With the Lord

We have received the sad news that our dear sister in Christ Pat White went to be with the Lord today. Our prayers and thoughts are with her children Peter and Sarah and all the family. Pat was an EAB trustee for many years serving as EAB treasurer. Her late husband Ken was chairman of the EAB Board of trustees and their son Peter was also an EAB trustee and editor of our InTouch magazine for many years. EAB remembers the White family with much gratitude.

Happy New Year

Last night Liz went to the Women's Fellowship end of year get-together. They all went for a meal at a restaurant. Liz says it was a lovely time of fellowship with a good number present.

I have finished reading a book called 'The plausibility problem' (the church and same-sex attraction) by Ed Shaw. It is a good book written by a pastor in Bristol who is a celibate homosexual.

I went for a walk with Liz at Green Pastures and saw a pair of Burrowing Owls. One quickly hid in its burrow whilst the other just watched us perched on a fence post. Later we saw a pair of foxes ahead of us on the trail. They just stared at us before disappearing into the bush.

I have been preparing my sermon for Saturday evening which is New Year's Eve. The service will have various participations singing and testimonies. On New Year's Eve we do things differently.

We were dreaming of a wet Christmas

We always dream of a wet Christmas in view of the lack of rain and high temperatures in December. This year it didn't rain on Christmas Day but it did rain on Christmas Eve and the day before that. Hence we were thrilled to receive 64 mm of rain which is just over 2 and a half inches! PTL!

I preached at our Christmas Eve service and our youth group produced a wonderful cantata. It was an excellent service.

After church we had all the family to our house for the traditional Brazilian Christmas Eve supper which went off beautifully. On Christmas Day we had the traditional British Christmas lunch complete with stuffing and Christmas pudding which we had brought from England.

At night we had our Christmas Day service with the children doing their own Cantata which was lovely. Assistant pastor Rafael preached the Word. Then all the children received their presents round the Christmas tree.

Funeral

 I have just got home after conducting dear Sandra's funeral. There were just 30 present. Sacha missed her visit to the hairdressers to be able to do the singing and Mailson played an acoustic guitar. Liz opened in prayer and then we had a song. After this I read the Word and brought a brief message. This was followed by a second song ("Because He lives I can face tomorrow") then my assistant pastor Rafael brought another brief message. This was followed by a third song prior to me closing in prayer. The family were very grateful for the service and the Gospel was preached to those present.

With the Lord

 We received the sad news early this morning that Sandra Raquel (Down's syndrome) died in the night. Sandra was a member of our Patos church and had been steadily deteriorating in health in recent years. She was 48 years old although she looked much younger. We thank Danbury Mission for having helped her for many years. I will be conducting the funeral this afternoon.

Christmas service at school

Last night Liz and I took part in the Pastor Frank Dyer School's end of year Christmas service. We blocked off the street in front of the school and filled it with pupils, parents and staff. It was a lovely service. Especially nice was the singing by the children and a short play also performed by the children. At the end all the children and the staff received gifts and there were broad smiles all round.

We had a walk at Green Pastures and saw 3 Turkey Vultures up close. We also saw 2 Black Vultures by the lake.

Carnival Camp

 Every year we hold a camp at Green Pastures during the Brazilian carnival period which usually is in the month of February. The dates for the camp in 2023 are from the 18th to the 22nd of that month. We had a meeting with the church about the camp earlier this month and last night we held an excellent meeting of the camp leadership team. We defined the theme for the 7 services as "It is time to care". It is time to care for yourself emotionally and physically - care for the family - care for your neighbour in social action and with evangelism - care for the church and care for your spiritual life. Please pray for the camp and for all the preparations between now and then. Any contributions to help the poor go to the camp will be most welcome.

The World Cup final ended the tournament in great style. What a match! It ended with Argentina winning as I had forecast. 

On Sunday night we had a really good service in Patos which I led together with Rafael and I preached on the first Psalm. The service at Green Pastures on Saturday night went very well too.

Liz counselling

Liz spent quite some time this week counselling people. One session with 2 ladies lasted 2 hours. All went well and was blessed of God.

I will be preaching tomorrow in Patos and will be leading the Green Pastures service tonight.

Deborah and I walked at Green Pastures yesterday and heard and saw many birds. We saw Guira Cuckoos, Cactus Parakeet, Black Anis, and Pigmy Owls.

So the World Cup final will be between Argentina and France. My guess is that Argentina will win. 

Services

 Saturday night saw us holding 3 services at Green Pastures, Ipueira and Passagem. I took the service at Green Pastures, the Christians in Action team took the service at Ipueira and the youth took the service at Passgem including Pastor Rafael who dedicated 2 babies. All the services went well and were blessed of God.

Yesterday was "Bible Day" in Brazil and Sacha brought an excellent message from God's Word. I led the service. That was at night. In the morning we had our annual church business meeting which went off very well.

On Saturday afternoon I sadly watched England get beaten 2 x 1 by France in the World Cup and thus get eliminated. I thought England played fairly well but of course not well enough. Harry Kane's penalty miss was fatal.

Brazil Out

I today watched the sad spectacle of Brazil being knocked out of the World Cup by 4 x 2 on penalties after 1 x 1 in extra time. Croatia were the winners. Croatia played best in the first half as did Brazil in the second half and during extra time. However instead of defending deep in extra time after they had scored they carried on attacking flamboyantly and paid the price with Croatia's late equalizer.

Yesterday we visited an elderly sister from our church who is not attending the services. We had a long chat with Sister Socorro and a nice time of prayer.

Last night we had an excellent meeting with Pastor Rafael who is our assistant pastor. We had a wide ranging discussion about the church. 

I have read the A Rocha's (Christian environmental agency) annual review and it is very good. Our Green Pastures Nature Reserve is officially linked to A Rocha as a "friend" of A Rocha.

Sermon

I have prepared a sermon from the Psalms. It will be an exposition of the first Psalm.

Our eldest grandson has just managed to get himself a job. He is to be an architect's assistant with the Guedes Shopping Centre and Supermarket group. Felipe has a degree in architecture. We are very pleased for Felipe and thank God for answering our prayers.

I watched Brazil beat South Korea 4 x 1 in the World Cup. The first 36 minutes were scintillating stuff with Brazil 4 goals up. They took their foot off the throttle in the second half and just avoided injuries and yellow cards. It was great to see the players dancing after every goal. Especially good was the Pigeon dance after goal number 3 by Richarlisson in which even the manager joined in. Richarlisson's nick-name is pigeon!

Yesterday afternoon we had a nice walk at Green Pastures and observed (seeing or hearing) a number of birds. We heard a lot of Scarlet-throated Tanagers, Spot-backed Puffbird and saw a Chalk-browed Mockingbird, a Shiny Cowbird and a Southern Lapwing. If you put these names of birds in Google you can see photos of them.  

Counselling

Liz and I have had another longish session of counselling. This time it was with a couple who I shan't name. Please pray for this couple who need to get nearer to God.

On Saturday night I led the Green Pastures church service and Bible College student and journalist Ray spoke on Isaiah 9:1-7. Fred, Manoel and a group of women sang. It was a good service. At Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte state a service was also held and led by brother Dedé of the Christians in Action group. A group from Patos also went to Juazeirinho for their anniversary service. I led the service in Patos last night and assistant pastor Rafael preached.

Prior to the Sunday service I watched the England x Senegal match in the World Cup which England won 3 x 0. England played very well and in the second half scored 3 goals and just didn't let Senegal play. I don't think Senegal got a shot in during the second half. So now England will play France in the quarter-finals which will be quite a match!

Rain

We had another 14 mm of rain (over half an inch) at the end of November bringing the total rainfall in the month to 110 mm (4 and a half inches). To get rain in November here is extremely rare so we are very happy! This means we have had 1,210 mm of rain this year (50 inches) which is a record high.

Liz and I have had two good counselling sessions with different people. I can't give their names. Both sessions were really fruitful with one especially including a request for forgiveness which was beautiful. It is also lovely to see a young family back in church after a long time away. Praise God!

I watched England beat Wales 3 x 0 in the World Cup and Brazil loose to Cameroons 1 x 0. I thought England played quite well. Brazil played with their reserves.

After the Brazil match I had my haircut. I had it cut nice and short which is how I like it. It was far too long up till yesterday as I hadn't had it cut since I was in the UK. 

Ophthalmologist

I went to my ophthalmologist (eye doctor) this morning as my eyes are somewhat inflamed owing to an allergy the doctor says. I have been put on antibiotic eye drops 4 times a day for 2 weeks.

Yesterday evening Sacha had a minor accident in a car when she accidentally turned the wrong way up a one-way street in Patos. The street has recently been made one-way. She collided with a young woman on a motorbike. Thankfully the woman was not hurt and damage was small.

I watched Brazil beat Switzerland 1 x 0 in the World Cup yesterday. Switzerland made Brazil work very hard for their victory. The win means Brazil are qualified for the knock-out stages and will be able to rest some of their key players for their last group match and give the reserves a turn.

Sunday night's service went well. I led it and Pastor Ângelo from Soledade preached an excellent sermon on Jeremiah 31:1-14. Last night's prayer meeting saw 10 people present.  

