Baptismal Service

A baptismal service was held at Imaculada at the weekend. 5 were baptized from the Imaculada church plus 1 from the Sítio Glória church in the same county. We rejoice with the progress of the work in that region.

Yesterday I received a phone call from a man called Marrey who is a producer for the TV Globo which is the largest Brazilian TV network equivalent to the BBC in the UK. He phoned from the south of Brazil as he had heard of our Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre and is thinking of doing a programme about us. In the chat we had he kept asking "why on earth did you decide to do such a work in such a dry region?" I was able to tell him that Green Pastures is part of the much wider work of EAB/ACEV. We shall see what evolves. Watch this space!

Yesterday was Saint Peter's Day and the fireworks were a bit louder than on Saint John's Day, but still not as bad for fireworks as normal years.

We are sending 10 stacking plastic chairs to the Aparecida Settlement Village in São Mamede County as the little weekly outdoor services there are developing under Sister Dodora's leadership and this week some neighbours are being invited to attend. Up till now the services have been for the extended family. Please pray for this venture.

Special prayer is requested for Ana Paula in Campina Grande. She is the wife of Pastor Hamilton who leads the second EAB/ACEV church in the borough of Presidente Médici and she has now gone into intensive care with Covid.  

Church roof

In this past week we put the roof on our new church building we are constructing at Travessia village in Manaíra County. The overall building is 12 metres long by 6 metres wide. The actual church area is 9 m x 6 m with a three metre room at the back for a toilet and shower plus storage space. To put the roof on, hefty beams of wood are put first and then thinner wood is nailed to the beams so as to make a wooden mesh which can support the clay roofing tiles. All this work was done this week and the roof is complete with clay tiles. In the coming week we will do the electric wiring and then start the plastering of the walls.

Other building work done this week was at our Vazante and Barra de Oitis churches. At Barra de Oitis many lorry loads of earth were brought in to fill in the entrance area to the church, which was needed owing to the dip in the land in the location. At Vazante the entrance area to the church was finished and the church flooring tiles were started being put down. We are very pleased with all the building work progress here despite the pandemic.

We have received a prayer request from Kecinho who is a PE teacher and a member of our Patos church. His mother and his little daughter have both gone down with Covid-19. Please pray for them.

I watched part of the first half yesterday between Wales and Denmark and switched off with the score 0 x 0. I discovered later that Wales lost 4 x 0 so my forecast of a 2 x 0 defeat wasn't too far off. Now we wait for Tuesday and the England game.

Ecotheology

I enrolled yesterday in the London School of Theology's (LST)  Summer Conference to be held from the 6th to the 8th of July online, from 5 am to 9 am each day, which is 9 am to 1 pm in the UK. The theme this time will be Evangelical Approaches to Ecotheology and the keynote speaker will be Dr. Dave Bookless who is Director of Theology for the Christian conservation organization A Rocha International. Also speaking at the event will be Dr. Martin and Rev. Margot Hodson. This is the third such an event at LST that I will be taking part in during the pandemic so every cloud has a silver lining. The topic this time is very close to my heart and life. These LST conferences are challenging, enriching and excellent ways to recharge one's spiritual batteries.

Talking about recharging spiritual batteries I am reading "The Mission of God's People" by Christopher J.H. Wright which is a wonderful book which I highly recommend. It is such readable theology and very challenging too. It is right in line with our integral mission approach. I have just passed the halfway mark in the book.

I have just received the news that our church sound control man Elysson Pergentino, who is about 20, has got Covid. Please pray for him. He is understandably scared. We paid 18 pounds for him to have the test as the government free tests have run out and we needed to know where we are with Elysson. He didn't have the money to pay for the test.

Last night's meeting at the Aparecida II Settlement Village was again blessed of God. It is led by Dodora and Paulo who are a lovely couple who run one of EAB's Market Garden projects. I really feel that they are going to be greatly used of God spreading the Gospel in their region. Please pray for Dodora and Paulo.

