Categoria: News

On Friday night we took part in an important meeting of the EAB Board of Trustees. It was a very good meeting. It was held in Basingstoke.

On Saturday we took part in the annual EAB Celebration at Hardley, Southampton which was preceded by the delicious and usual fellowship tea. Both Liz and I spoke and Philip preached the word very well.

Yesterday I spoke at the Anglican Christ Church Chineham in Basingsoke. It was an excellent service.

After the service we went to Southampton for a lovely meal with Liz’s brother David and his wife Tania.

At the weekend at Princesa Isabel our church baptized 7 new converts. PTL! Please remember their local pastor in your prayers. His name is Gersé de Oliveira.

This Saturday (22nd) our EAB annual celebration will be held at the Lighthouse Community Church, Hardley, Southampton, SO45 3NZ. There will be a fellowship tea at 6 pm and the service will start at 7 pm. On Sunday we will be ministering at Christ Church Chineham in Basingstoke at 10 am.

Yesterday we spent a lovely day with Ken and Marian Rashleigh at the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. It was very interesting.

Today we had my sister Jean with us for lunch and a good chat. 

On Saturday night I chaired a general assembly of our pastors and leaders online. Unanimously we agreed to make a couple of alterations to our statutes increasing the mandate of the projects team from two years to four. We then chose the projects leadership team for the next 4 years. It was an excellent meeting.

Prior to this on Saturday Philip and family took us to High Wycombe to visit our brother-in-law Laurence who is in care. He looked very well and was totally lucid. Before the visit we had a nice lunch with my sister Joy.

Yesterday we spent the day in Bristol care of our friend Marian. We ministered at the Ivy church in the morning and at the PHC in the evening. We had a lovely lunch in between thanks to Pastor Phil Watkins and his wife Shirley. Then we had a tea at the PHC. It was an excellent day. Marian drove us home in the rain.

Today sees the start of our annual EAB/ACEV Youth Conference which will end on Sunday. This year it is being held at Lagoa Seca near Campina Grande under the responsibility of the youth of the first church of EAB/ACEV in the borough of Catolé in Campina Grande. About 200 young people are expected for the event. Please pray.

I have just concluded the reading of the book ‘Take Care of Yourself’ written by Christian Psychiatrist Pablo Martinez from Spain. It is a good book which advocates a balanced life style for Christian leaders with enough rest and holidays, regular walks amongst nature, and plenty of quiet times with God, God’s Word and good books. 

Yesterday we had the very pleasant visit of my brother-in-law Jon and my sister-in-law Eunice. We had a very good chat and a lovely meal provided by Gylmara.

Yesterday the children of our Green Pastures School commemorated “Children’s Day” with a lovely day in the swimming pool together with their families. They have already communicated to me their gratitude and happiness with their special day.

October 12th is a public holiday in Brazil because it is the day of the patron saint of Brazil “Our Lady of Aparecida”. We do not recognize this but do recognize it as “Children’s Day” which is also held on this day. In the light of this the Patos church will hold a special evangelistic children’s service this afternoon. Many other EAB/ACEV churches will commemorate this day with special activities for children. Please pray. “Of such is the kingdom of heaven”.

Yesterday we travelled to Devizes in the County of Wiltshire to minister at the Rock Community Church in the morning. It was an excellent service followed by a lovely lunch at Pastor David Fiddy’s house. We then travelled for 20 minutes to Calne, Swindon, to visit our nephew Andy and his wife Jane.

On Saturday we travelled to Andover to get our grandson Luiz’s hair cut at a children’s hair dressers which has model cars for the children to sit in whilst having their hair cut. We followed that with a good walk at a local Lakes nature reserve.

EAB’s 84th annual celebration will be held at the Lighthouse Community Church, Hardley, Southampton on Saturday, 22nd October at 6 pm (fellowship tea) and at 7 pm (service). Pastor Philip Medcraft will be the principal speaker, but both Liz and I will also speak. If you live in the Southampton region then please be there with us!

Please pray for the EAB/ACEV Leadership Conference to be held from November 25th to 27th at the Green Pastures Nature Reserve. This conference is principally a time for fellowship between our pastors and their families. Our conference in May is more for business meetings. If you would like to help our poorer pastors and those from small churches to attend the conference then please send your donations to the EAB treasurer.  

