Wife

Please pray for Pastor José Vieira's wife who now has also gone down with Covid-19. Raimunda has joined her husband with this disease and needs your prayers. They are the leaders of the João Pessoa - Cidade Verde EAB/ACEV church on the coast.

Last night we had more rain in Patos and at Green Pastures. At Green Pastures it rained 1.75 inches (42 mm) which takes us up to 7.6 inches (184 mm) this year.

I will be leading tonight's service in Patos. The Sunday night service here is the main service of the week. Our assistant pastor Rafael will preach and our daughter Sacha will lead the praise and worship. The service will be only online via Facebook and YouTube. All services are only allowed online at the moment in obedience to a law brought in by the State government to try and relieve the intense pressure on the public health system where hospitals are full in our State. The horrific thing is that whilst the State government tries to help like this the national federal government does the opposite and threatens and opposes the State governments' endeavours. Our current President Bolsonaro is worse than awful. He is the worst president I have ever seen in all my years in Brazil. The sad thing is that the majority of evangelical Christians love Bolsonaro. I am part of a minority who oppose him. 

Counselling

Last night Liz and I had a counselling session for an hour with a young man from our church in Patos which went very well indeed. We held it on our front veranda as our usual place in our back garden wasn't possible as a fine rain was falling.

We had another half an inch (12 mm) of rain yesterday at Green Pastures so that takes us almost up to 6 inches (142 mm) from the 40 inches (960 mm) needed between now and May to get us through to 2022. Please pray.

Liz and I went to Green Pastures yesterday, as we do at least twice a week to check things over and have a good walk. We are working on making the entrance to Green Pastures cleaner and prettier and this is going very well with worker Francisco who is much better than the old worker Tarcísio who left a few months back. Francisco is very willing and most capable and his wife Leca does whatever cleaning we ask her to so the change has worked out very well indeed. However towards the end of our walk yesterday the ground was a bit slippery with the rains and Liz slipped in the mud, twisted her foot where she broke her ankle a few years back, and fell banging her face on the ground. Liz had the first nose bleed of her life as a result and is limping today. She is alright but would value your prayers.

We have another pastor down with Covid-19. This time it is Pastor José Vieira who leads our 2nd church in João Pessoa in the borough of Cidade Verde. He is in the early stages of it as yet (day 6) so we shall see how it develops. José Vieira is about 50 years of age. Please do pray for him together with a man of about 40 also in João Pessoa called Manassés who has Covid-19 very bad. He used to be a part of the Patos church some years ago. Manassés is in intensive care and has been intubated to be on a ventilator.

This week our projects team marked the location for our next toilet/shower unit and the circular two and a half meter diameter foundations have been dug. The building materials will be arriving there next week. We also had discussions with our projects team on where the next goats will be going to in the 4-Legs Project. A goat now costs us 86 pounds but within this cost is including de-worming medicine, a sack of mineral salt and a can of protective medicinal spray for any wound that the animal may get as it goes into the bush.     

More rain

 We had some more rain at Green Pastures last night. Just over an inch (27 mm) fell there, whereas in Patos very little fell. We have now received 5.4 inches of rain this rainy season so we've started, but there's a long way to go. On the coast at João Pessoa they had very heavy rain today causing flash flooding in many central streets and roads. I have seen photographs of cars submerged and people going down some principal roads in canoes. At Green Pastures our lake and stream remain completely dried up. Please pray.

Last night's Bible study went well. Now we are back to doing it on Google Meet, which for those who don't know this is similar to Zoom.

Good news

Today I start with some good news. Gideão (Gideon) who was pretty ill in hospital at Campina Grande with Covid-19 has recovered and been sent home. Thank you for praying. Please pray that he will now have no after effects from the illness. The pastor of his church, Wostenes, who also had the virus has fully recovered. I have been talking to him yesterday and today.

