Prison uprising

 Last night there was a big rebellion by the prisoners in the Patos Men’s Jail. They set fire to mattresses, smashed things and even destroyed a wall. The police only restored order after midnight. These uprisings often are started so that one criminal faction or gang can get at a rival faction and kill their enemies. Thankfully nobody was killed last night.

Yesterday my son-in-law Hutan’s Uncle Zé Gomes was released from hospital finally free from Covid. Hutan thanks everyone for their prayers. Please pray for Zé Gomes’s wife who is now in hospital. Please also pray for another of our pastors who has gone down with Covid. He is Pastor Umbirajara who is the senior pastor of our first church in João Pessoa.

Yesterday afternoon it rained 12 mm (half an inch) at Green Pastures which is better than nothing, but we desperately need some big rains. One of our two Bushnell Camera Traps at Green Pastures has just again registered the presence of two Jaguarundi wild cats which are about double the size of a large domestic cat. Jaguarundi cats are either a reddish rust colour, as these registered were, or greyish/blueish and we see both colours at Green Pastures from time to time. They hunt the wild guinea pigs and a variety of lizards that we have in abundance.

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Vaccine

This morning Liz and I had our first dose of Covid vaccine with the second dose due on the 20th of April. The vaccine is the Chinese Coronovac which is one of the two vaccines being used in Brazil at the moment. The Coronovac is made in partnership with the Brazilian organization Butantan. We had finally received the word that the days for our age group’s vaccination at our local public health office would be today and tomorrow so our youngest daughter Sacha went to the office early this morning and got us tickets numbers 57 and 58. In view of the fact that the vaccination system was not well organized like in the UK we asked to be vaccinated in our jeep when our time came so as to avoid the crowd at the health office. All worked to plan and we are very happy to have finally got through round one of our vaccinations.

Last night we had a good amount of rain in parts of Patos (an average of about 40 mm) but sadly it didn’t rain at all at Green Pastures. We were very disappointed. Please keep praying for rain.

Yesterday I spent many hours preparing a sermon on ‘the fear of the Lord’ from Proverbs 9:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

I am glad to report that Deaconess Samara is improving after her sad suicide attempt. Our local pastor Betinho and his wife Maciene are doing a great job giving her spiritual support at this critical recovery time. Please do keep praying for Samara.  

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Mandioca Pancakes

 Liz and I went for a walk at Green Pastures yesterday afternoon although Liz only went as far as the dam because her foot is still a bit dodgy after her slip a few weeks back. I walked as usual up to the lake which is totally dry waiting for rain. We saw a fascinating nest of a Long-billed Wren made in the doorway of the large camp kitchen! They have hatched 3 babies that are still without feathers. We also saw a Rufous-bellied Thrush on her nest on top of the wooden pillar in front of Deborah’s room.

When we got back from our walk we had showers and then ate savory Mandioca pancakes with scrambles eggs and melted cheese rolled inside. This was followed by a sweet of Avocado Pear. If that doesn’t make your mouth water I give up!

The rainy season continues to be very weak. We had 11 mm on Sunday night and 3 mm last night so we have only had 224 mm on the 23rd of March. Normally in a good rainy season we would be at about 450 to 500 mm by the end of March so please pray. Our lake is bone dry as is the stream which should be flowing through Green Pastures at this time of year. In a good year water would be rushing down the stream and cascading over our little dam at Easter so that we can relax and lay down at the dam letting the water flow over us. It is very relaxing. However this year there is no water at all.  

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Bristol, Danbury & Patos

 Today I have travelled virtually a lot. This morning I took part, together with Liz, in the service at the Bristol Ivy Church. This afternoon I took part in a meeting of the Danbury Mission in Essex. Now I have just finished leading the service here in Patos and in all of it we felt the blessing of God.

Yesterday I received messages of thanks from the nuns who I spoke to. I was told that I had spoken to nuns from the states of Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and Alagoas. Praise God for every door that he opens to us in ministry.

I sent a message to the Governor of our state of Paraíba to encourage him for his good work in trying to contain the pandemic. I felt I should publicly take a stand with him for good in the light of the opposition he is facing from President Bolsonaro who just makes fun of it and say lockdowns are a waste of time. I know the Governor received my message but I also made it public on Facebook and Twitter. Now you should see the reaction to my message! On one hand people applaud but on the other hand people spew out all sorts of aggressive insults because they are fanatical supporters of President Bolsonaro. Brazil is in a terrible mess.

Please pray for 2 men from the Patos church who have gone down ill with Covid. They are Clayton and Ernane. 

I think there is the possibility of Liz and I receiving a first dose of vaccine in the next one or two weeks. I estimate this by the age groups they are now nearing and the amount of vaccines being sent to our state. The vaccine will either be from China or from the UK as these are the two being used so far here.

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Pastors

 My role in the work of God in northeast Brazil is as chairman of EAB/ACEV’s 11 person leadership team. The team is elected by all our church leaders every 4 years and it has 9 men and 2 women in the team which includes Liz. Hence one of my important tasks in difficult times like these is to support our pastors around our over 80 churches and advise them as necessary. Yesterday I chatted a lot to one such pastor, who will have to be nameless, as he shared with me about being in debt as his church isn’t keeping up with his monthly payments from which he lives off. He said that no matter how much he preaches about tithes and offerings it doesn’t seem to change the situation! So I agreed to help him over the next 6 months or so which will give him breathing space to sort this out, but his church will not know we are helping him otherwise they might never get their act together!

I also had good talks yesterday with pastor Iremar, who leads the Juá church, and we discussed how the church is going etc. I also had talks with pastor Wostenes. 

I have now finished the year 2011 for my book on the history of the work here, so that’s 7 years to go. The book is in Portuguese for a Brazilian readership and will cover the first 80 years from 1938 to 2018. It will be something very important for future generations in the EAB/ACEV churches and in Bible Colleges.

Yesterday I had another good walk at Green Pastures and filmed a nice Tarantula spider in the bargain. We had a light shower (2 mm) of rain before we got there. The rain situation here gets worse and worse. Please pray.

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Where’s the rain?

 The rain situation here is very serious. I know it is difficult for people in the UK to understand but in the interior of northeastern Brazil the rain comes in one period and that’s your lot till the following year. So the fact that it’s not raining at all in March is very worrying as this is our main month for rain in the rainy season. We need some nights of very heavy rain between now and the end of April or we will be in the middle of a very bad drought. Please pray for rain!

I am very glad to tell you that Pastor Sandro of the Patos Congregational church, together with his wife and daughter, have all come through Covid and been given the all clear. He sent me a lovely message thanking for all our prayers so I pass on the thanks to all of the EAB prayer team.