The well drilling at Coletas hit abundant water on the second attempt. The drilling at Minadouro hit a low quantity of water on the first attempt. Thank you for praying.

EAB/ACEV will be drilling two wells today. One will be in the Coletas Community in the County of Imaculada and the other will be in the Minadouro Community in the County of Tavares. Each drilling will go down 50 metres through granite rock. Our prayer is that we will hit water in both places.

Yesterday we had another lovely afternoon and evening with my sister Joy who came from High Wycombe to Basingstoke where we are staying with our son Philip and family.

The first round of the election in Brazil ended up as I expected with a run-off second round between ex-president Lula and the current president Bolsonaro. The second round will be on October 30th. Please pray for democracy to prevail. 

Yesterday we were at Danbury Mission in Essex. We spoke in the morning service. After church we took part in a lovely fellowship lunch at Geoff and Maggy Spence’s house. Maggy is chair of the Danbury Missionary Committee. Members of the committee were also at the lunch. Hence we also had a long chat together about the work of God in Brazil. It was a lovely day.

On the way home from Danbury to Basingstoke we went through central London to see the sights of the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the City and the West End. We also called by Philip’s old school, my old school and our old family house in Highlever Road, North Kensington. 

October is upon us and tomorrow (2nd) we will be speaking at Danbury Mission in Essex at 10:00 am. Next Sunday (9th) we will be at Devizes in Wiltshire at 10:00 am. On the following Sunday (16th) we will be at the Ivy Church, Bristol at 10 am and at Bristol PHC at 5:00 pm. On Saturday (22nd) it will be the EAB annual celebration at the Lighthouse Communion church at 6:00 pm. On the Sunday (23rd) we will be at Christ Church, Basingstoke at 10 am. On Sunday (30th) we will be speaking at Emmanuel Church, Thamesmead, Kent at 11 am. We value your prayers.  

We have had a lovely afternoon of fellowship with our friend Marian Rashleigh. We had a lovely meal together. It was lovely chatting over the work of God both in Brazil and in the UK. Marian will kindly be driving us to Bristol on October 16th and to Thamesmead on the 30th. On the other weekends it will be our son Philip driving us to our engagements. We value your prayers.

Please pray for the Brazilian general election to be held this Sunday (2nd). Please pray that whoever wins may democracy prevail and may it be a peaceful day

Today we had a lovely time of fellowship around coffee/tea and biscuits with the writer Mike Hollow who lives in Basingstoke. He is the author of the Blitz Detective series of which I have read all and await a new book! Mike used to work for Tearfund and has been in our house in Brazil. If you want a good series of detective books to relax with I highly recommend Mike Hollow. Our chat today helped us catch up with family, church and mission news.

On Friday we had a lovely day with the visit of my younger sister and nurse Joy. Joy lives in High Wycombe but we met up at my older sister’s house (Jean who is a music teacher) in Basingstoke. It was especially good to see Joy as we hadn’t seen each other for 7 years. We caught up on all the family news. It was great. We all ate fish and chips together in the evening and Joy and I managed get lost in Basingstoke trying to return to my sister Jean’s house after eating. We laughed till we cried!

On Saturday we went out with Philip, Gylmara and the boys to Gunnersbury Park, Ealing, London. First of all we went to the neighbouring cemetery where we put flowers on our late son Johnny’s grave. Then we had a picnic in the park and the boys played on the playground before we went walking and visiting the museum. 

Today Sunday I spoke at the MCC (Millbrook Christian Centre). It was a lovely service. Pastor Mark Starbuck is the minister there.

On Tuesday night Liz and I spent a lovely evening with Ben & Miriam Price who live in Basingstoke. Miriam is Brazilian and Ben is English and they have 2 grown up children: Josias who is 20 and Ana who is 17. Ben and Miriam worked with EAB/ACEV during quite a few years. We had a great meal together and a good chat about the work of God in Brazil as well as catching up with all the families news.

