I dedicated Moses!

I led the service in Patos last night and the service went well. I dedicated an 8 month old little boy called Moses and received a young woman into fellowship called Erica. Our assistant pastor Rafael preached on John 14:1-3 with a message entitled: "Let not your heart be troubled."

Our Pastor Oseias in Itaporanga is completely over Covid. Thank you to all who prayed for him. Carla Lécia, the wife of Pastor Francinaldo at Manaíra, is also completely free of her bout of Covid and thanks everyone for their prayers too.

At the weekend Pastor Maésio at the EAB/ACEV church in Teixeira conducted the wedding of the deaconess Rosângela and brother Odemar. The pastor has just sent me a whole load of photos of the wedding. Brother Odemar is from the rural area of Teixeira County on a farm called Sabonete (Toilet Soap!).

I have just had a physical check-up so as to renew my driving licence. I had to show how much strength I have in the grip of each hand on a machine. Quite what the point of this was I am not sure. I also had my eyesight checked and had to answer a number of questions about medication I take etc. Anyway all was approved and I was told I will receive my new licence in two days' time which is quick if it happens.   

General Assembly

This afternoon we held a fantastic general assembly of all our leaders online. It lasted for two hours and 40 minutes and at the end nobody wanted to leave. The only pastor who didn't take part was absent because his vehicle broke down with a load of sweet potatoes on board! The pastor in Portugal took part and the pastor in England. The first matter on the agenda was the role call.

We then formally recognized the two church plants at Barra de Oitis and Vazante as fully fledged churches led by Pastor Nezinho Abílio. We then officially recognized Fábio Furtado as an EAB/ACEV worker responsible for the church plants at Travessia and Fonseca. How wonderful to see he who once was an EAB sponsored Action Child now a Mission worker. If he does well he will be a pastor one day.

After this we recognized the three new pastors, Betinho, Léo and Fabrício Junior. Each one was given probational pastoral status and each one was prayed over separately. This was followed by Philip giving a run down on our annual statistics which show we continue to have 89 churches with 24 largish, 26 medium and 39 small church plants. The total number of Christian participants in these churches is 3,202. Philip also gave some explanations on how to use the software programme he has created to administer our churches.

Following this Pastor Lindon Carlos gave us an update on all the projects, what's been done in the last year and what's planned to yet be done this year. We also received some feedback from José Renildo and Tania in Portugal. We then decided that we would have a leaders' Conference day online in September and a youth conference online in November. We also decided that we will not hold the usual 10-day evangelistic outreach in January owing to the pandemic but we will hope to hold our next general conference in-person at Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre. This is planned for a year from now from the 27th to 29th of May, God willing.

Driving Licence

Nothing is simple in this pandemic and my renewal of my driving licence was an example of this today. I got up, had my usual breakfast of paw-paw, banana and yogurt, and had a shower. I don't function any day without a shower. I then went to the place where you renew your driving licence and my temperature was checked to be able to get into the building. I also needed to show the receipt for the renewal. I then went to have my photo taken followed my the digital taking of my finger prints. The latter took a long time as my finger prints are always difficult to register. After this I then went to the next desk where again I showed all the paper work and was told that I can only do my eyesight test on Monday as for today the eye doctor was fully booked. I came home and had another shower.

We received the sad news yesterday that our pastor in João Pessoa José Vieira's sister, called Chiquinha, died last night from Covid. She had been in intensive care for quite a long time. Please pray for José Vieira's family at this sad time.  

Church closed

The EAB/ACEV church up in the mountains at Matureia, which is the highest point in our State of Paraíba, has cancelled all its in-person church services owing to the new surge of Covid infections in the town. Please pray for Matureia which is about 45 minutes by car from Patos where we live. The Covid pandemic is on the increase again here with an apparently third wave being experienced. The whole region in the interior where we live is getting steadily worse again.

Our Pastor Oseias at Itaporanga has been confirmed with Covid and continues in isolation. Veterinary surgeon Marcelo Sá continues to improve from a very heavy bout of Covid. He took part on Tuesday night in the Men's Fellowship meeting online. I was very pleased about this at it shows how much he is getting better. He tells me he is doing a lot of physiotherapy to help his breathing. Please continue to pray for Oseias and Marcelo. 

