Smokers increase

Statistics for 2024 show an increase in smokers in Brazil from 9.3% of the population to 11.6%. The government expressed its alarm because it is the first increase since 2007. The percentage of smokers in the UK is 11.9% and it is steadily falling.

Believe it or not it is snowing in Brazil and temperatures have dropped below zero! This is not however where we live in northeast Brazil where temperatures continue as normal in the 30s, but in the extreme south 3,200 km (2,000 miles) from us!

We have just started up a new market garden project on the small-holding of Nabor and Aparecida in the Caroá community. We kitted them out with an electric pump, piping for irrigation with drip and aspersion attachments, fruit tree seedlings and vegetable seeds, gardening tools, wheelbarrow, boxes for transporting produce to market and shading netting.

We went to our grandson John David's graduation ball till 3 am! 😴 Everything went off very well. The music was a bit loud, but I should be able to hear again in about 3 days! 🙉😂

We are now back in Patos to take the weekend services here and at Green Pastures where I will be preaching.

Mango & Kiwi

I have just had a delicious morning snack of mango and kiwi. 😋

I went and had a nice look round Green Pastures and saw a Crested Caracara eating a dead fox. I also saw other birds: Great Kiskadee, Blue-black Grassquit, Rufous-bellied Thrush, Roadside Hawk, Boat-billed Flycatcher and Ruddy Ground-Dove. I also saw a flock of House Sparrows which is not to be sneezed at in this day and age of reduced numbers of sparrows. I hear that they are down by half in England.

The Patos Men's Fellowship held another street meeting in the town of São Mamede. Over 50 attended and one decision was made for Christ at the end.

Our Action School at Imaculada has taken in an extra 11 pupils as requested by the Council schools, taking the total number of children we teach up to 846. These dear very needy 11 children are special cases needing extra care and attention as they are between 10 and 12 years of age but cannot, read, write or do the simplest of sums as they are totally illiterate. Some are from farms and others are from broken homes and some are abandoned children. Please pray.

Yesterday the life squad evangelized in the prison and reported real attention from the prisoners. Please pray.

We are on the coast in the state capital João Pessoa for our grandson John David's graduation ball as he qualifies to be a medical doctor. He has done very well and we are very proud of him. We pray that God will bless him to be a warm, caring and competent doctor.

Sunday

I led the Sunday main service of the week, together with my co-pastor Rafael, and lawyer Murilo preached on 'the glory of God' from Isaiah 60. The children sang a song in the service and I gave a report on the general conference.

Yesterday I had a good meeting with Gerlania and Adriana about our Pastor Frank Dyer School and another meeting with Pastor Rafael about pastoral issues.

I saw a beautiful Savanna Hawk yesterday with its beautiful golden outstretched wings of about 1.38 metres. 

Judges 9 (résumé): Abimelech

 Abimelech was the son of Gideon with a concubine in Shechem, and after Gideon's death he conspired with the Shechemites against his 70 half-brothers to become king by killing his half-siblings and seizing power to rule over Israel for 3 years. Abimelech's only half-brother to survive the slaughter was Jotham. 

When Jotham learned of his brothers' massacrer he climbed Mount Gerizim and shouted a parabolic curse upon the citizens of Shechem. Jotham's parable said that the trees decided to anoint a king and first of all they approached the olive tree which turned it down saying it preferred its olive oil. Then the fig tree was approached which also refused kingship as it preferred its sweet fruit. Then the vine was offered the post but it also refused preferring to produce wine "which cheers gods and men". Finally the trees approached the worthless thorn-bush (Abimelech) whom they made king! Jotham concluded by saying that if the people had acted honourably and in good faith then may they be happy with Abimelech. However if the opposite was the case then let fire consume them!

Abimelech, having ruled for 3 years, fell out with the Shechemites as "an evil spirit" came between them leading them to join forces with Gaal to overthrow Abimelech. However he got wind of the revolt and quelled it by attacking and destroying the city and covering it with salt! The last stronghold in the city was the Tower of Shechem which Abimelech set fire to killing a thousand people inside it. 

