Stars

The amount of universes that exist is unknown, but the amount of stars that exist in our universe alone is estimated to be between 10 sextillion and 2 septillion, which means there are more stars than grains of sand on all the earth’s beaches! However stars rarely collide. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands”. (Psalm 19:1)

Yesterday the 10-day evangelistic outreach team held a street service in the morning in the weekly Soledade street market and greatly impacted the town. The team did door-to-door evangelism in the afternoon and held a street service at night. There have already been a number of decisions of commitment to Christ made as a result of the team's ministry. 

We have reached nearly 450 comments on this blog and we thank one and all. Special thanks go to Roberto Tiburtino, Veronica Morais and Pastor Manoel Oliveira Filho. Please remember that if you don't write your name I have no way of knowing who wrote the comment.

King Hezekiah of Judah

Last night our daughter Sacha led the service in Patos and I preached on King Hezekiah of Judah from 2 Kings 18:1-4. It was a lovely service.

The 10-day outreach at Soledade pressed on in its third day of blessing. The 130-strong team went out doing door-to-door evangelism in the afternoon and did a street service at night in one of Soledade's boroughs. In the morning they did prayer and Bible study.

QPR were knocked out of the FA Cup yesterday away to West Ham 2 x 1 after extra time. Long gone are the days when we won the League Cup at Wembley. I was there and I was 18, and I started going out with Liz later that month of March 1967.

Our son Philip has gone to Holland today with his work.

Green Pastures Service

Last night I went and held the weekly Green Pastures Church service and I preached on the feeding of the five thousand from John 6. Sister Nega led the praise and worship. She sings really nicely. It was lovely to see sister Odilia at the service aged 92 and fully active.

On the earth road on the way to the service I saw a Pigmy Nightjar. 

The service on the second night of the 10-day outreach, with a team of 130, was held alongside the church in the open-air, and went very well. Amy Gough from Southampton gave a word in the service.

A 36-year-old woman was bitten by a shark at the island of Fernando de Noronha but thankfully survived. We have been to this island both with Bob and Jo Dalton and with Marian Rashleigh.

Iguana

Yesterday I went to Green Pastures where I saw an Iguana lizard and a Ferruginous Pigmy-Owl. The drought here is utterly catastrophic and the rain just doesn't come! 🙏

The 10-day evangelistic outreach at Soledade is underway and in its second day with a team of 130 mainly young people. The outreach is under the leadership of pastors Robério and Rafael and Missionary Betânia. Please pray.

Diamond

Yesterday we took Amy to the Diamante (Diamond), Barra de Oitis and Vazante churches and projects. The initial nearly 2-hour journey west was on asphalt, but from then on the roads were bumpy earth roads. We showed Amy many toilet/shower units built for the poor and some market garden projects which are doing very well despite the drought. We had lunch at Pastor Nezinho Abílio's house where I ate a lovely tilapia fish. At night I preached at the Diamante church and Amy brought a word of greeting interpreted by Liz. We got home a little before midnight after a lovely day.

The 10-day Outreach starts today at Soledade. Please pray. Amy has gone together with our granddaughters Alice and Bia who both speak English. 

Patos sight-seeing

Amy has been on a tour of Patos visiting our friend Dona Florzinha in the borough of Placas, followed by visits to the the boroughs of Sete Casas and Serrote Liso where we always distribute food hampers. She then visited the meat market where she found the cow intestines interesting, before going into the central market where she met Jesiel who used to be in Philip's band called 'Lift Off'. Liz then took Amy to visit the Roman Catholic shrine called 'Cruz da Menina'.

After lunch we went to the Pastor Frank Dyer School followed by a visit to Green Pastures. I showed Amy the meeting hall, kitchen, EAB/ACEV museum, bedrooms, dormitories, swimming pool etc. and took her on a short walk along a dry and barren nature trail where we saw lots of Armadillo burrows. On our visit we saw a pair of Pearl Kites, a pair of Caatinga Cacholotes and a Roadside Hawk. We also heard Campo Troupials and Rufous-bellied Thrushes.

The Life-Squad (Pastor Rafael, Roberto Tiburtino and Iara) evangelized the Men's prison again yesterday and 3 men made commitments to Christ.