Saint John's Day

Yesterday (24th) was Saint John's Day which normally is a very big party time with bonfires, loud fireworks and late night or all night dancing. This day is especially culturally important in northeast Brazil. However this year the state and municipal governments banned all the festivities to try and stem the flow of Covid-19. Some people still went ahead with their fireworks but it was a lot less than normal.

Meanwhile President Bolsonaro visited the northeast of Brazil campaigning to be re-elected next year (God forbid!). He was not wearing a mask and I saw him on videos when he made two different children remove their masks when they were performing for him!

I spent yesterday preparing a sermon to preach in Patos on the Children of Abraham from Genesis 12:1-3.

This morning I have been talking to Pastor Hamilton in Campina Grande who tells me his wife Ana Paula continues in hospital with Covid but she is improving. He says that if she continues the way she is she will hopefully be sent home by Monday. Please continue to pray for Ana Paula.

I will make my forecasts for the British teams in the football European Championship. My guess is that Wales will lose to Denmark 2 x 0 and that England will beat Germany 2 x 1.

Chicken Pen

A new chicken pen has been built at Barra de Oitis Village as part of our 2-wings project. The family benefitted by the project is that of Cícero Mariano de Silva and his wife Francisca Nicolau da Silva. They have 3 children and the family is part of the EAB/ACEV church in the village. The chicken pen comes complete with 7 lovely laying hens so as to guarantee a good supply of fresh eggs for the family.

I took part yesterday in an online meeting about renewable energy in our State of Paraíba. The meeting was organized by the Roman Catholic church who invited me to take part in the light of my commitment to caring for God's creation. The Bishop Dom Eraldo also took part as well as 3 other priests. All of those of us in the meeting are in favour of renewable energy sources via solar energy and wind turbines. However what is being questioned is the way these technologies are being implemented in our State. For instead of subsidizing solar energy panels on houses and buildings all around the State what is proposed are massive solar energy farms which will destroy thousands of acres of forest and vegetation in the process. One such solar energy farm is being proposed for São Mamede and Santa Luzia Counties which would destroy 5,000 acres of caatinga forest. We hope and pray that some sort of agreement can be reached with the big-money companies planning to build the solar energy farms which also have government support.

Please pray for Ana Paula who is Pastor Hamilton's wife in Campina Grande. Ana Paula has Covid and has taken a turn for the worse and been admitted to hospital. Pastor Hamilton and their daughters are getting over it but just Ana Paula has a stronger version of the virus. It's strange how this virus works because 4 people in the same family got the virus together and just one needs hospital treatment.

We are very encouraged this week with the news that an EAB supporter is to fund the drilling and equipping of 2 wells in this semi-arid region of northeast Brazil. Each well, completely installed with water tanks, submersible pumps, piping, water troughs etc., costs 5,000 pounds. We are especially encouraged, first of all because we are in a poor year for rain where the need is greater that usual, and secondly because Tearfund is only funding one well this year with none next year. We have a queue of villages and communities crying out for help, and we were praying about what to do, so we're very pleased with this answer to prayer. The wells will bear the name (on a plaque) of the donor's late wife, which is rather nice.

We praise God too for donations that have come in for another toilet/shower unit and another chicken pen. We thank everyone for support for the work here and for all your prayers.

On a lighter note let me tell you that I watched England beat Czechoslovakia in the Euro football. They played better than against Scotland but it wasn't exactly inspiring stuff. They're going to need to improve if they are going to stay in the tournament.   

In-person Service

Last night's main service of the week was back to an in-person service again after a two week break. The authorities here are at sixes and sevens with their lack of controls for Covid and just keep taking measures in dribs and drabs. It is a mess in Brazil in which we have now passed half a million deaths from the pandemic! Sadly one of the latest victims was Pastor Fátima of a Pentecostal church in João Pessoa whom we knew very well. Her and her husband were a lovely couple we have known for years. First he died with Covid a week or two ago and this weekend she died. What a tragedy! Their poor children and church don't know what's hit them. Please pray for this family. Half a million deaths and still the president discouraging people to get vaccinated and playing everything down. What an immoral mess!

