On Thursday Liz and I travelled to Patuscada and Barra de Oitis communities, in Diamante County, for the official inauguration and thanksgiving service of toilet/shower units, market gardens, chicken runs and 4-legs goat projects. It took us 3 hours to get there with the last part on earth road which was terribly bumpy. Upon arriving we met up with our projects team and went for a 2-hour tour of the projects. As always, people were profusely grateful for the toilets and showers and for all the projects. What joy folk had in "having eggs to eat" from the chicken pens! How proud was Tico to show us his splendid market garden which has grown to a garden of Eden in just 16 months, amidst a bad drought. The paw-paw and banana trees (lots of them) were laden with fruit.
Having done a tour of the projects in the hot sun, with the temperature at 38 degrees, we headed for the Barra de Oitis church for a 5 pm thanksgiving service. The church was a buzz and filled with people despite it being an early start for a normal 7.30 pm start. The local church band kicked off with a song of thanks to God. The bass guitar player was very limited, but nobody cared. Our projects team leader Lindon Carlos then explained what had been achieved in recent months in that region and this was followed by a band from our Conceição church. This typical regional music band was composed of a piano accordionist, one enormous drum, one triangle and pastor Betinho on vocals. This band set the place alight! Then came Liz's turn and the pastor Manoel Abílio asked her to say something to the church as well as reading part of Mark 1. Then came my turn to preach the Gospel of Mark chapter 1. I preached the whole chapter in 15 minutes covering John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, Jesus' baptism and confirmation from heaven, Jesus' temptations, the calling of the first disciples, the casting out of demons and the healing of the sick. "This is Jesus Christ that the Gospel presents", I said. "With power over demons and sickness. Give your life to Christ tonight. Amen." A non-Christian man immediately took me at my word and asked for prayer because his son was trying to kill him. He said he needed the power of Jesus to keep him from demon power. We immediately prayed for the man.
The regional drum, triangle and accordion band did 2 more songs, the local women's choreography group danced a hymn, and then I closed in prayer. This was followed by a piece of cake and a cup of Guaraná (Brazil's answer to Coca Cola!) being distributed to everyone. After chatting to everyone we headed home by a different route than which we came by, as the locals told us it was safer from bandits. We took our social worker Marah Danielle with us in the jeep, ate sandwiches and chatted for the 3 hour journey home. We got to bed, at about midnight, exhausted, but happy in Jesus.
This Saturday we have a married couples fellowship day at Green Pastures, with a local church service at night. On Sunday I will lead the service in Patos and next Tuesday we will be back on the road again to inaugurate a new market garden at Belém in Tavares County. We value your prayers and support always.
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