This coming Sunday we will be speaking at Millbrook Christian Centre, Southampton at 10:15 am. On the following Sunday (2nd) we will be at the Danbury Mission, Essex at 10 am. On Sunday (9th) we will be at the Rock Community Church at Devizes, Wiltshire at 10 am. On the 16th (Sunday) we will be at Bristol Ivy Church at 10 am and at Bristol P.H. Church at 6:30 pm. On Friday (21st) we will take part in an EAB Board meeting in Basingstoke at 7:30 pm. On Saturday (22nd) we will take part in the annual EAB Celebration at 6 pm (refreshments) and 7 pm (service). It will be held at the Lighthouse Community Church at Hardley, Southampton. On Sunday (23rd) we will be at Chineham Christ Church, Basingstoke at 10 am. On Sunday (30th) we will be at the Thamesmead Baptist Church in Kent at 11 am. We will return to Brazil on November 2nd. 

We will be leading the EAB/ACEV Leadership Conference at Green Pastures from the 25th to 27th of November. 

We value your prayers for all our travels and activities. 

Yesterday we spoke at 2 churches. In the morning it was at the Cadnam Methodist Church in the New Forest. I both led the service and spoke. It was a lovely service. We had lunch with Howard and Hillary Babey from the church and from there went on to West Wellow Chapel where we spoke at night. Prior to the service we had tea with Neil and Naomi Parsons. In the service both Liz and I spoke. It was another very good service.

On Saturday Philip & Gylmara took us to Thatcham Nature Reserve where we had a nice walk amidst nature. It was a very nice day.

Today we watched the Queen’s funeral on TV. All was impeccably done with great precision. The Queen’s faith was emphasized a lot which was good.   

Our time in Europe has coincided with the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. She died when we were in Switzerland and for the funeral we are in England. It certainly gives us a strong feeling of British culture and the amazing ability to organize immaculately ceremonies with split second timing and perfection.

We have just been told that last week David Moses OBE died. David was a member of EAB’s Board of Trustees many years ago. We convey our deepest sympathies to the family.

We had lunch with my sister Jean, her daughter Lisa and her daughter Isla on Tuesday afternoon. We enjoyed a lovely chat. It was a sweet time of family fellowship.

Last night we had a nice time of fellowship with Ben & Miriam Price. Miriam is Brazilian and she and her husband Ben have worked with us in Brazil in the past. 

We left Tschiertschen in the Swiss Alps on Sunday at 1 pm and flew from Zurich to Heathrow arriving in Basingstoke about 9 pm. Heathrow was chaotic but we survived. We are staying in England at our son Philip’s house.

On Monday afternoon we had a lovely visit from our great friend Marian Rashleigh. We chatted about the work of God in Brazil and brought her up to date with all the latest news. Our daughter-in-law Gylmara served us up with a lovely evening meal together.

Any communications with us whilst in England can be made at 34, Britten Road, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4HP or via our usual email address of john.medcraft@gmail.com 

This coming Sunday we will be speaking at Cadnam Methodist Church in the morning and at West Wellow Chapel in the evening. We look forward to seeing you if you live in the area.

Friday, here in Switzerland, was Liz’s brother’s official celebration of his 70th birthday. He was 70 in March of last year but the family celebration was postponed owing to the Covid pandemic. Liz and I were part of a group of 17 who gathered to celebrate Sam’s big birthday at the Tamina Gorge, cave, thermal water font and restaurant. Sam and his wife Gerti, and their 2 children Matthias and Linda with their partners, were all there plus his sisters and brother and their spouses, plus 3 of Gerti’s family. We visited the gorge and cave where there is a fast flowing river and after this we had a wonderful meal together. We restate our warmest wishes for many happy returns to Sam! Sam and Gerti are strong EAB supporters.

Our flight to England will be today. It was to have been on Saturday but the flight was cancelled by British Airways.

Yesterday was Liz’s birthday. Her brother Sam arranged a surprise birthday breakfast for her at a nearby farm followed by a morning watching the farm workers making cheese. It was very interesting. At the breakfast there were a dozen types of cheese on offer!

On the previous day we visited Switzerland’s grand canyon which has some spectacular scenery.

We were saddened by the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death yesterday. She is surely with the Lord.