Anyway I led the service last night, Sacha led the praise and worship and Pastor Lucena preached God's Word. It was a blessed service. The church of course had a small number present owing to the rules on social distancing, and it's very odd singing with masks on, but we press on! Many take part in the service via YouTube and Facebook.

I have been having further discussions this morning with our projects team regarding the new market garden project at Belém Village in Tavares County where we have a thriving little church plant. The location of the new market garden has been defined by our team together with the small holding owner. The project will be a fine sign of the kingdom in this village. Please pray.  

Match

I watched the England x Scotland football match yesterday afternoon and I was not surprised to see it was a close game which could have gone either way. I thought QPR's Dykes played very well for Scotland and I can't see England getting very far in the tournament.

Last night's training session for our online communications team went very well and lasted 3 hours!

I went to an ophthalmologist yesterday as a few days ago I woke up in the morning with a swollen left eye and every morning it has been the same. I thought it was going to be a sty or that Liz was bashing me in the night! The doctor prescribed some drops and an ointment to put in the eye at night. I awoke today with the eye much better.

I finished reading René Padilla's book on integral mission yesterday just before the football. It was very good. I have traced another book on the same subject to a used book shop in São Paulo so am in the process of buying it. The book is from 1992. In the meantime I am going to have a look at C.J.H. Wright's - The Mission of God's People, which I already have.

I have just spoken to Caetano from our church in Patos who has been in hospital with Covid but is now home and improving from the after effects of the disease. I have also been talking to the daughter of Pastor Fátima of a Pentecostal church in João Pessoa who is dangerously ill in hospital with Covid. Fátima is in intensive care and doesn't know that her husband has died with Covid whilst she fights the disease. Please pray.

This week's work on the church building being erected for the glory of God at Travessia Village in Manaira County has gone well. We are now almost ready to start putting the roofing timber on.

Projects

I had extensive meetings with our projects team yesterday to discuss the next stages to be carried out with Chicken Runs, Market Garden, 4-Legs (goats) and Toilet/Shower units. A new Market Garden is to be set up at Belém Village in Manaíra County where EAB/ACEV has a small church. The family to be benefitted is extremely happy. Then another Toilet/Shower unit is to be built at Barra de Oitis. We discussed location options for the next phase of the 4-Legs Project at maybe Juazeirinho or São Vicente do Seridó Counties. I also expect further news on the 2-Wings Chicken Runs Project by next week. So we praise God that our projects continue to press on despite the difficulties with the pandemic.

On the Covid front I am glad to report that our pastor Fabrício Junior and his wife Gaby (Campina Grande) have been given the all clear and they have now come out of quarantine and returned to normal work. Caetano in Patos - the father of baby Moses - is starting to feel better he told me last night. However Pastor Hamilton in Campina Grande is worse and is feeling awful. Please pray for him and all his family who all have Covid.

Tonight, Thursday, is Bible Study night in Patos and it will be online.  

Caetano

Caetano, you may remember, is the father of the baby Moses who I dedicated recently. Well we learnt yesterday that he is worse with Covid and that both his wife and dentist Rebeca and their 9 month old son Moses have Covid. Caetano has lost 25% of his lung capacity and is very depressed. I talked to him yesterday, prayed for him and tried to encourage him. Please pray for Caetano, Rebeca and baby Moses.

This is the time of year when it is warmest in the UK and coolest here. We hear that it is quite warm in the UK today. Here our lowest temperature in the night was 21 degrees centigrade, at the moment it is 30 degrees and our maximum today will be 33 degrees.

Yesterday Liz and I went to Green Pastures to do a general check up on the water pumping system from 2 deep bore wells to all the dormitories, toilets etc. This year the rains were very poor so we have no water in the lake or river and the wide-mouth wells are totally dry. Thus it is very important to keep the deep bore wells fully operational through submersible electric pumps, as everything depends on them until next year for both Green Pastures wild life and events, plus all our neighbouring families who depend on us for water too. We did the check up yesterday together with Francisco, who runs Green Pastures on a day to day basis for us, and his wife Leca. They are a lovely couple and are doing a much better job of caring for Green Pastures than the previous people did. Whilst there yesterday we saw that 3 bathroom doors need to be replaced to old bathrooms that weren't previously overhauled. We will replace the old warped and shabby doors with aluminium ones. Our hope and prayer is for the pandemic to be sufficiently improved here by the time of next May so that we can hold our annual field conference at Green Pastures in person. All our leaders are praying for this to happen. 

