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
Ministry Continues Amidst COVID-19
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
January 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
Last month I mentioned that a new wave of the COVID-19 virus was passing through our area. Well, it certainly did and Charlene and I were caught by it. To God’s praise, we both have fully recovered, but our youth minister is still in the Intensive Care Unit four weeks after contracting the virus. This is that same youth minister, Cledson, that had gone through several trials unrelated to health before. Our church people are praying earnestly for him and have seen much improvement in his condition.
Our Uber driver ministers continue to report many opportunities for sharing the gospel and praying for their customers. There are 5 or 6 members of our church who earn their income as Uber drivers. As a church we try to teach our people that they are all ambassadors for the Lord wherever they may be. These Uber drivers started out just trying to make a living for their families, but each one discovered that the Lord would open up opportunities for them to share God’s love with their customers. Sometimes it’s just an encouraging word to a fellow Christian, but on many occasions, they have been able to fully share the gospel with a customer and have the customer surrender to Christ right there in their car. It has been very encouraging to hear their testimonies. They all meet once a month to share their experiences, pray for one another and discuss strategies for how to better serve the Lord through this medium.
In a few weeks we are going to be hosting our first Missions Training Seminar of the new year. We are praying that the crest of the COVID wave will have passed by then so that our volunteers who have to travel from out of state will be free to come. We will be prepared to host the seminar online, if necessary, but we hope that we can have the trainees actually come and participate in our evangelistic workshops and outreach events. I will keep you posted on how these plans develop.
I am excited about what the Lord has in store for us to do in 2021! We know that the challenges can be even greater than they were last year, but we also know that the Lord will be with us through them and that He will provide the grace, the strength and the resources to accomplish everything that is His will.
We ask that you remember to pray for us. We daily need His guidance and strength to serve Him faithfully.
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
Hopelessness Prepares Hearts for Eternal Hope
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
January 30, 2020
Dear Friends,
We just completed our first Missions Training Seminar of the year with 30 participants. Seventeen of those were from other regions of Brazil. The first week was spent in biblical studies and evangelical missions’ theory here in Curitiba. The next week the group traveled to Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, a 20-hour drive from our base.
You may have heard or seen on the news one year ago about the rupture of a mining dam in the town of Brumadinho. In that industrial disaster, there were 270 people who were killed. Though it has been one year since the disaster, the whole town is still badly traumatized. What adds to the townspeople’s sense of fear is that there are over 300 similar dams encircling the area and it is the rainy season there. Many people moved away, of course, but most do not have enough money to uproot, move and begin life somewhere else.
Our mission team found quite a wide spectrum of attitudes among the citizens of Brumadinho as they sought to share the gospel. On the one hand, there were many who are very angry; angry at the mining company that allowed the disaster to happen, angry at their loved ones for leaving them alone and even angry, blaming God for letting the disaster happen. On the other hand, the sense of loss and hopelessness helped to prepare the hearts of several to listen to God’s word of eternal hope and salvation. Our volunteers rejoiced to have a part in leading many to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. They themselves were moved emotionally by the sight of such devastation, but more so by the joy that God used them to bring hope and salvation where only sorrow dwelt before.
Hilda, their neighbor who recently passed away.
When Charlene and I moved to our neighborhood a few years ago, we thought that it would be helpful in getting to know our neighbors if we visited each home and introduced ourselves. When we visited, we would ask if there was something that they needed that we could pray about for them. No one was outright rude with us, but there were a few who evidently weren’t interested in spiritual things. One elderly lady, though, was very cordial to us and invited us in for a cup of coffee. She not only asked us to pray for her then, but invited us to return as often as we liked. Through that one lady, we met many members of her extended family and often prayed for her and them. During the recent Christmas holidays, we were out of town and received a message from one of her daughters that she had been admitted into the hospital with lung cancer and that she was gravely ill. We wouldn’t be arriving home for a few days, but her family told us that she really wanted to see us before she died. After we returned home, the very next morning, Charlene and I went to the hospital to visit her. She seemed to be unconscious, or in a coma, but still Charlene and I bent near her ear and reminded her of our Savior’s love for her. There was no evident sign that she heard or took in anything that we said then, but in less than a half hour after we left, we got a message from her granddaughter that she had passed away almost immediately after we left the room. I don’t pretend to know all, or even much, of what the Lord is doing in the unseen realm of this world, but I am certain that He was orchestrating the details of this dear lady’s life and death for His glory. As a result of that lady’s love for Charlene and me, her oldest son asked me to speak at her funeral service. During our years of visiting with her we had shared the gospel and she had assured us that she knew she was a sinner and in need of Jesus as her only Savior. She told me that she trusted Him and Him alone to save her. I shared that news with nearly 100 people from her family and friends and let them know that they too could have the certainty of their own salvation if they surrendered to Christ. By the Lord allowing that dear lady to “hang on” for just a few more days and minutes, a door of opportunity arose for us to share the gospel with her family.
We can see that God is at work all around us in huge citywide events, as well as small individual circumstances for us to make His love known to those who are lost. We want to be attentive to His guidance to step in and share the message of grace.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1[at]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
Preparing to Return to Brazil
Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
November 7, 2017
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I are preparing to return to Brazil on January 8, 2018. We have purchased our airline ticket and we’re trying to put together all the equipment and household items that we’ll need when we arrive. We have maintained regular contact with many of our friends there and they have helped us know which items are much less expensive in the USA and which ones can be bought in Brazil for about the same price. This information is very helpful as we start packing our bags because the airlines have reduced the amount of free bags that each passenger can take. Since we’ll have reduced baggage, we need to be very selective in what we purchase before we leave.
I have been corresponding with our Brazilian ministry partners and they are very excited about the news of our return. We are really looking forward to getting to be with them again and for the opportunities to meet and share the gospel with new acquaintances.
One of my most exciting expectations is the Missions Training Seminar that will begin less than one week after our arrival in Curitiba, Brazil. It will be quite motivating to have the chance to pour into a group of passionate godly young men and women who want their lives to count for Christ’s kingdom almost immediately upon our return. I am also excited about traveling with our Projeto Vida outreach teams quite often. Presently, two teams are in the extremely poor and dangerous slums of Rio de Janeiro sharing the gospel. The leader of the teams messaged me to ask for prayer and protection as they minister in those neighborhoods. He did make it quite clear, though, that all the team members feel the Lord’s arms of protection around them and they are emboldened to take the love of Jesus to these dear lost ones.
We are expecting the birth of our first grandson, Jayce Wacaser, any day now. We are looking forward to getting and giving as much “sugar” to him as we can before we leave. Please pray for his parents to be guided by the Lord to raise him to love and serve our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Also, pray that we will keep our eyes on the prize of serving the Lord with our whole hearts.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Stateside 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.
Read more