The curfew here from 10 pm to 5 am started yesterday. In person church services have also been halted so it's back to services exclusively online. A lot of evangelical pastors are up in arms about this calling the order unconstitutional. I had to intervene in the WhatsApp group of our pastors yesterday as some were becoming bitter and extreme. I had to put the flames out and remind them that in EAB/ACEV we do not discuss party politics, as that was what it was becoming. Gratefully they have calmed down but I monitor the group attently. I think the pastors are right in complaining about the bars not being closed as opposed to the churches, but then they get carried away and go too far.

The family of Francisco de Assis Bezerra, aged 28, has been selected to receive an EAB/ACEV Toilet/Shower unit built at their house. They are over the moon as they are one of 80 families that do not have toilets at the village of Barra de Oitis. Francisco's wife is partially blind. They have two children. Please pray for the team who will be building, digging the cess pits, and plumbing the unit in the coming weeks.   

Pastoral meeting

Last night we had another lovely meeting with our assistant pastor Rafael to discuss a variety of day to day issues in the running of the Patos church. We had nice times of prayer together too. We meet in the open-air in our back garden duly masked and socially distanced. The meeting lasted an hour.

The epidemic situation in our State of Paraíba is so serious that the State government (the federal government does nothing - just jokes about it!) has imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am so as to inhibit late night bars and parties. Another Patos doctor has died from Covid-19. Please pray.

I had discussions with Betinho who leads the Ibiara and Conceição churches yesterday. He tells me that both churches are doing well despite the pandemic. I was also thrilled to learn that at Barra de Oitis village one adolescent has come to Christ through our 'Sport in Action' project which involves children and teenagers in playing football. The football is preceded by a prayer and a little word and when they have competitions the winners receive an award presented at church with all the families invited.

Some people have asked me how much it costs EAB to drill and set up a well which we have been doing for 30 years now. I should explain how the process works. Initially our team travels to different rural communities to select possible places in need of water. They return to those on the selection short list and have community meetings to make sure that they are prepared to care for the well if it is drilled. Once a suitable community is selected a specialist is taken there to locate a spot most likely to hit water. A drilling rig company is then contracted to drill 50 metres (150 feet) deep down through solid granite rock which we hit in this region once we get through the soil. If we hit water another machine comes to measure the amount of water the well produces per hour so that we can calculate the type and size of pump needed. The water is also tested for its quality and purity. Having done all this another team moves in to build an elevated base and puts on top of it a 5,000 litre water tank. Then a submersible electric pump is purchased and put in the well and all the pipes and valves are purchased and plumbed so that the water is pumped from the well up into the elevated tank whose height creates pressure for water distribution in the community by gravity. We also build a water trough near the tank for animals and a standpipe with large taps for community water distribution. Once all is finished we hold a community thanksgiving service and preach the Gospel and we do a six-month follow up to make sure everything with the system is working correctly and understood by the community. We do all this for a cost of 5,000 pounds. As you can see there is a lot more to building a well than just drilling a deep hole in the ground! I should just mention that if any person or church would like to raise funds for a well then we would be happy to put the name of the church or of a loved one who has gone to be with the Lord on the well's water tank if so desired. Tearfund have been our partners for 30 years and will fund one well this year but of course we need many more. We have had years when we have built 15 wells. Please pray.     

Baptisms

Over the weekend two of our churches held baptismal services. At the town of Flores in the neighboring state of Pernambuco Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) baptized three new converts. At the Caroá community in the County of Manaíra in Paraíba state Pastor Valdemy baptized five. Rejoice with us. Thank you for your prayers.

Last night my sermon went well and all the technology worked well to make it possible. It was lovely to receive a message first thing this morning from our church leader at São Vicente do Seridó 85 miles east of Patos telling me how blessed and challenged she was by the message. All glory be to God!

The Covid-19 situation here is increasingly dire. It is one big mess because the national government continues to be inept and leaves everything up to local governments to sort out. There is a total lack of national leadership and example as deaths pass the 246,000 mark. We are awaiting local government decisions this week as we may have to suspend our hybrid church services. Our church at Mata Redonda between João Pessoa and Recife has already suspended their hybrid services owing to the grave reality there. Please pray.

