Update/Elinton

Last week I posted about me and two other brothers going to different places throughout the city looking for our brother André who recently got out of a drug and alcohol rehab facility that our network of house churches support.

He got out, got a job but was looking for a place to live. No place to live for a recovering drug addict/alcoholic is a recipe for disaster.

Our house church family doesn't have much money but we are generous with what God gives us. Whatever it is (money, time, food, whatever) our family gives generously. My girlfriend told me a couple of days ago that one person in our house church family takes the first 10% out of every check she receives and she buys food for another family in our house church that doesn't have much. Every check, every month.

I had no idea she did that and I like that I didn't know and that no American taught her to do it. She spent time in the word, listened to what the Spirit was telling her and is a monthly blessing to another family. I like that she has never said a word about it. I'm not even sure how my girlfriend found out about it.

Anyway, Elinton and I spent some time together last Sunday. He told me we needed to go out again and try to find André. So Wednesday we went back to a place that allows people living on the street to come in and take a shower, get a haircut and get cleaned up. It's was almost 100 degrees and this place is in an old warehouse so you can imagine how hot it was inside. And the place was full of people. Getting cleaned up and just getting out of the sun.

Across the street some men, who helped us the week before while they were smoking marijuana, were still there in the same spot. I asked Elinton why they wouldn't come over and take advantage of taking a shower. He didn't know.

We met people this time who actually knew André but told us they haven't seen him in a while. Sometimes, they said, he comes in on the weekends.

We left our names and numbers with the director of the facility and asked her to have him get in contact with us if comes back.

We ask for your continued prayers for André, who has lived on the streets before and it wasn't pretty, and for us as we try to find him.

We want to be his family, God's family, and let him know he can count on us.

I've seen Elinton a bunch over the last week. We went looking for André. He spent most of one day in our house finishing some electrical work. He's an electrician and has his own company. Last Sunday he called to let me know we needed to go lovingly confront a brother on a sin in his life. It was a sin of alcohol abuse that was affecting his family and our family. We spent that Sunday afternoon together with that brother. I did a lot of listening to Elinton. The Spirit was strongly on him. Thankfully our brother graciously accepted our visit, confessed his sins and asked his family to forgive him. The next day the wife called Elinton and thanked him that we came out on the day the sin happened. She knew she had a family but she didn't realize they would act so quickly. It touched her heart deeply. I can say with 100% of my being......we acted so quickly because of Elinton. He's teaching me a lot about being a Christ follower. And then Wednesday we were together again looking for André. After I took Elinton home we spent about an hour just hanging out and talking. He's easy to be with.

I continue to be amazed at the wisdom that the Spirit gives my brother. I love spending time with him and I always learn something new and from Jesus when we are together.

Our time together continues this weekend as our family will worship with his house church as my girlfriend and I share more about the Disciple Making Movement vision that our church family is learning about and implementing together.

God is going to do some amazing things with our house church family. He's already doing some amazing things with Elinton and his family.

We thank God for them. Please pray for them as they attack enemy territory.