Categoria: News

Liz and I have been taking things to Green Pastures as we prepare for the Carnival Camp next month. We took out a water distributer/cooler which we had brought into Patos to be repaired. We also took out a whole lot of cleaning materials. Francisco is busy checking all the clay-tiled roofs for leaks in this rainy season.

Deborah and Arthur’s 10-year-old black and white cat Marley died this week. Pets don’t live very long and their death brings much sadness to those who are attached to them.

The Southern House Wren (Troglodytes musculus) is in fine song with the rains falling at Green Pastures.

The 10-day outreach is going well and yesterday our 92-person team evangelized the villages of Belem (where there were decisions for Christ) and Jurema.

The weekly service at our Patos school was held last night, led by our firefighter brother Romildo.

I led the Sunday night service and Bible College graduate Murilo preached excellently on the new birth from John 3. One woman made a decision to follow Christ at the end. Praise God! Liz led the Sunday School in the morning.

The 10-day evangelistic outreach at Tavares is underway and there have already been some decisions for Christ. The team is 92 strong. Please pray for the team.

Yesterday was our granddaughter Beatriz’s 14th birthday although she looks older than 14. She is known as Bia. She is the youngest daughter of our daughter Sacha.

QPR sadly lost at home yet again at the weekend. They lost 2 x 1 to Watford. The fans say that they played better than Watford, but the thing is they lost! 😠

On Friday we had Ben & Miriam Price, their grown up children Josias and Ana, and their friend Henry Ford with us for a meal and for fellowship. All these folk live in the UK but are here on a short visit to Brazil. It was very nice to have a good long chat with them.

I went for a walk at Green Pastures on Friday afternoon and heard many Red-cowled Cardinals singing joyfully as they made their nests. Just after I left 10 mm of rain fell which would have made them sing even louder! Last night it rained another 75 mm so this is truly wonderful!

I was going to lead the service at Green Pastures last night and preach. However down came the rain and rain stopped pray! The service was cancelled because the people can’t get there on the earth tracks which turn to mud.

On Wednesday evening Liz and I had a meeting with Andrea and Marah Danielle who are the leaders of the Patos women’s fellowship for 2024. Liz is the back-up leader for them. 

On Thursday afternoon we had an excellent meeting with our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos, with Geralda as sign language interpreter. We had a wide ranging discussion about our ministry with and to the deaf. A number of new ideas for 2024 were proposed by Luiz Carlos and approved. Please pray for this wonderful ministry to the deaf.

I have had discussions with Pastor Maesio in Teixeira up in the mountains. The church there is slowly growing and one person made a decision for Christ this week.

We are busy preparing for the Carnival Camp at Green Pastures next month and value your prayers. If anyone can help poorer people to go to the camp please send your donations to the EAB treasurer.

Please pray for our 10-day evangelistic outreach which starts today at Tavares. The 100 plus team will be gathering there today. Everyone will be staying at a school and sleeping on the floor.

I saw 2 Smooth-billed Anis at Green Pastures. These birds are the size of a thin wood pigeon and are jet black.

I led the prayer meeting and Bible study last night and Pastor Rafael gave the study. There were 24 present.

We received a Marks & Spencer’s un-iced Christmas cake from our son Philip and his wife Gylmara via Ben and Miriam Price who are on a visit to Brazil. We are eating a small piece of the cake every day so as to make it last! It is delicious! 😋

On Saturday afternoon Liz and I went to visit one of our young church families: Rafael & Carol and their children Ana Liz and Rafael Lucas. The father has recently had surgery for a hernia so we went to see how he was doing. We had a lovely long 2-hour chat with them. It was very nice. They also served us a beautiful snack before we read the Bible with them and prayed for their home.

QPR were knocked out of the FA Cup losing at home to Premiership Bournmouth 3 x 2, after having been 2 x 0 up at half time. 😖

We are busy organizing next month’s carnival camp at Green Pastures to be held from February 10th to 14th. This year the Bible teaching will be from 2 Timothy chapters 1 & 2. I will teach on Saturday night and Monday morning. Pastor Rafael will teach on Sunday morning and Pastor Lindon Carlos will teach on Tuesday morning and night. Bible College graduate Murilo will teach on Sunday night and Bible College student Sacha will teach on Monday night. Please pray for all of us who will minister God’s Word. 

On Sunday Liz taught the adult class in our Sunday School in the book of James in the morning. I led the communion service at night and co-pastor Rafael preached. On Saturday night there were also communion services at Ipueira and Green Pastures.

Our Thursday evening mid-week prayer service and Bible study was especially blessed and there were 22 present. Our youngest daughter Sacha led the praise accompanied by Rogerio on keyboard. People shared their prayer requests and we had a nice time of prayer. Then Deborah Maria, Marcio, Mariana and Dede shared verses of scripture which have recently been a blessing to them. Then Sacha brought the Bible study from Mark 5. She was excellent. Sacha is studying at Bible College online and is developing wonderfully as a minister of God’s Word.

Yesterday (January 5th) our first Christmas cards arrived from the UK by post. Our thanks go to Gill Parsons, Neil & Naomi Parsons and my sister Jean and family. It was very nice to receive them.

I had a nice walk at Green Pastures yesterday and saw a Jungle Runner Lizard (Ameiva ameiva), 4 Cactus Parakeets and 2 Crested Caracaras. I heard White-tipped Doves and Scaled Doves.  