Hutan is our son-in-law and married to our daughter Lynn. He has asked prayer for his Uncle Zé Gomes and his Aunt Edizia who have both gone down with Covid in João Pessoa so please add them to your prayer list. It is lovely that Hutan has asked prayer in this way as he is a staunch Roman Catholic.

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Toilet/Shower

 Our projects team is at Barra de Oitis village in Diamante County monitoring the different projects EAB is carrying out there for the poor. I have just posted photos of Francisco de Assis Bezerra, Maria de Fátima Lucas and their two children who are just getting their first toilet at their house in their lives together with a shower. The circular bathroom with a two and a half metre diameter has been built with a water tank on top and it now just needs the finishing touches together with a cope of paint. Then the cess pits will be built too. The family is very happy. Thank you for supporting EAB.

I am afraid I have to ask you for prayer for more Covid cases here. The situation is desperate. I today received prayer requests from 5 more people with 3 in Patos and 2 in João Pessoa. All 5 have asked not to be named so I will of course respect their requests. So please just pray for these 5.

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Critical situation

Brazil is in a critical public health meltdown and there are at this time in our State of Paraíba 70 people with serious Covid-19 conditions who are in a queue for a hospital bed or intensive care. In the city of Porto Alegre in the south if somebody dies from your family you will have to queue for 5 hours to get a death certificate to be able to proceed to the burial.

This morning the Patos psychologist Suênia da Costa, aged 50, died with Covid. Liz and I were interviewed by her on FM radio in 2018 about our successful long lasting marriage. She was a lovely person. We are all saddened by the news. It is very clear that younger and younger people are dying in the pandemic as 2 other women in their 40s died in Patos over the weekend. So please do continue to pray for us and the overall dire situation in Brazil. The State of Paraíba Governor is doing what he can to get people to stay at home as much as possible and has rightly imposed a curfew every night. However at the same time you hear President Bolsonaro saying that lockdowns are a load of rubbish and encouraging his fanatical followers to resist!

Please add to your prayer list Sister França of our Juazeirinho church who is in hospital with Covid in intensive care. Brother Silvino from our Manaíra church continues in intensive care.

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Sunday Service

I have just finished leading our Sunday communion service online. Our main service of the week is always on Sunday night from 6:30 pm to 8 pm. My granddaughter Louisa led the praise and worship tonight and our assistant pastor Rafael preached about the resurrection of Jesus. It was a lovely service.

We again ask you to pray for rain as our rainy season is half over and very little rain has fallen to date. Last night we had a shower in Patos and we held our breath hoping it would keep raining, but it didn’t. At Green Pastures we didn’t even get a shower. However last week we had a strong wind at Green Pastures which blew down a very big Prosopis Juliflora tree so we had to cut off all the branches and clear up the mess. The trunk is now a bench for the camps.

I have just heard that in some cities in Brazil you now have to queue up to get your loved one’s death certificate. There are so many deaths, at over 2,000 a day, that there are queues for death certificates!    

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Samara is home

Our dear sister Samara, who sadly attempted suicide, was brought into the Patos General Hospital for further recovery treatment but today her pastor Betinho came and took her home to Ibiara after she was released. I have given quite a bit of advice to the young pastor about supporting the deaconess together with his wife. Please especially pray for Samara at this difficult time.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I went for our usual walk at Green Pastures and observed the effects of the lack of rainfall this rainy season. We planted melons, water melons and pumpkins but sadly much of them have died owing to the lack of rain. Please pray as this is a very bad rainy season so far.

I have been preparing the online communion service for tomorrow which I will be leading. The preacher will be our assistant pastor Rafael. I also posted on Facebook a photo from our market garden project at Sítio Glória Community in Imaculada County. The photo shows some beautiful lettuces. It reminds me of my Dad’s old joke: What do couples most like to eat on their honeymoon? Answer: Lettuce alone! 😂  

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Deaconess

 We were greatly saddened last night by the news that Samara, who is a deaconess at the EAB/ACEV Ibiara church, had attempted suicide by cutting her arteries in two places. Thankfully she was rushed to the Conceição hospital in time to save her and she has now been brought to the hospital here in Patos for further repairs. Please pray for Samara. Samara is a nurse and like all nurses has been under tremendous psychological pressure coping with Covid. She has the added worry that she has a serious eyesight problem, which I understand has no cure, so this was also getting her down and playing on her mind. I have been talking to her pastor Betinho and giving him some advice on how to handle this very sad case. The issue of mental health is critical in these times of the Covid pandemic.

Good news now is that our pastor José Vieira and his wife Raimunda in João Pessoa have both been given the all clear after having Covid. They are very grateful to all who prayed for them.

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Nun

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from a nun called Sister Aparecida who is the headteacher of a Roman Catholic School run by a convent. Sister Aparecida told me that a network of convents would be having a regional meeting and they would like me to speak to them! I gladly agreed and so today I prepared a message and recorded it on video. Please pray. Such relationships build up over years and we praise God for this open door.


Yesterday was the first day we had over 2,000 covid deaths in 24 hours in Brazil. We had no less than 2,349 deaths! How terribly sad this is but still the national government refuses to act. Our President Bolsonaro is a disaster.

85 year old Silvino from our Manaira church is worse in hospital with Covid at Serra Talhada, I have been told by his pastor Francinaldo today. Please pray. However good news on 40 year old Manassés in João Pessoa is that he has been sent home much better from hospital. Praise God!
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Couscous

 Yesterday afternoon Liz and I went to Green Pastures for our usual physical exercise although only I walked the full two miles as Liz has to take it easy on her injured foot. We checked on the work being done there planting trees etc. and all is going well. However we badly need more rain as we are well below average for rainfall in this our rainy season. Please pray. When we got back we had couscous with egg in it for our tea which I love.

We have received good news regarding Manassés who is the man about 40 years old with Covid who used to be a member in our Patos church. He has now been declared out of danger by the doctors. PTL!

Please pray for 85 year old Brother Silvino from Manaíra. He has Covid and has been taken to a hospital in Serra Talhada which is in the state of Pernambuco.

Today our oldest elder in the Patos church has his 89th birthday. Liz and I have spoken to Pedro Guedes on the phone and wished him well.

I am a member of the BBC’s Global Minds panel and have just answered one of the surveys we do now and again. I have been part of such BBC panels for a very long time going back to the days when Frank Dyer and I used to listen to the BBC news at 3 pm everyday on short wave radio as this was the time of day for the best reception. Now of course we have access to the BBC World service on TV, computer and mobile phone. How times have changed.

