Break

We will be having a break over the carnival period, as from tomorrow, with us and the family spending the days at Green Pastures. The camp that was to have been held over the carnival period has been switched to the Easter week owing to the pandemic.

I have been having discussions with Pastor Maésio (Teixeira) and Pastor Manoel Oliveira Filho (João Pessoa - Boa Esperança). The discussions were blessed and fruitful. I also have been talking to Pastor Ângelo regarding his future work and ministry after he resigned from the Soledade church. I too have been checking the reports from the EAB Action Schools at Patos, Imaculada, Soledade, Matureia, Manaíra and Flores. I have had discussions with the projects team about the 4-Legs Project (goats/hair sheep) which is going very well.

I received a request from the Brazilian Inter-Varsity Fellowship asking me to write a chapter for a new book. My contribution will be about my experiences and work with the Brazilian IVF between 1976 and 1982. I have been working on this.

It is with great sadness that we see the news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin is cynical, ruthless and evil. This invasion has clearly been plotted and planned for a long time. We pray for peace and justice.

Rain

Please pray for rain for our region of Brazil because all we are getting thus far in this rainy season are showers. We need abundant rain to fill up the lakes.

The County of São Mamede's five-a-side football-in-the-sand "Beach Soccer" tournament started yesterday and our Green Pastures team played a team called Parrot in the first game and won 3 x 1. Each team plays 3 matches in the initial group stage. Watch this space!

Our 20-year-old grandson Arthur is a bit of an academic genius. He is studying law at university and passed in first place for work experience with a judge. Then yesterday he sat an exam to work in the offices of the plain clothed police which I wouldn't be surprised if he passes. He speaks 4 languages. I don't know what he will end up doing in life, but the most important thing is that he loves the Lord.

Yesterday I sent out the latest EAB Diary Update which is a copy of this blog which I send out by email twice a month. If you don't receive it and would like to then kindly send me an email.

I have had some important discussions with ACEV deputy-chairperson Pastor Wostenes about a solution regarding the leadership of our Soledade church. The previous pastor there called Ângelo resigned at the end of November. Since then the Soledade church has been receiving rich ministry from our two excellent Campina Grande churches both all day Sunday plus a mid-week service. All the different age groups in the church are receiving attention and the church has perked up a lot with more in the services and much more hopeful and positive attitudes. Please pray for the Soledade church as we seek new leaders for it later this year. There is a possibility of a young couple taking on the job who are from Campina Grande. The husband has graduated from our Bible College and his wife will soon be graduating too.   

Jumble Sale

On Saturday afternoon we held a jumble sale outside our Patos School. It was due to start at 2 pm but lots of people were already gathered by midday so we started early. We sell everything very cheap especially clothes and shoes. It raises funds for the revamp of our Care Centre and gives poor people dignity being able to buy their own things.

Over the weekend I had a tummy virus which knocked me out of action for a day or so. Our daughter Lynn had it before me.

I saw a beautiful young fox at Green Pastures. It was very close and seemed nor to care at all about me being so near.

I have received reports from our little Action Schools at Juru, Itaporanga, Princesa Isabel, Ibiara and Caroá. It is good to see that the schools are going well.

Our church at Soledade, which was at a low ebb, is showing signs of new life thanks to the support and ministry of our Campina Grande and João Pessoa churches over the past 3 months. Please pray for Soledade.

Camp

Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures. Faced with a third wave of Covid in Brazil with 1,074 deaths in the last 24 hours and the number of new cases very high, we have decided not to hold the camp at Carnival from 26th February to March 2nd, but to hold a camp in its place at the Easter weekend from April 14th to 17th. We trust that by April the current explosion of cases will have subsided and for this we value your prayers.

We are busy giving guidance for our new EAB Action School at Barra de Oitis village. We have held meetings with local Pastor Nezinho Abílio and Teacher Malu. Please pray for this new venture of faith. The church building will also double up as the school room where 20 children will learn properly to read and write plus learning basic maths with their times tables. It is sad to see how the local government school largely fails in these basic areas of schooling.

Researchers Rafael Dioni and Wenner from the Federal University's Biology School have started researching Toad tadpoles at Green Pastures.

Our granddaughter Louisa arrived back from the UK at Recife airport on Thursday afternoon and was met by her fiancée Tiago and Clayton from the Patos church who did the driving to Patos. Just before this I took part in an EAB Board meeting which was very good.

Family

Another entire family has gone down with Covid in the Patos church. Neto, who is a motorbike taxi man and scales down high rocks and blocks of flats in his spare time, his wife Kelly and their two daughters Evelyn and Manu are all out of action. Please pray for them. We still haven't decided whether we are going to hold the Carnival Camp or not. On the one hand we are loathed to cancel it, but on the other hand we are apprehensive with the latest Covid wave. 

