With the Lord

We have received the sad news that our dear sister in Christ Pat White went to be with the Lord today. Our prayers and thoughts are with her children Peter and Sarah and all the family. Pat was an EAB trustee for many years serving as EAB treasurer. Her late husband Ken was chairman of the EAB Board of trustees and their son Peter was also an EAB trustee and editor of our InTouch magazine for many years. EAB remembers the White family with much gratitude.

Happy New Year

Last night Liz went to the Women's Fellowship end of year get-together. They all went for a meal at a restaurant. Liz says it was a lovely time of fellowship with a good number present.

I have finished reading a book called 'The plausibility problem' (the church and same-sex attraction) by Ed Shaw. It is a good book written by a pastor in Bristol who is a celibate homosexual.

I went for a walk with Liz at Green Pastures and saw a pair of Burrowing Owls. One quickly hid in its burrow whilst the other just watched us perched on a fence post. Later we saw a pair of foxes ahead of us on the trail. They just stared at us before disappearing into the bush.

I have been preparing my sermon for Saturday evening which is New Year's Eve. The service will have various participations singing and testimonies. On New Year's Eve we do things differently.

We were dreaming of a wet Christmas

We always dream of a wet Christmas in view of the lack of rain and high temperatures in December. This year it didn't rain on Christmas Day but it did rain on Christmas Eve and the day before that. Hence we were thrilled to receive 64 mm of rain which is just over 2 and a half inches! PTL!

I preached at our Christmas Eve service and our youth group produced a wonderful cantata. It was an excellent service.

After church we had all the family to our house for the traditional Brazilian Christmas Eve supper which went off beautifully. On Christmas Day we had the traditional British Christmas lunch complete with stuffing and Christmas pudding which we had brought from England.

At night we had our Christmas Day service with the children doing their own Cantata which was lovely. Assistant pastor Rafael preached the Word. Then all the children received their presents round the Christmas tree.

Funeral

 I have just got home after conducting dear Sandra's funeral. There were just 30 present. Sacha missed her visit to the hairdressers to be able to do the singing and Mailson played an acoustic guitar. Liz opened in prayer and then we had a song. After this I read the Word and brought a brief message. This was followed by a second song ("Because He lives I can face tomorrow") then my assistant pastor Rafael brought another brief message. This was followed by a third song prior to me closing in prayer. The family were very grateful for the service and the Gospel was preached to those present.

With the Lord

 We received the sad news early this morning that Sandra Raquel (Down's syndrome) died in the night. Sandra was a member of our Patos church and had been steadily deteriorating in health in recent years. She was 48 years old although she looked much younger. We thank Danbury Mission for having helped her for many years. I will be conducting the funeral this afternoon.

Christmas service at school

Last night Liz and I took part in the Pastor Frank Dyer School's end of year Christmas service. We blocked off the street in front of the school and filled it with pupils, parents and staff. It was a lovely service. Especially nice was the singing by the children and a short play also performed by the children. At the end all the children and the staff received gifts and there were broad smiles all round.

We had a walk at Green Pastures and saw 3 Turkey Vultures up close. We also saw 2 Black Vultures by the lake.

Carnival Camp

 Every year we hold a camp at Green Pastures during the Brazilian carnival period which usually is in the month of February. The dates for the camp in 2023 are from the 18th to the 22nd of that month. We had a meeting with the church about the camp earlier this month and last night we held an excellent meeting of the camp leadership team. We defined the theme for the 7 services as "It is time to care". It is time to care for yourself emotionally and physically - care for the family - care for your neighbour in social action and with evangelism - care for the church and care for your spiritual life. Please pray for the camp and for all the preparations between now and then. Any contributions to help the poor go to the camp will be most welcome.

The World Cup final ended the tournament in great style. What a match! It ended with Argentina winning as I had forecast. 

On Sunday night we had a really good service in Patos which I led together with Rafael and I preached on the first Psalm. The service at Green Pastures on Saturday night went very well too.

Liz counselling

Liz spent quite some time this week counselling people. One session with 2 ladies lasted 2 hours. All went well and was blessed of God.

I will be preaching tomorrow in Patos and will be leading the Green Pastures service tonight.