News from Brazil is good with 6 people being baptized at our second church at Princesa Isabel in the borough of Maia. Another person was baptized at Tavares. PTL! 

We continue to enjoy a nice time in Switzerland. Liz’s sister Eunice and her husband Jon arrived from London and Liz’s brother David and his wife Tania have arrived from Southampton. Yesterday we had a nice cultural day with a meal together with some of the villagers here. One played a traditional small piano accordion and another played an alpine horn which was quite enormous. Today we visited the Swiss grand canyon which was beautiful. We will be staying here until Sunday when we will fly to London.

We are in constant contact with Brazil and all is well in the churches. Please pray for the survival of democracy as the general election fast approaches on October 2nd.  

We left Patos on Friday at 12.15 pm. Our daughter Lynn and her husband Hutan drove us to Recife airport where we arrived about 7 pm after very heavy traffic in and around Recife. Our first flight to Lisbon (10:20 pm) left a little late and we arrived in Lisbon 10 minutes behind schedule. It was a long tiring night but the trip was fine. We caught our second flight from Lisbon to Zurich which ran about 1 hour late and arrived in Zurich at 5 pm. Sam (Liz’s brother) was there to meet us and drive us the 2 and a half hours up the Swiss alps to Tschiertschen where Sam and his wife live in a beautiful chalet. Today we are having a nice restful day.

Tomorrow Liz’s brother David and her sister Eunice and their spouses are arriving from England in the afternoon. Also arriving from England will be Sam’s best friend Tony Lane with his wife Tricia. This week is Sam’s 70th birthday celebrations. The only one of the brothers and sisters not coming will be the youngest sister Esther.

Liz and I will catch a flight from Recife to Zurich via Lisbon later today. We count on your prayers. We will arrive in Zurich tomorrow afternoon and stay in Switzerland till September 11th. We will then fly to London. We will remain in England until November 2nd when we will return to Brazil (DV). We are looking forward to a nice break.

While we are away in Europe Pastor Wostenes (deputy chairman) will be in charge of the work in general. Pastor Rafael (assistant pastor) will be in charge of the Patos church together with its daughter churches at Ipueira, Green Pastures, Passagem and at the school in the borough of Jatobá in Patos. Please especially pray for these pastors.

On Monday night we held an excellent meeting of the senior leadership team of the Patos church together with the leaders of the various ministries. In all there were 17 present. This was a preparational meeting for our time away as from this Friday. We had rich discussions within a lovely spirit of unity. As from this Friday, when we fly to Switzerland, the overall leadership will be in the hands of assistant pastor Rafael supported by everyone in this group. We value your prayers.

Last night the Men’s Fellowship took a lovely service on the farm which belongs to Fred and Marileide which is not far from Green Pastures. At the end of the service a man called Francisco came to the front to rededicate his life to God. Praise the Lord!

The Saturday night weekly service at Green Pastures went off very well. I led the service and Bible College student Murilo preached the Gospel from 1 John 1:5-7. Murilo will graduate at the end of the year and he is already giving a very good word. Philip led the worship. How we will miss him after he returns to England today. People who also took part with solos were Dodora, Júlio, Nega, Paulo Silas and his younger brother Josué. Micaelle did the Bible reading. All this was neatly packed in to 1 hour and 5 minutes of service.

Last night’s main service of the week went very well. I led it, Philip brought a word of farewell to the church and Rafael preached from John 4:43-54. The church was full. We received 13 new members into fellowship. 9 were those recently baptized and 4 were transfers from other places. 

On Thursday night Philip did an online serenade of old time hymns. He has an amazingly good memory. It was done on Facebook and YouTube. Philip did these live serenades during the height of the pandemic, but this time he decided to repeat the format. It was warmly received by people from all over Brazil. The serenade lasted for two and three quarter hours with many people placing requests for their favourite hymns. 

This week’s men’s fellowship meeting took a nice little service at the ex-landless community of Nossa Senhora de Aparecida II in São Mamede County which is 6 km north of Green Pastures. 

