Elder

Liz, Lynn (she's really attached to the couple) and I will be going to visit our elder Pedro Guedes and his wife and deaconess Beatriz this afternoon. He is 89 and she is 86. Beatriz is fine but Pedro is very weak and doesn't want to eat. Please pray for this lovely couple.

I spent a lot of time yesterday chasing up all the Patos church members who haven't been to church after our return to in-person services. It was good to chat to people and to hear from most of them that they will soon be back.

Our project team has presented to me 5 families at Barra de Oitis village that all meet our selection criteria so as to be apt to receive chicken runs with chickens from our 2 Wings Project. We have funding for 4 of these families. The selection process takes time but is vital to make sure we are dealing with genuine cases of the poorest of the poor.

Yesterday saw a classic example of the need for care with choosing project beneficiaries. Our head-teacher at our Patos school got into a state of panic because two of our pupils had moved with their families into cardboard shacks on the outskirts of town "because they couldn't afford to pay the rent for their tiny houses". Liz insisted with the teacher that the story was properly checked with visits made to the cardboard houses etc. Thus it was discovered, as Liz had suspected, that the families had in fact opted to live in this precarious way so as to qualify for council housing.

On the other hand another shanty town dweller has been checked out and seen to be a genuine case where a donkey and cart (100 pounds) will help the family to help themselves through rubbish collection and recycling, so we will help.

I have finished reading 'The church, the country and the world' by Robinson Cavalcanti. I have also finished reading another book by Mike Hollow in the Blitz Detective series called 'the Stratford Murder'. I am glad to report that Detective Inspector John Jago managed to solve the mystery! I am now reading R.T. France's commentary on Matthew's Gospel. Dick France was an excellent teacher of mine at LST decades ago and his commentary is great. I have often used it over the years as a point of reference on different texts, to the extent that the book is falling apart with wear, but now I have decided to read the book from start to finish with the Bible open to match.