Tiago

This is Tiago and my (Kevin) mom at our dirty Christmas party last December. This is Tiago with his girlfriend Liliane and Benay at Benay's surprise birthday party this year. He's always ready to have fun.For the last year he and Liliane have been a part of the house church that meets in Sascha and Jennifer's house. Sascha and Jennifer have been a big influence on their lives. Our family had the chance to get to know this couple better during our summer months as we occasionally combined our house churches while most people left the city for summer vacation. Tiago and Liliane are really a fun, young couple.

Last week Tiago made the most important decision in his life. He decided to becoming a Christ follower. This came after days, weeks and months of being around God's family, actively searching, and from spending some good one on one time together with Sascha. In these times, Sascha was Spirit led to share biblical truths with Tiago and how they could change his life forever.

Go here to read all the details.

Please pray for Tiago in his new walk with Christ.

Luke 15:10 "There is joy in the presence of God's angels when even one sinner repents."

Dani

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.

Giu

This is Bronwyn with her three best friends from school. In fact, they call themselves the "Fantastic Four." From left to right is Giu, Bronwyn, Bernardo and Julia. We want to share about Giu. Giu is an amazing 17 year old. He lives with his aunt and uncle. His father passed away a few years ago. His mom lives in São Paulo. She got a job there a few years ago and moved with Giu. Giu didn't like it and wanted to move back to Porto Alegre and so he moved in with his mom's sister. In a lot of ways it's hard for Giu living with his aunt and uncle. They have 3 girls of their own and his aunt is pregnant. Giu sometimes feels like the odd man out. It's family, but it doesn't always feel like home. We've always tried to make our kids' friends feel welcome in our home and to let them know they are welcome here any time.

One thing we've noticed is that many of our kids' friends (mainly Bronwyn and Ansley as they tend to have the most church activities) don't really seem interested in being a part of a church. They'll come to our house but won't go if our kids invite them to something that seems "churchy". That sounds very familiar.

At the beginning of this year Benay and I felt the Spirit's leading to do something about bridging that gap. We felt led to begin having a supper and game/Nintendo Wii/movie/whatever night in our house once a month. We wanted to allow our teenagers to have a night to bring people here and allow our family to be Christ to them. Something not overwhelming, but that would allow their friends to sense the presence of Jesus. Our plan was to have food, to say a prayer for that food and then let them do some kind of activity together. We wanted to allow God to do His stuff as He worked on their hearts. Benay, Bronwyn, Ansley and I all felt that this is an area in which God is working and we just wanted to join Him there.

We planned on starting this in March (because most people are still traveling in January and February because of our summer break) but have yet to have the first one because of different parties, etc. that keep messing up our plans. Even with us not having one supper yet, God is showing His faithfulness and His love for these kids.

I asked Bronwyn if she ever asked her 3 buddies if they wanted to come and visit with the church family that meets in our house. She said yes and some expressed interest but that she would ask again. She did and Giu said he wanted to come to the next one.

You need to understand that Giu is a very special young man. He is not afraid to show his emotions. In fact, on his first time with us he began to cry, in front of the entire house church, while sharing a prayer request. He says what is on his mind but not in a bad way. His first time here he sat next to Benay as she shared from God's word and one time he said, out loud, "Wow, that's really cool!" It's fun being around Giu because he just really brings it straight from the heart. He has a fun loving, dynamic personality that just draws people to him.

After his first experience with house church I gave him a ride home. We began talking about that first experience and he said he really liked it and he wanted to come back every week. These talks have happened every Sunday since and it has become one of my favorite parts of the week. God is really blessing me in my time with Giu.

The next day, after his first house church visit, he called his mom to tell her what had happened. She later spoke with Benay and told her that on that same weekend she felt led to go on a personal spiritual retreat. She spent the entire weekend praying for her son to want to get close to Christ and give his life to the Lord. She got home, and the next day Giu shared with her his desire to be a part of our house church. Is God good or what?

As I mentioned before, Giu's home life here has been tough. Not abusive tough but "Spirit of God is not living in this place" tough. His uncle is Jewish and his grandmother (who also lives in the same apartment) is spiritist and now Giu wanted to be a part of our house church family. He asked if he could sleep here on Saturday nights so he could already be here for house church on Sunday. We told him yes and the next week he slept on our couch. The following week his aunt told him that wouldn't be allowed to come anymore because she thought he was being a nuisance to our family because he wanted to spend a lot of time here with us. Giu was sad because he felt like something good was being taken from him. He wasn't sure if he would be allowed to come back to our house church with any kind of frequency. Giu could never be a nuisance to us. He has a big heart that is searching for Jesus and his personality makes him like sugar to our kids. They literally flip out when they know he is coming to our house. I guess it's a Giu rush.

