Pizza

On Friday night our adolescents' fellowship had a lovely time together eating pizza at a restaurant as their end of year celebration. Everyone chipped in to pay the bill with 2 pounds 50 pence each. There were 26 of them present and it was a lovely evening of fellowship. The adolescents' fellowship has been very positive and blessed throughout this year, led by Adriana and Segundo. 

I went for a walk at Green Pastures on Friday afternoon and saw and heard a White-naped Jay and saw a wild Guinea Pig.

On Friday QPR drew 0 x 0 at Ipswich which was a good result as Ipswich are near the top of the table and we are near the bottom. 

Last night I conducted the wedding of my co-pastor Rafael (aged 33) to youth leader Rayla (aged 30). All went off very nicely with a reception after the ceremony.

Last night a service was also held in the town of Passagem 30 km east of Patos and one person made a commitment to Christ. This is a good way to end the year!

Dear dear dear!

This week a deer was observed again at Green Pastures. The species of deer we get here (it is very rare) is a bambi type deer whose scientific name is a Mazama Gouazoubira. It gives us great pleasure to see these deer at Green Pastures as it shows that our preservation of God's creation is paying dividends.

I have been busy preparing for this week's wedding that I will be conducting. My co-pastor Rafael will be marrying Rayla who is one of our youth leaders.

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and co-pastor Rafael brought the study from Joel 3. Espedita sang a solo and Dede and Deborah Maria brought Bible verses. The praise was led by Marina and Davi. 

Preaching on Boxing Day

Last night, Boxing Day, I travelled with the Patos Men's Fellowship to preach the Gospel in the town of Sao Mamede. I went in a truck driven by chief of the police Esau, which also had in it my assistant pastor Rafael, Flavio and Marcio. Other men who went were Caetano, Claudivan and Dede. Esau led the service, Dede led the praise and I preached from Luke 2. Over 50 people gathered for the service which was held in the street in front of Brother Jose and sister Marico's house. After the service a snack was served to all by Marico.

The temperatures today are a low of 24 degrees and a high of 38 degrees. Please pray for rain.

Sadly QPR lost 2 x 0 at Millwall yesterday. 😞

Christmas Hampers

Liz and I have been busy distributing Christmas hampers to the very poor. One particularly needy village we went to was that of 'Serrote Liso' where the hampers were received with much joy and gratitude. Most of the houses there are made of mud and sticks.

Liz and I went to visit sister Maria Jose of our Patos church who has undergone surgery to remove an eye cataract. She is recovering well.

QPR sadly lost at home to Southampton 1 x 0 on Saturday. 😒

On Saturday night I preached at our Patos school's Christmas service at which over 200 people attended. The service was held in the street in front of our school and all the different age groups presented different Christmas items. It was a lovely service.

We have received a donation of 2,000 NIV Bibles from the International Bible Society which is wonderful. All they cost us was the freight from Sao Paulo. The Bibles will now be distributed to our 24 main regional churches which will distribute them via their local congregations and branch churches. EAB/ACEV has a total of over 80 churches.

In Brazilian culture it's the eve of any special day that is more important than the day itself. Hence yesterday's Christmas Eve was celebrated first in church and then by a family Christmas Eve supper, as opposed to a special Christmas day lunch in British culture. As we are of both cultures we do both! 😋

The Christmas play which I wrote was fantastic last night in church! The 40-strong cast did exceptionally well. It was both emotional and really blessed. Happy Christmas to everyone!

Rain

 On Thursday we had another 8 mm of rain at Green Pastures. It's not a lot but it is most welcome after over 5 months of parched scorching drought.

On Thursday evening our 3 daughters Deborah, Lynn and Sacha asked us to go and support their end of year event at their English language school which is called 'Cultura Inglesa'. Please pray for this school which is the means of income of our girls and is a shining example of quality language teaching. It was a joy to meet many pupils who are already fluent in English thanks to this school.

I have prepared a Christmas message for the children and parents of our Pastor Frank Dyer School in Patos for tonight. I look forward to sharing with them the true Biblical Gospel story of Jesus' birth and what it means for us.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures and saw 2 wild Guinea Pigs, many Wattled Jacanas and a Striated Heron. I also heard the beautiful song of a Rufous-browed Peppershrike.

Last night was the final rehearsal for our main Christmas play which will be performed on Christmas Eve and is called 'The Christmas Star'. I wrote the play earlier this year and it tells the Christmas story from the angle of the stars. It has a clear Christian message.

Graduation

On Tuesday evening Liz and I went to our grandson Arthur's graduation ceremony at the university. His girlfriend Bianca also graduated in the same class of 50 students, who completed five years of studying law. Bianca was top of the class and Arthur was third, so they have done very well. There seems to be quite a bit of healthy competition between the two of them in their studies. Both of them have also passed the first stage of their Bar exams and they sit the final stage on January 21st. Please pray for them.

I didn't go to the men's fellowship meeting this week as I always do, because I was at Arthur's graduation ceremony. Just 7 went to the meeting, but they had a good time of fellowship around God's Word.

We had 5 mm of fine rain on Wednesday morning. It was very little, but after more than 5 months without a drop it was greatly appreciated. 

We have completed the drilling and equipping of two new wells at Caroa community in Manaira county. The people there are thrilled. They have water for Christmas!

Liz and I have been out distributing Christmas Hampers to an extremely poor community called Campo Comprido which is 8 km along an earth road south of Patos. The people were very happy and grateful for their Christmas surprizes.   

Choir

 I led the service on Sunday night in Patos and pastor Rafael preached. The highlight of the night was the choir from our Campina Grande Catole church which travelled to Patos in a coach. The choir is called 'Coral Adoração' (worship choir) and they presented a special Christmas programme called 'Hallelujah'. They sang the Hallelujah Chorus as the last item of their presentation. The whole presentation, led by their leader and conductor Gideao (Gideon), was a beautiful selection of hymns and carols including the 'Hymn of Joy' from Beethoven's 9th symphony and 'Oh Holy Night'. It was a wonderfully blessed evening.

Parallel to this 18 people were baptized at our Campina Grande church. Praise God for a very happy Christmas for these new converts!

9 new members were received into fellowship at our Princesa Isabel church at the weekend.

Covid

There is an upsurge in Covid cases in Brazil, though its effects are not as devastating as during the pandemic. Our granddaughter Louisa has tested positive and is feeling awful. This will affect the Christmas play production on the 24th unless she recovers quickly, as she has an important roll in a depleted cast already affected by Jacira's death.

I have had important talks with Pastor Maesio of our Teixeira church up in the mountains. It was good to learn of growth in the church there. The growth is small, but it is growth. Teixeira has traditionally been a difficult place for the Gospel. 

81-year-old Paul McCartney is in the south of Brazil on his ' Got back' tour. He fills football stadiums to capacity to hear him and he is getting a very good press. What Paul does for pop music I certainly will endeavour to do for the Gospel!

QPR sadly lost at Sheffield Wednesday yesterday 2 x 1 despite having been 1 x 0 up with five minutes to go! We remain in the relegation zone. 😟

Last night's service at Green Pastures was cancelled at the last minute when I was all ready to lead and preach. We have a group on WhatsApp with all the members and one after the other said they weren't going to the service owing to the flu, so we ended up cancelling the service.

Funeral

Yesterday I conducted the funeral of 52-year-old church member Jacira who died of a heart attack on Wednesday. Both the wake and the funeral service were held in our church and all went off smoothly. The church was full for the service. Both Jacira's husband Joao and daughter Joyce are gutted. Please pray for them.

At both the wake and funeral service one good thing that came of it was the meeting up with my nephew Ben and his wife Mayara whom I hadn't seen for years despite living in the same town. I hope and pray that we will see more of them from now on.

The mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study was cancelled last night in the light of Jacira's death.

QPR drew at home to Plymouth on Wednesday 0 x 0 which was a disappointment, especially because Plymouth were down to 10 men for most of the game.

Yesterday was our second daughter Lynn's birthday and Liz cooked sweet and sour chicken with rice for her. 😋

John Wesley

I have started some extra study, for my personal pleasure, on the theology of John Wesley. I am doing a course online with the ISBL Bible College in Londrina in the south of Brazil.

A brother who is 30 called Guilherme Santos from our Campina Grande Catole church feels the call of God to work among the indigenous indians in the Amazon area of Brazil. Next year he will be going to Manaus in that region on a training course run by the New Tribes Mission. This will be an interesting aspect of EAB/ACEV ministry if it works out. He will be graduating from our Bible College next year. Please pray.

On Monday it was our granddaughter Louisa's 24th birthday and we had a cake and sang happy birthday to her in the afternoon. Louisa has been married to Tiago for a little over a year.

I travelled with our Men's Fellowship last night to the town of Sao Mamede and we held a street meeting at which I spoke and led prayer. Parallel to this Liz went to the Women's Fellowship meeting in Patos.