Our free-range egg supply has been hit by a giant lizard which is widespread at Green Pastures. The lizard with the scientific name of Salvator merianae grows up to 2 metres long and loves to eat eggs! One of them discovered a nest and wiped out the eggs. We are going to make some suspended nesting boxes to solve the problem. We have brought the surviving eggs to Patos which includes 4 Guinea Fowl eggs.

I have been having long good discussions with pastor Renilson about the EAB Action School at Matureia which his church leads. The church and school are going very well.

Today I will be meeting online with the EAB Board of Trustees for one of our regular meetings. On March 7th ACEV will be holding a meeting with all our leaders and World Vision to further discuss the possibilities of a partnership. We value your prayers. 

Lizard

I saw the very colourful lizard at Green Pastures at the weekend called Ameivula pyrrhogularis. I also saw the orange and black bird called the Campo Troupial, plus a Rock Cavy and a pair of Picazuro Pigeons. It is wonderful observing the wildlife of this region, especially in this time of the year in the rainy season when everything is green and the birds are nesting. A rufous-bellied Thrush has young in a nest we are observing and so does a Campo Troupial. I photographed a Pigmy Nightjar chick with my mobile phone. Caring for creation is something God's children do naturally.

I led Sunday night's service in Patos and assistant pastor Rafael preached from Matthew 21:18-22. The praise and worship was led by Sacha, Fábio, Marina, Tiago, Biba and Ricardinho and it was excellent. In the morning Sunday School there are 8 people in the discipleship class preparing for baptism later in the year. 

I have finished reading the book 'The Last Bookshop in London' by Madeline Martin. It was a good book.

Our granddaughter Louisa will be returning from England this Thursday (17th) and will be back to living with us.

I have just been in a meeting with young pastor Leandro from our Juazeirinho church and the meeting went very well. It was basically to help him do some administrative things like giving a letter of recommendation to a sister who is moving elsewhere. It is good to see a good number of young pastors in EAB/ACEV taking on responsibilities in the work of God.  

Football Team

Green Pastures not only has a church made up of the local farming folk. It now also has a football team led by Francisco who takes care of the day to day running of Green Pastures. He has just entered two teams into the County of São Mamede's 5-a-side football-in-the-sand competition. One is the Green Pasture's team and the other is the Papagaio team. Papagaio means Parrot which is the name of our area of São Mamede. Watch this space for the scores!

Liz and I have received negative results from our Covid PCR tests so that is good!

Our 26th toilet/shower unit has been completed at Barra de Oitis village. Aldenora, Luciano and their 3 daughters have got their first toilet/shower unit of their lives. They are very happy. They live off a government benefit of 56 pounds a month.

Friday night was a good night for two reasons. First of all because we had 32 mm (one and one third inches) of rain at Green Pastures. Secondly because the church's young teens fun and fellowship night was held at Sacha's house and it was a real blessing with 16 adolescents present.

Armadillos are common at Green Pastures and we have found 9 burrows made by them in the dam which will hold the water at our lake once the rain increases in intensity. We are busily filling these burrows/holes and will hope and pray that they will then decide to move somewhere else in the Nature Reserve. 

Research

I have been talking to the biologist Rafael Dioni who is going to start post-graduate research into Toad tadpoles at Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre. He is going to start work there next week.

I have also been talking to Pastor Maésio who leads the Teixeira church at the top of the mountain. We discussed the church plant he is working on at Sítio Sabonete II. They held another evangelistic service there this week with Maésio's wife Fia working with the children parallel to the adult service.

Our deaconess Josinete has just come through Covid and now her husband Zaqueu has it, as does her daughter-in-law Paula and her adopted granddaughter Eloisa. Please pray for this family. The peak of the present third wave of Covid in Brazil is forecast for the end of this month which would coincide with our carnival camp. We are probably going to be forced to cancel the camp. Hopefully we will have the all clear to hold the General Conference at Green Pastures in May as this current wave should have passed by then.

Liz and I spent Wednesday afternoon at Green Pastures. We saw another part of the outer fencing where Francisco is fixing it. We had a good long walk and brought back 18 fresh eggs. We walked past the bone dry lake and prayed for it to be filled. The weather forecast between now and the 15th March is for very heavy rain for us. We hope and pray that the forecast is correct.

Yesterday Liz and I did PCR Covid tests and we should receive the results tomorrow. We are confident that they will be negative as we have no symptoms at all after our close shave with Ben Price's visit.   

Adolescents

I have a real burden on my heart for the adolescents in the Patos church and have been looking for ways to care for them better. We view adolescents as from 11 to 16 years old. I asked my young assistant pastor Rafael to focus more on them together with his girlfriend Rayla, but thus far that has not come to much. I have also asked our youngest daughter Sacha to reach out to them and this Friday she is having round to her house 19 adolescents including her own 2 daughters. I am very happy about this. I think they are going to have a fun night of singing, Bible quizzes and ice cream!

I am very pleased that the 'Life Squad' is going to return to action in the Patos men's prison. Please pray for this new opportunity to preach the Gospel every other Saturday at 3 pm (6 pm UK time). May God transform many lives through this ministry!

