Administration

I have been very busy with EAB administrative work writing letters and emails to supporters. I take this opportunity to thank those who support the work here. Nowadays writing letters is much simpler than in the early years. Everything used to be by hand or by using a typewriter. When the fax machine came in we really felt we had arrived! I still have our old fax machine as a museum item. 

This week's week night meetings have all gone along well. The Men's Fellowship on Tuesday, the Women's Fellowship on Wednesday and the general Bible study in the first epistle of John on Thursday. Today (Friday) is the senior citizens encounter in the morning and at night our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos will continue teaching the Brazilian Sign Language course. Our work in this sphere in Patos is a leader in our town. Some of our former students both interpret in our services and in public events outside of the church. Some have gone on to obtain degrees in Brazilian Sign Language at the Federal University. 

Euro Trip

Under normal circumstances Liz and I would have been to Europe in 2021, but the pandemic messed that up. The last time we were in Europe was in the autumn of 2018. Now that the pandemic is more under control we plan to be in Europe this September and October. We have to be in Switzerland by September 5th when Liz's family (and spouses) will be celebrating her brother Sam's 70th birthday a year late. We will spend a week there prior to heading for London on September 10th. The plan is for our Euro Trip to focus on time with family, friends and rest. We will also minister at some churches. Please pray with us about this autumn in Europe. We look to the Lord to provide for our flights. Any contributions for our air tickets would be gratefully received via EAB's treasurer. 

I am very busy now preparing for our General Conference in conjunction with our senior leadership team. The conference will be held at Green Pastures from May 27th to 29th so there's just one month to go. I sent out the invitation yesterday to all our pastors and leaders. I am especially working on the agenda for the conference which will receive prior discussion by the leaders. 

Dengue Fever

Dengue fever and Chikungunya are raging here in Patos now. Doctors are telling us to use insect repellent as these sicknesses are transmitted by mosquitoes. The hemorrhaging version of Dengue fever can kill. 

Our Saturday night service at Green Pastures with the local farming folk was "rain stopped pray". There is no way that people can get to the meeting in the rain with the roads/tracks turned into quagmires. The Saturday service at Ipueira in the State of Rio Grande do Norte went ahead as the cobblestone streets are no problem in the rain. 

Our 20 year old grandson Arthur is going to Europe in June/July. He will stay a few days in England with Philip and Gylmara in Basingstoke, and a few days more with Jon and Eunice in London. He will also go to Holland, Germany and France. Arthur is such an admirable young man. He has saved up for two and a half years for this.

Liz and I plan to visit Switzerland and the UK in September and October. We plan to start in Switzerland for a family reunion for Liz's brother Sam's 70th birthday (he is now 71 but the pandemic messed up the plans). All 5 brothers and sisters - Sam, Liz, Eunice, Esther and David plan to be there. This will be the first such a reunion since our wedding over 52 years ago! After Switzerland we will spend time in the UK with family and friends. We will also visit some churches whilst there. Please pray for us as we start to plan this trip that it might be a nice relaxed time of refreshing.

On Saturday night it rained another 70 mm (nearly 3 inches) at Green Pastures taking our total up to 1,008 mm (42 inches) for this rainy season. This takes this year into the 'excellent' category for rain! PTL! The heavy Saturday rain knocked part of our fence down which is the least of our worries. We can fix that!

In Sunday night's service I dedicated Arthur Kennedy and preached the whole of Mark 5 covering the healing of a demon-possessed man and of a hemorrhaging woman, as well as the raising of Jairus's 12 year old daughter. It was a very good solid service.    

Home sweet home

My sister Jean is finally home from hospital after her fractured hip surgery. She is much better and will just need some help for a few days.

At Green Pastures I nearly trod on a Coral venomous snake whilst out walking. Fortunately I was accompanied by Francisco who spotted it and pulled me back. I would probably have been alright as I wear heavy boots and jeans so am well protected.

With a further 34 mm of rain this week we have now reached 938 mm total rainful this wet season which is very good. Thank you for your prayers. We can still receive some more rain in the last part of this month and some dribs and drabs in May which can take us into the "excellent year" bracket. In our semi-arid north-eastern region of Brazil everything hinges on the rainfall in the rainy season. 

Conference

We no sooner get out of one event at Green Pastures than we are getting ready for the next. Our General Conference will be from the 27th to 29th of May and I am working on its agenda in conjunction with the senior leadership team. Prior to this there will be a Teixeira church family day at Green Pastures on May 14th.