My assistant pastor Rafael has become engaged to a young lawyer from our church called Rayla Rodrigues. Rayla is part of the youth leadership. Rafael and Rayla have asked me to conduct a little ceremony this Friday night to officially celebrate their engagement so I have been preparing for this. I have never done an engagement ceremony before. I have conducted countless weddings, but never an engagement. The ceremony on Friday will be followed by a party.

Petrol stations in Brazil put the petrol in your car for you. I called in to one to fill up my jeep with petrol and the silly attendant put 12 litres of diesel in before he realized his mistake. My jeep is now at a garage to drain the petrol tank. What a pain!

I have just done a reference for a young woman called Anna Beatriz from the Patos church who is applying to work as a volunteer next year at Ashburnham Place which is a Christian Conference Centre in East Sussex, England. Please pray for her. 

On Sunday morning we baptized 9 new converts from the Patos church including our granddaughter Beatriz and our grandson Lucas. The service was held at the Green Pastures pool because there everyone can see the baptisms well. After the beautiful service we had a lovely fellowship breakfast for the large crowd from the church present.

On Sunday night a special thanksgiving service was held for our 50 years ministry here in Brazil. The church was packed out. Pastor Lindon Carlos came from Imaculada. Philip led the service and spoke. There were video messages from Pastors Kleber Lucas (Rio de Janeiro), Carlos Queiroz (Fortaleza), Antonio Carlos Costa (Rio de Janeiro) and various ACEV/EAB pastors. There were also international video messages from Roy Dyer, Marian Rashleigh and my 2 sisters Jean and Joy. The service was a lot longer than usual as all the ministries’ leaders spoke too. At the end there were savouries, cake and pop drink for all. It was a lovely evening.    

Liz’s sister Esther, her daughter Sabrina and her husband Daniel plus their children Lorenzo and Sofia have come from João Pessoa for Louisa and Tiago’s wedding.

Friday morning’s encounter of our seniors went very well. They all were quite boisterous and sent me a little video with a loud “Good morning”!

Friday night’s wedding went off absolutely beautifully. I conducted the wedding and Philip brought an excellent word from the sermon on the mount. The ceremony only started half an hour late which by Brazilian standards was pretty good.

Saturday was our youngest daughter Sacha’s 36th birthday and we all had lunch together in a restaurant. At night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures which went off very well. 

It is always so encouraging to see the youth praying on a Monday evening here. Each week their number varies between 9 and 11 and usually has more participants than the parallel adult prayer group. On Tuesday the Men’s fellowship met and Pastor Lucena was present which was nice. He is the retired Congregational pastor who is now a member of our Patos church. However he has now moved away to Recife. He is here this week for Louisa and Tiago’s wedding. On Wednesday the Women’s fellowship had 11 participants and there was also a good number at the midweek service at our Patos school. Then last night 40 gathered to the Bible study. 

This Friday night I will be conducting the wedding of our granddaughter Louisa to Tiago. I have been preparing the ceremony today. The wedding will take place at the Patos Water Play on the eastern outskirts of Patos. The ceremony will be authorized by the judge to be both legally binding as well as Christian.

Liz is to counsel two women later today. Both are new in the faith and need help. Please pray. Liz ended up counselling one of the women for two hours. The other will be on another day.

Mateus and Hortencia are the couple in their twenties that have taken on the leadership of our Soledade church. Both are graduates in theology and Mateus is also a physics teacher. Please pray for this couple.  

We have just received the visit of one of our pastors (I can’t give his name) who came to thank us for the changed situation in his ministry and church. He came to us some months back when he was very discouraged and low. We counselled him and prayed with him and today he came to give us the good news of a change for the better. His wife, who was lower in spirit than him, has a new lease of life too. Thank you for your prayers.

Yesterday was Father’s Day in Brazil and it was exactly 20 years ago that my dear Father went to be with the Lord. In Patos we held a special Father’s Day service in which both Philip and myself preached. I led the service.

On Saturday night I both led and preached the Gospel in the weekly Green Pastures service. I preached on “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). Philip led the worship.