Finally Abimelech attacked the city of Thebez where he also attacked its tower, but before he could set fire to it a woman dropped a millstone on his head cracking his skull. As he died he ordered his armour-bearer to finish him off with his sword as he was ashamed of being killed by a woman! The curse of Jotham had come to pass.

General Conference

 Liz and I have just got home in Patos after a superb general conference in Itaporanga. There was a lovely spirit of unity throughout. We had 3 general assemblies and 1 celebration service at which I preached and Pastor Wostenes led. We ordained one new minister, Vera from Ibiara. We gave one new pastor probationary ministerial status, Jair from the second church in Princesa Isabel. We received 4 back into ministerial status as missionaries: Betânia, Antonio, Joselita and Jucineide. We sadly removed one pastor, Gersé from Princesa Isabel, from ministerial status.

Our church at São Vicente do Seridó was moved from the category of medium sized church to large church. We received information about a new church plant in Campina Grande in the borough of Cuités. We also received news of another new church plant planned for the north side of João Pessoa to be led by the Campina Grande Catolé church as from January 2026. This new church plant will be led by Thyago and Letícia. We also decided that Guilherme Santos will go and live and work in Ipueira in 2026 as a missionary.

It was decided that next year's general conference will be in João Pessoa and next years 10-day outreach will be in Soledade. It was also decided that as from August a new Action School will commence at Juazeirinho. 

Custard Apple

One of the advantages of living in the tropics is the fruit. One delicious example is the custard apple which I have just eaten. Other examples are jack fruits, which Frank and I used to compete to see who could eat the most by counting the stones at the end, mangoes and soursop. 

Yesterday we had 3 counselling sessions with 3 different people. We also have been preparing for the general conference in Itaporanga which starts today. I will be leading the 4 general assemblies and preaching the keynote sermon in the closing celebration. Please pray for us and the conference.

I went to Green Pastures and saw a lot of birds such as the Great Kiskadee, Red-legged Seriema, Chalk-browed Mockingbird, Campo Troupial, Red-cowled Cardinal, Caatinga Cacholote, Glittering-bellied Emerald and Picui Ground-Dove.

We are just about to leave for the General Conference at Itaporanga where all our church leaders will be gathered to bring reports, discuss the work of the Lord and plan together for the future.

A 4-year-old little boy has just died in a Patos hospital having been bitten by a snake which was hidden under the sofa at his home!

3 more decisions

3 more decisions for Christ have been registered by older children at our Matureia Action School. We rejoice! Please pray for EAB's Action School project. 

I am very glad to hear from the London School of Theology, where I did my Bachelor's Degree in Theology, that a survey conducted by the Bible Society, in conjunction with YouGov, shows that since 2018 the number of 18 to 24-year-olds attending church regularly in England and Wales has risen four-fold from 4% to 16%, with young men's attendance in that age bracket rising from 4% to 21%. It is, as they put it, a silent revival! 🙌 In the same period there has been an 87% increase in the sale of Bibles in the UK. 

Last night I took part in the Patos Men's Fellowship. School teacher Claudivan led the meeting, Tiago and Dedé led the praise, and pastor Rafael led the Biblical reflection on the prodigal son's elder brother. It was a good meeting with 13 present.

It rained 10 mm at Green Pastures last night.

Judges 8 (résumé): Gideon captures the kings of Midian

Initially in this chapter Gideon defuses a tense situation with the Ephraimites who objected to having been left out of the battle against the Midianites. Gideon and his 300 men were exhausted, but kept pursuing the remnant of the Midianite army and defeated the remaining 10,000 men at Karkor out of an original army of 120,000 men. Gideon also captured the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna and he personally killed them.

Gideon took revenge on the towns of Succoth and Peniel for having refused to give them material support in the battle. They may have refused help because they were afraid of Midianite reprisals.

The Israelites were thrilled with Gideon's defeat of Midian and wanted to make him King as a consequence, but Gideon turned this down. He however asked for the golden ear-rings from the plunder which gave him 19.5 kg of gold. With this he made a golden ephod which sadly became an object of idolatry for the people as well as for Gideon and his family.

