Two Recent Mission Trips
June 1, 2022
Dear Friends,
A huge part of the northeast region of Brazil is known as the “sertão,” or back-country. This area is the most impoverished part of Brazil, certainly financially, and almost equally spiritually poor. There is a lot of religion, yes, but it is mostly demon worship and idol worship. Our traveling team has just returned from a three-week expedition into this region and the Lord worked amazingly through them. In the schools, parks, and town squares the gospel was presented to over 15 thousand people and there were over 2,000 who publicly professed Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
Of course, our enemy, the devil was not content with how things were going, so he attempted to discourage and sideline our workers. Several came down with ailments from the poorly sanitized water and food. Others suffered from the extreme heat (95-103 degrees) while ministering cutting hair outdoors, carrying heavy equipment, and performing evangelical skits. None of them gave up, though, and they rejoice that many who were lost are now eternally saved through their faithful service and the sharing of the gospel.
The team didn’t even get a short rest from their 5,000-mile trip before they met with a visiting group of evangelists from Virginia and Charlene and me in a town two hours away from our own work. We all ministered in several schools where some of us translated for our visitors as they shared their testimonies and preached the word of God. Again, there were many professions of faith in Christ.
I was especially thrilled by the participation of a mother and daughter team from my church who helped with the translation. Debora and Melissa took time off work and school to volunteer as interpreters. Debora, the mother, was 11 years old when I contracted her father to help me remodel my home. We became friends day by day and eventually almost the entire family was evangelized and have become excellent servants of the Lord. Debora and her husband raised Melissa in our church, and she too has surrendered to Christ. Charlene taught Debora English as a youth and now her daughter Melissa, who’s 16 years old, speaks fluent English and both volunteered to assist the visiting American brothers and sisters by translating in school rallies and in one-on-one conversations. Again, we saw the Lord work amazingly and dozens of students and adults gave their lives to Christ through the gospel as it was translated.
After nearly two years of being strongly inhibited from ministering in public places because of COVID-19 restrictions, our volunteers are working hard at not losing any more time. The Alpha team just left today, after only a one-day break, to head out to the state of Minas Gerais, a 20-hour drive from our base where they will be ministering in the schools and parks there as well. We are so thankful for the willing hearts and dedication of these amazing, but humble servants of the Lord.
Some of these young workers were evangelized and discipled by veteran missionaries that you helped to support when they were active on the foreign field, but have had to retire for a variety of reasons, either age, health, or to take care of aged parents. This month is VETERAN MISSIONARIES PENSIONERS MONTH among missionaries and churches associated with Baptist Faith Missions. These servants who served faithfully with their spouses, but who can’t be on the foreign field any longer still need your prayers and support. If you sense that God is leading you, then please give as the Lord guides. Both they and you will certainly be 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
Mission Expedition to Delmiro Gouveia – Alagoas, Brazil
Projeto Vida (Project Life) is an NGO (non-government-organization) and not-for-profit mission organization. It was founded and has operated since March 1997. Projeto Vida’s strategy is to evangelize through community services, education, sports, music, theatrical arts, literacy and technical job training. All these means are used to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to those outside the walls of the church building.
Our team travels throughout Brazil and South America to remote towns and cities ministering in public schools, parks and town squares. The platform used to open doors by Projeto Vida is to address social ills such as drug abuse, depression, suicide, self-mutilation, teen pregnancy, bullying, and sexually transmitted diseases. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is presented as the solution to every issue and the team presents this good news through drama, choreographed music, testimonies, and evangelistic messages.
The travel team has a tremendous opportunity and challenge ahead, to take the Gospel to the northeast region of Brazil. Specifically, the team will be traveling to the rural area of the state of Alagoas where a population of over 15 million inhabitants live and less than 1% is evangelized. In this region there are over 10,000 towns without a single evangelical church.
In addition to the region’s dire evangelical situation is the added burden of social and economic poverty. This rural zone of the northeast of Brazil presents the worst cases of illiteracy, mal-nutrition, school dropouts, and poor health care.
