Categoria: News

 The northern city of Manaus in the Amazon region is in a catastrophic state owing to a new variant of Covid 19. Hospitals are beyond capacity and have run out of oxygen. The Federal Government continues to be very negligent. The situation in Brazil is quite horrific. We are only behind the USA in the number of deaths. 

I have been talking to Pastor Nemias (Nehemiah) whose brother-in-law has died of a heart attack aged 64. 

A team has been to visit the Market Garden Project at Glória Community in Imaculada County and was so happy to see how it is flourishing. You can see photos on Facebook and Instagram but you need to remember that the wonderful green plants and produce is in the middle of a severe drought as the rainy season has yet to start. The project benefits 8 families. 

A wealthy person was impressed by EAB’s serious approach to its projects and work and decided to make a donation to our foodbank. She has donated 45 kg of couscous, 30 kg of spaghetti, 40 kg of rice, 10 kg of coffee, 60 kg of sugar and 30 kg of beans. All glory be to God as this will help quite a few very needy people. 

 Pastor Gersé is at Filipe Village in Saboeiro County in the State of Ceará as I said earlier in this blog he was going to. Yesterday he baptized 10 so it was well worth the long journey to get there! It was funny because when he got to Filipe the local pastor told him, his wife and another couple that had gone in the car with him, that he couldn’t put them up as his son and family had arrived. Gersé phoned me to ask what to do as they had been offered the hard church benches to sleep on! I told him I would treat them to some sort of bed and breakfast place as they needed to sleep! They were happy and relieved! 

Last night Liz and I had another counselling session with a brother from the Patos church. 

You may be interested to read the latest edition of Tearfund’s Tear Times as it has a lot about ACEV/EAB’s work supplying water to the thirsty via underground dams and wells in partnership with Tearfund. If you don’t have a copy of Tear Times you can order it free from Tearfund online.

You may have heard that Brazil now has a new variant of Covid 19. All flights to the UK have been cancelled. We value yet more your prayers.

 We were shocked by the news this morning of the death during the night of Pastor Samuel Veras of the First Congregational Church in Campina Grande. The cause was Covid 19. I preached at his church many years ago. Pastor Samuel was a well known minister for over 30 years of this fine evangelical church. Please pray for his family and church at this difficult time.

Please also pray for a young mother called Najla from our church in Patos who tested positive for Covid 19 yesterday. Her husband Kecinho, who’s a PE teacher, and their daughter are in self isolation with Najla.

I have spoken to Pastor Nezinho Abílio who tells me that his 91 year old father is improving from Covid 19. He is walking again and his pain and cough have improved. Please continue to pray for 91 year old Antônio Abílio and all the family, including our pastor, who are looking after Antônio and in self isolation with him. 

This morning I have written a few lines of thanks to folks in the UK who were kind enough to send us Christmas cards. They have just arrived as is often the case with the old fashioned postal service.

Please add to your prayer list Pastor Jorge Noda who is in hospital with Covid 19. He is a Presbyterian pastor who is a friend. He preached at a Patos Bible College graduation service a few years ago.

This morning I had a good chat with our Pastor Maésio from our Teixeira church. He and his family are going to have a break in João Pessoa till the end of the month.

I also talked to Maílson who is the bass player in the Patos Worship group. He also has been studying online at Bible College but had to halt his studies as he lost his job as the company he worked for went bust. He is a lovely sincere brother and I just felt we should pay for his studies this year so that he can continue. He broke down in tears of joy! Praise the Lord! Please pray for Mailson and his studies. 

 Sadly Sister Malu (Imaculada) lost her battle with Covid and died yesterday. Please pray for this family. They lost one sister (Lena) a few weeks back and now another (Malu)!

Last night during the service at Green Pastures we had a short shower of rain. It was just one twelfth of an inch but it gives us hope that the rainy season is starting. Please pray for us to have abundant rain in the coming months. The rainy season goes from January to May in our region. Our lake at Green Pastures has completely dried up.

 On Friday night Liz and I had a counselling session with a couple from the church of nearly 2 hours. I can’t say too much but this couple had very serious problems some months back involving domestic violence. We praise God that things have come back literally from the brink and it was good to talk things through with the couple and pray with them. God has given this couple a second chance and we value your prayers for them.

Pastor Nezinho Abílio’s 91 year old Father who has gone down with Covid-19 is showing signs of recovery. Please continue to pray for him together with the pastor and his family who of course have had to self isolate.

Liz and I are just off for another of our two mile walks at Green Pastures now.