Liz and I will be flying to Zurich via Lisbon on September 2nd and 3rd. We will stay in Switzerland until September 11th when we will fly to England. Whilst in the UK we will speak at the following churches: Sep. 18th – Cadnam Methodist at 10:30 am + West Wellow Chapel at 18:00; Sep. 25th – Millbrook Christian Centre (Southampton) at 10:15 am; Oct. 2nd – Danbury Mission at 10:30 am; Oct. 9th – Rock Community Church, Devizes at 10 am; Oct. 16th – Bristol PHC at 17:00; Oct. 21st – EAB Board Meeting in Basingstoke at 19:30; Oct. 22nd – EAB annual celebration in Lighthouse Community Church at Hardley near Southampton at 18:00; Oct. 23rd – Christ Church Chineham, Basingstoke at 10 am; Oct. 30th – Emmanuel Baptist Church in Thamesmead at 10:30 am. Our return flights to Brazil are on November 2nd. We value your prayers.

Our wheelchairs bank for the poor has a very fast turnover. Yesterday we received one back from Socorro Help’s sister and today it has already been loaned out again to a neighbour of our Patos school suffering with a broken leg.

Today the Patos Town Council voted unanimously in favor of a special “motion of applause” for my 50 years as a pastor in Patos. The motion was proposed by Councilor José Gonçalves. I am honored and give all the glory to God.

Our church at Ibiara held a baptismal service when 3 young people were baptized by local pastor Betinho. Praise God with us for this. 

On Tuesday night our Patos Men’s Fellowship led a beautiful service at Nega’s farmstead not far from Green Pastures. A good little crowd of 40 people gathered to hear the gospel. We were pleasantly surprised to see Tarcísio and his new lady friend there as since Tarcísio’s wife died about 2 years ago he has grown cold spiritually. Tarcísio used to be the leader of the church at Green Pastures.

The main service of the week starts at 6:30 pm and it went very well. I led the overall service and Sacha led the praise and worship. Philip was on bass guitar as the regular player was away. Rogaciano was on guitar and Netinho on drums. Marina, Sacha and Philip were on vocals. Rafael preached the Gospel from John 2:1-11.

Last week it rained 26 mm (just over an inch) which is quite unusual for the month of August. We are very grateful to God for a well above average amount of rainfall this year at Green Pastures. This year at Green Pastures it has rained 1,097 mm whereas the average rainfall is 702 mm. Add to this 96 mm in December means that this rainy season we have had no less than 1,193 mm of rain!

I have been working on the final stages of my book in Portuguese about the first 80 years of history of the work here between 1938 and 2018. The layout is now all done and the book will be published this year (DV). We’re just clearing up the final little details.

Last night I led the weekly service at Green Pastures and young lawyer Rayla preached the Gospel. Philip led the praise and worship and Josa, Linda and Rafael served the communion. Luis, Fred, Paulo Silas and Dora also took part with solos. Luis  (our six-year-old grandson) sang a song about Jesus from Galilee and brought the house down at the end when he bowed because everyone clapped him! It was a lovely service. Earlier in the day Philip photographed a beautiful Coral venomous snake. 

I have finished reading the book ‘The Murder at Pimlico’ by Mike Hollow. It is a very good relaxing read. It is the sixth book in the Blitz Detective series which I highly recommend. I got to know the author many moons ago through Tearfund. One word of warning however. The author is a West Ham supporter! But of course nobody is perfect. 

 I can never remember seeing rain in our region in the month of August and I’ve been here a long time. However yesterday it rained 9 mm and today it has rained 10 mm so far! We are amazed. I went out to Green Pastures for a walk but it was a case of rain stopped walk. I fed the chickens with our home food left overs, picked up the eggs and some delicious curd. The latter we had for our evening meal.

On the 3rd of August 1972 I set my foot in Brazil for the first time. I have much to thank God for over these 50 years of service. In 1972 I landed at Recife airport with Liz and 4 month old baby Deborah. We were met by Frank and Ivy Dyer who drove us to Patos. Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Sister Nelsinha went to be with the Lord today at Lymington, UK. Nelsinha was 97 years old and Brazilian who was led to the Lord by the late EAB missionary Frank Dyer at Hardley back in the 1960’s. We praise God for Nelsinha’s life and pray for her family at this time.