As always at the beginning of a new year I spend some time with our pastors organizing the dates of our conferences and events. So please add to your prayer list the following events in 2024: The special 10-Day outreach with a team of at least 100 participants in the town and county of Tavares between the 12th and 21st of January (I will be preaching at this); The carnival camp at Green Pastures between February 10th and 14th (I will be preaching at this too); Our annual General Conference in Joao Pessoa on May 24th and 25th (I will be leading this); Our annual pastors and leaders conference at Green Pastures between September 27th and 29th (I will be leading this also).

I have had a nice walk at Green Pastures after the rain and saw a pair of Chalk-browed Mockingbirds courting, which always happens once we get rain. I also saw a beautiful Green-barred Woodpecker. 

I have been handling some administrative issues with Pastor Hamilton of our Campina Grande Presidente Medici church.

New Year’s Eve brought us wonderful rain, with 87 mm falling at Green Pastures, which is just over three and a half inches. This is just what we needed. Thank you Lord!

Our New Year’s Eve service in Patos was a real blessing. I both led and preached. We also had many people taking part as we always do in this annual service. Espedita, Linda, Sacha and the Conserva family all sang. The adolescents read a poem which they themselves wrote. Adriana, Dede, Romildo, Ray, Deborah Maria, Claudivan and Aleksandra all spoke briefly. We had video messages too from Philip and Lucena.

At our house we all had supper together after church.

At our Itaporanga church 4 were baptized on New Year’s Eve. Praise God!

I have just seen 2 Ruddy Ground Doves in our back garden.

QPR lost at home to Cardiff 2 x 1 on New Year’s Day. Relegation looms with increasing likelihood! 😖

On Friday night our adolescents’ fellowship had a lovely time together eating pizza at a restaurant as their end of year celebration. Everyone chipped in to pay the bill with 2 pounds 50 pence each. There were 26 of them present and it was a lovely evening of fellowship. The adolescents’ fellowship has been very positive and blessed throughout this year, led by Adriana and Segundo. 

I went for a walk at Green Pastures on Friday afternoon and saw and heard a White-naped Jay and saw a wild Guinea Pig.

On Friday QPR drew 0 x 0 at Ipswich which was a good result as Ipswich are near the top of the table and we are near the bottom. 

Last night I conducted the wedding of my co-pastor Rafael (aged 33) to youth leader Rayla (aged 30). All went off very nicely with a reception after the ceremony.

Last night a service was also held in the town of Passagem 30 km east of Patos and one person made a commitment to Christ. This is a good way to end the year!

This week a deer was observed again at Green Pastures. The species of deer we get here (it is very rare) is a bambi type deer whose scientific name is a Mazama Gouazoubira. It gives us great pleasure to see these deer at Green Pastures as it shows that our preservation of God’s creation is paying dividends.

I have been busy preparing for this week’s wedding that I will be conducting. My co-pastor Rafael will be marrying Rayla who is one of our youth leaders.

Last night I led the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study and co-pastor Rafael brought the study from Joel 3. Espedita sang a solo and Dede and Deborah Maria brought Bible verses. The praise was led by Marina and Davi. 

Last night, Boxing Day, I travelled with the Patos Men’s Fellowship to preach the Gospel in the town of Sao Mamede. I went in a truck driven by chief of the police Esau, which also had in it my assistant pastor Rafael, Flavio and Marcio. Other men who went were Caetano, Claudivan and Dede. Esau led the service, Dede led the praise and I preached from Luke 2. Over 50 people gathered for the service which was held in the street in front of Brother Jose and sister Marico’s house. After the service a snack was served to all by Marico.

The temperatures today are a low of 24 degrees and a high of 38 degrees. Please pray for rain.

Sadly QPR lost 2 x 0 at Millwall yesterday. 😞

Liz and I have been busy distributing Christmas hampers to the very poor. One particularly needy village we went to was that of ‘Serrote Liso’ where the hampers were received with much joy and gratitude. Most of the houses there are made of mud and sticks.

Liz and I went to visit sister Maria Jose of our Patos church who has undergone surgery to remove an eye cataract. She is recovering well.

QPR sadly lost at home to Southampton 1 x 0 on Saturday. 😒

On Saturday night I preached at our Patos school’s Christmas service at which over 200 people attended. The service was held in the street in front of our school and all the different age groups presented different Christmas items. It was a lovely service.

We have received a donation of 2,000 NIV Bibles from the International Bible Society which is wonderful. All they cost us was the freight from Sao Paulo. The Bibles will now be distributed to our 24 main regional churches which will distribute them via their local congregations and branch churches. EAB/ACEV has a total of over 80 churches.

In Brazilian culture it’s the eve of any special day that is more important than the day itself. Hence yesterday’s Christmas Eve was celebrated first in church and then by a family Christmas Eve supper, as opposed to a special Christmas day lunch in British culture. As we are of both cultures we do both! 😋

The Christmas play which I wrote was fantastic last night in church! The 40-strong cast did exceptionally well. It was both emotional and really blessed. Happy Christmas to everyone!

 On Thursday we had another 8 mm of rain at Green Pastures. It’s not a lot but it is most welcome after over 5 months of parched scorching drought.

On Thursday evening our 3 daughters Deborah, Lynn and Sacha asked us to go and support their end of year event at their English language school which is called ‘Cultura Inglesa’. Please pray for this school which is the means of income of our girls and is a shining example of quality language teaching. It was a joy to meet many pupils who are already fluent in English thanks to this school.

I have prepared a Christmas message for the children and parents of our Pastor Frank Dyer School in Patos for tonight. I look forward to sharing with them the true Biblical Gospel story of Jesus’ birth and what it means for us.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures and saw 2 wild Guinea Pigs, many Wattled Jacanas and a Striated Heron. I also heard the beautiful song of a Rufous-browed Peppershrike.