During Gideon's lifetime there was peace in Israel for 40 years. He had many wives, he had 70 sons, and still he had a son called Abimelech with a concubine! Gideon died at a ripe old age, and no sooner had he gone than the people returned to pagan Baal worship. 

Judges 7 (résumé): Gideon defeats the Midianites

The Midianites and Israelites were camped on opposing sides of a valley when God told Gideon that he had too many men. So God told Gideon to instruct all that were afraid to go home, and 22,000 did so leaving just 10,000 fighting men. However God still felt the Israelites were too many, so he instructed Gideon to get the men to drink water and those that cupped the water in their hands would be chosen for battle, and just 300 remained! So God had reduced Israel from 32,000 to 300 to make sure Israel realized that the victory was given by God. 

Gideon, encouraged by an overheard Midianite dream, led the 300 men to attack the Midianite camp at night, and using trumpets, torches and battle cries they sowed panic and mayhem in the camp causing them to turn on each other and flee, and producing a resounding victory for Israel. Then Gideon called in reinforcements to aid in the pursuit, and they captured and killed two of the Midianite leaders and took their heads to Gideon!

Judges 6 (résumé): Gideon

Having enjoyed 40 years of peace, after Deborah's victory, sadly Israel fell back into its old sinful ways of pagan religion so that God gave them into the the hands of the Midianites for 7 years. They severely persecuted and impoverished Israel taking much of their crops and livestock. 

So Israel cried to the Lord for help and he sent them a prophet to tell them the obvious that their plight was of their own idolatrous doing. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to a man called Gideon saying that the Lord was with him. Gideon questioned this fact in the light of Midianite domination. God told Gideon that he was sending him to deliver Israel from Midian, but Gideon saw himself as insufficient for the task. God however guaranteed that he would be with him to give victory over the Midianites. 

So Gideon prepared a goat, broth and bread and offered it to the angel of the Lord placing it on a rock. Then the angel touched the rock with his staff and fire flared from the rock consuming everything, and there Gideon built an altar. That night God told Gideon to tear down the altar to Baal and cut down the pagan Asherah pole and erect there an altar to God where he should sacrifice a bull as a burnt offering. The following morning when the people saw what Gideon had done they wanted to kill him, but Gideon told them that if Baal was a real god he should be able to defend his own altar!

Then the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern people faced up against Israel in the Valley of Jezreel. So Gideon put out a fleece to be sure God would give them the victory as promised, and the fleece was wet whilst the ground was dry as he had asked of the Lord. Yet still Gideon was in doubt and put out another fleece asking for a dry fleece this time on wet ground, and again this happened with the Lord confirming victory by his mercy and grace.

Judges 5 (résumé): The Song of Deborah

The song of Deborah contained in this chapter is a song of victory sung by judge and prophetess Deborah, leader of Israel, and Barak, her military commander, after having defeated the Canaanite king Jabin's army and killed its commander Sisera. The song gives praise to God for being the cause of the victory, and highlights the courage of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, for killing Sisera. Deborah sang too about God raising her up as a mother in Israel when they were downtrodden by their enemies. She praised Israel's army commanders for having followed her and Barak into their battle for freedom. She also commends the tribes that took part in the battle: Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulon, Issachar and part of Manasseh, whilst criticizing the tribes that abstained: Reuben, Dan, Asher and part of Manasseh. Towards the end the song focuses on Sisera's mother who will never see her son again. The song closes with a curse on all the Lord's enemies and a blessing on all who love the Lord "like the sun when it rises in its strength". Israel then enjoyed 40 years of peace.

Red-legged Seriema

I saw 2 Red-legged Seriemas at Green Pastures on Saturday. They are big birds just short of a metre high. They ran away from me in the jeep as they rarely fly. I also saw Eared Doves, White-tipped Doves, Great Ani (with a nest), Burrowing Owls, Ferruginous Pigmy-Owl and Caatinga Cacholotes. I saw a number of Cavies too.

