Leni

A few months ago we shared about our sister who is part of the house church that meets in our house. You can read more about her here, here and here. Her name is Leni.

Leni lives in a rented house with her son Jorge. Leni is a masseuse and is on call for hotels. Because of the world wide economy dive her business is really suffering right now. Jorge works in marketing, will graduate college in business administration next month, and is currently looking for a different job.

We have grown to love this family very much. They are a strong part of what God is doing here in Porto Alegre. Many Sundays they just hang out with us after house church and eat lunch with us and laugh with our kids.

To be honest, they don't have very many material things but you will never hear them complain. In fact, instead of complaining, Leni goes out of her way to help those in need.

If you've followed this blog for the last few days you know the story of Everton and Daiana.

They were with us at the celebration on Sunday.Benay asked Daiana if they were staying warm enough during the night. Their house is made of wood planks with many cracks in between and we have had some pretty cold nights recently. She hesitated and said no. That was all Leni needed to hear.

She immediately went to almost every person in the room asking for help. She then came to me and said, "I know you are sick (I've had a horrible cold for about a week) but do you think you can take me out there on Wednesday to take these things?"

Monday night Ivoli and her husband, Carlão, brought pillows, blankets and food. More people have committed to give but did not get the things to us in time before we left Wednesday for the visit.

Yesterday morning we picked up Leni. She had about 12 liters of milk for the family, clothes and blankets.

We loaded everything up in our little car and headed to see Daiana. Carys went with us.

We got to the house and brought everything in. Daiana was very happy. Last week she said the two people she really missed were Leni and Benay. Today she got to give a hug to both of them.

The boys and Cássia were happy to hang out with Carys. I find myself thanking God that our kids get to have a front row seat, and be involved in, selfless giving when there is a need. In a little over one week Daiana has really made this house into a home for her family. While Benay and Leni took a tour of the new house, I made my way to the back door to get one more thing from the car. I bumped into Daiana who was in the kitchen. She had tears rolling down her face. She was overwhelmed by God's goodness. She told us later that her youngest son was asking her for milk earlier and she had to tell him no because they didn't have any money to buy milk. God is good and it's fun to watch how He works through His kids.

Everything Daiana received today came about because Leni felt touched by the Spirit on Sunday night and immediately acted upon it.

Leni told me that she won't ask for things for herself, and I know this to be true, but if she knows someone else has a need she jumps on it.

Benay and I feel very blessed and humbled to be a part of what God is doing here. Today was another example of Acts 2 in action.

We praise God for Leni. He is using her in mighty ways.