Better

Thank you for your prayers for our grandson John David with Covid. He is much better and has just received a negative test back. He just feels tired and weak now.

Our travelling grandson Arthur in Germany has been to a concert by the singer from New Zealand called Lorde. He had booked his place for this online. I looked up Lorde on Google as I had never heard of her! She has a nice voice and sings good songs which I can understand. 😃

We are very grateful for those who have contributed to our airfares for our trip to Europe in the autumn. Airfares are now very high from Brazil to Europe. TAP is clearly making up for all the money lost in the pandemic! 25% of the total cost has thus far been covered by designated gifts. May God bless you. 

We are very sad about the awful state of the young man on drugs from our Patos church. He has gone right back into drugs and booze this week in the St John's festival. Please pray for him. It is heartbreaking to see him like this.

Arthur

Our 20 year old grandson Arthur has left this week for a 3-week tour of Europe going to Germany, England, Holland, Italy and France. All this is entirely financed from his two part-time jobs which he does on top of his university course to be a lawyer. It amazes me how he does it. He saves everything, gets the cheapest flights available and uses air miles. May God care for him in this further adventure. This is his second such trip to Europe as well as a trip abroad in South America.

Please also pray for another 20 year old grandson John David who is down ill with Covid. He is most unwell. 

I received the above badge for Green Pastures from the Christian environmental agency A Rocha. We share the same vision which is to care for God's creation.

Our 20 year old grandson Arthur is in Berlin via Lisbon and Madrid. He has just sent us photos on a lovely sunny day.

Bacon sandwiches

I am reading another book called 'Bacon sandwiches and salvation' by Adrian Plass. I am experimenting reading it on Kindle which belongs to Louisa. The book is good to relax with and is full of corny jokes with Christian connections like: What is doctrine? Answer: It's what they do up at the health centre. The book has some serious Christian content too.

This week in Patos is the big St John's festival and Patos has been bubbling with excitement for days now. Every night of the week there are free very late night shows held in an open area near the centre of Patos. The shows go on for most of the night every night. Evangelical Christians do not take part in the festival. 

Over the coming weekend (24th to 26th) we will be holding a youth camp at Green Pastures with between 80 and 100 people taking part. Please pray for this event.

Sunday's service went off fine with Sunday school for all ages in the morning and the preaching of God's word at night. The children's slot at night was beautiful with them singing a lovely song. 

Cocaine

Liz and I have had a long meeting with a young man from the church. It was a session of counselling, listening and prayer. This young man, whom I will not name, has been addicted to the drug Cocaine since last year. He went all through his story with us telling us how he turned to drink upon the death of his mother and this eventually led to illegal drugs. His addiction started when he lived on the coast and he came to our church at the end of last year. Please pray for this young man. 

We have now booked our flights to Europe in the autumn. God willing we will leave Brazil on September 2nd. We will arrive in Zurich via Lisbon on the afternoon of September 3rd. We will fly to London on September 10th. Our return flights to Brazil are booked for November 2nd. Please pray for our travels and pray for a refreshing time in Switzerland and the UK. 

I guided another school year round the Green Pastures nature trails on Friday. This time it was the Cristo Rei school run by Roman Catholic nuns which is the school Liz once went to and which our granddaughter Alice now goes to. The students were exceptionally polite and well behaved. It is always a joy to influence young people to appreciate God's creation and to care for it.

Our grandson John David has just gone down with Covid. Please pray for him and us all at this time. He is studying to be a medical doctor in João Pessoa but came to Patos yesterday. He has tested positive for Covid today. 

Help

On Tuesday Liz and I went to visit one of our senior ladies called Socorro Help! She is extremely lonely and wanted to tell us about all her family problems. We patiently listened to her for an hour. Such meetings remind us of Eleanor Rigby's "all the lonely people". She was like a different person after we listened to her, gave her some advice and had a time of prayer with her. Bless her heart!