We believe that only the Gospel can radically, profoundly, and eternally transform the inhabitants of northeastern Brazil. This desperately needy region continues to wait for the good news of God’s love, peace, and redemption in Jesus Christ. Our team plans to travel to them, sharing God’s love through community services, evangelistic skits, testimonies, and personal evangelism.
We believe the task of reaching these unreached people is an urgent need. We alone can not reach every one of these 15 million citizens, but with your help we can reach many of them.
Our team will, by God’s grace, be going to the city of Delmiro Gouveia, in Alagoas state. The population of this city in a rural region is more than 50,000. The distance from our headquarters here in Curitiba, Parana is 1,800 miles.
In the month of May 2022, our team of 20 evangelists plans to go to this town and the surrounding area to minister and win the lost to Christ.
The challenges of this expedition are great. Some are spiritual, some emotional and others financial. The trip will be 18 days in a 21-passenger travel van. You can help with your prayers for the Lord’s protection
over the team, vehicle, and equipment. You can also help with financial assistance by giving toward the expenses in detail below.
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
False Accusation Leads to Positive Opportunity
March 23, 2022
Dear Friends,
We are often looking for opportunities to get the message of the gospel out to people who wouldn’t ordinarily receive it, and we pray for guidance so that we can recognize those opportunities when they arise. The Lord recently answered those prayers with an opportunity that I couldn’t have imagined if I tried to for a hundred years.
In May of 2021 I wrote about a man who had been a Satan-worshiper for many years that had been won to Christ by the witness and behavior of his teenage daughter who attended our church. After his conversion and baptism, he had begun to study the Bible and was growing steadily in his walk with the Lord. An amazing orchestration of events turned that man into a vessel of God in getting the gospel to men incarcerated in the jail system here in our state. After living decades in sinful behavior, but never suffering legal repercussions, he was falsely accused of assaulting a young woman and ended up in jail for several months awaiting judgement. He had shared with me that he was not guilty of the accusation, and I had given him a small Bible that he could easily keep with him and read while incarcerated. After all the investigations and testimonies, he was released last month. The amazing opportunity that I mentioned earlier is that, while in jail, he began to devour the Word of God daily and his spiritual life developed tremendously. Instead of being angry and upset that he was falsely imprisoned, he saw that God had placed him in there for a reason, so he sought to serve the Lord faithfully in his predicament. He told me that his situation there helped him to more fully appreciate how Jesus willingly died our substitutionary death on the cross, though He himself had never committed a sin. His name is Francisco, and now he and I are developing a ministry where he’ll use his inside knowledge of life in jail to reach the inmates with the message of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. He is presently working on obtaining his chaplain’s license and he and I meet from time to time to discuss how to implement this new ministry most effectively. We are also combining our Projeto Vida team’s gospel skit presentations to accompany Francisco on some of his visits to the inmates. I would never have dreamed that a false accusation could turn out as such a positive opportunity, but I am extremely thankful that the Lord doesn’t need to wait on my creativity to provide doors for sharing the gospel. Francisco told me recently that being arrested and sent to jail is the second-best thing that has happened to him. The first, his being saved by God’s grace.
We finally “bit the bullet” so to speak and began having double worship services on Sundays. Our attendance had reached near standing room only, so we knew we had to make the decision soon. We had an excellent turnout on our first Sunday and a lot of our folks helped us by choosing to attend the service that wouldn’t normally be considered regular “church time.” By their doing this, space was freed up for both services’ attendance to grow without overcrowding. We are so thankful to the Lord for this growth “problem” and I’m grateful that our people are willing to step out of their comfort zone in order to grow God’s kingdom.
Charlene and I are grateful to you who pray for us and give so that we can focus on God’s calling on our lives to plant churches and disciple new converts.
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
Sharing God’s Word & Love with Others
February 25, 2022
Dear Friends,
When we read God’s word, the Bible, and see how He has acted in the past, it helps us to know more about Him, about what pleases and displeases Him. His word also helps us to know how we should behave in our own lives, in the circumstances and opportunities that we face daily. I have learned from God’s word that He is intricately interested in every little detail of our lives, of my life. Yes, He wants me to revere Him (fear Him) and obey Him because of that, but He also wants all my actions to be done from a heart that adores and loves Him. I am grateful that He is also very gracious and merciful toward me because I fail so miserably at that.