Last night was the final rehearsal for our main Christmas play which will be performed on Christmas Eve and is called ‘The Christmas Star’. I wrote the play earlier this year and it tells the Christmas story from the angle of the stars. It has a clear Christian message.

On Tuesday evening Liz and I went to our grandson Arthur’s graduation ceremony at the university. His girlfriend Bianca also graduated in the same class of 50 students, who completed five years of studying law. Bianca was top of the class and Arthur was third, so they have done very well. There seems to be quite a bit of healthy competition between the two of them in their studies. Both of them have also passed the first stage of their Bar exams and they sit the final stage on January 21st. Please pray for them.

I didn’t go to the men’s fellowship meeting this week as I always do, because I was at Arthur’s graduation ceremony. Just 7 went to the meeting, but they had a good time of fellowship around God’s Word.

We had 5 mm of fine rain on Wednesday morning. It was very little, but after more than 5 months without a drop it was greatly appreciated. 

We have completed the drilling and equipping of two new wells at Caroa community in Manaira county. The people there are thrilled. They have water for Christmas!

Liz and I have been out distributing Christmas Hampers to an extremely poor community called Campo Comprido which is 8 km along an earth road south of Patos. The people were very happy and grateful for their Christmas surprizes.   

 I led the service on Sunday night in Patos and pastor Rafael preached. The highlight of the night was the choir from our Campina Grande Catole church which travelled to Patos in a coach. The choir is called ‘Coral Adoração’ (worship choir) and they presented a special Christmas programme called ‘Hallelujah’. They sang the Hallelujah Chorus as the last item of their presentation. The whole presentation, led by their leader and conductor Gideao (Gideon), was a beautiful selection of hymns and carols including the ‘Hymn of Joy’ from Beethoven’s 9th symphony and ‘Oh Holy Night’. It was a wonderfully blessed evening.

Parallel to this 18 people were baptized at our Campina Grande church. Praise God for a very happy Christmas for these new converts!

9 new members were received into fellowship at our Princesa Isabel church at the weekend.

There is an upsurge in Covid cases in Brazil, though its effects are not as devastating as during the pandemic. Our granddaughter Louisa has tested positive and is feeling awful. This will affect the Christmas play production on the 24th unless she recovers quickly, as she has an important roll in a depleted cast already affected by Jacira’s death.

I have had important talks with Pastor Maesio of our Teixeira church up in the mountains. It was good to learn of growth in the church there. The growth is small, but it is growth. Teixeira has traditionally been a difficult place for the Gospel. 

81-year-old Paul McCartney is in the south of Brazil on his ‘ Got back’ tour. He fills football stadiums to capacity to hear him and he is getting a very good press. What Paul does for pop music I certainly will endeavour to do for the Gospel!

QPR sadly lost at Sheffield Wednesday yesterday 2 x 1 despite having been 1 x 0 up with five minutes to go! We remain in the relegation zone. 😟

Last night’s service at Green Pastures was cancelled at the last minute when I was all ready to lead and preach. We have a group on WhatsApp with all the members and one after the other said they weren’t going to the service owing to the flu, so we ended up cancelling the service.

Yesterday I conducted the funeral of 52-year-old church member Jacira who died of a heart attack on Wednesday. Both the wake and the funeral service were held in our church and all went off smoothly. The church was full for the service. Both Jacira’s husband Joao and daughter Joyce are gutted. Please pray for them.

At both the wake and funeral service one good thing that came of it was the meeting up with my nephew Ben and his wife Mayara whom I hadn’t seen for years despite living in the same town. I hope and pray that we will see more of them from now on.

The mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study was cancelled last night in the light of Jacira’s death.

QPR drew at home to Plymouth on Wednesday 0 x 0 which was a disappointment, especially because Plymouth were down to 10 men for most of the game.

Yesterday was our second daughter Lynn’s birthday and Liz cooked sweet and sour chicken with rice for her. 😋

I have started some extra study, for my personal pleasure, on the theology of John Wesley. I am doing a course online with the ISBL Bible College in Londrina in the south of Brazil.

A brother who is 30 called Guilherme Santos from our Campina Grande Catole church feels the call of God to work among the indigenous indians in the Amazon area of Brazil. Next year he will be going to Manaus in that region on a training course run by the New Tribes Mission. This will be an interesting aspect of EAB/ACEV ministry if it works out. He will be graduating from our Bible College next year. Please pray.

On Monday it was our granddaughter Louisa’s 24th birthday and we had a cake and sang happy birthday to her in the afternoon. Louisa has been married to Tiago for a little over a year.

I travelled with our Men’s Fellowship last night to the town of Sao Mamede and we held a street meeting at which I spoke and led prayer. Parallel to this Liz went to the Women’s Fellowship meeting in Patos.

We were woken up with a shock early this morning with the news that 52 year old Jacira Macena was found dead in her house at dawn by her husband Joao Moreno. Jacira was an active positive member of our Patos church, she sang as part of a group in church on Sunday and was in good health, and was due to play the part of an angel in the Christmas play on Christmas Eve. I will be conducting her funeral tomorrow morning.

Yesterday our grandson Luis (Philip & Gylmara’s son in England) had his 8th birthday. He is a lovely boy and is doing well at school. He just needs to eat more as his diet is extremely restricted owing to autism. 

Saturday night’s service at Green Pastures went well. I led, Bible College graduate Murilo preached on Psalm 139, and Fabio, Flavio, Nega, Manoel, Fred, Dodora, Paulo Silas and Josue all took part. Parallel to this services were held in the towns of Ipueira and Passagem. The deaf fellowship also had an excellent meeting with 16 present led by our deaf pastor Luiz Carlos who is doing a great job.