Green Pastures

Last night I led the service at Green Pastures and Bible College student Ray Santana preached the Word from Matthew 4. He did very well. We also heard a word of greeting from Ana Beatriz and Isabela read the Bible and Manuel sang a solo. Also the Green Pastures women's fellowship sang a beautiful song. They did exceptionally well.

A bird which is busy nesting at Green Pastures is the Long-billed Wren. It insists every nesting season to make a nest in the kitchen doorway which is quite a handful!

Please pray for a number of people in the Patos church who have gone down with Covid. Ricardo and his 2 children Ricardinho and Raysa all have Covid and Ricardo's wife has the symptoms and will be tested tomorrow. Our fireman Romildo also has Covid.

I watched the England versus USA match in the World Cup and found it terribly boring. I hope their next match against Wales will be more interesting.

On Thursday night the numbers were down for the Bible study owing to all the ill health in the church. On Friday night the "Christians in Action" team went to Picotes village and held a lovely little open-air service.

We are awaiting the output test on our latest well drilling in the State of Pernambuco. We are pretty sure we have hit a strong water vein but one can never be sure before the test.

Our seniors 'Young at Heart' group made Christmas Decorations this week. They did very well.

World Cup

I am watching the World Cup matches which involve England and Brazil. Both England and Brazil played well in their opening games. I have just finished watching Brazil beat Serbia 2 x 0. It was a tight match and Brazil played very well to win. They won well.

Last night I led and preached at the Fera School thanksgiving service for the students who are leaving school this year with their A levels. I preached a clear straight Gospel message on Jesus being the way, the truth and life (John 14:6). Someone afterwards sent me a message thanking me for the sermon which had really blessed them.

Funeral

Yesterday Liz and I travelled three hours east of Patos to Campina Grande for the funeral of 13-year-old David who had committed suicide. We went to support pastor Wostenes and his wife Gleydice. Pastor Wostenes led the very difficult service very well. I mean: what do you say under such terrible circumstances? The funeral service was at night so we only got to bed after midnight. Please pray for this family.

In the light of these extraordinary circumstances, with pastor Wostenes due to do the teaching, we decided to postpone the leadership conference which was due to start this week. I am not sure when we will be able to reschedule it for but we shall see. 

Suicide

 Elizabeth and I are utterly shocked to the core by the tragic news that Pastor Wostenes's 13 year old nephew David has committed suicide. It was Pastor Wostenes that found David hanging in the bathroom. Please pray for the bereaved family.

We have just got back from another walk at Green Pastures where the gorgeous smell from the Pereiro trees is intoxicating. This native tree of our caatinga region has burst into bloom after the rain we had earlier in the month. We have 4 large trees near the meeting hall so the whole area is perfumed strongly. 

I have prepared a sermon for next Wednesday when there will be a special service at our Patos church for graduating senior High School students. I will preach on John 14:6.

Our ACEV/EAB leaders Conference is scheduled for next Friday to Sunday at Green Pastures. We value your prayers. In light of the shocking suicide we are thinking of postponing the event.

Anniversary

 On the 15th it was our 53rd wedding anniversary. We went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. 4 deer are regularly seen there as are 3 foxes. After the rain earlier in the month the wild life has come alive mating and nesting. The armadillos are very active.

On Tuesday night the men's fellowship held a service at Nega's Farmstead not far from Green Pastures. It was good to see Tarcisio in the service. Please pray for him.

Today I started doing Pilates physical exercises together with Liz, Deborah and Lynn. The one hour session twice a week is run by a physiotherapist. 

Luiz, who leads the Pinheiro church in the County of Manaira, has had a mild heart attack. He has since been catheterized. They unblocked one artery in his heart, but there are two more blocked which will need stents. Please pray for Luiz. 

Please also pray for Suzana who is the treasurer at our Princesa Isabel church. She has breast cancer and is far from well. 

Caroá

On Saturday Liz and I travelled 4 hours south-west of Patos to the EAB/ACEV Caroá church to speak at their 39th anniversary service. We had a lovely time of fellowship with the local pastor Valdemy and his wife Marlene. The service went well after an initial false start when a brief shower of rain sent us all running inside the church. The plan had been to hold the service outside the church.

We drove back to Patos on Sunday morning in good time for the evening service which I led. It was a tiring weekend with the travelling, but it was blessed and enjoyable. 

On Friday Liz went to the seniors' young at heart gathering and spoke to them. It was very much appreciated.

On Thursday our assistant pastor Rafael's grandmother died at Soledade so he went to the funeral the next day. Please pray for his family at this time.

I have been for a walk at Green Pastures where I saw a Burrowing Owl, many Guira Cuckoos, some Black Anis, 2 Southern-Lapwings, a pair of Narrow-billed Woodcreepers, a Rufescent Tiger Heron, a Great Egret, 3 Blue-Black Grassquits and some Picui Ground-Doves.

João Pessoa

This week we travelled just over 4 hours east to João Pessoa so that I could have check-ups with 2 excellent doctors. I will now do a series of blood tests and a scan and value your prayers.

On Tuesday night the Men's Fellowship held a street service in the town of São Mamede which is half an hour's journey north-east of Patos. A nice little crowd gathered to hear the Word of God.

Last night another little service was held at our Pastor Frank Dyer School which is south of the River Espinharas. A small group gathered for the service which was led by assistant pastor Rafael.

Travessia

On Saturday I travelled three and a half hours south-west of Patos to inaugurate our latest little church at Travessia village in the County of Manaíra. It was a lovely service which started at 5:30 pm. People gathered there from Caroá, Pinheira, and Manaíra. I spoke on Psalm 73:28 - "It is good to be near God". This little church is led by Brother Fábio who used to be an EAB sponsored child many years ago. He now has a degree in theology. The church is under the responsibility of Pastor Francinaldo. Please pray for this young church that it will grow in numbers from the 4 members it now has and grow in the grace of the Lord.

On Sunday I led the service in the Patos church and Pastor Rafael preached. Liz and I brought short words of greetings to the church. It was a good service.

It does not normally rain here in the month of November but we have had four nights of rain here with a total of 96 mm (4 inches). May this continue!

Long journey

We arrived in Patos at 8 pm this Thursday (3rd) having got up the previous day at 4 am. It was a long tiring journey. The flight from Gatwick to Lisbon was half an hour late and the longer flight from Lisbon to Recife was an hour late, but apart from these delays all went off well. There was one big incident near to landing in Recife when a baby apparently was taken suddenly ill which caused a tremendous commotion on the plane. Such was the uproar that both Liz and I thought it was something terrorist related.

I arrived in Patos to find my book nicely printed about the history of ACEV from 1938-2018. All our leaders will receive copies at our leadership conference on November 25-27. Other copies will be distributed to Bible Colleges around Brazil.

This afternoon I went out to Green Pastures to see how things were after our two month absence. I saw the place where 6 of our chickens were devoured by foxes and wild cats. The rest of them have been put into a secure pen. A nature reserve inevitably has plenty of foxes and wild cats! A fox was seen attending a service at Green Pastures recently! It rained 32 mm (One and a third inches) last night!

The Coletas Community well has proved to have a lot less water than we thought. We did the test today. We will be drilling a new well at Carnaubeira da Penha community next week.

Our market garden project has taken 19 participants for an exchange visit to similar market gardens in Pernambuco state. There was a rich exchange of experiences and lots of mutual learning. 

Emmanuel

Yesterday we ministered at the Emmanuel Baptist Church, Thamesmead. It was a lovely service. Marian kindly took us. We all had a wonderful lunch with Pastor Vic and Lona.

On Saturday we visited Lepe Beach in the New Forest with Philip. This was the beach where Liz and I had our first kiss 56 years ago! From Lepe we went to visit Hythe Pier where we located the plank with Liz's Father's name on it.

We return to Brazil the day after tomorrow. We will fly out of Gatwick airport at 10:20 am. We will leave Basingstoke at 5:30 am. We will sleep in Recife before travelling on to Patos on the 3rd.

Evensong

Today we went to Winchester Cathedral for Evensong which was absolutely beautiful. When we got back to the car park we found it locked! Philip managed to phone somebody to let us out.

Yesterday we went to Windsor Castle. We went into St George's Chapel and visited the Queen's tomb.

This Sunday will be our last Sunday in England on this trip. We will be ministering at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Thamesmead, Kent.

Chairman

Yesterday we had a lovely working lunch in Basingstoke with the chairman of the EAB Board of Trustees Roy Dyer. To the taste of couscous, bread rolls, cheese and ham we had an extensive discussion which was very good. We learnt that Roy will be running the London Marathon next April!

This meeting was followed by an online meeting with the Christian environmental agency 'A Rocha'. I was representing Brazil together with representatives of Burundi, Costa Rica, Panamá, Spain, Germany, Nepal, Croatia, Singapore and Spain. The meeting was chaired by Júlio Reis who is the international operations networks coordinator of A Rocha International.

This was followed by a lovely chat with my sister Jean together with a delicious evening meal.