It is so good to see how well our EAB Action Schools have adapted to the reality of teaching and coping under the pandemic conditions without in-person schools here. I was in touch with our Caroá School, for example, which is helping 12 children of which 2 families have been hit by Covid. The teacher drops off the children's lessons to each of their farmsteads and then helps them all with their lessons online via WhatsApp. Similarly she drops off food parcels to their homes for which she says their families are very grateful.

Ex-landless

Yesterday Liz and I made a lovely visit to the ex-landless settlement of Nossa Senhora Aparecida II in the County of São Mamede. We went duly masked, maintained strict distancing protocols and with all our discussions in the open-air. We had a lovely talk to Paulo and Dodora which took about an hour and a half. They unburdened their hearts about different issue which we counselled them about. We also discussed their desire to hold services in front of their house which we agreed to. We pray that God will bless them and use them as the only evangelical Christians in their settlement.

Brazil passed the 450,000 mark for Covid deaths yesterday. The situation is serious here with no national leadership against the pandemic. President Bolsonaro led a 40 km motorbike ride on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro without a mask. He is a terrible example or lack of it. Our Pastor Oseias at Itaporanga, who is a member of our senior leadership team and took part in our meeting on Saturday, has gone down with suspected Covid and is self-isolating at home.

Our State capital João Pessoa, where EAB/ACEV has 3 churches, is in the international news with the arrest of Italian mafia fugitive Rocco Morabito who was one of Italy's most wanted fugitives since 1994! The "cocaine king of Milan", as he is known, was arrested in a João Pessoa hotel together with two other foreigners.

Witnesses say that 3,000 massive shipments of timber have been illegally exported from the Amazon recently. The Federal Police are investigating the very Minister of the Environment, who is a total crook, who is called Ricardo Salles.

Light blue shirt

I get quite attached to my clothes and there are some items, of particularly nice colours, which become like my trade mark. So you might imagine my sadness when upon putting on my favourite light blue shirt at the weekend Liz said: "that must go to the bin!" I was staggered! Just because of a couple of holes and one small slit my dear shirt was given the sentence of capital punishment and it was only eight years old. But when Liz gets her mind set on "keeping me smart" I have long learnt that it is no good arguing. "I wouldn't have the courage to put it in the jumble sale", Liz said. Dear me! My poor shirt has bit the dust and to add insult to injury today I saw Liz using a pale blue dusting cloth. Who can understand women?

Last night's service was lovely. It is great to be back in church again in person and to lead the service. Pastor Lucena preached on 'The Compelling Love of Christ' from 2 Corinthians 5:14. At the end one man expressed his desire to return to following Jesus after a time away from God. Last Sunday there was a decision by a woman to follow the Lord as well. I am not sure how much longer we will be able to hold in person services as the pandemic is getting worse again here.

I have had an excellent Zoom meeting this morning with Pastor Renilson and his wife Getiane from the Matureia church up in the mountains. The meeting was about the Action School there which is going really well.    

Leadership Meeting

Yesterday afternoon's senior leadership meeting of the work here in northeast Brazil went very well and lasted about 2 hours with all 11 of us taking part. I chaired the meeting. Initially we had a general discussion about the progress of the work of EAB/ACEV and discussed how to handle one particular problem I can't mention. Regional pastor Lindon Carlos, in the area where the problem is, was commissioned to investigate further and report back to the Board.

Following on from this we interviewed the first candidate for probationary status as a pastor. He was Roberto de Oliveira, known as Betinho, who leads both the Ibiara and Conceição churches in towns about a quarter of an hour apart by car. Betinho is 37 years old. He was the most nervous of the 3 candidates interviewed but nevertheless he did well. He and his wife Maciene are doing a great job in the churches under their responsibility. The leadership team decided to recommend Betinho for probationary status as a pastor in the general assembly to be held next Saturday (29th).

Next to be interviewed (all online via Google Meet) was Leandro Araújo dos Santos, known as Léo, who is aged 32. Léo leads the EAB/ACEV church at Juazeirinho which is exactly half way between Patos and Campina Grande. Léo answered all the questions we asked him with great calm, ability and accuracy. We were all blessed by the clear gift of God on this young man's life and he too will be recommended for probationary pastoral status at the general assembly of all the ACEV leadership next Saturday.

Finally we interviewed the youngest candidate for pastoral status who was Fabrício Ramalho de Carvalho Junior, known as Fabrício Junior, aged 24 and just recently married. The other two candidates are also married and already have children. Fabrício also answered the questions very well and he too will be recommended for pastoral probationary status next Saturday. Fabrício Junior will be an assistant pastor to Pastor Wostenes in Campina Grande taking responsibility for the youth.

