Custard Apple

I have just eaten a delicious 'custard apple' for my morning snack! 😋

Dona Florzinha is a lovely very poor middle aged lady who rides round Patos on a donkey cart collecting recyclable goods. Liz is her friend and every week gives her all our recyclable items like empty tissue boxes, empty yogurt cartons etc. Dona Florzinha has just taken our materials to the recycling centre where she sells them, not for much, but it all helps. 

Liz is now out distributing food hampers to the poor and hungry,

Today is a public holiday in Brazil for the Roman Catholic festival of 'Corpus Christi' (body of Christ) commemorating the transubstantiation of the literal body and blood of Christ in the mass. This day occurs on the Thursday 60 days after Easter. Of course we do not believe in transubstantiation, and on Sunday we will be holding our monthly communion service in which we share the emblems which represent the body and blood of Jesus which we remember with grateful hearts.

Snake

Yesterday a snake appeared in our Patos School and the headteacher called the Fire Brigade who came and "arrested" it! The children loved the diversion from regular lessons and once the fireman had hold of the non-venomous snake they all took turns in stroking it! I reckon the snake was glad to finally be released back into the wild after so much affection and attention! 🐉

Last night I went with the Patos Men's Fellowship to preach the Gospel in São Mamede in a street meeting. It was a nice little service with about 35 people present.

A young man in the process of being taken to rehab for alcoholic addiction is to have a foot amputated owing to advanced diabetes. He has made a commitment to Christ and the plan is to take him to rehab as soon as possible. Please pray for him. 

Shark

An 11-year-old boy has been bitten by a shark in Recife. It is the second shark attack in Recife this year. The boy is recovering well in hospital.

I took some people home from the Care Centre last night who had been attended by our dentist. On the way to the farmstead I saw 3 Burrowing Owls and I saw the same 3 on the way back.

Yesterday I finished sending the reports from our 15 Action Schools to our EAB UK Office. Our total number of pupils attended this year is 810. I also sent the translated letters from all the sponsored children.

Blog

Last month this blog was read 74,153 times. I checked this statistic and learnt that Google, who owns the blog site, is not completely reliable so I have no way of knowing what the correct figure is. But anyway thanks for being with us and thanks for all your prayers and support.

Last night I led the service in Patos and Pastor Rafael preached on Psalm 32:1-5. It was a good service with a full church.

Ipueira

Ipueira is a small town with a population of 2,090 in the neighbouring state of Rio Grande do Norte about an hour's drive from where we are based. We have been preaching the Gospel there for 13 years and now has come the time to build a little church there. We are at present building the foundations and value your prayers and support.

Yesterday we held a jumble sale to raise money for the Ipueira church building and it did exceptionally well raising over £300.

Last night I preached at Green Pastures on: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free"! It was a blessed service. I saw the usual toads and tree frogs whilst there. This week we will be busy preparing for another youth camp at Green Pastures from June 19th to 21st.

João Fonseca

Most of my English readers will not have heard of 'João Fonseca' but take a note for future reference as he is a superb Brazilian tennis player who yesterday knocked out Novak Djokovic from the French Open Tennis Grand Slam and he is just a teenager! He won in 5 sets. 

Yesterday I worked all day on the EAB Action Child Schools and Child sponsors reports. So far I have done 7 school reports and one child sponsor's letter and sent them to Marian Rashleigh who handles the UK side of things. If there is anyone willing to help Marian with this work please contact her. 

Tonight I will be preaching the Gospel at the Green Pastures church.

Watermelon

I have just eaten a lovely load of watermelon which was delicious. 😋It was given to us by Green Pastures neighbour Júlio Camilo whom we saw coming to the Lord some years back.

A further drug addict, this time from the town of Pombal, is being taken to a Christian rehabilitation centre at Princesa Isabel. Please pray!

I recommend UCB's daily devotional 'Word for Today'. 2 minutes of quality Biblical reflection to start your day. https://www.ucb.co.uk/word-for-today This Christian radio is at Stoke-on-Trent and I did an interview there about the work of EAB/ACEV in Brazil many years ago.

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and Pastor Murilo gave the study on 1 John 5:13-21. It was a lovely service.