The Christmas Star

"The Christmas Star" is the name of the Christmas play I have just finished writing. This is not the first Christmas play I have written and the drama group asked me to write another one this year. There is a limit to what angles you can approach the Christmas story from so this year I have come from the angle of the stars! The play starts with a conversation between three stars. So you can see that one of my multi roles is that of playwriter! Please pray for this play and for our drama group as they will now prepare and memorize their lines ready for the Christmas eve presentation in a little over three months' time. May the gospel be clearly proclaimed this Christmas.

Our dear Swiss friend and sister in Christ Vroni went to be with the Lord this week at the age of 102. We praise God for her life and that of her sister too. They were faithful supporters of EAB donating to the Christmas hampers project every year. 

Our Jimny jeep is again in the garage this week for repairs and it was interesting how the mechanic pointed out the tracks of Field Mice all over the engine area. He said that many problems are often caused by Field Mice gnawing through car pipes and wires.

The Lord blessed special evangelistic outreach at Fonseca community at the weekend when two decisions were made for Christ. At our Flores church there is blessing too with five new members being received into fellowship.

On Tuesday night the Men's fellowship held another service in the town of São Mamede. I led the service, Fábio led the praise and Pastor Lucena from Recife preached the Gospel. About 40 people attended the street service.

School workshops

At our Patos and Princesa Isabel action schools we are developing extra activities working with the adolescents who have already finished their primary school course. We are calling these extra activities 'workshops'. At our Patos school we are now running 3 workshops. One is football on Wednesdays and Fridays. Another is judo on Mondays and Tuesdays. A third is mathematics on Saturday mornings. At Princesa Isabel we are running football and handicraft workshops. Please pray for the adolescents involved that they might be further helped educationally, socially and spiritually. 

I have been preparing sermons to preach up in the mountains at our Teixeira church and also to preach at the oldest EAB/ACEV church at Princesa Isabel. Last month I also preached at our Sítio Glória church and at our Curral Velho church. I value your prayers for our travels and ministry around the churches which are an important part of our work for the glory of God teaching and preaching God's Word. Please also pray for our leaders' conference which I will be coordinating at Green Pastures between the 22nd and the 24th September.

I led the main service of the week in Patos on Sunday and Pastor Lucena from Recife preached the Gospel from Philippians 3. During the service a group of girls presented an excellent choreography. It is good to praise God with physical expression as it is with verbal expression too.

Our assistant pastor Rafael has set the date for his wedding with Rayla for the last Saturday in the year on December 30th. This will be my 5th wedding of the year with Isaque and Marina getting married prior to this on November 4th. 

Thieves

Thieves tried to break in to the Care Centre which is being completely revamped. They went to the Care Centre in the night and tried to force open the temporary wooden door. However our night watchman soon surprised them from inside and sent them running! I have reported the incident to our deacon Esau who is the chief of Patos police. Please pray for a robbery-free completion of this project. 

Our head-teacher of the Pastor Frank Dyer school, Gerlânia, has had a motorbike accident. She was taken to hospital and had a scan done of her abdomen, as the handlebars of her bike were rammed into her. She has now been sent home as nothing showed up on the scan. She is just badly bruised and shaken up. Please pray for her.

Our youngest daughter Sacha, who is the praise and worship leader in the Patos church, has badly sprained her ankle and is temporarily wearing a recovery boot and using a wheelchair from our wheelchair bank. Sacha's daughter and our granddaughter Beatriz (aged 13) injured her arm in some sort of game with her boyfriend Luendo and was taken to hospital in great pain! Her arm does not appear to be broken as was at first suspected. 

Last night's service at Green Pastures went well. I led, Marina led the worship, and Rafael preached from Matthew 9. It was lovely to have Pastor Lucena and his wife Magaly from Recife with us.

Tamarind juice

 I have just drunk a nice twangy glass of Tamarind juice which originated from the Tamarind trees at Green Pastures. Tamarind trees are indigenous from tropical Africa and are widespread in India and the Middle East, but the trees do well in our semi-arid climate. The fruits are light brown pods about 10 or 12 cm long. To make the drink you soak the insides of the pods (a sticky substance) in water and then add sweetener. You mustn't consume too much Tamarind as it is a laxative. Tamarind is on the ingredients list of HP sauce!

