Categoria: News

 On Sunday afternoon Tiago (our granddaughter Louisa’s fiancé) had a nasty accident driving his father’s car in a narrow one-way street in Patos. A drunk driver came up the street the wrong way and they had a head-on collision. Happily nobody was injured, but there ensues a legal battle to get the man who caused the accident to pay for the repairs. The drunk driver left the scene of the crash so as to avoid being breathalyzed and left his car to be towed away by the police. 

Sunday’s services went off well in Patos. At night assistant pastor Rafael preached on attitudes of the Prodigal son’s brother comparing him to someone lost in the church. I led the service. The worship group had to sing with play-back as Tiago (first guitarist) was too shaken up by his accident to play, second guitarist Rogaciano was ill and third guitarist Lucas was away at university. 

Over the weekend we had some more excellent rain with a total of 41 mm which is just short of 2 inches at Green Pastures. This takes our total this rainy season up to an amazing 1,144 mm (47.6 inches).

The Campina Grande Men’s retreat ended well on Sunday afternoon at Green Pastures. Everyone left with much happiness and thanks. Pastor Wostenes left a bit early as he had to preach at night in Campina Grande.

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Our front gate bell stopped working and as suspected the problem was caused by giant ants called ‘taiócas’ which produce a glue-like substance which causes a short circuit. This is the second time we have had to put in a new bell. Then in Liz’s office a swarm of micro-ants called ‘cupim’ have eaten a cupboard!

I have just finished reading ‘A Better Story’ by Christian psychiatrist Glynn Harrison. It is a very good book which discusses how Christians should address the subject of sex and marriage today.

Please pray for our sign language expert Geralda who is really poorly with the virus Chikungunya. I am also glad to report that Carlos is recovering well from Dengue fever.

The death toll in the Recife floods/landslide has sadly reached 128.

On Friday the seniors morning went very well with a nice Bible reflection from Pastor Rafael and boy didn’t they eat at food time! In the evening deaf pastor Luiz Carlos carried on teaching sign language to some new learners who are progressing well. 

Yesterday I went to Green Pastures to speak to the Campina Grande men’s retreat being held there from Friday to Sunday. There are about 60 men taking part and it is being blessed.

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In Patos our weeknight services are as follows: prayer on Mondays, men’s fellowship on Tuesdays, women’s fellowship on Wednesdays as well as a service at our church plant at the school, Bible study on Thursdays, seniors morning on Fridays with a sign language course at night, and youth meeting, deaf meeting, Christians in Action at Ipueira and a service at Green Pastures on Saturdays.

Covid is back on the increase in Patos and schools are asking for masks to be warn again by their students. Liz and I are wearing masks again to church. 

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The month of May ended on a lovely wet note with 36 mm (one and a half inches) of rain at Green Pastures bringing the total for the month to 92 mm and the wonderful total for the rainy season to 1,103 mm. This is the best wet season that I can remember. Thank you for your prayers.

The Patos men’s fellowship was going to take a service in São Mamede yesterday but that was postponed owing to the rain.

Our 12-year-old granddaughter Beatriz (known as Bia) is quite an athlete. She is captain of her school’s volleyball team who won the Patos championship and they are now going to play the João Pessoa champions. 

Thank you for praying for Jaciara who had a premature baby. Both mother and baby are now fine and have been released from the Patos maternity hospital and returned to Princesa Isabel.

Please pray for Carlos from our Patos church who has gone down with Dengue fever. 

We are busy preparing Green Pastures for the Campina Grande – Catolé’s men’s fellowship retreat which will start on Friday.

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As soon as Liz saw a photo of monkeypox on the BBC she said: “That’s smallpox”! Liz nearly died with smallpox here when she was 11-years-old. As it happens monkeypox and smallpox are closely related viruses. As far as I know we have not had an outbreak of it here in Brazil yet, but many countries have them.

Sadly 46-year-old Isaque Macena died in his sleep last week. He was a young man who had problems with drink and drugs and we had helped him go to the drug rehab centre a few months ago but he soon left.

The EAB magazine “InTouch” edition number 97 will soon be with everyone by post. It is already available on the EAB website at www.eabrazil.org. 

By faith we are to launch another new little EAB Action school at the very needy village of Água Grande in Santana de Mangueira County. The leader there is Sandra Nogueira. Please pray for this new venture. 

The folk at our Conference laid on a surprise tribute for me for my 50 years as an EAB/ACEV pastor. Even Philip took part by internet from England. It was lovely. 

My book on the first 80 years of EAB/ACEV history in Portuguese will soon be published as a result of our Conference. For there was a brother there who works at a suitable printers in Campina Grande who is to help me with this. 

Sadly flash flooding and landslides have caused 91 deaths in Recife owing to the extraordinary high rainfall there all in one go.  

I preached on Sunday night in Patos. I preached on “Being like Jesus” from Philippians 2. On the Saturday night I led the closing conference service and conducted the ordination ceremony.

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I have just got home from our general conference held at Green Pastures and it was very good. We did and discussed the following matters:

We ordained three new young pastors – Fabrício Junior, Leandro and Roberto. We discussed the possible probationary status as pastors of Cleyton and Naldinho. We removed two people (Renildo and Tania) from our ministers list. It was decided that Mateus and Hortência will take on the leadership of our Soledade church as from July. Much praise went up for news of the Vazante and Barra de Oitis churches which are growing very well in their respective villages. It was decided that all EAB/ACEV ministers will be issued with identity cards to give them access for hospital chaplaincy work.

