Categoria: News

Soledade is a town about a one and a half hour’s drive east from Patos where we live. It is about 45 minutes drive west of Campina Grande. Pastor Ângelo was the pastor there for a good number of years until the end of November 2021. He resigned amicably having realized that he had lost the support of the majority of church members. Pastors in ACEV have mandates of 5 years and he realized that his mandate would not be renewed. Ângelo had lost his way, I think it would be safe to say, and this had a detrimental effect on the church.

In the three months, since Ângelo left the church, Soledade has been under the leadership and responsibility of Pastor Wostenes (Campina Grande – Catolé) who has organized special ministry, mainly from our Campina Grande churches, in the endeavor of revitalizing the church. Wostenes (vice-chair person of ACEV. I am chairperson) has a rotor of ministers every Sunday and Tuesday investing rich ministry of God’s word into the needy church, and the fruit of this is already having a very positive effect. One key man called Sandro had left the church and was pressurizing his wife Sandra to leave too. Now he is back and his wife is also very active in the church again. 

Now Wostenes is starting to train leaders at Soledade for home fellowship groups with the objectives of fellowship, edification and evangelization so as to establish weekly fellowship groups around the town. Please pray for our Soledade church and for the revitalization process for the glory of God.       

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We have a bank of wheelchairs so that we can help people in need who can’t afford to buy one. This week two wheelchairs were received back from people and have already been reloaned. One of these went to our Sister Judite’s husband. Judite is a member of our Patos church but her husband has never even been to church. It is especially gratifying to see a bridge being built to a person in a simple way as this. It is a bridge of God’s love on wheels.

Liz and I had a lovely relaxing break over the carnival period and are now back into normal action. It was lovely to have the family with us, apart from Philip, Gylmara, Lucas and Luis who are in the UK. I did a lot of good walking and photographed many butterflies. Just over 100 species of butterflies have been registered by biologists at Green Pastures. We also observed a nest of Rufous-bellied Thrushes being fed by their parents and then on the Tuesday finally the 3 chicks left the nest. It was fascinating observing the whole process. We have been watching this nest for some time. On top of the family Tiago, Louisa’s fiancé, was there, plus Vivi (Felipe’s long time partner). Yesterday we were joined for the day by Segundo who is granddaughter Alice’s first boyfriend. He is a lovely Christian boy. However Alice’s father was ridiculously hostile to the boy which was quite embarrassing. We felt quite sorry for Segundo.    

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We will be having a break over the carnival period, as from tomorrow, with us and the family spending the days at Green Pastures. The camp that was to have been held over the carnival period has been switched to the Easter week owing to the pandemic.

I have been having discussions with Pastor Maésio (Teixeira) and Pastor Manoel Oliveira Filho (João Pessoa – Boa Esperança). The discussions were blessed and fruitful. I also have been talking to Pastor Ângelo regarding his future work and ministry after he resigned from the Soledade church. I too have been checking the reports from the EAB Action Schools at Patos, Imaculada, Soledade, Matureia, Manaíra and Flores. I have had discussions with the projects team about the 4-Legs Project (goats/hair sheep) which is going very well.

I received a request from the Brazilian Inter-Varsity Fellowship asking me to write a chapter for a new book. My contribution will be about my experiences and work with the Brazilian IVF between 1976 and 1982. I have been working on this.

It is with great sadness that we see the news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin is cynical, ruthless and evil. This invasion has clearly been plotted and planned for a long time. We pray for peace and justice.

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Please pray for rain for our region of Brazil because all we are getting thus far in this rainy season are showers. We need abundant rain to fill up the lakes.

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On Saturday afternoon we held a jumble sale outside our Patos School. It was due to start at 2 pm but lots of people were already gathered by midday so we started early. We sell everything very cheap especially clothes and shoes. It raises funds for the revamp of our Care Centre and gives poor people dignity being able to buy their own things.

Over the weekend I had a tummy virus which knocked me out of action for a day or so. Our daughter Lynn had it before me.

I saw a beautiful young fox at Green Pastures. It was very close and seemed nor to care at all about me being so near.

I have received reports from our little Action Schools at Juru, Itaporanga, Princesa Isabel, Ibiara and Caroá. It is good to see that the schools are going well.

Our church at Soledade, which was at a low ebb, is showing signs of new life thanks to the support and ministry of our Campina Grande and João Pessoa churches over the past 3 months. Please pray for Soledade.

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Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures. Faced with a third wave of Covid in Brazil with 1,074 deaths in the last 24 hours and the number of new cases very high, we have decided not to hold the camp at Carnival from 26th February to March 2nd, but to hold a camp in its place at the Easter weekend from April 14th to 17th. We trust that by April the current explosion of cases will have subsided and for this we value your prayers.

We are busy giving guidance for our new EAB Action School at Barra de Oitis village. We have held meetings with local Pastor Nezinho Abílio and Teacher Malu. Please pray for this new venture of faith. The church building will also double up as the school room where 20 children will learn properly to read and write plus learning basic maths with their times tables. It is sad to see how the local government school largely fails in these basic areas of schooling.

Researchers Rafael Dioni and Wenner from the Federal University’s Biology School have started researching Toad tadpoles at Green Pastures.

Our granddaughter Louisa arrived back from the UK at Recife airport on Thursday afternoon and was met by her fiancée Tiago and Clayton from the Patos church who did the driving to Patos. Just before this I took part in an EAB Board meeting which was very good.

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Another entire family has gone down with Covid in the Patos church. Neto, who is a motorbike taxi man and scales down high rocks and blocks of flats in his spare time, his wife Kelly and their two daughters Evelyn and Manu are all out of action. Please pray for them. We still haven’t decided whether we are going to hold the Carnival Camp or not. On the one hand we are loathed to cancel it, but on the other hand we are apprehensive with the latest Covid wave. 

Our free-range egg supply has been hit by a giant lizard which is widespread at Green Pastures. The lizard with the scientific name of Salvator merianae grows up to 2 metres long and loves to eat eggs! One of them discovered a nest and wiped out the eggs. We are going to make some suspended nesting boxes to solve the problem. We have brought the surviving eggs to Patos which includes 4 Guinea Fowl eggs.

I have been having long good discussions with pastor Renilson about the EAB Action School at Matureia which his church leads. The church and school are going very well.

Today I will be meeting online with the EAB Board of Trustees for one of our regular meetings. On March 7th ACEV will be holding a meeting with all our leaders and World Vision to further discuss the possibilities of a partnership. We value your prayers. 

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I saw the very colourful lizard at Green Pastures at the weekend called Ameivula pyrrhogularis. I also saw the orange and black bird called the Campo Troupial, plus a Rock Cavy and a pair of Picazuro Pigeons. It is wonderful observing the wildlife of this region, especially in this time of the year in the rainy season when everything is green and the birds are nesting. A rufous-bellied Thrush has young in a nest we are observing and so does a Campo Troupial. I photographed a Pigmy Nightjar chick with my mobile phone. Caring for creation is something God’s children do naturally.

I led Sunday night’s service in Patos and assistant pastor Rafael preached from Matthew 21:18-22. The praise and worship was led by Sacha, Fábio, Marina, Tiago, Biba and Ricardinho and it was excellent. In the morning Sunday School there are 8 people in the discipleship class preparing for baptism later in the year. 

I have finished reading the book ‘The Last Bookshop in London’ by Madeline Martin. It was a good book.

Our granddaughter Louisa will be returning from England this Thursday (17th) and will be back to living with us.

I have just been in a meeting with young pastor Leandro from our Juazeirinho church and the meeting went very well. It was basically to help him do some administrative things like giving a letter of recommendation to a sister who is moving elsewhere. It is good to see a good number of young pastors in EAB/ACEV taking on responsibilities in the work of God.  