QPR won again on Saturday 2 x 0 at home to Hull. This is the third game on the run that we have won! 😄We’re still in the relegation zone, but if we keep this up we will soon be out of it.

I led last night’s service in Patos and I preached on spiritual renewal from Psalm 119:25-32. It was very encouraging to receive a message from one of the deaf fellowship this morning telling me how blessed he had been by my sermon. As part of our Christmas celebrations we had a lovely ballet presentation in the service too, plus a singing group singing Christmas songs. It was a lovely service.

We have just had a pair of bright yellow Great Kiskadees (the size of a Blackbird) singing perched on our TV aerial. 

It is 5 months since we last saw a drop of rain at Green Pastures. This with the intense heat means that everything is parched, scorched and bone dry. Please pray for rain!

I have had a long meeting in person with Pastor Oseias of our Itaporanga church discussing some problems in the church there. I can’t go into details here. We had a very good and honest talk about the situation which was most worthwhile. We also discussed regional issues as Oseias is the regional leader as well. We talked about the Curral Velho, Vazante, Barra de Oitis, Mata de Oitis and Conceicao churches. Please pray for the Itaporanga church.

I led the prayer meeting and Bible study on Thursday evening in Patos and it was a lovely service, though numbers were down. Davi and Joao Filho led the worship, there was good participation in prayer and the sharing of Bible texts, Espedita and Vasti sang solos and Rafael brought the study from Joel chapter 2.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I visited 79 year old sister Socorro Help and it was good to find her much better in health and much more positive. We had a nice long chat to her and heard all her stories. Then we read the Bible with her and had a time of prayer. She promises to be back in church on Sunday together with her son Bruno. 

The men’s fellowship meeting on Tuesday night was really blessed. It was good to see a non-Christian visitor there. Bible college student Ray was who led the inductive Bible study which went well.

On Tuesday afternoon I went for a good walk at Green Pastures, but how so terribly dry and burnt up by the 38 degree sun everything is. We desperately need rain. Please pray!

I have had some important discussions with pastor Wostenes already preparing for next year’s (May) general conference which will be held in Joao Pessoa. One issue is a question of pastoral mandates which will need altering in our statutes, and the other is concerning bank accounts for our churches.

Following the syringing of my ears last week the doctor sent me for a hearing test which I felt was unnecessary but did it. I can hear perfectly well and the test showed my hearing to be above average, so praise God for that. 

This weekend Pastor Nezinho Abílio baptized 9 new converts at Vazante. 3 were from our Vazante church and 6 were from our new church at Mata de Oitis. We were recently in the area and it is so encouraging to see how the work is growing there. There is a fervent spirit in the region with great enthusiasm and zeal for the work of the Lord. There is the possibility of a new church plant in the headquarters town of that area called Diamante (Diamond) in 2024. Please pray.

Sunday night’s service in the Patos church went very well with a lovely spirit of praise and worship. I led the service and law student and theology graduate Murilo preached. The highlight of the service was a 15-minute musical nativity play done by the children and adolescents. It was really beautiful. Every Sunday in December we will have a Christmas related item in the service.  

We have completed the construction of another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis at the house of Severino, Jailma and family. They are over the moon!

SETEBRAE is the name of our Bible College in Campina Grande and on Friday Liz and I travelled there for the graduation service of 12 students – 9 men and 3 women. We left Patos just after 3 pm and arrived there at 6:45 pm having stopped for a snack at Soledade on the way. The service started at 7:30 pm and about 300 people gathered for it. The service went very well and I was one of the speakers. The service ended at 9:45 pm and was followed by lots of photographs being taken.

When all had finished Pastor Wostenes asked us out for a meal together with his family which was very nice. This ended not far short of midnight and we got to bed about 1 am at the pastor’s house. After a good night’s sleep we had a nice time of fellowship together with the pastor and his wife over breakfast. We had a good discussion about different aspects of the work. After this we drove back to Patos, leaving about 10 am, and getting home around 1 pm. We were tired but rejoicing.

The main road between Patos and Campina Grande is being upgraded to a dual carriageway. The work is just beginning. It will obviously improve travel when it’s finished in a few years’ time. This work has already been done between Campina Grande and Joao Pessoa on the coast.

QPR travelled to Preston on Friday and won 2 x 0! 😂

I have been to the doctor’s to have my ears syringed so that was good.

We have had another visit at Green Pastures from the IBAMA which is the Brazilian environmental body. They went there to release lots of wild birds which they had confiscated from people illegally keeping them in cages. They also released a lot of wild tortoises. They also collected a parrot which an elderly lady has asked us to give to the authorities for her.

I had a good walk at Green Pastures and saw 15 Picui Ground Doves. Please pray for rain which we badly need. We haven’t had any for months and our lake has completely dried up.

Last night’s prayer meeting and Bible study was lovely. We were down in numbers, but there was a lovely spirit of prayer, excellent participations with people sharing verses of scripture, and a good study.

Later today I will be travelling about 3 hours to Campina Grande to speak at our Bible College’s graduation ceremony and service. 

Our second church on the coast in Joao Pessoa is in the borough of Cidade Verde and it has just celebrated its 19th anniversary under the leadership of Pastor Jose Vieira. A festive and blessed special service was held to commemorate the occasion. 

You will be thrilled to know that having lost at Norwich on Saturday, QPR actually managed to win a game last night at home to Stoke 4 x 2!! You will also have noticed that I had my hair cut yesterday. I hope you like it. 👨

Last night I preached on prayer in the town of Sao Mamede. It was a lovely service and my sermon went very well.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures and saw a Chalk-browed Mocking bird and 3 White-naped Jays.

