Categoria: News

The whole of Brazil will go to the polls this Sunday, October 6th, to elect Mayors, Deputy Mayors and Councillors in 5,570 municipalities amidst an electorate of 155 million. There will be run-offs in the larger cities like Sao Paulo on October 27th. In Patos there are 4 candidates for Mayor: Nabor (the current Mayor seeking re-election for the 4th time and forecast to win), Ramonilson (who used to be a judge), Edileudo (school teacher) and Aline (I don’t know her). Patos has 17 councillors and there are about 150 candidates disputing these places.

Liz has just gone rushing over to 80-year-old Sister Socorro Help’s house as when she is in difficulties she always wants Liz. Our sister had had a nasty fall, has a nasty lump on her head and has a fractured thighbone. Please pray for her. 

I led the prayer meeting and Bible study on Thursday night and Fabio led the praise. Vasti and Espedita sang solos. Deborah Maria, Marcio, Marcos and Dede read scripture portions and Pastor Rafael brought the study from Obadiah 1-4. It was a lovely service. 

The general drought all over Brazil is very bad. In the normally very wet Amazon rain forest the River Negro is at its lowest level for 122 years! Please pray.

The 2 angels from the previous chapter arrived at Sodom and Lot gave them hospitality. However after eating, but before they got to bed, the house was surrounded by men demanding to have sex with Lot’s visitors! Lot naturally resisted this as the men’s (angels) safety was his responsibility, and he offered his virgin daughters as a substitute for the men saying the mob could do what they liked with them! However the mob insisted on having the men, until the visitors (angels) caused the depraved mob to go blind putting an end to their folly. Following this the men/angels urged Lot and his family to flee Sodom because they were about to destroy it because of its depravity and sin. Lot’s future son-in-laws did not take this seriously so just Lot, his wife and 2 daughters escaped. So God rained down cataclysmic burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them and their inhabitants. However during their escape Lot’s wife looked back in hesitation and was engulphed by the molten material of the explosion. Lot and his 2 Sodom-tainted daughters went to live in a cave in the mountains where the daughters got their father drunk and had sex with him. The elder daughter had a son which she called Moab (Moabites) and the younger had a son which she called Ben-Ammi (Ammonites).

The first part of this chapter says God appeared to Abraham together with visitors. These 3 visitors are probably not a reference to the trinity but they are most probably God with 2 angels. The visitors were very warmly received with a lavish meal of veal, cakes baked on the open hearth, curd and milk in accordance with Bedouin culture and hospitality. God said that within a year Sarah would give Abraham a child and she laughed to herself at this unlikely happening at 90 years of age! The visitors then walked on in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and God said they were going there to investigate their reported grievous sin. When Abraham perceived the imminent divine judgement upon those places he interceded if there were at least 50 righteous people there in order to save the cities from destruction. This bargaining went on as not 50 or 45 or 40 or 30 or 20 or 10 could be found!

When Abram was 99 years old God came to him to confirm their covenant and changed his name to Abraham which means father of many. God confirmed the land of Canaan as Abraham’s family’s eternal possession, and also confirmed Abraham’s fruitful dynasty. God decreed that Abraham’s family’s side of the covenant was for all male babies to be circumcised when 8 days old. This was to be the mark of the covenant. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which means princess, and confirmed that she would yet give him a covenant son. At this Abraham roared with laughter at the thought of him having this son aged 100 and of Sarah finally giving birth at 90! However God insisted that Sarah would give Abraham a son which would be called Isaac which means he laughs, but confirmed that he would also bless Ishmael albeit in a lesser way. So all males in Abraham’s household were circumcised.

Abram’s wife Sarai suggested to Abram that he take her maid Hagar as a concubine, so as to solve the problem of his lack of an heir, and he agreed. Such practice was in keeping with the legal code and marriage practices of that era. However once Hagar became pregnant to Abram tensions grew between her and Sarai and she ended up going away. But an angel found Hagar and told her to return to Sarai. He told her to call her son about to be born Ishmael which means God hears. He said that Ishmael would be against everyone like a wild donkey! Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Abram had a vision in which God told him not to fear because his reward would be very great. Abram questioned this because he didn’t even have an heir. God replied that Abram would yet have a legitimate heir and his offspring would be as numerous as the stars, living in the land of Canaan. To confirm and guarantee this God carried out a covenant ritual with Abram involving the sacrifice of animals and birds. Amidst sleepiness and darkness God told Abram that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land (Egypt) for 400 years after which they would be released with great wealth. Then a theophany passed between the pieces of the sacrificed animals confirming God’s covenant promise to Abram that his descendants would inhabit the land between the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

On Tuesday night I spoke to the men’s fellowship about ‘walking with Jesus’ through hearing his word, looking to Jesus in faith and following the Lord carrying one’s cross. The meeting was led by the Chief of Police Esau and was very good.