It was decided that the Soledade, São Vicente do Seridó and Juazeirinho churches will now be part of the Campina Grande administrative region. Excellent news was shared about EAB’s Action Child schools with well over 700 pupils now being blessed by this project being given extra help with their education.

Our national missions’ Sunday this year will be on the 4th September which is the nearest Sunday to September 2nd when our founders first set foot in Brazil. It was decided that our Youth Conference will be from 28 to 30 October in Campina Grande. It was decided that our leaders’ conference this year will be as usual at Green Pastures from the 25th to 27th of November after we have returned from Europe. It was decided that next year’s general conference will be held at Campina Grande – Catolé, in 2024 it will be held in João Pessoa and in 2025 it will be held in Itaporanga. 

The coordination team for our 10-day evangelism project was elected (Robério, Gersé, Ray and Rafael) and it was decided that in 2023 it will be held at Juazeirinho, in 2024 at Tavares and in 2025 at Teixeira.

The report from our Campina Grande Bible College showed that it has 29 students this year. We have about 20 students studying also at the online colleges of FTSA and ISBL. We received reports from the radio programmes at Imaculada and Flores.

An addition to our statutes was approved unanimously which prohibits same sex marriages in our churches or to be conducted by our ministers.

Our projects team gave a general report on projects in the pandemic and on those in hand this year.

It was reaffirmed that in this year’s Brazilian general election it is totally prohibited to bring party politics into our churches or discuss party politics in our social media groups. 

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Jaciara had a premature baby on Sunday weighing 1.9 kg at Princesa Isabel. Her and her husband are members of our second church there. Jaciara was immediately transferred to the more advanced Patos maternity hospital and the church leaders asked us to support them. Our daughter Sacha is taking care of the family beautifully and has just been out to buy nappies! Please pray for Jaciara who has a post-natal infection and for the tiny baby boy called Quezede.

Liz is at Green Pastures at the moment setting everything up for our EAB/ACEV general conference. Deaconess Josinete is with Liz. Earlier they went to the supermarket to buy the food so the Kombi was loaded up with food and drinking water. The conference will run from Friday to Sunday but the leaders will start a day early on the Thursday. At the conference we will be ordaining 3 young new pastors: Fabrício Júnior, Leandro and Roberto. Please pray for them.

Please pray about the Dengue Fever epidemic which is the worst outbreak for 10 years here. Many people are down with it in Patos and many are in hospital. It is spread by mosquitoes. 

EAB’s bi-annual magazine “In Touch” edition 97 has now been produced and has gone to the printers. Everyone will receive it in early June. 

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Liz and Lynn returned from João Pessoa on Friday night in driving torrential rain around Juazeirinho. To drive in such conditions was dangerous and meant they could only do about 20 kph. At Green Pastures it rained 27 mm (just over an inch) which helped water our plants and trees.

Saturday night saw the Patos church divided in four directions. The deaf had their main weekly meeting at the church; the Christians in Action group went to Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte State; another group held the monthly celebration service at the Pastor Frank Dyer School; and I went to Green Pastures to take the weekly service with Segundo leading the singing and Murilo (Bible College student) preaching the Gospel on Acts 4:1-12. Both did very well. I lead the service which also enjoyed Nega singing a solo and Leca doing a Bible reading. I am glad to report that all services went off well.

I have started reading a new book called – “A Better Story – God, sex and human flourishing” by Christian psychiatrist Glynn Harrison. I have read the first three chapters and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is most enlightening.  

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Green Pastures is being used a lot by our churches and church groups which is lovely to see. Green Pastures is the only place of its kind in the whole region. Our Teixeira church had a fellowship day there on the 14th May. Then there will be the EAB/ACEV general conference there from the 26th to 29th May. This will be followed by the Campina Grande men’s conference from the 3rd to 5th June and then a youth camp involving the churches from Patos, Itaporanga, Juazeirinho and Teixeira from the 24th to 26th June. We value your prayers for all these events.

I am very busy organizing everything for our general conference at the moment. There are adjustments to the agenda which have to be agreed with the leadership and I am now preparing for the final service when 2 young pastors, Fabrício and Leandro, will be ordained. Pastor Wostenes will preach and I will lead the service and the ordination ceremony.

Liz went to João Pessoa yesterday for a doctor’s appointment. In Patos the seniors had their weekly meeting which went well. Deaf pastor Luis Carlos also conducted another sign language lesson. 

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Our Market Gardens project presses ahead helping poor people to help themselves giving them income with dignity. We are at the moment looking into 2 communities at Ibiara and Santana de Mangueira counties with the possibility of establishing market gardens there. We are also working on the 4-Legs goat rearing project in a variety of communities and on another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis.

This week’s youth and adult prayer meetings joined together with 12 there. It went well. The Men’s Fellowship (Tuesday) and the Women’s Fellowship (Wednesday) also were blessed times of fellowship.

I have been preparing a sermon on being like Jesus based on Philippians 2:1-11. 

The rains have apparently ended. We usually get some rain in May but we only had an 8 mm shower on the 2nd and that’s it. We can’t complain as it’s been a very good rainy season. Thanks for praying.