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Green Pastures not only has a church made up of the local farming folk. It now also has a football team led by Francisco who takes care of the day to day running of Green Pastures. He has just entered two teams into the County of São Mamede’s 5-a-side football-in-the-sand competition. One is the Green Pasture’s team and the other is the Papagaio team. Papagaio means Parrot which is the name of our area of São Mamede. Watch this space for the scores!

Liz and I have received negative results from our Covid PCR tests so that is good!

Our 26th toilet/shower unit has been completed at Barra de Oitis village. Aldenora, Luciano and their 3 daughters have got their first toilet/shower unit of their lives. They are very happy. They live off a government benefit of 56 pounds a month.

Friday night was a good night for two reasons. First of all because we had 32 mm (one and one third inches) of rain at Green Pastures. Secondly because the church’s young teens fun and fellowship night was held at Sacha’s house and it was a real blessing with 16 adolescents present.

Armadillos are common at Green Pastures and we have found 9 burrows made by them in the dam which will hold the water at our lake once the rain increases in intensity. We are busily filling these burrows/holes and will hope and pray that they will then decide to move somewhere else in the Nature Reserve. 

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I have been talking to the biologist Rafael Dioni who is going to start post-graduate research into Toad tadpoles at Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre. He is going to start work there next week.

I have also been talking to Pastor Maésio who leads the Teixeira church at the top of the mountain. We discussed the church plant he is working on at Sítio Sabonete II. They held another evangelistic service there this week with Maésio’s wife Fia working with the children parallel to the adult service.

Our deaconess Josinete has just come through Covid and now her husband Zaqueu has it, as does her daughter-in-law Paula and her adopted granddaughter Eloisa. Please pray for this family. The peak of the present third wave of Covid in Brazil is forecast for the end of this month which would coincide with our carnival camp. We are probably going to be forced to cancel the camp. Hopefully we will have the all clear to hold the General Conference at Green Pastures in May as this current wave should have passed by then.

Liz and I spent Wednesday afternoon at Green Pastures. We saw another part of the outer fencing where Francisco is fixing it. We had a good long walk and brought back 18 fresh eggs. We walked past the bone dry lake and prayed for it to be filled. The weather forecast between now and the 15th March is for very heavy rain for us. We hope and pray that the forecast is correct.

Yesterday Liz and I did PCR Covid tests and we should receive the results tomorrow. We are confident that they will be negative as we have no symptoms at all after our close shave with Ben Price’s visit.   

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I have a real burden on my heart for the adolescents in the Patos church and have been looking for ways to care for them better. We view adolescents as from 11 to 16 years old. I asked my young assistant pastor Rafael to focus more on them together with his girlfriend Rayla, but thus far that has not come to much. I have also asked our youngest daughter Sacha to reach out to them and this Friday she is having round to her house 19 adolescents including her own 2 daughters. I am very happy about this. I think they are going to have a fun night of singing, Bible quizzes and ice cream!

I am very pleased that the ‘Life Squad’ is going to return to action in the Patos men’s prison. Please pray for this new opportunity to preach the Gospel every other Saturday at 3 pm (6 pm UK time). May God transform many lives through this ministry!

We have just received the sad news from Fonseca slave descendant community of the death of a little baby. The mother was a participant in our Desert Flower project there. The baby is now being brought to Patos for the post mortem examination. Please pray for this family. 

Please also pray for deacon Nelson at our Imaculada church up in the mountains. He had a stroke last night and is now in the Patos General Hospital.

Please also pray for the launch of a new EAB Action School at Barra de Oitis this month. We pray that God will raise up some sponsors at 20 pounds a month to make this project viable. We are finding adolescents at 11 years of age who can’t read or write in the village and we must do something about this sad plight.

Liz and I continue to have no Covid symptoms despite us having had someone in our home who tested positive the following day. We will get tested tomorrow anyway. In the past 24 hours in Brazil 177,027 people tested positive and there were 1,189 Covid deaths.   

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I led the communion service at Green Pastures on Saturday night and I preached the Gospel with a sermon on “I am the door” (John 10:9). This was the third sermon in a series on the seven “I am” statements in John’s Gospel. I had previously done “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) and “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).

The well at Macambira dos Lúcios Community is nearing completion. Our projects team is back in action after their January break. The half a kilometer pipeline has now been laid from the well to the village centre. The electric pump will now be installed in the well and then we will need the electricity board to link the project to the mains electricity. We hope that all this will be done this month so that we can officially inaugurate the well and hold a thanksgiving service in March.

We have completed another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis and I hope to have some good photos by next week of the jubilant family benefitted by the project who have a toilet/shower for the first time in their lives. 

Last night’s main Sunday service was excellent with our daughter Sacha preaching on the life of Ruth. She really preached well. Assistant pastor Rafael led the service. However straight after the service we received the news that ex EAB missionary Ben Price has tested positive for Covid at Ibiara, having been with us on Friday and Saturday. Liz and I now wait to see if we have caught it from him. We value your prayers. Up till now we have no symptoms at all. Ben is due to fly back to England a week today.

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The revamp and modernization of EAB’s Care Centre presses on. The area has been fenced off with fence posts and barbed wire brought in from Green Pastures. I have now returned the excess barbed wire. On the way to Green Pastures I saw a Burrowing Owl perched on a fencing post which flew to its burrow as I reached it. I also saw a wild Cavy which simply ignored me as I went past it. Whilst there I saw and heard a Shiny Cowbird.

We have a Long-billed Wren nesting in the main kitchen at Green Pastures. It nested in the kitchen doorway last year and this year it has made its nest out of tree bark on top of pots and pans.

Ex EAB Missionary Ben Price has been with us since yesterday when he arrived for a visit before lunch. We have had lovely fellowship with him and yesterday afternoon we took him for a nice walk at Green Pastures where it rained 11 mm last night. He will be leaving after lunch today and will be speaking at a Bible College graduation in Itaporanga. He will return to the UK on the 14th.

Please pray for our pastor João George who is the assistant pastor at Imaculada. He is ill with Covid. In the last 24 hours there were 219,298 new cases of Covid in Brazil and there were 1,074 deaths. The pandemic situation has become very serious again here. 

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On Tuesday afternoon I had my hair cut sat on the veranda of our house. Rose, the hairdresser, fixed Liz’s and our daughter Deborah’s hairs too. Getting our hair cut at home is one of the advantages that have come through the pandemic as it avoids us going to a hairdresser’s shop with all the inevitable contact with people.

The rains have stopped here these last few days so we start to feel a bit apprehensive as either we get rain in this season or else we don’t get it till next year. Please pray with us for abundant rain. Our prayer is that this month of February be a month of torrential rain.

Yesterday Liz and I went to Green Pastures for a nice walk and we saw some Guira Cuckoos and heard plenty of migratory Greater Anis which are with us in the first half of the year. We brought back with us 25 fresh free range eggs from our chickens. They are so much nicer than the mass produced eggs you buy in the shops. We ate some of them scrambled inside Mandioca root pancakes for our evening meal.  

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Our Sunday night service in Patos was really blessed despite the low numbers owing to Covid. I have now lost count of how many of our members are down with Covid but it is around 20! We value your prayers. I led the service and preached Mark 3 and of special note was the duet sung by Sacha and Segundo. Segundo was in our church as a child/adolescent but he went away from God and got involved with drugs, but now he is back on the right path and has a lovely voice to praise God with. I have just been talking to him. God is really moving in his life.

Yesterday was my birthday so I had a nice relaxing day reading a new book by Madeline Martin called ‘The Last Bookshop in London’. Liz did a nice meal for me and the family to share. It was lovely.

I am receiving more details of those from the church down with Covid. Denis and his wife Andrea and their two children have it as does Denis’s sister Denise and her baby son Arthur. The problem is that Denis “doesn’t feel ill” so has gone off on a long journey with his work and telling nobody he has Covid! It is a very selfish approach to the pandemic.  