We have defined with our projects team that we will construct another toilet/shower unit at the little house of Francisco de Assis Bezerra whose wife is partially blind. They have two children. They live at the Barra de Oitis slave descendents community in Diamante County. The family is overjoyed that they have been selected. 

The 4-Legs goat rearing project is to distribute another five goats to desperately poor people at a new pioneer village of Mata de Oitis. There is now one family that has come to Christ through our preaching the Gospel in this village.

Preaching

I'll be preaching tomorrow (Sunday) which is something I've been doing by the grace of God for many years and which I love to do. Of course in these extraordinary days of pandemic it is not quite the same preaching from my office but I am glad I can do this. I will be preaching a basic Gospel sermon on what it means and what is involved in being a Christian. I value your prayers.

I have been talking to Pastor Wostenes in Campina Grande who tells me he is thrilled to be back preaching tomorrow as well after his recovery from Covid-19. He also gave me the good news that Gideão (Gideon), from his church's praise and worship team, has improved from Covid and has come off oxygen. Gideão is still in hospital but could be out next week if his recovery continues as well as it is now. Please continue to pray for him.  

Toilets selection

Our projects team has been working on the selection of families for the next constructions of toilet/shower units at Barra de Oitis Village in Diamante County. There are at least 80 families without toilets there! One family selected is that of 24 year old Katiana Lucas Ferreira who is the mother of two little boys. Her husband is away at the moment picking oranges down south. She lives off a government handout of 50 pounds a month. The selection process is done very carefully so as to make sure we are helping the poorest of the poor. Ownership of the land where the little house (mud and sticks hut) has be checked at this stage to avoid problems. For example one man seemed to be a strong candidate until we discovered that he had left his wife and the land is in her name. He is now living with someone else and has children with her. Things have to carefully gone through to avoid future problems. It is good that we have an experienced social worker in the team who is a great help in these matters. Please pray for us in these details so that God might guide us to make the right decisions which are just and wise. Other names on the short list for toilets at the moment are Francisco (2 children & wife nearly blind), Amanda (1 child and pregnant. She is separated from her husband & has depression), Marilena (3 children and separated from her husband) and Claudia (2 children).    

Gideon

 Having told you that our pastors Wostenes and Jânio in Campina Grande are better, I now have learnt that a member of the praise and worship group from their church called Gideão (Gideon) has gone into hospital with Covid-19. He has it worse than the pastors did and is on oxygen. Please pray for Gideão. 

We had an unusual half hour of rain in Patos yesterday afternoon (it mainly rains at night here) but unfortunately it didn't rain at Green Pastures.

Yesterday I registered with the London School of Theology for their 2021 Virtual Research Conference in April which will discuss the topic: "Are science and faith at odds?" with Andrew Steane, who is a physics professor at Oxford University. Also speaking at the Conference will be my old teacher Tony Lane who will speak on "the Christian Faith and extraterrestrial intelligence". There will be 3 other speakers, with all chaired by the principal Mark Cartledge. I found the conference I did with LST last year very good so I'm going to do this one now. It's a real challenging recharge of the spiritual batteries. I highly recommend it. It's free of charge.

Pastors recover

 We thank everyone for praying for our two pastors with Covid-19. They are now much better and have been given the all clear by doctors. Praise the Lord for this! I have been talking to one of them who tells me all their symptoms of the disease have now gone. I can now say, I was told, that these pastors are both in our first church in Campina Grande and are senior pastor Wostenes and his assistant pastor Jânio.

Last night we had another 16 mm (over half an inch) of rain at Green Pastures so that takes us up to 4 inches this year, which means we need about another 36 inches to get us through to 2022. With the good rain on Monday night all night the temperature dropped yesterday with a low of 22 degrees and a highest temperature of 28. The young people on their day at Green Pastures were saying they were feeling the cold! Please keep praying for lots more rain.