This Friday we will be travelling the 178 km east to Campina Grande where I will be speaking at the graduation service of our Bible College there. We will sleep there the night at Pastor Wostenes’ house and travel back to Patos the following morning.

We drove to Caroa on Saturday afternoon leaving Patos at 1 pm and arriving at Caroa at 4:20 pm. The last 11 km of the journey is the worst although the earth track (road!) has been improved a lot over the last 40 years that we have been going there to minister. The anniversary service started 15 minutes late at 7:15 pm and was held in front of the church under a star-lit sky and a full moon. There was a constant gentle breeze blowing which was much appreciated so as to cool things down. An excellent crowd gathered from Caroa, plus pastor Francinaldo from our Manaira church, Fabio who leads the Fonseca and Travessia churches, Leonarda who leads the Umburana church, pastor Gerse (Princesa Isabel), pastor Roberio (Tavares), pastor Nemias (Flores), Deacon Sitonio (Mandacau), and others from Umbuzeiro, Olho D’aguinha Seco and Belem. I preached on ‘Nothing will separate us from God’ (Romans 8:31-39) The mayor was at the service and at the end I presented him with a copy of my book about the history of the work here.

After the service everyone was served with a hot dog and coke and we stayed talking to all the people. After this we stayed chatting to the local pastor Valdemy till gone 11 pm. We stayed at his house for the night and we left for Patos about 8 am the following morning. On the way home we went to visit brother Jose Paulinho and his wife Louisa at Manaira as Louisa doesn’t enjoy good health and they were unable to go to the anniversary service. They are the parents of 17 children! We got back to Patos about 12:30 pm, ate egg and chips, had a siesta, and then got ready for the evening main service of the week in the Patos church.

I led the service in the Patos church and pastor Rafael preached. Sacha, Louisa and Marina led the worship. After the service the children’s ministry sold a Munguza snack to raise money for the building work. Munguza is a regional maize based snack which was very nice.

Later today Elizabeth, me and deaconess Josinete will drive to Caroa and tonight I will be preaching at their 40th anniversary service. We value your prayers.

Thursday night’s prayer meeting and Bible study went well. There were about 25 there.

I have been doing a lot of administrative work. I have also had a nice walk at Green Pastures and had a good chat to Francisco. I heard the call of the Scarlet-throated Tanager whilst there.

Yesterday morning I inspected the construction work at the Care Centre. The brick layer was finishing off the wheelchair ramp and it is good to see the end of the work insight. Hopefully we will go into the new year with the Care Centre back in use and totally revamped. 

Christmas approaches and the Patos church is already decorated appropriately. Every Sunday in December we will have a special Christmas feature in the service as follows. On the 3rd we will have a children’s nativity play; on the 10th a Christmas ballet performance; on the 17th a special musical item; and on the 24th we will have our main Christmas play which I wrote.

On Tuesday evening I led the men’s fellowship inductive Bible study called ‘Jesus the great liberator’ based on John 8:31-32. It was a lovely meeting with 12 present and which was very participative.

Our 22-year-old grandson Arthur presented his end of course dissertation for his law course at university and received the top mark. His dissertation, which was highly praised by his examiners, discussed the legal implications of Brexit. 

I have been in discussions with Gleydice in Campina Grande about our Bible College there. The college is struggling owing to the low numbers of students with only 22 this year. Please pray.

Liz went to the women’s fellowship meeting last night which was held at Ana Karla’s house. They had a good number there. (22)

At the weekend our Pastor Leandro at Juazeirinho baptized 4 new converts for which we praise the Lord. Juazeirinho is half-way between Patos and Campina Grande and our church there has 59 participants.

Sunday night’s service was excellent in Patos. I led and Sacha preached on ‘There is power in the name of Jesus’. She preached very well indeed. After church the worship group sold slices of cake plus savouries to raise money for the building work at the Care Centre. 

On Sunday both our grandson Arthur and his girlfriend Bianca sat their first stage of the Bar examination and they passed. They now sit the second and final stage of the Bar exam on January 21st. They both graduate from university as lawyers next month. They are both fine Christians.

Last night the youth prayer meeting had 12 in it which is up from 10 last week.

I went for a refreshing walk at Green Pastures yesterday afternoon.

Liz is down with the flu.

This past week saw us doing 15 hours of driving as we travelled far and wide to preach the Word of God. First we went to Joao Pessoa on the coast and took with us one of our pastors (Lindon Carlos) and our social worker Marah Danielle. We had hours to talk and share about the work together. We took part in the 60+ Conference which is an interdenominational movement to make churches aware that Brazil has an ageing population and need to cater for the over 60s and not just the youth. The movement also seeks to make over 60s aware of the great use they can be in the work of God. I was one of the speakers at the conference. One thing which became clear was that our work with the over 60s was the oldest work of its kind amongst all the churches represented at the conference. We have been doing this work for 17 years.

Having returned from the 3-day conference in Joao Pessoa which was full of long very full meetings we just had time to get our breath back so as to leave for our Barra de Oitis church the following afternoon. This was to take part and speak at the special thanksgiving service there for another 7 toilet-shower units that we have built there. The service was jubilant and full of praise to God. The church band did well with a blind guitarist, a bass guitar, drums and keyboard led by 4 singers. We were served a nicely iced cake (the cook learnt from our pastor-cook Joao George!) after the service and drove back to Patos deep into the night getting to bed at nearly 1 am. We now prepare for the evening Sunday service in Patos.

I have had an excellent meeting with pastors Lindon Carlos, Gerse and Roberio in my office in Patos. They came to see me on their way back from visiting our church in Ceara at Filipe. We had a good discussion about the work in Ceara. It is good to know that it is going well.