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I have finished writing a book on the history of ACEV from 1938 to 2018. The book, in Portuguese, has been completely proof read by Liz and will now be given the final check by Lynn. Then we will have to work on the layout and publishing. I trust it will be a blessing to many people.

I have finished reading a book called ‘The Rise and Fall of Movements’ by Steve Addison. The book has good insights into Francis of Assis, Methodism and the Quakers, and is thought provoking as regards the mission of evangelism and church planting. However it lacks the balance of integral mission which he sadly refers to as “missional fog”. Christians must evangelize and plant churches but they must also care for the poor and needy. The mission of the church is both faith and works. 

Last night we had a meeting with our assistant pastor Rafael to chat over different ideas and aspects of the work and give him some thoughts from our experience. It was a lovely meeting which went very well indeed.   

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On Thursday night it rained 19 mm (almost an inch) and on Friday night it rained 30 mm (just over an inch) at Green Pastures, taking this rainy season to a total of 278 mm (11.5 inches) including December and January. This is a good start as long as we get some really heavy nights of rain between February and April to accumulate water. The lake at Green Pastures is still bone dry because the rains are coming in dribs and drabs and are not torrential. In order to fill the lake we need the sort of rain that causes flash flooding. Please pray with us for rain. Our eldest daughter Deborah and her family spent the day at Green Pastures on Thursday.

Our granddaughter Alice has been given the all clear after having had Covid. Gratefully her symptoms were mild and she is now fine. There are another 11 still with Covid in our Patos church. There were few in the Bible study on Thursday night but a good number watched online. The latest church family to be affected by Covid is that of Denis and his son Ayrton. In the last 24 hours Brazil had 257,239 new cases of Covid plus 779 deaths.

I had prepared a sermon for tonight’s service at Green Pastures but the service has been cancelled owing to so much sickness in our midst. However tomorrow’s service in Patos will go ahead with reduced numbers and I will preach on Mark 3.

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The Covid pandemic is now in its third wave here in Brazil. Yesterday the pastor of the Assemblies of God church in Patos, Jonas Pereira died with Covid. In our church Tiago, who is our main guitar player, has gone down with Covid as has Milena who is another of our young people. This coming weekend it will be difficult to get a worship team together owing to the pandemic. Also the second guitar player is on holiday and the third is away studying at university. In the last 24 hours Brazil registered 606 Covid deaths plus 219,878 Covid new infections. The situation is increasingly serious again here which puts us in a dilemma as to whether we will be able to hold the Carnival Camp in just over a month’s time. 

I have been talking to Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) at Flores in Pernambuco State who asks for prayer for the young man, Cícero, who leads our sport for children and adolescents project there. He is in intensive care in Recife with Covid. 

Yesterday I received a phone call from the Christian organization World Vision which is interested in perhaps working in partnership with us linked to our projects. We will have talks with them next month. I also had further discussions yesterday with the ACEV senior leadership team as regards the new leader for our Soledade church. It is good to see that the church there is improving a lot with the revitalization work in progress under the leadership of our Campina Grande churches. Numbers are up in the services and the spirit in the church is fresh and full of hope. 

News just in tells me that we are now up to 10 people down with Covid in our Patos church. Nurse Liliane, a family of 4 and another couple have joined the ranks. We value your prayers.

We have just heard of the home calling of dear Brother Deryck Scard who went to be with the Lord on Monday (24th). Deryck was 94 I believe. He was a faithful supporter of EAB and an ex-member of the Board of Trustees. We visited Deryck the last time we were in the UK at Poole in Dorset and he sent us a Christmas card this Christmas with a note in perfect handwriting.

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The roof of the Care Centre has been completely removed as part of the rebuilding and modernization process. The roofing beams were still in excellent condition so they will be reused as part of the new roof when the time comes. They have been stored at Green Pastures for the time being. Some of the walls have also been demolished in preparation for the Care Centre’s new format. A specific large donation was made designated for this modernization project in memory of the late missionary Ivy Dyer (Liz’s mother), who went to be with the Lord 9 years ago today. Added to this donation was a legacy from the late Nora Graham who was the original donor for the purchase of the Katriona M. Graham Care Centre building. 

Sunday night is always our time for our main service of the week, but this Sunday numbers were very low indeed. This was because folk were either ill with Covid or the Flu. Nevertheless the service, which I led, went well. João Filho, Marina and Tiago led the worship and Bible College student Murilo brought an excellent message. It is very encouraging to see young people like this developing ministries for the glory of God.

EAB/ACEV’s pastor Renilson, his wife Getiane and their 2 daughters have all just come through Covid. They lead our church up in the mountains at the highest point in the State of Paraíba at Matureia. They also lead our excellent Action School there. Praise God that they had a very mild version of Covid. Pastor Wostenes (Campina Grande) is also much better after Covid and returns to normal activities out of quarantine as from tomorrow. Thank you for all your prayers.

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There have been 9 hold-ups of shops and petrol stations in the last 2 days in Patos! One man resisted a hold-up and got shot in the face. On top of this 3 motorbikes were stolen. All this violence coincides with the police’s work to rule over a pay dispute with the State Governor. We just hope and pray that an agreement can soon be reached so that this dangerous anarchy can end.

Our 14-year-old granddaughter Alice has contracted Covid. Please pray for her. So far it is mild and we pray that it will stay this way. Alice is the daughter of our youngest daughter Sacha, who leads the praise and worship in church. This will mean Sacha is in quarantine and will be out of action for the time being.

Who called in to see us yesterday was Ben Price, who used to be a missionary here with us for nearly 10 years. He has come over from England for a visit for a few weeks. It was very nice to see him and have a chat. He brought me a W. H. Smith 2022 diary which I was needing as you can’t get decent diaries here. Ben also gave me a book called ‘The rise and fall of movements’ by Steve Addison. Ben will be staying at Ibiara where he used to live and work. 

The weekly service at Green Pastures was cancelled last night owing to the ill health of so many of the people there. Many have the Covid symptoms but haven’t been tested. I was going to lead the service and Rafael was going to preach, but we’ll try again next week.

In the last 24 hours 202,466 new cases of Covid were registered in Brazil with 332 Covid deaths. Ômicron is by far the driving force in this, representing 97% of the cases.

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This week I read all 34 chapters of the book of Deuteronomy in my continued study of Old Testament law. This is a fascinating and challenging part of scripture so as to understand what is culture bound.

Please pray for the general elections in Brazil in October to elect president, senators and federal and state deputies. Current polemical President Bolsonaro is standing for re-election, but the opinion polls show that he will be decisively beaten by ex-president Lula. Bolsonaro is therefore saying that the election will be rigged, following his idol Trump. This could lead to a lot of bloodshed in Brazil. Please pray for peaceful and orderly elections.

Please pray for the senior leadership team of ACEV/EAB here in Brazil. The team is elected every 4 years by the general assembly of church leaders and delegates. The current mandate is from 2020 to 2024. This team oversees all church and project activities and guarantees the continuity of the work under any circumstances. The team has 11 members of which 2 are women (Liz and Gleydice) and 9 are men (John, Wostenes, Umbirajara, Philip, Hamilton, Lindon Carlos, Matheus, Oseias and Francinaldo). These leaders represent wide ranging areas of our State of Paraíba: Patos, João Pessoa, Campina Grande, Imaculada, Manaira and Itaporanga. We are in constant contact through our WhatsApp group, email, Zoom and in person.

I have been working on preparations for our 2022 Carnival Camp to be held at Green Pastures between February 26 and March 2. I have now organized the speakers for the 7 services and the focus this year will be on youth. We praise God for the good young speakers he is raising up in our midst. Our theme this year will be “Intimacy with God” or it could be translated as “Living closer to God”. Anyone willing to help contribute to poorer folk going to the camp will be most welcome.

