Catching Up

Sorry for the delay in writing this blog but life has been so hectic that it got left on the low burner till now! So here I go with a flying catch up:

I last wrote on Liz's birthday (September 8th) and the evening communion service was beautiful with a lovely slot of special congratulations to Liz for her birthday.

We travelled to Recife on the Tuesday (10th) and arrived at the airport at 9.06 pm with Marian Rashleigh's flight landing at 9.07 pm! She was through customs quickly and we had something to eat at the airport before going to sleep at a hotel. We drove to Patos the next day and arrived around 5 pm. 

On the Thursday morning I took Marian for a long walk round parts of Green Pastures to blow any cobwebs away she still had from the flight. I gave the Bible study in the Patos church at night and finished the 10 commandments and even got through the first chapter of Leviticus as we press on though 'Key Stories of the Bible', from A to Z, in chronological order. We have now done Genesis, Job and Exodus and we press on now through Leviticus which is probably not everyone's cup of tea and nobody's favourite book of the Bible - but it is Bible and we will study it!

The following morning was the start of the Leaders Conference and our leadership team kicked off at 10 am, grabbed a quick half hour lunch at 1 pm, and finished that day's session at 6 pm. What a dedicated team we have with nobody complaining about the non-stop work load! In the evening we had the first main opening service with a workshop combating 'violence against women'. It was superb and riled some of our male chauvinist pastors a bit, but praise the Lord for that!

Saturday morning was free time for most, but for the leadership team it was more slog for another 4 hours. In the afternoon we had 2 general assemblies - one concerning our projects and another concerning our churches. By the end of all this we had cracked a lot of hard nuts, had taken some important decisions and all with unanimity! Praise be to God!

The evening session was an incredible service with our granddaughter Louisa and her university colleague Rayla leading a Bible packed tirade of teaching against pornography showing statistically that evangelical pastors were NOT immune. They spoke for 90 minutes. It was WOW!

The following morning (Sunday) was the final session of Leaders Conference and it was then that God's Spirit moved mightily in our midst. It was probably one of the most beautiful services we have ever had at such a Conference, as I ministered from Psalm 51. There was a real spiritual breakthrough in many lives as we lived out Jesus' words in Matthew 5:3-4. 

We got back to Patos for the evening service and again God blessed us (despite our tiredness) with Marian speaking on the 'Violin from the Titanic', interpreted by Sacha. 3 decisions were made for Christ at the end. PTL! 

On Monday (16th) I took Marian to visit an ex-landless community where we have a church, a well and a market garden project in full flow.

Yesterday we took Marian to visit Vazante and Barra de Oitis (ex-slave community) and she saw another 2 toilet/shower complexes being built to add the 17 already up and running + 6 productive garden projects and so on. We also saw a little boy who has literally been snatched from death's door with hunger. What a joy it was to see him standing up and plumpish. Thank you Jesus! Now we are off to Princesa Isabel. The work presses on! Thanks for your prayers and support. 

In the middle of all this work and travelling I have managed to get our annual report off to the UK Board of Trustees and done much else. But above all I have prayed. That is the most important. I have prayed. More important than all the above is prayer, hearing God's voice and receiving His guidance.