Paulino and Betania are a young couple from our Tavares church who this year took on the leadership of our church at Belem. They travel to Belem from Tavares for each service. However they are now planning to move to the area so as to be more on hand for the churches at Belem and Jurema which are only a few miles apart. How encouraging it is to see young couples like this taking on responsibilities in the work of God.

The youth prayer meeting on Monday night had 10 in it which is very good. All report blessing from the meeting.

Yesterday was our 54th wedding anniversary and we spent the day on the 5 hour journey to Joao Pessoa followed by a 5 hour meeting in a conference for the over 60s. Today I spoke to the conference.

 On Saturday night I went to Green Pastures to take the service with the local church there as I usually do. I arrived early and soon heard a lot of commotion from the roosting birds in the trees around the meeting hall. It was an American Barn Owl having its evening meal! The American Barn Owl is much larger than the Barn Owl you get in the UK. It is 50% heavier.

The Green Pastures service went well. I led and Bible College student Ray preached from Psalm 126. The ladies group sang led by Nega, Manoel sang too and his wife Miriam read the Bible. She said that she did this to show everyone that her eyesight is better after eye surgery. 

QPR managed not to lose again on Saturday! We drew 0 x 0 at home to Bristol City.

Last night’s main service of the week in Patos went well with me leading, Rafael preaching from Luke 5, and Sacha, Louisa and Marina leading the praise and worship. One of our nurses, Liliane, gave a 5-minute talk encouraging the men to have regular checks for prostate cancer and many in church dressed in blue in accordance with the November blue campaign. A little boy called Miguel recited John 3:16.

I saw a Scaled Dove’s nest at Green Pastures this afternoon. They have nested on the veranda of the main house and it is not the rainy season when they usually nest. Let’s hope and pray that it’s a sign that rain is near. They are called Scaled Doves because their feathers are like beautiful fish’s scales. I also saw 3 Cactus Parakeets.

Thursday night’s midweek Bible study has now been altered to be a prayer meeting and Bible study. It was a wonderful service with everyone fervently praying after I had put a list of prayer requests up on a flip chart. This was followed by a study of Joel 2:1-11.

Parallel to this a service was held at the ex-landless settlement in Sao Mamede which was led by sister Dodora. 2 people made decisions to follow Christ at the end of the service. 

Liz has had a rough week with having to have roots removed, from where a tooth had been, at the Dentist’s. Thankfully she is now recovered.

Last night we held a special married couples’ fellowship evening which 9 couples attended and it was very good. Claudia, who is one of the fellowship leaders, brought a nice word after some ice breaking exercises led by Marah Danielle. The night was rounded up with a snack for everyone.

 On Tuesday night our men’s fellowship held its meeting at Zaqueu’s (Zacchaeus) house. I led the meeting and Rafael led the inductive Bible study about why Jesus came. Zaqueu is a man in his 60s who doesn’t enjoy good health so it was nice to have fellowship with him and his wife Josinete. Everyone was served with ice cream at the end of the meeting. The couple clearly were blessed by the meeting and asked for us to return there for another meeting as soon as possible.

On Tuesday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. I saw many Picui Ground Doves, 4 Black Vultures, a Crested Caracara, a Great Egret and a White-bellied Nothura. It was good exercise and very relaxing. 

Tavares is a town about a two hour drive south west of Patos and is led by Pastor Roberio who is a strapping big man with a big smile and lovely sense of humour. At the weekend the Tavares church celebrated its 16th anniversary and held a baptismal service when 4 new converts were baptized. The Tavares church has 3 branch churches in the villages of Jurema, Belem and Olho Daguinha Seco.

On Sunday night I both led the main service of the week in Patos and I preached on ‘The Goodness of God’ which was essentially an exposition of Psalm 119:17-24. The sermon combatted suicide as well. Brazil has 11,000 suicides a year. The praise and worship was led by Sacha and Fabio backed up by Tiago, Ricardinho, Netinho and Rogerio. It was a good service which included our monthly celebration of communion.

Last night I conducted the wedding of Isaac and Marina. Isaac is one of our new interpreters for the deaf and Marina is part of our praise and worship group. She has a lovely contralto voice. The ceremony started about half an hour late which is not bad by general standards here. All went off beautifully with Sacha doing the singing accompanied by Tiago on guitar. This is the fourth wedding I have done this year with one more to go next month.

Unbelievably QPR played yesterday and actually managed not to lose! We drew 1 x 1 at Rotheram. QPR has a new Spanish manager called Marti Cifuentes. We actually played attacking football and had 60% of the possession which is double what we were averaging.

On Friday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. I find such walks very relaxing and I enjoy talking to Francisco who works there. I saw a wild guinea pig which ran right in front of me. I saw an armadillo too.

Liz took part in the service at our school which bears her Father’s name in the borough of Jatoba in Patos on Wednesday evening. It was a nice little service with about 20 present.

I have just eaten boiled cassava roots with fried egg finished off with Heinz tomato ketchup which you can now purchase in Brazil.

Yesterday was All Souls’ Day which here in Brazil is popularly known as the ‘Day of the Dead’. People flock to the cemeteries to visit their family tombs and masses galore are held.

Last night I led the Bible study service and Rafael brought the word from Joel 1 completing the chapter. Our daughter Sacha led the praise with Rogaciano on guitar. There were about 20 present. 

I have been without my laptop for 2 days as it had to go to be fixed as the sound would not work. Windows 11 had to be uninstalled and then re-installed. Hopefully it is now cured.