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I took part in the John Stott Birding Day yesterday morning which is organized by the A Rocha Christian environmental agency to which we are linked. I went to Green Pastures and noted down all the species of birds that I saw and heard. I observed 37 species between hawks, water birds, owls, parakeets etc. I am now supposed to enter my list onto eBird.com but I don’t understand how to do this and I haven’t got time to find out how. Anyway it was a nice relaxing time.

The Sunday services went off well. I led the main service in the evening and assistant pastor Rafael preached from Lamentations 3:39-45. It could have been better.

Our projects team is in action to define the locations for the 3 wells we will be digging/drilling this year. It is an arduous and challenging process including meetings with local communities as well as technical work etc. We value your prayers for this. Recently visited were Santo Agostinho community up in the mountains in Teixeira County and Trincheiras community in Princesa Isabel County.

I have spent many hours in discussions with the senior leadership as our general conference fast approaches, starting on the 27th. The senior leadership will need to arrive a day early to complete in-person preparations for the conference.

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Our granddaughter who lives with us, Louisa, will be marrying her fiancé Tiago on August 20th. This will coincide with her parents’ and brothers’ holiday here from England. Tiago is the lead guitarist in the Patos church band. Louisa and Tiago have been going out together for 6 years. They don’t have a chair to sit on or a bed to lie on but they have decided that now is the time to get married! May the Lord help them!

As well as the monthly meeting in the street in front of the Patos school we hold a weekly service in the school, and this week that went very well with our largest classroom filled to capacity. We are finally seeing signs of a church being planted at our school.

I went to our Deacon Esau Lucena’s induction ceremony as Patos Chief of Police on Friday. The military band played and the Paraíba chief swore him into office. The ceremony started 37 minutes late (not bad for Brazil!) and lasted an hour. In his acceptance speech Esau exalted the Lord in a very wise and beautiful way. 

I led the Green Pastures service last night and young lawyer Rayla preached from Matthew 7:15-23. It was a lovely service with local farm workers Júlio and Manoel singing songs. Prior to this at Green Pastures our Teixeira church spent the day there in a lovely fellowship day which went off beautifully.

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The leader of the Patos men’s fellowship is a deacon in our church. He is Lieutenant Coronel Esau Lucena. He is a lovely brother in Christ. He has just been promoted to Chief of the Patos Police. We knew this was on the cards as Esau had secretly shared this with us for prayer. Now it has been officially confirmed. Please pray for Esau. The responsibility of being chief of police in a town of 120,000 population is great, especially with all the drug related gang warfare and killings.

On Wednesday afternoon (evening in England) I took part in an excellent EAB Board of Trustees meeting online. The meeting was held at Hardley, Southampton. It was lovely to see our son Philip there as a guest.

Please continue to pray for our trip to Switzerland and the UK in the autumn. The main focus of our trip will be rest, family and friends, but we will be ministering at some churches as invited. We would appreciate any contributions to help us pay our air fares. Please kindly contact the EAB treasurer.  

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On Tuesday Liz and I had our 4th vaccination against Covid. Our first 2 vaccinations were Coronavac (China). These are low efficiency vaccinations of around 50%. We took them as better than nothing as this was all that was available. Our 3rd and 4th vaccinations have been Pfizer which are much more efficient. This means we are now all vaccinated for our trip to Switzerland and the UK in September/October for which we value your prayers.

The overall Covid situation in Brazil is much better. PTL! In Patos we have zero cases at the moment. It is so nice to be back in church without a mask!

Please also pray for our granddaughter Louisa (who lives with us) who is a fully registered and graduated lawyer, but who now needs work experience as an assistant lawyer. May God open a door for her.

Monday night’s prayer meetings went well both the general one and the youth one. However the youth meeting was very low in number. On Tuesday the Men’s fellowship was very lively with a nice word by Gilmarco on prayer.

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Cadnam Methodist Church, in the New Forest area of England, held its annual musical concert in aid of EAB on Saturday. The event, organized by Howard and Hillary Babey, raised 1,110 pounds for the work of EAB. We are very grateful to all those involved in the event. Our son Philip and his family were there and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Philip was able to give a brief word about the work in Brazil.

Parallel to the Cadnam concert, here in Brazil the deaf held their biggest meeting of the week, the Christians in Action group held another service at Ipueira and a service was held at Green Pastures supported by some of the Patos youth.

Last night I led the special Mother’s Day service in Patos and I preached too on “Mothers who fear the Lord”. The church was absolutely full to capacity. It was a lovely service.

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Passagem is a village about 30 km south-east of Patos where we have a little church which struggles on over the years but is a faithful light for the Gospel. To give you an idea I dedicated the second child in my ministry there 49 years ago. On Thursday I held a meeting with Eduardo, who is the leader there, so as to receive his up-to-date report on the work and to encourage him to press on. Please pray for Passagem.

The mid-week Bible study went well on 1 John 3:1-3. Following this we had an excellent meeting with the three Patos youth leaders Rayla, Louisa and Ray. We had good discussions with them about a youth camp they are planning to hold next month at Green Pastures. We gave them lots of tips and plenty of advice. 

Tomorrow will be Mother’s Day in Brazil so I have been preparing a sermon for the Mums in the commemorative festive service we will hold at night, which every year gives us a very full church.

Yesterday’s encounter of our Young at Heart seniors went very well and was very much appreciated by 10 of our senior sisters. Our daughter Deborah picks them up and takes them to church. Then last night Pastor Luiz Carlos taught another session of Brazilian sign language for the deaf and that went well too. 