I have had discussions with Sister Nenem who leads our church at São Vicente do Seridó. The church will now go back to holding their main Sunday service in the evening. It has been held in the afternoon these last months owing to a wave of violence in the town, but the situation has now improved.

I have prepared two sermons. One is for Father’s Day which is on the second Sunday in August in Brazil. This will mean it is on the 14th which will be the 20th anniversary of my dear Father’s death. The other sermon is for a normal Sunday.  

Liz is recovering well from her hysterectomy surgery. The surgeon was a lovely Christian woman and the anesthetist was excellent too. Both were both competent in the surgery and gentle and kind in the pre-surgery and post-surgery periods.

Last night Philip preached in the Patos church. He preached a clear Gospel message. I led the service, the children sang a song and the drama group did a short evangelistic sketch. We called yesterday’s service “The Friends’ Service” and everyone was challenged to invite a friend. We had 41 visitors as a result! We sold hot dogs at the end and raised 100 pounds for the building work being done at the Care Centre.

Thank you for your prayers for our grandson John David with Covid. He is much better and has just received a negative test back. He just feels tired and weak now.

Our travelling grandson Arthur in Germany has been to a concert by the singer from New Zealand called Lorde. He had booked his place for this online. I looked up Lorde on Google as I had never heard of her! She has a nice voice and sings good songs which I can understand. 😃

We are very grateful for those who have contributed to our airfares for our trip to Europe in the autumn. Airfares are now very high from Brazil to Europe. TAP is clearly making up for all the money lost in the pandemic! 25% of the total cost has thus far been covered by designated gifts. May God bless you. 

We are very sad about the awful state of the young man on drugs from our Patos church. He has gone right back into drugs and booze this week in the St John’s festival. Please pray for him. It is heartbreaking to see him like this.

I am reading another book called ‘Bacon sandwiches and salvation’ by Adrian Plass. I am experimenting reading it on Kindle which belongs to Louisa. The book is good to relax with and is full of corny jokes with Christian connections like: What is doctrine? Answer: It’s what they do up at the health centre. The book has some serious Christian content too.

This week in Patos is the big St John’s festival and Patos has been bubbling with excitement for days now. Every night of the week there are free very late night shows held in an open area near the centre of Patos. The shows go on for most of the night every night. Evangelical Christians do not take part in the festival. 

Over the coming weekend (24th to 26th) we will be holding a youth camp at Green Pastures with between 80 and 100 people taking part. Please pray for this event.

Sunday’s service went off fine with Sunday school for all ages in the morning and the preaching of God’s word at night. The children’s slot at night was beautiful with them singing a lovely song. 

Liz and I have had a long meeting with a young man from the church. It was a session of counselling, listening and prayer. This young man, whom I will not name, has been addicted to the drug Cocaine since last year. He went all through his story with us telling us how he turned to drink upon the death of his mother and this eventually led to illegal drugs. His addiction started when he lived on the coast and he came to our church at the end of last year. Please pray for this young man. 

We have now booked our flights to Europe in the autumn. God willing we will leave Brazil on September 2nd. We will arrive in Zurich via Lisbon on the afternoon of September 3rd. We will fly to London on September 10th. Our return flights to Brazil are booked for November 2nd. Please pray for our travels and pray for a refreshing time in Switzerland and the UK. 

I guided another school year round the Green Pastures nature trails on Friday. This time it was the Cristo Rei school run by Roman Catholic nuns which is the school Liz once went to and which our granddaughter Alice now goes to. The students were exceptionally polite and well behaved. It is always a joy to influence young people to appreciate God’s creation and to care for it.

Our grandson John David has just gone down with Covid. Please pray for him and us all at this time. He is studying to be a medical doctor in João Pessoa but came to Patos yesterday. He has tested positive for Covid today. 

On Tuesday Liz and I went to visit one of our senior ladies called Socorro Help! She is extremely lonely and wanted to tell us about all her family problems. We patiently listened to her for an hour. Such meetings remind us of Eleanor Rigby’s “all the lonely people”. She was like a different person after we listened to her, gave her some advice and had a time of prayer with her. Bless her heart!

I have been doing a lot of administrative work this week and have had important discussions with Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa.