We were woken up with a shock early this morning with the news that 52 year old Jacira Macena was found dead in her house at dawn by her husband Joao Moreno. Jacira was an active positive member of our Patos church, she sang as part of a group in church on Sunday and was in good health, and was due to play the part of an angel in the Christmas play on Christmas Eve. I will be conducting her funeral tomorrow morning.

Luis

Yesterday our grandson Luis (Philip & Gylmara's son in England) had his 8th birthday. He is a lovely boy and is doing well at school. He just needs to eat more as his diet is extremely restricted owing to autism. 

Saturday night's service at Green Pastures went well. I led, Bible College graduate Murilo preached on Psalm 139, and Fabio, Flavio, Nega, Manoel, Fred, Dodora, Paulo Silas and Josue all took part. Parallel to this services were held in the towns of Ipueira and Passagem. The deaf fellowship also had an excellent meeting with 16 present led by our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos who is doing a great job.

QPR won again on Saturday 2 x 0 at home to Hull. This is the third game on the run that we have won! 😄We're still in the relegation zone, but if we keep this up we will soon be out of it.

I led last night's service in Patos and I preached on spiritual renewal from Psalm 119:25-32. It was very encouraging to receive a message from one of the deaf fellowship this morning telling me how blessed he had been by my sermon. As part of our Christmas celebrations we had a lovely ballet presentation in the service too, plus a singing group singing Christmas songs. It was a lovely service.

We have just had a pair of bright yellow Great Kiskadees (the size of a Blackbird) singing perched on our TV aerial. 

Drought

It is 5 months since we last saw a drop of rain at Green Pastures. This with the intense heat means that everything is parched, scorched and bone dry. Please pray for rain!

I have had a long meeting in person with Pastor Oseias of our Itaporanga church discussing some problems in the church there. I can't go into details here. We had a very good and honest talk about the situation which was most worthwhile. We also discussed regional issues as Oseias is the regional leader as well. We talked about the Curral Velho, Vazante, Barra de Oitis, Mata de Oitis and Conceicao churches. Please pray for the Itaporanga church.

I led the prayer meeting and Bible study on Thursday evening in Patos and it was a lovely service, though numbers were down. Davi and Joao Filho led the worship, there was good participation in prayer and the sharing of Bible texts, Espedita and Vasti sang solos and Rafael brought the study from Joel chapter 2.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I visited 79 year old sister Socorro Help and it was good to find her much better in health and much more positive. We had a nice long chat to her and heard all her stories. Then we read the Bible with her and had a time of prayer. She promises to be back in church on Sunday together with her son Bruno. 

Men's Fellowship

The men's fellowship meeting on Tuesday night was really blessed. It was good to see a non-Christian visitor there. Bible college student Ray was who led the inductive Bible study which went well.

On Tuesday afternoon I went for a good walk at Green Pastures, but how so terribly dry and burnt up by the 38 degree sun everything is. We desperately need rain. Please pray!

I have had some important discussions with pastor Wostenes already preparing for next year's (May) general conference which will be held in Joao Pessoa. One issue is a question of pastoral mandates which will need altering in our statutes, and the other is concerning bank accounts for our churches.

Following the syringing of my ears last week the doctor sent me for a hearing test which I felt was unnecessary but did it. I can hear perfectly well and the test showed my hearing to be above average, so praise God for that. 

More baptisms

This weekend Pastor Nezinho Abílio baptized 9 new converts at Vazante. 3 were from our Vazante church and 6 were from our new church at Mata de Oitis. We were recently in the area and it is so encouraging to see how the work is growing there. There is a fervent spirit in the region with great enthusiasm and zeal for the work of the Lord. There is the possibility of a new church plant in the headquarters town of that area called Diamante (Diamond) in 2024. Please pray.

Sunday night's service in the Patos church went very well with a lovely spirit of praise and worship. I led the service and law student and theology graduate Murilo preached. The highlight of the service was a 15-minute musical nativity play done by the children and adolescents. It was really beautiful. Every Sunday in December we will have a Christmas related item in the service.  

We have completed the construction of another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis at the house of Severino, Jailma and family. They are over the moon!

SETEBRAE

SETEBRAE is the name of our Bible College in Campina Grande and on Friday Liz and I travelled there for the graduation service of 12 students - 9 men and 3 women. We left Patos just after 3 pm and arrived there at 6:45 pm having stopped for a snack at Soledade on the way. The service started at 7:30 pm and about 300 people gathered for it. The service went very well and I was one of the speakers. The service ended at 9:45 pm and was followed by lots of photographs being taken.

When all had finished Pastor Wostenes asked us out for a meal together with his family which was very nice. This ended not far short of midnight and we got to bed about 1 am at the pastor's house. After a good night's sleep we had a nice time of fellowship together with the pastor and his wife over breakfast. We had a good discussion about different aspects of the work. After this we drove back to Patos, leaving about 10 am, and getting home around 1 pm. We were tired but rejoicing.

The main road between Patos and Campina Grande is being upgraded to a dual carriageway. The work is just beginning. It will obviously improve travel when it's finished in a few years' time. This work has already been done between Campina Grande and Joao Pessoa on the coast.

QPR travelled to Preston on Friday and won 2 x 0! 😂

Ear Ear!

I have been to the doctor's to have my ears syringed so that was good.

We have had another visit at Green Pastures from the IBAMA which is the Brazilian environmental body. They went there to release lots of wild birds which they had confiscated from people illegally keeping them in cages. They also released a lot of wild tortoises. They also collected a parrot which an elderly lady has asked us to give to the authorities for her.

I had a good walk at Green Pastures and saw 15 Picui Ground Doves. Please pray for rain which we badly need. We haven't had any for months and our lake has completely dried up.

Last night's prayer meeting and Bible study was lovely. We were down in numbers, but there was a lovely spirit of prayer, excellent participations with people sharing verses of scripture, and a good study.

Later today I will be travelling about 3 hours to Campina Grande to speak at our Bible College's graduation ceremony and service. 

Cidade Verde

Our second church on the coast in Joao Pessoa is in the borough of Cidade Verde and it has just celebrated its 19th anniversary under the leadership of Pastor Jose Vieira. A festive and blessed special service was held to commemorate the occasion. 

You will be thrilled to know that having lost at Norwich on Saturday, QPR actually managed to win a game last night at home to Stoke 4 x 2!! You will also have noticed that I had my hair cut yesterday. I hope you like it. 👨

Last night I preached on prayer in the town of Sao Mamede. It was a lovely service and my sermon went very well.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures and saw a Chalk-browed Mocking bird and 3 White-naped Jays.

This Friday we will be travelling the 178 km east to Campina Grande where I will be speaking at the graduation service of our Bible College there. We will sleep there the night at Pastor Wostenes' house and travel back to Patos the following morning.

40th Anniversary Service

We drove to Caroa on Saturday afternoon leaving Patos at 1 pm and arriving at Caroa at 4:20 pm. The last 11 km of the journey is the worst although the earth track (road!) has been improved a lot over the last 40 years that we have been going there to minister. The anniversary service started 15 minutes late at 7:15 pm and was held in front of the church under a star-lit sky and a full moon. There was a constant gentle breeze blowing which was much appreciated so as to cool things down. An excellent crowd gathered from Caroa, plus pastor Francinaldo from our Manaira church, Fabio who leads the Fonseca and Travessia churches, Leonarda who leads the Umburana church, pastor Gerse (Princesa Isabel), pastor Roberio (Tavares), pastor Nemias (Flores), Deacon Sitonio (Mandacau), and others from Umbuzeiro, Olho D'aguinha Seco and Belem. I preached on 'Nothing will separate us from God' (Romans 8:31-39) The mayor was at the service and at the end I presented him with a copy of my book about the history of the work here.

After the service everyone was served with a hot dog and coke and we stayed talking to all the people. After this we stayed chatting to the local pastor Valdemy till gone 11 pm. We stayed at his house for the night and we left for Patos about 8 am the following morning. On the way home we went to visit brother Jose Paulinho and his wife Louisa at Manaira as Louisa doesn't enjoy good health and they were unable to go to the anniversary service. They are the parents of 17 children! We got back to Patos about 12:30 pm, ate egg and chips, had a siesta, and then got ready for the evening main service of the week in the Patos church.

I led the service in the Patos church and pastor Rafael preached. Sacha, Louisa and Marina led the worship. After the service the children's ministry sold a Munguza snack to raise money for the building work. Munguza is a regional maize based snack which was very nice.

Caroa

Later today Elizabeth, me and deaconess Josinete will drive to Caroa and tonight I will be preaching at their 40th anniversary service. We value your prayers.

Thursday night's prayer meeting and Bible study went well. There were about 25 there.

I have been doing a lot of administrative work. I have also had a nice walk at Green Pastures and had a good chat to Francisco. I heard the call of the Scarlet-throated Tanager whilst there.

Yesterday morning I inspected the construction work at the Care Centre. The brick layer was finishing off the wheelchair ramp and it is good to see the end of the work insight. Hopefully we will go into the new year with the Care Centre back in use and totally revamped. 