Shortly after, Giu's mom called Benay and told her she was very excited that Giu was part of the house church that meets in our house. She had already called her sister (the aunt Giu lives with) to tell her that she approved of and, in fact, wanted Giu to participate as often as he wanted. She then asked Benay if she would call her sister just to reassure her and let her know our house was Giu's house. Benay did and Giu's aunt was very kind and began to understand that we wanted Giu in our house. Since that time Giu has been allowed to participate in everything he's wanted to involved with God's family. He even went on the Easter retreat a couple of weeks ago.

Here's a photo of Giu (in the yellow shirt on the right) singing at the retreat. He spontaneously started one song during our sunrise worship time, and had people snapping to some songs as well. This is after just having met most of these people and learned many of the songs just a few days earlier. Just last week at our celebration worship with all of the house churches together, a mom of some teenagers came up to Benay and told her that Giu was "something else" and that he was exactly what the youth group needed. His dynamic personality can easily draw people to him and, better yet, to Christ.On the second night of our Easter retreat Giu came up to me and, with tears in his eyes, told me he had made a very important decision in his life during that retreat. He wanted to give his life to Christ and be baptized. Here is a picture that Benay took just a few moments later. Obviously, we are so happy for Giu. He called his mom to share the news and we are going to see if she can come here from São Paulo to witness this faith walk step of baptism.

All this has happened in about a month's time. This just reminds us that God is in control. When we try to push the walls of His will (and I've done this many times) it doesn't work. But, when we join Him where He is already working, it is always blessed. That doesn't mean it's always easy. In fact, like we've mentioned before, this "being church" instead of "playing church" is the hardest thing we've ever done. Satan constantly attacks us and tries to discourage but we are becoming more aware of the spiritual nature of this battle. This is truly a war with the evil one but nothing has ever been more rewarding for Benay, myself and our kids.

We praise God for Bronwyn's influence over the years on Giu. Bronwyn, like all of our kids, lives her faith and her friends see that. She isn't a preacher and doesn't daily ask her friends for Bible studies. She's just intentional about being Christ to all her friends and her friends see this in the choices she makes, the way she talks, etc. Her example makes something unattractive, like religion, become attractive - just having a personal relationship with Christ.

I've said that Bronwyn, Giu and Ansley together can take over their school for Jesus. They now have another friend from school who has been coming to some things in our house. In fact, she came to her first house church praise time this morning. Who knows, maybe soon we'll have a blog about her faith walk as well.

Please pray for Giu as he begins his new walk with Christ.

Grace's Home!

After three months in the states working for Universal Studios in Orlando, Grace came home last weekend. She was met at the airport with hugs.......Some of her best friends........and this homeboy......We missed her greatly and are thankful that her experience in the states was good and that God brought her back safely home to us. She is a blessing to our house church family, the Blume family and this city.

Grace

Meet two members of our house church - Ivoli and Grace. (Pronouced like Gracie in Portuguese.) This mother and daughter were just beginning to participate in our church when we were still in our church building, and when we changed to house churches, we have had the blessing of having them in our house every Sunday. While both Ivoli and Gracie have had a strong faith, neither one had made a public committment to Christ in baptism. At the end of last year, Gracie decided that she was ready to take this step. So one Sunday in December after our worship time, we went to our teammates', Sascha and Jennifer's house for the baptism. Gracie is great friends with our daughters Bronwyn and Ansley - something for which we are very thankful. Gracie is a great girl in every way and a good influence on our girls. When it came time for her baptism, Gracie chose Bronwyn and Ansley to do the honors. (Would this ever happen in a "normal" church?) Bronwyn and Ansley took their responsibility very seriously and chose special scriptures to read before the baptism. We sang songs and gave others the opportunity to say something to Gracie or share a scripture. Gracie chose a song to sing called "Be the Center". It says "Be the center, Be everything, In my heart Lord. Be the life in my chest, everyday here and eternally." The baptism was one of the most moving and special things that I have ever been a part of. There was just something so pure and innocent about 3 sweet girls going down into the water to publicly proclaim Christ as their Lord.
After it was over, I don't think there was a dry eye among us as all of our house church members, one by one, hugged and loved on Gracie as we sang songs of praise. This is Gracie's mom, Ivoli, hugging her.
This was an especially bittersweet day because the week after this, Gracie would leave us for a while to do a work exchange program in the US. She is an excellent English speaker, and she was chosen for an opportunity to work in Orlando at Universal Studios for a few months. Here she is sharing a prayer with Bronwyn and Ansley at the airport right before she left. She is still in the US now, and has had a wonderful experience - although we have missed her terribly. We are so proud of the way that she has represented her family, Brazil and especially Christ on her trip - as He, too, represents her before the Father. I couldn't write this post without thinking of the song by Point of Grace called "Saving Grace". I looked up the lyrics, and while all of them don't pertain to our Gracie, some of them were very appropriate. You see, Gracie didn't decide to become a Christian because one of the missionaries had a Bible study with her. I believe that she was shown Jesus consistently by our group, and especially by Bronwyn and Ansley. These lyrics say it all.....