Early in February we had the privilege of working together with a group of 8 adults who seem to understand what it means to serve God out of love. There were four men and four women from Virginia who wanted to be used of the Lord to share the gospel to those folks who wouldn’t ordinarily be found in a church service. We first took them with our Projeto Vida ministry team to speak to a men’s and women’s drug rehabilitation center. Oh, how the Lord blessed! Several of the interns gladly received the gospel and surrendered their lives to Christ. Then we set up stands in a public square to offer free haircuts, blood pressure readings, health advice (one of our volunteers is a medical doctor) and family counseling. Through those means of contact we also had the privilege of sharing the gospel and several more people came to know the Lord personally. In the same week, we were invited by the city council to minister to the homeless population who come seeking aid. Our volunteers shared their testimonies of their salvation and walk with Christ and a few more individuals surrendered their lives the Lord as well.
After our American brothers and sisters returned to the States, our outreach team traveled upstate to minister in some public schools. In just a few days we had the privilege of sharing the gospel message with over 3,000 students and staff members. In the schools we are allowed to speak freely of Christ and share our testimonies, but we can’t extend a public invitation to accept Christ as Lord right there. But after the presentations in front of the crowds, we are allowed to carry on personal one-on-one conversations with the students and staff and many of them gave evidence that the Holy Spirit had spoken to their hearts, and they sought further information on how to have a relationship with the Lord. We had not even arrived back from our trip before we started receiving emails and messages from the school administration telling us how much of a transformation they were seeing in some of their most difficult students. We are so blessed of the Lord to have this open door of opportunity. Please pray that it will remain open and that we will be able to use it to the best of our ability for God’s glory.
Thank you so much for your prayers for us and your faithful financial support. May the Lord richly bless you.
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
The Lord Used it for Good
December 16, 2021
Dear Friends,
The apostle, Paul, wrote from prison telling his readers to “rejoice always”. If he could say that honestly from a Roman prison cell, then we should certainly be able to rejoice in every situation in which we find ourselves today. We can and do.
We rejoice mainly because we are certain of our eternal salvation through the grace of God and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We also rejoice because He not only saved us, but also sustains us every single day. These are facts that we can reflect on in any circumstance and find peace and comfort. I don’t want to lessen in any way the value of the knowledge of these truths because, to be honest, I often need to feed my heart and mind on them.
An amazing thing is that the Lord doesn’t stop there! Beyond His saving and sustaining grace, He has been pouring out large and small blessings on us and our ministries. Charlene is celebrating her 60th birthday tomorrow and I’m a little bit older than she, yet we both enjoy wonderful health due to God’s love and care. Our ministries are steadily increasing in the number of people involved and impacted. Certainly, the enemy attempted to hamper or destroy our evangelistic outreach with this horrible COVID pandemic, but the Lord used it for good, just as He promised. Some of our brothers and sisters in Christ were called home to heaven, yes, but that was to their benefit. The Lord even used the quarantines and lockdowns to teach us new ways to minister and touch people’s lives for good.
Our traveling evangelistic team, Projeto Vida, has just returned from their last trip of the 2021 year, and it was very fruitful. The team traveled to the nation’s capital, Brasilia, and was able to evangelize in the public schools in one of the most ungodly regions of the country. Many youth and several teachers/administrators surrendered their lives to Christ because of these efforts. The president himself asked our team to pray for him at one of his public appearances while they met with him and some other evangelical political leaders.
Early in January we will be hosting our first missions volunteer training seminar. We expect to have college-aged kids from several different states participating in this two-week training program. We will spend the first week teaching the biblical basis for missions/evangelism and then the next week we’ll be taking them to a city in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul. That region of Brazil has the reputation for being the most Satan-worshipping part of the country and we know that that is where the greatest need for the glorious, good news of Christ is. Please pray for our workers and the volunteers as they seek to win the lost for God’s glory.
Charlene and I are so grateful for your faithful prayers, concern, and support of our ministries. Thank you.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Enjoying blessed health! 