Christmas is coming!

Christmas approaches and the Patos church is already decorated appropriately. Every Sunday in December we will have a special Christmas feature in the service as follows. On the 3rd we will have a children's nativity play; on the 10th a Christmas ballet performance; on the 17th a special musical item; and on the 24th we will have our main Christmas play which I wrote.

On Tuesday evening I led the men's fellowship inductive Bible study called 'Jesus the great liberator' based on John 8:31-32. It was a lovely meeting with 12 present and which was very participative.

Our 22-year-old grandson Arthur presented his end of course dissertation for his law course at university and received the top mark. His dissertation, which was highly praised by his examiners, discussed the legal implications of Brexit. 

I have been in discussions with Gleydice in Campina Grande about our Bible College there. The college is struggling owing to the low numbers of students with only 22 this year. Please pray.

Liz went to the women's fellowship meeting last night which was held at Ana Karla's house. They had a good number there. (22)

Juazeirinho

At the weekend our Pastor Leandro at Juazeirinho baptized 4 new converts for which we praise the Lord. Juazeirinho is half-way between Patos and Campina Grande and our church there has 59 participants.

Sunday night's service was excellent in Patos. I led and Sacha preached on 'There is power in the name of Jesus'. She preached very well indeed. After church the worship group sold slices of cake plus savouries to raise money for the building work at the Care Centre. 

On Sunday both our grandson Arthur and his girlfriend Bianca sat their first stage of the Bar examination and they passed. They now sit the second and final stage of the Bar exam on January 21st. They both graduate from university as lawyers next month. They are both fine Christians.

Last night the youth prayer meeting had 12 in it which is up from 10 last week.

I went for a refreshing walk at Green Pastures yesterday afternoon.

Liz is down with the flu.

Well travelled week

This past week saw us doing 15 hours of driving as we travelled far and wide to preach the Word of God. First we went to Joao Pessoa on the coast and took with us one of our pastors (Lindon Carlos) and our social worker Marah Danielle. We had hours to talk and share about the work together. We took part in the 60+ Conference which is an interdenominational movement to make churches aware that Brazil has an ageing population and need to cater for the over 60s and not just the youth. The movement also seeks to make over 60s aware of the great use they can be in the work of God. I was one of the speakers at the conference. One thing which became clear was that our work with the over 60s was the oldest work of its kind amongst all the churches represented at the conference. We have been doing this work for 17 years.

Having returned from the 3-day conference in Joao Pessoa which was full of long very full meetings we just had time to get our breath back so as to leave for our Barra de Oitis church the following afternoon. This was to take part and speak at the special thanksgiving service there for another 7 toilet-shower units that we have built there. The service was jubilant and full of praise to God. The church band did well with a blind guitarist, a bass guitar, drums and keyboard led by 4 singers. We were served a nicely iced cake (the cook learnt from our pastor-cook Joao George!) after the service and drove back to Patos deep into the night getting to bed at nearly 1 am. We now prepare for the evening Sunday service in Patos.

Meeting with pastors

I have had an excellent meeting with pastors Lindon Carlos, Gerse and Roberio in my office in Patos. They came to see me on their way back from visiting our church in Ceara at Filipe. We had a good discussion about the work in Ceara. It is good to know that it is going well.

Paulino and Betania are a young couple from our Tavares church who this year took on the leadership of our church at Belem. They travel to Belem from Tavares for each service. However they are now planning to move to the area so as to be more on hand for the churches at Belem and Jurema which are only a few miles apart. How encouraging it is to see young couples like this taking on responsibilities in the work of God.

The youth prayer meeting on Monday night had 10 in it which is very good. All report blessing from the meeting.

Yesterday was our 54th wedding anniversary and we spent the day on the 5 hour journey to Joao Pessoa followed by a 5 hour meeting in a conference for the over 60s. Today I spoke to the conference.

American Barn Owl

 On Saturday night I went to Green Pastures to take the service with the local church there as I usually do. I arrived early and soon heard a lot of commotion from the roosting birds in the trees around the meeting hall. It was an American Barn Owl having its evening meal! The American Barn Owl is much larger than the Barn Owl you get in the UK. It is 50% heavier.

The Green Pastures service went well. I led and Bible College student Ray preached from Psalm 126. The ladies group sang led by Nega, Manoel sang too and his wife Miriam read the Bible. She said that she did this to show everyone that her eyesight is better after eye surgery. 

QPR managed not to lose again on Saturday! We drew 0 x 0 at home to Bristol City.

Last night's main service of the week in Patos went well with me leading, Rafael preaching from Luke 5, and Sacha, Louisa and Marina leading the praise and worship. One of our nurses, Liliane, gave a 5-minute talk encouraging the men to have regular checks for prostate cancer and many in church dressed in blue in accordance with the November blue campaign. A little boy called Miguel recited John 3:16.

Scaled Doves

I saw a Scaled Dove's nest at Green Pastures this afternoon. They have nested on the veranda of the main house and it is not the rainy season when they usually nest. Let's hope and pray that it's a sign that rain is near. They are called Scaled Doves because their feathers are like beautiful fish's scales. I also saw 3 Cactus Parakeets.

Thursday night's midweek Bible study has now been altered to be a prayer meeting and Bible study. It was a wonderful service with everyone fervently praying after I had put a list of prayer requests up on a flip chart. This was followed by a study of Joel 2:1-11.

Parallel to this a service was held at the ex-landless settlement in Sao Mamede which was led by sister Dodora. 2 people made decisions to follow Christ at the end of the service. 

Liz has had a rough week with having to have roots removed, from where a tooth had been, at the Dentist's. Thankfully she is now recovered.

Last night we held a special married couples' fellowship evening which 9 couples attended and it was very good. Claudia, who is one of the fellowship leaders, brought a nice word after some ice breaking exercises led by Marah Danielle. The night was rounded up with a snack for everyone.

Zacchaeus

 On Tuesday night our men's fellowship held its meeting at Zaqueu's (Zacchaeus) house. I led the meeting and Rafael led the inductive Bible study about why Jesus came. Zaqueu is a man in his 60s who doesn't enjoy good health so it was nice to have fellowship with him and his wife Josinete. Everyone was served with ice cream at the end of the meeting. The couple clearly were blessed by the meeting and asked for us to return there for another meeting as soon as possible.

On Tuesday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. I saw many Picui Ground Doves, 4 Black Vultures, a Crested Caracara, a Great Egret and a White-bellied Nothura. It was good exercise and very relaxing. 

Tavares

Tavares is a town about a two hour drive south west of Patos and is led by Pastor Roberio who is a strapping big man with a big smile and lovely sense of humour. At the weekend the Tavares church celebrated its 16th anniversary and held a baptismal service when 4 new converts were baptized. The Tavares church has 3 branch churches in the villages of Jurema, Belem and Olho Daguinha Seco.

On Sunday night I both led the main service of the week in Patos and I preached on 'The Goodness of God' which was essentially an exposition of Psalm 119:17-24. The sermon combatted suicide as well. Brazil has 11,000 suicides a year. The praise and worship was led by Sacha and Fabio backed up by Tiago, Ricardinho, Netinho and Rogerio. It was a good service which included our monthly celebration of communion.

Wedding Bells

Last night I conducted the wedding of Isaac and Marina. Isaac is one of our new interpreters for the deaf and Marina is part of our praise and worship group. She has a lovely contralto voice. The ceremony started about half an hour late which is not bad by general standards here. All went off beautifully with Sacha doing the singing accompanied by Tiago on guitar. This is the fourth wedding I have done this year with one more to go next month.

Unbelievably QPR played yesterday and actually managed not to lose! We drew 1 x 1 at Rotheram. QPR has a new Spanish manager called Marti Cifuentes. We actually played attacking football and had 60% of the possession which is double what we were averaging.

On Friday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. I find such walks very relaxing and I enjoy talking to Francisco who works there. I saw a wild guinea pig which ran right in front of me. I saw an armadillo too.

Liz

Liz took part in the service at our school which bears her Father's name in the borough of Jatoba in Patos on Wednesday evening. It was a nice little service with about 20 present.

I have just eaten boiled cassava roots with fried egg finished off with Heinz tomato ketchup which you can now purchase in Brazil.

Yesterday was All Souls' Day which here in Brazil is popularly known as the 'Day of the Dead'. People flock to the cemeteries to visit their family tombs and masses galore are held.

Last night I led the Bible study service and Rafael brought the word from Joel 1 completing the chapter. Our daughter Sacha led the praise with Rogaciano on guitar. There were about 20 present. 

Computer

I have been without my laptop for 2 days as it had to go to be fixed as the sound would not work. Windows 11 had to be uninstalled and then re-installed. Hopefully it is now cured.

