He is risen

I am preparing a new sermon for Easter Sunday on the resurrection from 1 Corinthians 15 covering: 1. The resurrection of Jesus (v1-11). 2. The resurrection of Christians (v12-34). 3. The nature of our resurrection body (v35-58).

Last night the men's fellowship held a nice service in the town of Sao Mamede in the street outside Jose and Marico's house. Not many gathered this time as there was rain about, but those that were there heard the Gospel.

We have had two more spots of rain at Green Pastures. First there was a shower of 4 mm and then one of 11mm. We value your prayers for more rain.

3 very hectic days

We were having our usual Sunday lunch of egg, chips and peas when the sad news came to us that our great friend for 52 years, Pastor Cesario in Joao Pessoa, had minutes before passed into the presence of the Lord aged 96. We knew he was at the end but it still hits you. He remained lucid and active to the end still preaching the Gospel. He sang hymns loudly on his death bed, recited Psalm 126 and prayed for God to save those who were caring for him in his last days. Pastor Cesario was a great man of God and a founder member of the EAB/ACEV Patos church back in 1948.

Liz and I went to our Sunday evening service as normal, I led and had special prayer for the bereaved family, and our Bible College graduate Murilo preached very well indeed. By this time we already knew that the funeral service would be the following afternoon on the coast in Joao Pessoa at 1 pm. So we got up yesterday morning at 5:30 am, left Patos on a 5 hour journey at 6:30 am and arrived bang on time for the funeral service. I spoke at the funeral service as did a numbers of other pastors and family members. The open coffin was before us during the whole service as is the custom here. The burial itself took place around 5 pm at a cemetery quite a few miles away from the church where the service was held. We praise God for Pastor Cesario's life and fruitful ministry. His wife died 6 years ago and they had 10 children.

After the funeral last night we went for a lovely meal at Liz's sister Esther's apartment up on the 14th floor of a 53 storey apartment block not far from the beach. Today the return journey from Joao Pessoa to Patos took us 6 hours with a break for lunch in Campina Grande. We are tired but all was most worthwhile.

Census

The 2022 Brazilian census shows that out of Brazil's population of 215 million, 49 million are without adequate drains and 4.8 million are without piped water. EAB's well drilling carries on!

Next to our Pastor Frank Dyer school in south Patos is a quite large area of land. We have long wanted to do an exchange with the owner of the land with a piece of land we have in east Patos, but the owner refuses to do the deal. However he has now agreed to rent the land to us for 85 pounds a month with a hope (he says) of doing the exchange deal in a couple of years' time. This land will be a wonderful help to our school as it will finally give the children a playground and will give us space for our football workshops for teenagers. It will also give us space for our evangelistic services that we hold there. Please pray for the exchange deal to work out.

The mighty QPR beat Rotheram at home 2 x 1 yesterday! It means that this is the first time we have got out of the relegation zone since September! 😁

Last night I led the weekly service of our Green Pastures church. It was very good with a good number present. Services were also held at our Patos school and at Ipueira. Saturday is a night on which the Patos church spreads out in a variety of directions. The deaf have there big weekly get-together too.

Women's Fellowship

Liz has been at this week's women's fellowship meeting which was held in conjunction with Ana Karla's birthday celebrations. It was very good because about 10 of Ana Karla's non-evangelical Christian work colleagues went to the meeting and heard the Gospel loud and clear. It was an excellent meeting with a good number present.

I have just eaten some nice fruit: a custard apple and some red mombins. 😋

On Wednesday night it rained another 40 mm. Praise God! 👍

Last night I led the weekly prayer meeting and Bible study. There were 25 present and it was a blessed time together. Dede, Mada and Marcio shared verses of Scripture and Fabio led the praise using a playback as the guitar player couldn't make it.

Great Meeting

On Monday night we held a great meeting of our Patos church ministries' leaders. We had a wide ranging discussion of the fellowship groups and discussed different church members in need of special attention.

Donkeys have greatly disappeared from northeast Brazil as a result of their trade to China where their skins are greatly valued. Whereas there would often be accidents involving donkeys at night on our roads (I have had 3 such accidents) these are now rare.

I had discussions yesterday with Professor Flavia Moura of the Federal University. She is going to commence research at Green Pastures into mound-forming termites.

Last night I both led and spoke at the Men's Fellowship meeting which went very well. There were nine of us present.

It rained another 4 mm last night at Green Pastures.

Mud glorious mud!

Mud glorious mud! Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood! We had 40 mm of rain on Saturday at Green Pastures and this caused the cancellation of our weekly service there because the mud on the roads made getting there impossible. 

On Saturday morning I was asked to help at the English school by my daughters with a conversation class with about 15 students. It went very well and I really enjoyed it.

QPR travelled to Bristol and beat Bristol City 1 x 0 which was an excellent result. This result leaves us only 1 point adrift in the relegation zone. 😄

I have seen and heard a lot of Caatinga Cachalotes at Green Pastures lately. I even heard some in Patos this morning.

I led our main service of the week yesterday in the Patos church and Pastor Rafael preached from Mark 2. It was a good service with 2 decisions for Christ at the end. It rained another 14 mm after the service.

Pizza

After the mid-week prayer and Bible study meeting we went out and ate a pizza together to celebrate our grandson Arthur's passing in his Bar exams, together with his girlfriend Bianca. It was a nice time together.

I led the service, Joao Filho and Lucas Conserva led the praise, Dede and Deborah Maria brought verses of scripture and words of testimony about the carnival camp, and Rafael started a new series of studies in the book of Amos.

On Thursday it rained 15 mm at Green Pastures.

People were surprised when I reported that Tearfund has pulled out of Brazil. I received an official report yesterday from them and was told that they have in fact pulled out of the whole of Latin America! I am told that Tearfund's focus will now be on countries in conflict and war which is a total change.

The total number of people who took part in our carnival camp was 166.