Please pray for these three young ministers of the Gospel and for the general assembly of all our leaders to be also held online next Saturday afternoon. How encouraging it is to see young leaders hearing the call of God and being willing to step forward and say: "Here I am Lord. Send me". Such young leaders are guarantee that by God's help the work here in the interior of northeast Brazil will carry on until the Lord's return. 

New Pastors

I have been preparing for a meeting of the EAB/ACEV senior leadership team which will be held this Saturday afternoon. Us leaders will be interviewing three candidates for probationary status as pastors. The first is Betinho who leads the Ibiara and Conceição churches. The second is Léo who leads the Juazeirinho church. The third is Fabrício Jr. who will be an assistant pastor to pastor Wostenes in Campina Grande. Each interview will probably last about half an hour and the starting time of the meeting will be 7 pm UK time so please do pray for us. We praise God for this new generation of leaders coming through the ranks here. The second and third candidates have already graduated from Bible College. The first is in the middle of his course of theology and will only be ordained after he has graduated. We value your prayers for this meeting.

I have been preparing for this Sunday's service which we will be at in person again like last week. I will be leading the service again and this week Pastor Lucena will be preaching.

I have finished writing 78 years of EAB/ACEV history so I have just two years to go! I aim to definitely publish the book with the history of EAB/ACEV's first 80 years' history this year. I have written in Portuguese from 1938 to 2016 so I'm nearly there!

I have just had a longish meeting with Sacha in her capacity as leader of the Patos Worship team. She is doing an excellent job.

Fireman

I have some good news today. Our Fireman Romildo, his wife and 3 children, who all have Covid, are all getting much better. PTL! Our Veterinary Surgeon Marcelo Sá is off oxygen and slowly improving from Covid. My journalist friend Marcelo Negreiros has left hospital and is slowly getting over Covid. The latter two Marcelos have had particularly strong versions of Covid. Thank you for praying. 

I finished reading "The Blitz Detective" by Mike Hollow last night. It is a thoroughly enjoyable well researched and well written novel set in east London in 1940.

I have had a Google Meet online meeting with Pastor Renilson and his wife Getiane, from Matureia up in the mountains, this morning to discuss different aspects of our Action School there. It was a very good meeting. They are a lovely couple doing a great work for God.    

Grandfather

EAB's chairman of the Board of Trustees Roy Dyer is now a grandfather! Congratulations to Roy and family! Welcome to baby Lucy Joy and congratulations to her parents Josh and Kira! The fact that Kira run a half marathon to raise funds for EAB is certainly significant to this happening. If you want to have a beautiful baby girl then run a half marathon for EAB! 😂

Today is our grandson Lucas's 14th birthday. Happy birthday Lucas! Since Lucas went to England last September he has switched from being a boy to a man with a deep voice! He is doing very well at school which he is enjoying I am glad to say.

We ask you to pray for EAB/ACEV's Action Schools in this time of extreme Covid pandemic here in Brazil. The schools have long adapted to the new reality and teach online for who has access to internet and teach via written lessons, which are dropped of to the children's houses, for those who don't have access to internet. The children's families receive food parcels from our schools. Our Action Schools give poor children extra help and teaching so as to help them shine at their regular government schools. EAB Action Schools seek to give very poor children a good start in life with special help in primary education.

The Covid pandemic is getting worse again here. The intensive care beds at the Patos General Hospital are 100% full today. Please pray.

Idiots

The President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro publicly called everyone who self-isolates yesterday "idiots"! This sadly is the aggressive level of insanity which leads, or misleads, this country. It is no wonder that Brazil is in the mess with the Covid pandemic that it is. Whereas most presidents and prime ministers demand self-isolation where possible, wearing of masks and social distancing, our president does and says exactly the opposite!

Yesterday our brother Neneto from our Curral Velho (Old Cow Pen) church was released from hospital in the town of Piancó where he had been for 3 weeks, of which 16 days were in intensive care. He was picked up in a car to take him home and was escorted home to Curral Velho by a cavalcade of motorbikes sounding their horns! There was great jubilation at Neneto's recovery. I saw the video of the cavalcade and it was quite something. Thank you for praying.

