Dear Deer!

I went for a walk at Green Pastures this afternoon with Francisco, who takes care of the place on a day to day basis, and we saw a Deer! It was probably an Ozotoreros bezoarticus but it could have been a Mazama gouazoubira. We saw it very clearly for about a minute as it gently ran through the bush near our dried up lake. The Deer was clearly quite fat despite the drought. Perhaps it is a pregnant female? This is only the second time I have seen a Deer in Brazil, just to show you how rare it is. I will not mention this on Facebook so as not to attract hunters.

I have been notified (email & text message) by the UK Passport Office in Durham that Liz's and my passport renewal applications were all correct and new passports are on their way to us. I also have discovered online that my new Brazilian passport is ready to be picked up.

I have been writing this blog for over 17 years. It started in August 2004. At first many people asked me what a blog was! I usually post what I've been doing and been involved with every other day, and then I post it out as the EAB Diary Update on the 8th and 22nd monthly.

I am reading 'Issues facing Christians Today' by John Stott. It is a very good book. I had been reading 'Surprised by Scripture' by N. T. Wright. Each chapter is a lecture he gave in different places in the USA. I don't know if the translation to Portuguese is bad or what it is, but I found the book heavy.

I led the service last night at Green Pastures and Bible College student Murilo preached the Word. He did very well. After the service we had a good talk to 2 couples who want to be baptized in the middle of 2022. It was a lovely chat we had with them. Parallel to this service the Christmas service for our Patos school was held and 2 adults plus 10 older children made commitments to Christ. Another service was blessed last night at Ipueira and the Deaf fellowship also had their meeting.

Granddaughter Louisa left yesterday for England. She was driven to the Recife airport by Netinho and her boyfriend Tiago. When she got to Lisbon they wouldn't let her board the flight for Heathrow as her Brazilian test result was not in English, so she had to do another quick test in Lisbon. Fortunately Liz had given Louisa the few Euros we had, just as she left Patos, so that she could pay for the test.