QPR have lost again – this time at home to Hull City 3 x 1. 😖

We have been distributing more hair sheep with poor farm dwellers in the municipality of Imaculada. 3 went to the Sitio Gloria community, 1 went to the Sao Agostinho community and the other went to the Sao Goncalo community. All those that received them were very happy and blessed.

My sister Jean has been taken into hospital for surgery for an obstructive strangulated hernia which was causing her agony and lots of vomiting. She was originally seen by an ambulance paramedic who diagnosed a virus! The NHS is not what it used to be!

I have just been to Green Pastures where I saw 2 Burrowing Owls, a Crested Caracara and a Black Vulture.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I went to visit our 89-year-old deaconess Beatriz who is recovering from double cataract surgery and doing very well. What a wonderful woman of God she is!

Our social worker Marah Danielle is back from her marathon trip to Sao Paulo (2,668 km) and Aracaju (600 km). First of all she spoke at the 4th 60+ Conference with 180 participants. She spoke about our churches in the north-east and about our projects and much interest is reported. Then she travelled to Aracaju to the RENAS conference which unites churches and NGOs who share our interest in integral mission uniting church planting and evangelism with social action projects. She also spoke at this event. It is so good for us isolated up here in the north-eastern semi-arid sertao to have contact and fellowship with our brethren down south.

This chapter relates the occurrences of wars between different kingly coalitions in the Middle East region and as part of this warring all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot was living, were seized and Lot was taken captive. When word reached Abram about this he mobilized 318 special forces, attacked Lot’s captors, recovered Lot’s possessions and released Lot together with his people. Having defeated Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him Abram met with the priest and king Melquizedek who blessed Abram for his victory. Abram gave Melquizedek a tithe of all his possessions. Then the king of Sodom tried to get Abram to keep the spoils of his battle, but Abram turned the offer down. 

Abram, Sarai and Lot returned from Egypt to the Negev. Abram had become very wealthy in silver, gold and livestock and Lot had flocks and herds too, so that quarrelling developed between Abram and Lot’s herdsmen over pasture. Abram therefore magnanimously offered for Lot to choose which land he wanted so that they could go their separate ways and live in peace. Lot chose the whole plain of the Jordan and pitched his tents near Sodom, and so Abram settled in the land of Canaan. Then God told Abram that he would give that land to him and his offspring. And so Abram built an altar to the Lord at Hebron.

God called Abram to leave Haran and go to a land which he would show him. God said he would make Abram into a great nation and that all people on earth would be blessed through him. So at my age (75!) Abram left for the land of Canaan which God said he would give to Abram’s descendants, taking with him his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and all his possessions. However a famine led Abram to temporarily move to Egypt and Abram invented a lie saying his beautiful wife Sarai was his sister, for fear of being killed by the Egyptians after his wife! Sure enough Pharaoh fell for Sarai and took her into his harem, showering her “brother” Abram with gifts of sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and servants! The truth only came to light when God inflicted disease on Pharoah as a consequence of his inadvertent sin, and Abram and Sarai returned to Canaan with all their entourage. 

On Sunday Liz and I travelled 71 km south west of Patos to preach at our Imaculada church’s 40th anniversary service. The trip up the Teixeira mountain went well and we had a little picnic on the way. The service was lovely despite a power cut which reduced everything to being done by the light of mobile phone lighting! A men’s group sang, a women’s group sang, a group from the Sitio Gloria branch church sang, adolescents did choreographies and then I preached on ‘The mission carries on’ based on Mark 16:15-20. After the service the church served a lovely cake to all the about 180 people present.

This blog had 1,385 viewings last month.

Last night Liz went to the prayer meeting which was good, was led by Mada and there were 12 present. 

The story of the Tower of Babel fits the linguistic situation immediately after the flood when there was one language, as opposed to the multi-lingual situation which was described in chapter 10. God was not pleased when he saw man building a city with a high tower to make a name for himself. God saw such an endeavour as an embodiment of an arrogant ungodly spirit and he deliberately confused their language so as to put a stop to it. It was called the Tower of Babel (Babylon) as it sounds like the Hebrew for confused. In the second part of this chapter the genealogical tree is traced from Noah’s son Shem down to Abram, Sarai his wife and Lot. They set out from Ur of the Chaldeans with Abram’s father Haran to go to Canaan, but they settled on the way at Haran.