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Early morning

Today started first thing with a young man contacting me to talk over an anxiety crisis he feels is affecting him. We had a good chat and I prayed with him. Please pray for him. I can’t give his name. I felt our chat helped him which is good. So many people are facing anxiety crises in these difficult times.

Please continue to pray for Pastor Sandro and his wife and daughter, of the Congregational church, who are all ill with Covid-19. Pastor Sandro had a scan yesterday which showed his lungs 40% affected by the disease. Please continue to pray for Manassés in João Pessoa who continues to be in intensive care with Covid though he has slightly improved. Our Pastor José Vieira and his wife Raimunda are improving from Covid. They are also in João Pessoa.

I am doing a lot of work researching and writing the History of the first 80 years of EAB/ACEV which will be something very important for our churches here. I plan to publish the book this year. The book is in Portuguese and written for a Brazilian audience. I have now completed from 1938 to 2009 so I can see the end insight with 2018. 

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International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day so I take this opportunity to praise God for all the women who support and work on behalf of EAB and the furtherance of the Gospel in the interior of northeast Brazil. Thanks too to all the women of prayer who faithfully remember us before God’s throne. May the Lord bless you all.

Last night’s service in Patos went extremely well. PTL! I led the service and I preached on the Kingdom of God as “God reigning” in our lives, family, church and community. I have had a lot of positive feed back so that is good.

This morning I have sent out our latest EAB Diary Update which is a copy of this blog put into one email for those who don’t read the blog. If you know of anyone who would like to receive the update then please do send me an email.

Please pray for pastor Sandro and his wife who have gone down ill with Covid-19. He is the pastor of the Congregational church here in Patos. 

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Live transmission

Last night the praise and worship group from our first church in Campina Grande, called ‘Tenda do Encontro’, did a live presentation on YouTube for two and a quarter hours. All went off very nicely.

Another toilet/shower unit at Barra de Oitis village is in the process of being built. I posted photos on Facebook which show the start of the toilet and the cess pits. 

I have some good news regarding answers to prayer. First of all Gideão (Gideon) at Campina Grande thanks everyone for their prayers. He is now at home and much better though he does have some lasting after effects of the Covid-19. Then there is Manassés who is now off the ventilator but still in intensive care. Also our pastor José Vieira and his wife Raimunda are on the mend. So thank you to the prayer team and all who pray for us here.   

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ICU

Please pray for the increasingly serious situation with the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. The World Health Organization made an appeal to Brazil yesterday to take the pandemic seriously but tragically that is exactly what our president Bolsonaro refuses to do. To the contrary he told people to “stop whining” this week at exactly the time that deaths from Covid in Brazil are at an all time high.

Here in Patos all 100% of intensive care beds are full and 80% of Covid wards are full. The situation is extremely serious because whereas most countries, like the UK, are seeing infections and deaths fall in number as a result of lockdowns and vaccinations, the president here says there will never be lockdown as far as he is concerned! The result in Brazil are numbers of cases and deaths soaring to record levels. The Mayor of São Paulo says the president is mad!

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Chicken Run

 Aldenora Lucas Ferreira is married to Luciano Alexandre Ferreira and they have 3 children. They live in a mud and sticks house (hut) at Barra de Oitis village in Diamante county. They are thrilled because they have been selected to receive a chicken run in our 2-Wings project. They will receive in their backyard a chicken pen 3 metres x 2.5 metres with wire-netting 1.5 metres high to protect the hens from foxes or wild dogs. At one end of the pen there will be nesting boxes for the egg laying and this part will have a roof on to give shade. When the chicken run is constructed they will receive 7 laying hens duly vaccinated. This project is a great help to poor families as they sell the eggs and thus have increased income to add to the government benefit of 59 pounds per month they at present live/survive off. Such projects help the poor to help themselves and give them pride and dignity in the process.

We have had another 12 mm (half an inch) of rain at Green Pastures taking us up to a total this year of 208 mm (8.6 inches). Please pray for rain for us as we are below average for what we need in the rainy season between now and May. 

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Market Gardens

We will be able to soon establish another 3 market gardens for the very poor. The area at the back of people’s little houses are securely fenced off to keep all free from invading animals. The people are then given teaching from an expert to teach them to plant vegetables and fruit trees in the most productive way. The project then equips the people with all the gardening tools they need as well as a 2,000 litre water tank, a watering can and shading netting is hung over part of the area for plants that need protection from the sun. Then the people are given a wide range of seeds and seedlings to start their income generating market garden which will greatly boost their income and so help the poor to help themselves with dignity and well being. Please pray for the market gardens project.

Liz has had the mother of Manassés sobbing on the phone this morning because her son, with Covid-19 in João Pessoa, continues intubated in intensive care but shows no signs of improvement. Manassés is about the age of our son Philip. Please pray.   

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Pernambuco

 We live and work in the northeastern state of Paraíba which is north of the state of Pernambuco. Our pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) leads the EAB/ACEV church in the town of Flores in Pernambuco state and he told me yesterday that in Pernambuco there is a longer curfew than here now which starts at 8 pm through to 5 am. Then at the weekends nothing is allowed to open (including churches) for the next 2 weeks as the pandemic situation is so catastrophic here. Please pray.

Yesterday Liz and I went for another of our usual walks at Green Pastures but Liz didn’t walk too far as she still feels pain in her foot and arms from her tumble last Friday. We checked on the 106 tree seedlings being planted and things look good. We met up with a wild tortoise on the walk which is lovely and something we often see.

We have managed to pay off the rest of our workers’ little house at Belém (Bethlehem) village in the county of Tavares so that is good. 

I have been talking to our pastor Maésio up in the mountains at Teixeira and he is overjoyed with the conversion of a man called Odemar who has come from a previous life of drink and drugs. Odemar is now really enthused to serve the Lord and learn about him and has opened up his home to serve as a further point from which to preach the Gospel.

My sister Joy has sorted out the problem of the post office here not sending letters to the UK owing to the pandemic. I sent her the letters by email, to go to the 16 on our snailmail list, and Joy is going to post them in the UK. 