Yesterday (September 7th) was Brazil's 201st independence day and for that reason was a public holiday. The main street of Patos always sees festive marches in front of the town hall and the people gather to watch and applaud. This happens all over Brazil. The first independence day that I saw was in 1972. I arrived here on August 3rd and I watched the marches on September 7th in the hot morning sun. I filmed it on my super 8 movie camera. Nowadays the marches take place in the early evening which is much more sensible once the sun has gone down. 

The weekly service at our school in Patos went well on Wednesday night with a good group of older children/adolescents attending. The women's fellowship supported the service. 

Today is Liz's birthday and it's the day on which she catches up with me in age! I praise God for my outstanding wife who is always such a pillar in the work of the Lord. 

Please pray for pastor Rafael who is unwell and has gone to spend a few days with his parents in Soledade. 

A hurricane has hit the extreme south of Brazil this week with very heavy rains and floods killing at least 41 people. Here in the north-east it is terribly dry with increasing heat as the year goes on. 

60+ Meeting

On Monday night I took part in an online meeting of the Brazilian evangelical 60+ movement organizing a conference in João Pessoa for the month of November at which they have invited me to be one of the speakers. The movement is seeking to motivate the 60+ age bracket, which is rapidly growing in Brazil, to be more active in the work of the Lord.

Last night I spoke at the Men's Fellowship meeting and it was an excellent meeting. We discussed Philippians 1:1-2. We also talked about how we can get more men to come to the meetings.

I have been doing a considerable amount of work with our senior leaders' team concerning the leaders' conference which starts at Green Pastures on the 22nd, on the 60+ conference etc.

On Monday night a service was held at Vilene and João Paulo's little farmstead in São Mamede County. Rafael led the service and spoke, and he was helped by Chico and deaconess Márcia.

Saturday night

I led the weekly service of the Green Pastures church on Saturday night and a group of adolescents from Patos went there in support. One of our youth leaders, Rayla, was who preached the Gospel from James 5. Paulo Silas, Josué, Dodora, Manoel and the women's group led by Nega also took part. It was a good service. 

On Saturday morning I was asked to go to the girls' English school to do a half hour conversation session with one of the classes. I went through something of my life's story with them and heard about theirs. I gave them a copy of my book 'From Notting Hill to Brazil' which I wrote 15 years ago. 

You will be delighted to know that QPR beat Middlesborough 2 x 0 away on Saturday. This takes us up to 17th place (with 6 points) out of the 24 teams in the football Championship. We just need to start winning games at home now! 

Yesterday was 'Missions Sunday' for all our churches as it was on September 2nd 1938 that our founders Albert & Daisy Munday first arrived in Brazil. All our churches held a special missions day. In Patos Liz spoke to the Sunday School children about the early days of EAB and showed them photos. At night we had an effective monologue presented by Dilma, Rafael preached on 'Living the Mission of God', and I led the service which was also a communion service.

Lawyer

On Thursday afternoon we had a meeting with lawyer Ianne who is a specialist in dealings with government matters. The meeting was to ask her help to formalize EAB/ACEV's partnership with the Patos town council regarding our Patos school. The school has been in partnership with the council for decades, but this has never been documented or formalized. This is what now we are aiming to remedy. At the meeting, as well as Liz and I, were Gerlania (head teacher of the school), Marah Danielle (social worker) and Hutan (our son-in-law who always helps us with such matters).

I am in the process of writing a Christmas play for the Patos church drama group, which they asked me to write. I have written plays before but now they need a new one. I have written the first two scenes so far. It is quite a challenge.

I went to Green Pastures yesterday and looked at the drainage problem that we have from the dormitories. Large salt deposits have to be removed. The salt accumulates from the brackish well water. Also a tree will need to be removed as its roots are causing a blockage. We are busy preparing for our leaders' conference which is in 3 weeks time.