This chapter lays out the 3 nations formed by the descendants of Noah’s sons Japheth (the Japhethites), Ham (the Hamites) and Shem (the Semites). The Japhethites’ territories had maritime links and they spoke a number of languages. In the Hamites’ territories they also spoke different languages and of note was their hunting capacity with Nimrod called a mighty hunter. The roots of Nineveh are in this nation as are the Philistines, the Canaanites and Sodom and Gomorrah. The Semites also had their own territories and languages, and from this nation came Abraham and Sarah. 

I spent Friday morning at a meeting organized by the Municipal Secretary of Education who invited me to the meeting. The objective of the meeting was to mobilize everyone in a campaign to have children reading and writing by the age of 7, in year 2 of their school. Just over 50% of children in Patos at present have reached this goal which is about twice as good as 2 years ago. Our Pastor Frank Dyer School is a shining example in this campaign being the top school in Patos. I sat in the meeting alongside Gerlania who is our school’s headteacher.

At Green Pastures I saw 4 wild Guinea Pigs (they are the same colour as wild rabbits in the UK), Pale-Baywings, Caatinga Cacholotes, Shiny Cowbirds and Picui Ground Doves. Our Cockatiels are nesting so we should have some babies soon! One of our 4 Geese seems broody so we hope for some young geese soon. They are excellent guards! I brought back from Green Pastures a bucket full of Cashew fruits and nuts. We make juice from the fruit and then roast the nuts. I brought back a sack of Tamarind pods too.

Our Juazeirinho church, one and a quarter hour’s drive north-east of Patos, was broken into by thieves in the night. They stole sound related equipment.

Sadly QPR lost away to Blackburn 2 x 0 yesterday playing with 10 men for all the second half. It was 0 x 0 when our man was sent off.

Last night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures, Sacha led the praise with Rogerio on keyboard and journalist Ray spoke on Psalm 106:1-3. Pastor Sal (salt) was there with others from the village of Picotes. It was a nice meeting. 

After the flood God blessed Noah and his sons, told them to be fruitful and multiply, and encouraged hunting and fishing as means of supplying their sustenance. God clearly emphasized the sanctity of human life and Noah lived to 950 years of age. God established a covenant with Noah, his descendants and all wildlife, promising never again to flood the earth, and God gave the rainbow as the sign of this everlasting covenant. Noah planted a vineyard, got drunk on the wine and ended up laying naked in his tent. His son Ham (the father of Canaan) saw him and went and told his brothers Shem and Japheth. They got a garment to cover their father and walked in backwards so as not to see their father in the nude. When Noah awoke and discovered all that had gone on he was furious with Ham and cursed his son Canaan into slavery. On the other hand Noah was pleased with Shem and Japheth and blessed the Lord for them.

The flood water began to recede and the ark came to rest on the Ararat mountains as the mountain tops reappeared from the flood. Noah decided to send out birds to do reconnaissance work on the outside situation and when a dove brought back a leaf in its beak he knew that the waters had receded a lot. 7 days later he released the dove again and when it didn’t return he knew that the flood was completely over. God told Noah’s family together with all the animals and birds that they could now leave the ark. Noah built an altar to the Lord on which he offered burnt sacrifices and God vowed never to repeat his cursing of the earth or to destroy animal life.

Noah, at 600 years of age, his wife, his sons and their wives entered the ark under God’s instructions 7 days before the start of the rain. Pairs of all animals and birds also entered the ark. When the heavy rain started it lasted for 40 days and the resultant flood lasted for 5 months with even the mountains being submerged under 20 feet of water. All human beings, animals, birds and living creatures were exterminated by this flood except those in the floating ark.

With the growth of the earth’s population came corruption, sin and violence which saddened God’s heart. God’s initial reaction was to reduce mankind’s life expectancy to 120 years. However things only got worse making God increasingly angry. God was so sorry that he had ever made mankind, animals and birds that he decided to wipe them out. However Noah walked with God and found favour in his eyes. So the Lord decided to flood the earth but save Noah’s family plus animal life. God instructed Noah to build an ark 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high with a roof on top, which was to be Noah’s family’s means of escape together with breeding pairs of all animals. Noah obeyed God.

Liz went to the women’s fellowship on Wednesday evening which supported the service at our Pastor Frank Dyer School on the south side of Patos. The service went well despite there only being five local people present.

Last night I went to an event at the Patos Special Needs School to commemorate the National Day of the Deaf. There were between 80 and 100 there with about 40 deaf people and many interpreters and those learning Brazilian sign language called libras. The event was led by our Pastor Luiz Carlos and another teacher from the school.