This Friday night we will be holding a training evening at the Patos church for our technical team responsible for our online transmissions. We have contracted an expert to upgrade our team's knowledge and capabilities. I will be taking part in this training too.

Last night's Men's Fellowship meeting went well. Nine men took part in the online meeting.

Saint Anthony

Brazil being traditionally a Roman Catholic country means that many public holidays and festive dates have the names of Roman Catholic saints. In June, for example, the 13th is Saint Anthony's Day, the 24th is St. John's Day and the 29th is St. Peter's Day. To be culturally in tune here you also have to know that the day is always celebrated on the evening prior to the day. Hence Christmas Eve is when Christmas Day is celebrated etc. So it was that Saturday evening was St. Anthony's Eve, which is the equivalent to the British Valentine's Day, and our granddaughter Louisa (has no boyfriend at the moment) received a delivery of chocolates from an unidentified secret admirer! Liz and I had great fun guessing who it was with Louisa, but to no avail. Watch this space!

Another of our pastors - Hamilton in Campina Grande - has gone down with Covid together with his whole family of a wife and two grown up daughters. Please pray for this family. Whilst the pandemic carries on here, now fast approaching 500,000 deaths in Brazil, our irresponsible President is on a campaign to discourage people from wearing masks!

Last night's main service of the week went beautifully. I led the service, Sacha led the praise and worship, and young assistant pastor Rafael preached. I have just received a phone call from Josinete, who is a deaconess, telling me how she and her family were blessed by the service.

This morning I received my new driver's licence for the next three years. It was promised me in 2 days but it took 2 weeks as I had imagined it would.

Walls

The walls of the new EAB Travessia Village church in Manaira County have started to go up this week. The building team, led by our brother and elder from Caroá, Valdemar, have raised the front and back wall and one long side wall to a height of about 1.4 metres whilst the other long side wall is at about 80 cms high. The work will go slower next week as the team will have to use scaffolding, and this takes more time up. Valdemar is a lovely brother and an experienced builder. Please remember him in your prayers.

On Thursday our new young worker called Fábio Furtado went to hold a service at our little Fonseca Village church and it went very well. Fábio both sings well and preaches well. Fábio is now responsible for the two village churches of Fonseca and Travessia in the County of Manaíra. Both these villages are both needy spiritually and socially.

On Friday night Sister Dodora led a beautiful little open air service at the Aparecida Settlement Village in São Mamede County. This sister has real leadership qualities and is very dedicated. 

Cessna 208

It has been confirmed that there will be daily flights from Patos to Recife as from August 8th and the plane to be used will be a Cessna 208 Caravan which has a crew of 2 and which carries 9 passengers. The plane size will be increased according to demand. The flight will take between 1.5 to 2 hours as opposed to between 6 and 7 hours by road. The cost is being advertised as 33 pounds sterling which I think must be a promotional initial price.

We are surrounded by sad news of deaths I am afraid. Yesterday a good pastor friend, Nelson, of a Pentecostal church in João Pessoa died with Covid and his wife Fátima is gravely ill in intensive care. Yesterday too our pastor Jânio in Campina Grande lost his father to a heart attack.

Last night I watched a neighbour with Covid being put into an ambulance to be taken to a hospital in João Pessoa. I prayed for her at the time. The lady called Ritinha was cared for by two nurses dressed in what looked like space suits in a science fiction movie. Please pray for Ritinha.

Whilst all this is going on on a massive scale in Brazil the President continues to play down the pandemic. An enquiry into the ministry of health shows that they have no pandemic specialists, like epidemiologists, in their team. Government ineptitude is staggering!