We return to Brazil next week on November 2nd and will reach Patos on the 3rd. I will be inaugurating the new church building at Travessia (3 hours south west of Patos) on the 5th. I will be preaching at Caroá on November 12th. I have also agreed to preach at the special 10-Day outreach at Juazeirinho on January 14th. Please pray.

EAB Meetings

On Friday night we took part in an important meeting of the EAB Board of Trustees. It was a very good meeting. It was held in Basingstoke.

On Saturday we took part in the annual EAB Celebration at Hardley, Southampton which was preceded by the delicious and usual fellowship tea. Both Liz and I spoke and Philip preached the word very well.

Yesterday I spoke at the Anglican Christ Church Chineham in Basingsoke. It was an excellent service.

After the service we went to Southampton for a lovely meal with Liz's brother David and his wife Tania.

At the weekend at Princesa Isabel our church baptized 7 new converts. PTL! Please remember their local pastor in your prayers. His name is Gersé de Oliveira.

EAB Celebration

This Saturday (22nd) our EAB annual celebration will be held at the Lighthouse Community Church, Hardley, Southampton, SO45 3NZ. There will be a fellowship tea at 6 pm and the service will start at 7 pm. On Sunday we will be ministering at Christ Church Chineham in Basingstoke at 10 am.

Yesterday we spent a lovely day with Ken and Marian Rashleigh at the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. It was very interesting.

Today we had my sister Jean with us for lunch and a good chat. 

General Assembly

On Saturday night I chaired a general assembly of our pastors and leaders online. Unanimously we agreed to make a couple of alterations to our statutes increasing the mandate of the projects team from two years to four. We then chose the projects leadership team for the next 4 years. It was an excellent meeting.

Prior to this on Saturday Philip and family took us to High Wycombe to visit our brother-in-law Laurence who is in care. He looked very well and was totally lucid. Before the visit we had a nice lunch with my sister Joy.

Yesterday we spent the day in Bristol care of our friend Marian. We ministered at the Ivy church in the morning and at the PHC in the evening. We had a lovely lunch in between thanks to Pastor Phil Watkins and his wife Shirley. Then we had a tea at the PHC. It was an excellent day. Marian drove us home in the rain.

Youth Conference

Today sees the start of our annual EAB/ACEV Youth Conference which will end on Sunday. This year it is being held at Lagoa Seca near Campina Grande under the responsibility of the youth of the first church of EAB/ACEV in the borough of Catolé in Campina Grande. About 200 young people are expected for the event. Please pray.

I have just concluded the reading of the book 'Take Care of Yourself' written by Christian Psychiatrist Pablo Martinez from Spain. It is a good book which advocates a balanced life style for Christian leaders with enough rest and holidays, regular walks amongst nature, and plenty of quiet times with God, God's Word and good books. 

Visit

Yesterday we had the very pleasant visit of my brother-in-law Jon and my sister-in-law Eunice. We had a very good chat and a lovely meal provided by Gylmara.

Yesterday the children of our Green Pastures School commemorated "Children's Day" with a lovely day in the swimming pool together with their families. They have already communicated to me their gratitude and happiness with their special day.

October 12th is a public holiday in Brazil because it is the day of the patron saint of Brazil "Our Lady of Aparecida". We do not recognize this but do recognize it as "Children's Day" which is also held on this day. In the light of this the Patos church will hold a special evangelistic children's service this afternoon. Many other EAB/ACEV churches will commemorate this day with special activities for children. Please pray. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven".

Devizes

Yesterday we travelled to Devizes in the County of Wiltshire to minister at the Rock Community Church in the morning. It was an excellent service followed by a lovely lunch at Pastor David Fiddy's house. We then travelled for 20 minutes to Calne, Swindon, to visit our nephew Andy and his wife Jane.

On Saturday we travelled to Andover to get our grandson Luiz's hair cut at a children's hair dressers which has model cars for the children to sit in whilst having their hair cut. We followed that with a good walk at a local Lakes nature reserve.

Celebration

EAB's 84th annual celebration will be held at the Lighthouse Community Church, Hardley, Southampton on Saturday, 22nd October at 6 pm (fellowship tea) and at 7 pm (service). Pastor Philip Medcraft will be the principal speaker, but both Liz and I will also speak. If you live in the Southampton region then please be there with us!

Please pray for the EAB/ACEV Leadership Conference to be held from November 25th to 27th at the Green Pastures Nature Reserve. This conference is principally a time for fellowship between our pastors and their families. Our conference in May is more for business meetings. If you would like to help our poorer pastors and those from small churches to attend the conference then please send your donations to the EAB treasurer.  

The well drilling at Coletas hit abundant water on the second attempt. The drilling at Minadouro hit a low quantity of water on the first attempt. Thank you for praying.

Wells

EAB/ACEV will be drilling two wells today. One will be in the Coletas Community in the County of Imaculada and the other will be in the Minadouro Community in the County of Tavares. Each drilling will go down 50 metres through granite rock. Our prayer is that we will hit water in both places.

Yesterday we had another lovely afternoon and evening with my sister Joy who came from High Wycombe to Basingstoke where we are staying with our son Philip and family.

The first round of the election in Brazil ended up as I expected with a run-off second round between ex-president Lula and the current president Bolsonaro. The second round will be on October 30th. Please pray for democracy to prevail. 

Danbury

Yesterday we were at Danbury Mission in Essex. We spoke in the morning service. After church we took part in a lovely fellowship lunch at Geoff and Maggy Spence's house. Maggy is chair of the Danbury Missionary Committee. Members of the committee were also at the lunch. Hence we also had a long chat together about the work of God in Brazil. It was a lovely day.

On the way home from Danbury to Basingstoke we went through central London to see the sights of the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, the City and the West End. We also called by Philip's old school, my old school and our old family house in Highlever Road, North Kensington. 

October

October is upon us and tomorrow (2nd) we will be speaking at Danbury Mission in Essex at 10:00 am. Next Sunday (9th) we will be at Devizes in Wiltshire at 10:00 am. On the following Sunday (16th) we will be at the Ivy Church, Bristol at 10 am and at Bristol PHC at 5:00 pm. On Saturday (22nd) it will be the EAB annual celebration at the Lighthouse Communion church at 6:00 pm. On the Sunday (23rd) we will be at Christ Church, Basingstoke at 10 am. On Sunday (30th) we will be speaking at Emmanuel Church, Thamesmead, Kent at 11 am. We value your prayers.  

More fellowship

We have had a lovely afternoon of fellowship with our friend Marian Rashleigh. We had a lovely meal together. It was lovely chatting over the work of God both in Brazil and in the UK. Marian will kindly be driving us to Bristol on October 16th and to Thamesmead on the 30th. On the other weekends it will be our son Philip driving us to our engagements. We value your prayers.

Please pray for the Brazilian general election to be held this Sunday (2nd). Please pray that whoever wins may democracy prevail and may it be a peaceful day

Fellowship

Today we had a lovely time of fellowship around coffee/tea and biscuits with the writer Mike Hollow who lives in Basingstoke. He is the author of the Blitz Detective series of which I have read all and await a new book! Mike used to work for Tearfund and has been in our house in Brazil. If you want a good series of detective books to relax with I highly recommend Mike Hollow. Our chat today helped us catch up with family, church and mission news.

Joy

On Friday we had a lovely day with the visit of my younger sister and nurse Joy. Joy lives in High Wycombe but we met up at my older sister's house (Jean who is a music teacher) in Basingstoke. It was especially good to see Joy as we hadn't seen each other for 7 years. We caught up on all the family news. It was great. We all ate fish and chips together in the evening and Joy and I managed get lost in Basingstoke trying to return to my sister Jean's house after eating. We laughed till we cried!

On Saturday we went out with Philip, Gylmara and the boys to Gunnersbury Park, Ealing, London. First of all we went to the neighbouring cemetery where we put flowers on our late son Johnny's grave. Then we had a picnic in the park and the boys played on the playground before we went walking and visiting the museum. 

Today Sunday I spoke at the MCC (Millbrook Christian Centre). It was a lovely service. Pastor Mark Starbuck is the minister there.

Ben & Miriam

On Tuesday night Liz and I spent a lovely evening with Ben & Miriam Price who live in Basingstoke. Miriam is Brazilian and Ben is English and they have 2 grown up children: Josias who is 20 and Ana who is 17. Ben and Miriam worked with EAB/ACEV during quite a few years. We had a great meal together and a good chat about the work of God in Brazil as well as catching up with all the families news.

This coming Sunday we will be speaking at Millbrook Christian Centre, Southampton at 10:15 am. On the following Sunday (2nd) we will be at the Danbury Mission, Essex at 10 am. On Sunday (9th) we will be at the Rock Community Church at Devizes, Wiltshire at 10 am. On the 16th (Sunday) we will be at Bristol Ivy Church at 10 am and at Bristol P.H. Church at 6:30 pm. On Friday (21st) we will take part in an EAB Board meeting in Basingstoke at 7:30 pm. On Saturday (22nd) we will take part in the annual EAB Celebration at 6 pm (refreshments) and 7 pm (service). It will be held at the Lighthouse Community Church at Hardley, Southampton. On Sunday (23rd) we will be at Chineham Christ Church, Basingstoke at 10 am. On Sunday (30th) we will be at the Thamesmead Baptist Church in Kent at 11 am. We will return to Brazil on November 2nd. 