Pastor Wostenes is the leader of EAB/ACEV’s largest church in the borough of Catolé in Campina Grande and he is deputy-chairperson of our senior leadership team. If I am ill he is who will take over. He is a lovely brother. Please pray for him as he has Covid for the second time, though the symptoms are mild so far.

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The Bank of Brazil in Patos is closed because 10 of its 30 staff are down with Covid. The whole building is now being disinfected in an attempt to contain the virus. The number of Covid infections in Brazil in the last 24 hours was 132,254 and the number of Covid deaths was 317. The Ministry of Health’s statistics site seems to be finally up and running properly again after the “hack” over a month ago.

I have prepared a new sermon on Mark chapter 3. It is a series I am doing covering the whole chapter in each sermon. Of special note is verse 21 which must have been a terrible disappointment for Jesus. I feel that the shock of this verse is easily overlooked.

On Monday the revamp and modernization of the Care Centre began. On the first day the builders removed the entire ceiling in all the rooms. This job starts with a lot of knocking down prior to a fresh layout as worked out with an architect.

I ate the lovely Brazilian dish of Couscous yesterday which comprises of steam cooked ground maize mixed with chopped coriander, spring onions, egg and sausage. Absolutely delicious! 😋

I went on a long walk at Green Pastures yesterday afternoon and found and photographed the nest of a Pigmy Nightjar. I noticed the mother fly off from an area and so I looked very carefully for the egg in likely spots amongst stones as they like to use. The egg was perfectly camouflaged amongst the little stones around it.   

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We appear to be in the early stages of a third Covid wave here in Brazil. The press tells us that the transmission factor is 1.57 and hospitals are filling up, but clear statistics are not available owing to the Ministry of Health’s mess and “hack” of the system. We presume that it is the Ômicron variant that is the cause of the new wave, but not even this is clear. This new Covid wave leaves us in a quandary as to whether we will be able to hold the carnival camp in just over a month’s time. In Patos Covid wards and intensive care units are being reactivated and staff called back to run them.  

On Saturday the Patos church youth spent the day at Green Pastures for a day of fun and fellowship. Thus they were there to support the evening service always held there. However, the local farming folk didn’t go to the weekly service owing to the rain which turns the earth road into mud. It rained 10 mm that evening. Hence the youth held their own little service with recently graduated lawyer Rayla bringing a message from John 15. Assistant pastor Rafael led the service.

Last night’s Sunday service which I led was good. Assistant pastor Rafael preached from Matthew 25:1-13. A woman talked to Liz after the service and expressed the desire for her and her son to keep attending our church. The woman’s husband is a Muslim. Neither the woman or the son have yet made commitments to Christ. Please pray for this family.

Sadly yesterday the 29-year-old son of Pastor Fernando of the Patos Nazarene church died of a “heart attack”. This has come as a gigantic shock to everyone as he was a PE teacher and apparently very fit. Please pray for Pastor Fernando and family.   

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Our brother and co-leader of the EAB/ACEV church at Curral Velho (Old Cow Pen), Severino Ramos, will be graduating from Bible College on February 5th. Ramos, as we all know him, leads the church with his wife Tica. The graduation service will be held in our church at Itaporanga. 

Last night Louisa’s Pug dog was barking in our back garden quite a lot and eventually we realized why. There was an owl looking down at it from a nearby lamp post. I am not sure if the Owl was thinking of attacking the dog, but we brought him indoors to be on the safe side.

Thursday afternoon brought 35 mm (almost one and a half inches) of most welcome rain to Green Pastures, whilst in Patos (only 20 km away) it didn’t rain. 

Thursday night’s Bible study saw the completion of the study of the book of James. We will now move to the first epistle of John.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I drove out to Green Pastures to have a walk and saw a Roadside Hawk on the way. However we didn’t get our walk in as the place was hit by a lovely storm with 20 mm of rain, thunder and lightning. Our chickens had laid us a dozen nice fresh eggs so we came home and ate some of them for our evening meal.

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I went for a long walk at Green Pastures on Tuesday afternoon and a Rufescent Tiger-Heron flew out from the bushes to my right, whilst squawking loudly as it went. It is a large 70 cm bird which is quite majestic. I also saw a Burrowing-Owl, a Pigmy Nightjar and a number of Guira Cuckoos.

I have had two online meetings with pastors. First of all Pastor Maésio from Teixeira who is on holiday in João Pessoa, then secondly Pastor Iremar from the village of Juá in Salgado de São Felix County. It is good to keep in touch with all the pastors from time to time. 

On Tuesday night it rained 11 mm (almost half an inch) at Green Pastures so slowly, and in small doses, the rainy season is under way here. On Wednesday night it rained a further 10 mm. In other regions, such as Princesa Isabel, they have had more rain than us. There it rained 34 mm on Tuesday.

I am working on the Carnival Camp which we hope to hold at Green Pastures from the 26th of February to the 2nd of March. I say hope to hold as we don’t know how the pandemic will develop between now and then. I am working on the 7 services and the subjects for each speaker. If anyone would like to help poorer people go to the camp then please contribute via the EAB treasurer. The camp costs 30 pounds per person.

Our granddaughter Louisa, who is in the UK at the moment with her family, passed her Bar lawyer’s exam. She had passed the first stage of the exam and sat the second and final stage just before going to England. The final result came out yesterday afternoon at 5 pm and there was much jubilation with the result. Louisa is now a fully fledged qualified and registered lawyer.

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Sunday night’s main service of the week was really blessed despite all the challenges presented by many away on holiday or sick. I led the service and preached from Genesis 12:1-3. We nearly didn’t transmit the service as the person responsible was on holiday, so was his deputy, and his deputy went down sick! We eventually found someone else who managed to do it. We had similar problems with our main guitarist who also was unwell, but we managed to get a last minute substitute. Phew!

Michael Griffiths, who was the Principal of the London School of Theology when I studied there between 1982-84, went to be with the Lord yesterday. He was a lovely Christian man of God who will be greatly missed.

A sister in our Patos church called Gisane has just tested positive for Covid. Please pray for her. Gisane is an experienced qualified nurse who is married to our deacon Esaú.

A young man was murdered last night at 2.30 am as a patient in the Patos General Hospital! Someone got in and shot him a number of times. The victim was in hospital recovering from another murder attempt in the gang war which is ongoing here parallel to the police working to rule.

A sister in our Juá church is in a crisis as her little house/shack has fallen down and she has children. They are in temporary accommodation whilst everyone sees what can be done to help her. 

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Liz and I usually go for a walk at Green Pastures on a Friday afternoon, but this week I went alone as Liz had a counselling session with a mother of our church whose name I cannot mention. Please pray for this young Mum with two children. The couple have serious marital problems and the sister is very low and sad.

Now that we’ve had five and a half inches of rain everything is green. All the dormant seeds in the ground have come to life and are sprouting. Of special note are the large-leaved creeper plants which are already 30 or 40 cm off the ground as they seek trees to climb up. There are countless thousands of them. Birds are very active making nests. I saw a nest in a large cactus plant, but I don’t know which species it belongs to. I saw a pair of Brown-crested Flycatchers very close. I also heard and saw a Pearly-vented Tody-tyrant and a White-naped Xenopsaris. I post these official English names of fauna for the benefit of anyone interested in the wildlife of our region. For me care for creation is an important Christian task to move in the direction of the future new heavens and a new earth. 

I led last night’s service at Green Pastures and a good number gathered after the Christmas and New Year’s break. Bible college student Murilo preached very well on the new birth. Local farming folk Sabrina, Dodores and Nega also took part in the service. Fernanda was received into fellowship.

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We have cancelled Sunday School for this week because so many people have gone away in this holiday month. It meant we only had two teachers so it was non-viable. May everyone have a nice break. On Sunday we will only have the main service at night at which I will both lead and preach.

Brazil has been without Covid statistics for a month now so we don’t know where we are. I strongly believe that the system’s “hack” was carried out by the government itself as President Bolsonaro has tried to hide the statistics from the press in the past. 