I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures on Tuesday afternoon and was thrilled to see how much water the lake now has after the heavy rain on Sunday. Francisco is stocking the lake with fish. He has a friend who is a fisherman who is bringing to us the fish that he catches that are too young for consumption. So far we have 600 Tilapias, 200 Peacock Bass and 50 type of Pike. 

I have been talking to Sandra Nogueira who is the co-leader of our little church in the village of Água Grande (Big Water) in the County of Santana de Mangueira. She has shown me videos and photos of their Easter celebrations with the children telling the Easter story. Simple and beautiful. It is wonderful to see the excellent work this little church is doing with the children of the village. They would like to start a school there which would be very good if funds would stretch to another EAB Action school. With the Ukraine war the pound sterling has dropped a lot in value.

Tuesday night's Men's Fellowship meeting went well with Pastor Lucena in Recife bringing the Bible reflection online to the in-person meeting. It was nice to see and hear Pastor Lucena who has moved away to Recife to live.

This Thursday we had our family traditional hunt the Easter eggs at Green Pastures. It was a nice time of fun together on this public holiday. We couldn't do it on Easter Saturday like we usually do because of the camp.

Gospel Beegees

One of the highlights of our 'opportunity knocks' afternoon of praise at the Easter camp was the singing, yet again, of three men from our Patos church. Romildo is a fireman and Adelson and Márcio are civil servants, but their singing role is known amongst us as the 'Gospel Beegees'!

There is a lot of cheerful banter on the social networks from brothers and sisters who were at our Easter camp. Everyone is saying how much they enjoyed the event and how much they were blessed. We praise God for this. A lot of work goes into these events so it is so nice to learn of lives being blessed by God.

Last night there were two little prayer meetings in our church. One is with the adults and another with the youth. The youth prefer to have their own little prayer meeting between 7 pm and 8 pm. 

Thank you for praying for the rain here. This rainy season is being very good. We have so far received 904 mm (37.6 inches). A good year for us is 40 inches of rain so we are nearly there.

Six Snakes

We got home late last night from the Easter Camp. The camp was really blessed of God. It ended up with a heavy rain of 55 mm (2.3 inches) whilst the final service was in progress. On Good Friday we removed from the dormitories no less than six snakes. 4 were Philodryas natereri and 2 were Leptodeira annulata. I give the scientific names for anyone who wants to check them out with Google. Neither species is poisonous but finding six during one afternoon did cause quite a commotion. 

The whole camp had as its theme "Intimacy with God" or "Living close to God". Everything started on the Thursday night with a fellowship meal at 6 pm. This was followed by a lovely opening service when Pastor Rafael preached on 'Sanctification'. Breakfast on Good Friday morning was at 7 am followed by 45 minutes of 'alone with God'. At 9 am we had the morning service when granddaughter Louisa spoke on 'Transformed Lives by Christ'.

In the afternoon there was lots of sport including swimming with aqua-basket-ball, plus table tennis and volley ball. The volley ball was particularly good and at times the competition got quite heated so that we had to appoint a referee to rule on the close decisions. In the evening our final-year-Bible-College-student Murilo spoke on 'being a reflection of the Bible for those that never read it' and 'being an example of the church for those that never go to it'. 

On Easter Saturday we followed the same routine with breakfast at 7 am, 'alone with God' at 8 am and in the morning service Lawyer Rayla spoke on prayer. In the afternoon we had a lovely time of "Opportunity knocks" with all ages from little children to seniors singing praises to God. I led all the services, but this session was led by Sacha. In the evening service Sacha preached on 'Priorities' and for me it was the best sermon of the camp.

On Easter Resurrection Sunday Pastor Rafael preached in the morning service on 'Don't moan! Love!' This was based on Colossians 3:13-15. Before he spoke Alice brought a short Biblical reflection linked to the same theme. On Sunday afternoon there was more sport, and then the evening meal was skipped so that we could have the evening service at 6 pm and all go home after this. However, at 5.45 pm down came a very heavy prolonged rain. This found most already in the hall but Liz and I were still in our room. Sacha led the jubilant praise and worship in the hall and when the rain eased off Liz and I joined in. I preached in the final service from Matthew 28:1-10 on 'Intimacy with God through the resurrected Christ'. 

Our sincerest thanks to all who helped us hold this excellent camp. We praise God for another blessed Green Pastures camp which we have been holding for over 40 years.