Chapter 5 contains genealogical details of Adam’s offspring. Everyone lived long lives then. Adam lived 930 years, his son Seth lived 912 years, Adam’s grandson Enosh lived 905 years, Adam’s great-grandson Kenan lived 910 years, Adam’s great-great-grandson Mahalalel lived 895 years, Adam’s great-great-great-grandson Jared lived 962 years, and Adam’s great-great-great-great-grandson Enoch did not die but was bodily translated into heaven as a result of his walk with God. Enoch’s son Methuselah was the record holder in longevity living 969 years, his son Lamech lived 777 years and he was the father of Noah about whom we will hear a lot in the following chapters. Noah had become the father of 3 sons by the time he was 500 years old which is not bad going! 😀

Adam and Eve’s first children were born and they were called Cain and Abel. These sons made offerings to the Lord but Cain’s offering was not pleasing to God. (Why the preference is not explained) Cain eventually murdered Abel as a consequence and was severely punished by God. Over time more children and grandchildren of Adam and Eve were born. (One granddaughter was Zillah whom I highlight because I had a very special maternal Aunt of this name)

Poetically personified as a snake, the forces of evil seduced Eve, and then Adam, to disobey God’s command not to eat of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Such a fall into disobedience had catastrophic consequences on humanity and they were banished from the garden.   

Yesterday I spent a whole long day doing mission administration work. This is part of our routine work which must be done. Everything we do we do for the glory of God.

Last night I travelled with the Patos men’s fellowship to Sao Mamede where I preached on Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:11)… Lord over nature… Lord over sickness… Lord over death! It was a good service led by Rafael and with Dede leading the praise. Before the service Jose and Marico asked me to go into their house and say a prayer of blessing.

Liz and I visited 85-year-old Judite who is heading south with her daughter to live in the State of Espirito Santo so that she can be looked after. We bid her farewell after reading the Bible and praying with her. She will be greatly missed by our young at heart group.

 God, who had created man, Adam, from the dust of the earth and woman, Eve, from the man’s rib, gave them the job of caring for the Garden of Eden which he had created. God told them they could eat what they liked except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which would cause their death. The couple initially lived happily together as man and wife.

At the beginning of all things that we know the eternal God created everything and created the mechanisms for creation to develop and maintain itself. God created sun, moon, planets, stars, mountains, dry land, seas, flora and fauna. God created man and woman as his representatives and administrators of the earth.

I have this dream to write a résumé of the Bible chapter by chapter, and I have decided to start today. I am not sure how far I will get. I am not sure if I will be able to stick at it bit by bit, or whether I will find the time to do it on top of everything else that I have on my plate. But I am going to try. It will be good for my own personal edification and I hope it might be helpful to people. Perhaps it will get people who don’t read the Bible to start reading it to see if my résumé is OK!

Of course writing résumés involves some Bible interpretation and I hope people will be kind to me and bear with me. My résumés will not please everyone, but I hope it will get people to think about God’s Word even if their interpretation is different to mine. So in my next post I will start in the book of Genesis.

There are 1,189 chapters in the Protestant Bible so if I was able to cover a chapter every two days it would take me around 7 years!

A nice walk at Green Pastures revealed Guira Cuckoos, Cactus Parakeets, Chalk-browed Mocking Birds and White-naped Jays. Over the weekend a film crew are making a film at Green Pastures.

QPR drew at home to Millwall 1 x 1 on Saturday and dropped to 14th place in the 24 team Championship. 

Bia (our 14-year-old granddaughter Beatriz) has been playing table-tennis in Recife over the weekend in the national schools championship (over 5,400 teenagers taking part), having been Paraiba State runner up earlier in the year.

On Saturday night Rafael and I took the service at Green Pastures. Nega led the praise very well and there were participations in the service from Marileide, Fabrícia, Fred, Julio and Manoel. It was a lovely service. We saw a Burrowing Owl along the way. 

Last night we had a visiting speaker in Patos. He was Pastor Renilson from our Matureia church and he spoke very well on Ephesians 6:10-20. I led the service.

I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study. Numbers were down by half as probably people were at the fair ground. Vasti returned to singing a solo after her gall bladder surgery and Espedita sang too. Marina led the praise backed by Davi on acoustic guitar. Deborah Maria, Mada, Cleide, Dede, João Moreno and Maria read “my Bible verses” and Pastor Rafael brought the study from Amos 9.

X (formerly Twitter) is back off the air again as the battle between Brazil’s supreme court and Elon Musk continues. X is now threatened with a fine of R$5 million a day (about 720,000 pounds) for every day it is illegally functioning in Brazil.