I am studying the law in the Old Testament. I have covered the Decalogue in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. I then covered the Book of the Covenant from Exodus 20:22 to the end of Exodus 23. I have since studied the 27 chapters of the Levitical Collection and I will now go on to the Deuteronomic Collection. Thus I am covering all the main blocks of Biblical law. This is a challenging part of Scripture which demands careful reflection and interpretation in the light of its primitive cultural context.

Liz had a meeting with the architect and the builder yesterday and the modernization of the Care Centre is to start a week on Monday (17th).

Pastor Renilson and his wife Getiane in Matureia visited little Maria Julielly yesterday, as she is out of hospital after having one of her kidneys removed. They gave her a belated Christmas present which really made her smile! 

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The 2 dominant drug gangs in Patos have started another war to control territory. There have been 7 shoot-outs already this year which has hardly started! 4 of the shoot-outs have been defined as attempted murders by the police. The gangs are decreeing a curfew and telling people to stay indoors at night or get shot. This violent start to 2022 coincides with the police being on a work to rule over a pay dispute. We value your prayers.

I have been talking to a friend who is a journalist and radio presenter as his 15-year-old daughter Michelle wants to join our church. I am glad that her parents are happy about this.

4-year-old Maria Julielly is recovering well from her surgery to remove a cancerous kidney and her surgery has been followed up with chemotherapy. This precious little girl from our Matureia school up in the mountains is expected home from hospital this week. Please continue to pray for her.

Yesterday afternoon we took our granddaughter Amanda to Green Pastures with us, and I went for a walk whilst Liz stayed with Amanda on the swings and feeding the monkeys. Whilst walking I heard the call of the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. Later I saw a Fox.

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At Green Pastures it rained another 30 mm (one and a quarter inches) last night and we can now consider the annual drought over. In Patos I don’t know how much it rained but it was more. The rain in Patos stopped the people leaving church at the end of the Sunday night service as the rain was very heavy. The communion service went well apart from us running out of disposable little cups during the distribution! The deaconess Josinete, who usually deals with this, was off sick. We managed to sort out the problem but it wasted a lot of time. Assistant pastor Rafael preached and I led the service.

January is holiday month in northeastern Brazil so please especially pray for our projects team who will be having a good rest this month. Please also pray for the leadership transition at our Soledade church. In the first half of this year we will need a new pastor there to replace Ângelo who resigned at the end of November. In this interim period our two Campina Grande churches (only 50 km away) are caring for the Soledade church and seeking to revitalize it. We value your prayers for this.

Whilst our granddaughter is away in England Liz and I are looking after her Pug dog called Apollo. We are getting on well with him and he seems to like our company.  

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Our New Year’s Eve service lasted from 7:30 pm to 9:20 pm and was really blessed. The early time was favourable and the church was completely full. The main feature of the service was the participation of different church members who volunteered to take part. Philip spoke and sang from the UK via Zoom and in Patos 7 year old Maria Fernanda showed us how well she is now reading her Bible. This was followed by 2 senior sisters Espedita and Linda singing ‘The Old rugged Cross’. Then Flávio gave a testimony. This young man came back to the Lord in 2021. Then the children sang a beautiful song followed by another testimony from young mother Milena. After this Dedé, who leads the Christians in Action ministry, read Psalm 23 and finally our granddaughter Bia sang a song. I then rounded things off with a short message from 1 Samuel 7:5-13. It was a lovely service and an excellent way to finishing the year.

After the service our lovely family came round to our house for a nice supper, fun and fellowship. We saw the New Year in together in this way. We praise God for bringing us through a very bad year in Brazil (Covid) and look to Him for much blessing throughout 2022.

With rain appearing at Green Pastures tortoises and snakes are out and about a lot. I saw 2 tortoises on Friday and Francisco, who takes care of the place, saw a 2 metre Boa Constrictor and a Rattle Snake this week.

Yesterday the youth from the Patos church spent the day at Green Pastures. They had fun in the pool, played games and ended the day around God’s Word together.  

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I have been preparing a sermon for our New Year’s Eve service which this year will be between 7:30 pm and about 9 pm. Last year we didn’t hold such a service owing to the pandemic. Normally we would have held the Watchnight service from 10 pm till just after midnight, but the church council suggested an earlier time this year. I will be preaching on 1 Samuel 7:12.

Our 2 baby turkeys at Green Pastures have died. They got wet in the heavy rain we had and were dead the next day. Baby turkeys are very sensitive.

I ate fish for lunch yesterday which I like very much. Unfortunately Liz is severely allergic to fish so cannot even just taste it or else she will become very ill. 

We have just received a Christmas card from “David”. The problem is we know a lot of Davids! Please could the David who sent us a lovely card, with 2 Robins and a postbox on the front, let us know so that we can thank him.

Brazil’s public health’s statistics were “hacked” about three weeks ago and have never been restored. Hence we don’t know where we are with the pandemic! Some say that this “hack” was in fact sabotage by President Bolsonaro and his team. I consider this to be highly likely. 

The death toll from the floods in our northeastern state of Bahia has now risen to 25. 151 towns are in a state of emergency, 517 people have been injured, 643,000 people have been impacted by the tragedy and 37,000 of these have completely lost their homes. Meanwhile President Bolsonaro ignores this and remains on holiday riding his jet ski!

It rained 17 mm (over half an inch) last night at Green Pastures taking the month’s total to 96 mm (4 inches). Things are greening up nicely.

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The northeast of Brazil is made up of 9 states. To the extreme south of the northeastern region is Bahia State and to the extreme north is Maranhão State. The state where we live and where the headquarters of EAB/ACEV are is Paraíba State which in the centre of the region. In Bahia the rains have hit abnormally hard and 2 dams have burst flooding a wide area around the town of Itabuna. 21 people have been killed and over 475,000 people are affected with many left homeless and sleeping in schools. Our church in Bahia in the town of São Sebastião do Passé has not been flooded. Please pray for this very traumatic situation.

On Monday I rested after a very good, but tiring, Christmas weekend with 2 church services plus the baptismal service at Green Pastures of 15 people. I watched a film called ‘Don’t look up’ and generally chilled out.

One of the young men baptized on Sunday was Lucas, aged 14. He came to Christ some years ago through the Sunday School. Then he won his father Orlando for the Lord. Later he won his mother Nazareth for Jesus. His Dad had already been baptized, but on Sunday his Mum was baptized on the same day as he was. Liz and I call him Lucas the evangelist! 

Liz and I went for a walk at Green Pastures yesterday afternoon to see the work that Francisco is doing there reinforcing the outer fence. We heard a Striped Cuckoo whilst there. This bird we often hear but rarely see.

If Covid wasn’t enough we are now facing a sharp increase in the dangerous version of Dengue Fever. Two friends (Eraldo and Terezinha) are in intensive care with the hemorrhaging version of Dengue Fever which can kill people. Dengue Fever is transmitted by mosquitos. Please pray. 

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We had a wonderful baptism morning yesterday at Green Pastures with at least 80 present for the joyful occasion. We decided to baptize at Green Pastures as the pool there is spacious and in the open air. People are now saying we should always have our baptismal services there even after the pandemic. We arrived there around 8 am and some folk had already arrived. Soon the place was teaming with Christians! We held a short service with some nice worship songs and I brought a message about baptism. We then took some photographs of the group of 15 people to be baptized.

Following this we started baptizing the 6 women and 9 men. The first woman called Nazareth we baptized by aspersion, as she has serious nervous problems which left her scared of the pool, and then we baptized the rest by immersion as we normally do. The women were Alice (our granddaughter), Milena, Monyque, Maryana, Nazareth and Fernanda. The men were Danrlei, Michael, Caetano, Jair, Kecinho, Toinho Adjuto, Leo, Domini e Lucas. Please pray for them. 