Worship Service in Curitiba 
Worship Service in Curitiba
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
Souls Saved, Lives Changed
November 20, 2021
Dear Friends,
The expression, ‘very eventful,’ that some of us use to describe a busy period can be a little misleading. All periods of time are filled with events, be they noteworthy or not. I mention this because I was going to start this letter by saying that this past month has been ‘very eventful’, when in fact, every month is, for every person. So, what I will say is that this past month has been filled with some events that were quite noteworthy to us, and we hope to you as well.
The newly ordained pastor, Cledson, and his wife and volunteer leaders took about 40 of our teens to camp this past weekend and the Lord blessed in a tremendous way. Many of the youth were deeply impacted through the daily study of God’s word and the teaching they received. There were six teens who were baptized as followers of Christ at the end of this youth camp.
This last month we also had the privilege of working with one of the Projeto Vida (Project Life) teams in street evangelism. Our Agape team has been called upon to head up a citywide ministry to the homeless. There are many people, including entire families, that are homeless in our capital city. The weather here is generally cool almost year-round and when it gets cold these folks suffer for lack of shelter and warm food. I took three American pastors who came to visit our work out to the minister among those folks who came looking for help. The Lord worked powerfully to convict and save many of these dear people. While some of our team were feeding them, giving them haircuts, a bath and supplying some with shoes, clothing and blankets, we shared the gospel with them and the Lord brought repentance and faith to several. The Agape team leader, Mateus, is doing a fantastic job of following up with those who surrender their life to Christ. Some of them were addicted to cocaine and crack and several have, by God’s grace, gotten their lives cleaned up and have begun new lives living responsibly and drug free. I was so thrilled to see the Lord using me as a translator for these American brothers and know that His grace is never limited by language or bad choices in the past.
One of our friends and Brazilian brothers has been instrumental in a new church plant in a small town not far from the capital. He asked us and the visiting pastors to bring the message to the congregation while they were here. Their services are in a public-school auditorium on Saturday evenings. Since they don’t have a building yet, this allows the pastor to continue to minister at his sending church for the time being and there is no cost to rent the location. This setup also puts the new church in the middle of the community where they want to make an impact for Christ.
The larger building that we thought that we would be moving our church into last month didn’t work out. It was a little bit of an emotional letdown, but we know that the Lord is in control of all things and that this was not something that slipped by Him. We will continue to look, but we are also actively working on how to hold two services and two Bible study hours each Sunday to deal with the overflowing attendance. We pray for the Lord to give us wisdom and guidance through this process of growth plans. We are also thankful that this is the kind of problem that we are dealing with.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. Have a great holiday season.
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
Healing Grace and Souls Saved
August 27, 2021
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I got a message from our daughter, Jessie, early in August telling us that she had COVID. She had been working at camp with a group of youth from her church the week before. Several members of her team had contracted COVID about the same time as she. Charlene and I have both had the virus, so we know it is a serious illness, but we both recovered quite well and were expecting that Jessie would do the same. After a week of Jessie getting sicker and being admitted into the hospital, Charlene and I decide that we should travel to Tampa, Florida to give our daughter some moral support. We wouldn’t be able to visit her in the hospital, but she would know that we were near. The day we arrived in Tampa, Jessie’s doctor called me and told me not to lose hope, that there were still a couple of things that they could do to try to help her. We didn’t even know that she was so sick that we should lose hope in the first place! The doctor made it very clear that Jessie was struggling for life. After getting off the phone with the doctor, Charlene and I nearly lost it. We cried like we have never cried before. Our baby girl was hanging in the balance of life and death and we weren’t even aware of it. In my prayer immediately after this call, I confessed to the Lord that I trusted completely in Him and that I knew that, before Jessie was my girl, she was His girl. I did also share with the Lord that I didn’t feel like I was ready for Him to take her home yet. I asked Him for mercy and healing grace. After our personal prayers, I contacted our sending church’s pastor, Darrell Messer, and the executive secretary of Baptist Faith Missions, Dave Parks, and asked them to spread the news of Jessie’s condition with everyone they could. I also contacted my church in Brazil and our ministry volunteers from Projeto Vida and asked them all to pray earnestly for Jessie’s healing. Folks, let me say to the Glory of God, He began immediately to bring healing into Jessie’s body. The very next morning, Jessie’s doctor called me again and told me that she was improving quickly. The next day she messaged me to say that if she continued to improve at the rate that she was improving that she would be released from the hospital in two to three days. It wasn’t two to three days, the next day she was released to go home. She was given some medicine to continue taking at home, but she never went backward after those prayers began to be offered on her behalf. Six days after the doctor first told me how sick Jessie was, she was already home from the hospital and back to work! Our God is an amazing God. He hears and He answers prayer. We know that He would still be God and He would still be good if He saw fit to take Jessie on to heaven, but we are extremely grateful that He had mercy on us, her parents, to heal her and give her more opportunities to serve Him here in this world. We praise His Name! We know that some of you heard of Jessie’s condition and prayed for her healing, and we want to take this opportunity to thank you for your earnest and effective prayers.