I have been doing a lot of administrative work this week and have had important discussions with Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa.

Liz and I have been dealing with some problems which have arisen with the Patos worship group. 

A Guardian journalist called Dom Phillips has been murdered in the Amazon region and his body was cut up in pieces. He and a Brazilian were targeted as they were investigating corruption, deforestation and things being done against indigenous indians in the area. The Brazilian was killed as well. President Bolsonaro has insinuated his support for those who ordered the killings. President Bolsonaro said yesterday that "Jesus Christ only didn't have a gun because they weren't available at the time". How Christians can vote for this man is beyond me!

Fera School

On Monday I was the guide to the 45 Year Five students of the Fera School at Green Pastures. I was up at 6 am and the trail started at 8:30 and lasted for 2 hours. I led the students round the trails and talked to them about the different trees, plants, birds and animals in a place which is totally dedicated to preservation. I told the students how I first got my love for nature from my parents and in year one at Oxford Gardens Primary School where we used to hear a nature programme on the BBC every Friday afternoon. The idea of these school trips is to awaken interest in God's creation amongst children. It was amazing how quickly they tired today on our walk. Children just don't seem used to physical exercise any more.

Danrlei is 15 and the son of the Patos church firefighter. He got his parents to take him up the mountain to our Teixeira church as he wanted to officially ask the hand in courtship of the local pastor's daughter (also 15) called Emmily. All went off well so we now have another happy couple! All this happened on Saint Anthony's Day which is our equivalent of Valentine's Day.

Green Pastures service

On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures for the local farm workers and it went well though numbers were down. Louisa led the worship accompanied by Rogaciano. Lindinalva sang a solo, Chico brought a short word of greeting and Rafael preached the Word. 

Liz and I had a good heart to heart talk to the young woman in our church who had expressed homosexual tendencies. She confessed her sin and asked for forgiveness in tears. We explained to her the Biblical position on the matter and we had a time of prayer with her. It was a lovely meeting. It makes such a difference when people are ready and willing to submit to God's word.

Last night I led the main service of the week and we had Pastor Ângelo as a visiting speaker. He is a very good preacher. He is the pastor that resigned from our Soledade church and he is without a church at the moment.

Drugs

A young man (I won't give his name to be on the safe side), who was addicted to Cocaine and is now a member of the Patos church, has sadly slipped back to using the drug. This is not Valério (another member) who has been free of Cocaine for nearly 6 years now. Please pray for the young man who has slipped back to drugs.

Another problem has come to light. A young mother (she is new to our church and not a member)  has left her husband saying she wants to live with a woman who is a member our church. Please pray as we handle this delicate matter with the young mother. Our affected church member told us about the problem. Homosexuality is rampant here these days.

The Thursday night Bible study went well despite numbers being well down to 25 which is about half of the number on a good night. The Men's Fellowship meeting on Tuesday and the Women's Fellowship meeting on Wednesday both had low numbers too.

Our projects team has held another meeting this week with the community leaders at Santo Agostinho in Teixeira County with the possibility of us drilling a well there in mind. The community has 164 families with 156 women, 156 men and 112 children. They stand in great need of a permanent clean water supply. Santo Agostinho is 18 km from the town of Teixeira up in the mountains. It is an area which is difficult to hit water in when drilling. 30 years ago I knew nothing about drilling wells but now I have a fair old bit of experience!

Lawyer

This week our granddaughter Louisa (who lives with us) received her identity card as a lawyer from the Order of Brazilian Lawyers (OAB). Liz and I went to the presentation ceremony at the Order's headquarters in Patos. We felt very proud of her. When students here finish their law degree they have to sit two independent exams set by the OAB and only then can they exercise their profession.

I have been having some important meetings with pastors Wostenes and Hamilton in Campina Grande to discuss problems with two of our pastors. The issues then went on to be discussed by the whole leadership team.