Building work is going on at our Barra de Oitis Church. Builders are constructing a proper entrance to the church. Here in Patos it's the day for the midweek Bible study.

Bible College

One of the most encouraging things at this time is the number of Bible College students that we have from the EAB/ACEV churches. It is so encouraging to see the large number of students that we have studying at our Bible College in Campina Grande, or at Bible Colleges on the coast in João Pessoa, or at the on-line Colleges of FTSA and ISBL. So you can imagine how extra thrilled I was when this week our granddaughter Louisa, aged 21, enrolled in the FTSA 3-year theology degree course. She is coming to the end, by December, of her degree in law, so she sat the FTSA entrance exam and scored 97%. Not bad! 😉 Louisa starts her theology degree on July 1st. Please pray for her and all the other Bible College students we have.

I have done another radio interview. This happens quite often to me. Journalists phone me and ask me to do interviews on a variety of subjects. This time I was interviewed about the church and about how we are coping being back to exclusively online services again. It was a good opportunity for the Gospel.

Our first family doctor Olavo died this week aged 90. He was a lovely man who saw me through typhoid many moons ago and who operated on Liz when she was 13. Also our ex-town councillor friend Juracy Dantas died with Covid. 

Our daughter-in-law Gylmara is in hospital in the UK with a suspected appendicitis. They have now ruled out appendicitis after tests and a scan.

We have now been nearly a month without rain so our rainy season has been and gone. With a total of 492 mm (20.5 inches) so far in 2021 it means we only received about half of what was needed for a good year. The last quarter of 2021 will be tough.  

Travessia

The lovely little village of Travessia is in the County of Manaíra to the extreme west of Paraíba State. We drilled a well in the village a few years ago and that is being a really blessing to the place. Thus through the practical demonstration of God's love people have warmed to the Gospel and some have made commitments to Christ. Our ex-Action Child Fábio is now an EAB/ACEV worker in the village holding regular services there every week. Now we are starting to build a church at Travessia on land we previously acquired. The foundations have already been dug and building materials are being taken there. Lorry loads of sand, earth and rocks are now in place so as to build the foundations. Watch this space for the building news and please pray.

Last night's communion service went well. I preached and Rafael led. Lucas Conserva played the guitar for the worship as our regular player Tiago said he wasn't feeling up to it! He must be feeling his age in his twenties! These musicians can be a bit of a headache at times.

You may remember that on the previous Sunday (May 30th) I dedicated little Moses. Well fortunately I decided to not hold the baby in my arms, as I normally would, owing to the pandemic. The parents Caetano and Rebeca came and sat to one side on the stage and Moisés sat on his Mum's lap. We always give the parents a children's Bible on the occasion and this I did giving it to Caetano the Dad. Well yesterday, a week later, we received the news that Caetano has gone down with Covid-19 so please pray for him.

Please also pray for our senior sister Eva who has had a fall and broken her wrist. She will have to have surgery to put pins in.

I am enjoying reading in Portuguese a book by C. René Padilla on Integral Mission. Brother René I knew personally before he recently went to be with the Lord. We were together in Mexico in 2003 at a Micah Network Conference of which he was founder and president. René was born in Equador but lived in Argentina.

Sad day in Patos

Yesterday was a very dark day in Patos, where we have been living in the interior of northeastern Brazil for the past 49 years. The Covid pandemic is on the rampage here killing many people. Yesterday our County Council Secretary of Health, Segundo Brito, died with Covid at the age of 42. He was a man I knew well having taken part with him in community debates about public health issues in the past. His death has come as a great shock to us all, especially as he died so quickly with the disease. Then too yesterday another man I knew well died with Covid. He was the journalist Fábio Diniz, aged 44, whom I also knew well. Another young mother died yesterday with Covid, aged 35, showing how deaths in this pandemic are killing increasingly younger people. Please pray!

I will be preaching tomorrow on 'Being like Jesus - in Love' from 1 John 4:7-21. I value your prayers. Assistant pastor Rafael will lead the service. The Women's Fellowship in the Patos church is spending today in prayer and fasting. They have organized it so that someone is praying during every hour for 24 hours from midnight to midnight. I feel this is a lovely initiative. 