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Cookery

I have been discussing with our projects team the continuation of our Desert Flower Project now that Tearfund backing for it has finished. The project is important to be continued as it restores dignity to very poor women and teaches them ways to create their own income. The project’s name ‘Desert Flower’ is very fitting as our aim is to make women flourish in difficult circumstances. An important aspect of this project is teaching women in the field of cookery so as to generate income. The teacher is one of our pastors João George. He is very good. He teaches 10 women in a series of 6 workshops how to bake bread, how to make and ice cakes, how to make the typical tasty savories eaten at parties in Brazil etc. Our difficulty now is to fund these workshops as ingredients for all 10 women makes it expensive at about 170 pounds per workshop. Please pray. The next edition of Desert Flower Cookery workshops is planned to be held at the painfully poor Barra de Oitis village.

Yesterday I prepared my sermon for this coming Sunday when I will both lead the service and preach on the Kingdom of God.

Last night we had another 12 mm (half and inch) of rain at Green Pastures. PTL! It rained for a long time but it was a fine drizzle.    

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Prayer

EAB has a prayer team made up of supporters who commit to praying for us and the work of EAB at some time every day. We greatly appreciate this team and all other EAB backers who pray for us because prayer changes things. It is very encouraging for our leaders when we tell them the EAB prayer team is praying for them. We have seen two of our pastors pull through Covid-19 (Wostenes & Jânio at Campina Grande) and now we have a third, José Vieira and his wife Raimunda, (at João Pessoa) down with this awful virus, but they know they are being prayed for by the EAB team every day. So I want to encourage all members of the prayer team. You can see prayer requests in this blog or in the team’s group on Messenger. You can also receive prayer request updates from the team’s coordinator Joy Levermore by contacting her at levermorejoy@gmail.com . 

We have a group of 16 elderly EAB supporters who receive a monthly postal snailmail update from us as they do not have email. The problem is that since flights between the UK and Brazil have been halted the Brazilian post office refuses to accept our letters. This means we now, on the first day of another month, have the third letter waiting to be sent so we are going to have to find a way round this problem.

We have been keeping careful records of our rainfall at Green Pastures for 21 years. In the first two months of 2021 we received 184 mm so we are 24% down on last year on this date. Please pray for more rain for Green Pastures.

Yesterday afternoon at 5 pm a man was gunned down and murdered at Curral Velho (Old Cow Pen) where EAB/ACEV has a church led by Ramos & Tica. The killing took place not far from our church in this old fashioned wild-west type small town or village. Please pray for peace to be restored and justice to be done as regards the killer. May nothing happen to hinder the progress of the Gospel at Curral Velho.

Thank you for your prayers for Liz. Her foot is a lot less swollen and she is limping a lot less. Praise the Lord! Thank you for praying for the service last night in Patos. I enjoyed leading the service last night and had fun with my sign language (I’m hopeless!) as the deaf pastor’s wife Jessica had her birthday so I clapped her in sign language! Sacha led the praise and worship absolutely beautifully and the assistant pastor Rafael preached the Gospel. It was a lovely service.    

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Wife

Please pray for Pastor José Vieira’s wife who now has also gone down with Covid-19. Raimunda has joined her husband with this disease and needs your prayers. They are the leaders of the João Pessoa – Cidade Verde EAB/ACEV church on the coast.

Last night we had more rain in Patos and at Green Pastures. At Green Pastures it rained 1.75 inches (42 mm) which takes us up to 7.6 inches (184 mm) this year.

I will be leading tonight’s service in Patos. The Sunday night service here is the main service of the week. Our assistant pastor Rafael will preach and our daughter Sacha will lead the praise and worship. The service will be only online via Facebook and YouTube. All services are only allowed online at the moment in obedience to a law brought in by the State government to try and relieve the intense pressure on the public health system where hospitals are full in our State. The horrific thing is that whilst the State government tries to help like this the national federal government does the opposite and threatens and opposes the State governments’ endeavours. Our current President Bolsonaro is worse than awful. He is the worst president I have ever seen in all my years in Brazil. The sad thing is that the majority of evangelical Christians love Bolsonaro. I am part of a minority who oppose him. 

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Counselling

Last night Liz and I had a counselling session for an hour with a young man from our church in Patos which went very well indeed. We held it on our front veranda as our usual place in our back garden wasn’t possible as a fine rain was falling.

We had another half an inch (12 mm) of rain yesterday at Green Pastures so that takes us almost up to 6 inches (142 mm) from the 40 inches (960 mm) needed between now and May to get us through to 2022. Please pray.

Liz and I went to Green Pastures yesterday, as we do at least twice a week to check things over and have a good walk. We are working on making the entrance to Green Pastures cleaner and prettier and this is going very well with worker Francisco who is much better than the old worker Tarcísio who left a few months back. Francisco is very willing and most capable and his wife Leca does whatever cleaning we ask her to so the change has worked out very well indeed. However towards the end of our walk yesterday the ground was a bit slippery with the rains and Liz slipped in the mud, twisted her foot where she broke her ankle a few years back, and fell banging her face on the ground. Liz had the first nose bleed of her life as a result and is limping today. She is alright but would value your prayers.

We have another pastor down with Covid-19. This time it is Pastor José Vieira who leads our 2nd church in João Pessoa in the borough of Cidade Verde. He is in the early stages of it as yet (day 6) so we shall see how it develops. José Vieira is about 50 years of age. Please do pray for him together with a man of about 40 also in João Pessoa called Manassés who has Covid-19 very bad. He used to be a part of the Patos church some years ago. Manassés is in intensive care and has been intubated to be on a ventilator.

This week our projects team marked the location for our next toilet/shower unit and the circular two and a half meter diameter foundations have been dug. The building materials will be arriving there next week. We also had discussions with our projects team on where the next goats will be going to in the 4-Legs Project. A goat now costs us 86 pounds but within this cost is including de-worming medicine, a sack of mineral salt and a can of protective medicinal spray for any wound that the animal may get as it goes into the bush.     

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More rain

 We had some more rain at Green Pastures last night. Just over an inch (27 mm) fell there, whereas in Patos very little fell. We have now received 5.4 inches of rain this rainy season so we’ve started, but there’s a long way to go. On the coast at João Pessoa they had very heavy rain today causing flash flooding in many central streets and roads. I have seen photographs of cars submerged and people going down some principal roads in canoes. At Green Pastures our lake and stream remain completely dried up. Please pray.

Last night’s Bible study went well. Now we are back to doing it on Google Meet, which for those who don’t know this is similar to Zoom.

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Good news

Today I start with some good news. Gideão (Gideon) who was pretty ill in hospital at Campina Grande with Covid-19 has recovered and been sent home. Thank you for praying. Please pray that he will now have no after effects from the illness. The pastor of his church, Wostenes, who also had the virus has fully recovered. I have been talking to him yesterday and today.