You might be interested to know that I ate for breakfast this morning a custard apple, a slice of paw-paw, a slice of water melon and a banana. 😋

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Yesterday Liz and I travelled two and a half hours east of Patos to Campina Grande where we had a three and a half hour in person meeting with Pastor Wostenes (Deputy chairman of ACEV) and his wife Gleydice. We got up at 5 am and left just over an hour later. First of all Liz went to a clinic where she had some scans and exams done. We then had our first chinese meal in three years at Chinatown in the Campina Grande Shopping Centre. It was a very nice lunch together.

We then went to Wostenes’ office at his church which is in the borough of Catolé. We had an excellent meeting discussing a wide range of matters in preparation for our General Conference which will be held from May 27th to 29th. We discussed the two ministers to be ordained and another two whose ministerial statuses need to be defined. We then discussed the situations in a number of churches. We also discussed a variety of dates that need to be defined at the conference and discussed our Campina Grande Bible College as well as the online distance learning options for theological training. 

We also discussed an important proposed alteration in ACEV’s registered statutes which will prohibit same sex marriage so as to give our ministers legal support if necessary.

We praise God for this lovely spiritual couple who are great friends of ours and wonderful co-workers in the Gospel.

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As I arrived at Green Pastures on Friday afternoon there was a terrific commotion in the chicken run and the Peacocks were very vocal too. Francisco went to see what the problem was and saw a beautiful wild Jaguarundi rust coloured cat. It was very fat, had a shinning beautiful coat and was about twice the size of a large domestic cat. The cat was prowling round the chicken pen to see if he could get in, but he soon ran off when we arrived on the scene. 

Whilst walking at Green Pastures I saw two foxes and whilst driving home in the dark I saw four burrowing owls. Upon arriving home Liz and I ate delicious bowls of Curd which was given to us by Miriam who is a member of the Green Pastures church.

I led the main service of the week in Patos on Sunday and it went very well. The church was really full.

On Monday we received the visit at Green Pastures of 4 researchers of Wild Cats from the State University of Maranhão led by Professor Dr. Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira. They set up 8 camera traps. This research will doubtless bring us a lot of information about the wild cats found at Green Pastures.   

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Our Patos Care Centre runs a dental clinic for the poor, a food bank and works with the deaf and seniors. At the moment the Care Centre is undergoing a rebuilding modernization. The Care Centre is being reshaped and left with adequate pillars so as to in the future have an upper floor. The walls and pillars have been built and this coming week the new roof and ceiling are to be put in place which will eventually be the floor of the future upper floor. The revamped Care Centre will have a modern kitchen to prepare food for the soup runs and a coffee bar to enhance church fellowship and evangelism. The multipurpose Care Centre will also be used for children’s work. 

This Care Centre modernization project is being made possible thanks to a generous designated donation from Liz’s brother Sam and his wife Gerti in Switzerland in the honour of Sam and Liz’s mother Ivy Dyer. Hence the Care Centre will now be in memory of Katriona M. Graham (the original purchase) and EAB late Missionary Ivy A. Dyer. Tributes to these two women will be on the walls of the revamped Care Centre. 

On Friday night we held a little service at the farmstead of Sérgio and Aparecida. There were 18 people present. On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures and Bible College student Murilo preached from Galatians 6:11-18. We had a swarm of flying beetles in the meeting hall and a large fat toad came into the hall to gobble them up. I felt a bit sorry for the speaker as it was a bit distracting with the toad jumping all over the place and consuming beetles with the help of his long tongue!

There was also a service last night outside our school in Patos and at Ipueira. At the end of the school service there were 7 decisions for Christ of which one was of the sponsored child Heloisa. PTL! We will now be holding a weekly service every Wednesday at the school.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Our Easter Camp starts with the evening meal at 6 pm today. I will soon be moving out to Green Pastures until Sunday night. After the opening meal today we will have the first service at 7:30 pm. Tomorrow (Good Friday) we will have services at 9 am and 7:30 pm.

Please continue to pray for Andrea, who is a member of our Patos church, and who was involved in a fatal road accident this week. She is very low as she is suffering a lot with people gossiping about her.

My sister Jean is recovering well in hospital from her fractured hip surgery and is getting her mobility back. Her pain is now under control. She will probably be sent home next week once she’s had her clips removed.

Tuesday night’s Men’s Fellowship meeting went off well but last night’s Women’s Fellowship meeting was cancelled. It was cancelled because Andrea, the leader, is very distraught having been involved in a fatal accident this week.

Last night the Patos praise and worship team went to Green Pastures to rehearse for the Easter camp. 

Our old freezer at Green Pastures has broken just as the camp is about to start. Oh dear! It is over 30 years old so it’s not surprising!   

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I am having discussions with Pastor Hamilton (Campina Grande) and a variety of other leaders at the moment including Nenem at São Vicente do Seridó, Pastor Robério at Tavares and Pastor Esequias at Juru.

Liz is at this time buying all the food for the camp which starts on Thursday.

The State Governor has now made the wearing of masks optional. This means some wear them and some don’t in the services.