Brazil is considering introducing ‘Brazilian summer time’ to economize electricity, but it would not start until after the elections for mayors and councillors on October 6th because it would be an unpopular move. The last time they tried it it was chaos and they soon abandoned it. It would mean that Brazil would only be 2 hours behind the UK in the winter. At the moment we are 4 hours behind BST.

The whole of Brazil is in the midst of severe drought with many accompanying massive forest fires. The usually very wet Amazon rain forest region unbelievably has drought and the forest burns in large areas. Please pray.

X (formerly Twitter) is back in Brazil having been banned since August 31st by the Supreme Court. Elon Musk has found a technical way round it being blocked, although it does not seem to be working properly. It seems like a technological battle is under way. 

I have been preparing my sermon for Imaculada’s 40th anniversary service on the 29th. They have asked me to preach on ‘The mission carries on’ based on Mark 16:15-20. 

QPR have sadly been knocked out in the 3rd round of the League Cup. They lost at home 2 x 1 to premiership side Crystal Palace. The winning goal was ironically scored by England player Eze who QPR sold to Crystal Palace in 2020.

Yesterday was our son Philip and Gylmara’s 25th wedding anniversary. Many congratulations to them!

Today is our grandson John David’s 23rd birthday. He will graduate from university next May as a medical doctor.

Sunday night’s main service of the week went well. I led and pastor Rafael preached from Luke 5. Sacha, Fabio and Marina led the praise and worship backed by Rogerio (keyboard), Rogaciano (guitar) and Ricardinho (bass). We were tired from the pastors’ conference, but it was a good meeting.

We are in the middle of the Patos September festival which runs from the 14th to the 24th. The 24th is the day of the town’s patron saint of “our lady of guidance” and is a municipal public holiday. The festival is a show of strength by the Catholic church which blocks off the entire centre of town filling it with a fund raising fair ground.

Liz and I have been for our bi-annual doctor’s check-ups and came out of them very well. My sodium and potassium levels (the problem I had a year and a half ago) are perfect as are cholesterol, glucose, vitamins B12 & D etc. Just Liz has started a course of antibiotics for an upper respiratory tract infection. 

Our annual Pastors and Leaders Conference has just ended at Green Pastures and all went off very well, praise the Lord! On Friday we kicked off with a fellowship lunch and at 3 pm we held a general assembly of pastors and leaders. This was followed by a general assembly of our projects NGO. At night we had a period of prayer together followed by the first teaching session given by Pastor Wostenes and his wife Gleydice based on the book of Nehemiah. 

On Saturday, after a fellowship breakfast, some members of our senior leadership team met with a pastor who is in difficulty and we had a good discussion and gave advice. This was followed by a meeting of our projects team especially concentrating on the wells and market garden projects. After lunch we had further meetings of the senior leadership team. At night we had our second teaching session continuing our reflections based on the book of Nehemiah. We then had a late night extra meeting discussing a very challenging situation I can’t mention and we only got to bed half an hour after midnight. The Conference ended with a fellowship breakfast this morning after which everyone left for their respective churches to be in place for their evening services. We thank the Lord for all his blessing at the conference and thank all those who remembered us in prayer.

Yesterday QPR drew at Sheffield Wednesday 1 x 1 keeping us in 12th place in the Championship table.

Having finished the writing of a new Christmas play, last night Liz and I officially handed it over to our drama leader Dilma. I went right through the play giving my thoughts on how different parts should be done. It was a very good time of sharing together. Now it’s over to Dilma and the drama team. It will be performed on Christmas Eve.

Our annual pastors and leaders conference starts today at Green Pastures. Please pray for this conference. 120 people are expected at the event.

Liz, Lynn and I have been to the wake of our good friend Ramalhinho who died of a heart attack in the night. It came as a great shock to us. He was the man who undertook all our building work and was an excellent person. He was who did the Care Centre building and more recently our garden back wall.

I have had some important meetings with some of our pastors this week sorting out problems and giving advice. We are also flat out preparing for the pastors and leaders conference which starts on Friday at Green Pastures.

Last night I travelled with the Patos men’s fellowship to take another street service in the town of Sao Mamede. The service was excellent with about 50 people attending. It has now become a custom there for people to give me slips of paper with prayer requests, so last night we prayed for a woman’s daughter who is on drugs and for another woman’s daughter who is in deep depression because her husband is having an affair. It is lovely to see people bringing their requests with faith looking to God.