The men's fellowship went well last night. Our meeting of 10 men was held at brother Tiago Medeiros's house. We had a good time of fellowship, a nice time of sharing around God's Word and a delicious snack was served to all at the end. 😋

Yesterday afternoon I had a nice walk at Green Pastures and saw many birds whilst there which included 15 Picui Ground Doves, 2 White-tipped Doves, 4 Caatinga Cacholotes, 1 Burrowing Owl, 1 White-naped Jay and 2 Pileated Finches. I also saw a medium sized Iguana. I also had a look at Francisco's work planting giant cactuses which can be sold as cattle feed in a year's time. This income will help to pay Francisco's wage as Francisco takes care of Green Pastures on a day to day basis.

On Monday night a group from Patos (Rafael, Chico, Josinete, Iara & Marcia) went and held a service at Netinho and Nega's farmstead to which 51 people gathered. PTL!

Princesa Isabel

The EAB/ACEV Princesa Isabel church is the oldest of our churches going back to 1940 when Albert Mundy started the work there with great courage in the face of much persecution. Today it has 130 participants and is led by Pastor Gersé. It was a joy to travel the 145 km there on Saturday and to preach on Lucas 12:8-9 to a large crowd from a stage set up in the street in front of the church. We slept there after the service in a sort of "hotel" (at least that's what they call it!) and it cost us 20 pounds. It wasn't very clean but we were tired and managed to sleep well. We travelled back to Patos on the Sunday morning.

Back in Patos we had our usual Sunday lunch of egg, chips and peas and were ready for the main service of the week at 6:30 pm (9.30 pm UK time now that the clocks have changed). I led the service, the drama group did a 7-minute presentation and pastor Rafael preached. It was a good service after which the deaf fellowship sold passion fruit mousse to help with the expenses of our Care Centre building project.

We have completed the construction of Madalena and Anderson's new toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis village. It is the first toilet this family has had in their lives.

QPR lost again on Saturday! This time they lost 2 x 1 to Leicester at home and had yet another man sent off! They're bad enough with 11 men, but with 10 it is impossible. As I expected the manager was sacked after the game.

Joel

The midweek Bible study went well with about 20 present. We had the second study in the minor prophet Joel. For the praise we had Segundo, Joel and Michael and we also had 3 participations with 'blessed verses of the Bible' from Rayla, Dedé and Romildo.

We had a nice meeting with Pastor Rafael and his bride to be Rayla on December 30th, which is another wedding I will be conducting. They officially gave us the invitation to their wedding.

Later today we will be driving about two and a half hours south-west of Patos to Princesa Isabel where I will be preaching at the 83rd anniversary of our church there. We will sleep there tonight and drive back to Patos on Sunday morning. We value your prayers.

We have a lovely Wren regularly coming into our front room! 😃

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. Everything is so terribly dry as we haven't had rain for months now, and it is very hot too.

Meetings

I have had some good meetings today with some pastors. First of all I had a lovely meeting with Pastor Wostenes who is the deputy leader of ACEV and the pastor of our biggest church in Campina Grande with 600 members. The meeting was most positive. Then I had a meeting with Pastor Iremar about the two churches he leads at João Pessoa Funcionários 3 and Salgado de São Felix Juá. The former has 15 adult members and 5 children. The latter has 10 adult members and 28 children. Please pray for these pastors.

On Tuesday night I travelled to the town of São Mamede with the Patos Men's Fellowship where we held a street meeting to which 30 attended. I gave a short word and so did Chico. The main message was preached by Rafael. It was a nice meeting and one man expressed great interest in the Gospel after the service.

QPR lost yet again in their mid-week game away to West Brom! They lost 2 x 0 and had a man sent off. Very sad! 😒 They must be going to sack the manager soon.

I had a nice walk at Green Pastures and it was lovely to see the big Craibeira (Trumpet tree) trees in bright yellow blossom.

The 100th edition of EAB's InTouch magazine is now available online at https://eabrazil.org/2023/10/25/intouch-100/. 

The Christmas Gift List is also available online at https://eabrazil.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/eab-giftlist2023.pdf

Rehab

Another young man will be taken from Soledade to the rehabilitation centre near João Pessoa tomorrow. He is utterly dependent on alcohol. Please pray for his deliverance and salvation.

Sunday night's main service of the week was very good with our young Bible College graduate Murilo preaching an excellent sermon from Hebrews 4:1-5 entitled 'The cross and rest'. During the service we received 15 people into fellowship, 14 of whom had been baptized in the morning. We also had Psalm 46 recited by a sister called Dilma and a verse from Isaiah was recited by a little boy called Miguel. The church was full, but not overfull. 

Today is a public holiday in Patos alone as it is the anniversary of 120 years of Patos being set up as a town.

I was very pleased to see how our little Água Grande church is helping a man with severe mental health problems by setting him up with a small market garden to occupy him and give him a means of income. Please pray for this man.

Baptism

I have just got home after baptizing 14 people at Green Pastures. It was a lovely service with a good crowd present. During the service I also prayed a blessing on a couple, Rogério and Samana, who wanted to renew their marriage vows on the day of their baptism. After the service we had a fellowship breakfast together. Everyone took something for the breakfast and shared it. It finished off nicely a lovely morning.

Yesterday we took part in the EAB AGM and celebration via internet and our son Philip was the preacher. It was a nice service. On the previous evening we also took part in the excellent EAB Board meeting.

On Saturday night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures. Our church also held services at Ipueira and Passagem, whilst the deaf held their weekly service in Patos.

Cadnam Methodist church held another concert in aid of EAB for which we are very grateful.

We held a meeting with Isaac and Marina whose marriage I will be conducting a week on Saturday.

You will not be surprised to know that yesterday QPR lost 2 x 1 at Huddersfield. That is the 4th defeat in a row and we continue in the Championship relegation zone. 😒

EAB Board Meeting

I will be taking part in an EAB Board meeting this afternoon (evening in the UK) which comes prior to the AGM and celebration tomorrow at Hardley, Southampton. We will also be taking part online in the celebration. We look forward to seeing you there.

I am posting a photo a day of our pastors on Facebook and Instagram. I have posted 27 so far. I hope you are following the series so that you can put a face to a name. I took the photos at the pastors' conference at Green Pastures last month.

Liz went to the women's fellowship meeting on Wednesday night. There were 17 there.

I have been preparing for the baptism at Green Pastures this Sunday at 8 am. We hold it early before it gets too hot. I have also been preparing to conduct another wedding on November 4th. I will be having a meeting with the couple (Isaac and Marina) tonight.

Last night's Bible study went well. We started a new series in the minor prophet Joel. There were about 20 people there. 3 people also took part with 'my Bible verse' sharing with us a verse in the Bible that has recently been a blessing to them. These participations happen before the Bible study.   

Decision

On Monday evening a Gospel service was held at Chaguinha and Conceição's house not far from Green Pastures, and Conceição made a decision of commitment to Christ, and she was given a Bible. Recently this couple received a hair sheep from our 4-Legs Project and as a result of this the couple asked for a service at their house.

Please pray for our well drilling project team who are trying to select the next community for our next well. A site was being considered in the county of Princesa Isabel but this has fallen through because it didn't meet our criteria of the community having a minimum of 15 families living in it. The community leader had told us there were 19 families there, but our visits there showed there were only 9!

Our building work at the Care Centre is nearing its completion. Next job will be the painters.

I gave the Bible study in last night's men's fellowship which was an inductive study about who is Jesus, covering John 8:12, 10:9 and 11:25. There were 9 of us there and the participation of all was very good.

Statistics in from our annual youth conference in Campina Grande are that 155 took part. The Patos group (19) was the largest visiting group of participants. 

Toilets

The next two families who will receive EAB/ACEV toilet/shower units at the village of Barra de Oitis, in Diamante County, have been selected. It is a difficult job choosing as the needs are so great but we can't do them for everyone so we have to choose those in greatest need. First of all Maria Madalena, Anderson and their 3 children were selected. Secondly comes Jailma, Severino and their son Yan. Please pray for the successful and accident free construction of these units. The families are over the moon with joy!

On Saturday night I led the weekly service of the Green Pastures church, Fábio led the praise, and graduated Bible College student Murilo preached an excellent sermon on Matthew 22:1-14. It is a great encouragement to me to hear this young man preach.

The Sunday services went well too. Liz led the Sunday School in the morning and I led the main service of the week at night at which Pastor Rafael preached on Mark 5:21-43. It was a blessed service.

I have challenged our folk to memorize and recite Biblical passages in church and so far 2 adults and 1 child are showing signs of working on this. I hope perhaps on this coming Sunday we might have out first participant in this.

Our Lady of the Apparition

Thursday was a public holiday for the patron saint of Brazil who is Our Lady of the Apparition. We don't believe in patron saints or in Our Lady but the day is also commemorated as Children's Day which we make the most of. In the Patos church we held a lovely children's service in the afternoon which was a joyful celebration of the love of Jesus with the clear proclamation of the Gospel. It was a joy to hear the children singing and to see them so happy. Of course they were all extra thrilled when they all received a big bag of sweets at the end!