Whilst at Green Pastures yesterday I saw a beautiful pair of Narrow-billed Woodcreepers. They climb tree trunks using their tail and legs. They are fascinating to watch. On Christmas Day it rained 6 mm (a quarter of an inch) so we ended up getting at least a damp Christmas!

Last week I finished reading another book in the Blitz Detective series by Mike Hollow. This time it was the Dockland Murder which Detective Inspector John Jago sorted out nicely. These books are very well written and are really relaxing.

Yesterday’s Boxing Day main service was blessed. I led the service and dedicated yet another baby called Luna. Assistant Pastor Rafael preached the Word from Lamentations 3. However numbers were down as a result of the good rain we had yesterday.

Yesterday was a true day of Boxing Day blessing with 65 mm of glorious rain at Green Pastures which is nearly 3 inches of rain. We sure do praise God for this!

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In Brazilian culture celebrations are always on the eve of the day. Hence Christmas Eve is the main celebration of Christmas. For us this was our church Christmas service from 7:30 pm to just gone 9:00 pm followed by the traditional Christmas supper. Our Christmas service was comprised of entirely carols for the praise and worship, the dedication of a little baby girl called Liz, and three special moments. The first was “Hark the Herald Angels sing” sung by a quartet and which was expressed by ballet by our granddaughter Alice, aged 14, and Milena. It was beautiful.

The second special participation was very moving. This was a Brazilian carol sung by Philip (recorded) which was signed by the deaf and sign language interpreters. This included the new interpreters who have learnt Brazilian sign language during the pandemic from our deaf pastor Luis Carlos. I always find the plunge into the deaf people’s silent world to be very touching.

Then the final special moment was a 15 minute one-act Nativity Play which was very well acted. The theme was to emphasize the true Biblical origin of the manger scene as opposed to some modern women who thought that was all religious fanaticism. After this I preached a short Gospel message. 

The service ended up with the giving of gifts and sweets to all the church children who come along regularly to Sunday School. It was a lovely service.

After church the family came to our house for the Christmas Eve supper. We relaxed together and talked and laughed a lot. I ended up getting to bed at 1.30 am.

I have just seen a Glittering-bellied Emerald Humming Bird in our front garden. We were dreaming of a wet Christmas, but unfortunately the drought continues.

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 I have been talking to Pastor Naldinho, who leads the Belém (Bethlehem) church. He was thrilled to tell me that a couple in the village called Douglas and Roberta have committed their lives to Christ. They have been going to the services for a long time and have finally come to faith, but they are suffering considerable persecution as a consequence. Please pray for Douglas and Roberta.

Walking at Green Pastures yesterday I heard the beautiful call of the Rufous-browed Peppershrike. This bird intrigued me years ago as I could hear it singing, but didn’t know it’s name, and nor did anyone else. Since then I have learnt a lot.

Our grandson Felipe graduated as an architect on Tuesday. This means we have 2 grandchildren graduated from university and another 2 who are undergraduates. John David is studying to be a medical doctor and Arthur is studying law. Arthur is also a linguist. He speaks Portuguese, French and English well and he is now learning Spanish.

Yesterday I had a good detailed meeting with our project coordinators Lindon Carlos and Marah Danielle. We went through all we have achieved in 2021 despite the pandemic having been awful in Brazil. We evaluated where we had done well and where we could improve. We also did initial planning for 2022 once our team gets back from their holidays in January. As we end this year we have one new well nearly finished at Macambira dos Lúcios. We are just waiting for the electricity board to link us up to power for the well’s pump, and for piping to be delivered to link the water to people’s houses. We also have a new toilet/shower unit which is under construction this Christmas week.

Yesterday I received my new Brazilian passport which is valid for the next 10 years. This morning we received our new British passports which are also valid for 10 years.

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I led the service on Sunday night, dedicated a 2-year-old lovely little boy called Arthur, and preached on ‘Jesus is Light’ based on Isaiah 9:2-7 etc. Whilst the sermon was Christmas based it also confronted superstition, which is widespread here, and condemned racism which is also sadly prevalent. The service was good and the sermon was well received. The church was as full as is possible under the pandemic limitations which by law limit us to 70% capacity.

We have been defining things for our baptismal service. The service will take place this coming Sunday morning, Boxing Day, at 8.30 am at Green Pastures. There are 14 on the list to be baptized and we already have 5 people on a waiting list for mid-2022. Assistant Pastor Rafael and I will be baptizing together.

Our Christmas Eve service will start at 7:30 pm (10.30 pm UK time) and it will be transmitted on Facebook and YouTube. The service will feature a quartet singing a carol, accompanied by ballet dancers Alice and Millena. Then there will be a presentation of another carol by the Deaf Fellowship and sign language interpreters. Then there will be the presentation of a one act Nativity Play by our Drama group (we’re keeping numbers of participants to a low number owing to the pandemic). Gifts will be given to the children at the end.

At the weekend 3 women came to the Lord and made commitments to Christ at our São Vicente do Seridó church. 3 further women gave their lives to Jesus at our Soledade church. Please pray for these women that they might put down spiritual roots in God. 

My right arm is empty this morning as I have had blood taken for my routine tests. The laboratory nurse arrived at our house at 6:30 am, but my arm should fill up soon! 😉  

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I went for a walk at Green Pastures this afternoon with Francisco, who takes care of the place on a day to day basis, and we saw a Deer! It was probably an Ozotoreros bezoarticus but it could have been a Mazama gouazoubira. We saw it very clearly for about a minute as it gently ran through the bush near our dried up lake. The Deer was clearly quite fat despite the drought. Perhaps it is a pregnant female? This is only the second time I have seen a Deer in Brazil, just to show you how rare it is. I will not mention this on Facebook so as not to attract hunters.

I have been notified (email & text message) by the UK Passport Office in Durham that Liz’s and my passport renewal applications were all correct and new passports are on their way to us. I also have discovered online that my new Brazilian passport is ready to be picked up.

I have been writing this blog for over 17 years. It started in August 2004. At first many people asked me what a blog was! I usually post what I’ve been doing and been involved with every other day, and then I post it out as the EAB Diary Update on the 8th and 22nd monthly.

I am reading ‘Issues facing Christians Today’ by John Stott. It is a very good book. I had been reading ‘Surprised by Scripture’ by N. T. Wright. Each chapter is a lecture he gave in different places in the USA. I don’t know if the translation to Portuguese is bad or what it is, but I found the book heavy.

I led the service last night at Green Pastures and Bible College student Murilo preached the Word. He did very well. After the service we had a good talk to 2 couples who want to be baptized in the middle of 2022. It was a lovely chat we had with them. Parallel to this service the Christmas service for our Patos school was held and 2 adults plus 10 older children made commitments to Christ. Another service was blessed last night at Ipueira and the Deaf fellowship also had their meeting.

Granddaughter Louisa left yesterday for England. She was driven to the Recife airport by Netinho and her boyfriend Tiago. When she got to Lisbon they wouldn’t let her board the flight for Heathrow as her Brazilian test result was not in English, so she had to do another quick test in Lisbon. Fortunately Liz had given Louisa the few Euros we had, just as she left Patos, so that she could pay for the test.

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Our granddaughter Louisa, aged 22, told us she was going to see the new Spider-Man film at the cinema, with her longtime boyfriend Tiago, on Wednesday night in the late night showing. What we didn’t know was that they were going to get engaged there with Tiago on his knees in front of a packed cinema! (Tiago plays the guitar in the church band.) They have been going out together, on and off, for five and a half years.

Liz and I have been working on the Christmas Hamper distribution via 16 EAB/ACEV churches and schools. It’s a lot of hard work, but it brings much happiness and food to hundreds of very poor families. The building materials have been delivered this week for the latest (26th) toilet/shower unit which we are building for Aldenora, Luciano and family at Barra de Oitis. The foundations and cesspits are being dug and we just might be able to finish this work for this needy family in time for Christmas. It will be quite a Christmas present as they have never had a toilet before, let alone a shower!

