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.

Bible College Students

We have 7 Bible College students in our Patos church alone, which is lovely to see. Please pray for them all: Rayla, Sacha, Romildo, Cláudia, Tiago Medeiros, Bia Conserva and Marina. I will be forming a discussion group with this group and those already graduated in theology.

Sunday night's meeting was very good. I led, Philip led the praise and worship and Rafael preached from John 4. The church was full.

Rafael is taking a new person to rehab this week in João Pessoa. The person is an alcoholic from the town of Teixeira up in the mountains. Please pray for him.

We have finished another toilet/shower unit in the village of Barra de Oitis in the county of Diamante. It was built at the home of Romário and Raissa who are very pleased to have a toilet at long last for the first time in their lives. We are in the process of building yet another toilet. The need is great.

I had my haircut yesterday. I hope you like it! 👨