Also on Thursday we had a surprise visit at Green Pastures of the Brazilian environmental organization who came with a drone to film and photograph our nature reserve which cares for God's creation.

Our youth have their annual conference this weekend in Campina Grande. The conference is organized by our second church there in the borough of Presidente Médici.

I went for another walk at Green Pastures and brought back lemons and cashew fruits. I photographed a Pigmy Owl and a bright orange Campo Troupial. I also heard lots of Scaled Doves. 

Preaching the Gospel

I have been a missionary here for 51 years now but I have not lost the thrill of preaching the Gospel in open air services just like I first learnt to preach in Notting Hill and Hyde Park when I was a teenager at Peniel Chapel. On Tuesday night I went with the men's fellowship to São Mamede and I preached to about 30 people sprawled out in the street about the authority of Jesus in teaching, over evil and over sickness from Mark 1:21-34. It was a lovely evening.

Yesterday I had a meeting with church leaders from a different denomination who wanted my advice on some matters. It was a good meeting.

Research that I did back in the year 2000 with the Patos Bible College about church history in the interior of northeast Brazil is now proving helpful for current day Bible College students. It is good to see one's work being put to good use.

I had a good walk at Green Pastures and had a good look at the Moringa trees being harvested and pruned.

Liz went to the women's fellowship meeting last night and there were 11 present. All went off smoothly. 

EAB's annual celebration will be held on Saturday, October 21st with a fellowship tea at 6 pm and the service at 7 pm. It will be held as usual at the Lighthouse Community Church, Long Lane, Hardley, Southampton, SO45 3NZ. Our son Philip will be the speaker and Liz and I will also take part via a live link on internet. Please do attend this special Brazilian evening!

Youth

Our Itaporanga church, one and a quarter hour's drive west of Patos, has held a youth conference which was really blessed of God. A good crowd of local young people took part.

On Sunday night I led the main service of the week in the Patos church and our youngest daughter Sacha preached on "I have seen the Lord" (John 20:18). She preached very well. Sacha is doing a degree in theology at the ISBL Bible College and is becoming a very accomplished preacher of God's word.

During the service a retired nurse gave a short talk as part of the 'pink October's breast cancer awareness month'. She was succinct and clear. Many of the women went to church dressed in pink as part of this day.

Mountain

Yesterday we travelled up the Teixeira mountain to preach at the 58th anniversary service of our Teixeira church. It was a lovely service with a full church. Parallel to this our daughter Sacha took the weekly service at Green Pastures, the Christians in action group took the service at Ipueira and there was also a service at Passagem. In Patos the youth also held an evangelistic service.

On Friday night I held a meeting of all our ministries' leaders when we discussed ways to improve our fellowship group meetings. It was a productive and profitable meeting.

Yesterday QPR lost yet again! This time they lost 4 x 0 at home to Blackburn. Oh dear! 😖

Help

Liz and I visited our sick sister Socorro Help and it was good to find her more positive and looking somewhat better. She is worried about one of her sons and wanted to talk to us about him.

We had a good meeting with the adolescents' fellowship leaders and had a good discussion about their work whilst giving them some tips and suggestions.

Liz has been to the women's fellowship which went off well.

Sadly QPR go from bad to worse and lost yet again at Leeds 1 x 0 on Wednesday. Oh dear! 😕

Last night's Bible study went well and we finished the book of Hosea.

Yesterday I went to the Papagaio region of São Mamede to give 4 hair sheep, of the Santa Inês breed, as part of the EAB 4-Legs Project. The people were extremely grateful. The families that received them were Conceição, Chaguinha and their 4 children; Eliane, José and their one child; Francinaldo, Damiana and their 3 children; and the single mother Mariana and her 6 children. Thank you for supporting this wonderful project.

Decisions for Christ

This week we have seen two further young people make commitments to Christ in the Patos church. Please pray for these new born ones in the faith.

We had a very good meeting with our co-pastor Rafael. We had a nice time of prayer together and we discussed a variety of topics about the church. We went through the list of candidates for baptism later in the month discussing each one.

Last night I enjoyed the weekly men's fellowship meeting. There were 11 present and it was led by chief of the police Esaú. 

We are in the process of acquiring some more hair sheep for distribution in the 4-Legs project. 

Women's Conference

Our churches on the coast at João Pessoa held a women's conference at the weekend and a very good number attended. The event was blessed of God and encouraged everyone. Our Conceição church (2 hours west of Patos) held its 74th anniversary service and layed hands on a new elder called Dedé who is a lovely faithful brother. Then there was a youth conference at our Portelo church near Campina Grande as well, so plenty of events were held this weekend.

I led the service and preached at it at Green Pastures on Saturday. We had a problem with the lighting in the hall so we held the service in the open air where we had lighting and it was a lovely service. The Christians in Action group also held their weekly service at Ipueira.

The Sunday services went well in Patos. I led the monthly communion service at night and Pastor Rafael preached from Matthew 15. 

Liz led a jumble sale held at our Patos school on Saturday and it raised 138 pounds for our construction work.

The sad news is that QPR lost again at the weekend. They lost 3 x 1 at home to Coventry and are now 22nd in the Championship which is in the relegation zone. Oh dear! 😠

Bible study

I led Thursday night's Bible study and Pastor Rafael gave the study from Hosea 14. Numbers were down to just 16, but it was a good service. Two brethren (Romildo and Dedé) also shared verses of scripture which have recently been a blessing to them.

It is lovely to keep getting reports in from our EAB action schools which are going very well. Our thanks go to all those who sponsor these schools and children.

Our edition number 100 of the EAB magazine InTouch is now with Dave Flowers who does the layout and sends it to the printers. Marian Rashleigh (editor) has just sent all the articles and photos to Dave.

Please pray for Liz's cousin Russell Dyer who had a cardiac arrest this week whilst teaching at his school. He is now recovering in hospital and we pray that the doctors will discover the cause and rectify it.

We have been given a full page in the nationwide Brazilian evangelical magazine called 'Ultimato' so that we can share all about our projects. This is a wonderful opportunity to tell of 85 years of work for God in north-eastern Brazil. I received the news yesterday from the magazine's owner.

I have just had a meeting regarding the further expansion of our 4-Legs project. We defined 4 more recipient families for hair sheep and will now seek to purchase these animals for donation. This is a project spread over a very wide area which keeps going throughout each year.

Yesterday's temperatures went from 23 degrees in the night to 38 degrees in the afternoon in Patos.

São Mamede

The town of São Mamede is about a half hour drive north-east of Patos and twice a month the Patos men's fellowship holds street services there preaching the Gospel. On Tuesday night we went there and about 30 people gathered to attend, and I gave a word from Romans 12. We hold the services in front of Brother José and sister Maricó's house, but after the service this week another sister asked me if we could hold a service in front of her house in the near future. That is the way the Gospel spreads here. PTL!

I have been talking to Pastor Valdemy at Caroá and he has invited me to preach at their 40th anniversary service on November 25th. It will be a joy to be there once again.

Please pray for us and our projects team as we work on defining the locations for our next well to be drilled and for our next toilet/shower unit construction. The needs are great and the careful selection processes are very important.

I have so far posted the photos of Pastor Robério (Tavares church), Pastors Wostenes and Fabrício (Campina Grande Catolé church) and Pastor Nemias (Flores church) in our 'meet the pastors' on EAB's Facebook page. Please pray for these pastors. I am posting them in the order I took their photos.

As you must have noticed I have just had my hair cut! 👨

Liz went to the Ladies fellowship group meeting last night. She says there were only 7 of them there but it was a nice meeting.

Pure Way

I both led the service and preached on Sunday night in Patos. I preached on ' The Pure Way' from Psalm 119:9-16. It was a good service and the sermon went well. After church the youth sold hot dogs to raise money for the Care Centre construction work. It was good to see a young couple and their son in the service who came to the Lord in the weekly services at our school. The couple will be baptized next month.

The construction work is going well and we are now laying the floor tiles.

At the weekend QPR drew 0 x 0 away to Birmingham. I am sure you were longing to hear about QPR!😉

Please pray for the financial situation of EAB. The cost of living is rising here astronomically and the pound sterling is stuck very low owing to the poor situation of the UK economy. 

As the year goes by the temperatures rise here every year. Today we had a low of 22 degrees centigrade (in the night) and a high of 37 degrees (in the afternoon).

Starting this week I am posting each day on Facebook a photo of our pastors. Please follow this at https://www.facebook.com/eabrazil 

Pastors' Conference

I have just got home from our pastors and leaders conference held at Green Pastures which was really blessed of God. It was a time of good fellowship for the 80 plus pastors and leaders present. Thank you for your prayers.

The pastors arrived during the Friday morning and we all had our first meal together at midday. Then at 3 pm we held the annual meeting to discuss all our projects such as wells, market gardens, toilet/shower units, schools etc. The projects' team gave their reports and a good discussion ensued with all the pastors and leaders taking part.