Rain glorious rain!

 On Sunday night we had nearly half an inch (11 mm) of rain at Green Pastures and last night (Monday) it rained gently all night and we received another two and a half inches (60 mm). So praise God the rainy season has finally started. We are way behind schedule compared with the last few years so we hope and pray that we will soon catch up with some big rains. I was thrilled to see that at Imaculada it rained over five inches last night!

Today (Shrove Tuesday) would normally be the final main day of our Carnival Camp but sadly this year the pandemic has made this impossible. So our youth group has gone to Green Pastures today as they did on Saturday. Our assistant pastor burnt himself making coffee on Saturday and today he left a case on the pavement outside the church when the youth were getting in the Kombi so that has since been stolen. Oh boy! The youth of today! We trust the rest of the day will go well for them.

Bethlehem

EAB/ACEV has a pioneer church plant at a village called Belém (Bethlehem) in the County of Tavares. It is the only evangelical Christian witness of any shape or size in the village. It is led by a lovely couple called Naldinho and Vera. They have two children. We have built a little church there. The family are living in the only house available for rent in the village and that was going fine until the owners have now said they need the house for themselves so need Naldinho and Vera to move out. What a predicament! What do we do as this young church plant, with just a few Christians, badly needs the support of its leaders and teaching from them.

Well the owners of the house next door to our church said they would be willing to sell their house to EAB/ACEV for 4,400 pounds if we could give them time to build a house for them to live in at their farm. So to cut a long story short we have managed to make a down payment today of 3,000 pounds and will pay the rest off as soon as we can. We are promised the house in about 2 months time. Naldinho and Vera are very pleased with the solution as we are too. Being that the house is next door to the church it will mean we can join the two back gardens to make a nice play area for children's work. Please pray with us that all will work out well and that this village will be further blessed mightily by the Lord.

Please also pray for an 11 month old girl called Maria Alice who is in intensive care in the Patos Children's Hospital since Saturday. She is the niece of the Alencar family who are part of our church family. Maria Alice was born with some problems but seemed to have got over them and was seen by the doctor last Friday and who was pleased with her progress. 

The weekend's services went well. On Saturday evening the youth led the service very well indeed at Green Pastures and one of their leaders, Ray, (not Murilo as I said previously! He's next Saturday.) preached the Gospel. On Sunday night Sacha led the service in Patos quite beautifully. It was a blessing.    

Recovery

Just to let you know that our assistant pastor Rafael is recovering well from his accident with a percolator yesterday. I have just been talking to him. He says he's putting on the cream prescribed and is feeling alright. Thanks for your prayers. Sacha will lead the service tonight in Patos to give Rafael a break. Last night's service at Green Pastures was led by our youth.  

Oh boy!

 Today is the start of Brazilian Carnival and under normal circumstances we would be starting our carnival camp, but obviously we can't do that this year. However the youth group asked if they could go to Green Pastures for the day under the responsibility of their leaders Rayla, Louisa and Ray plus the assistant pastor Rafael. We agreed to this as it is not against the rules here and it is in the open air and everyone wears masks. They will spend the day there with their own programme of activities and then lead the service there for the local church as always on Saturday nights. One of the young people, Murilo, who is another person we have at Bible College, will bring the Word tonight. 

The youth left Patos for Green Pastures this morning at 6 am and all was well. Later, however, we received a message from Louisa that Pastor Rafael decided to make coffee (Brazilians can't survive long without coffee!) and without knowing what he was doing (a typical bachelor perhaps?) he not only put coffee in the percolator but he put plenty of sugar too which he should not have done. This resulted in the percolator exploding and sending coffee to the four corners of the kitchen and burning Rafael on his face, neck and one arm! So Rafael has been brought into the Patos hospital with second degree burns where he is on a drip to calm him down and ease the pain. Please pray for him. 