Yesterday Liz and I did a long session of telephone counselling with a person who leads one of the EAB/ACEV churches whose marriage is in serious difficulties. I can't give names or place, but please pray for this couple. It's a very complex matter.

A bird researcher from the town of Mossoró in Rio Grande do Norte State has contacted me asking for permission to use some photos of mine of a fascinating bird called a Nyctibius griseus. My photos are going to be used to illustrate a scientific paper about this bird which stays stationary all day on the top of high tree stumps and only flies off to hunt and eat at night.

Jo Dalton

We have just received the sad news that our dear friend, in England, Jo Dalton passed away yesterday. She was the wife of the ex-chairman of the EAB Board of Trustees Bob Dalton. It was their son Ian Dalton who kindly phoned to let us know, at Bob's request, and for which we are very grateful. Jo was a lovely Christian woman and medical doctor. She visited the work of EAB here in Brazil with Bob and was very influential with her tremendous faith in the purchase of the EAB/ACEV church building and land in João Pessoa on the coast of Paraiba. We send our deepest sympathy to Bob and family as they come to terms with their sad loss. May God's Spirit comfort them and may they be blessed as they think back over Jo's fruitful life.  

In person

Having had our two doses of Coronavac Chinese vaccine our doctor gave us the green light to return, with caution, to in person services in church. The Chinese vaccine is not the best, as even the Chinese manufacturers admit, but it was what was offered to Liz and I so we took it as better than nothing. It was absolutely great to be back in church! I led the service and Rafael preached. It was a lovely service. The folk at church were very happy to have us back so all in all it was a special day yesterday.

Talking about special days, today is the twenty-first twenty-first birthday of our great friend and co-worker in mission Marian Rashleigh. Happy birthday Marian! Hope you are having a great day there in Blighty 4 hours ahead of us.

I had a good talk after church last night with Nurse Liliane, who is a member of our church, married to Claudivan. Liliane works 100% of the time with Covid patients over the past 14 months and has never caught Covid. It is amazing how this virus works. Some don't get it despite enormous exposure, others get it mildly, others get it severely and others die. It is an amazingly challenging time in which we live! Here in Brazil we are still seeing around 2,000 deaths a day, which is certainly better than the 4,000 mark we had reached, but it still is a very high number. And the President keeps attacking the state governors who combat the pandemic. The man is unhinged and never fit to be president of a nation of over 200 million people.

Please pray for Pastor Francinaldo's wife, at our Manaíra church, who has just gone down with Covid. Her name is Carla Lécia. 

Short back and sides!

What a relief it was yesterday to have my haircut after months! It's what you might call a weight off my shoulders! 👨 I detest my hair long. Our hairdresser Rose came to our house and cut our grandson Arthur's hair, then did Liz's before me. That leaves us all nice and ready to lead the service in person tonight in the Patos church. I feel quite excited about it!

EAB's magazine InTouch edition 95 has now been sent to everyone on our email list digitally, to add to the snailmail version already sent to those on that address list. If you know of anyone who would like to receive a free copy please do let us have their address. This magazine can also be read online on the EAB website at www.eabrazil.org .

An entire family from our Patos church has Covid. The Dad is our Fireman Romildo and his wife Claudia also has it as do their 3 children. Please pray for this family. Please also continue to pray for José and Chiquinha in João Pessoa who both continue in hospital in intensive care. I spoke to Chiquinha's brother yesterday who is EAB/ACEV's pastor José Vieira who thanked everyone for their prayers and said they are very gravely ill.

I have been talking to our projects team about all the excellent work done this week teaching women more about profitable cooking and icing cakes. They also got some new market gardens started and set up the start of more chicken runs too. They also distributed more goats in the 4-Legs Project. So praise God - the work presses on!

Louisa

Louisa is our second eldest grandchild at the ripe old age of twenty one. She is in the final year of studying law at university and doing very well there too. Louisa went to England last September with her parents Philip and Gylmara and with her brothers Lucas and Luis. However she returned to Brazil this January to complete her degree and has been staying up till yesterday between our daughters Lynn and Sacha's houses. However everyone felt it was the right time now, with our second dose of Covid vaccine taken over 3 weeks ago, for Louisa to move into our house which was always the plan. So we are very happy to have our lovely Louisa with us and her pug dog Apollo who had been staying with our daughter Deborah. Please pray for Louisa. She is part of the 3-person youth leadership team in the Patos church and is also an excellent vocalist in the praise and worship band.

