Carnaval-Day 2

The day after we painted the guys' apartment, we invited everyone who was involved to our house for house church. Christian and Anderson wanted to know if they could invite their families. I picked them up in our school bus. Ten people loaded up in the van.

While I was picking them up, Benay went and picked up Daiana and her four boys. Daiana is the wife of Everton who is currently in the Christian recovery center.

As we've mentioned before, summer in Porto Alegre is like a ghost town. So many people that live here leave to go spend days, weeks and even 1-2 months at the beach. One of the cool things about this past Sunday was that we only had one person here who is a regular part of our Sunday house church. One person.........and yet we still had 40 people in our house.

Here is what it looked like. It was a day full of blessings.

The night before, Bronwyn and Leni made lunch for the next day. Leni had asked Carys to come and sleep at her house that night but with everything going on we weren't able to take her home. It was also too late for her to take a bus home so we invited her to spend the night with us. She and Carys slept on an air mattress together on the den floor. I love the freedom she felt to stay with us and have a little sleep over with our 9 year old daugther.

Rodrigo led the Lord's supper. Before he prayed he read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. He explained that this scripture meant that we shouldn't take the Lord's Supper if we have a problem with another brother. He then stopped and, in front of everyone, admitted that he had sinned against Alexandre and his mom and asked for their forgiveness. And even though his brother, Eduardo, was at a Christian conference in another city, he apologized to him as well and said he knew the Spirit would deliver that message to him. When he got through, Alexandre got up and went over to Rodrigo. They shook hands and Alexandre forgave him in front of everyone. Rodrigo then led our prayer for the Lord's supper.

I grew up in a christian family. I always went to church with my family. Grew up in a church doing all kinds of church activities. I went to a Christian university. I have NEVER seen a Christian live that scripture the way it was demonstrated on Sunday. One of the most inspirational things spiritually that I have ever seen. Benay later told Rodrigo she had never seen anything like that. Biblical faith being lived and demonstrated before our very eyes. I just wish more people could have witnessed that humility.

While the adults had our study time, Bronwyn and Ansley did a great job of teaching the children. Their class consisted of a 5 month old all the way to a 12 year old. One of my favorite things about house church is there is no rent or utilities that we have to pay. We set out a box every week and tell people if they feel led to give then just put it into a box that we normally leave on the stairs. We also ask, every Sunday, if anyone has a need, or knows of someone who might need that weeks' offering. On Sunday, the tithe was used to help 2 families who are having deep financial problems as well as the three guys who just left the recovery center. It was an amazing thing to watch the tithe immediately help someone in need.

Daiana was one of the people we helped. She did not share her need but we knew it had to be difficult for her to live with 4 small children at home. Benay quietly went to share the tithe with her and she began to cry and hug Benay. She told Benay that just the night before she had asked God to provide what she needed so that she could buy food for her boys. She had not known how she was going to get through this week with no money for food. The Spirit was definitely moving on Sunday.

Everyone stayed for lunch afterwards and we had a great time of fellowship.

Present in our group on Sunday were 6 people who haven't committed their lives to Christ. We know that they saw the grace and goodness of Christ in a way they had never seen before.

The singing is always a favorite part of our house church times together. I filmed this little bit from Sunday. The song we are singing talks about us being a family, how we need each other and how precious each person is to us. I love the video because you can see people holding hands, raising hands and really meaning the words we are singing.

I was going to apologize for the light coming in from the window which keeps you from seeing everyone on the couch. As I watched the video, Garrett came in and asked if the light was God's glory. Wow. The more I think about Sunday the more I think it was in fact God's glory.

Here it is:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

The night before as we went to Immanuel Pentecostal Church with Rodrigo, Anderson, Christian and Renato, we sang a song about the Holy Spirit being poured over us. During the song, people would make a flicking motion with their fingers as they rained down the Holy Spirit. The worship service ended with that song and immediately Rodrigo and Anderson came up to me and told me that God was going to pour out the Holy Spirit on our house and in our house church the next day.

He definitely did that.