Liz and eldest daughter Deborah are at Sandra's house. It is a very difficult and sad case as she has Down's syndrome and is in her 40s. She is a special case who is helped by a church in the UK. She is currently groaning all the time as if she was in pain. If medication doesn't kick in soon she will have to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Campina Grande as we don't have one in Patos. Please pray for Sandra. Pray too for her sister and her husband who are her carers and are exausted.  

Crash

 On Sunday afternoon Tiago (our granddaughter Louisa's fiancé) had a nasty accident driving his father's car in a narrow one-way street in Patos. A drunk driver came up the street the wrong way and they had a head-on collision. Happily nobody was injured, but there ensues a legal battle to get the man who caused the accident to pay for the repairs. The drunk driver left the scene of the crash so as to avoid being breathalyzed and left his car to be towed away by the police. 

Sunday's services went off well in Patos. At night assistant pastor Rafael preached on attitudes of the Prodigal son's brother comparing him to someone lost in the church. I led the service. The worship group had to sing with play-back as Tiago (first guitarist) was too shaken up by his accident to play, second guitarist Rogaciano was ill and third guitarist Lucas was away at university. 

Over the weekend we had some more excellent rain with a total of 41 mm which is just short of 2 inches at Green Pastures. This takes our total this rainy season up to an amazing 1,144 mm (47.6 inches).

The Campina Grande Men's retreat ended well on Sunday afternoon at Green Pastures. Everyone left with much happiness and thanks. Pastor Wostenes left a bit early as he had to preach at night in Campina Grande.

Ants in your ...

Our front gate bell stopped working and as suspected the problem was caused by giant ants called 'taiócas' which produce a glue-like substance which causes a short circuit. This is the second time we have had to put in a new bell. Then in Liz's office a swarm of micro-ants called 'cupim' have eaten a cupboard!

I have just finished reading 'A Better Story' by Christian psychiatrist Glynn Harrison. It is a very good book which discusses how Christians should address the subject of sex and marriage today.

Please pray for our sign language expert Geralda who is really poorly with the virus Chikungunya. I am also glad to report that Carlos is recovering well from Dengue fever.

The death toll in the Recife floods/landslide has sadly reached 128.

On Friday the seniors morning went very well with a nice Bible reflection from Pastor Rafael and boy didn't they eat at food time! In the evening deaf pastor Luiz Carlos carried on teaching sign language to some new learners who are progressing well. 

Yesterday I went to Green Pastures to speak to the Campina Grande men's retreat being held there from Friday to Sunday. There are about 60 men taking part and it is being blessed.

Weeknight meetings

In Patos our weeknight services are as follows: prayer on Mondays, men's fellowship on Tuesdays, women's fellowship on Wednesdays as well as a service at our church plant at the school, Bible study on Thursdays, seniors morning on Fridays with a sign language course at night, and youth meeting, deaf meeting, Christians in Action at Ipueira and a service at Green Pastures on Saturdays.

Covid is back on the increase in Patos and schools are asking for masks to be warn again by their students. Liz and I are wearing masks again to church. 

Rain

The month of May ended on a lovely wet note with 36 mm (one and a half inches) of rain at Green Pastures bringing the total for the month to 92 mm and the wonderful total for the rainy season to 1,103 mm. This is the best wet season that I can remember. Thank you for your prayers.

The Patos men's fellowship was going to take a service in São Mamede yesterday but that was postponed owing to the rain.

Our 12-year-old granddaughter Beatriz (known as Bia) is quite an athlete. She is captain of her school's volleyball team who won the Patos championship and they are now going to play the João Pessoa champions. 

Thank you for praying for Jaciara who had a premature baby. Both mother and baby are now fine and have been released from the Patos maternity hospital and returned to Princesa Isabel.

Please pray for Carlos from our Patos church who has gone down with Dengue fever. 

We are busy preparing Green Pastures for the Campina Grande - Catolé's men's fellowship retreat which will start on Friday.