We will be leading the EAB/ACEV Leadership Conference at Green Pastures from the 25th to 27th of November. 

We value your prayers for all our travels and activities. 

Cadnam & Wellow

Yesterday we spoke at 2 churches. In the morning it was at the Cadnam Methodist Church in the New Forest. I both led the service and spoke. It was a lovely service. We had lunch with Howard and Hillary Babey from the church and from there went on to West Wellow Chapel where we spoke at night. Prior to the service we had tea with Neil and Naomi Parsons. In the service both Liz and I spoke. It was another very good service.

On Saturday Philip & Gylmara took us to Thatcham Nature Reserve where we had a nice walk amidst nature. It was a very nice day.

Today we watched the Queen's funeral on TV. All was impeccably done with great precision. The Queen's faith was emphasized a lot which was good.   

Royal funeral

Our time in Europe has coincided with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. She died when we were in Switzerland and for the funeral we are in England. It certainly gives us a strong feeling of British culture and the amazing ability to organize immaculately ceremonies with split second timing and perfection.

We have just been told that last week David Moses OBE died. David was a member of EAB's Board of Trustees many years ago. We convey our deepest sympathies to the family.

We had lunch with my sister Jean, her daughter Lisa and her daughter Isla on Tuesday afternoon. We enjoyed a lovely chat. It was a sweet time of family fellowship.

Last night we had a nice time of fellowship with Ben & Miriam Price. Miriam is Brazilian and she and her husband Ben have worked with us in Brazil in the past. 

England

We left Tschiertschen in the Swiss Alps on Sunday at 1 pm and flew from Zurich to Heathrow arriving in Basingstoke about 9 pm. Heathrow was chaotic but we survived. We are staying in England at our son Philip's house.

On Monday afternoon we had a lovely visit from our great friend Marian Rashleigh. We chatted about the work of God in Brazil and brought her up to date with all the latest news. Our daughter-in-law Gylmara served us up with a lovely evening meal together.

Any communications with us whilst in England can be made at 34, Britten Road, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4HP or via our usual email address of john.medcraft@gmail.com 

This coming Sunday we will be speaking at Cadnam Methodist Church in the morning and at West Wellow Chapel in the evening. We look forward to seeing you if you live in the area.

Sam's birthday

Friday, here in Switzerland, was Liz's brother's official celebration of his 70th birthday. He was 70 in March of last year but the family celebration was postponed owing to the Covid pandemic. Liz and I were part of a group of 17 who gathered to celebrate Sam's big birthday at the Tamina Gorge, cave, thermal water font and restaurant. Sam and his wife Gerti, and their 2 children Matthias and Linda with their partners, were all there plus his sisters and brother and their spouses, plus 3 of Gerti's family. We visited the gorge and cave where there is a fast flowing river and after this we had a wonderful meal together. We restate our warmest wishes for many happy returns to Sam! Sam and Gerti are strong EAB supporters.

Our flight to England will be today. It was to have been on Saturday but the flight was cancelled by British Airways.

Liz's Birthday

Yesterday was Liz's birthday. Her brother Sam arranged a surprise birthday breakfast for her at a nearby farm followed by a morning watching the farm workers making cheese. It was very interesting. At the breakfast there were a dozen types of cheese on offer!

On the previous day we visited Switzerland's grand canyon which has some spectacular scenery.

We were saddened by the news of Queen Elizabeth II's death yesterday. She is surely with the Lord.

News from Brazil is good with 6 people being baptized at our second church at Princesa Isabel in the borough of Maia. Another person was baptized at Tavares. PTL! 

Nice time

We continue to enjoy a nice time in Switzerland. Liz's sister Eunice and her husband Jon arrived from London and Liz's brother David and his wife Tania have arrived from Southampton. Yesterday we had a nice cultural day with a meal together with some of the villagers here. One played a traditional small piano accordion and another played an alpine horn which was quite enormous. Today we visited the Swiss grand canyon which was beautiful. We will be staying here until Sunday when we will fly to London.

We are in constant contact with Brazil and all is well in the churches. Please pray for the survival of democracy as the general election fast approaches on October 2nd.  

Good Trip

We left Patos on Friday at 12.15 pm. Our daughter Lynn and her husband Hutan drove us to Recife airport where we arrived about 7 pm after very heavy traffic in and around Recife. Our first flight to Lisbon (10:20 pm) left a little late and we arrived in Lisbon 10 minutes behind schedule. It was a long tiring night but the trip was fine. We caught our second flight from Lisbon to Zurich which ran about 1 hour late and arrived in Zurich at 5 pm. Sam (Liz's brother) was there to meet us and drive us the 2 and a half hours up the Swiss alps to Tschiertschen where Sam and his wife live in a beautiful chalet. Today we are having a nice restful day.

Tomorrow Liz's brother David and her sister Eunice and their spouses are arriving from England in the afternoon. Also arriving from England will be Sam's best friend Tony Lane with his wife Tricia. This week is Sam's 70th birthday celebrations. The only one of the brothers and sisters not coming will be the youngest sister Esther.

Switzerland

Liz and I will catch a flight from Recife to Zurich via Lisbon later today. We count on your prayers. We will arrive in Zurich tomorrow afternoon and stay in Switzerland till September 11th. We will then fly to London. We will remain in England until November 2nd when we will return to Brazil (DV). We are looking forward to a nice break.

While we are away in Europe Pastor Wostenes (deputy chairman) will be in charge of the work in general. Pastor Rafael (assistant pastor) will be in charge of the Patos church together with its daughter churches at Ipueira, Green Pastures, Passagem and at the school in the borough of Jatobá in Patos. Please especially pray for these pastors.

Leaders Meeting

On Monday night we held an excellent meeting of the senior leadership team of the Patos church together with the leaders of the various ministries. In all there were 17 present. This was a preparational meeting for our time away as from this Friday. We had rich discussions within a lovely spirit of unity. As from this Friday, when we fly to Switzerland, the overall leadership will be in the hands of assistant pastor Rafael supported by everyone in this group. We value your prayers.

Last night the Men's Fellowship took a lovely service on the farm which belongs to Fred and Marileide which is not far from Green Pastures. At the end of the service a man called Francisco came to the front to rededicate his life to God. Praise the Lord!

Saturday night

The Saturday night weekly service at Green Pastures went off very well. I led the service and Bible College student Murilo preached the Gospel from 1 John 1:5-7. Murilo will graduate at the end of the year and he is already giving a very good word. Philip led the worship. How we will miss him after he returns to England today. People who also took part with solos were Dodora, Júlio, Nega, Paulo Silas and his younger brother Josué. Micaelle did the Bible reading. All this was neatly packed in to 1 hour and 5 minutes of service.

Last night's main service of the week went very well. I led it, Philip brought a word of farewell to the church and Rafael preached from John 4:43-54. The church was full. We received 13 new members into fellowship. 9 were those recently baptized and 4 were transfers from other places. 

Serenade

On Thursday night Philip did an online serenade of old time hymns. He has an amazingly good memory. It was done on Facebook and YouTube. Philip did these live serenades during the height of the pandemic, but this time he decided to repeat the format. It was warmly received by people from all over Brazil. The serenade lasted for two and three quarter hours with many people placing requests for their favourite hymns. 

This week's men's fellowship meeting took a nice little service at the ex-landless community of Nossa Senhora de Aparecida II in São Mamede County which is 6 km north of Green Pastures. 

Engagement

My assistant pastor Rafael has become engaged to a young lawyer from our church called Rayla Rodrigues. Rayla is part of the youth leadership. Rafael and Rayla have asked me to conduct a little ceremony this Friday night to officially celebrate their engagement so I have been preparing for this. I have never done an engagement ceremony before. I have conducted countless weddings, but never an engagement. The ceremony on Friday will be followed by a party.

Petrol stations in Brazil put the petrol in your car for you. I called in to one to fill up my jeep with petrol and the silly attendant put 12 litres of diesel in before he realized his mistake. My jeep is now at a garage to drain the petrol tank. What a pain!

I have just done a reference for a young woman called Anna Beatriz from the Patos church who is applying to work as a volunteer next year at Ashburnham Place which is a Christian Conference Centre in East Sussex, England. Please pray for her. 

Baptism

On Sunday morning we baptized 9 new converts from the Patos church including our granddaughter Beatriz and our grandson Lucas. The service was held at the Green Pastures pool because there everyone can see the baptisms well. After the beautiful service we had a lovely fellowship breakfast for the large crowd from the church present.

On Sunday night a special thanksgiving service was held for our 50 years ministry here in Brazil. The church was packed out. Pastor Lindon Carlos came from Imaculada. Philip led the service and spoke. There were video messages from Pastors Kleber Lucas (Rio de Janeiro), Carlos Queiroz (Fortaleza), Antonio Carlos Costa (Rio de Janeiro) and various ACEV/EAB pastors. There were also international video messages from Roy Dyer, Marian Rashleigh and my 2 sisters Jean and Joy. The service was a lot longer than usual as all the ministries' leaders spoke too. At the end there were savouries, cake and pop drink for all. It was a lovely evening.    

