We were having our usual Sunday lunch of egg, chips and peas when the sad news came to us that our great friend for 52 years, Pastor Cesario in Joao Pessoa, had minutes before passed into the presence of the Lord aged 96. We knew he was at the end but it still hits you. He remained lucid and active to the end still preaching the Gospel. He sang hymns loudly on his death bed, recited Psalm 126 and prayed for God to save those who were caring for him in his last days. Pastor Cesario was a great man of God and a founder member of the EAB/ACEV Patos church back in 1948.
Liz and I went to our Sunday evening service as normal, I led and had special prayer for the bereaved family, and our Bible College graduate Murilo preached very well indeed. By this time we already knew that the funeral service would be the following afternoon on the coast in Joao Pessoa at 1 pm. So we got up yesterday morning at 5:30 am, left Patos on a 5 hour journey at 6:30 am and arrived bang on time for the funeral service. I spoke at the funeral service as did a numbers of other pastors and family members. The open coffin was before us during the whole service as is the custom here. The burial itself took place around 5 pm at a cemetery quite a few miles away from the church where the service was held. We praise God for Pastor Cesario's life and fruitful ministry. His wife died 6 years ago and they had 10 children.
After the funeral last night we went for a lovely meal at Liz's sister Esther's apartment up on the 14th floor of a 53 storey apartment block not far from the beach. Today the return journey from Joao Pessoa to Patos took us 6 hours with a break for lunch in Campina Grande. We are tired but all was most worthwhile.
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