Yesterday Liz, myself and assistant pastor Rafael had a meeting with the new and aggressive gay teenager who is coming to the Patos church. We heard what he had to say and then made clear the position of the church. Please pray for this young man who is 17-years-old and who is totally committed to a worldly way of lgbt+ life whilst insisting that “everything is alright with God”. After the meeting he even sent a message to Rafael asking us “not to pray for him because he is fine the way he is”! He hopes to be baptized, but this will not be possible if he maintains his current stance.  

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Our ‘young at heart’ seniors group had their first in-person gathering on Friday much to the joy of all. The theme of the meeting was ‘gratitude’. The group had been functioning for two years online. 

Gay rights are a complicated part of life in Brazil nowadays. We have a teenager who has started coming to our Patos church who is apparently gay and goes out of his way to confront people with “his rights”. We ask you to pray for us as we speak to him this week to make quite clear to him the Biblical position of the church on the matter. We don’t want him stirring up trouble at the camp. 

Saturday night’s service at Green Pastures was very good with our granddaughter and young lawyer Louisa preaching very well indeed for 22 minutes. My assistant pastor Rafael led the service and I was just there in a support role. Liz and I took the opportunity to take a lot of supplies out to Green Pastures ready for the camp which starts on Thursday. Parallel to this service a meeting was held at Ipueira and the deaf and youth had their own fellowship group meetings. Saturday is a busy night for the Patos church.

I led the Sunday night service and assistant pastor Rafael preached. It was a very blessed service.

My sister Jean continues in hospital after fracturing her hip, but she is improving.

Please pray for Andrea who is a member of our Patos church. Andrea was involved in a fatal road accident at 6 am today near Teixeira. Andrea is alright, but a mother and son on a motorbike were killed. Andrea admits the accident was her fault caused by her overtaking. 

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I have been contacted by Vitor Emanoel and Dr. Tadeu Gomes de Oliveira from the Maranhão State University with a view to researching wild cats at Green Pastures Nature Reserve. We have set up a meeting for May 2nd or 3rd when they will be travelling to Green Pastures and staying there for a night or two. They will be setting up automatic cameras at Green Pastures and collecting the memory cards every 3 months. All their findings will be shared with us. We are very happy about this as it is a great way for us to learn and to support scientific research.

With our Easter Camp fast approaching (starts on 14th) we are very busy holding meetings and preparing the details of the camp. There will be services in the mornings at 9 am and at night at 7.30 pm. On Good Friday afternoon there will be a games afternoon and on the Saturday there will be an “opportunity knocks” type of afternoon when budding singers and musicians will have a chance to shine. We are working on details of discipline and order for the camp as we will have one or two trouble makers there who will need to be controlled. It’s not all plain sailing!

My sister Jean remains in hospital recovering from a fractured hip. She still has excruciating pain. Please continue to pray for her.

On Thursday night we stayed on in church after the Bible study so as to hold another meeting about the camp. The meeting was with the assistant pastor Rafael and the leaders of the youth.    

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This week our projects team has been to the Santo Agostinho community in Teixeira County with a view to possibly drill a well there as requested. A meeting was held with local EAB/ACEV pastor Maésio and his wife Fia, the president of the local rural landowners association and the local health worker. Please pray for God’s guidance for us on this matter. Teixeira is a needy area for water and the track record is poor for hitting water when drilling.

Francisco (who looks after the day-to-day things at Green Pastures) reports seeing a deer once again and this time he saw both mother and baby deer. This is a really rare sighting as Deer are so hotly hunted here. Whilst they are at Green Pastures they are safe, but our concern is when they step outside of the Reserve.

Liz has just bought celery in Patos! This is the first time ever that we have found celery in this country! I have just tasted it to make sure it is what we thought it was, and it is! Delicious! 😋

My sister Jean has been transferred to a fracture ward in a High Wycombe hospital where she is recovering from surgery for a fractured hip. Sadly yesterday she had to have another X-ray because the staff managed to drop Jean when they were transferring her from a chair to her bed!😒 I don’t know the result of the X-ray yet.    

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Our wheelchairs bank continues to function very well as they are loaned to people that need them. This morning we received word that Judite’s husband no longer needed his as he has recovered from his accident. Before the wheelchair could get back to the church it already has been picked up by Brother Dedé, who leads the Christians in Action group at Ipueira, as there is someone in need of a wheelchair there. Our wheelchair bank is a simple project but so practical.

Sunday’s services went well. The Sunday School (for all ages) went well in the morning and the main service of the week at night was really blessed of God. School teacher Dilma preached a superb sermon on ‘Constructing a Close Relationship with God’.

We are busy preparing for the Easter Camp which is substituting the Carnival Camp. Everything will start on the 14th with an evening meal followed by the opening service. There will then be 2 services a day on Good Friday, Saturday and Sunday with plenty of swimming, sport and walking in between.

My sister Jean had her surgery for her fractured hip on Sunday. However something went wrong during the surgery which meant she spent the night in intensive care. Gratefully she is now back in a recovery ward. Please do continue to pray for Jean.

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My sister Jean, who is a music teacher, was tripped by a child in a store in High Wycombe yesterday causing her to fall and fracture her hip. She is being operated on now as I type. Please pray for Jean.

Our granddaughter Louisa has had two wisdom teeth extracted. She is doing fine.

Yesterday morning at 8 am I did a guided nature trail for just over two hours with a group of about 40 youth from the Patos church at Green Pastures. All went off very well. The youth spent the whole day at Green Pastures staying for the service with the local church at night when they sang a song.