Our Campina Grande – Catolé church (this is one of the two churches we have in this city) held a glorious and joyful baptismal service on Sunday when 18 people were baptized. I have been busy preparing a Christmas sermon for this coming Sunday. Average Covid daily deaths are down here to 150. We have not felt the impact of the Omicron variant as yet and we hope and pray it will not affect us.

Last night we went to Louisa’s graduation ceremony in Law. Liz and I were first to arrive half an hour early, but the ceremony started three quarters of an hour late! All went off fine in the end. Louisa has passed the first part of her bar exams and has sat the final part for which she is awaiting the result on January 12th. 

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I have just eaten three lovely large slices of Mango, which I hope makes your mouth water. We were given 10 large mangos by a member of our Patos church who is a fireman. He had been given a lot of Mangos by a successful farmer in Pernambuco State and kindly passed some on to us. We are keeping the seeds to plant at Green Pastures.

33 young people took part in their Christmas pizza party last night in the church’s side hall. They ate pizza and played games of bingo with different little prizes for the winners! It went on pretty late as Louisa didn’t get in till after midnight. Our 22-year-old granddaughter Louisa will be flying to Heathrow, via Lisbon, this Saturday. She will be staying in the UK with her parents and brothers for 2 months, but plans to be back in Brazil in time for the carnival camp at Green Pastures.

We were due to officially inaugurate a new well at Macambira dos Lúcios this coming Friday, but this has been postponed until the new year because the team will not be able to get it finished this week. I thought when they combined with me to preach at the thanksgiving service that it would be pushing it for the 17th, but now they have realized it will be impossible. It’s better to finish the job properly taking the necessary time.

Yesterday evening I went on a routine visit to my Doctor Felícia. She remarked how my diabetes has been in remittance for years without any medication. I have a lot to be thankful for. My blood pressure was perfect at 120/80. Now I do a battery of routine blood tests to complete my check-up. 

On Monday evening the Women’s fellowship held a goodbye meeting for sister Magaly who is moving today to Recife with her husband Pastor Lucena. Yesterday evening it was the Men’s fellowship’s turn to say goodbye to Pastor Lucena and 22 men turned up for the emotional meeting. 

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Every Saturday night we take part in the Green Pastures Church service which is a 20 to 25 minute drive from where we live. Saturday was the postponed communion service from last week and all went very well. Sacha led the praise and worship, assistant Pastor Rafael led the service and Pastor Lucena preached from John 15.

Yesterday morning we held our annual church business meeting in Patos and it went off very well. We brought the members list up to date and votes of approval were made for our assistant pastor Rafael, deacon Ricardo and deaconesses Josinete, Deborah Maria and Marcia. Then some adjustments were made to the leadership of our different church ministries. This was followed by the decision to try and return to holding our annual carnival camp at Green Pastures from February 26th to March 2nd. This will go ahead as long as the pandemic situation does not get worse here between now and then. To attend the 4 day camp people will have to pay 30 pounds. If anyone would like to contribute to this camp it would be appreciated as it will enable poorer people to go to the camp who would not be able to otherwise. After this we had a good discussion on the modernization of the Care Centre which was applauded by all present.

Our church has set the date for our next baptismal service in Patos so that it will be a Boxing Day Baptism! It will be held at 8.30 am and over 10 people will be baptized. I cannot give the exact number as yet as we are still sorting this out in the light of the backlog we have owing to the pandemic. It was decided that the baptism will take place in the pool at Green Pastures.

Last night’s main Sunday service of the week was blessed. I dedicated 2-year-old Marina and assistant pastor Rafael preached. At the end we bid farewell to pastor Lucena and his wife Magaly. He clearly doesn’t want to move to Recife and wept. His wife clearly does want to move there where her family live. I will say no more. I hope and pray that the move goes well for them.

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Yesterday afternoon Liz and I had a good meeting with the Patos church youth leaders who are Ray, Rayla and Louisa. They are supported by assistant pastor Rafael who also was in the meeting. We discussed how we can work better with the adolescent and pre-adolescent age groups and we decided that Pastor Rafael and Rayla (they have been going out together for just over a year) will focus their attention on this age group in 2022, whilst Ray and Louisa will focus on the older youth. When does a child become an adolescent in this day and age? 10 or 11? It’s a critical age group for churches to work with.

Yesterday evening we had a meeting with the architect drawing up the plans for the refurbishment and modernization of the Care Centre. We hope to start the work early next year.

We are busy working on preparations for the church annual business meeting this coming Sunday morning. We are also planning for baptismal services. This Sunday in Campina Grande 17 will be baptized. In Patos we will be baptizing about 14 shortly. We are just in a quandary as to where to conduct the baptism in the light of the pandemic. The church baptistery is tight for space and stuffy so perhaps we will do it in an outdoor pool.   

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Our Campina Grande Bible College currently has 27 students. This number is down owing to the pandemic as normally we would have a number somewhere in the 40s. We hope that next year the number of students will increase. We also have 17 students doing online theology courses with ISBL (15) and FTSA (2) which are of a very high standard. These online students are very encouraging because some of them are in very off the track places and are thus preparing future leadership for difficult locations. 

EAB/ACEV has 68 registered pastors and leaders. We have 50 fully fledged churches plus 39 church plants, giving us a total of 89. One of my jobs is to maintain contact with all our leaders, coordinate things with them, and sort out problems when they arise. I have this week been liaising things with pastors Maesio (Teixeira), Renilson (Matureia), Wostenes (Campina Grande and Soledade) and Lindon Carlos (Imaculada). 

We were disappointed this week because one young man who was taken to the drug and drink rehabilitation centre last week has already given up after just 9 days! This is very sad. Please pray for a young mother in the Patos church called Aline who has suspected Lupus. Please also pray for Madiel (husband of our excellent deaconess Deborah Maria) who had blood pressure 220/150 yesterday but is now improved. The Men’s Fellowship took the service last night at the ex-landless community where we regularly preach the Gospel. A nice little group of farm workers gathered for the service.

Yesterday Liz & I went for a walk at Green Pastures and a Fox (Cerdocyon thous) ran and jumped right in front of us. We also saw a Spot-backed Puffbird.  

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I keep myself informed about world affairs watching the BBC World News on TV every lunch time and following the BBC News online. I am part of the BBC ‘Global Minds’ followers panel. I sometimes watch a bit of CNN at night. I subscribe to the Brazilian national newspaper online ‘Folha de São Paulo’ to keep myself in touch with Brazilian politics and affairs. I read this first thing every morning.

The Sunday service in Patos, which I led and preached at, was very good. I preached Mark 2 entitled ‘This is Jesus!’ – part 2. At our Soledade church, which is in transition to a new leader, our renewal team from Campina Grande was in action with Pastor Jânio preaching God’s Word. We value your prayers for this church.

We have received photos from Antonio Rufino & Maria de Fátima at the Tamanduá Community showing their new Chicken Pen. They are very content with this help to their income. The new well at Macambira dos Lúcios is working out very well and will be officially inaugurated on the 17th, when we will hold a community thanksgiving service and preach the Gospel. The wide-mouth well has hit a good amount of water for which we praise God. This well will be known as ‘Sylvia’s Well’ as the funds were donated in memory of Sister Sylvia Pusey.

My latest book in the Blitz Detective series has just arrived. I was starting to suffer with withdrawal symptoms as ‘The Dockland Murder’ by Mike Hollow took a long time in coming via the Brazilian section of Amazon. I see from the book’s cover that the murder victim is a member of the Home Guard this time. I only hope it’s not Captain Mannering or Corporal Jones!

