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.