The service last night at Green Pastures was excellent with deaf Pastor Luiz Carlos preaching the message with Daysa interpreting for all of us that don’t know sign language. Two of our sign language interpreters have degrees in sign language. They are Daysa and Geralda. It was nice that a group of young teens from our Patos school were with us for the day including the service.  

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Tomorrow will be a Youth Day at Green Pastures and I will be giving them a guided tour of many trails with the aim of increasing their appreciation of nature whilst stimulating them to care for God’s creation.

Last night’s Bible study went well with over 40 present. We studied 1 John 2:18-19. Parallel to the Bible study work was done with children in a side hall.

I am working on my book with the history of EAB/ACEV in Portuguese. Lynn is doing the final corrections and then we must see how we can publish it. The book covers the 80 years up to 2018.

It rained 17 mm on the last night of March taking the total rainfall for the excellent month to 446 mm. This was quite extraordinary! Add this to December (96 mm), January (182 mm) and February (75 mm) we have a total rainfall to date in the current rainy season of 799 mm which is just over 33 inches of rain. A high volume of rainfall is needed here as in the dry second half of the year the evaporation of the lake is fast with the high temperatures.

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Pastor Wostenes leads our largest church in the borough of Catolé in Campina Grande. He is also in the process of giving 7 months of his time overseeing our Soledade church which was very low and disheartened. Now that 4 months of this renewal process are over the church is going much better, is in a better spirit, and has higher numbers going to all the services. Pastor Wostenes was at Soledade at the weekend and reports lovely services and training sessions. Please continue to pray for our Soledade church which will need a new pastor in the coming months.

On Tuesday night 10 men met together in the weekly Men’s Fellowship meeting. Lieutenant-Coronel Esaú Lucena led the service and Journalist Ray Santana brought a meditation from God’s Word. 

I have started reading a new book by N. T. Wright called ‘Surprised by Hope’. I am already really enjoying the book. It’s a “can’t put it down” book!

I forgot to mention that at the weekend we held another jumble sale to raise funds for our revamp of the Care Centre. It was held on the side of the church and raised 160 pounds. The revamp is progressing well.     

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The services went well on Sunday. The main service of the week at night saw a good number present. We had one elderly sister who arrived early and fainted. We called an ambulance, but it was not necessary for her to go to hospital. We learnt later that it was all from stress with her son who was involved in a shooting a little earlier when men tried to kill him. Her son is involved in gang warfare and is always armed. (I have deliberately not used names here)

The service itself went off beautifully with excellent praise and worship. I led the service. In the worship band were Ricardinho on bass guitar, Rogaciano on guitar, Tiago on lead-guitar and Biba on drums. Vocals were with Sacha, Mariana and Segundo. A special moment in the service was when granddaughter Alice brought a 5-minute meditation from Psalm 51. The sermon was preached by assistant pastor Rafael on Isaiah 43.

Liz spent two hours counselling our Patos school headteacher Gerlânia yesterday. Liz feels it went well and that she was able to help her. I spent the day preparing a sermon on Mark 5.  

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This week it has rained every night of the week at Green Pastures! On Monday it rained 16 mm, on Tuesday we had another 16 mm, on Wednesday it rained 18 mm, on Thursday it rained 40 mm and on Friday we had the biggest rain of the year with 90 mm. This caused the dam in the river to overflow and plenty of water accumulated in the lake. The ground is saturated so any rain that falls now will add to the accumulation in the lake which is at 50% of its capacity. It rained again last night 25 mm. This is turning out to be a good rainy season with a total rainfall of 31.5 inches (757 mm) to date. We consider 40 inches an excellent rainy season. We praise God for this wonderful rain in this semi-arid region. Thank you for praying.

On Thursday rain diminished the numbers in the Patos church by about half for the Bible study, but the service went well. On Friday it was our eldest daughter Deborah’s birthday.

Last night’s service at Green Pastures and at our Patos School were both cancelled owing to the rain. It is a wonderful problem to have!

I have been sorting out some administrative matters for Pastor Maésio up in the mountains at Teixeira with the help of Pastor Hamilton from Campina Grande. 

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Our 14-year-old granddaughter Alice has switched schools this week as she starts her first year of senior high school. Alice, who looks 18, now goes to the Roman Catholic school called Cristo Rei (Christ is King). She was unhappy with the teaching at her former school. Alice will be speaking this Sunday in the 5-minute “youth spot” in the main service. We value your prayers for all our grandchildren.

Last night our 20-year-old grandson Arthur travelled to São Paulo. He was the first person from our family to have flown on the new daily flights from Patos to Recife. From there he got the connecting flight on to São Paulo and was in São Paulo from Patos in less time than it would have taken him to travel by road from Patos to Recife.

Yesterday a lovely service was held at the village of Travessia in the County of Manaira. The service was held in their new church which we built last year.

Also yesterday we inaugurated the latest well at Macambira dos Lúcios Community in Tavares County and held the thanksgiving service with the preaching of the Gospel. A good crowd gathered from the community. The dedication prayer of the well was done around the well and the service was held in the community centre run by the local leaders. It was a joyful and blessed time together praising God for this well.

