Happy New Year!

Our watchnight service starts in a bit less than 2 hours time and I'm all ready to preach again and conduct communion. Philip will baptize 3.

Last night's third Christmas service was great. The Lord really blessed and some decisions were made for Christ at the end. The dance group was excellent and the Patos church band brought a fantastic song of challenge. All was a real blessing.

So a very happy New Year to one and all. Please pray for EAB's funding which is very tight indeed as we go into 2019. We look to the Lord and ask for special prayer please. Thanks very much to all who supported and prayed for the work throughout 2018.

Sunday sermon ready

I added up how much I have walked this month and it comes to 55.42 km thus far. Thus keeping an average of about 2 km a day which is not bad.

I have prepared my sermon for Sunday - the last Sunday of the year of course - and now have to prepare for Monday night's watchnight service. This Sunday we will have a choreography + a special very challenging song to be brought, with video backing, by the praise & worship band.

I visited the Patos river recuperation project on Thursday, walked along the route covered so far, and then published my report with photos. 

The Butterfly university research team is at Green Pastures again from Thursday to Monday. I saw them there yesterday. Over 90 species registered to date. 

Help!

Please pray for me urgently as Liz is threatening to beat me up as she is busy cooking the Christmas dinner when someone phones me who has somehow rescued an Armadilo and so I say to him - "bring it here now and when I go to Green Pastures tomorrow I will release it there"! Liz says it will stink the place out (no feelings for poor wild creatures these women!) and she has a carving knife ready for the turkey! Urgent prayer for me and the Armadilo!

Christmas Eve Supper & Party Games

We had a lovely Christmas Eve meal together as a family this evening in true Brazilian tradition. This was followed by a few old party games and tricks which are passed on from generation to generation and in this day and age keep everyone away from their mobile phones!

I started with "my wand is resting on who"? demonstrating by amazing magician's skills together with my son Philip! My paternal grandfather used to do this with my Dad and then it was my Dad with me. The magic astounded everyone!

Then we went on to the famous "Squeak Piggy Squeak"! - followed by "Tippet" which the men won 10 x 3!

It was a lovely relaxing evening. Happy Christmas indeed!

Christmas Eve

Last night's service was really great in the Patos church with the place packed out beyond capacity to see my play "Eternal Bethlehem" which tells the Christmas story and applies it to life today. At the end all the children who go to church, either to the morning Sunday School or evening kids service, received their presents. It was a blessed night indeed.

Another blessing last night was half an inch of rain which of course we are thrilled about as the start of ending the annual drought. The forecast for our region this rainy season is not good as the 'El Nino' phenomenon is back.

Tonight the family will gather at our house for the traditional Brazilian Christmas Eve supper and tomorrow we will be British with the traditional Christmas dinner!

Christmas Hamper Distribution Week

Today we completed the distribution of over 500 Christmas Hampers for the poor with loads of toys for the children. Liz had travelled round some outlying communities in the week doing distribution too. All went off extremely well and was completed this afternoon with a pediatrician attending very poor children at the Care Centre.

Yesterday we held our Christmas service at our Patos School and tomorrow we have our second nativity play in the Patos church which will be presented by the youth and adult drama group. The play I wrote about 30 years ago and is called "Eternal Bethlehem". It has been brought up to date for this performance as it compares the "no room in the inn" theme to modern day things that block out space for Jesus in our lives.

Happy Christmas!