The Projects Team tells me they are pulling their hair out trying to select the next families to be benefitted by EAB toilet/shower units because the needs are so great. They say they have to bite back the tears as people are so desperately poor and don't even have a toilet! They say it is very difficult to select because everywhere the need is so enormous. Please pray.  

Two EAB pastors have Covid

 Two EAB/ACEV pastors - a pastor and assistant pastor - have gone down ill with Covid-19. However they have asked not to be named. I am not sure why the secrecy but I will respect their request and not name them. Both the pastors are not in hospital but are medicated by doctors at home. The senior pastor has lost 25% of his lung capacity and the assistant pastor is a bit worse. Please pray for these our pastors.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has said "there is no way he will be vaccinated against the new coronavirus". He said that vaccinations "might turn recipients into crocodiles"! He has also just added another attack on lockdowns saying "It's no good staying at home crying. It won't get you anywhere". It is not surprising that Brazil has the second highest death toll from Covid-19 in the world. Please pray for Brazil.

Our projects team is at Barra de Oitis to define the location of 2 more Toilet/Shower units. One of the team is Marah Danielle who is an experienced social worker. We take these things very seriously because we can't build toilets for everyone so we have to carefully select the most desperately needy of the poor, and we need to feel sure that the people benefitted will truly value what they are going to receive. Please pray for God's guidance in this and that God will keep our team safe and well.

Conversion

Rivânia is a school teacher in her early thirties. She used to teach at the EAB/ACEV Pastor Frank Dyer Action School on the south side of Patos and it was there that she was impacted by the practical Gospel of Jesus Christ and came close to committing her life to Christ. However she wanted her husband to take the same step with her and he did not want to. When Rivânia moved to teach at another school she never forgot about the Lord and this week she contacted Liz. Liz had some long talks with Rivânia who told Liz she had come to realize that conversion was an individual commitment and so she couldn't just keep waiting for her husband to take this step of faith with her. Liz ended up praying with Rivânia and leading her to the Lord as she wept with joy. Rivânia is already keen to be baptized and so yesterday afternoon she took part in her first discipleship class where two young men are also being prepared for baptism. So praise God with us for Rivânia's real commitment to Christ, pray for her growth in God and wisdom to lead her husband and child to the Lord.

Early this morning we had word that a new little girl had been born to our Patos church family. She has been called Luna and is the daughter of Marcelo and Nuhara. Marcelo is a PhD Veterinary Surgeon but is young in the Lord. Please pray for this family, including their children, that they might grow in grace and be blessed by God. They have both come from previous broken marriages but are now seeking to live for God in newness of life in Christ.

Preached well

 Mailson Macena is a young man who became unemployed and whom we are helping to continue with his distance Bible College course. He is a lovely young man whom you can see in the Patos church services playing bass guitar. Well we were very pleased with how well he preached at Green Pastures at the weekend and I have been encouraging him today. Please pray for Mailson that God might bless him and use him.

The ex-State Governor of Paraíba José Maranhão has died of Covid. He is the second ex-governor to die in the pandemic. The death toll with the virus is far worse this year than last year. José Maranhão was the Governor with whom we had the stand off about the water pipeline for Patos about 20 years ago. We won the battle and Patos got the pipeline.

I have been having discussions with a number of our pastors today: Pastor Nezinho Abílio (Vazante), Lindon Carlos (Imaculada), Hamilton (Campina Grande) and Francinaldo (Manaira). This is an important roll that I have in these difficult days keeping in touch with the pastors and supporting where possible and necessary. Please pray for all our pastors.

Communion services

 This Saturday night the communion service was held at the Green Pastures church in São Mamede County. The whole church gathered there for it apart from Paulo and Dora, from the ex-landless settlement, as their old banger of a car broke down again! I contacted them after the service and we had a good laugh together about what he calls his "Ferrari"! Tonight (Sunday) the communion service will be held in Patos and our young assistant pastor will be preaching on the resurrection  of Jesus. Our monthly communion services are always on the first Sunday of the month. 