On the 2 evenings of the conference (Friday and Saturday) I led the meetings, Gleydice and Fabrício Junior led the praise and worship, we had times of prayer together with a variety of pastors taking part, and Pastor Wostenes, from our 1st Campina Grande church,  taught about church growth, church leadership and the use of small home groups as tools for evangelism. Wostenes' teaching was rich and really blessed of the Lord. At the end of the conference teaching it was decided to extend the teaching to our regional fellowships over the coming year.

At the conference all our pastors and leaders received study Bibles (Bibles intertwined with commentary) through a donation from the Brazilian Bible Society. 

On the Saturday morning our senior leadership team held a two and a half hour meeting to discuss a complex matter concerning one of our pastors. In the afternoon I had an important meeting with Pastor Iremar who leads two small churches. One is in the village of Juá in the County of Salgado de São Felix and the other is in the borough of Funcionários 3 in João Pessoa. I also had an important meeting with the wife of one of our pastors who wanted to thank me for our help in getting her and her husband through Bible College. I also had a whole host of meetings with various pastors.

Everyone has this morning returned to their respective churches to be ready to take the evening service and preach the Gospel with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.  

Baptism

We will be holding a baptism at Green Pastures on Sunday, 22nd October at 8 am and thus far we have 16 people to be baptized. There are 3 couples, one mother and son, 4 women and 4 young men. Please pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ. May their baptism be a memorable occasion and unforgettable experience with God. 

Tomorrow sees the start of our annual Pastors and Leaders Conference at Green Pastures so Liz and I will be moving there as from tonight to receive everyone as they arrive in the morning. This means this blog will be off the air till Sunday or Monday. Tomorrow we will have a general assembly meeting about our projects in the afternoon and a time of teaching in the evening. On Saturday it will be a day for fellowship and relaxing together with further teaching in the evening. We value your prayers.

When I get back from the conference I will be preaching on Sunday night on Psalm 119:9-16.

I have had important meetings with 2 pastors. I can't go into details here.

Our projects team is in the process of selecting a new family which will receive one of our toilet/shower units at Barra de Oitis.

Men's Fellowship

Last night I brought the Biblical reflection from Philippians 1:3-8 to the Patos Men's Fellowship. It was a good meeting with 11 present.

QPR drew at home to Swansea yesterday to take us up to 7 points in the Championship in 19th place. QPR equalized in the 92nd minute with a goal from the Scot Lyndon Dykes who has more tatoos than normal skin. Pretty dismal stuff! 😞

Liz and I are busy preparing for the Pastors Conference which starts on Friday at Green Pastures. There is always lots to do. Please pray for the conference which is of major importance for the work here.

On Monday night a meeting was held at Manoel and Miriam's house near Green Pastures and over 40 people turned up to hear the Gospel.

Yesterday was our grandson John David's 22nd birthday. John lives in João Pessoa where he training to be a doctor.

Market Gardens

 EAB/ACEV's market gardens project continue to flourish. Our projects' team monitored the latest editions of this project at Macambira dos Lúcios and Maxixeiro communities this week. The Maxixeiro market garden is already selling an average of 400 lettuces a month @ 55 pence each plus 400 bunches of coriander @ 45 pence each. The Macambira dos Lúcios market garden is also selling equally well with a contract to supply local schools with its organic products. This project is therefore an excellent means of increasing income for poor families through helping people to help themselves.

I called in to visit this week's 'young at heart' seniors meeting and was very warmly received. They insisted that I should eat a snack with them and it was very nice. I also visited the nearby building work at the Care Centre which continues to progress well.

Perlânio is one of our sign language interpreters who works as an interpreter at a school in Pernambuco state. Last night he lost control of his motorbike at 11 pm returning from work and fell into a ditch. An ambulance took him to hospital but he seems to be alright and has now been sent home where Liz and I have just visited him. Please pray for Perlânio. 

On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures and a group of young people led the praise: Segundo, Michelle, Davi and Michael. Bible college student Ray preached on prayer. I also led the Sunday main service in Patos and Murilo preached very well on Hebrews 10:19-25. 

Sadly on Saturday QPR lost at home to Sunderland 3 x 1. A QPR player was sent off after only 22 minutes when we were leading 1 x 0. These referees have no heart! 😖

Killing

Pastor Rafael's cousin has been killed. I do not know the details but apparently he was killed in a shoot out with police. Please pray for the family.

This week another man was taken to drug rehab from Soledade. Please pray for his deliverance and salvation. 

I have read and studied a draft of our youth's proposed Sunday School lessons built around ACEV's declaration of faith. The work was extremely well written by Murilo who graduated from Bible College earlier this year. I approved the work for use.

We have had a meeting with Dilma who is the drama group leader. The meeting was to officially present and discuss the new Christmas play I have written. Now the hard work of choosing the cast and rehearsals begins. 

The Bible study went off well on Thursday night and about 30 people were there.

The Christmas Star

"The Christmas Star" is the name of the Christmas play I have just finished writing. This is not the first Christmas play I have written and the drama group asked me to write another one this year. There is a limit to what angles you can approach the Christmas story from so this year I have come from the angle of the stars! The play starts with a conversation between three stars. So you can see that one of my multi roles is that of playwriter! Please pray for this play and for our drama group as they will now prepare and memorize their lines ready for the Christmas eve presentation in a little over three months' time. May the gospel be clearly proclaimed this Christmas.

Our dear Swiss friend and sister in Christ Vroni went to be with the Lord this week at the age of 102. We praise God for her life and that of her sister too. They were faithful supporters of EAB donating to the Christmas hampers project every year. 

Our Jimny jeep is again in the garage this week for repairs and it was interesting how the mechanic pointed out the tracks of Field Mice all over the engine area. He said that many problems are often caused by Field Mice gnawing through car pipes and wires.

The Lord blessed special evangelistic outreach at Fonseca community at the weekend when two decisions were made for Christ. At our Flores church there is blessing too with five new members being received into fellowship.

On Tuesday night the Men's fellowship held another service in the town of São Mamede. I led the service, Fábio led the praise and Pastor Lucena from Recife preached the Gospel. About 40 people attended the street service.

School workshops

At our Patos and Princesa Isabel action schools we are developing extra activities working with the adolescents who have already finished their primary school course. We are calling these extra activities 'workshops'. At our Patos school we are now running 3 workshops. One is football on Wednesdays and Fridays. Another is judo on Mondays and Tuesdays. A third is mathematics on Saturday mornings. At Princesa Isabel we are running football and handicraft workshops. Please pray for the adolescents involved that they might be further helped educationally, socially and spiritually. 

I have been preparing sermons to preach up in the mountains at our Teixeira church and also to preach at the oldest EAB/ACEV church at Princesa Isabel. Last month I also preached at our Sítio Glória church and at our Curral Velho church. I value your prayers for our travels and ministry around the churches which are an important part of our work for the glory of God teaching and preaching God's Word. Please also pray for our leaders' conference which I will be coordinating at Green Pastures between the 22nd and the 24th September.

I led the main service of the week in Patos on Sunday and Pastor Lucena from Recife preached the Gospel from Philippians 3. During the service a group of girls presented an excellent choreography. It is good to praise God with physical expression as it is with verbal expression too.

Our assistant pastor Rafael has set the date for his wedding with Rayla for the last Saturday in the year on December 30th. This will be my 5th wedding of the year with Isaque and Marina getting married prior to this on November 4th. 

Thieves

Thieves tried to break in to the Care Centre which is being completely revamped. They went to the Care Centre in the night and tried to force open the temporary wooden door. However our night watchman soon surprised them from inside and sent them running! I have reported the incident to our deacon Esau who is the chief of Patos police. Please pray for a robbery-free completion of this project. 

Our head-teacher of the Pastor Frank Dyer school, Gerlânia, has had a motorbike accident. She was taken to hospital and had a scan done of her abdomen, as the handlebars of her bike were rammed into her. She has now been sent home as nothing showed up on the scan. She is just badly bruised and shaken up. Please pray for her.

Our youngest daughter Sacha, who is the praise and worship leader in the Patos church, has badly sprained her ankle and is temporarily wearing a recovery boot and using a wheelchair from our wheelchair bank. Sacha's daughter and our granddaughter Beatriz (aged 13) injured her arm in some sort of game with her boyfriend Luendo and was taken to hospital in great pain! Her arm does not appear to be broken as was at first suspected. 

Last night's service at Green Pastures went well. I led, Marina led the worship, and Rafael preached from Matthew 9. It was lovely to have Pastor Lucena and his wife Magaly from Recife with us.

Tamarind juice

 I have just drunk a nice twangy glass of Tamarind juice which originated from the Tamarind trees at Green Pastures. Tamarind trees are indigenous from tropical Africa and are widespread in India and the Middle East, but the trees do well in our semi-arid climate. The fruits are light brown pods about 10 or 12 cm long. To make the drink you soak the insides of the pods (a sticky substance) in water and then add sweetener. You mustn't consume too much Tamarind as it is a laxative. Tamarind is on the ingredients list of HP sauce!