The men’s fellowship went well last night. Our meeting of 10 men was held at brother Tiago Medeiros’s house. We had a good time of fellowship, a nice time of sharing around God’s Word and a delicious snack was served to all at the end. 😋

Yesterday afternoon I had a nice walk at Green Pastures and saw many birds whilst there which included 15 Picui Ground Doves, 2 White-tipped Doves, 4 Caatinga Cacholotes, 1 Burrowing Owl, 1 White-naped Jay and 2 Pileated Finches. I also saw a medium sized Iguana. I also had a look at Francisco’s work planting giant cactuses which can be sold as cattle feed in a year’s time. This income will help to pay Francisco’s wage as Francisco takes care of Green Pastures on a day to day basis.

On Monday night a group from Patos (Rafael, Chico, Josinete, Iara & Marcia) went and held a service at Netinho and Nega’s farmstead to which 51 people gathered. PTL!

The EAB/ACEV Princesa Isabel church is the oldest of our churches going back to 1940 when Albert Mundy started the work there with great courage in the face of much persecution. Today it has 130 participants and is led by Pastor Gersé. It was a joy to travel the 145 km there on Saturday and to preach on Lucas 12:8-9 to a large crowd from a stage set up in the street in front of the church. We slept there after the service in a sort of “hotel” (at least that’s what they call it!) and it cost us 20 pounds. It wasn’t very clean but we were tired and managed to sleep well. We travelled back to Patos on the Sunday morning.

Back in Patos we had our usual Sunday lunch of egg, chips and peas and were ready for the main service of the week at 6:30 pm (9.30 pm UK time now that the clocks have changed). I led the service, the drama group did a 7-minute presentation and pastor Rafael preached. It was a good service after which the deaf fellowship sold passion fruit mousse to help with the expenses of our Care Centre building project.

We have completed the construction of Madalena and Anderson’s new toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis village. It is the first toilet this family has had in their lives.

QPR lost again on Saturday! This time they lost 2 x 1 to Leicester at home and had yet another man sent off! They’re bad enough with 11 men, but with 10 it is impossible. As I expected the manager was sacked after the game.

The midweek Bible study went well with about 20 present. We had the second study in the minor prophet Joel. For the praise we had Segundo, Joel and Michael and we also had 3 participations with ‘blessed verses of the Bible’ from Rayla, Dedé and Romildo.

We had a nice meeting with Pastor Rafael and his bride to be Rayla on December 30th, which is another wedding I will be conducting. They officially gave us the invitation to their wedding.

Later today we will be driving about two and a half hours south-west of Patos to Princesa Isabel where I will be preaching at the 83rd anniversary of our church there. We will sleep there tonight and drive back to Patos on Sunday morning. We value your prayers.

We have a lovely Wren regularly coming into our front room! 😃

Yesterday afternoon I went for a nice walk at Green Pastures. Everything is so terribly dry as we haven’t had rain for months now, and it is very hot too.

I have had some good meetings today with some pastors. First of all I had a lovely meeting with Pastor Wostenes who is the deputy leader of ACEV and the pastor of our biggest church in Campina Grande with 600 members. The meeting was most positive. Then I had a meeting with Pastor Iremar about the two churches he leads at João Pessoa Funcionários 3 and Salgado de São Felix Juá. The former has 15 adult members and 5 children. The latter has 10 adult members and 28 children. Please pray for these pastors.

On Tuesday night I travelled to the town of São Mamede with the Patos Men’s Fellowship where we held a street meeting to which 30 attended. I gave a short word and so did Chico. The main message was preached by Rafael. It was a nice meeting and one man expressed great interest in the Gospel after the service.

QPR lost yet again in their mid-week game away to West Brom! They lost 2 x 0 and had a man sent off. Very sad! 😒 They must be going to sack the manager soon.

I had a nice walk at Green Pastures and it was lovely to see the big Craibeira (Trumpet tree) trees in bright yellow blossom.

The 100th edition of EAB’s InTouch magazine is now available online at https://eabrazil.org/2023/10/25/intouch-100/. 

The Christmas Gift List is also available online at https://eabrazil.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/eab-giftlist2023.pdf

Another young man will be taken from Soledade to the rehabilitation centre near João Pessoa tomorrow. He is utterly dependent on alcohol. Please pray for his deliverance and salvation.

Sunday night’s main service of the week was very good with our young Bible College graduate Murilo preaching an excellent sermon from Hebrews 4:1-5 entitled ‘The cross and rest’. During the service we received 15 people into fellowship, 14 of whom had been baptized in the morning. We also had Psalm 46 recited by a sister called Dilma and a verse from Isaiah was recited by a little boy called Miguel. The church was full, but not overfull. 

Today is a public holiday in Patos alone as it is the anniversary of 120 years of Patos being set up as a town.

I was very pleased to see how our little Água Grande church is helping a man with severe mental health problems by setting him up with a small market garden to occupy him and give him a means of income. Please pray for this man.

I have just got home after baptizing 14 people at Green Pastures. It was a lovely service with a good crowd present. During the service I also prayed a blessing on a couple, Rogério and Samana, who wanted to renew their marriage vows on the day of their baptism. After the service we had a fellowship breakfast together. Everyone took something for the breakfast and shared it. It finished off nicely a lovely morning.

Yesterday we took part in the EAB AGM and celebration via internet and our son Philip was the preacher. It was a nice service. On the previous evening we also took part in the excellent EAB Board meeting.

On Saturday night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures. Our church also held services at Ipueira and Passagem, whilst the deaf held their weekly service in Patos.

Cadnam Methodist church held another concert in aid of EAB for which we are very grateful.

We held a meeting with Isaac and Marina whose marriage I will be conducting a week on Saturday.

