This is a picture of Benay and Carys with Dani, her husband Alexandre and their daughter Ana Luisa (with a creepy looking Bronwyn lurking in the background) at the recent Easter retreat. 
Dani was one of our original portuguese language teachers when we first moved to Porto Alegre. After about a month of taking language class with our team, Benay and I had to bail (my fault....I've never been much for sitting in a small room with a group of people for more than a few minutes) and get our own private teacher. Eventually the rest of our team quit taking class together and each went their own way with language teachers. Dani always stayed a part of our team. She came, with her family, to Anderson's birthday parties. She continued to teach some of our teammates in portuguese and she would, from time to time, go to a ladies retreat and do other things involving our church family but she never could make that jump over the supernatural line of faith and give her life to Christ.
Our teammates, Sascha and Jennifer, began using Dani as their language teacher when they arrived in Porto Alegre four years ago. Not only did they gain a language teacher but they gained some really good friends. They will tell you that Dani and Alexandre are probably their best Brasilian buddies. They have gone on trips together, shared meals, etc. God has given Sascha and Jennifer many times to "be Christ" to Dani and Alexandre. They were never preachy or judgemental but just loved on this couple who has become very dear to them. At the same time, it was hard to not see them give their lives to Christ. They would seem to get closer to Christ but just couldn't pull the trigger on claiming Him as Savior.
Sascha and Jennifer felt led recently to start a small group bible study in the south part of our city a few weeks ago. The south zone (what it's called) is where Dani and Alexandre live along with some Christians and some other of our not yet Christian friends. The south zone is pretty far away from everything that goes on around us and it can make it difficult for people to come into the city for studies, etc. Sascha and Jennifer began to feel like God may be trying to birth another house church in the south. So, they began a study there. I'll steal Sascha's words next and allow him to share what happened during a study a couple of weeks ago:
"Last Thursday night we were in our Bible study in the South Zone of the city. This is a study that Dani has been frequenting. In the study we were talking about Jesus' authority versus the authority of man's teaching. We eventually started talking about the power and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have had many discussions in the past with Dani about similar subjects, but I don't know that they were penetrating her heart. After about 30 minutes of discussion on Thursday night though, Dani asked to be baptized!
We have prayed consistently for this over the last few years, so when the day of her decision to follow Jesus arrived we were ecstatic! We knew that we were not the ones to touch her heart. We have been patiently presenting the truth to her and praying that the Lord would touch her and that she would accept Jesus as her Lord, and she did!"
A couple of days later Dani and her family came to Anderson's 4th birthday party and I had a chance to share with her our happiness for her decision and how the angels were having a party for her. I thanked her for allowing Jesus to finally touch her heart. We'd all seen resistance to finally let him in and it was obvious something finally triggered and allowed her heart to be touched. She cried and said that was exactly what happened (isn't that the way it is for all of us?). After leaving Anderson's party, Sascha had the privilege of baptizing our new sister Dani and here are some pictures from that exciting day:
We praise God for Dani and her decision to be a Christ follower. We look forward to the day when Alexandre gives his life to the Lord as well. We believe that God will honor our prayers for him as well. 
Dani was one of our original portuguese language teachers when we first moved to Porto Alegre. After about a month of taking language class with our team, Benay and I had to bail (my fault....I've never been much for sitting in a small room with a group of people for more than a few minutes) and get our own private teacher. Eventually the rest of our team quit taking class together and each went their own way with language teachers. Dani always stayed a part of our team. She came, with her family, to Anderson's birthday parties. She continued to teach some of our teammates in portuguese and she would, from time to time, go to a ladies retreat and do other things involving our church family but she never could make that jump over the supernatural line of faith and give her life to Christ.Our teammates, Sascha and Jennifer, began using Dani as their language teacher when they arrived in Porto Alegre four years ago. Not only did they gain a language teacher but they gained some really good friends. They will tell you that Dani and Alexandre are probably their best Brasilian buddies. They have gone on trips together, shared meals, etc. God has given Sascha and Jennifer many times to "be Christ" to Dani and Alexandre. They were never preachy or judgemental but just loved on this couple who has become very dear to them. At the same time, it was hard to not see them give their lives to Christ. They would seem to get closer to Christ but just couldn't pull the trigger on claiming Him as Savior.
Sascha and Jennifer felt led recently to start a small group bible study in the south part of our city a few weeks ago. The south zone (what it's called) is where Dani and Alexandre live along with some Christians and some other of our not yet Christian friends. The south zone is pretty far away from everything that goes on around us and it can make it difficult for people to come into the city for studies, etc. Sascha and Jennifer began to feel like God may be trying to birth another house church in the south. So, they began a study there. I'll steal Sascha's words next and allow him to share what happened during a study a couple of weeks ago:
"Last Thursday night we were in our Bible study in the South Zone of the city. This is a study that Dani has been frequenting. In the study we were talking about Jesus' authority versus the authority of man's teaching. We eventually started talking about the power and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have had many discussions in the past with Dani about similar subjects, but I don't know that they were penetrating her heart. After about 30 minutes of discussion on Thursday night though, Dani asked to be baptized!
We have prayed consistently for this over the last few years, so when the day of her decision to follow Jesus arrived we were ecstatic! We knew that we were not the ones to touch her heart. We have been patiently presenting the truth to her and praying that the Lord would touch her and that she would accept Jesus as her Lord, and she did!"
A couple of days later Dani and her family came to Anderson's 4th birthday party and I had a chance to share with her our happiness for her decision and how the angels were having a party for her. I thanked her for allowing Jesus to finally touch her heart. We'd all seen resistance to finally let him in and it was obvious something finally triggered and allowed her heart to be touched. She cried and said that was exactly what happened (isn't that the way it is for all of us?). After leaving Anderson's party, Sascha had the privilege of baptizing our new sister Dani and here are some pictures from that exciting day:
We praise God for Dani and her decision to be a Christ follower. We look forward to the day when Alexandre gives his life to the Lord as well. We believe that God will honor our prayers for him as well. 
1 comment:
Dani, what a wonderful testimony to God's saving grace. You are a beautiful sister, and all the saints over the world are rejoicing over your decision to follow Christ. You will never regret this commitment.
Larry Houk (friend of the Bloom family)
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