With the Lord

We have received the sad news that our dear sister in Christ Pat White went to be with the Lord today. Our prayers and thoughts are with her children Peter and Sarah and all the family. Pat was an EAB trustee for many years serving as EAB treasurer. Her late husband Ken was chairman of the EAB Board of trustees and their son Peter was also an EAB trustee and editor of our InTouch magazine for many years. EAB remembers the White family with much gratitude.

Happy New Year

Last night Liz went to the Women's Fellowship end of year get-together. They all went for a meal at a restaurant. Liz says it was a lovely time of fellowship with a good number present.

I have finished reading a book called 'The plausibility problem' (the church and same-sex attraction) by Ed Shaw. It is a good book written by a pastor in Bristol who is a celibate homosexual.

I went for a walk with Liz at Green Pastures and saw a pair of Burrowing Owls. One quickly hid in its burrow whilst the other just watched us perched on a fence post. Later we saw a pair of foxes ahead of us on the trail. They just stared at us before disappearing into the bush.

I have been preparing my sermon for Saturday evening which is New Year's Eve. The service will have various participations singing and testimonies. On New Year's Eve we do things differently.

We were dreaming of a wet Christmas

We always dream of a wet Christmas in view of the lack of rain and high temperatures in December. This year it didn't rain on Christmas Day but it did rain on Christmas Eve and the day before that. Hence we were thrilled to receive 64 mm of rain which is just over 2 and a half inches! PTL!

I preached at our Christmas Eve service and our youth group produced a wonderful cantata. It was an excellent service.

After church we had all the family to our house for the traditional Brazilian Christmas Eve supper which went off beautifully. On Christmas Day we had the traditional British Christmas lunch complete with stuffing and Christmas pudding which we had brought from England.

At night we had our Christmas Day service with the children doing their own Cantata which was lovely. Assistant pastor Rafael preached the Word. Then all the children received their presents round the Christmas tree.

Funeral

 I have just got home after conducting dear Sandra's funeral. There were just 30 present. Sacha missed her visit to the hairdressers to be able to do the singing and Mailson played an acoustic guitar. Liz opened in prayer and then we had a song. After this I read the Word and brought a brief message. This was followed by a second song ("Because He lives I can face tomorrow") then my assistant pastor Rafael brought another brief message. This was followed by a third song prior to me closing in prayer. The family were very grateful for the service and the Gospel was preached to those present.

With the Lord

 We received the sad news early this morning that Sandra Raquel (Down's syndrome) died in the night. Sandra was a member of our Patos church and had been steadily deteriorating in health in recent years. She was 48 years old although she looked much younger. We thank Danbury Mission for having helped her for many years. I will be conducting the funeral this afternoon.

Christmas service at school

Last night Liz and I took part in the Pastor Frank Dyer School's end of year Christmas service. We blocked off the street in front of the school and filled it with pupils, parents and staff. It was a lovely service. Especially nice was the singing by the children and a short play also performed by the children. At the end all the children and the staff received gifts and there were broad smiles all round.

We had a walk at Green Pastures and saw 3 Turkey Vultures up close. We also saw 2 Black Vultures by the lake.

Carnival Camp

 Every year we hold a camp at Green Pastures during the Brazilian carnival period which usually is in the month of February. The dates for the camp in 2023 are from the 18th to the 22nd of that month. We had a meeting with the church about the camp earlier this month and last night we held an excellent meeting of the camp leadership team. We defined the theme for the 7 services as "It is time to care". It is time to care for yourself emotionally and physically - care for the family - care for your neighbour in social action and with evangelism - care for the church and care for your spiritual life. Please pray for the camp and for all the preparations between now and then. Any contributions to help the poor go to the camp will be most welcome.

The World Cup final ended the tournament in great style. What a match! It ended with Argentina winning as I had forecast. 

On Sunday night we had a really good service in Patos which I led together with Rafael and I preached on the first Psalm. The service at Green Pastures on Saturday night went very well too.