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Liz and I are at at the phase in our ministries where we are focused, above all else, in passing on our experience to our leaders spread all around our churches. It is great to see a good number of young pastors amongst our leaders. Last night Liz was with the workers in children’s work passing on things from her vast experience. She used to teach a class of 120 children 60 years ago! I have been an EAB/ACEV pastor for 50 years. I was assistant pastor to Frank Dyer for 15 years. It is good to see what seems will be a solution for the leadership of our Soledade church. A young couple from our 2nd church in Campina Grande are coming to the fore. We value your prayers for this important aspect of our ministries. 

Last night in Patos the Men’s Fellowship held it’s weekly fellowship group and there were 9 present. Tonight it is the turn of the Women’s Fellowship.

I have been holding good discussions with pastor Oséias (Itaporanga). I have also had blessed talks with pastor João George (Imaculada). What a lovely man of God he is. So dedicated. 

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On Saturday afternoon a terrible thing happened with a Christian family in Patos from the Regular Baptist Church. A 13-year-old boy shot and killed his mother and younger brother and shot and seriously wounded his father. The father is a policeman. Please pray for the man in hospital in Campina Grande. The boy said he did the shootings because his parents wouldn’t let him play videogame enough!

I led the service at Green Pastures on Saturday and it was excellent. The Patos youth sang beautifully as did two local farming folk Manoel and Nega. Alice brought a short word which was very good, and Pastor Rafael preached. In last night’s service in Patos I again led and Sacha preached very well indeed. The children and youth groups also did nice singing items.

I have been chasing up people missing from church and it’s good to see a positive response. Despite a heavy half hour’s rain last night just before the service we had a pretty full church.

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Wednesday night’s rain of nearly two inches was enough to put water into the Green Pastures lake. I have just got back from a walk there and seen the welcome sight. The lake is about 20% full. Whilst there I also saw a pair of Burrowing Owls and many giant centipedes that are always on the move in the rainy season.

My sister Joy is home from hospital and my sister-in-law Eunice is also recovering from her accident. Please continue to pray for them both.

Thursday night’s mid-week Bible study went well with about 45 present. We studied 1 John 2:12-14. The children’s ministry has started a children’s meeting parallel to the Bible study so that parents can relax listening to the study whilst the children hear the word of God at their level.

Next Thursday we will be travelling to the County of Tavares for the official inauguration and thanksgiving service for the new well at Macambira dos Lúcios village. In the service Liz will do the Bible reading and prayer and I will preach the Gospel. 

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I have been having long talks with pastor Léo of our Juazeirinho church who has been having some difficult times at his church. I feel our talks helped him and he feels supported by the senior leadership. Please pray for pastor Léo who is one of our younger pastors.

Tuesday night’s men’s fellowship went well despite low numbers (6). Security guard Fábio led 3 songs of praise first of all, School Teacher Claudivan then prayed for a number of prayer requests, and then we shared a discussion around Revelation 2:12-17 which went very well.

I have been discussing the new school year with our Action Schools coordinators João George, Jacilene, Gerlânia and Sacha. All our schools are back into in-person mode this year which is much better. I am making sure everyone has got all the materials they need for their teaching. It’s good to see that the Campina Grande school will have between 35 and 40 pupils this year and that the new school at Barra de Oitis has 20 meeting in their new church hall. 

Green Pastures will be very busy in the next few months. On April 2nd will be a Youth Day; from April 14th to 17th will be our Easter Camp in place of the Carnival Camp (thanks to those who are specially supporting this); On May 14th will be the ACEV Teixeira church fellowship day; from May 27th to 29th will be our annual General Conference; and from June 3rd to 5th will be the ACEV Campina Grande – Catolé Church Men’s Conference. Please pray for all these important activities at our Green Pastures Conference Centre.  

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On Sunday night we received both spiritual and physical rain during our service. It rained 51 mm (just over 2 inches) which cheered our hearts a lot. The service was greatly blessed inside the church too. The praise and worship was led by Sacha, Fábio, Marina and Tiago. It flowed beautifully. My sister Jean watched the service in England and she said afterwards how blessed she had been, and she doesn’t speak Portuguese. I led the service and the children took part with a nice song full of actions. Assistant pastor Rafael preached from Ezekiel 37:1-14. Thank you for your prayers for all our churches here. Last Sunday night was the first service when everyone was back in church without social distancing though we still wear masks.

Please do pray for our churches at Soledade and Juazeirinho. At Soledade the church is in a phase of transition to a new pastor. At Juazeirinho there is discontent with the current pastor Léo and we are not sure how to help the situation there.

Thankyou for your prayers for my sister and sister-in-law who both have had road accidents. My sister Joy (car crash) is doing alright, but remains in hospital at High Wycombe. My sister-in-law Eunice (knocked down by a motorbike) is doing alright too, but is going back to hospital for further scans and check-up.

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Green Pastures, known in Portuguese as Reserva Ecológica Verdes Pastos, has now become a member of FARN (Friends of a Rocha Network). A Rocha is a Christian environmental organization which has the aim, as we do, of caring for creation. We believe that being part of the A Rocha Network will be mutually beneficial. I am sure we will learn a lot from our brothers and sisters worldwide. You can see videos and photos of the Green Pastures wildlife at https://www.facebook.com/ReservaVerdesPastos . If you are interested in learning more about a Rocha please go to https://arocha.org.uk/ .

Last night it rained 15 mm at Green Pastures and the night before 20 mm, but we are still hoping and praying for big rains to fill the lake up.