I preached on Saturday night at the Green Pastures church and there were 30 local folk present in a lovely service. I preached on John 1:43-51 when Jesus called Philip and Nathanael. Nega led the worship and over 10 people took part with songs and Bible readings.

I have done a lot of administrative work on the EAB Action Schools Project translating our 15 schools' reports and sending them to Marian in the UK. Please pray for our Action Schools which currently ministers to 835 needy children which you can help sponsor for £25 a month. 

I have just watched a fascinating duel between 2 male Ruddy Ground-Doves disputing a female with the poor female in the middle!

Last night I led the main service of the week in Patos at night, aided by my assistant pastor Rafael. I also preached a clear Gospel message from John 1: "Behold the Lamb of God" (v29) / "We have found the Messiah" (v41) / "You are the Son of God" (v49). It was a good service with a full church.

Today is our grandson Lucas's 18th birthday there in England. Lucas is a fine young man at Queen Mary's College studying history,  photography and esports. Happy birthday Lucas!

Judges 4 (résumé): Deborah

This chapter is a real turn-up for the books within such a patriarchal society as Israel. For now a woman named Deborah was the judge who ruled the land! Israel had slipped back into disobedience after Ehud, and this led to them being dominated by a Canaanite king whose name was Jabin and whose army commander was Sisera. Sisera cruelly oppressed Israel for 20 years with his 900 iron chariots. Then Israel cried to the Lord for help.

It was judge and prophetess Deborah who led Israel out of their trouble. She commanded Barak to lead 10,000 men to Mount Tabor to there defeat Sisera, but Barak said he would only go if Deborah went with him, to which she agreed. They then engaged with Sisera in battle at Mount Tabor and delivered them a crushing defeat, with Sisera fleeing for his life to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. She gave Sisera milk to drink as he was thirsty and exhausted, and then he went to sleep. There Jael drove a tent peg into his head and killed him.

So it was that Israel was delivered from the Canaanite king and his mighty army. Judge Deborah led Israel into routing Sisera's army and Jael finished off Sisera who was the Canaanite army's commander in chief! The women, Deborah and Jael, were used by God to bring complete victory to Israel!

Judges 3 (résumé): The ups & downs the period of the Judges

The text starts by saying that God left the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites in the promised land to test Israel's faithfulness and to give battle experience to the younger generation, but this living together led to inter-marriage and inter-religious practices.

When Israel served the pagan Baals and Asherahs God punished them with 8 years of domination by the king of north-west Mesopotamia called Cushan-Rishathaim. Only when the people turned back to the Lord did God raise up the delivering judge Othniel, who was Caleb's younger brother, to set them free for a period of 40 years until Othniel died.

Then history repeated itself with the Israelites returning to paganism and prohibited inter-marriage resulting in them being 18 years under the rule of Eglon, king of Moab. Finally Israel cried unto the Lord who raised up a left-handed judge called Ehud (it is interesting this detail of being left-handed!) who tricked King Eglon into being alone with him and he stabbed him to death. The ensuing battle saw the death of 10,000 Moabites, the subjugation Moab and peace in the land for 80 years.

After Ehud came judge Shamgar who killed 600 Philistines with an ox-goad!

Deforestation

As you probably know deforestation has been a serious problem in Brazil in recent years. So you will appreciate my joy this morning when I saw the headlines of my daily Brazilian newspaper online 'Folha de São Paulo' telling me that in 2024 deforestation declined 32.4% in comparison with the previous year. 🌳🌴🌵

Liz and I have just had another counselling session. Sometimes these sessions leave us with heavy hearts and near to tears, but we can only ask for prayer and leave things with the Lord. 🙏

I was very sad to see the news from one of our 15 little schools that 2 little boys have been abandoned by their mother and live with their father who is very poor and doesn't enjoy good health. I can't go into detail in such a public place as this, but I do ask you to pray for this family. 

Today is our great friend Marian Rashleigh's birthday. Happy birthday Marian! Have a great day!

Preaching

This week I am preaching 3 times. On Tuesday night I travelled to São Mamede where I preached in a street service with 50 people in attendance. I preached on Mark 3:1-12 on Jesus' healing of a man with a shrivelled hand. On Saturday I will preach at Green Pastures and on Sunday I will be preaching in Patos. I value your prayers.