Yesterday (September 7th) was Brazil's 201st independence day and for that reason was a public holiday. The main street of Patos always sees festive marches in front of the town hall and the people gather to watch and applaud. This happens all over Brazil. The first independence day that I saw was in 1972. I arrived here on August 3rd and I watched the marches on September 7th in the hot morning sun. I filmed it on my super 8 movie camera. Nowadays the marches take place in the early evening which is much more sensible once the sun has gone down. 

The weekly service at our school in Patos went well on Wednesday night with a good group of older children/adolescents attending. The women's fellowship supported the service. 

Today is Liz's birthday and it's the day on which she catches up with me in age! I praise God for my outstanding wife who is always such a pillar in the work of the Lord. 

Please pray for pastor Rafael who is unwell and has gone to spend a few days with his parents in Soledade. 

A hurricane has hit the extreme south of Brazil this week with very heavy rains and floods killing at least 41 people. Here in the north-east it is terribly dry with increasing heat as the year goes on. 

60+ Meeting

On Monday night I took part in an online meeting of the Brazilian evangelical 60+ movement organizing a conference in João Pessoa for the month of November at which they have invited me to be one of the speakers. The movement is seeking to motivate the 60+ age bracket, which is rapidly growing in Brazil, to be more active in the work of the Lord.

Last night I spoke at the Men's Fellowship meeting and it was an excellent meeting. We discussed Philippians 1:1-2. We also talked about how we can get more men to come to the meetings.

I have been doing a considerable amount of work with our senior leaders' team concerning the leaders' conference which starts at Green Pastures on the 22nd, on the 60+ conference etc.

On Monday night a service was held at Vilene and João Paulo's little farmstead in São Mamede County. Rafael led the service and spoke, and he was helped by Chico and deaconess Márcia.

Saturday night

I led the weekly service of the Green Pastures church on Saturday night and a group of adolescents from Patos went there in support. One of our youth leaders, Rayla, was who preached the Gospel from James 5. Paulo Silas, Josué, Dodora, Manoel and the women's group led by Nega also took part. It was a good service. 

On Saturday morning I was asked to go to the girls' English school to do a half hour conversation session with one of the classes. I went through something of my life's story with them and heard about theirs. I gave them a copy of my book 'From Notting Hill to Brazil' which I wrote 15 years ago. 

You will be delighted to know that QPR beat Middlesborough 2 x 0 away on Saturday. This takes us up to 17th place (with 6 points) out of the 24 teams in the football Championship. We just need to start winning games at home now! 

Yesterday was 'Missions Sunday' for all our churches as it was on September 2nd 1938 that our founders Albert & Daisy Munday first arrived in Brazil. All our churches held a special missions day. In Patos Liz spoke to the Sunday School children about the early days of EAB and showed them photos. At night we had an effective monologue presented by Dilma, Rafael preached on 'Living the Mission of God', and I led the service which was also a communion service.

Lawyer

On Thursday afternoon we had a meeting with lawyer Ianne who is a specialist in dealings with government matters. The meeting was to ask her help to formalize EAB/ACEV's partnership with the Patos town council regarding our Patos school. The school has been in partnership with the council for decades, but this has never been documented or formalized. This is what now we are aiming to remedy. At the meeting, as well as Liz and I, were Gerlania (head teacher of the school), Marah Danielle (social worker) and Hutan (our son-in-law who always helps us with such matters).

I am in the process of writing a Christmas play for the Patos church drama group, which they asked me to write. I have written plays before but now they need a new one. I have written the first two scenes so far. It is quite a challenge.

I went to Green Pastures yesterday and looked at the drainage problem that we have from the dormitories. Large salt deposits have to be removed. The salt accumulates from the brackish well water. Also a tree will need to be removed as its roots are causing a blockage. We are busy preparing for our leaders' conference which is in 3 weeks time.

Wedding

On Wednesday at 1 pm I conducted the wedding of Rogaciano (guitar player in the Patos church band) and Monyque. There are two ways of getting married in Brazil. First there is a church service where the pastor officially represents the judge and at which the couple, pastor and witnesses sign the legal and church documentation. Secondly (and this was the case this week) the couple go before the judge himself and later are married before God, and only sign the church documentation in the service. All went off very nicely. About 25 people were served lunch after the short service and ceremony.

Later the same day we had a meeting with the Patos youth leaders Murilo, Rayla and Rafael. We discussed a variety of topics linked to the youth work such as a series of Sunday School lessons for the youth based on ACEV's declaration of faith, a monthly evangelistic outreach by the youth, and a special youth rally to be held on October 7th. 

On Tuesday the Men's fellowship was disappointing with only 6 of us turning up. On Wednesday the Women's fellowship visited one of the ladies (Lola) who became ill during last Sunday night's service.

Last night the weekly service was held at our school in the borough of Jatobá and at the end two teenagers we have been working with for some time made commitments to Christ. We are overjoyed! Please pray for Arthur and Larissa. 

Cedro

Our Cedro church celebrated its 54th anniversary at the weekend. Cedro is in the rural area of Princesa Isabel County about a 2 hours' drive south west of Patos. It is led by Maria José. A very good crowd gathered for the service and Pastor Robério from our Tavares church was the preacher. 

I led the Sunday service in Patos and Philip and I sang a duet. Rafael preached on Mark 10:17f. This was Philip's final service in Brazil on this trip. He and his family flew out of Recife airport last night and arrived back in England this afternoon.

On Sunday it was our grandson Arthur's 22nd birthday. Arthur is our daughter Deborah's younger son. He will graduate as a lawyer at the end of the year. He is a lovely Christian young man and goes out with Bianca who is also a fine Christian girl.

Large black ants

Patos is in the middle of an invasion at the moment of large black ants. Everyone is talking about them and combatting them.

On Saturday morning, as from 8 am, we held another jumble sale. Sometimes we hold them at our school on the south of Patos and sometimes we hold them outside our church in the centre. This time it was at the church and all went well. It was to raise funds for the building work on our Care Centre. Many church volunteers turned up to help with the sale. 

We now have a night watchman sleeping at the Care Centre building site as the electrical wiring has all been done which is a common target of thieves on building sites. The night watchman is extra expense of course, but we have no choice.

QPR sadly lost 2 x 1 away to Southampton yesterday. 😒

Last night I led the service of the Green Pastures' church, Philip led the praise and worship (we are going to miss him when he returns to England tomorrow), and Murilo preached on Hebrews 4:1-4 and 'Resting in God'. It was a good service. Parallel to this services were held at our school in Patos and at Passagem and Ipueira.

Action Child

On Wednesday night I took part in a meeting of our Action Child Schools coordinators who are Sacha, Gerlânia, Jacilene and Pastor João George. It was a very good meeting which discussed the progress in all EAB Action Schools and focused on those schools that have improved and those that need to get better. We were very happy to learn of the big improvement in our Soledade school after the change of pastor there. We learnt also of two schools that need attention, but I can't mention their names here. Due attention will be given to them and a plan of action was drawn up. The new schools at Barra de Oitis, Água Grande and Vazante will be visited later in the year to see how they are going.

Parallel to this meeting there was the weekly service at our school and the women's fellowship meeting which 7 people attended.

The Bible study went well on Thursday and there were about 30 present.

I have been doing a lot of administrative work.

On Thursday night we slept at Green Pastures and it was interesting to see the nightly phenomenon of flocks of birds coming to roost there. This attracts owls which come to hunt them and I saw two owls, one of which was an American Barn Owl.

Ex-landless Settlement

Last night Philip and I travelled to the ex-landless settlement of NS Aparecida II in the County of São Mamede. We went there as part of the Patos men's fellowship to hold a service in front of Paulo and Dodora's house. It was a dark night with little moon but 64 people gathered there to hear the Gospel. This is a very good number for a such out of the way place. It was an excellent service.

Philip led the praise with his guitar and others that took part were Dodora, Paulo Silas, Dedé, Manoel, Juliana and Rose. Philip and I sang a duet in English which the people loved. It was 'Fool's Wisdom' which takes you back a bit! Can anyone remember this song from about 60 years ago? It is a Malcolm and Alwyn song.

Chief of the Police Coronel Esau led the service and I preached on Mark 1:9-20 focusing on Jesus' baptism, temptation and his calling of his first disciples. It went very well. After the service the hosts served everyone with hot dogs and diet coke and everyone stayed chatting till quite late.

Saturday night activities

Saturday night was a night full of church activities. I went to Green Pastures and led the local church in the service and I preached God's word from Philippians 1:1-11. Sacha led the praise together with Rogaciano on guitar. The service was outstandingly good and counted on a whole lot of local Christians taking part: Paulo Silas, Josué, Dodora, Fred, Pastor Sal, Julio, Nega and the women's group and Manoel.

Parallel to this services were held in Passagem, Ipueira and in a central town square in Patos. The latter was led by our youth group and had the impactive participation of the drama group which is very important to get people's attention in the open air. One young man made a recommitment of his life to Christ at the end of the service.