Deborah and I walked at Green Pastures yesterday and heard and saw many birds. We saw Guira Cuckoos, Cactus Parakeet, Black Anis, and Pigmy Owls.

So the World Cup final will be between Argentina and France. My guess is that Argentina will win. 

Services

 Saturday night saw us holding 3 services at Green Pastures, Ipueira and Passagem. I took the service at Green Pastures, the Christians in Action team took the service at Ipueira and the youth took the service at Passgem including Pastor Rafael who dedicated 2 babies. All the services went well and were blessed of God.

Yesterday was "Bible Day" in Brazil and Sacha brought an excellent message from God's Word. I led the service. That was at night. In the morning we had our annual church business meeting which went off very well.

On Saturday afternoon I sadly watched England get beaten 2 x 1 by France in the World Cup and thus get eliminated. I thought England played fairly well but of course not well enough. Harry Kane's penalty miss was fatal.

Brazil Out

I today watched the sad spectacle of Brazil being knocked out of the World Cup by 4 x 2 on penalties after 1 x 1 in extra time. Croatia were the winners. Croatia played best in the first half as did Brazil in the second half and during extra time. However instead of defending deep in extra time after they had scored they carried on attacking flamboyantly and paid the price with Croatia's late equalizer.

Yesterday we visited an elderly sister from our church who is not attending the services. We had a long chat with Sister Socorro and a nice time of prayer.

Last night we had an excellent meeting with Pastor Rafael who is our assistant pastor. We had a wide ranging discussion about the church. 

I have read the A Rocha's (Christian environmental agency) annual review and it is very good. Our Green Pastures Nature Reserve is officially linked to A Rocha as a "friend" of A Rocha.

Sermon

I have prepared a sermon from the Psalms. It will be an exposition of the first Psalm.

Our eldest grandson has just managed to get himself a job. He is to be an architect's assistant with the Guedes Shopping Centre and Supermarket group. Felipe has a degree in architecture. We are very pleased for Felipe and thank God for answering our prayers.

I watched Brazil beat South Korea 4 x 1 in the World Cup. The first 36 minutes were scintillating stuff with Brazil 4 goals up. They took their foot off the throttle in the second half and just avoided injuries and yellow cards. It was great to see the players dancing after every goal. Especially good was the Pigeon dance after goal number 3 by Richarlisson in which even the manager joined in. Richarlisson's nick-name is pigeon!

Yesterday afternoon we had a nice walk at Green Pastures and observed (seeing or hearing) a number of birds. We heard a lot of Scarlet-throated Tanagers, Spot-backed Puffbird and saw a Chalk-browed Mockingbird, a Shiny Cowbird and a Southern Lapwing. If you put these names of birds in Google you can see photos of them.  

Counselling

Liz and I have had another longish session of counselling. This time it was with a couple who I shan't name. Please pray for this couple who need to get nearer to God.

On Saturday night I led the Green Pastures church service and Bible College student and journalist Ray spoke on Isaiah 9:1-7. Fred, Manoel and a group of women sang. It was a good service. At Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte state a service was also held and led by brother Dedé of the Christians in Action group. A group from Patos also went to Juazeirinho for their anniversary service. I led the service in Patos last night and assistant pastor Rafael preached.

Prior to the Sunday service I watched the England x Senegal match in the World Cup which England won 3 x 0. England played very well and in the second half scored 3 goals and just didn't let Senegal play. I don't think Senegal got a shot in during the second half. So now England will play France in the quarter-finals which will be quite a match!

Rain

We had another 14 mm of rain (over half an inch) at the end of November bringing the total rainfall in the month to 110 mm (4 and a half inches). To get rain in November here is extremely rare so we are very happy! This means we have had 1,210 mm of rain this year (50 inches) which is a record high.

Liz and I have had two good counselling sessions with different people. I can't give their names. Both sessions were really fruitful with one especially including a request for forgiveness which was beautiful. It is also lovely to see a young family back in church after a long time away. Praise God!

I watched England beat Wales 3 x 0 in the World Cup and Brazil loose to Cameroons 1 x 0. I thought England played quite well. Brazil played with their reserves.

After the Brazil match I had my haircut. I had it cut nice and short which is how I like it. It was far too long up till yesterday as I hadn't had it cut since I was in the UK.