches did not get to know our Brazilian Pastor as he has been in the hospital with heart problems. The Doctors said that he had a heart attack, but when the dust settled, the problem was with his aortic valve. So let me cut through all the exams, problems, doctors, etc, and get to the bottom line. He had surgery in Sao Paulo on the last of June and today is in the Intensive Care Unit doing GREAT. He is expected to be in the hospital for about 7 to 10 days if all goes well. Please keep Pastor Rosevaldo and his family in your prayers.
About our month—we have been blessed with two groups from the States. Our first group of 39 was from Georgia and represented 3 Churches. They were able to do lots of work on the Church and the school property. Window replacement, put up 3 more fans and installed emergency lights in the Church building. In addition, they did 3 Bible Schools in our area—one in our Church and 2 in the public schools here in the city. They also traveled to the Indian Village and did another Bible School with them. The Indian village is about 2½ hours from our city. These Indians need lots of help—physical and especially spiritual. Pray with us that more will accept Christ as their personal Savior. They serve many gods and we serve only One!!! We have established a good relationship with them because of several work projects with many American groups. God is so AWESOME!
The second group helped with more of the maintenance needs and also did 3 Bible Schools. This group has adopted a remote school (up a holler) here in our city. It is a two-room school and, needless to say, it is a somewhat forgotten school when it comes to supplies and maintenance needs. We had two Bible Schools there and did some much needed painting on their walls around the school building. The principal was so excited to see us come. What a little work and a little elbow grease can accomplish! They are almost like the Indians—“out of sight, out of mind.”
God really knew what He was doing when He led us to this area. After the completion of the new subdivision about ½ mile down the road, just in Sunday School we have doubled our attendance. “How Great Thou Art!” I would like to give a suggestion to all the Pastors in the States—if you want to increase in your attendance, just buy more chairs. The past two months we have had gifts to purchase new chairs and what an AWESOME blessing this has been. Our attendance before the chairs was around 60-80. This month we have averaged 105. God is good all the time—all the time God is good! Well I thought I would mention the chairs—because now we need to purchase more chairs! How AWESOME! We now have 85 chairs and 25+ white plastic chairs in our Sunday School areas. We are making do with this number, but if anyone out there would like to help purchase more chairs!!!! (They cost 75 each.) What a sweet way to ask for more financial help with Church problems. And what a good problem to have. As you can tell by the numbers I have cited, we are not only out of seats but we are out of room to seat them. We are looking for a larger place for our Church. God is working in this area. Pray with us about this new building.
I am so glad that God is working where we are. There is much work and few laborers. Would you like to come and help? The doors are always open and the light is on out on the porch. Come on down and see your mission dollars at work.
Without B.F.M. and you helping us, we would not have the chance to see miracles happen every day.
In His Service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: AJ & Barbara Hensley in Brazil [September 2013]
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.
Friends and family,
What an exciting time we are having here in Caragua with the new Church start. This past Sunday we had 72 for our morning Sunday School program and 52 for our Sunday night services. God is really working in our Church. How AWESOME it is to serve our Lord and Savior.
Along with being an AWESOME month it has also been a lonesome month. Barbara visited her mother in the States and I had to serve alone for three weeks. Barb had a real good visit with family and was greatly missed here.
Our Church work continues to expand. We have started one small group meeting on Friday nights with 2 more being planned. This first group has already produced fruits in that 2 young people have confirmed their faith in Christ and have requested baptism. How AWESOME!!!
Sunday School!
Now for some more AWESOME news: We now have a Brazilian coming alongside to help in our ministry. His name is Rosevaldo Cavalcante and he is from Manaus. He is a product of Bro. Paul Hatcher’s work there in Manaus, Brasil. He his wife and two daughters will be a great asset for our Church. He will be serving in a 2nd Pastor position and his ordination will be Oct 27th . This date will be the Sunday before our Pastors Conference. This will be significant because two years ago at our first Pastors Conference Rosevaldo surrendered to be a pastor. God has been planning this for quite some time. His plans are AWESOME.
Speaking of the Pastors Conference our Church is sponsoring here in Caragua, we are expecting around 200 pastors from all over Brasil. This conference is to encourage Pastors!! The last conference we had almost 100 in attendance and was a very exciting conference. We had lots of positive comments and many questions about when we would do another. We are having this conference in conjunction with Second Baptist Church in Warner Robbins, Georgia and their pastor Jim Perdue and Pastor Mike Dorough. Also First Baptist Centerville, Georgia with Pastor Allen and Pastor David Grantham. And lest we forget the ladies, the ex-first-lady of the State of Georgia, Mary Purdue, will be speaking to our ladies in attendance. We are really excited about our Conference—pray with us for an AWESOME turnout and all of us to be refreshed our ministries. The conference will be held in one of our local Hotels here and the owner is a great Christian and has helped with this conference. Our theme is “TIMOTHY AND BARNABAS: Instructions and Encouragement.”
When Barb got home here in Brasil we began preparations for the group that was coming from Bastrop, Texas. They have been a tremendous help in the preparations of the house that the new pastor and his family will be living in. We are fixing the dormitory house on the lot for them to live. There has been painting, cabinet building, scrubbing of walls and floors and every other dirty and grungy job you can think of. But these servants of God did not cull any one of these jobs but did them with a joyful heart. I am commending them because when we invite some of you to come down and help us you say that you are too old to be of any help. So let me tell you that you are never too old. The youngest member of this group is 54 and the oldest is 82. So suck it up and come serve the Lord here in Brasil. You will love it!!!
As our Church continues its growth Igreja Batista Caragua [Caragua Baptist Church ] keep us in your prayers. The work continues because of AWESOME prayer warriors and supporters like you.!!
Thanks to all for your help financially and prayerfully. Sometimes just saying “THANKS” does not seem like enough— however, for now THANKS.
Come on down and see your mission dollars at work. The temperature is getting warmer and the water is getting just the right temperature so come see us and we will treat you so many ways you will have to like one of them.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
Click here to give. | Like them on Facebook. (Their Facebook page has some videos of stuff they have written about!)
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