The curfew here from 10 pm to 5 am started yesterday. In person church services have also been halted so it’s back to services exclusively online. A lot of evangelical pastors are up in arms about this calling the order unconstitutional. I had to intervene in the WhatsApp group of our pastors yesterday as some were becoming bitter and extreme. I had to put the flames out and remind them that in EAB/ACEV we do not discuss party politics, as that was what it was becoming. Gratefully they have calmed down but I monitor the group attently. I think the pastors are right in complaining about the bars not being closed as opposed to the churches, but then they get carried away and go too far.

The family of Francisco de Assis Bezerra, aged 28, has been selected to receive an EAB/ACEV Toilet/Shower unit built at their house. They are over the moon as they are one of 80 families that do not have toilets at the village of Barra de Oitis. Francisco’s wife is partially blind. They have two children. Please pray for the team who will be building, digging the cess pits, and plumbing the unit in the coming weeks.   

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Pastoral meeting

Last night we had another lovely meeting with our assistant pastor Rafael to discuss a variety of day to day issues in the running of the Patos church. We had nice times of prayer together too. We meet in the open-air in our back garden duly masked and socially distanced. The meeting lasted an hour.

The epidemic situation in our State of Paraíba is so serious that the State government (the federal government does nothing – just jokes about it!) has imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am so as to inhibit late night bars and parties. Another Patos doctor has died from Covid-19. Please pray.

I had discussions with Betinho who leads the Ibiara and Conceição churches yesterday. He tells me that both churches are doing well despite the pandemic. I was also thrilled to learn that at Barra de Oitis village one adolescent has come to Christ through our ‘Sport in Action’ project which involves children and teenagers in playing football. The football is preceded by a prayer and a little word and when they have competitions the winners receive an award presented at church with all the families invited.

Some people have asked me how much it costs EAB to drill and set up a well which we have been doing for 30 years now. I should explain how the process works. Initially our team travels to different rural communities to select possible places in need of water. They return to those on the selection short list and have community meetings to make sure that they are prepared to care for the well if it is drilled. Once a suitable community is selected a specialist is taken there to locate a spot most likely to hit water. A drilling rig company is then contracted to drill 50 metres (150 feet) deep down through solid granite rock which we hit in this region once we get through the soil. If we hit water another machine comes to measure the amount of water the well produces per hour so that we can calculate the type and size of pump needed. The water is also tested for its quality and purity. Having done all this another team moves in to build an elevated base and puts on top of it a 5,000 litre water tank. Then a submersible electric pump is purchased and put in the well and all the pipes and valves are purchased and plumbed so that the water is pumped from the well up into the elevated tank whose height creates pressure for water distribution in the community by gravity. We also build a water trough near the tank for animals and a standpipe with large taps for community water distribution. Once all is finished we hold a community thanksgiving service and preach the Gospel and we do a six-month follow up to make sure everything with the system is working correctly and understood by the community. We do all this for a cost of

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Baptisms

Over the weekend two of our churches held baptismal services. At the town of Flores in the neighboring state of Pernambuco Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) baptized three new converts. At the Caroá community in the County of Manaíra in Paraíba state Pastor Valdemy baptized five. Rejoice with us. Thank you for your prayers.

Last night my sermon went well and all the technology worked well to make it possible. It was lovely to receive a message first thing this morning from our church leader at São Vicente do Seridó 85 miles east of Patos telling me how blessed and challenged she was by the message. All glory be to God!

The Covid-19 situation here is increasingly dire. It is one big mess because the national government continues to be inept and leaves everything up to local governments to sort out. There is a total lack of national leadership and example as deaths pass the 246,000 mark. We are awaiting local government decisions this week as we may have to suspend our hybrid church services. Our church at Mata Redonda between João Pessoa and Recife has already suspended their hybrid services owing to the grave reality there. Please pray.

We have defined with our projects team that we will construct another toilet/shower unit at the little house of Francisco de Assis Bezerra whose wife is partially blind. They have two children. They live at the Barra de Oitis slave descendents community in Diamante County. The family is overjoyed that they have been selected. 

The 4-Legs goat rearing project is to distribute another five goats to desperately poor people at a new pioneer village of Mata de Oitis. There is now one family that has come to Christ through our preaching the Gospel in this village.

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Preaching

I’ll be preaching tomorrow (Sunday) which is something I’ve been doing by the grace of God for many years and which I love to do. Of course in these extraordinary days of pandemic it is not quite the same preaching from my office but I am glad I can do this. I will be preaching a basic Gospel sermon on what it means and what is involved in being a Christian. I value your prayers.

I have been talking to Pastor Wostenes in Campina Grande who tells me he is thrilled to be back preaching tomorrow as well after his recovery from Covid-19. He also gave me the good news that Gideão (Gideon), from his church’s praise and worship team, has improved from Covid and has come off oxygen. Gideão is still in hospital but could be out next week if his recovery continues as well as it is now. Please continue to pray for him.  

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Toilets selection

Our projects team has been working on the selection of families for the next constructions of toilet/shower units at Barra de Oitis Village in Diamante County. There are at least 80 families without toilets there! One family selected is that of 24 year old Katiana Lucas Ferreira who is the mother of two little boys. Her husband is away at the moment picking oranges down south. She lives off a government handout of 50 pounds a month. The selection process is done very carefully so as to make sure we are helping the poorest of the poor. Ownership of the land where the little house (mud and sticks hut) has be checked at this stage to avoid problems. For example one man seemed to be a strong candidate until we discovered that he had left his wife and the land is in her name. He is now living with someone else and has children with her. Things have to carefully gone through to avoid future problems. It is good that we have an experienced social worker in the team who is a great help in these matters. Please pray for us in these details so that God might guide us to make the right decisions which are just and wise. Other names on the short list for toilets at the moment are Francisco (2 children & wife nearly blind), Amanda (1 child and pregnant. She is separated from her husband & has depression), Marilena (3 children and separated from her husband) and Claudia (2 children).    

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Gideon

 Having told you that our pastors Wostenes and Jânio in Campina Grande are better, I now have learnt that a member of the praise and worship group from their church called Gideão (Gideon) has gone into hospital with Covid-19. He has it worse than the pastors did and is on oxygen. Please pray for Gideão. 

We had an unusual half hour of rain in Patos yesterday afternoon (it mainly rains at night here) but unfortunately it didn’t rain at Green Pastures.