Last night we had our Pastor Lucena with us crying his eyes out because him and his wife will be moving away from Patos to Recife around the end of the year. Lucena is a retired Congregationalist pastor who has settled in very nicely with us over the past 5 years in our Patos church. Lucena worked with me a lot in the Patos Bible College and has been a great friend for many years. We will miss them a lot.

Our daughter Lynn is now recovering well from her surgery and is getting over a post-op infection. Thanks for your prayers.

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Last night’s service at Green Pastures was cancelled owing to a most welcomed heavy shower of 8 mm (one third of an inch) of rain. When I left Patos all was dry, but on the main road, about half way to the Reserve, the rain hit us with lots of wind. I knew then that the service would be cancelled as the local farming folk can’t make it in the mud. It wasn’t a lot of rain last night, but for us that have not seen a drop for 4 months, it was most welcome. All the trees will be budding green within 5 days.

I have 3 babies to dedicate in the coming month and at least 8 people to baptize, including our 14-year-old granddaughter Alice. The church youth are having their Christmas pizza party on the 13th and the Men’s Fellowship are having their Christmas get-together on the 21st. We will be inaugurating another well – this time at Macambira dos Lúcios in Tavares County – on the 17th. 

Please pray for our daughter Lynn who has a post-op infection. Please also pray for 4-year-old Maria Isabelly (Matureia Action School) who will have her cancerous kidney removed next Thursday (9th). Please also pray for the bereaved family of our sister Salete whose brother Messias died yesterday in his 40s. He died as a result of an untreated gall stone which got stuck in a duct and caused sepsis. If only he had gone to the doctor earlier, but he refused. 

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I had to go to the Federal Police’s office in Patos yesterday afternoon to renew my Brazilian passport. The policeman who attended me asked me if I was Sacha’s father. He then told me that the electronic checking of my fingerprints would be unlikely to work (which it didn’t) as “beyond 60 years of age fingerprints wear out!” I now have to go and pick my new passport up in 10 days time. I am still waiting for news about the renewal of Liz and I’s British passports, but I have renewed my British driving licence on line.

I have been preparing my sermon for this Sunday on Mark 2 – called “This is Jesus – 2”. Doing a chapter at a time, in a 30 minute sermon, the idea is to get people to think back to what it must have been like reading the Gospel of Mark for the first time some 1,965 years back and reading “This is Jesus!” (Mark was probably the first Gospel written) On Sunday I will cover Jesus’ authority to forgive sin & heal; Jesus’ calling of Levi (Matthew) & the controversial meal at his home; Fasting and the fact that Jesus is Lord of the sabbath.

The end of year services are now organized. A week on Sunday (12th) we will have our annual church business meeting in the morning. This day is Bible Day in Brazil. On Christmas Eve we will have our main Christmas service at 7:30 pm. On New Year’s Eve we will hold our watchnight service also at 7:30 pm. Sunday services will be as normal at 6:30 pm.

Last night I had a nice time of fellowship with a young pastor from another denomination. His name is Williton. It was nice to share about our respective ministries. I hope and pray I was an encouragement to the young man.

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Wostenes is the name of the pastor of EAB/ACEV’s largest church at Campina Grande in the borough of Catolé. He is also the deputy chairman of the work here and I am the chairman. The 11-person leadership team is elected by all our church leaders every 4 years with the next election in 2024. Wostenes is a lovely sound and balanced brother and a real personal friend. On Monday we had one of our regular online meetings discussing the transition at our Soledade church from where the current pastor Ângelo has resigned. Wostenes is now responsible for this church for a few months because the church is at a low ebb. Our aim is for Wostenes and team to inject new life into the Soledade church before a new pastor is brought in. Please pray for the Soledade church and for Wostenes.

We have taken a further man to drug and drink rehabilitation this week. We pray that this man, whom we know well, will be set free.

On Monday night we had a terrific service with the church packed out with teenage students, teachers and family from the Fera School. It was a thanksgiving service for the students having finished junior high school. I led the service and preached a lively crisp Gospel message for the glory of God. Just think that on one night we had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to over 100 non-evangelical Christians! Amongst the students was our granddaughter Alice.

Yesterday I went to Green Pastures to take cleaning supplies and to go for a walk. I heard a Green-barred Woodpecker whilst there and I saw a Great Kiskadee in it’s bright yellow colouring. We have just had the 3 bird tables repaired and they are looking great. We have also repaired and rebuilt 5 benches.  

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Saturday night was a night full of activities with the Patos church. First of all there was, as always, the deaf fellowship’s meeting in the Care Centre. Then the Christians in Action group held their regular service at Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte State. I also led the normal Green Pastures service and I preached too on John 8:12. Granddaughter Louisa and her boyfriend Tiago (guitar) went with me to take care of the praise and worship. What was particularly encouraging at this service was how a young local farm worker called Francisco came forward and asked to read a verse of Scripture from Isaiah. He had made a reconsecration of his life to God in the previous meeting and this was his way of saying he meant it! He can hardly read and slowly read one syllable at a time, but he made it. The good number at the service burst out in applause when he finished. 

On top of these three Saturday night activities we also held a special night of child evangelism in the borough of Jatobá on the south side of the River Espinharas in Patos. This event was in the open-air outside our school and it attracted a large number of children together with a good number of their parents. We have been trying for years to plant a church in this borough. Saturday night’s service was the return to regular monthly services in this place now that the pandemic has calmed down somewhat.

Yesterday we had the Sunday School for all ages at 9:30 am and the main service of the week at 6:30 pm. I led the service and assistant pastor Rafael preached on Jonah 1. Tonight I will be leading and preaching in a service for teenage students whilst parallel to this two prayer meetings will be held in the Care Centre. Prior to this I will be having an online meeting with Pastor Wostenes (Campina Grande).

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I took part in a 4-hour meeting of RENAS today online, which is a network of Brazilian evangelical Christian organizations that practice social community action. Whilst I was in this meeting our daughter Lynn got back to Patos after her surgery.

Yesterday I went for a good walk at Green Pastures. I heard the Red-legged Seriema which are large birds between 70 and 90 cm tall. I also heard the Stripe-backed Antbird and the Long-billed Wren. I also noticed that the two Turkey chicks that have hatched had been put into a different pen separate from the guinea pigs because the chicks were killing the guinea pigs with their sharp beaks. We keep some animals like this especially for the children.

Last night there was the usual Friday night sign language lesson training new interpreters for work with the deaf. This work is led by our deaf pastor Luis Carlos. The deaf and interpreters are also preparing a presentation for our special Christmas Eve service. The drama group is also preparing a short play with reduced numbers owing to the pandemic.

I have also been doing a lot of ACEV church administrative work. On Thursday night was the usual Bible study going through the book of James.   

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EAB’s wheelchair bank is going flat out. We have a fleet of wheelchairs which we lend out to poor people when they need them. We lent out another chair today plus a pair of crutches. It is a simple way to minister God’s love to the needy.

Yesterday our region (150 counties) in the State of Paraíba was declared in a state of emergency with the horrific drought we are facing. The leaves are off the trees like in the UK, only here it’s because of the drought and not the cold. 

Walking at Green Pastures on Tuesday afternoon I saw and heard (a fine whistle call) the tiny Tawny Piculet 4″ woodpecker. I also saw many Chalk-browed Mocking birds which imitate the calls of a variety of other birds.

Our daughter Lynn left hospital yesterday afternoon after her surgery. She is now staying for the time being in João Pessoa at her son’s flat. John David is studying at university there to be a doctor. Our two youth leaders who had Covid are now better. Thanks for your prayers. The Covid situation in Brazil continues to improve with the average daily death rate at 217 and the average daily new infections at 9,528. When comparing this with UK statistics you need to remember that Brazil has more than three times the population than the UK.

Pastor Williton Farias is a new pastor to Patos from the Betel denomination. He has asked for a meeting with me next week to see what he can learn. I have also been invited to take part this Saturday in a nationwide network of evangelical churches and organizations that care about integral mission and social action. It should be interesting.

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