Family

Liz's sister Esther, her daughter Sabrina and her husband Daniel plus their children Lorenzo and Sofia have come from João Pessoa for Louisa and Tiago's wedding.

Friday morning's encounter of our seniors went very well. They all were quite boisterous and sent me a little video with a loud "Good morning"!

Friday night's wedding went off absolutely beautifully. I conducted the wedding and Philip brought an excellent word from the sermon on the mount. The ceremony only started half an hour late which by Brazilian standards was pretty good.

Saturday was our youngest daughter Sacha's 36th birthday and we all had lunch together in a restaurant. At night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures which went off very well. 

Prayer

It is always so encouraging to see the youth praying on a Monday evening here. Each week their number varies between 9 and 11 and usually has more participants than the parallel adult prayer group. On Tuesday the Men's fellowship met and Pastor Lucena was present which was nice. He is the retired Congregational pastor who is now a member of our Patos church. However he has now moved away to Recife. He is here this week for Louisa and Tiago's wedding. On Wednesday the Women's fellowship had 11 participants and there was also a good number at the midweek service at our Patos school. Then last night 40 gathered to the Bible study. 

Wedding

This Friday night I will be conducting the wedding of our granddaughter Louisa to Tiago. I have been preparing the ceremony today. The wedding will take place at the Patos Water Play on the eastern outskirts of Patos. The ceremony will be authorized by the judge to be both legally binding as well as Christian.

Liz is to counsel two women later today. Both are new in the faith and need help. Please pray. Liz ended up counselling one of the women for two hours. The other will be on another day.

Mateus and Hortencia are the couple in their twenties that have taken on the leadership of our Soledade church. Both are graduates in theology and Mateus is also a physics teacher. Please pray for this couple.  

Pastor

We have just received the visit of one of our pastors (I can't give his name) who came to thank us for the changed situation in his ministry and church. He came to us some months back when he was very discouraged and low. We counselled him and prayed with him and today he came to give us the good news of a change for the better. His wife, who was lower in spirit than him, has a new lease of life too. Thank you for your prayers.

Yesterday was Father's Day in Brazil and it was exactly 20 years ago that my dear Father went to be with the Lord. In Patos we held a special Father's Day service in which both Philip and myself preached. I led the service.

On Saturday night I both led and preached the Gospel in the weekly Green Pastures service. I preached on "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). Philip led the worship.

Europe

Liz and I will be flying to Zurich via Lisbon on September 2nd and 3rd. We will stay in Switzerland until September 11th when we will fly to England. Whilst in the UK we will speak at the following churches: Sep. 18th - Cadnam Methodist at 10:30 am + West Wellow Chapel at 18:00; Sep. 25th - Millbrook Christian Centre (Southampton) at 10:15 am; Oct. 2nd - Danbury Mission at 10:30 am; Oct. 9th - Rock Community Church, Devizes at 10 am; Oct. 16th - Bristol PHC at 17:00; Oct. 21st - EAB Board Meeting in Basingstoke at 19:30; Oct. 22nd - EAB annual celebration in Lighthouse Community Church at Hardley near Southampton at 18:00; Oct. 23rd - Christ Church Chineham, Basingstoke at 10 am; Oct. 30th - Emmanuel Baptist Church in Thamesmead at 10:30 am. Our return flights to Brazil are on November 2nd. We value your prayers.

Our wheelchairs bank for the poor has a very fast turnover. Yesterday we received one back from Socorro Help's sister and today it has already been loaned out again to a neighbour of our Patos school suffering with a broken leg.

Applause

Today the Patos Town Council voted unanimously in favor of a special "motion of applause" for my 50 years as a pastor in Patos. The motion was proposed by Councilor José Gonçalves. I am honored and give all the glory to God.

Our church at Ibiara held a baptismal service when 3 young people were baptized by local pastor Betinho. Praise God with us for this. 

On Tuesday night our Patos Men's Fellowship led a beautiful service at Nega's farmstead not far from Green Pastures. A good little crowd of 40 people gathered to hear the gospel. We were pleasantly surprised to see Tarcísio and his new lady friend there as since Tarcísio's wife died about 2 years ago he has grown cold spiritually. Tarcísio used to be the leader of the church at Green Pastures.

Sunday

The main service of the week starts at 6:30 pm and it went very well. I led the overall service and Sacha led the praise and worship. Philip was on bass guitar as the regular player was away. Rogaciano was on guitar and Netinho on drums. Marina, Sacha and Philip were on vocals. Rafael preached the Gospel from John 2:1-11.

Last week it rained 26 mm (just over an inch) which is quite unusual for the month of August. We are very grateful to God for a well above average amount of rainfall this year at Green Pastures. This year at Green Pastures it has rained 1,097 mm whereas the average rainfall is 702 mm. Add to this 96 mm in December means that this rainy season we have had no less than 1,193 mm of rain!

I have been working on the final stages of my book in Portuguese about the first 80 years of history of the work here between 1938 and 2018. The layout is now all done and the book will be published this year (DV). We're just clearing up the final little details.

Green Pastures

Last night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures and young lawyer Rayla preached the Gospel. Philip led the praise and worship and Josa, Linda and Rafael served the communion. Luis, Fred, Paulo Silas and Dora also took part with solos. Luis  (our six-year-old grandson) sang a song about Jesus from Galilee and brought the house down at the end when he bowed because everyone clapped him! It was a lovely service. Earlier in the day Philip photographed a beautiful Coral venomous snake. 

Pimlico

I have finished reading the book 'The Murder at Pimlico' by Mike Hollow. It is a very good relaxing read. It is the sixth book in the Blitz Detective series which I highly recommend. I got to know the author many moons ago through Tearfund. One word of warning however. The author is a West Ham supporter! But of course nobody is perfect. 

It doesn't rain in August

 I can never remember seeing rain in our region in the month of August and I've been here a long time. However yesterday it rained 9 mm and today it has rained 10 mm so far! We are amazed. I went out to Green Pastures for a walk but it was a case of rain stopped walk. I fed the chickens with our home food left overs, picked up the eggs and some delicious curd. The latter we had for our evening meal.

Fifty

On the 3rd of August 1972 I set my foot in Brazil for the first time. I have much to thank God for over these 50 years of service. In 1972 I landed at Recife airport with Liz and 4 month old baby Deborah. We were met by Frank and Ivy Dyer who drove us to Patos. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Nelsinha

Sister Nelsinha went to be with the Lord today at Lymington, UK. Nelsinha was 97 years old and Brazilian who was led to the Lord by the late EAB missionary Frank Dyer at Hardley back in the 1960's. We praise God for Nelsinha's life and pray for her family at this time.

I have had discussions with Sister Nenem who leads our church at São Vicente do Seridó. The church will now go back to holding their main Sunday service in the evening. It has been held in the afternoon these last months owing to a wave of violence in the town, but the situation has now improved.

Sermons

I have prepared two sermons. One is for Father's Day which is on the second Sunday in August in Brazil. This will mean it is on the 14th which will be the 20th anniversary of my dear Father's death. The other sermon is for a normal Sunday.  

Liz

Liz is recovering well from her hysterectomy surgery. The surgeon was a lovely Christian woman and the anesthetist was excellent too. Both were both competent in the surgery and gentle and kind in the pre-surgery and post-surgery periods.

Last night Philip preached in the Patos church. He preached a clear Gospel message. I led the service, the children sang a song and the drama group did a short evangelistic sketch. We called yesterday's service "The Friends' Service" and everyone was challenged to invite a friend. We had 41 visitors as a result! We sold hot dogs at the end and raised 100 pounds for the building work being done at the Care Centre.

Better

Thank you for your prayers for our grandson John David with Covid. He is much better and has just received a negative test back. He just feels tired and weak now.

Our travelling grandson Arthur in Germany has been to a concert by the singer from New Zealand called Lorde. He had booked his place for this online. I looked up Lorde on Google as I had never heard of her! She has a nice voice and sings good songs which I can understand. 😃

We are very grateful for those who have contributed to our airfares for our trip to Europe in the autumn. Airfares are now very high from Brazil to Europe. TAP is clearly making up for all the money lost in the pandemic! 25% of the total cost has thus far been covered by designated gifts. May God bless you. 

We are very sad about the awful state of the young man on drugs from our Patos church. He has gone right back into drugs and booze this week in the St John's festival. Please pray for him. It is heartbreaking to see him like this.

Arthur

Our 20 year old grandson Arthur has left this week for a 3-week tour of Europe going to Germany, England, Holland, Italy and France. All this is entirely financed from his two part-time jobs which he does on top of his university course to be a lawyer. It amazes me how he does it. He saves everything, gets the cheapest flights available and uses air miles. May God care for him in this further adventure. This is his second such trip to Europe as well as a trip abroad in South America.

Please also pray for another 20 year old grandson John David who is down ill with Covid. He is most unwell. 