Yesterday I registered with the London School of Theology for their 2021 Virtual Research Conference in April which will discuss the topic: “Are science and faith at odds?” with Andrew Steane, who is a physics professor at Oxford University. Also speaking at the Conference will be my old teacher Tony Lane who will speak on “the Christian Faith and extraterrestrial intelligence”. There will be 3 other speakers, with all chaired by the principal Mark Cartledge. I found the conference I did with LST last year very good so I’m going to do this one now. It’s a real challenging recharge of the spiritual batteries. I highly recommend it. It’s free of charge.

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Pastors recover

 We thank everyone for praying for our two pastors with Covid-19. They are now much better and have been given the all clear by doctors. Praise the Lord for this! I have been talking to one of them who tells me all their symptoms of the disease have now gone. I can now say, I was told, that these pastors are both in our first church in Campina Grande and are senior pastor Wostenes and his assistant pastor Jânio.

Last night we had another 16 mm (over half an inch) of rain at Green Pastures so that takes us up to 4 inches this year, which means we need about another 36 inches to get us through to 2022. With the good rain on Monday night all night the temperature dropped yesterday with a low of 22 degrees and a highest temperature of 28. The young people on their day at Green Pastures were saying they were feeling the cold! Please keep praying for lots more rain.

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Rain glorious rain!

 On Sunday night we had nearly half an inch (11 mm) of rain at Green Pastures and last night (Monday) it rained gently all night and we received another two and a half inches (60 mm). So praise God the rainy season has finally started. We are way behind schedule compared with the last few years so we hope and pray that we will soon catch up with some big rains. I was thrilled to see that at Imaculada it rained over five inches last night!

Today (Shrove Tuesday) would normally be the final main day of our Carnival Camp but sadly this year the pandemic has made this impossible. So our youth group has gone to Green Pastures today as they did on Saturday. Our assistant pastor burnt himself making coffee on Saturday and today he left a case on the pavement outside the church when the youth were getting in the Kombi so that has since been stolen. Oh boy! The youth of today! We trust the rest of the day will go well for them.

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Bethlehem

EAB/ACEV has a pioneer church plant at a village called Belém (Bethlehem) in the County of Tavares. It is the only evangelical Christian witness of any shape or size in the village. It is led by a lovely couple called Naldinho and Vera. They have two children. We have built a little church there. The family are living in the only house available for rent in the village and that was going fine until the owners have now said they need the house for themselves so need Naldinho and Vera to move out. What a predicament! What do we do as this young church plant, with just a few Christians, badly needs the support of its leaders and teaching from them.

Well the owners of the house next door to our church said they would be willing to sell their house to EAB/ACEV for 4,400 pounds if we could give them time to build a house for them to live in at their farm. So to cut a long story short we have managed to make a down payment today of 3,000 pounds and will pay the rest off as soon as we can. We are promised the house in about 2 months time. Naldinho and Vera are very pleased with the solution as we are too. Being that the house is next door to the church it will mean we can join the two back gardens to make a nice play area for children’s work. Please pray with us that all will work out well and that this village will be further blessed mightily by the Lord.

Please also pray for an 11 month old girl called Maria Alice who is in intensive care in the Patos Children’s Hospital since Saturday. She is the niece of the Alencar family who are part of our church family. Maria Alice was born with some problems but seemed to have got over them and was seen by the doctor last Friday and who was pleased with her progress. 

The weekend’s services went well. On Saturday evening the youth led the service very well indeed at Green Pastures and one of their leaders, Ray, (not Murilo as I said previously! He’s next Saturday.) preached the Gospel. On Sunday night Sacha led the service in Patos quite beautifully. It was a blessing.    

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Recovery

Just to let you know that our assistant pastor Rafael is recovering well from his accident with a percolator yesterday. I have just been talking to him. He says he’s putting on the cream prescribed and is feeling alright. Thanks for your prayers. Sacha will lead the service tonight in Patos to give Rafael a break. Last night’s service at Green Pastures was led by our youth.  

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Oh boy!

 Today is the start of Brazilian Carnival and under normal circumstances we would be starting our carnival camp, but obviously we can’t do that this year. However the youth group asked if they could go to Green Pastures for the day under the responsibility of their leaders Rayla, Louisa and Ray plus the assistant pastor Rafael. We agreed to this as it is not against the rules here and it is in the open air and everyone wears masks. They will spend the day there with their own programme of activities and then lead the service there for the local church as always on Saturday nights. One of the young people, Murilo, who is another person we have at Bible College, will bring the Word tonight. 

The youth left Patos for Green Pastures this morning at 6 am and all was well. Later, however, we received a message from Louisa that Pastor Rafael decided to make coffee (Brazilians can’t survive long without coffee!) and without knowing what he was doing (a typical bachelor perhaps?) he not only put coffee in the percolator but he put plenty of sugar too which he should not have done. This resulted in the percolator exploding and sending coffee to the four corners of the kitchen and burning Rafael on his face, neck and one arm! So Rafael has been brought into the Patos hospital with second degree burns where he is on a drip to calm him down and ease the pain. Please pray for him. 

The Projects Team tells me they are pulling their hair out trying to select the next families to be benefitted by EAB toilet/shower units because the needs are so great. They say they have to bite back the tears as people are so desperately poor and don’t even have a toilet! They say it is very difficult to select because everywhere the need is so enormous. Please pray.  

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Two EAB pastors have Covid

 Two EAB/ACEV pastors – a pastor and assistant pastor – have gone down ill with Covid-19. However they have asked not to be named. I am not sure why the secrecy but I will respect their request and not name them. Both the pastors are not in hospital but are medicated by doctors at home. The senior pastor has lost 25% of his lung capacity and the assistant pastor is a bit worse. Please pray for these our pastors.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has said “there is no way he will be vaccinated against the new coronavirus”. He said that vaccinations “might turn recipients into crocodiles”! He has also just added another attack on lockdowns saying “It’s no good staying at home crying. It won’t get you anywhere”. It is not surprising that Brazil has the second highest death toll from Covid-19 in the world. Please pray for Brazil.

Our projects team is at Barra de Oitis to define the location of 2 more Toilet/Shower units. One of the team is Marah Danielle who is an experienced social worker. We take these things very seriously because we can’t build toilets for everyone so we have to carefully select the most desperately needy of the poor, and we need to feel sure that the people benefitted will truly value what they are going to receive. Please pray for God’s guidance in this and that God will keep our team safe and well.