This year the EAB/ACEV Action Schools are helping and teaching a total of 835 needy children making sure they know how to read and write well and can do their sums and times tables, plus teaching them about Jesus and feeding them. Please do help us support this important work in 15 little schools which will hopefully increase to 16 in August. For £25 a month you can support this wonderful work. The current 15 little schools are as follows with the number of children in brackets: Caroá (11), Manaira (19), Juru (15), Imaculada (22), Patos (272), Soledade (10), Matureia (253), Itaporanga (15), Tavares (17), Princesa Isabel (80), Flores (18), Vazante (16), Barra de Oitis (21), Ibiara (14) and Campina Grande (52).

I have just concluded the third of 3 counselling sessions. I can't go into details, but value your prayers.

Our market garden project at the Lage de Onça Community in the municipality of Tavares is going exceptionally well producing lettuce, coriander, spring onions, okra, marrow, cabbage, passion fruit, paw-paw, barbadian cherry, pomegranate, lemons, guava and sweet potatoes. All is grown without using chemical pesticides, using natural defensive methods as taught by the project. All is readily marketed in Tavares and Princesa Isabel to the government school meals project.

Serrinha dos Pintos

The town of Serrinha dos Pintos is not far from Patos (186 km) in the neighbouring state of Rio Grande do Norte where EAB/ACEV has a small church at Ipueira. It was my sister Jean who drew my attention to a fascinating article by the BBC about this town and its prevalent condition called Spoan syndrome which has only recently been discovered by Brazilian geneticist Silvana Santos. The high number of cousins married in the town contributed to this which means many in the town end up in wheelchairs.

On Sunday night I led the special service allusive to Mother's Day at which our daughter Sacha preached an excellent sermon on Matthew 15:21-28 in which she focused on the Canaanite mother's fight of faith for her daughter's well-being. It was a very clever application of the text. The service was lovely with a full church.

It was great to see our grandson Arthur in church again back from Japan. He only arrived back in Patos 3 hours before the service, after a 3-day journey, including being stuck for 14 hours in Brasília owing to a flight cancellation, but he still came. 

Yesterday we went to the wake of our keyboard player Rogério's uncle who died suddenly. 

Judges 2 (résumé): Disobedience & Defeat

The angel of the Lord rebuked Israel at Bokim for not having driven out all the Canaanites and not having destroyed all their pagan religious sites. Hence the Canaanites "will be thorns in their sides and their gods will be snares to them", and God will withdraw his support. Israel was devastated by this and offered sacrifices to the Lord.

However with time the post-Joshua generation turned to serving the Baal and Ashtoreth pagan gods leading to God withdrawing his support for Israel. (It is impressive how fickle the Israelites' faith was and how easily they switch to worshipping pagan gods!) 

So God raised up judges to fill the leadership vacuum in Israel. The judges had partial success in leading Israel, but very easily the people of God slipped back into apostacy. This made God very angry and he withdrew his support in driving out the Canaanites, which God said he would now use to test Israel. 

Judges 1 (résumé): Israel fights the remaining Canaanites

The book of Judges covers a period of about 330 years following the death of Joshua. It was a time which stands in stark contrast to the blessings and conquests of the book of Joshua. For Judges is full of disobedience and idolatry leading to defeats and a cycle of apostacy. 

Chapter 1 relates how the men of Judah and the Simeonites conquered the Canaanites and Perizzites. At Bezek they killed 10,000 men and captured King Adoni-Bezek cutting off his big toes and thumbs! It says they did this cruel act in retribution for him having done this previously to 70 kings. Then the men of Judah captured Jerusalem and attacked the Canaanites living in Hebron. In the on-going warfare Caleb promised his daughter Achsar in marriage to the man who helped him conquer Debir, so it was that Caleb's younger brother Othniel conquered the city and married Achsar. The text goes on to show that the descendants of Moses' father-in-law were intermingled with the tribe of Judah.