I received the above badge for Green Pastures from the Christian environmental agency A Rocha. We share the same vision which is to care for God's creation.

Our 20 year old grandson Arthur is in Berlin via Lisbon and Madrid. He has just sent us photos on a lovely sunny day.

Bacon sandwiches

I am reading another book called 'Bacon sandwiches and salvation' by Adrian Plass. I am experimenting reading it on Kindle which belongs to Louisa. The book is good to relax with and is full of corny jokes with Christian connections like: What is doctrine? Answer: It's what they do up at the health centre. The book has some serious Christian content too.

This week in Patos is the big St John's festival and Patos has been bubbling with excitement for days now. Every night of the week there are free very late night shows held in an open area near the centre of Patos. The shows go on for most of the night every night. Evangelical Christians do not take part in the festival. 

Over the coming weekend (24th to 26th) we will be holding a youth camp at Green Pastures with between 80 and 100 people taking part. Please pray for this event.

Sunday's service went off fine with Sunday school for all ages in the morning and the preaching of God's word at night. The children's slot at night was beautiful with them singing a lovely song. 

Cocaine

Liz and I have had a long meeting with a young man from the church. It was a session of counselling, listening and prayer. This young man, whom I will not name, has been addicted to the drug Cocaine since last year. He went all through his story with us telling us how he turned to drink upon the death of his mother and this eventually led to illegal drugs. His addiction started when he lived on the coast and he came to our church at the end of last year. Please pray for this young man. 

We have now booked our flights to Europe in the autumn. God willing we will leave Brazil on September 2nd. We will arrive in Zurich via Lisbon on the afternoon of September 3rd. We will fly to London on September 10th. Our return flights to Brazil are booked for November 2nd. Please pray for our travels and pray for a refreshing time in Switzerland and the UK. 

I guided another school year round the Green Pastures nature trails on Friday. This time it was the Cristo Rei school run by Roman Catholic nuns which is the school Liz once went to and which our granddaughter Alice now goes to. The students were exceptionally polite and well behaved. It is always a joy to influence young people to appreciate God's creation and to care for it.

Our grandson John David has just gone down with Covid. Please pray for him and us all at this time. He is studying to be a medical doctor in João Pessoa but came to Patos yesterday. He has tested positive for Covid today. 

Help

On Tuesday Liz and I went to visit one of our senior ladies called Socorro Help! She is extremely lonely and wanted to tell us about all her family problems. We patiently listened to her for an hour. Such meetings remind us of Eleanor Rigby's "all the lonely people". She was like a different person after we listened to her, gave her some advice and had a time of prayer with her. Bless her heart!

I have been doing a lot of administrative work this week and have had important discussions with Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa.

Liz and I have been dealing with some problems which have arisen with the Patos worship group. 

A Guardian journalist called Dom Phillips has been murdered in the Amazon region and his body was cut up in pieces. He and a Brazilian were targeted as they were investigating corruption, deforestation and things being done against indigenous indians in the area. The Brazilian was killed as well. President Bolsonaro has insinuated his support for those who ordered the killings. President Bolsonaro said yesterday that "Jesus Christ only didn't have a gun because they weren't available at the time". How Christians can vote for this man is beyond me!

Fera School

On Monday I was the guide to the 45 Year Five students of the Fera School at Green Pastures. I was up at 6 am and the trail started at 8:30 and lasted for 2 hours. I led the students round the trails and talked to them about the different trees, plants, birds and animals in a place which is totally dedicated to preservation. I told the students how I first got my love for nature from my parents and in year one at Oxford Gardens Primary School where we used to hear a nature programme on the BBC every Friday afternoon. The idea of these school trips is to awaken interest in God's creation amongst children. It was amazing how quickly they tired today on our walk. Children just don't seem used to physical exercise any more.

Danrlei is 15 and the son of the Patos church firefighter. He got his parents to take him up the mountain to our Teixeira church as he wanted to officially ask the hand in courtship of the local pastor's daughter (also 15) called Emmily. All went off well so we now have another happy couple! All this happened on Saint Anthony's Day which is our equivalent of Valentine's Day.

Green Pastures service

On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures for the local farm workers and it went well though numbers were down. Louisa led the worship accompanied by Rogaciano. Lindinalva sang a solo, Chico brought a short word of greeting and Rafael preached the Word. 

Liz and I had a good heart to heart talk to the young woman in our church who had expressed homosexual tendencies. She confessed her sin and asked for forgiveness in tears. We explained to her the Biblical position on the matter and we had a time of prayer with her. It was a lovely meeting. It makes such a difference when people are ready and willing to submit to God's word.

Last night I led the main service of the week and we had Pastor Ângelo as a visiting speaker. He is a very good preacher. He is the pastor that resigned from our Soledade church and he is without a church at the moment.

Drugs

A young man (I won't give his name to be on the safe side), who was addicted to Cocaine and is now a member of the Patos church, has sadly slipped back to using the drug. This is not Valério (another member) who has been free of Cocaine for nearly 6 years now. Please pray for the young man who has slipped back to drugs.

Another problem has come to light. A young mother (she is new to our church and not a member)  has left her husband saying she wants to live with a woman who is a member our church. Please pray as we handle this delicate matter with the young mother. Our affected church member told us about the problem. Homosexuality is rampant here these days.

The Thursday night Bible study went well despite numbers being well down to 25 which is about half of the number on a good night. The Men's Fellowship meeting on Tuesday and the Women's Fellowship meeting on Wednesday both had low numbers too.

Our projects team has held another meeting this week with the community leaders at Santo Agostinho in Teixeira County with the possibility of us drilling a well there in mind. The community has 164 families with 156 women, 156 men and 112 children. They stand in great need of a permanent clean water supply. Santo Agostinho is 18 km from the town of Teixeira up in the mountains. It is an area which is difficult to hit water in when drilling. 30 years ago I knew nothing about drilling wells but now I have a fair old bit of experience!

Lawyer

This week our granddaughter Louisa (who lives with us) received her identity card as a lawyer from the Order of Brazilian Lawyers (OAB). Liz and I went to the presentation ceremony at the Order's headquarters in Patos. We felt very proud of her. When students here finish their law degree they have to sit two independent exams set by the OAB and only then can they exercise their profession.

I have been having some important meetings with pastors Wostenes and Hamilton in Campina Grande to discuss problems with two of our pastors. The issues then went on to be discussed by the whole leadership team.

Liz and eldest daughter Deborah are at Sandra's house. It is a very difficult and sad case as she has Down's syndrome and is in her 40s. She is a special case who is helped by a church in the UK. She is currently groaning all the time as if she was in pain. If medication doesn't kick in soon she will have to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Campina Grande as we don't have one in Patos. Please pray for Sandra. Pray too for her sister and her husband who are her carers and are exausted.  

Crash

 On Sunday afternoon Tiago (our granddaughter Louisa's fiancé) had a nasty accident driving his father's car in a narrow one-way street in Patos. A drunk driver came up the street the wrong way and they had a head-on collision. Happily nobody was injured, but there ensues a legal battle to get the man who caused the accident to pay for the repairs. The drunk driver left the scene of the crash so as to avoid being breathalyzed and left his car to be towed away by the police. 

Sunday's services went off well in Patos. At night assistant pastor Rafael preached on attitudes of the Prodigal son's brother comparing him to someone lost in the church. I led the service. The worship group had to sing with play-back as Tiago (first guitarist) was too shaken up by his accident to play, second guitarist Rogaciano was ill and third guitarist Lucas was away at university. 

Over the weekend we had some more excellent rain with a total of 41 mm which is just short of 2 inches at Green Pastures. This takes our total this rainy season up to an amazing 1,144 mm (47.6 inches).

The Campina Grande Men's retreat ended well on Sunday afternoon at Green Pastures. Everyone left with much happiness and thanks. Pastor Wostenes left a bit early as he had to preach at night in Campina Grande.

Ants in your ...

Our front gate bell stopped working and as suspected the problem was caused by giant ants called 'taiócas' which produce a glue-like substance which causes a short circuit. This is the second time we have had to put in a new bell. Then in Liz's office a swarm of micro-ants called 'cupim' have eaten a cupboard!

I have just finished reading 'A Better Story' by Christian psychiatrist Glynn Harrison. It is a very good book which discusses how Christians should address the subject of sex and marriage today.

Please pray for our sign language expert Geralda who is really poorly with the virus Chikungunya. I am also glad to report that Carlos is recovering well from Dengue fever.

The death toll in the Recife floods/landslide has sadly reached 128.

On Friday the seniors morning went very well with a nice Bible reflection from Pastor Rafael and boy didn't they eat at food time! In the evening deaf pastor Luiz Carlos carried on teaching sign language to some new learners who are progressing well. 

Yesterday I went to Green Pastures to speak to the Campina Grande men's retreat being held there from Friday to Sunday. There are about 60 men taking part and it is being blessed.

Weeknight meetings

In Patos our weeknight services are as follows: prayer on Mondays, men's fellowship on Tuesdays, women's fellowship on Wednesdays as well as a service at our church plant at the school, Bible study on Thursdays, seniors morning on Fridays with a sign language course at night, and youth meeting, deaf meeting, Christians in Action at Ipueira and a service at Green Pastures on Saturdays.