You will not be surprised to know that yesterday QPR lost 2 x 1 at Huddersfield. That is the 4th defeat in a row and we continue in the Championship relegation zone. 😒

I will be taking part in an EAB Board meeting this afternoon (evening in the UK) which comes prior to the AGM and celebration tomorrow at Hardley, Southampton. We will also be taking part online in the celebration. We look forward to seeing you there.

I am posting a photo a day of our pastors on Facebook and Instagram. I have posted 27 so far. I hope you are following the series so that you can put a face to a name. I took the photos at the pastors’ conference at Green Pastures last month.

Liz went to the women’s fellowship meeting on Wednesday night. There were 17 there.

I have been preparing for the baptism at Green Pastures this Sunday at 8 am. We hold it early before it gets too hot. I have also been preparing to conduct another wedding on November 4th. I will be having a meeting with the couple (Isaac and Marina) tonight.

Last night’s Bible study went well. We started a new series in the minor prophet Joel. There were about 20 people there. 3 people also took part with ‘my Bible verse’ sharing with us a verse in the Bible that has recently been a blessing to them. These participations happen before the Bible study.   

On Monday evening a Gospel service was held at Chaguinha and Conceição’s house not far from Green Pastures, and Conceição made a decision of commitment to Christ, and she was given a Bible. Recently this couple received a hair sheep from our 4-Legs Project and as a result of this the couple asked for a service at their house.

Please pray for our well drilling project team who are trying to select the next community for our next well. A site was being considered in the county of Princesa Isabel but this has fallen through because it didn’t meet our criteria of the community having a minimum of 15 families living in it. The community leader had told us there were 19 families there, but our visits there showed there were only 9!

Our building work at the Care Centre is nearing its completion. Next job will be the painters.

I gave the Bible study in last night’s men’s fellowship which was an inductive study about who is Jesus, covering John 8:12, 10:9 and 11:25. There were 9 of us there and the participation of all was very good.

Statistics in from our annual youth conference in Campina Grande are that 155 took part. The Patos group (19) was the largest visiting group of participants. 

The next two families who will receive EAB/ACEV toilet/shower units at the village of Barra de Oitis, in Diamante County, have been selected. It is a difficult job choosing as the needs are so great but we can’t do them for everyone so we have to choose those in greatest need. First of all Maria Madalena, Anderson and their 3 children were selected. Secondly comes Jailma, Severino and their son Yan. Please pray for the successful and accident free construction of these units. The families are over the moon with joy!

On Saturday night I led the weekly service of the Green Pastures church, Fábio led the praise, and graduated Bible College student Murilo preached an excellent sermon on Matthew 22:1-14. It is a great encouragement to me to hear this young man preach.

The Sunday services went well too. Liz led the Sunday School in the morning and I led the main service of the week at night at which Pastor Rafael preached on Mark 5:21-43. It was a blessed service.

I have challenged our folk to memorize and recite Biblical passages in church and so far 2 adults and 1 child are showing signs of working on this. I hope perhaps on this coming Sunday we might have out first participant in this.

Thursday was a public holiday for the patron saint of Brazil who is Our Lady of the Apparition. We don’t believe in patron saints or in Our Lady but the day is also commemorated as Children’s Day which we make the most of. In the Patos church we held a lovely children’s service in the afternoon which was a joyful celebration of the love of Jesus with the clear proclamation of the Gospel. It was a joy to hear the children singing and to see them so happy. Of course they were all extra thrilled when they all received a big bag of sweets at the end!

Also on Thursday we had a surprise visit at Green Pastures of the Brazilian environmental organization who came with a drone to film and photograph our nature reserve which cares for God’s creation.

Our youth have their annual conference this weekend in Campina Grande. The conference is organized by our second church there in the borough of Presidente Médici.

I went for another walk at Green Pastures and brought back lemons and cashew fruits. I photographed a Pigmy Owl and a bright orange Campo Troupial. I also heard lots of Scaled Doves. 

I have been a missionary here for 51 years now but I have not lost the thrill of preaching the Gospel in open air services just like I first learnt to preach in Notting Hill and Hyde Park when I was a teenager at Peniel Chapel. On Tuesday night I went with the men’s fellowship to São Mamede and I preached to about 30 people sprawled out in the street about the authority of Jesus in teaching, over evil and over sickness from Mark 1:21-34. It was a lovely evening.

Yesterday I had a meeting with church leaders from a different denomination who wanted my advice on some matters. It was a good meeting.

Research that I did back in the year 2000 with the Patos Bible College about church history in the interior of northeast Brazil is now proving helpful for current day Bible College students. It is good to see one’s work being put to good use.

I had a good walk at Green Pastures and had a good look at the Moringa trees being harvested and pruned.

Liz went to the women’s fellowship meeting last night and there were 11 present. All went off smoothly. 

EAB’s annual celebration will be held on Saturday, October 21st with a fellowship tea at 6 pm and the service at 7 pm. It will be held as usual at the Lighthouse Community Church, Long Lane, Hardley, Southampton, SO45 3NZ. Our son Philip will be the speaker and Liz and I will also take part via a live link on internet. Please do attend this special Brazilian evening!

Our Itaporanga church, one and a quarter hour’s drive west of Patos, has held a youth conference which was really blessed of God. A good crowd of local young people took part.

On Sunday night I led the main service of the week in the Patos church and our youngest daughter Sacha preached on “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18). She preached very well. Sacha is doing a degree in theology at the ISBL Bible College and is becoming a very accomplished preacher of God’s word.

During the service a retired nurse gave a short talk as part of the ‘pink October’s breast cancer awareness month’. She was succinct and clear. Many of the women went to church dressed in pink as part of this day.