Then the tribes of Judah and Simeon conquered other Canaanite cities including Gaza. However victories were partial as the Israelites were unable to defeat the iron chariots in the plains, and they could not dislodge the Jebusites. Then they conquered Bethel, but in the region as a whole the Canaanites were never completely defeated and so they ended up co-habiting with Israel being frequently reduced to sources of forced labour.

Birds at Green Pastures

I went to Green Pastures and saw a Spotted Nothura, many Red-Cowled Cardinals, Guira Cuckoos, Picui Ground-Doves, Smooth-billed Anis and Caatinga Cacholotes. This year's produce of 4 peacocks has been reduced to 1 by predators 🐺. There were still 3 at Easter. Our Cockatiels' offspring have also been reduced from 2 to 1, but they have now laid more eggs. 🐤

Congratulations to our school at Matureia, where I was on Wednesday, for having received an award for excellency from the town council. They also have received a 'best of the year' award as chosen by the general public.🏆All glory be to God! Our school there has 253 pupils. 

The wanderer returns! Our grandson Arthur returned yesterday from his latest international adventure having visited Panama, USA, Japan, South Korea and Peru! I wonder where he'll be going next year? His final flight from Brasília to Recife was cancelled because of a fight between a passenger and a member of the crew, so Arthur had an annoying and tiring delay to a later flight. Not to worry as Arthur is a lawyer and will sue the airline for the delay!

Yesterday afternoon the senior leadership of the mission held an excellent 2-hour online meeting in preparation for the general conference to be held in Itaporanga on the 23rd and 24th of May. First of all we discussed the conference celebration which Pastor Wostenes will lead and at which I will preach on the 'Year of Jubilee'. We then discussed the agenda of subjects to be dealt with in the 4 business sessions of the conference. It was an excellent meeting. Please pray for our general conference.

What a wife I have! I have just eaten 7 pancakes! 😋

Today is mother's day in Brazil and I send a happy mother's day to all mums!

Mountain Trip

On Wednesday I drove up the Teixeira Mountain to the town of Matureia where we have a church and school. On the way up the mountain I had to negotiate getting past an enormous broken down lorry which was blocking the road on a sharp bend. At the church I enjoyed good fellowship with the local pastor Renilson and his wife Getiane. I visited the school, which has 260 pupils, as the children were enjoying lovely tropical fruit: melon, banana, water melon and paw-paw, so I joined them!😋I enjoyed hearing Getiane speaking to the school assembly tactfully explaining to the children how to avoid abusive touches and teaching them to tell their mum or their teacher if anyone is abusively bothering them. It was a very good talk, fruit of her wide experience working with children. I was impressed.

From the school I drove a further 15 km to visit a market garden project run by the church piano accordionist called Gilsandro at the Bom Conselho Community. It was so good to see how well his market garden is doing with lettuce, coriander, spring onions, bananas (hundreds of them!), passion fruit and a great number of paw-paw drawing my attention. He told me how simple things like a wheel barrow, which he received as part of the project, is so helpful because he collects manure from neighbouring small-holdings to put on his plants. He thanked a lot for the piping for irrigation, the tools, shading netting etc. which the project gave him. He told me too of the contract he has with the main Matureia 'Souza' supermarket to supply fruit and vegetables every day as he has produce ready for market.

Our grandson Arthur is on his way back to Brazil from Japan and has made the 12 hour flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles where he now is. ✈

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and Pastor Rafael brought the study on Micah 6:1-8. It was a good service.

Last night too our son Philip attended his graduation ceremony online with the FTSA Bible College, and received a Bachelor's Degree in Theology. He concluded the course in December but the graduation ceremony was only now. We give our warmest congratulations to Philip for having achieved this award of a degree officially recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Education. (MEC)

Japan

Arthur continues on his visit to Japan which he is enjoying very much. He has visited the cities of Tokyo, Kamakura, Enoshima, Kawaguchi, Hakone and Osaka. Tomorrow he will be travelling on one of the famous Japanese 'Bullet Trains' (see below) which are punctual, safe and go at speeds up to 320 kph.