We are also happy to share that our evangelistic outreach teams are being able to get back into the public schools and parks here in Brazil. This past week they ministered in a small town about halfway across our state toward Paraguay. The Lord blessed and there were over 20 professions of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Many of those who surrendered to Christ had never heard a clear presentation of the gospel. The team’s volunteers were amazed at how the Lord used them to minister to people who felt hopeless. We pray that the doors of opportunity will remain open and that no more lockdowns will interfere with being able to get into the public schools and town squares with the message of God’s love.
We serve a mighty and good God, and we are grateful. Thank you to those who pray for us and give so that we may continue to serve Him here in southern Brazil.
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
Benefits of Reading God’s Word
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.
February 2, 2021
Dear Friends,
There is one good habit that I stumbled upon shortly after my surrender to Christ 43 years ago and that was to read the Bible through from cover to cover. I don’t remember that I set out to read it through even the first time back then, but a thirst to know more about the God who loved me enough to give His Son to save me motivated me to read on. After that first time, I felt that I knew Him better and that led me to establish the goal of reading it through yearly. There have been a few years that I fell short of that, but nonetheless, I learned more about my God and Savior and I find more to praise and worship Him for each time.
One of the greatest benefits to me of reading the Bible through often is that the reader (in this case, I) discovers just how much God is in control of everything that is going on in the affairs of this world. This is true even when the events and circumstances for believers are drastic and horrible. I share this to say that I am greatly encouraged and excited about what is going on all around us, though a casual observer who doesn’t read God’s word, and isn’t aware of His sovereign power, might tend to despair and lose hope.
Certainly not all the events and circumstances are pleasant, in and of themselves. We have lost some wonderful people to COVID-19. My wife and I both suffered the discomfort of it ourselves. The political and spiritual climate of both Brazil and the United States is appalling. The apparent lack of justice and goodness in the highest places and the increase of violence and hatred on the streets of our cities pain me. But, because I have seen in God’s word how He governs all the affairs of mankind, using even evil to accomplish His good purposes, I rejoice in the midst of it all, because I am loved and cared for by Him. His word also gives me the message of hope and salvation to take to those people that He has put in the scope of my influence. I, and those I train, can offer true peace to them when all around they see despair. I thank God for the Bible, which is His means of communicating what He’s up to, both now and in, what seems to be, the daunting future. I am excited about what’s coming next because “I know Who holds the future, and I know He holds my hand.”
A young couple just recently joined our outreach traveling team, Projeto Vida. Vitor just finished law school and his friends expected him to go into practice and make a bundle of money, but the Lord put it in his heart to go into fulltime evangelism. His wife, Loren, is nearly finished with college, but she is equally convicted that the Lord wants them to serve Him in this ministry. This weekend will be their first trip to minister with our team. They come to us from one of our sister churches where they served for several years in evangelism as parttime volunteers. We are so thrilled that they love and trust the Lord so much that they would walk away from a possibly lucrative profession to make God’s love known to many who have never heard. Please pray for them as we seek to support and encourage them in this vocation.
I hope that you are finding God’s word to be your delight and source of encouragement in this new year. It certainly is to us.
Yours 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
