Satisfaction

I preached on 'Satisfaction (delight in the English translation) in God' on Sunday night with an exposition of Psalm 119:33-40. It went very well. I also led the service and Sacha and Fabio led the praise and worship backed by Rogerio, Ricardinho and Davi. It was a good service with a full church.

I have completed my course on John Wesley's theology with the ISBL Bible College. It was a very encouraging and refreshing course. John Wesley's theology is strongly in line with mine. Excellent stuff!

QPR drew 1 x 1 at home at the weekend against Huddersfield. It was a very disappointing result as a win would have taken us out of the relegation zone as Huddersfield is the next team above us.

There were 6 in the youth prayer meeting last night including our grandson Arthur and his girlfriend Bianca. PTL! Arthur even gave a short word in the meeting.

EAB Board Meeting

Yesterday morning I took part in an EAB Board meeting at 7:30 am (10:30 am UK time) and it was very good. I took part in the meeting via Messenger. Amongst other things this year's AGM was set for October 19th at Hardley, Southampton. At the same time Liz was at the church with a team running a jumble sale.

On Friday night the Patos church's praise and worship team held a time of fellowship together at our house.

Please pray for our local church at Tavares which is doing the follow-up work to the 10-day outreach. 26 people made decisions, 4 re-dedicated their lives to God and 83 people agreed to visits to be made to their homes. It is a lot of work, but we believe God will bless and that there will be much fruit for the Kingdom.

Liz went with Deaconess Deborah Maria to visit a person (I can't give the name) from the church who has been recently diagnosed with cancer. Please pray for this person. Liz also went with our church visitation team to visit the home of Pastor Rafael and his wife Rayla who were married a month ago. They had a nice time of fellowship and a nice snack together.

Zoom meeting

 On Wednesday evening I took part in a Zoom online meeting involving Christians who care for God's creation. The meeting lasted a little over one and a half hours and was organized by the Canadian branch of A Rocha which is a Christian environmental organization with whom we are in partnership with. It was an excellent meeting chaired by Canadian Rick Faw. Migo took part from Costa Rica, I took part as did Lourdes from near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and Cristina took part from Chile. Each one of us non-Canadians talked about our environmental work and answered their questions. I was able to share all about our work at Green Pastures and how we care for creation. I also shared about the work of EAB/ACEV in general. How wonderful it is to share fellowship with Christians who love the Lord and care for his creation!

If you share with us a love for nature and a concern for caring for God's creation at Green Pastures then please contribute towards its upkeep and the worker Francisco there. Please designate your gifts to 'Green Pastures' when sending to the EAB treasurer. Next month we will be holding our annual Carnival Camp there.

I led the prayer meeting and Bible study last night and I gave the study on Romans 12:1-8. It was an excellent service with over 30 present.

Youth prayer

There were 12 in the youth prayer meeting on Monday night. How wonderful it is to see our young people keen to pray! Parallel to this a meeting was held at the ex-landless community of NS Aparecida II.

I took the mattresses out to Green Pastures that we had loaned to the 10-day outreach team to sleep on the floor at Tavares. Whilst there I heard the Scaled Dove singing joyfully. 

Last night I went to take another street service in the town of Sao Mamede. I led, Dede led the praise and worship, pastor Rafael took part with a short word and Bible College student Ray brought the main message from Exodus 15. It was a nice little service though there were less there than usual. 

Outreach

On Saturday night I preached at the evangelistic outreach at Tavares a two hour ten minute drive south west of Patos. We ate sandwiches on the way and arrived there about 5:50 pm for a 7 o'clock service which was held in the central town square. Upon arrival we held a meeting with the outreach leaders and learned that there had been 26 decisions for Christ during the 10-day outreach plus 4 reconciliations with the Lord. How many of these decisions will turn out to be conversions remains to be seen.

The service went off very well and the outreach team did choreographies and drama, plus jubilant praise. I preached on Mark 1 a sermon called 'Everything points to Jesus'! We got home to bed at gone midnight, and we praise God for the lovely trip.

On Saturday afternoon QPR actually managed to win a game! We beat Millwall at home 2 x 0. 😃

On Sunday morning Liz led the Sunday School in Patos and taught a united class of adults and youth. I led the evening service and Rafael preached.