She never darkened the door of any church

She would say, What for...no one there would care for me

We have to go where she lives

Simply show her who Jesus is

Watch Him set her free

For grace flows down from above and

faith requires a selfless love

For a world that's dying to see

the hope in you in me

It's all about saving Grace

All about living love

Being Jesus to those He came to save

Sharing life and giving our own away

it's all about serving God

All about saving Grace

There are countless millions just like Grace

Who need a merciful embrace

They won't believe our God is real

Until they feel His touch

It's all about saving Grace

All about living love

Being Jesus to those He came to save

Sharing life and giving our own away

it's all about serving God

All about saving Grace

Thank you, Lord, for letting us be a part of your saving work in Gracie's life.

Gracie - We miss you and we love you!!

Garigran

I would like to tell you about our new brother in Christ. His name is Garigran. I first met him at Carys' school. His son, Aaron, and Carys are in the same class and we were all together for a Mother's Day presentation. Garigran noticed that I had a digital camera and he asked if I could take a picture of his family. This opened up a great friendship. When he first told me his name he told me he was named after a famous American actor. I told him we didn't have anyone named Garigran. He assured me we did. We went back and forth a little bit before I figured out that this American actor was none other than Cary Grant. Garigran's parents named him after Cary Grant and put a Brasilian twist on it. A great first meeting story that we still laugh about.

Almost immediately, after our first real conversation, he started coming to our small group study during last year. He brought his wife and 2 boys (picture to the right is of Aaron, Garigran, Gabriela and Arthur). They continued to study with us and were part of the transformation that took place with house churches this year. Garigran and I began to spend some time together talking about spiritual things as we entered this new year. Right before our family went on our furlough to the United States this past June I asked the guys on the team if anyone would have time to continue meeting with Garigran while we were gone. Sascha Terry wanted to do it and he and Garigran had some great conversations that continued even after our family returned. In October Sascha felt led to just ask Garigran where he was in relation to Jesus. Garigran said he was ready to give his life to Christ and he wanted to show his faith in Christ through baptism right away. Sascha and I had the privilege of baptizing this new brother. It was an amazing blessing to be a part of. On the day of his baptism we praised God for how He used two 7 year olds to reach a family with the Good News of Jesus. Carys' and Aaron's friendship helped grow God's kingdom as we never would have met this special family if it weren't for them.

I asked Garigran to share his testimony with you in his own words and here they are (followed by the very important English translation):

"" Durante a maior parte da minha vida achei que minhas obrigações com Deus estavam resolvida. Eu havia sido batizado ainda quando pequeno em uma igreja católica e mais tarde também havia feito a primeira comunhão. Eu achava que não precisava mais nada.... Eu estava muito enganado....Eu levava uma vida incompleta...Eu sentia que faltava algo mas não conseguia descobrir o que... Agora que tomei o caminho de Cristo e principalmente após o meu batismo, percebo a transformação. É uma coisa difícil de expressar em palavras mas e plenamente compreensível para as pessoas que sabem do que estou falando. Realmente e maravilhosa essa nova vida em cristo. Garigran ""

"For most of my life, I thought that my obligations with God had been resolved. I had been baptized when I was small in a catholic church and later had participated in my first communion. I thought that I didn't need anything else. I was very wrong. I was living an incomplete life. I was missing something, but I didn't know what it was.
Now that I have begun my walk with Christ, and especially after my baptism, I feel a transformation. It is something difficult to express in words, but completely understandable for people who know what I am talking about. It is really marvelous, my new life in Christ. Garigran"

Sascha, Garigran and myself