Acts of Kindness

So this week we had ANOTHER baptism! 3 weeks in a row, this isnt normal. The Lord really is blessing us SO MUCH this transfer. This baptism is of Antonio, a 25 year old young man with tattoos who lives in the back of a bar. His circumstances are very humble, as you can already tell. When we met him he was sleeping on a door (yeah you read that right A DOOR) he doesnt have a cushion, he literally has a broken bed, a tv that doesnt work & no food. He eats at his work, and on Sundays when he doesnt work, he spends the whole day hungry. 

But yesterday he was baptized & from that point his life changed. Yesterday we got permission from Sister G (our mission presidents wife) to give him an extra cushion from our house. Edith (the crazy wonderful old woman we baptized LAST WEEK) drove us over there & brought (along with our cushion) a comforter, a pillow and a blanket for him. Another Irmao who baptized Antonio invited him to eat lunch & dinner with him yesterday or he wouldve spent the whole day hungry.

As we were leaving to say goodbye, after making his bed for him, the look on his face was just pure gratitude. The sweetest look Ive ever seen a man have on his face. As long as I live I will never forget that expression. 

And that got me thinking, how many of the people we see are silently suffering and we just dont know it?  How many people are barely hanging on by a thread? How many people are silently struggling to make ends meet but have no idea where to turn to if they can turn to someone at all? 

So my invite to you, my dear friends & family, is to pay more attention to the people around you. Does a colleague come to work with red, weepy eyes? Does someone you see on the street wear the bruises of abuse? Is there an acquaintance who never brings lunch to work or brings very little? These are symptoms of suffering. These are evidences of a broken heart. 

My invite is to serve the people around you. Those who are silently suffering and ease their burden a little. Offer them part of what you have. Pay for their parking spot. Do something kind. And remember that real service isnt giving of your abundance. Its, in your want, giving all you have.

Love yall!!

btw, got the bday package! Be sure to show nathan, connor & cole the pic I took here! I hung up almost all of their drawings! & when I played the picture frame in front of my brasilian roomies they were shellshocked! they dont have talking picture frames here so they were flipping out! haha 

xoxo