Pneumonia

Our son Philip is quite ill with pneumonia. The doctors almost admitted him to hospital but he has been allowed to continue his antibiotics at home. Please pray for Philip!

Our mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study was very good. I led it, Fabio and Rogerio led the praise and worship and Bible College graduate Murilo brought a study on Psalm 1. Espedita sang a solo and verses of Scripture were shared by Deaconess Deborah Maria, Dede, Marcio, Maria and Romildo.

At Green Pastures it now lives up to its name of green after the rains. It is a sight for sore eyes! Yesterday I saw a Red-cowled Cardinal, a wild Guinea Pig and a Burrowing Owl whilst there.

Liz and I will be leaving shortly for Tavares to preach at the last big rally of the 10-day evangelistic outreach there. We go up the Teixeira mountain to get there and drive for between 2 and 2 and a half hours. Then we have it all to drive back again after the service so get back very late. Please pray! 

Water cooler

Liz and I have been taking things to Green Pastures as we prepare for the Carnival Camp next month. We took out a water distributer/cooler which we had brought into Patos to be repaired. We also took out a whole lot of cleaning materials. Francisco is busy checking all the clay-tiled roofs for leaks in this rainy season.

Deborah and Arthur's 10-year-old black and white cat Marley died this week. Pets don't live very long and their death brings much sadness to those who are attached to them.

The Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus) is in fine song with the rains falling at Green Pastures.

The 10-day outreach is going well and yesterday our 92-person team evangelized the villages of Belem (where there were decisions for Christ) and Jurema.

The weekly service at our Patos school was held last night, led by our firefighter brother Romildo.

Decisions

I led the Sunday night service and Bible College graduate Murilo preached excellently on the new birth from John 3. One woman made a decision to follow Christ at the end. Praise God! Liz led the Sunday School in the morning.

The 10-day evangelistic outreach at Tavares is underway and there have already been some decisions for Christ. The team is 92 strong. Please pray for the team.

Yesterday was our granddaughter Beatriz's 14th birthday although she looks older than 14. She is known as Bia. She is the youngest daughter of our daughter Sacha.

QPR sadly lost at home yet again at the weekend. They lost 2 x 1 to Watford. The fans say that they played better than Watford, but the thing is they lost! 😠

Ben & Miriam Price

On Friday we had Ben & Miriam Price, their grown up children Josias and Ana, and their friend Henry Ford with us for a meal and for fellowship. All these folk live in the UK but are here on a short visit to Brazil. It was very nice to have a good long chat with them.

I went for a walk at Green Pastures on Friday afternoon and heard many Red-cowled Cardinals singing joyfully as they made their nests. Just after I left 10 mm of rain fell which would have made them sing even louder! Last night it rained another 75 mm so this is truly wonderful!

I was going to lead the service at Green Pastures last night and preach. However down came the rain and rain stopped pray! The service was cancelled because the people can't get there on the earth tracks which turn to mud.

Meetings with leaders

On Wednesday evening Liz and I had a meeting with Andrea and Marah Danielle who are the leaders of the Patos women's fellowship for 2024. Liz is the back-up leader for them. 

On Thursday afternoon we had an excellent meeting with our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos, with Geralda as sign language interpreter. We had a wide ranging discussion about our ministry with and to the deaf. A number of new ideas for 2024 were proposed by Luiz Carlos and approved. Please pray for this wonderful ministry to the deaf.

I have had discussions with Pastor Maesio in Teixeira up in the mountains. The church there is slowly growing and one person made a decision for Christ this week.

We are busy preparing for the Carnival Camp at Green Pastures next month and value your prayers. If anyone can help poorer people to go to the camp please send your donations to the EAB treasurer.

Please pray for our 10-day evangelistic outreach which starts today at Tavares. The 100 plus team will be gathering there today. Everyone will be staying at a school and sleeping on the floor.

I saw 2 Smooth-billed Anis at Green Pastures. These birds are the size of a thin wood pigeon and are jet black.

I led the prayer meeting and Bible study last night and Pastor Rafael gave the study. There were 24 present.

Christmas Cake

We received a Marks & Spencer's un-iced Christmas cake from our son Philip and his wife Gylmara via Ben and Miriam Price who are on a visit to Brazil. We are eating a small piece of the cake every day so as to make it last! It is delicious! 😋

Liz and I had a good meeting with our social worker Marah Danielle. We discussed the fact that Tearfund has virtually completely finished in Brazil apart from minor activities linked to the environment. All their work funding projects has ended for everyone.

