São Mamede

 São Mamede is a town about half an hour's drive north-east of Patos and every fortnight I go there with the Patos Men's Fellowship to hold a Gospel street meeting. On Tuesday I preached there on Jesus healing both a leper and a paralytic from Mark 1:40 to 2:12. Chief of the Police Esau led the service and songs were sung by Giulia, Flávio, Paulo Silas and Josué. I prayed for José, in front of whose house we hold the meetings, who was operated on for skin cancer at the weekend, and I prayed for 4 more people for whom I received prayer requests. It was a lovely service.

Sadly QPR lost yet again on Tuesday 2 x 1 away to Middlesbrough. 😏

Last night Liz and I had a meeting with the leaders of the Pastor Frank Dyer School here in Patos which is our school which constantly wins first place from the Ministry of Education's IDEB which is the Brazilian version of Ofsted. We discussed with the head-teacher Gerlânia the return of various workshops for adolescents as from next week including mathematics, chess, physical education and sand-football. We also discussed the creation of a play area for the children at the school for which the town council has promised the building materials and for which we have to pay for the labour. It was a very good meeting.

Areopagus

Today my grandson Lucas has stood at the Areopagus in Athens, Greece, where the Apostle Paul preached about the "unknown God" in Acts 17:16-34. What a wonderful historical experience for this young man who is very keen on history. May he follow in Paul's footsteps to be a preacher of the Gospel bringing people to a living knowledge of the "unknown God" who can be known through Jesus Christ!

Sadly QPR lost yet again on Saturday 1 x 0 away to West Brom. 😖

I saw a Burrowing Owl on my way to preach at Green Pastures and then I stupidly parked the car underneath a tree near the meeting hall. After the service the car was covered by bird droppings from the roosting birds in the tree! It rained 9 mm during the service but we pray for much more rain! It rained a further 12 mm on Sunday night.

I led the meeting on Sunday night and Pastor Rafael preached on Mathew 15:21-28 about the great faith of a Canaanite woman. The church was full and the service was blessed.

It is lovely to hear the Southern Wren singing outside my office window and to see beautifully coloured butterflies feeding on the flowers of the climbing plant we have in our garden.

Last night Liz went to the Monday night prayer meeting which had 11 present. There were also 3 of the youth praying in their own prayer meeting. 🙏

Greece

Our 17-year-old grandson Lucas, who lives in the UK, is now in Greece on an educational visit in history with his Queen Mary's College. He will be visiting the Temple of Poseidon, Theatre of Dionysus, Acropolis, Areopagus, Pnyx, Koile, Philopappus, Byzantine churches, Delphi, Olympia, Epidaurus, Acro Corinth etc. 

Over the carnival period from March 1st to 5th alternative camps were held by our churches, on top of the 45th one at Green Pastures, at Juru (10th), at Diamante (8th), at Manaira (2nd) and at Flores (10th). All places report really blessed camps with 10 young people making commitments to Christ at Juru and one being baptized at Flores. Praise God!

On Friday afternoon I prepared a message for the Green Pastures church: Jesus - the Lamb of God (John 1:29) / Jesus - the Son of God (João 1:34) / Jesus - the Teacher of God (João 1:38).

Last night I led the service and preached at the Green Pastures Church. It was a great service. The 4 people recently baptized at the carnival camp gave lovely testimonies and the praise and worship was led by sister Nega.

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Please pray for rain for us. The situation here is serious as we are in the rainy season and it is not raining!

We are receiving very positive feedback from those who were at the Carnival Camp. Many are telling of life transforming encounters with God. Praise the Lord! 🙌 One person said that the camp had been "a watershed experience" in her life.

I have finished reading 'Seven days that divide the world: the beginning according to Genesis and Science' by John C. Lennox. I found the book very interesting and challenging. 

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study with Michelle and Davi leading the worship. Adriana, Romildo, Espedita and Gilmarco gave lovely words of testimony about the Carnival Camp and Pastor Rafael brought the study from Micah 2:6-11. It was a good meeting.  

Carnival Camp (part 2)

Monday night's service at the camp was excellent with pastor Wostenes preaching on unity in the church being a result of revival and renewal. He also preached on Tuesday morning on satisfaction and fulfillment in God. The final service of the camp had Missionary Gleydice preaching on evangelistic zeal being a symptom of revival and renewal.

So we came this Wednesday morning to the end of another wonderful camp. It really was outstanding. The praise and worship was great, the work with the children was brilliant, the sport, swimming and games were very good, the food was delicious and the ministry of God's word was of the highest caliber from beginning to end.

It was lovely to see the children so enjoying the camp and playing intensely in the tree house, in the playground and in the swimming pool. The children had their own services which were really blessed.

It was great too to have fellowship with elder Alessandro and his wife and deaconess Talita who now lead the little rural church at Juá and the new church plant at Salgado de São Felix. Please pray for them.

While we were away at the camp I see that a Brazilian film won an Oscar for the first time for the film 'I'm still here' which is a true and sad story from the days of the military coup back in the 60s and 70s. I haven't seen the film yet but I am told it is very good and very moving.

I have finished reading 'Responsible Grace - John Wesley's Practical Theology' by Randy L. Maddox. It was a bit disappointing but alright.

Carnival Camp

We are now at the half-way point in our 45th Carnival Camp at Green Pastures and it is going very well indeed. On Saturday evening we had our initial fellowship meal which was followed by an excellent message in the opening service by Pastor Lindon Carlos from Imaculada. He preached from Habakkuk 3 on the need for revival and renewal.

The Sunday services were equally blessed with lovely ministry from Missionary Betânia. In the morning she spoke on the theme of revival and renewal through a greater hunger for the word of God, and at night she spoke on prayer in revival.

On Sunday afternoon we baptized 4 from the Green Pastures church: Fred, Marileide, Julio and Joana. It was a joyful afternoon.

This morning we had Missionary Gleydice preaching on repentance as a gateway to revival and renewal and this was excellent too.

QPR lost at home 2 x 1 to Sheffield United.

I have heard lots of Striped Cuckoos at Green Pastures and many duets by the Caatinga Cacholotes. I also saw a Green-barred Woodpecker.

Venezuelans

To the north of Brazil is Venezuela which has long been in political and social upheaval under dictator President Maduro. Brazil officially has 94,726 Venezuelans immigrants who have fled their country in order to survive, but I suspect the number is far higher. In Patos, for example, you see them begging at different sets of traffic lights. They have very difficult lives. 

Brazilians are asking me what happens in the UK when someone dies. Well there is no wake to start with. Whereas in Brazil when someone dies there is a wake and then the burial normally takes place within about 24 hours, in the UK few view the body and the funeral takes place weeks later.

On Thursday night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and it was lovely to have 14-year-old Letícia playing the guitar for the first time for the praise. She did very well. Pastor Rafael gave the study on Micah 2:1-5.

Today sees the start of our 45th Carnival Camp at Green Pastures. The speaker in tonight's opening service the speaker will be Pastor Lindon Carlos from Imaculada. Tomorrow the speaker both morning and night will be Betânia who was our missionary to Uruguay some years back. I will be leading the camp and the services. Liz will be coordinating the whole camp's logistics of food, cleaning, canteen etc. Please pray!

We are in the rainy season and the average rainfall for the month of February at Green Pastures over the last 25 years has been 137 mm, whereas this February saw just 25 mm of rain! Please pray for rain as we now need a bumper month of March to make up for the very poor February.

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