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Conversion

Rivânia is a school teacher in her early thirties. She used to teach at the EAB/ACEV Pastor Frank Dyer Action School on the south side of Patos and it was there that she was impacted by the practical Gospel of Jesus Christ and came close to committing her life to Christ. However she wanted her husband to take the same step with her and he did not want to. When Rivânia moved to teach at another school she never forgot about the Lord and this week she contacted Liz. Liz had some long talks with Rivânia who told Liz she had come to realize that conversion was an individual commitment and so she couldn’t just keep waiting for her husband to take this step of faith with her. Liz ended up praying with Rivânia and leading her to the Lord as she wept with joy. Rivânia is already keen to be baptized and so yesterday afternoon she took part in her first discipleship class where two young men are also being prepared for baptism. So praise God with us for Rivânia’s real commitment to Christ, pray for her growth in God and wisdom to lead her husband and child to the Lord.

Early this morning we had word that a new little girl had been born to our Patos church family. She has been called Luna and is the daughter of Marcelo and Nuhara. Marcelo is a PhD Veterinary Surgeon but is young in the Lord. Please pray for this family, including their children, that they might grow in grace and be blessed by God. They have both come from previous broken marriages but are now seeking to live for God in newness of life in Christ.

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Preached well

 Mailson Macena is a young man who became unemployed and whom we are helping to continue with his distance Bible College course. He is a lovely young man whom you can see in the Patos church services playing bass guitar. Well we were very pleased with how well he preached at Green Pastures at the weekend and I have been encouraging him today. Please pray for Mailson that God might bless him and use him.

The ex-State Governor of Paraíba José Maranhão has died of Covid. He is the second ex-governor to die in the pandemic. The death toll with the virus is far worse this year than last year. José Maranhão was the Governor with whom we had the stand off about the water pipeline for Patos about 20 years ago. We won the battle and Patos got the pipeline.

I have been having discussions with a number of our pastors today: Pastor Nezinho Abílio (Vazante), Lindon Carlos (Imaculada), Hamilton (Campina Grande) and Francinaldo (Manaira). This is an important roll that I have in these difficult days keeping in touch with the pastors and supporting where possible and necessary. Please pray for all our pastors.

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Communion services

 This Saturday night the communion service was held at the Green Pastures church in São Mamede County. The whole church gathered there for it apart from Paulo and Dora, from the ex-landless settlement, as their old banger of a car broke down again! I contacted them after the service and we had a good laugh together about what he calls his “Ferrari”! Tonight (Sunday) the communion service will be held in Patos and our young assistant pastor will be preaching on the resurrection  of Jesus. Our monthly communion services are always on the first Sunday of the month. 

I have been having more discussions with our projects team. We are now to press ahead with more toilet/shower units for the very poor. We will also be distributing lots of goats and building and setting up another chicken run complete with laying hens. The team will now conduct a careful selection process to make sure that only the very needy are benefitted by these projects. We value your prayers.

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Projects

 I have been having long discussions with pastor Lindon Carlos (Imaculada) and others of the EAB/ACEV projects team. We discussed the next toilet/shower units to be built at the Barra de Oitis slave-descendents community in Diamante County. We also discussed the 4-Legs goats project and the 2-Wings Chicken Runs. We value your prayers for these projects in these difficult times.

I have been going through the ISBL Bible College reports and see that our co-leader of the second EAB/ACEV church at Princesa Isabel is having difficulties with his studies and getting low marks. I have contacted Jair and his wife Silvânia to encourage him and carefully suggest that his wife helps him as she is more academic than he is. On the other hand I was very pleased to see how well Murilo (Patos) is doing. His lowest mark so far is 90%! He is such a lovely young man and so keen for the things of God. He has only been a Christian about 2 years. We have asked him to preach at Green Pastures a week this Saturday. Another of our young church leaders, Roberto (known as Betinho) from Ibiara is doing well with just a couple of hiccups in 2 subjects. Finally what a joy it is to see a young woman called Sandra at Água Grande doing really well in her studies. She leads a little village church at this place and lives out in the rural sticks. Yet she is really progressing well with her distance studies on line. I was quite surprised when she first enrolled but she is proving to be a good student. Praise God! So please pray for our Bible College students spread out far and wide. 

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Macambira dos Dioníso

 Macambira dos Dionísio is the name of a rural community where we recently drilled and equipped a well with a pump, 5,000 litre water tank and animal watering trough. It is in the County of Princesa Isabel. The community has 69 families with a total of 235 people. This community had suffered with a lack of water for decades. They used to have to get up very early and walk to a place where water oozed slowly out and there was always a queue there. Now with the well the community has abundant clean drinking water right where they live. They are overjoyed and very grateful to God and His people. One of the community leaders, Luzia Clementino da Silva, has been expressing to our team what a life changing project this is. The community has now invited the Princesa Isabel church to hold services there when this is possible. Please praise with us for the blessing this project is bringing and please pray for the preaching of the Gospel in this place.

Please pray for our São Vicente do Seridó church where a man has died of cancer. He came to the Lord last year so we thank God for this. Pastor Ângelo conducted the funeral the next day as you may know that funerals are always the day after death here. Please also pray for a PE teacher in our church in Patos called Kecinho who has Covid. He is about 30 and being young seems to have a mild version of the disease which is good. His wife Najla had Covid first and is now over it. Thank you for praying.

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Decisions

Two decisions to follow Jesus were made at the weekend. One was at Flores in the State of Pernambuco and the other was here in Patos. Rejoice with us and praise the Lord!

The usual service at Green Pastures on Saturday night was cancelled owing to the half inch of rain which fell just before the service. This makes the earth road a mud bath until it dries out and as most people get there by foot or on motorbikes it makes the services there non-viable at these times. One local church member remarked that the rain is a blessing and the service is too, so we receive it all in God’s time. In fact we certainly ask everyone to please pray for much more rain in our region in this the rainy season, as the rains are little thus far this year. Last year at this time we had received 6 inches of rain but this year we have only had half an inch. Our lake is bone dry.

I have been having discussions with our Action Schools team regarding this important project as I have been discussing with our 4-Legs Project team where the next goats are going to be sent to. Please pray for these projects.

I have received the reports from all our Bible School students who are doing distance studies with the ISBL College. I receive reports with all their marks about all our students. It is good to see most of them are progressing very well. Praise God! Please pray for these 19 students who are tomorrow’s church leaders.

We have received two more Christmas cards!

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Birthday

 Today is my birthday so thanks to everyone who sent me cards and messages. Liz is cooking chicken for lunch and this will be followed by Christmas pudding! This is because we didn’t have one for Christmas but our granddaughter brought us one from England a few days back.

We had the first signs of rain in the rainy season yesterday afternoon when we had half an inch of rain. It’s a start! Please keep praying as ideally we need about 40 inches of rain between now and May.