Travelling from Recife to Patos

Liz and Amy had a late breakfast in Recife after Amy's tiring journey. Then they took Amy to see the lovely beach before embarking on the 6 to 7 hour journey in land to Patos. They stopped for lunch at Campina Grande on the way.

Amy Gough with Liz on the Recife beach where Albert & Daisy Mundy first came ashore to found the mission 88 years ago

Liz and Amy arrived in Patos about 7 pm yesterday having visited one of our churches at Campina Grande on the way. They also came through the town of Soledade, with a population of 14,000, where the 10-day outreach will be starting on Friday.  

Amy Gough

Liz travelled to Recife airport yesterday, with Netinho from the Patos church, in order to meet Amy Gough from Southampton who is a theology degree student at St Mellitus College and who is coming to experience our 10-day evangelistic outreach, with a team of 130 mainly young people, which will be held this year at Soledade. There are a number on the outreach who speak English, including our granddaughters Alice and Bia, so communication will be no problem. We will also be taking her before and after the outreach to visit some of our churches and projects further in the interior.

Amy's flight arrived about 30 minutes late and she came through customs at Recife airport about three quarters of an hour before midnight, so they slept the night at the Ibis Airport hotel from where they will be driving to Patos today. Welcome to EAB/ACEV and Brazil Amy! May God richly bless you with us!

Great Kiskadees, Smooth-billed Anis and Variable Orioles have been around our house in Patos. Birds not normally found in towns seem to be coming in in search of food and water. The drought here is catastrophic. 

I finished writing this year's Easter play yesterday which our drama group will perform on April 4th which will be Easter Sunday. The play is called "Two Days to Easter" (Matthew 26:2). Having finished I have already got ideas for the Easter play 2027!

Ipueira

Ipueira is a small town of just over 2,000 population in the state north of us called Rio Grande do Norte. We have been working there for God for 13 years led by deacon Dedé and the 'Christians in Action' team from Patos. We have now managed to purchase a piece of land for the building of a small church there. Please pray for this venture of faith.

QPR beat bottom of the Championship Sheffield Wednesday (with minus 7 points!) yesterday 3 x 0 at home. 😀

Last night I led the communion service in Patos and Pastor Rafael preached on being in the world but not of the world from John 17:14-19. It was a good service. It was good to see 7 deaf people in church with another 10 or so missing. This ministry to the deaf is doing a great work. 

Yesterday Pastor Jair, who leads our second church in Princesa Isabel in the da Baixa borough, baptized 5 new converts. PTL!

Saturday night service

Last night I drove out to the Green Pastures where I led the monthly communion service and preached. I preached on the 'Testimonies about Jesus' from John 5:31-47 and then about our testimonies for Jesus. It was a lovely service with over 30 local folk present. The service was really participative and blessed. Fabrícia and Fernanda did an excellent work with the children whilst the sermon was in progress.

Green Pastures

I went out to Green Pastures yesterday and will be going there again today to take the weekly service of the church there. Yesterday I saw White-naped Jays, Red-cowled Cardinals and White-throated Seedeaters. Francisco reported having seen another wild Margay Cat and a 6-banded Armadillo. But everything is so barren there with the awful drought.

The youth have gone to Green Pastures today for a day outing. 

New Year's Day

We had our traditional New Year's Day family lunch yesterday with chicken casserole for one and all. It was a nice time of food and fun together.

I see that the BBC News site has the Rio de Janeiro New Year's celebration as its main photographic feature. The photo taken by a drone above the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue with the fireworks in the background on Copacabana beach is beautiful.

Oh dear! 😖QPR lost their first game of 2026! They lost 2 x 1 at home to Norwich.

How good it is to know as we go into another year that God "wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth". (1 Timothy 2:4) Praise God that the Gospel is for the whosoever!

We had a good online meeting yesterday with Pastor Wostenes and his wife Gleydice discussing issues of God's work.

Happy New Year!

We wish all our readers a Happy New Year full of the blessings of God!

Last night we held our final thanksgiving service of the year which I led. A variety of people took part with short words of greetings and songs of praise. I kept all the participations down to 5 minutes by threatening them with a hooter if they went over... and it worked! 😂It was a lovely service. We received video messages from Philip and family too which was nice.

After church we had another family get together around supper and then we saw the New Year in together.

During December this blog was read 13,267 times. Thank you to one and all. Please add your comments and greetings at the bottom of the posts making sure you put your name.