Liz and I have been dealing with some problems which have arisen with the Patos worship group. 

A Guardian journalist called Dom Phillips has been murdered in the Amazon region and his body was cut up in pieces. He and a Brazilian were targeted as they were investigating corruption, deforestation and things being done against indigenous indians in the area. The Brazilian was killed as well. President Bolsonaro has insinuated his support for those who ordered the killings. President Bolsonaro said yesterday that “Jesus Christ only didn’t have a gun because they weren’t available at the time”. How Christians can vote for this man is beyond me!

On Monday I was the guide to the 45 Year Five students of the Fera School at Green Pastures. I was up at 6 am and the trail started at 8:30 and lasted for 2 hours. I led the students round the trails and talked to them about the different trees, plants, birds and animals in a place which is totally dedicated to preservation. I told the students how I first got my love for nature from my parents and in year one at Oxford Gardens Primary School where we used to hear a nature programme on the BBC every Friday afternoon. The idea of these school trips is to awaken interest in God’s creation amongst children. It was amazing how quickly they tired today on our walk. Children just don’t seem used to physical exercise any more.

Danrlei is 15 and the son of the Patos church firefighter. He got his parents to take him up the mountain to our Teixeira church as he wanted to officially ask the hand in courtship of the local pastor’s daughter (also 15) called Emmily. All went off well so we now have another happy couple! All this happened on Saint Anthony’s Day which is our equivalent of Valentine’s Day.

On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures for the local farm workers and it went well though numbers were down. Louisa led the worship accompanied by Rogaciano. Lindinalva sang a solo, Chico brought a short word of greeting and Rafael preached the Word. 

Liz and I had a good heart to heart talk to the young woman in our church who had expressed homosexual tendencies. She confessed her sin and asked for forgiveness in tears. We explained to her the Biblical position on the matter and we had a time of prayer with her. It was a lovely meeting. It makes such a difference when people are ready and willing to submit to God’s word.

Last night I led the main service of the week and we had Pastor Ângelo as a visiting speaker. He is a very good preacher. He is the pastor that resigned from our Soledade church and he is without a church at the moment.

A young man (I won’t give his name to be on the safe side), who was addicted to Cocaine and is now a member of the Patos church, has sadly slipped back to using the drug. This is not Valério (another member) who has been free of Cocaine for nearly 6 years now. Please pray for the young man who has slipped back to drugs.

Another problem has come to light. A young mother (she is new to our church and not a member)  has left her husband saying she wants to live with a woman who is a member our church. Please pray as we handle this delicate matter with the young mother. Our affected church member told us about the problem. Homosexuality is rampant here these days.

The Thursday night Bible study went well despite numbers being well down to 25 which is about half of the number on a good night. The Men’s Fellowship meeting on Tuesday and the Women’s Fellowship meeting on Wednesday both had low numbers too.

Our projects team has held another meeting this week with the community leaders at Santo Agostinho in Teixeira County with the possibility of us drilling a well there in mind. The community has 164 families with 156 women, 156 men and 112 children. They stand in great need of a permanent clean water supply. Santo Agostinho is 18 km from the town of Teixeira up in the mountains. It is an area which is difficult to hit water in when drilling. 30 years ago I knew nothing about drilling wells but now I have a fair old bit of experience!

This week our granddaughter Louisa (who lives with us) received her identity card as a lawyer from the Order of Brazilian Lawyers (OAB). Liz and I went to the presentation ceremony at the Order’s headquarters in Patos. We felt very proud of her. When students here finish their law degree they have to sit two independent exams set by the OAB and only then can they exercise their profession.

I have been having some important meetings with pastors Wostenes and Hamilton in Campina Grande to discuss problems with two of our pastors. The issues then went on to be discussed by the whole leadership team.

Liz and eldest daughter Deborah are at Sandra’s house. It is a very difficult and sad case as she has Down’s syndrome and is in her 40s. She is a special case who is helped by a church in the UK. She is currently groaning all the time as if she was in pain. If medication doesn’t kick in soon she will have to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Campina Grande as we don’t have one in Patos. Please pray for Sandra. Pray too for her sister and her husband who are her carers and are exausted.