I saw an Australian study of countries’ handling of the pandemic. The study says that Brazil is the worst country in its response to Covid 19 and New Zealand is the best. I would think the study is pretty accurate! The situation here is terrible and the president continues to joke about it!

I prepared another sermon yesterday on what it means to be a Christian.

This last week I had meetings and discussions with our Projects Team so as to define the next steps to be taken, and with which projects, in these difficult times.

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Another Coronavirus death

 In Brazil the death toll from the Coronavirus Covid 19 has passed the 200,000 (218,918) mark and still the president and his federal government don’t take it seriously. Sadly the last Mayor of Patos, who finished his term of office at the end of December, has died of Covid. His name was Dr. Ivanes Lacerda. This the second wave of the virus is much worse than the first. Many more people are dying now than was previously the case. 

Yesterday morning we received the visit of Gilmarco who is a man in his 30s who is a member of our Patos church but he had been living in the extreme south of Brazil for 2 years. He stood out in our front garden and talked to us at a distance as he was missing us. It was lovely to see him and chat to him. In the late afternoon Liz and I went walking at Green Pastures. Everything is extremely dry there as the rains have still not started. I fear a bad year for rain. Please pray. 

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EAB Action School Report for February 2021

 Coronavirus continues to
cause serious problems for the children and teachers at our schools. The virus is still spreading causing all our schools to close.

 Teachers have been doing a good
job in filming lessons and putting them on the internet. Most children know
someone with a mobile phone so can access lessons. The teacher goes to the
homes of those children who cannot watch the lessons and leaves written ‘homework’.
Teachers also delivered more food parcels for their families because we know
the only proper meal most of these children have is when they come to school.
So, we make sure they receive this help in this distance-schooling period.

 On 23rd December
Liz and John visited the Action School in Patos where a team was distributing
Christmas presents to the children which resulted in many smiling faces! We do
try to take special care of our pupils at this time because they are especially
under pressure with the pandemic’s restrictions. Liz and John were able to encourage
the team for all their dedicated work throughout a difficult year.

Please pray for this school
as the headteacher, Gerlânia, has decided to move on to different work after 17
excellent years in our Pastor Frank Dyer School. She will not be easily
replaced so please pray for God to guide John and Liz in this situation.

I personally will be grateful to Gerlânia for her love
and attention to my brother’s sponsored girl, who all her life has been treated
badly and ignored by her mother who only wants to live the ‘high life’ and
consequently has ignored her own daughter for at least all her school life.

Schools continue closed so our team produces work and
exercise sheets and delivers them to the children’s homes every two weeks. They
have given all the children masks as well. The children receive food hampers
periodically which helps all the family.

These 2 children study at Action School Flores and their
mum is pregnant again. They live in a tiny house, a precarious, awful
situation. The family received a food hamper, and also the church organized a
campaign to buy things for the baby.

 Reports from our schools have been coming in
all the time along with many photos including Manaira, Tavares, Imaculada, Juru
and the school at Green Pastures farm.

 Coronavirus in Latin America has been described by the
Guardian newspaper as “unimaginable – lurching from bad to worse”.
That about sums the situation up there! Brazil is the second worse country in
the world in the number of Covid deaths.

 Sacha Medcraft, who deals
with the Action Schools in Brazil, writes:- “I
have heard of some children here that caught it but had it like a normal cold,
nothing serious. I haven’t heard about this passing it on to adults around here
because the schools and playgrounds are closed, so the children are at home
most of the time.

The hospitals here are working at

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Always good to preach

 I enjoyed preaching last night in our principal service of the week in Patos. I preached on Philippians 3:1-11 with the title “Jesus is best”! The sermon flowed well and many have said they were blessed by it. The praise and worship went well too. It was good to have Louisa back from England singing with us. 

Sadly 91 year old Antônio Abílio at Vazante died yesterday of Covid 19. He was the father of our pastor there Nezinho Abílio. Please pray for Pastor Nezinho and all the family.

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More Christmas cards

We received 4 more Christmas cards yesterday from Poole, West Wellow and the New Forest/Southampton area. Our thanks go to the senders.

Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) tells me that he has 4 or 5 new converts to baptize soon, which he plans to do in February. This is at the EAB/ACEV church at Flores in the State of Pernambuco.

I have also had long discussions with pastor Ângelo (Soledade). All is going quite well there praise the Lord. 

We still have no sign of the start of our rainy season. It should have started by now. Please pray.

We are encouraged by the excellent work being done by a young woman called Isabela. She is the daughter of pastor Robério and Paula at Tavares but she has been ministering especially amongst the youth at Conceição and Ibiara. She has been a real blessing and encouragement at these churches. Please pray for Isabela.   

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Pastoral meeting

 We had another good meeting with our assistant pastor Rafael last night. We discussed a variety of topics like dedicating babies (we have one awaiting dedication), receiving new members into fellowship (we have a sister waiting for this) and other pastoral care issues. It was a lovely meeting. We are seeking to pass on to younger pastors at this time something of our 49 years’ experience.

Our 21 year old granddaughter Louisa is flying back today to Brazil from England where she has been with her parents and brothers for a few months. Louisa had a negative Covid test to be able to fly. She left Heathrow this morning and is now at Frankfurt airport awaiting a flight overnight to São Paulo. She will fly up to Recife tomorrow morning where she will be met by Lynn and her husband Hutan who will bring her to Patos. Louisa will stay in quarantine for two weeks with them before moving to live with us. Please pray for Louisa’s travels. 

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Rains are late

 The rainy season is running late here. Please pray for rain for us. The rains normally fall here between January and May but so far we have had none. The lake at Green Pastures is bone dry. With temperatures reaching 37 or 38 degrees daily, and with no rain for ages, it makes for dry barren scenery with lakes evaporating fast. We have many watering tanks at Green Pastures for wildlife and we have 2 automatic Bushnell cameras which show us how much wild cats, foxes, armadillos, racoons, monkeys and birds appreciate the water. I post 30 second videos every day on Facebook showing what turns up at our watering holes. Our aim in publishing these moments is to show the beauty of God’s creation and encourage people in our part of the world to care for it. 

Thanks to those who prayed for our friend and pastor Jorge Noda of the Presbyterian church who had been in hospital with Covid 19. I am glad to report that he has recovered and has been sent home much to his delight. He has clearly been through quite an ordeal as was obvious when I saw him on a video link. He looked quite frail. Please pray that he will soon get stronger.

This evening Liz and I will be having a meeting with our assistant pastor Rafael to discuss different aspects of the Patos church. We always hold such meetings in the evenings so that we can hold them in our garden in the open air with appropriate masks and social distancing. We value your prayers.

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