Covid is back on the increase in Patos and schools are asking for masks to be warn again by their students. Liz and I are wearing masks again to church. 

Rain

The month of May ended on a lovely wet note with 36 mm (one and a half inches) of rain at Green Pastures bringing the total for the month to 92 mm and the wonderful total for the rainy season to 1,103 mm. This is the best wet season that I can remember. Thank you for your prayers.

The Patos men's fellowship was going to take a service in São Mamede yesterday but that was postponed owing to the rain.

Our 12-year-old granddaughter Beatriz (known as Bia) is quite an athlete. She is captain of her school's volleyball team who won the Patos championship and they are now going to play the João Pessoa champions. 

Thank you for praying for Jaciara who had a premature baby. Both mother and baby are now fine and have been released from the Patos maternity hospital and returned to Princesa Isabel.

Please pray for Carlos from our Patos church who has gone down with Dengue fever. 

We are busy preparing Green Pastures for the Campina Grande - Catolé's men's fellowship retreat which will start on Friday.

Monkeypox

As soon as Liz saw a photo of monkeypox on the BBC she said: "That's smallpox"! Liz nearly died with smallpox here when she was 11-years-old. As it happens monkeypox and smallpox are closely related viruses. As far as I know we have not had an outbreak of it here in Brazil yet, but many countries have them.

Sadly 46-year-old Isaque Macena died in his sleep last week. He was a young man who had problems with drink and drugs and we had helped him go to the drug rehab centre a few months ago but he soon left.

The EAB magazine "InTouch" edition number 97 will soon be with everyone by post. It is already available on the EAB website at www.eabrazil.org. 

By faith we are to launch another new little EAB Action school at the very needy village of Água Grande in Santana de Mangueira County. The leader there is Sandra Nogueira. Please pray for this new venture. 

The folk at our Conference laid on a surprise tribute for me for my 50 years as an EAB/ACEV pastor. Even Philip took part by internet from England. It was lovely. 

My book on the first 80 years of EAB/ACEV history in Portuguese will soon be published as a result of our Conference. For there was a brother there who works at a suitable printers in Campina Grande who is to help me with this. 

Sadly flash flooding and landslides have caused 91 deaths in Recife owing to the extraordinary high rainfall there all in one go.  

I preached on Sunday night in Patos. I preached on "Being like Jesus" from Philippians 2. On the Saturday night I led the closing conference service and conducted the ordination ceremony.

Excellent Conference

I have just got home from our general conference held at Green Pastures and it was very good. We did and discussed the following matters:

We ordained three new young pastors - Fabrício Junior, Leandro and Roberto. We discussed the possible probationary status as pastors of Cleyton and Naldinho. We removed two people (Renildo and Tania) from our ministers list. It was decided that Mateus and Hortência will take on the leadership of our Soledade church as from July. Much praise went up for news of the Vazante and Barra de Oitis churches which are growing very well in their respective villages. It was decided that all EAB/ACEV ministers will be issued with identity cards to give them access for hospital chaplaincy work.

It was decided that the Soledade, São Vicente do Seridó and Juazeirinho churches will now be part of the Campina Grande administrative region. Excellent news was shared about EAB's Action Child schools with well over 700 pupils now being blessed by this project being given extra help with their education.

Our national missions' Sunday this year will be on the 4th September which is the nearest Sunday to September 2nd when our founders first set foot in Brazil. It was decided that our Youth Conference will be from 28 to 30 October in Campina Grande. It was decided that our leaders' conference this year will be as usual at Green Pastures from the 25th to 27th of November after we have returned from Europe. It was decided that next year's general conference will be held at Campina Grande - Catolé, in 2024 it will be held in João Pessoa and in 2025 it will be held in Itaporanga. 

The coordination team for our 10-day evangelism project was elected (Robério, Gersé, Ray and Rafael) and it was decided that in 2023 it will be held at Juazeirinho, in 2024 at Tavares and in 2025 at Teixeira.

The report from our Campina Grande Bible College showed that it has 29 students this year. We have about 20 students studying also at the online colleges of FTSA and ISBL. We received reports from the radio programmes at Imaculada and Flores.

An addition to our statutes was approved unanimously which prohibits same sex marriages in our churches or to be conducted by our ministers.

Our projects team gave a general report on projects in the pandemic and on those in hand this year.

It was reaffirmed that in this year's Brazilian general election it is totally prohibited to bring party politics into our churches or discuss party politics in our social media groups. 

Maternity hospital

Jaciara had a premature baby on Sunday weighing 1.9 kg at Princesa Isabel. Her and her husband are members of our second church there. Jaciara was immediately transferred to the more advanced Patos maternity hospital and the church leaders asked us to support them. Our daughter Sacha is taking care of the family beautifully and has just been out to buy nappies! Please pray for Jaciara who has a post-natal infection and for the tiny baby boy called Quezede.

Liz is at Green Pastures at the moment setting everything up for our EAB/ACEV general conference. Deaconess Josinete is with Liz. Earlier they went to the supermarket to buy the food so the Kombi was loaded up with food and drinking water. The conference will run from Friday to Sunday but the leaders will start a day early on the Thursday. At the conference we will be ordaining 3 young new pastors: Fabrício Júnior, Leandro and Roberto. Please pray for them.

Please pray about the Dengue Fever epidemic which is the worst outbreak for 10 years here. Many people are down with it in Patos and many are in hospital. It is spread by mosquitoes. 

EAB's bi-annual magazine "In Touch" edition 97 has now been produced and has gone to the printers. Everyone will receive it in early June. 

Difficult journey

Liz and Lynn returned from João Pessoa on Friday night in driving torrential rain around Juazeirinho. To drive in such conditions was dangerous and meant they could only do about 20 kph. At Green Pastures it rained 27 mm (just over an inch) which helped water our plants and trees.

Saturday night saw the Patos church divided in four directions. The deaf had their main weekly meeting at the church; the Christians in Action group went to Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte State; another group held the monthly celebration service at the Pastor Frank Dyer School; and I went to Green Pastures to take the weekly service with Segundo leading the singing and Murilo (Bible College student) preaching the Gospel on Acts 4:1-12. Both did very well. I lead the service which also enjoyed Nega singing a solo and Leca doing a Bible reading. I am glad to report that all services went off well.

I have started reading a new book called - "A Better Story - God, sex and human flourishing" by Christian psychiatrist Glynn Harrison. I have read the first three chapters and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is most enlightening.  

Green Pastures is busy

Green Pastures is being used a lot by our churches and church groups which is lovely to see. Green Pastures is the only place of its kind in the whole region. Our Teixeira church had a fellowship day there on the 14th May. Then there will be the EAB/ACEV general conference there from the 26th to 29th May. This will be followed by the Campina Grande men's conference from the 3rd to 5th June and then a youth camp involving the churches from Patos, Itaporanga, Juazeirinho and Teixeira from the 24th to 26th June. We value your prayers for all these events.

I am very busy organizing everything for our general conference at the moment. There are adjustments to the agenda which have to be agreed with the leadership and I am now preparing for the final service when 2 young pastors, Fabrício and Leandro, will be ordained. Pastor Wostenes will preach and I will lead the service and the ordination ceremony.

Liz went to João Pessoa yesterday for a doctor's appointment. In Patos the seniors had their weekly meeting which went well. Deaf pastor Luis Carlos also conducted another sign language lesson. 

Market Gardens

Our Market Gardens project presses ahead helping poor people to help themselves giving them income with dignity. We are at the moment looking into 2 communities at Ibiara and Santana de Mangueira counties with the possibility of establishing market gardens there. We are also working on the 4-Legs goat rearing project in a variety of communities and on another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis.

This week's youth and adult prayer meetings joined together with 12 there. It went well. The Men's Fellowship (Tuesday) and the Women's Fellowship (Wednesday) also were blessed times of fellowship.

I have been preparing a sermon on being like Jesus based on Philippians 2:1-11. 

The rains have apparently ended. We usually get some rain in May but we only had an 8 mm shower on the 2nd and that's it. We can't complain as it's been a very good rainy season. Thanks for praying.

John Stott Birding Day

I took part in the John Stott Birding Day yesterday morning which is organized by the A Rocha Christian environmental agency to which we are linked. I went to Green Pastures and noted down all the species of birds that I saw and heard. I observed 37 species between hawks, water birds, owls, parakeets etc. I am now supposed to enter my list onto eBird.com but I don't understand how to do this and I haven't got time to find out how. Anyway it was a nice relaxing time.

The Sunday services went off well. I led the main service in the evening and assistant pastor Rafael preached from Lamentations 3:39-45. It could have been better.

Our projects team is in action to define the locations for the 3 wells we will be digging/drilling this year. It is an arduous and challenging process including meetings with local communities as well as technical work etc. We value your prayers for this. Recently visited were Santo Agostinho community up in the mountains in Teixeira County and Trincheiras community in Princesa Isabel County.

I have spent many hours in discussions with the senior leadership as our general conference fast approaches, starting on the 27th. The senior leadership will need to arrive a day early to complete in-person preparations for the conference.