I have been having more discussions with our projects team. We are now to press ahead with more toilet/shower units for the very poor. We will also be distributing lots of goats and building and setting up another chicken run complete with laying hens. The team will now conduct a careful selection process to make sure that only the very needy are benefitted by these projects. We value your prayers.

Projects

 I have been having long discussions with pastor Lindon Carlos (Imaculada) and others of the EAB/ACEV projects team. We discussed the next toilet/shower units to be built at the Barra de Oitis slave-descendents community in Diamante County. We also discussed the 4-Legs goats project and the 2-Wings Chicken Runs. We value your prayers for these projects in these difficult times.

I have been going through the ISBL Bible College reports and see that our co-leader of the second EAB/ACEV church at Princesa Isabel is having difficulties with his studies and getting low marks. I have contacted Jair and his wife Silvânia to encourage him and carefully suggest that his wife helps him as she is more academic than he is. On the other hand I was very pleased to see how well Murilo (Patos) is doing. His lowest mark so far is 90%! He is such a lovely young man and so keen for the things of God. He has only been a Christian about 2 years. We have asked him to preach at Green Pastures a week this Saturday. Another of our young church leaders, Roberto (known as Betinho) from Ibiara is doing well with just a couple of hiccups in 2 subjects. Finally what a joy it is to see a young woman called Sandra at Água Grande doing really well in her studies. She leads a little village church at this place and lives out in the rural sticks. Yet she is really progressing well with her distance studies on line. I was quite surprised when she first enrolled but she is proving to be a good student. Praise God! So please pray for our Bible College students spread out far and wide. 

Macambira dos Dioníso

 Macambira dos Dionísio is the name of a rural community where we recently drilled and equipped a well with a pump, 5,000 litre water tank and animal watering trough. It is in the County of Princesa Isabel. The community has 69 families with a total of 235 people. This community had suffered with a lack of water for decades. They used to have to get up very early and walk to a place where water oozed slowly out and there was always a queue there. Now with the well the community has abundant clean drinking water right where they live. They are overjoyed and very grateful to God and His people. One of the community leaders, Luzia Clementino da Silva, has been expressing to our team what a life changing project this is. The community has now invited the Princesa Isabel church to hold services there when this is possible. Please praise with us for the blessing this project is bringing and please pray for the preaching of the Gospel in this place.

Please pray for our São Vicente do Seridó church where a man has died of cancer. He came to the Lord last year so we thank God for this. Pastor Ângelo conducted the funeral the next day as you may know that funerals are always the day after death here. Please also pray for a PE teacher in our church in Patos called Kecinho who has Covid. He is about 30 and being young seems to have a mild version of the disease which is good. His wife Najla had Covid first and is now over it. Thank you for praying.

Decisions

Two decisions to follow Jesus were made at the weekend. One was at Flores in the State of Pernambuco and the other was here in Patos. Rejoice with us and praise the Lord!

The usual service at Green Pastures on Saturday night was cancelled owing to the half inch of rain which fell just before the service. This makes the earth road a mud bath until it dries out and as most people get there by foot or on motorbikes it makes the services there non-viable at these times. One local church member remarked that the rain is a blessing and the service is too, so we receive it all in God's time. In fact we certainly ask everyone to please pray for much more rain in our region in this the rainy season, as the rains are little thus far this year. Last year at this time we had received 6 inches of rain but this year we have only had half an inch. Our lake is bone dry.

I have been having discussions with our Action Schools team regarding this important project as I have been discussing with our 4-Legs Project team where the next goats are going to be sent to. Please pray for these projects.

I have received the reports from all our Bible School students who are doing distance studies with the ISBL College. I receive reports with all their marks about all our students. It is good to see most of them are progressing very well. Praise God! Please pray for these 19 students who are tomorrow's church leaders.

We have received two more Christmas cards!