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.