Get me to the church on time!

Our granddaughter who lives with us, Louisa, will be marrying her fiancé Tiago on August 20th. This will coincide with her parents' and brothers' holiday here from England. Tiago is the lead guitarist in the Patos church band. Louisa and Tiago have been going out together for 6 years. They don't have a chair to sit on or a bed to lie on but they have decided that now is the time to get married! May the Lord help them!

As well as the monthly meeting in the street in front of the Patos school we hold a weekly service in the school, and this week that went very well with our largest classroom filled to capacity. We are finally seeing signs of a church being planted at our school.

I went to our Deacon Esau Lucena's induction ceremony as Patos Chief of Police on Friday. The military band played and the Paraíba chief swore him into office. The ceremony started 37 minutes late (not bad for Brazil!) and lasted an hour. In his acceptance speech Esau exalted the Lord in a very wise and beautiful way. 

I led the Green Pastures service last night and young lawyer Rayla preached from Matthew 7:15-23. It was a lovely service with local farm workers Júlio and Manoel singing songs. Prior to this at Green Pastures our Teixeira church spent the day there in a lovely fellowship day which went off beautifully.

Chief of the Police

The leader of the Patos men's fellowship is a deacon in our church. He is Lieutenant Coronel Esau Lucena. He is a lovely brother in Christ. He has just been promoted to Chief of the Patos Police. We knew this was on the cards as Esau had secretly shared this with us for prayer. Now it has been officially confirmed. Please pray for Esau. The responsibility of being chief of police in a town of 120,000 population is great, especially with all the drug related gang warfare and killings.

On Wednesday afternoon (evening in England) I took part in an excellent EAB Board of Trustees meeting online. The meeting was held at Hardley, Southampton. It was lovely to see our son Philip there as a guest.

Please continue to pray for our trip to Switzerland and the UK in the autumn. The main focus of our trip will be rest, family and friends, but we will be ministering at some churches as invited. We would appreciate any contributions to help us pay our air fares. Please kindly contact the EAB treasurer.  

Vaccination

On Tuesday Liz and I had our 4th vaccination against Covid. Our first 2 vaccinations were Coronavac (China). These are low efficiency vaccinations of around 50%. We took them as better than nothing as this was all that was available. Our 3rd and 4th vaccinations have been Pfizer which are much more efficient. This means we are now all vaccinated for our trip to Switzerland and the UK in September/October for which we value your prayers.

The overall Covid situation in Brazil is much better. PTL! In Patos we have zero cases at the moment. It is so nice to be back in church without a mask!

Please also pray for our granddaughter Louisa (who lives with us) who is a fully registered and graduated lawyer, but who now needs work experience as an assistant lawyer. May God open a door for her.

Monday night's prayer meetings went well both the general one and the youth one. However the youth meeting was very low in number. On Tuesday the Men's fellowship was very lively with a nice word by Gilmarco on prayer.

Cadnam

Cadnam Methodist Church, in the New Forest area of England, held its annual musical concert in aid of EAB on Saturday. The event, organized by Howard and Hillary Babey, raised 1,110 pounds for the work of EAB. We are very grateful to all those involved in the event. Our son Philip and his family were there and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Philip was able to give a brief word about the work in Brazil.

Parallel to the Cadnam concert, here in Brazil the deaf held their biggest meeting of the week, the Christians in Action group held another service at Ipueira and a service was held at Green Pastures supported by some of the Patos youth.

Last night I led the special Mother's Day service in Patos and I preached too on "Mothers who fear the Lord". The church was absolutely full to capacity. It was a lovely service.

Passagem

Passagem is a village about 30 km south-east of Patos where we have a little church which struggles on over the years but is a faithful light for the Gospel. To give you an idea I dedicated the second child in my ministry there 49 years ago. On Thursday I held a meeting with Eduardo, who is the leader there, so as to receive his up-to-date report on the work and to encourage him to press on. Please pray for Passagem.

The mid-week Bible study went well on 1 John 3:1-3. Following this we had an excellent meeting with the three Patos youth leaders Rayla, Louisa and Ray. We had good discussions with them about a youth camp they are planning to hold next month at Green Pastures. We gave them lots of tips and plenty of advice. 

Tomorrow will be Mother's Day in Brazil so I have been preparing a sermon for the Mums in the commemorative festive service we will hold at night, which every year gives us a very full church.

Yesterday's encounter of our Young at Heart seniors went very well and was very much appreciated by 10 of our senior sisters. Our daughter Deborah picks them up and takes them to church. Then last night Pastor Luiz Carlos taught another session of Brazilian sign language for the deaf and that went well too. 

You might be interested to know that I ate for breakfast this morning a custard apple, a slice of paw-paw, a slice of water melon and a banana. 😋

Wostenes & Gleydice

Yesterday Liz and I travelled two and a half hours east of Patos to Campina Grande where we had a three and a half hour in person meeting with Pastor Wostenes (Deputy chairman of ACEV) and his wife Gleydice. We got up at 5 am and left just over an hour later. First of all Liz went to a clinic where she had some scans and exams done. We then had our first chinese meal in three years at Chinatown in the Campina Grande Shopping Centre. It was a very nice lunch together.

We then went to Wostenes' office at his church which is in the borough of Catolé. We had an excellent meeting discussing a wide range of matters in preparation for our General Conference which will be held from May 27th to 29th. We discussed the two ministers to be ordained and another two whose ministerial statuses need to be defined. We then discussed the situations in a number of churches. We also discussed a variety of dates that need to be defined at the conference and discussed our Campina Grande Bible College as well as the online distance learning options for theological training. 

We also discussed an important proposed alteration in ACEV's registered statutes which will prohibit same sex marriage so as to give our ministers legal support if necessary.

We praise God for this lovely spiritual couple who are great friends of ours and wonderful co-workers in the Gospel.

Cat among the pigeons!

As I arrived at Green Pastures on Friday afternoon there was a terrific commotion in the chicken run and the Peacocks were very vocal too. Francisco went to see what the problem was and saw a beautiful wild Jaguarundi rust coloured cat. It was very fat, had a shinning beautiful coat and was about twice the size of a large domestic cat. The cat was prowling round the chicken pen to see if he could get in, but he soon ran off when we arrived on the scene. 

Whilst walking at Green Pastures I saw two foxes and whilst driving home in the dark I saw four burrowing owls. Upon arriving home Liz and I ate delicious bowls of Curd which was given to us by Miriam who is a member of the Green Pastures church.

I led the main service of the week in Patos on Sunday and it went very well. The church was really full.

On Monday we received the visit at Green Pastures of 4 researchers of Wild Cats from the State University of Maranhão led by Professor Dr. Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira. They set up 8 camera traps. This research will doubtless bring us a lot of information about the wild cats found at Green Pastures.   

Care Centre

Our Patos Care Centre runs a dental clinic for the poor, a food bank and works with the deaf and seniors. At the moment the Care Centre is undergoing a rebuilding modernization. The Care Centre is being reshaped and left with adequate pillars so as to in the future have an upper floor. The walls and pillars have been built and this coming week the new roof and ceiling are to be put in place which will eventually be the floor of the future upper floor. The revamped Care Centre will have a modern kitchen to prepare food for the soup runs and a coffee bar to enhance church fellowship and evangelism. The multipurpose Care Centre will also be used for children's work. 

This Care Centre modernization project is being made possible thanks to a generous designated donation from Liz's brother Sam and his wife Gerti in Switzerland in the honour of Sam and Liz's mother Ivy Dyer. Hence the Care Centre will now be in memory of Katriona M. Graham (the original purchase) and EAB late Missionary Ivy A. Dyer. Tributes to these two women will be on the walls of the revamped Care Centre. 

On Friday night we held a little service at the farmstead of Sérgio and Aparecida. There were 18 people present. On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures and Bible College student Murilo preached from Galatians 6:11-18. We had a swarm of flying beetles in the meeting hall and a large fat toad came into the hall to gobble them up. I felt a bit sorry for the speaker as it was a bit distracting with the toad jumping all over the place and consuming beetles with the help of his long tongue!

There was also a service last night outside our school in Patos and at Ipueira. At the end of the school service there were 7 decisions for Christ of which one was of the sponsored child Heloisa. PTL! We will now be holding a weekly service every Wednesday at the school.

Administration

I have been very busy with EAB administrative work writing letters and emails to supporters. I take this opportunity to thank those who support the work here. Nowadays writing letters is much simpler than in the early years. Everything used to be by hand or by using a typewriter. When the fax machine came in we really felt we had arrived! I still have our old fax machine as a museum item. 

This week's week night meetings have all gone along well. The Men's Fellowship on Tuesday, the Women's Fellowship on Wednesday and the general Bible study in the first epistle of John on Thursday. Today (Friday) is the senior citizens encounter in the morning and at night our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos will continue teaching the Brazilian Sign Language course. Our work in this sphere in Patos is a leader in our town. Some of our former students both interpret in our services and in public events outside of the church. Some have gone on to obtain degrees in Brazilian Sign Language at the Federal University.