Yesterday was the day in the year when Liz catches me up in age as she is 7 months younger than me. She had a nice day with a family lunch together. Last night in church a special tribute was made to Liz and a birthday gift and card with church members’ well wishes was given to her.

I led the service in church last night and I preached on the battle between the flesh and the spirit from Romans 7. It was a very good service with a full church and a lovely spirit of praise.

On Saturday Liz and I travelled to preach at the opening service of our new church plant at Diamante (Diamond). A large crowd gathered with folk from our Vazante, Barra de Oitis, Mata de Oitis, Conceicao, Ibiara and Curral Velho churches present. The church plant has started with 12 members. Please pray for Diamante.

The father of 2 boys who go to our Matureia school, Igor and Italo, committed suicide last night. Please pray for the boys at this sad time. This tragedy was apparently provoked by the separation of their parents.

I led the Thursday night mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study which 30 people attended. Erika and Rogerio led the praise, Linda & Espedita sang solos, Dede, Deborah Maria and Marcio brought ‘my Bible verses’ and Pastor Rafael brought the Word from Amos 8. It was a nice service. 

I have just been to the doctors to have by ears syringed. I can now almost hear you talking in the UK! Praise the Lord that both Liz and I both have excellent hearing.

We are a week away from our annual pastors and leaders conference at Green Pastures and we are very busy with all the preparations. Please pray.

I have just been to Green Pastures where a wild cat (Puma yagouaroundi) killed a peacock. It ripped the head off of the peacock and carried the rest of the bird off into the bush. It also killed 2 chickens.

On Saturday Liz and I will be travelling to preach at the opening service of our new church plant at the town of Diamante, which is about a two and a half hour drive west of Patos. Please pray for us and the church plant. The population of Diamante is of 6,431 people. 

On Tuesday night I took part in an important online meeting with pastors Wostenes and Renilson about our schools ministry. Getiane and Gerlania also took part.

Yesterday we took part in another senior leadership meeting online. It was a good productive meeting which lasted an hour.

The first Sunday in September is always Missions Sunday in all our churches, as it was on September 2nd that Albert and Daisy Mundy first landed in Brazil back in 1938. In Patos our drama group presented a 30-minute play about missions to commemorate the 86th anniversary of this date. I wrote the play. Then Pastor Rafael brought an excellent message on 1 Corinthians 15:58 challenging the church to stand firm in missions always “giving ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.”

Yesterday we received the visit of Fia who is the wife of Pastor Maesio up in the mountains at Teixeira. She had a nice long chat with Liz.

We have had an excellent meeting with senior pastor Oseias and his wife Lucia, followed by a nice lunch together. Oseias is pastor of our Itaporanga church, but he is also interim pastor of our central Princesa Isabel church which is without a pastor at the moment.

On Friday night (afternoon here) QPR completed a very successful week by beating Luton away 2 x 1 in the league, having beaten them at home in the league cup on Tuesday. Well done QPR! 😃

I saw a small flock of House Sparrows on Friday at Green Pastures. It was nice to see them as their numbers are in decline around the world. House Sparrows are found on every continent except Antarctica. 

X (Twitter) has been banned in Brazil for refusing to obey Brazil’s Supreme Court. Elon Musk thinks his fortune places him above the law as has also been seen in his recent stand-offs with the EU and with UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.

I have received the visit of Pastor Saulo from the southern state of Paraná and we had a good chat about the work of the Lord in north-east Brazil. He was most generous in his kind words about the good work done by EAB/ACEV. 

On Saturday morning Liz led a jumble sale outside our Patos church which raised 130 pounds for the Care Centre.

This weekend the 5th Deaf Conference was held and led by our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos. Last night he led the service in sign language and preached on John 16:33. There were about 40 deaf people there. It was a wonderful opportunity for the Gospel.

Yesterday we inaugurated a new well at the indigenous indians’ reservation of Aldeia Atikun in the county of Carnaubeira da Penha county in the state of Pernambuco. This is another successful well drilled, installed, equipped and functioning for the glory of God and for the benefit of a very needy community.

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and I took the study from Luke 1:5-25. We focused on Zechariah’s unbelief as to the fact that he was to be a father in his old age. We questioned and discussed how our reaction would have been in Zechariah’s shoes? There ensued a very healthy debate. It was a nice meeting.

On Monday night we held a 2-hour senior leadership meeting online which was a productive meeting. We discussed a serious problem which has arisen at our Princesa Isabel church which has resulted in the pastor there being removed from office. We ask you to please pray for this church and for God’s direction as we seek a replacement pastor.