I would like you to keep praying for our veterinary doctor Marcelo who is ill with Covid. He has now been allowed home from hospital because he can afford his own oxygen cylinder which he still needs a lot. He told me yesterday that he still feels absolutely awful and desperately weak. He says he can hardly stand on his own feet. He thanks everyone for praying for him. Thank you for praying for Neneto from Curral Velho also who is now breathing without help from as intubater. 

I have been talking to Sister Nenem who leads our São Vicente do Seridó church. We discussed the situation at this small town where there are shoot-outs of late at night. We decided to switch the Sunday night service to the afternoon for the safety of our church folk. Please pray for this situation.

EAB's magazine 'InTouch' - edition 95 should have reached you by now. If you would like a free copy please do let me know giving me your address. 

Doctor's

Liz and I went to our doctor's yesterday for a routine checkup for the first time in an awful long time. Our doctor's name is Felícia. Liz and I are both well thank the Lord. I just need to increase by protein intake and Liz is going to have some vitamin B12 injections but apart from these minor adjustments we are fine. Dr. Felícia also said that now we are over three weeks after our second dose of vaccine we can return to in person services at church as long as we take all take the necessary precautions of social distancing and wearing masks of course. Liz and I are therefore very happy and grateful to God to be able to be going back to church in person as from this Sunday. I will be getting my hair cut tomorrow in preparation for this which will be quite a relief! 😀 I will lead the service on Sunday and my assistant pastor will preach.

Yesterday we had a good rain of 40 mm which is not far short of 2 inches. This takes us up to a total this year of 487 mm. This leaves us far short of what we need for it to be a good year but we hope and pray for some more good rains in May. In João Pessoa on the coast yesterday they had flash flooding with abundant torrential rain there!

Our projects team has been out distributing sheep to poor families in Diamante County. The people benefitted by our 4-Legs Project opted for hair sheep rather that goats in this case. Some prefer sheep as they are somewhat easier to control than goats.

In Touch 95

Edition number 95 of EABs bi-annual magazine 'InTouch' is in the post and on it's way to everyone. Our thanks go to Marian Rashleigh for all the work she has put into this edition as she always does. If you are not on our mailing list and would like one or more copies then please do let us know. The 8-page magazine gives a resumé of the work of EAB over the past months.

Yesterday Philip and I conducted the wedding online of Brenda and Victor and all went off beautifully. The couple asked to use the church's side hall for the occasion so they were there from 9 am for the legal part with the judge, together with Brenda's sister and mother and our worker Lila. The judge married a whole host of couples online one after another. As our couple was well down the list it meant that our Christian part of the wedding started about half and hour later than the 10 am that was planned. That was no problem. In fact if things are on time in Brazil we think something is wrong! I prayed with them and then Philip read part of 1 Corinthians 13. I then shared a few thoughts from God's Word with them and then they said their vows and exchanged rings. Following this I declared them husband and wife and they timidly kissed. Then Philip said a few words to them before he said the final prayer and blessing. May the Lord bless Brenda and Victor!

Our Patos church Fireman Romildo has been confirmed with Covid and his symptoms are mild so far. This is day 9. Please continue to pray for Romildo. Please also continue to pray for our Veterinary Doctor Marcelo with Covid in hospital in Campina Grande. We understand that he is out of danger now but still needs oxygen. 

Wedding

I have long lost count of how many weddings I have conducted over the years but I have never done one online. However a young woman from our Patos church called Brenda is marrying Victor from one of our Campina Grande churches tomorrow on line. At 9 am they go before a judge online and do the legal part and then at 10 am they come to me online to conduct the Christian ceremony. I prepared everything for this yesterday. Philip will also be taking part from the UK as Brenda wants him to take part as Philip was the youth pastor here so there is a nice affinity. Please pray for this online wedding and that God might bless this couple, Victor and Brenda, who will be starting out life together in such turbulent times.

Sunday's service went off beautifully. Sacha led it so well. Much better than the assistant pastor to be honest. I preached focusing on the Mums on Mother's Day and it went very well. I had a lot of positive feedback which is always encouraging. A young woman called Dilma also brought a beautiful poem for the mothers.

Last night Liz and I spent hours revising the entire Patos church register which has details of all members, non-members who regularly attend who are Christians and non-members who regularly attend who are not committed Christians yet. The register is divided into families and has everyone's address, phone number and date of birth. The latter being so that we can congratulate those who had birthdays each week in church. People like this.

