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.