You will be very sad to know that QPR lost their first home match of the season by 1 x 0 to Ipswich. They are now in 17th place in the 24 team Championship. This coming Saturday QPR will be travelling to Southampton to play the saints. 

Last night's main service of the week in Patos, which I led, went very well with Philip preaching on 1 Corinthians 13. Sacha led the praise and worship on her birthday.

At the weekend the women of our 3 churches of Vazante, Barra de Oitis and Mata de Oitis joined together for a 'women's conference' to which 44 women went. It was a blessed time for all. 

Young at Heart

Our weekly seniors meeting of the 'young at heart' group went well yesterday with 10 ladies taking part. The Bible reflection was brought to them by our deaconess Márcia and they all had a good snack together. 

Thursday night's Bible study went well with about 30 people present.

Another boy is going to drug rehabilitation next week and will be taken there by pastor Rafael. The boy lives in Patos and it is so sad to see such a young lad hooked on drugs. Please pray that all will work out well and that the boy might be delivered from drugs and come to know Christ as his Lord and saviour. 

On Friday afternoon I went on a good 4 km walk with Philip at Green Pastures. Philip took a good few wildlife photos. Especially good were the following birds: Campo Troupial (eating our Guavas!), Pileated Finch and Spot-backed Puffbird.

Last night's adolescents meeting went well with 18 present. They watched a good film together.

Men's Fellowship

On Tuesday night 10 of us men gathered for the weekly men's fellowship meeting and it went very well. It was led by chief of the police Coronel Esaú, Philip led the praise and Rafael brought a Bible reflection from Matthew 23. 

I have had an important meeting with Pastor Wostenes about our action schools at Matureia, Patos and Princesa Isabel. I also had a meeting about church finances with our treasurer Pastor Hamilton. 

Liz has had a tooth extracted. Please pray for her.

Please pray for the expanding school work with teenagers linked to our Patos school. Our school is a primary school but we are developing extra activities for teenagers after this so that we can keep in contact with them and lead them to know the Lord as well as helping them educationally.

Please pray for our Green Pastures Nature Reserve which seeks to be a light in our area caring for creation. This caring is intertwined with a local church, school, camps and other pastors and leaders events as a Christian Conference Centre. Next month we will hold our pastors and leaders conference there from September 22nd to 24th. 

Sadly QPR were knocked out in the first round of the Football League Cup last night. Norwich scored the only goal of the match in the 9th minute of time added on. The match was at home at Loftus Road. 

Father's Day

On Sunday it was Father's Day here and we had a lovely service which I both led and preached at. A special feature of the service, as well as the children's video and song, was the participation of the Decolagem (Lift Off) band which existed from 1990 to 2004 composed of Philip, Vicente, Jeziel, João and Bruno. This band was resurrected for this special occasion and all went off very well.

Yesterday afternoon I conducted the funeral service of Dona Sílvia who was the mother of our male-nurse Perlânio, who is also a good sign-language interpreter for the deaf. 81-year-old Sílvia died on Sunday morning and Perlânio asked me to conduct the service and graveside committal. After the funeral I took the opportunity to visit the grave of my late in-laws Frank and Ivy Dyer.

We are making preparations for our Pastors and Leaders Conference to be held at Green Pastures next month from the 22nd to 24th of September. Please pray for this very important annual event which involves good teaching and warm fellowship. Anyone able to contribute to the pastors attending from the poorer churches please send designated gifts to the EAB treasurer.

EAB's new school at Vazante is going well and full-steam ahead. Please pray for this school and for all the EAB schools with a total of over 800 pupils.

Great Antshrike

Philip spent the day on Friday with his family at Green Pastures and he photographed a pair of Great Antshrikes. The male is black and white and the female is rust coloured and white. They always go hunting together in the nature reserve and have bright red eyes. They are about the size of a UK Blackbird.

Yesterday we travelled 150 km west of Patos to Curral Velho (Old Cow Pen) to preach at the 33rd anniversary service of our church there. We arrived there at about 5 pm and had a lovely meal and fellowship with the couple who are the leaders there, Ramos and Tica. Ramos is an expert cook. We enjoyed the good chat with these leaders and caught up to date with all the news. I preached on Psalm 116 as I had been asked to speak on Psalm 116:12. All went off very well and we drove back home after the service arriving at 11 pm.

On Friday night the adolescents' fellowship meeting went well and last night the youth went to Green Pastures in support of the weekly meeting there. There was also a service at Ipueira and another at Passagem.

Yesterday the mighty QPR won their international match against Cardiff with a 2 x 1 victory in Cardiff. Thus QPR has risen in the Championship from 24th to 16th place and doubtless the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal are already trembling in their boots as they see the possibility of the Rrrrrs being promoted! 😉

Food Hampers

Yesterday we received the donation of 43 food hampers for the poor which were donated to our church by a non-Christian. The donation was made by a man who had to give the hampers to an organization of his choice as the settlement of a legal case. He chose our church as we have a good reputation working with the poor.

Last night the Bible study went well. Philip led the praise and worship and assistant pastor Rafael gave the study in Hosea 11. Parallel to the service the children had a rehearsal for Sunday's Father's Day's special service.

Walk

I had a nice 3 km walk with Philip at Green Pastures on Monday afternoon and saw and photographed 2 rust-coloured Savanna Hawks, a Great Egret and a large wild Tortoise. We also saw a Guira Cuckoo and a Caatinga Cacholote. We brought some nice Guavas back with us from one of our trees.

There have been some blessed services at our Juru church and at the weekend there was one decision for Christ and another person reconsecrated their life to God. At our Cidade Verde church on the coast much blessing is reported too. Good news comes from our São Vicente do Seridó church as well.

I have been asked to pray for Rogaciano and Monyque as they get married on the 30th. They will be married before the judge late morning and will have a small reception at Monyque's family home at 1 pm. Prior to the meal I will pray a solemn prayer and give a blessing (in the place of a full wedding ceremony). Rogaciano is one of our church guitarists. Please pray for this couple.

I have been preparing a sermon for this coming Sunday which will be Father's Day in Brazil. We will have the special participation in the service of the Decolagem Band which means 'Lift Off.' This was a band which started back in 1990 with a group of young lads, which is being resurrected by the group of now Dads: Philip, João Fera, Bruno, Vicente Jr. and Jeziel. We are looking forward to a great service! You can watch it live on Facebook and YouTube. 

Last night I travelled with Philip, Lucas and brothers from the Patos Men's Fellowship to hold another street service in the town of São Mamede. Chief of the Police Esaú led the service, Philip and Segundo led the praise and worship, I gave a short word on Galatians 2:20, Dodora and Paulo Silas took part, and assistant pastor Rafael brought the final word from Mark 4:35-41. It was an excellent service to which about 30 people gathered to hear the Gospel.

Gone to Glory!

On Saturday we travelled 81 km south-west of Patos to the Sítio Glória (Glory) in Imaculada County up in the mountains. I had been invited to preach on Joshua 1:9 at the 8th anniversary service of the church there, and Philip and Luis had been asked to sing. It was a wonderful service with the church packed out with many left standing outside in the doorway and by the windows. Philip and Luis sang very well and I had great freedom in the Holy Spirit in preaching. One person commented that I had been "on fire"!

Also on Saturday the 2023/2024 football season of the English Championship got underway. Sadly QPR lost away to Watford 4 x 0 and start the season at the bottom of the league. 😞

Last night I led the monthly communion service and Sacha preached very well indeed from 1 Kings 19. It was an excellent service with the church full.

Hospital

Our grandson Luis, who is on holiday here with us from England, has been in hospital this week with dehydration from vomiting, virus and a heavy cold. He was put on a drip for 24 hours and is now home and much better.

We have had a meeting with sister Dodora and her son Gustavo from the ex-landless community in São Mamede. They wanted to share with us about the internal problems of their community and receive our advice and prayers.

This week's mid-week Bible study went well. There were a good number present.

The construction work at the Care Centre is going well. The concrete floor has been done as have all the hydraulics.

I am travelling up the Teixeira mountain later today to preach at the anniversary service of our church at the Sítio Glória in the County of Imaculada.

Bible

This week we have given Damião and Maria their first Bible. They are new converts at the Fonseca ex-slave community in Manaíra County and are developing well in the faith. Please remember them in your prayers.

The men's fellowship in Patos on Tuesday night had 10 participants and was blessed by a good word from Philip about not losing your focus. A good discussion ensued after Philip's word and the meeting didn't finish until nearly 10 pm.

Since Philip has arrived back here on holiday I have taught him to play chess. He is doing well and we have already had a few good games.

At the weekend the youth of our first Campina Grande church held a special youth event to which 166 young people went and 22 of these made decisions of commitment to Christ. Praise God with us! 🙌

I forgot to mention previously that on Sunday in Patos one young woman called Hislany Lima made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. Please pray for her. She lives near our school and has been attending the weekly services there, as well as coming to the main Sunday services in our church in the town centre.