Please continue to pray for Neneto from our Curral Velho (Old Cow pen) church. He is the brother of Tica who leads the church there, with her husband Ramos, and he has a serious version of Covid and continues in intensive care at Piancó. He is very ill.  

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day in Brazil as it always is on the second Sunday in May. I see that Portugal has switched theirs from December to the first Sunday in May, as countries who are majority Roman Catholic tend to do as they have May as the month of Mary. Anyway I will be preaching in the Mother's Day service in a few hours' time and Sacha will be leading. My assistant pastor has gone to be with his mother at Soledade, which is about and hour and a quarter from Patos by car.

We have a fireman in the Patos church called Romildo and he has all the symptoms of Covid, but awaits confirmation, or not, from the test. Please pray for Romildo.

José Renildo, who was an EAB/ACEV pastor at the beach church of Jacumã near João Pessoa, is travelling with his wife Tânia to Portugal to live today. Please pray for their journey and settling in to a different climate, culture and a different version and accent of the Portuguese language. They are going there to live with their daughter but who knows if an EAB/ACEV church might not start up there. I am not saying this is planned but it could happen. Certainly some of our pastors are already praying for it to happen!

The death toll in the police shoot out in a Rio de Janeiro slum has gone up from 25 to 28! The confusion about the number only goes to show the chaos involved. The massacre is being highly criticized here by many although the right wing supports it. Brazil's vice-president who is an army General said all the victims were "bandits" before they were all even identified! Some Brazilians use the slogan "a good bandit is a dead bandit" and sadly many evangelical Christians say this.

Massacre

 We seem to be surrounded by death here in Brazil! A 36 year old man is another that has just died from Covid in Patos and thousands are dying everyday here with the government continuing to back pedal on doing anything which helps combat the pandemic.

Then yesterday came the horrific massacre of 24 men in Rio de Janeiro in the Jacarezinho slum/shanty town or favela as its called in Portuguese. The massacre was carried out by 200 highly armed police who sealed off part of the slum and killed 24 men. One policeman was killed too. Many are calling this attack an "execution" raid done by a "death squad". That this shanty town is in the grip of organized drug crime is a fact, but it doesn't justify extrajudicial executions. My friend and pastor colleague Antonio Carlos Costa has the headquarters of his work exactly in Jacarezinho and he is horrified by what happened yesterday. The United Nations Human Rights office has strongly criticized this the deadliest raid in Rio de Janeiro's history. Residents say police killed suspects who wanted to surrender and entered homes without a warrant. Police deny any wrong doing. One man is said to have been executed in the same room as an eight-year-old girl. I have seen a video of the room with pools of blood on the floor. Please pray for Brazil.

102

Francisco and Leca are the couple who look after the every day things at Green Pastures and they are a lovely couple. Francisco's grandmother has just died at the age of 102! She was lucid and active to the end. She used to watch soaps on TV every night and she spent time in prayer every night too. She made her own breakfast the day she died. In the evening she was watching TV when she put her hand to her chest and she was gone. What a long life and what a way to go!

Thank you for praying for our Vet Dr. Marcelo Sá who is a member of the Patos church. He is improving from Covid and has come out of intensive care. Please pray for Tica who leads the work at Curral Velho church with her husband Ramos. She has gone down with Covid as has her brother Neneto. She has no symptoms as yet but Neneto is very ill and in intensive care intubated. 

I forgot to mention that our partnership with Tearfund had its 30th anniversary on March 1st. On that day in 1991 I visited Tearfund's headquarters at Teddington, just near Bushy Park, and had a very fruitful meeting with Jennie Evans who was the coordinator for Latin America. That was the start of this long partnership which still goes on today for the glory of God.

Blitz

This week I received a new book to read which was written by Mike Hollow and called the Blitz Detective. I have read 4 chapters thus far and it is very good. It is set in East London in World War II. I like Mike's style of writing. I have known Mike since he came to Brazil back in the 90s with Tearfund to make a video about the work here. 

Talking about publications let me mention that EAB's bi-annual magazine InTouch edition 95 is at the printers and should be falling on your doormat this month if you are on our mailing list. Please let me know if you would like to join the list.

I have been talking to our leader at Belem called Naldinho about his practical work linked to his Bible College course. He is a very dedicated brother. The work we do training young leaders is of great importance to the future of the work here.