Yesterday the mighty QPR cruised into the third round of the football league cup! QPR drew 1 x 1 with Luton but won 4 x 1 on penalties.

Last night I travelled to the town of Sao Mamede with the Patos men’s fellowship to preach the Gospel. I preached on Jesus being the only way and God being the only God. I quoted various scriptures condemning idolatry (an alternative to God!) and quoted other scriptures, saying that everything we do must be for the glory of God. It was a good blessed street service.

Saturday’s visit to our Flores church went very well. We arrived there bang on time at 12 noon and had a lovely lunch with Pastor Nemias, his wife Fátima and their son Isaque. In the afternoon we visited the Saquinho community which is being evangelized by our church. At night I preached to a nearly full church. It was a lovely service. We slept the night in a sort of “hotel” in Princesa Isabel.

Yesterday we held a series of important meetings in Princesa Isabel. First of all we held a meeting of our senior leadership team. Then we made some visits to people from our church. We had lunch in a restaurant prior to 2 meetings of the church members.

We didn’t get back to Patos in time for the evening service so our daughter Sacha led and Elaine from the Presbyterian church preached from Luke 17.

Yesterday Liz and I spent hours on end dealing with a massive problem in the work of the mission. The issue is so sensitive that I can’t even hint at what the problem is. I will just say that it is not in our Patos church. I ask everyone to please pray for this massive problem that God may give us wisdom and guidance in these difficult days.

Today Liz and I will be travelling 163 km south west of Patos to minister at our Flores church. We will go up the Teixeira mountain and on to Princesa Isabel from where we will head south over the state border into the state of Pernambuco as far as Flores. I will be preaching at a special thanksgiving service at our church there led by Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah). His wife Fátima does a great job with our little Action School.

I went for a walk at Green Pastures and saw Pileated Finches, a Burrowing Owl, a flock of Cactus Parakeets, Picui Ground Doves and White-tipped Doves. Along the way I saw umpteen Armadillo’s burrows and masses of ant mounds and holes. More Deer tracks have been seen near the lake. I saw Black Jurema trees, Cashew Nut trees and Oiticica trees all in flower.

Tonight I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and I gave the study. First of all we discussed whether Sílvio Santos (a famous Jewish Brazilian TV presenter who died recently) has gone to heaven? I was asked this question by a Christian. We taught that people don’t go to heaven because of their nationality. Salvation is available to all through Christ alone. After this we got into the study which was about the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. Of special note were the mention of 4 “irregular” women in Mathew 1: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba which point to God’s mercy and grace. It was a lovely service. 

The main service of the week on Sunday night was excellent. I led and our daughter Sacha, who is doing a degree in theology, preached very well on Psalm 99. She followed on after preaching by singing ‘Holy forever’. It was a real blessing!

At the weekend Pastor Robério and family (Tavares) travelled to minister at our church in the state of Ceará at the village of Felipe in the county of Saboeiro. It was a time of real blessing. The trip was 360 km each way.

I am working on writing the Christmas play for our drama group to  learn and perform on Christmas Eve. I have written a number of plays over the years. At the moment I am looking for inspiration and need your prayers.

Today is our youngest daughter Sacha’s birthday. We wish her a very happy birthday thanking her for all her ministry in church, preaching the word of God, leading the praise and worship and giving us support in everything we do for God.

I went for my usual Friday afternoon 3 km walk at Green Pastures and saw a beautiful flock of about 30 Brazilian Teal. They were swimming on the lake but took off when they saw me, but kept circling overhead. I also saw a Great Egret, a White-faced Whistling-Duck with 8 young, a White-naped Jay, a Crested Caracara and a Picui Ground-Dove. 

Yesterday QPR earned their first point of the season with a 2 x 2 draw away to Sheffield United, having been two goals down at half time.

Yesterday afternoon we held a pastors and leaders meeting online to discuss a topic linked to our Pastor Frank Dyer School in Patos and all went off smoothly. 

Last night we had a married couples evening at the church. First of all there were some ice-breaking games and then I brought a message on forgiveness. At the end everyone had a snack from the things everyone had taken. It was a nice time of warm fellowship.

I saw another beautiful orange ‘Campo Troupial’ (its name in English) at Green Pastures yesterday. It is a really spectacular bird especially when you see it in the afternoon sunlight like I did.

This week we are in the process of organizing things for the latest ACEV/EAB church being planted in the town of Diamante (Diamond). The rented hall is to be fitted out with 40 chairs, 2 amplified loudspeakers, 1 sound mixer, 2 microphones, 4 fans, 1 water cooler/dispenser and 1 church sign. This is costing 1,742 pounds. Please pray for this church plant. 

