Growth Groups: Update #2

The following Growth Group Update was written by our teammate, Benay Blume:

Dear Loved ones,

I want to share some stories with you about how God is working in the lives of the people who come each week to our small group.

We have 4 couples coming each week, along with one teen and some children. One couple we met through Garrett's soccer class. Roberto and Moema came to us with extremely open hearts and have already given their lives to Christ. They were baptized on August 17 (you can see pictures of their baptism in a previous post on this Blog, entitled "Baptisms"). When we asked them who they wanted to be at their baptism, they said, "Well, our family, of course"; meaning, our small group. Moema is a sociologist and is already using her skills and resources to help in many areas of benevolence at the church. Roberto is professional singer and has already started leading some songs in the worship. They have a son, Kjeld, (pronounced kelgi) who is friends with Garrett and Carys. We praise God for bringing us this new family.

Another couple, Andre and Luzia, have been our friends for several years, but always resisted our invitations to church related and regular social events. Earlier this year, they came over to our house to explain the reason why. They told us that they were just so different from us, they thought of religion differently than we did, they had a different heritage than we did, etc. We talked to them about each thing and, getting to the bottom of it, discovered that they were scared of taking the risk and opening up their hearts to new relationships. Luzia had been hurt by some other friends in the past and didn't want it to happen again. She told Kevin that we could keep inviting, but she would probably still resist. He looked at her and said, "I'm going to keep on inviting you and I'm going to win." She said, through tears, "I hope you do." Well, we are seeing result. God is winning! They are a part of our group and we can see that they are opening up their eyes to what it really means to be a Christian.

Moving on to one more couple, Silvio and Miriam. Silvio has been a Christian for many years. He has been in a relationship (like common law marriage) with Miriam for many years also. He has hidden his relationship with her from his church family because he was afraid. He has led a double life, so to speak, for a long time. Last year, he began confessing to a select group of men what was going on. This year, through lots of prayer, he stood up during a worship service and confessed everything to the church. Not long ago, Miriam reluctantly agreed to start coming to our small group. In the beginning, I called her every week to encourage her to come back. Now, I don't need to call anymore. She and Silvio consistently come every week to study and fellowship with us and last weekend they hosted a wonderful churrasco (cookout) at their house for our group. Miriam has also started participating in visiting some women at a homeless shelter with our ladies' group. Please pray for her as she tries to overcome the years of being hurt from being excluded and for him as he continues to reconcile himself to her.

One last story: Diego is a remarkable teenage boy who became a Christian at a church near his home. This church has services on Sunday morning. Diego attends this service and then comes to our service on Sunday night. He participates in all the youth activities and comes each week to our small group. Diego is pretty much on his own. He has a family but they seem to only provide a place to sleep and food. Didi (as we call him) has lots of freedom, but uses this freedom to go to church events - not to get into trouble like most teenagers would do. Diego is a special guy who is a great example for all of us and has a wonderful heart for God. One day he will be a strong leader for the church here.

These are just some of the stories I could tell about our small group. There are so many great things happening and we praise God for allowing us to be a part of them. Thanks to all of you who pray for us and support us spiritually and financially. We thank you for allowing God to use you in this way. We wouldn't be here without your support. We love you all so much!

Much love in Christ,
Benay

back row- Bronwyn Blume, Roberto, Andre, Silvio, Kevin, Benay
front row-Luzia, Diego, Moema, Miriam and Anderson Blume