Saturday

We shared yesterday about what we did last Friday night.

Today we wanted to share about what we did on Saturday. It is going to be a long blog. Honestly, it's too good to be short. Hang in there until the end. We know you will be blessed by reading about what God is doing here.

If you've followed this blog this year then you will remember Everton and his wife Daiana and their five kids.

Everton just completed his stay at the chácara. I feel like I need to give a little background on him before continuing.

Everton was 11 when he started taking drugs. I won't get into things he did, and who he was before the chácara. Let's just say God has worked a miracle.

This was Everton's third time in the rehabilitation center. The first time he stayed for 15 days and then left and quickly returned to drugs.

The second time he stayed for 8 months and was asked to leave when some guys with guns came to the chácara looking for him. The director thought it would be best for the safety of the other men there if Everton went to another rehab center. It is one that is run by the director's mom. Everton went, and didn't stay a day there. He left and went home to Daiana, and within days was back on crack.

This time has been different for Everton. He completed 9 months at the chácara and even stayed a little longer just to be sure he was really ready to go back out into the world. He told us many times that the financial help that our house church gave to Daiana and the kids while Everton was in the chácara helped him to completely focus on his recovery. Before God brought us together there were literally days when his family had no food to eat. Daiana had to sell some of her things to be able to buy food. For the last 5 months our weekly tithe has gone to this family. Just knowing his wife and kids were being taken care of helped him to stay focused on his recovery. Today, he is a new man.

I will never stop being amazed at God and how He moves. While Everton was in the chácara, he became great friends with another man named Walter. Walter lives in another city just outside of Porto Alegre. They entered the chácara together and ended up leaving within days of each other. The recovery program is 9 months but it is no magic time table. You can leave when you want after the 9 months. You aren't kicked out when the 9 months are over. You can also leave at any time before the 9 months. God had it worked out to have Everton and Walter together for time at the chácara.

Some critical factors when leaving the chácara are to find a church family, have a job, and have a place to live. The place to live part tends to be the toughest because there are times when a recovered man has no place to go but back to his home. Unfortunately it's at that home where some of the men began their drug addiction.

This was the case for Everton. He knew that he could not go back to his old house. It's in a horrible neighborhood and he knew it would just be a matter of time before the drug dealers returned after they learned Everton was back. He needed, no had, to move but had no money to do so. He committed to pray about it and was willing to stay at the chácara for as long as he needed.

Walter found out about this and spoke to his dad. His dad had some land close to his house where he had started but didn't finish a house for himself. He had a little building in front of the future house that had been vacant for some time. He offered that to Everton and his family. He offered to let them stay for the next 2-5 years rent free. Yes, rent free.

So a few days ago the Aggies for Christ group went in and began to clean up the house. You can click here for more info on that day. The vacant house had been turned in to a crack house. People had moved into it and used it for drug abuse and prostitution. It was not a pretty sight.

I was completely humbled by Everton when he showed it to me for the first time. Even though the house was filthy from the previous users, Everton acted as if it were a castle. He was so proud to have his own place in a better neighborhood.

The Aggies worked hard and cleaned the house up.

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of loading up Everton, Daiana, the kids and their stuff and moving it to their new house.

I'd like to show you were they moved from first.

As you arrive in their old neighborhood, you have to get out of your car and walk up this alley to get to their house. This is Garrett coming out of the gate that leads to the house.
Here is a view of the front yard.This is a view of the back yard. None of what you see belonged to them.This is the entrance to the home. The bricks on the right aren't even part of their house. They lived in some rooms built off the side of Daiana's mom's house.
A room with a bed. The bed took up almost the entire room space.
A room downstairs. Downstairs was more like a dungeon than a room. It was cold, humid and damp. Their kids were always sick.
This was their kitchen.
Moving day was not a sad day at all for this family. They were excited to begin a new life in a new city. We started loading up and taking things out to the cars. These are our brothers Tiago and Ellinton.
We were also blessed to have Everton's boss there helping us. His name is Marcus and unfortunately the only picture I have of him is this one of him loading up his trailer.Everton has only worked for Marcus for a couple of weeks. Marcus came to the chácara with the purpose of finding a man to help him in his business. He has a gardening business. God put him and Everton together. He has been an incredible blessing to Everton. After only one week of work he allowed Everton to miss days to help clean up his new house, go to the proper places to have the power and water turned on, etc. He told Everton he was going to help him move and then asked if he needed a sofa, television and refrigerator. Everton told him he didn't have any of those things and so Marcus and his wife gave them all to Everton's family. Hard to believe that one month ago Everton didn't even know this man.

We then arrived to their new house which is in Canoas, a large suburb about 15 minutes outside of Porto Alegre.This a picture of the group (minus Benay and Marcus) that helped most of the day. After we unloaded the first load, Everton and I returned to Porto Alegre to get some more stuff. This included a stop at Leni and Jorge's house where they gave Everton a baby crib and a sofa. Acts 2 continues. If felt like home quickly for everyone. Especially the kids. They had never played in grass before. They stayed in their yard the entire day. We got there about 11 in the morning and we, literally, had to drag them inside at 6 that evening.
Part of having so much freedom for little boys is getting in trouble. I couldn't resist taking this picture of Bruno after his dad made him sit in the chair for some punishment time. He wasn't happy about it. But I kept bugging him until he smiled. Even Cássia felt right at home in her new baby bed. Everton's hammering didn't wake her up. At the end of the day Diego read Cássia some books. And the family photo in front of their new house just beams with pride and thankfulness doesn't it?Please pray for this family. As with each of us, it can sometimes be difficult to get settled in to a new neighborhood. Everton has already said they want to start some kind of house church in their neighborhood. They want to be the light of Christ to their neighbors. We want to help them with that. Benay called Daiana on Sunday and Daiana cried because she missed her house church family (especially Benay and Leni).

They also want to get legally married. They want to be registered by the government as well as having a religious ceremony. This is an incredible blessing.

Before they left the chácara Walter told Everton that he need him in his life to stay strong after they leave. God has now put them two blocks away from each other. Our brother João Spencer, who lives in the same city, has already talked to both of these guys about starting a new accountability group. God is already blessing this family.

I like what Everton told me last week. He said, "Isn't it just like God to give me and my family a new beginning in a place that used to be a crack house?"

God again shows His power.