EAB/ACEV’s Pastor Frank Dyer school has received the top mark in Patos for primary schools from the Ministry of Education. Our congratulations go to head-teacher Gerlania and all her team! This morning Liz and I went to plan the creation of a play area for the children on rented land next to the school. 

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and Rafael brought the study from Amos 8. There were 20 present.

In about two months time EAB will be holding its annual AGM celebration. Please put it in your diary: Saturday, October 19th. There will be a fellowship tea at 6 pm and the celebration service will start at 7 pm. Liz and I will be joining the service via a live online link. The venue will be at the Lighthouse Community Church, Hardley, Southampton, SO45 3NZ. The special speaker will be Pastor David Fiddy of the Rock Community Church at Devizes in Wiltshire. David was recently visiting the work of EAB in Brazil. Please be at this celebration! ✌

Liz went to the Monday night prayer meeting and there were nine there.

Research shows that one in ten Brazilians had their mobile phones stolen in the last 12 months!

Last night I travelled with a team preaching the Gospel in the town of São Mamede. It was a lovely service. At the end 3 women came to me asking for prayer. One asked for prayer for her broken marriage and another asked for prayer for peace in her life.

The mighty QPR marched into the second round of the League Cup yesterday after a 2 x 1 away defeat of Cambridge United.

On Saturday Liz and I drove 150 kms to Curral Velho (Old Cow Pen) to preach at a united evangelical churches’ service held in the civic open-air arena. I preached on Luke 15 – Lost on the farm, Lost in the home, Lost in the family. All went well and it was a nice service. We got home to bed at gone midnight.

The English football championship season has started and sadly QPR lost their opening match 3 x 1 at home to West Brom.

We have now rented the meeting hall for our new church plant at Diamante which is 135 km west of Patos. We are now painting it ready to kit it out with chairs etc. for the start of the services. The rent is 90 pounds a month. Please pray for this new church plant.

I led the Father’s Day service in Patos last night and preached too. It was a good meeting.

Today’s temperature is a high of 36 degrees and a low of 19. As the years go by things get hotter here.

Deaths caused by dengue fever (transmitted by the mosquito) in 2024 in Brazil has passed the 5,000 mark which is over 4 times as many as those registered in 2023. Another 2,107 deaths are under investigation.

I am focused on preparing sermons for upcoming journeys to our churches at Curral Velho (Old Cow Pen), Flores (Flowers), Cedro (Cedar), Imaculada (Immaculate), Conceicao (Conception), Teixeira, Juru and Sao Mamede (Saint Mamede). Your prayers are valued for this and for my resident ministry at the church in Patos (Ducks).

On Thursday night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study. The praise was led by Erika, Rogerio and Netinho, and the study was given by pastor Rafael. ‘My Bible verses’ were read by Espedita, Mada, Dede, Marcio and Romildo. It was a good service.  

The temperature in Patos today shows a high of 34 degrees and a low in the night of 18 degrees. 

Yesterday a turbo-prop plane crashed in the south of Brazil in the state of Sao Paulo killing its 58 passengers and 4 crew.

Yesterday Liz and I went and visited brother Manoel near Green Pastures who has been most unwell recently. We prayed for him and his wife Miriam. They have 8 children, 38 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

Last night I went to a public meeting of the Patos town council. The meeting was called to discuss the serious problem of the chopping down of trees and desertification in our semi-arid region. I was asked to go and take part by Town Councillor Jose Gonçalves as I am well known in an our area for my defence of God’s creation. It was a good positive meeting. 

I got back to exercise in the gym on Tuesday and it felt very good.

To relax I am reading ‘The Covent Garden Murder’ by my friend and fellow Christian writer Mike Hollow. This is the 8th book in the excellent ‘Blitz Detective’ series and I have read them all. I highly recommend this series as a Christmas present for someone. Start with the first in the series called ‘The Blitz Detective’.

Liz is back to wearing glasses and looks more beautiful than ever! 😎Her glasses are not for reading or distance but they correct double vision in her left eye.

Please pray for Manoel who lives near Green Pastures and was converted years ago as a result of me giving him a lift when he was drunk. This week he has had two convulsions and the doctors are trying to discover what is wrong with him.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I went visiting the sick. First of all we visited 82-year-old Aina who has a problem with her right leg. We had a nice time of fellowship with her and her family, read the word of God and prayed with her. From there we went to visit 59-year-old Vasti who is recovering from gall bladder surgery and is doing well. We enjoyed a good chat with Vasti too. 

Last night Liz went to the women’s fellowship meeting at which 9 were present.