Finished

I finished writing in Portuguese the history of 80 years of EAB/ACEV last night from 1938 to 2018. It has been a very big task which has taken me years to do amidst all the other aspects of work. I now need to do a complete review of all 29 chapters plus insert photos. I value your prayers for this book which I plan to publish yet this year which will be an important tool for future generations.

I had a discussion with Pastor Lindon Carlos (Imaculada) yesterday about our teaching and training of young people for Christian ministry. It is great to see that in the County of Diamante we have 5 young students doing the ISBL Bible College with 3 at the Vazante church and 2, eight kilometers away at the Barra de Oitis church. This is extremely encouraging to see. Our partnership with this excellent College online is so good for out of the way places. 

We also discussed the leadership of the Sitio Glória church in Imaculada County which is going very well. Sisters Rita and Marcia are the leaders and they are doing an excellent job. Rita is another person who is studying theology with the ISBL online Bible College. Rita and Marcia are very integral mission aware and are highly active at a community level with social action, taking part in various committees in their County.

Our Vet Marcelo Sá came home to Patos yesterday as he steadily gets over a very heavy bout of Covid-19. Marcelo had been at Campina Grande for weeks. The young man Douglas (Matureia) is being released from the Patos General Hospital today having also recovered from Covid. We have now just learnt that 24 year old Fabrício Junior and his wife Gaby, from our 1st Church at Campina Grande, have gone down with Covid. In fact it's the second time that Fabrício had had the virus. He was given probationary status as a pastor last Saturday. Please pray for this couple.

Flights to Patos

It has been announced that as from August of this year three flights a week will start operating between Recife International Airport and our airstrip in Patos. We are told that a proper airport building is to be built so as to turn it into a proper airport as the runway is fine for Boeing 737s and smaller jets like that. The company to fly to Patos is Azul/Blue. This will be a great help to the likes of us when we travel to the UK as we will be able to fly from Patos to Recife and then from Recife to Heathrow via Lisbon. It should make things a lot easier cutting out the long journey by road to the airport.

As I foresaw would happen with the third wave of Covid infections on the rise, church in-person services have been suspended again by the State of Paraíba government amongst a wide range of restrictive lockdown measures to try and bring the spread of Covid more under control and save lives. Once again President Bolsonaro is against these restrictive measures so it's just as well we have a sensible Governor. A curfew has been reintroduced from 10 pm to 5 am as well.

Our son-in-law Witagiby (Biba) has a light version of the Covid-19 virus so he should be all clear by next week. Douglas from Matureia (aged 30) is improving too in hospital from Covid. We thank you for your prayers.

Son-in-law has Covid

Our son-in-law Witagiby, who is known as Biba, has Covid. He is married to our youngest daughter Sacha. They are the parents of our two granddaughters Alice and Bia. Please pray for Biba. So far he has a mild version of the virus.

Pleased also pray for a young man called Douglas who is a member of our Matureia church which is 45 minutes by car from Patos. Douglas also has Covid which worsened yesterday so he was brought to the Patos General Hospital yesterday where he was admitted.

I was very surprised yesterday to hear that the Copa América (bi-annual South American Nations Cup) is said to be going to be held in Brazil! It was originally supposed to be held partly in Columbia and partly in Argentina but Columbia said they couldn't do it owing to the widespread social unrest there. Then yesterday Argentina also bowed out of the tournament owing to the serious Covid situation there. However very quickly, too quickly in my view, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said the event could be held in Brazil as if Brazil didn't have a massive Covid problem. This is the typical populist attitude of Bolsonaro who has never taken the pandemic seriously and always tries to play it down. He clearly thinks Brazil staging the tournament at the last minute will be a vote winning strategy in the build up to next year's elections.

I have now finished 79 years of EAB/ACEV history in Portuguese for my book. My book will cover the period from 1938 to 2018 so I have just one year to go. Once I have finished the basic text for the 80 year period I will need to check the whole thing slowly and carefully and insert photos where appropriate.