We have just received the sad news from Fonseca slave descendant community of the death of a little baby. The mother was a participant in our Desert Flower project there. The baby is now being brought to Patos for the post mortem examination. Please pray for this family. 

Please also pray for deacon Nelson at our Imaculada church up in the mountains. He had a stroke last night and is now in the Patos General Hospital.

Please also pray for the launch of a new EAB Action School at Barra de Oitis this month. We pray that God will raise up some sponsors at 20 pounds a month to make this project viable. We are finding adolescents at 11 years of age who can't read or write in the village and we must do something about this sad plight.

Liz and I continue to have no Covid symptoms despite us having had someone in our home who tested positive the following day. We will get tested tomorrow anyway. In the past 24 hours in Brazil 177,027 people tested positive and there were 1,189 Covid deaths.   

Saturday night

I led the communion service at Green Pastures on Saturday night and I preached the Gospel with a sermon on "I am the door" (John 10:9). This was the third sermon in a series on the seven "I am" statements in John's Gospel. I had previously done "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) and "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12).

The well at Macambira dos Lúcios Community is nearing completion. Our projects team is back in action after their January break. The half a kilometer pipeline has now been laid from the well to the village centre. The electric pump will now be installed in the well and then we will need the electricity board to link the project to the mains electricity. We hope that all this will be done this month so that we can officially inaugurate the well and hold a thanksgiving service in March.

We have completed another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis and I hope to have some good photos by next week of the jubilant family benefitted by the project who have a toilet/shower for the first time in their lives. 

Last night's main Sunday service was excellent with our daughter Sacha preaching on the life of Ruth. She really preached well. Assistant pastor Rafael led the service. However straight after the service we received the news that ex EAB missionary Ben Price has tested positive for Covid at Ibiara, having been with us on Friday and Saturday. Liz and I now wait to see if we have caught it from him. We value your prayers. Up till now we have no symptoms at all. Ben is due to fly back to England a week today.

Barbed Wire

The revamp and modernization of EAB's Care Centre presses on. The area has been fenced off with fence posts and barbed wire brought in from Green Pastures. I have now returned the excess barbed wire. On the way to Green Pastures I saw a Burrowing Owl perched on a fencing post which flew to its burrow as I reached it. I also saw a wild Cavy which simply ignored me as I went past it. Whilst there I saw and heard a Shiny Cowbird.

We have a Long-billed Wren nesting in the main kitchen at Green Pastures. It nested in the kitchen doorway last year and this year it has made its nest out of tree bark on top of pots and pans.

Ex EAB Missionary Ben Price has been with us since yesterday when he arrived for a visit before lunch. We have had lovely fellowship with him and yesterday afternoon we took him for a nice walk at Green Pastures where it rained 11 mm last night. He will be leaving after lunch today and will be speaking at a Bible College graduation in Itaporanga. He will return to the UK on the 14th.

Please pray for our pastor João George who is the assistant pastor at Imaculada. He is ill with Covid. In the last 24 hours there were 219,298 new cases of Covid in Brazil and there were 1,074 deaths. The pandemic situation has become very serious again here. 

Hair

On Tuesday afternoon I had my hair cut sat on the veranda of our house. Rose, the hairdresser, fixed Liz's and our daughter Deborah's hairs too. Getting our hair cut at home is one of the advantages that have come through the pandemic as it avoids us going to a hairdresser's shop with all the inevitable contact with people.

The rains have stopped here these last few days so we start to feel a bit apprehensive as either we get rain in this season or else we don't get it till next year. Please pray with us for abundant rain. Our prayer is that this month of February be a month of torrential rain.

Yesterday Liz and I went to Green Pastures for a nice walk and we saw some Guira Cuckoos and heard plenty of migratory Greater Anis which are with us in the first half of the year. We brought back with us 25 fresh free range eggs from our chickens. They are so much nicer than the mass produced eggs you buy in the shops. We ate some of them scrambled inside Mandioca root pancakes for our evening meal.  

Service

Our Sunday night service in Patos was really blessed despite the low numbers owing to Covid. I have now lost count of how many of our members are down with Covid but it is around 20! We value your prayers. I led the service and preached Mark 3 and of special note was the duet sung by Sacha and Segundo. Segundo was in our church as a child/adolescent but he went away from God and got involved with drugs, but now he is back on the right path and has a lovely voice to praise God with. I have just been talking to him. God is really moving in his life.

Yesterday was my birthday so I had a nice relaxing day reading a new book by Madeline Martin called 'The Last Bookshop in London'. Liz did a nice meal for me and the family to share. It was lovely.

I am receiving more details of those from the church down with Covid. Denis and his wife Andrea and their two children have it as does Denis's sister Denise and her baby son Arthur. The problem is that Denis "doesn't feel ill" so has gone off on a long journey with his work and telling nobody he has Covid! It is a very selfish approach to the pandemic.