Pastor home

It was wonderful that yesterday afternoon EAB/ACEV Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa finished his spell in hospital with Covid and is now at home. As he left he read part of Psalm 46 to the nurses and sang with them part of the song "Because He lives I can face tomorrow". Umbirajara's exit from hospital was quite an event. I spoke to him last night and he was profusely thankful to all who prayed for him.

I received the news flash on my mobile phone this morning from the BBC that Prince Philip had died aged 99. This highlights how much communications have progressed between Britain and the interior of northeastern Brazil! There was a time when the only communication was letters which took months to arrive or you could hold your ear to a short wave radio and sometimes hear the news, as long as it was 3 pm when reception was clearer. Now I received the news at the same time people received it in the UK. My sister Jean sent me a message on WhatsApp to tell me what I already knew!

I've got an empty arm this morning (for those who remember Hancock's Half Hour!) after Liz and I had blood tests done for cholesterol, glucose etc. as our routine bi-annual tests. Our blood was collected at our house by a nurse at 6.15 am. The home collection was in the light of the pandemic.

Squeeze Box

Amidst all the bad news here in Brazil I am glad to have some good news! I am happy to tell you that yesterday afternoon Antonio, who is the squeeze box (piano accordion) player from our Conceição church, was sent home from hospital and his pastor Betinho picked him up from the Piancó hospital and took him home. Antonio cried as he sent a video message of thanks to everyone that had prayed for him whilst he was being treat for Covid. So we praise God for this victory.

Good news from João Pessoa too is that our Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid may be sent home today. Watch this space!

Nationwide health authorities are warning that at least 1,068 towns and cities are running out of oxygen supplies in their hospitals which are a vital aspect of hospital treatment for people with Covid. Obviously the demand on oxygen is very high owing to the pandemic, but the sad thing is that the government is slow to react. Please pray. 

Tonight is the midweek Bible study continuing in the Epistle to the Philippians.

Four thousand

 Yesterday saw Brazil pass the 4,000 mark in daily Covid deaths for the first time. Sadly Brazil reached a total of 4,211 Covid deaths in 24 hours and two people we knew were part of this total. What is so sad is that our President continues to look the other way, does nothing about it but tells the people "to stop whining" and "get back to work"! He says he'll never support a lockdown so the death toll just rises non-stop. The first time Brazil reached 2,000 deaths in a day was less than a month ago, so you can see from that how out of control Covid is in Brazil. Total deaths now have passed the 337,000 mark. I am sorry to keep on about such a sad topic but this is the reality we are living here. Please continue to pray.

On a brighter note I can tell you that our Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa is steadily improving from Covid. He is still in hospital but if he keeps improving today he could be sent home tomorrow. I talked to his son now who told me this and thanks everyone for their prayers. 

Our prayer request for rain also persists as sadly the rains have stopped altogether here and we have a dry stream and dry lake at Green Pastures. Liz and I went walking there yesterday and it is sad to see a superficial green coating on the trees but everything is dying underneath. April is our last main month for rain so we are hoping and praying for things to change here.

Poetry

Our Easter Sunday special service online was really lovely. It was especially nice to have the Christian poetess Zenilda Lua taking part with a poem she wrote about Jesus and the resurrection. She was born in Patos but now lives over 1,600 miles away at São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo. Sacha led the praise and worship and I preached the Gospel.

I have two items of good news. First of all the deaconess Samara at Ibiara is much better after all her depression and its consequences. Her pastor Betinho reports that Samara is much brighter and positive. The other piece of good news is that our dear Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid in João Pessoa is improving, and there is the possibility of him leaving the hospital by the end of the week as long as he keeps improving the way he has been recently. His viral pneumonia has improved so he needs less oxygen, and his appetite has now returned to normal. Thank you for praying.

We heard some startling news yesterday which got Liz investigating to see what exactly had happened. We heard that Sister Judite who is a senior lady in the Patos church, who takes part in our 'young at heart' project, "had lost an eye"! Judite is a quaint woman who used to keep a piglet indoors like anyone else would keep a dog or a cat so we wondered if she had had an accident or did she mean she had lost the sight in an eye with a bad cataract? When we discovered the truth we were horrified. For Judite has had an eye removed by surgery owing to some sort of abscess that had formed in her eye. It sounds outrageously extreme to have surgery to remove the eye but we will never know if it was really necessary. Judite now has an artificial eye and she is very low and depressed with this. Please pray for her.

Hybrid again

Our State Governor has decreed that as from Monday, April 5th churches in Paraíba can go back to holding hybrid services as long as masks are worn and social distancing is observed. I wonder if our Governor will live to regret this decision as we are at the height of the Covid storm and deaths are occurring thick and fast. Brazil has now passed the 330,000 deaths mark. The problem is that many churches do not obey the rules of distancing and masks and this is where most of the trouble comes from. I personally would prefer that our church stayed exclusively online for the time being but my hunch is that such a position would not be acceptable to the majority of our members so I will follow the Governor. We value your prayers for a very difficult and trying situation.

Good news is that our son-in-law's Aunt is out of hospital and fine after Covid. His uncle had already gone home and is fine too. Hutan asked us to thank everyone for their prayers. Please continue to pray for Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa who continues in hospital with Covid. He is a real cause for concern.   

Umbirajara

We are very concerned about Pastor Umbirajara who has Covid and who was admitted to hospital last night in João Pessoa. Pastor Umbirajara is the fourth of our pastors who has had Covid after Wostenes, Jânio and José Vieira (all recovered) but Umbirajara is the first to be admitted to hospital. Umbirajara is EAB/ACEV's senior pastor in João Pessoa and the first secretary of our senior national leadership team. His wife Conceição also has Covid but she has no symptoms. Their daughter Sara is a young doctor so her father has not lacked medical attention. Please pray for Umbirajara.

Please continue to pray too for the piano accordion player Antonio from our Conceição church, who has been transferred to the bigger and better hospital at Piancó. Pastor Betinho tells me that he is more comfortable at Piancó. 

We are looking forward to our Easter Sunday service tomorrow night at 6:30 pm (10:30 pm UK time) which I will be leading. I will also be preaching. It will be nice to also have taking part the poetess Zenilda Lua with a poem about the resurrection. 

Accordion player

Please pray for Antonio from our Conceição church who plays the piano accordion there. Antonio is in hospital there with Covid-19 and is going to be transferred to a bigger hospital in another town, when a space for him becomes available, because he is pretty ill. The big problem in Brazil at the moment is to be able to get a place in a hospital if you need it, as the public health system is simply overwhelmed by Covid. Despite this horrific situation, with over 60,000 Covid deaths in March alone, President Bolsonaro still verbally attacks all restrictive measures taken by the State Governors.

I have been talking to our leaders of our second church in the borough of Maia in Princesa Isabel. They are called Jair and Silvânia. Sadly Silvânia's aunt, who lived next door to them but was not part of our church, has committed suicide. Jair and Silvânia are naturally feeling very sad and are low. Please pray for them.

I have had a meeting with one of our projects team leaders, Pastor Lindon Carlos, and we discussed possible Chicken Run and Market Garden projects to be started at the Belém (Bethlehem) village in Tavares County where we have a flourishing little church plant. He is getting over the flu, which he feared could have been Covid, but he had the test and gratefully it was negative.