I have been talking again to Pastor Umbirajara, who is the João Pessoa regional leader, about Cleiton who is to take on the leadership of the Jacumã church now that José Renildo is moving to Portugal. I have said goodbye to our brother on the phone.

Please pray for Dr Marcelo from our Patos church who is a Vet. He has now gone into intensive care with Covid.

I have prepared my sermon for next Sunday which is Mother's Day in Brazil. 

Baby Liz

As times goes by we have had had some children named after us around the EAB/ACEV churches. For instance, there's a little boy at our Belém church who is the son of the leaders who is called John and now there is a baby girl called Liz who was born to a young couple called Tony and Milena in the Patos church. They have now moved to João Pessoa and 2 month old baby Liz was taken ill during last night. Liz received frantic WhatsApp messages from Milena at 2 am telling us that baby Liz is really ill and was taken into hospital so we prayed for her at 2 am. Please pray for baby Liz who has some sort of infection blood tests have shown. 

Yesterday was a very hectic day with lots of pastors on the phone to me sorting out a variety of issues. Pastor Francinaldo at Manaíra told me that 85 year old Silvino is much better from Covid and a stroke and his daughters are going to take him to São Paulo, where they live, to look after him there. I don't think Silvino will like it in a big dirty city but he doesn't have much choice.

Another matter that Pastor Francinaldo discussed with me is the possibility of taking on a young man called Fábio Furtado as a new worker in Manaíra County. I agreed to this and this is a particularly interesting case because Fábio was an EAB Action Child at Caroá a long time ago. When he grew up he did a degree in theology at our Princesa Isabel Bible College and he is the worship leader at Caroá. Now we will be taking him on as a worker to help with the church plants at Travessia and Fonseca. Please pray for Fábio.

Yet another matter I discussed with Francinaldo is the building of the church at Travessia in his County. We have decided to go ahead with this by faith this year. We have the land already. The church building will cost about 4,000 pounds and we have 350 pounds to date so please pray with us on this.

Up in the Mountains

 I have just had a long talk to Pastor Maésio and his wife Fia who lead the EAB/ACEV church up in the mountains at Teixeira. They have problems in the church there with a deacon giving a bad testimony linked to pornography and asked me what they should do about it. I advised them to talk to the brother which they have not yet done. The first step must be to listen to the person in question and then go from there. They promised to do that and let me know what happens. Please pray for this matter.

My sermon went well in the service last night despite an initial internet hiccup caused by a mistake that our technical man made. Once that was sorted all went well. It was the communion service and young assistant pastor Rafael got in a bit of a muddle at the beginning forgetting to distribute the emblems, but our Bible College student Mailson discreetly prompted him to get things on track.

José Vieira is one of our pastors on the coast at João Pessoa where EAB/ACEV has a number of churches. He is one of our pastors who has had Covid and recovered. Now he is asking urgent prayer for his sister Chiquinha and her husband José who are both seriously ill in hospital in intensive care. Please pray. 

It's Six!

Today is our granddaughter Amanda's 6th birthday. She is the daughter of Lynn Amanda and Hutan. She was born very tiny and very premature but praise God she is growing up into a lovely healthy young lady. Please remember our grandchildren in your prayers. May they all follow Jesus Christ is our prayer and may they all be kept healthy in these trying times.

Our 3 daughters are all in Patos and each has 2 children. Our son Philip is in England since last September I think it was. He is there with his wife and sons Lucas and Luis. Their elder sister Louisa, who is 21, is in Brazil.

The rainy season here continues to be weak. This year the first 4 months of 2021 only saw 433 mm at Green Pastures Nature Reserve & Christian Conference Centre whereas the average rainfall in this period over the previous 5 years was 714 mm. 2021 is going to be a tough year in more ways than one. The lake and stream remain bone dry. May is still a month in which we can receive some rain so we hope and pray that this will happen in abundance.

Birthday

Liz and I have just been to Josinete's house to wish her a happy birthday in drive through style. Josinete is a very faithful deaconess in the Patos church and is always very willing to serve God and her neighbour. Now Liz is cooking egg, chips and peas for lunch.

Last night we had a nice chat to our eldest daughter Deborah. It is odd with Liz, myself and Deborah all masked and sat far apart, but these are the times we live in. It was lovely to talk and to pray together.

I value your prayers for me tomorrow as it's my turn to preach in Patos. I will be preaching on the fear of the Lord.