29% of Brazilians between 15 and 64 years of age have difficulty understanding a simple text or doing a simple sum. 7% of these can't even read simple words or phone numbers. These statistics show a worsening of illiteracy over the past 16 years.

Yesterday we had a wonderful meeting with Antonio and Joselita Gelsheuchter and Pastor Lindon Carlos and his wife Vanea from Imaculada. Joselita presents our radio programme at Imaculada which is going very well. Antonio and Joselita are an excellent pair of workers in the work of the Lord. 

Last night I spoke at the Men's Fellowship on the subject of mercy which we need from God and which we need to show to others. Numbers were down but it was a nice meeting.

6th Men's Retreat

I have been at Green Pastures taking part in the 6th Men's Retreat of our Campina Grande - Catolé church, with 84 men taking part. (photo below) The theme of the retreat is 'prayer: the necessity and fundamental responsibility of every man of God'. Pastor Wostenes taught on prayer whilst I was there, after which I had meal with Pastor Wostenes and had a good discussion about the work of the Lord. It was lovely to see so many men in one place seeking God.

I saw Picui Ground-Doves, Caatinga Cacholotes, a Turkey Vulture, Great Kiskadees and Burrowing Owls whilst at Green Pastures.

QPR ended the season on a winning note with a 1 x 0 victory away to Sunderland, so they end the season in 15th place in the Championship out of 24.

Yesterday morning we had a church business meeting and all went off well.

Over 2 million people attended a free Lady Gaga concert on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend where police thwarted a bomb attack and arrested the would-be perpetrators. 

Our grandson Arthur has flown back to Japan from South Korea.

I led the main service of the week last night in Patos which was a beautiful communion service with the church full to capacity. 

Low Rainfall

We are in the month of May when the rains normally are petering out, but sadly this year's rainy season has never got going and here we are with just 469 mm this year after 4 months. We need a minimum of 700 mm and ideally 1,000 mm so as to get us through the second half of the year when it doesn't rain. Please pray!

I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and co-pastor Rafael gave the study from the 5th chapter of Micah. Dedé led the praise and worship.

116-year-old football loving Brazilian nun Inah Canabarra Lucas died this week in Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil. She has now been replaced as the world's oldest person by a 115-year-old lady in Surrey, England.

Yesterday was our granddaughter Amanda Ivy's 10th birthday and we met together to sing happy birthday to her at 6 pm. Amanda is a lovely beautiful Christian young lady.

Last night we took part in a Patos leadership meeting and had a good discussion about the work of the Lord. The Patos church has 216 members and 88 not yet baptized Christians, including children.

The men's retreat is in progress at Green Pastures with 80 men from the Campina Grande Catolé church. It is happening from Friday to Sunday. 

Our 23-year-old grandson Arthur has flown from Japan and is now in South Korea. ✈

Leadership Meeting

 On Tuesday evening we held an excellent meeting of the leaders of the various ministries of the Patos church. We heard from the leaders of the following ministries: children, adolescents, youth, women, men, seniors, praise & worship, deaf, Christians in action, married couples,  and visitation. It was a good time of sharing together praising for the blessings and discussing where things can improve.

I have been having important discussions with Deacons Dedé and Esau regarding the church at the town of Ipueira in the State of Rio Grande do Norte regarding our plans for expansion of the little church there. Please pray for this work. 

Our 15-year-old granddaughter Beatriz (Bia) has won the under-17 feminine Table Tennis Championship for the second year running. Bia is champion of Patos and a further 25 municipalities of the interior sertão. Well done Bia!

Our grandson Arthur has visited Mount Fuji in Japan and was fortunate to get a very clear day so as to get an excellent view of the volcanic mountain.

Yesterday our Life Squad evangelized the Patos Men's Prison and 3 prisoners made commitments to Christ. The Life Squad yesterday had 2 participants: Pastor Rafael and Roberto Tiburtino. Please pray for the life squad evangelizing the prison every Wednesday afternoon.

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Yesterday a school from São Mamede took a group of students to Green Pastures for a nature lesson to inspire them to study harder. They really enjoyed their visit. May God bless them.