I both saw and heard 3 Bananaquits in our garden this morning. These are small yellow, black and white birds about the size of a Blue Tit.

Last night I led the street service in the town of São Mamede and Bible College student Ray brought the Gospel message from Luke 14. Dede led the praise and various other brothers and sisters took part. After the service Jose and Marico (the service was in front of their house) served soup and bread to everyone including their neighbours.

Visit

On Saturday afternoon Liz and I went to visit one of our young church families: Rafael & Carol and their children Ana Liz and Rafael Lucas. The father has recently had surgery for a hernia so we went to see how he was doing. We had a lovely long 2-hour chat with them. It was very nice. They also served us a beautiful snack before we read the Bible with them and prayed for their home.

QPR were knocked out of the FA Cup losing at home to Premiership Bournmouth 3 x 2, after having been 2 x 0 up at half time. 😖

We are busy organizing next month's carnival camp at Green Pastures to be held from February 10th to 14th. This year the Bible teaching will be from 2 Timothy chapters 1 & 2. I will teach on Saturday night and Monday morning. Pastor Rafael will teach on Sunday morning and Pastor Lindon Carlos will teach on Tuesday morning and night. Bible College graduate Murilo will teach on Sunday night and Bible College student Sacha will teach on Monday night. Please pray for all of us who will minister God's Word. 

On Sunday Liz taught the adult class in our Sunday School in the book of James in the morning. I led the communion service at night and co-pastor Rafael preached. On Saturday night there were also communion services at Ipueira and Green Pastures.

Mid-week service

Our Thursday evening mid-week prayer service and Bible study was especially blessed and there were 22 present. Our youngest daughter Sacha led the praise accompanied by Rogerio on keyboard. People shared their prayer requests and we had a nice time of prayer. Then Deborah Maria, Marcio, Mariana and Dede shared verses of scripture which have recently been a blessing to them. Then Sacha brought the Bible study from Mark 5. She was excellent. Sacha is studying at Bible College online and is developing wonderfully as a minister of God's Word.

Yesterday (January 5th) our first Christmas cards arrived from the UK by post. Our thanks go to Gill Parsons, Neil & Naomi Parsons and my sister Jean and family. It was very nice to receive them.

I had a nice walk at Green Pastures yesterday and saw a Jungle Runner Lizard (Ameiva ameiva), 4 Cactus Parakeets and 2 Crested Caracaras. I heard White-tipped Doves and Scaled Doves.  

Dates for my Diary

As always at the beginning of a new year I spend some time with our pastors organizing the dates of our conferences and events. So please add to your prayer list the following events in 2024: The special 10-Day outreach with a team of at least 100 participants in the town and county of Tavares between the 12th and 21st of January (I will be preaching at this); The carnival camp at Green Pastures between February 10th and 14th (I will be preaching at this too); Our annual General Conference in Joao Pessoa on May 24th and 25th (I will be leading this); Our annual pastors and leaders conference at Green Pastures between September 27th and 29th (I will be leading this also).

I have had a nice walk at Green Pastures after the rain and saw a pair of Chalk-browed Mockingbirds courting, which always happens once we get rain. I also saw a beautiful Green-barred Woodpecker. 

I have been handling some administrative issues with Pastor Hamilton of our Campina Grande Presidente Medici church.

Rain glorious rain!

New Year's Eve brought us wonderful rain, with 87 mm falling at Green Pastures, which is just over three and a half inches. This is just what we needed. Thank you Lord!

Our New Year's Eve service in Patos was a real blessing. I both led and preached. We also had many people taking part as we always do in this annual service. Espedita, Linda, Sacha and the Conserva family all sang. The adolescents read a poem which they themselves wrote. Adriana, Dede, Romildo, Ray, Deborah Maria, Claudivan and Aleksandra all spoke briefly. We had video messages too from Philip and Lucena.

At our house we all had supper together after church.

At our Itaporanga church 4 were baptized on New Year's Eve. Praise God!

I have just seen 2 Ruddy Ground Doves in our back garden.

QPR lost at home to Cardiff 2 x 1 on New Year's Day. Relegation looms with increasing likelihood! 😖