June 2, 2005

Dear Friends,

I hope the following news encourages and warms your heart as much as it does for me to be able to share it with you. During the month of May we were privileged to present the gospel in the public schools in our metropolitan area to over 6,000 students! Many of these students publicly professed Jesus Christ as their Savior. More than 1/3 of these students are above the age of 18. Our evangelistic team, Project Life, was very busy this month cutting hair, taking blood pressure readings, and giving gospel presentations through drama and art.

One of our most effective means of sharing the gospel is through one-on-one counseling during our all-day outreach efforts. We had a tent made especially for attending to those individuals who felt that they needed someone to help them more fully understand what it means to surrender to Christ. In this tent, we explain God's plan of salvation and let the folks share with us where they are in their knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are able to address issues like false teaching they have received from various religions and other stumbling blocks to their faith. A very high percentage of these individuals accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior right there in the tent. We are thankful that God has blessed us with this ministry.

The level of dedication and growth among those involved in our training center is quite motivating to us. This semester we have 24 lay-leaders enrolled. The program is for four years, but we have practical ministry involved in every course along the way. We strive to avoid a strictly institutional approach and require that our trainees be involved directly with outreach, even in courses such as Baptist History and studies in the Revelation.

At a recent youth camp we were excited to see 100% of our 20 participating teenagers memorize their devotional texts each day. More encouraging than that was the change in attitudes that we have seen in them since that camp. Two of the teens had been dating girls that were not Christians. They decided to break off these relationships and to wait on God to show them whom He would have them to date. They realize that true faith in the Lord means to obey Him and trust that He knows if, when and with whom a follower of Christ should commit onself. I know that this is a tremendous area of struggle for them, but I also know that God will truly bless them for trusting in Him.

Charlene and I celebrated two memorable events recently: our 25th wedding anniversary and the 20th anniversary of our arrival in Brazil. We are extremely happy about both and especially thankful for God's grace to have reached these landmarks. I'm looking forward to double that number in both, if the Lord sees fit. We pray that He'll use us for His glory through the daily living of both our marriage and ministry. Your prayers are an extremely important part in how God does that, so please pray for us regularly.

In Christ's love,

Bobby, Charlene, Jessie and Brennen Wacaser