Last night I led the service at Green Pastures and young Bible College student Murilo brought the message from Genesis 1. Three people volunteered to sing songs – Júlio, Fred and Linda. The service was excellent.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I visited Sister Socorro Help whose sister died with cancer yesterday. We spent some time chatting with her as well as reading the Bible and praying with her.

My sister Joy remains in hospital after her car accident and my sister-in-law Eunice is recovering from her broken wrist after being knocked down by a motorbike. We value your prayers for them both.

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I have been having discussions with Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) at Flores in the State of Pernambuco. He was telling me about the new outreach places at the Sitio Saquinho and the Sítio Pedreira where there are families really interested in the Gospel. Please pray for Nemias, his wife Fátima and their teenage son Isaque. 

Please continue to pray for my sister Joy who continues in hospital at High Wycombe after her car accident. Please also pray for Liz’s sister Eunice who was knocked down by a motorbike yesterday in central London and broke a wrist.

We are working hard preparing everything for our Easter Camp which will start in just over a month’s time on April 14th. The camp will be from April 14th to 17th. I am working on my sermon. Other speakers will be Pastor Rafael, Teacher Sacha, Bible College student Murilo, and lawyers Rayla and Louisa. We value your prayers. 

I have been working on EAB’s Action Child/Schools today especially with all the materials needed for our new school at Barra de Oitis. The school there will function in the church hall. I have also sorted out materials for Flores and Imaculada schools.

There were nearly 50 at the Bible study last night and after this we had a meeting with the youth leadership team essentially about how to best take care of the pre-adolescents and adolescents. It was a positive meeting.   

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I chaired the virtual meeting of 40 of our leaders on Monday with Cristiano Dias who is the representative of World Vision. WV is proposing partnerships with our churches as well as with our social action projects. A wide ranging explanation of WV’s aims and ethos was given, and now we will see what may come of this. We value your prayers.

The Care Centre revamp and modernization work is progressing well and the new walls will be started being built this week.

My sister Joy continues in hospital at High Wycombe after her serious car accident, but she is comfortable. Thanks for your prayers.

We had a meeting yesterday with Tarcísio, who used to be the leader of the EAB/ACEV church at Green Pastures and who used to care for the general day-to-day work there. It was good to talk to him because he has sadly lost his way since his wife died about a year and a half ago. Please pray for the restoration of Tarcísio.

Last night’s Men’s Fellowship meeting went well though there were only 6 of us present. We had a nice chat about football, a nice time of prayer and we reflected together on Revelation 2:8-11. When I got home I had a series of messages concerning the Juazeirinho church which apparently is in difficulty. It is another place which is going to need attention and much prayer.      

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This week I received a long phone call from an evangelical leader in João Pessoa telling me about the “glories” of his candidate for the Senate in the October elections. I politely listened to him and then made it clear to him that in ACEV (EAB) we do not get involved with party politics. This will happen many times between now and the elections.

We are in the process of doing the final check on the text for my book about the history of ACEV between 1938 and 2018. Hopefully we will soon have it published.

Tonight I will be coordinating a meeting online between all the ACEV pastors and leaders and World Vision. The objective is to see whether there are ways to develop a partnership between ACEV and World Vision.

Please continue to pray for my sister Joy who remains in hospital at High Wycombe after a nasty car accident. She is in the cardiology ward. 

I both led the service and preached Mark 4 last night in the Patos church. The service was exceptionally blessed. Praise God! 

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Please continue to pray for my sister Joy who is in hospital in High Wycombe after a serious car crash. 

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I have finished writing my chapter for the Brazilian inter-varsity fellowship (called ABU here) history book, and I have sent it to the editor. My chapter covers the period from 1976 to 1982 when I worked with ABU. This was a rich time of ministry which included driving John Stott around Recife in 1980 as he was here to minister at the ABU national conference.

Please pray for our Easter Camp which will take place from Easter Thursday (14th April) to Sunday (17th April) in place of the carnival camp which was cancelled owing to Covid.

Please also pray for our pastor Ângelo and his wife Adilma that God might guide them and restore them. They used to lead the Soledade church and are without a church at the moment. I am having discussions about this with our senior leadership team.

On Thursday night the Green Pastures football team was knocked out of the São Mamede Beach Soccer tournament in the semi-final by 4 goals to 2 by Boa Vista (Good View). Green Pastures had won the quarter-final beating Cágado (Turtle) by 2 goals to 1. On Thursday night in Patos the midweek Bible Study went well covering 1 John 2:3-6. There were 29 in the service. It rained 15 mm at Green Pastures on Thursday night. Rainfall continues to be very low. Please pray for abundant rain between now and the end of April. 

Last night we had an excellent meeting with headteacher Gerlânia of our Patos School, which is the largest school we have. Our social worker Marah Danielle also took part in the meeting. We had a wide range of discussions about the school which is going very well and is now back to in-person teaching. We have decided to hold weekly Bible studies for the parents of school children who are making decisions to follow Jesus. At long last, after years of trying, the planting of a church at our school in Patos seems like it will work out. We also discussed a very dangerous issue of a parent of one of our pupils who is particularly violent and ruthlessly dangerous. I can’t say more about this, but I do ask you for prayer. I also ask you to support EAB action schools for just 20 pounds a month.

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My sister Joy has just been involved in a head-on vehicle collision at High Wycombe, England. I am told that both cars are write-offs. Joy is OK in general but has been taken to hospital with chest pains. Please pray for Joy. 

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