 If you pray for us and EAB we are very grateful. If you would like to receive topics for prayer please let my sister Joy know at levermorejoy@gmail.com. May the Lord richly bless you. 

 One brother was baptized at Conceição recently. I have been talking to the leader Betinho about the work there, and at Ibiara which he also leads.

An electrical fault caused us to hold the communion service in Patos on Sunday with little lighting and no sound equipment! Nevertheless the service was blessed and a recording of the singing is on my and EAB’s Facebook. “Because He lives” is well worth listening to in Portuguese.

I have been talking to different pastors. Please pray for Pastor Nezinho Abílio’s 91 year old Father who has contracted Covid-19. This pastor leads the Vazante and Barra de Oitis churches. He told me that the young man who was ill with Covid at the Vazante church has fully recovered. Then Pastor Lindon Carlos (Imaculada) tells me that Malu is still in hospital with Covid at Campina Grande where she remains seriously ill. However sadly Pastor Nemias (Flores) tells me that the lady in his church died with Covid. We value your prayers for all of us at this time. The situation with the pandemic is very serious but the sad thing is that the president just treats it as a joke.

I have been having discussions with Pastor Gersé of our oldest church at Princesa Isabel. This is because our church at Filipe Village in the County of Saboeiro in the State of Ceará is nearest to him and I know that at Filipe they have struggled quite a lot during the pandemic. So the idea is for Gersé and his wife to go to Filipe this month, minister there and generally encourage the church. I know there are some wanting to be baptized there so he will be able to do this too. We will give the petrol for the long journey. 

On New Year’s Eve both Liz and I spoke in the service which went very well. Philip also spoke from the UK. Yesterday Liz and I went for one of our regular 2 mile walks at Green Pastures. We also checked on the work being done by Francisco. He takes care of things there for us after Tarcísio left and is doing very well indeed. In fact he is doing much better than Tarcísio used to.

Every Saturday night we have a team going out to Green Pastures to take the service with the local church which meets there. I have been helping the young assistant pastor Rafael today to organize the service. So please pray for him and the team going out there tonight for the monthly communion service. 

 The EAB/ACEV projects team visited our growing Market Garden Project at Barra de Oitis Community this week and was particularly impressed with the progress of Dona Benedita and Senhor Francisco known by the nick name of Tico. Benedita expressed her joy at earning 36 pounds in a month. You might not think that’s much for a month but if you realize that person didn’t have any income before, you will see why she is happy. Francisco impresses with his plantation of beans, maize, lettuce, guava, mango, bananas, water melon and coconut. This project really helps people to help themselves, demonstrating God’s love and care in tangible ways. 

New Year is bigger in Brazil than Christmas! It is strange that this is so in the light of a majority Roman Catholic population (at least nominally) and a large evangelical population (although many are hard to recognize as genuine evangelicals). I have had many more messages from Christians today wishing me a Happy New Year than I received wishing me a Happy Christmas.

As usual we will have a service at church this New Year’s Eve. The only difference is that it will be from 7.30 pm to 9 pm instead of the usual 10 pm to 12.15 am. As the service will be a hybrid in-person and online one, and in the light of the second wave of the pandemic, we felt it would be better earlier.

Philip will be speaking tonight from England and Liz and I will be speaking from the office at home. We look to God for His blessing and pray His blessing on all our family, friends, prayer warriors and supporters throughout  2021. May it be a better year than this one! 

I preached on the Birth of Jesus on Christmas Eve in Patos. I preached from my office at home so it was shown to the church on a big screen. Our services are hybrid in person and online. All went very well. The praise and worship team sang carols including a beautiful Brazilian one written by a converted young man who was on drugs back in the seventies. The gist of this song is: “At Christmas we always thank God for Jesus having been born at Bethlehem. But what we don’t always remember is that He can be born in us too”. After the service Liz and I had a Brazilian traditional Christmas Eve supper. This is normally with all the family but this year of course this wasn’t possible owing to the pandemic.

On Christmas Day we follow the British tradition of Christmas lunch as far as is possible. We had no Christmas pudding as you can’t buy them in Brazil.

Last night our young assistant pastor Rafael preached in the final Sunday service of 2020.

 It never quite seems like Christmas in the heat! Anyway I am already to preach in our Christmas Eve service.

Yesterday afternoon Liz and I visited 2 deaconesses from our church. Both were doorstep visits with us sat in the jeep. It was nice to chat to Josinete and then to Marcia. 

Today I have had reports and photos from our church leaders who have been distributing Christmas Hampers. Francinaldo from Manaira and Travessia was very happy as was Betinho at Ibiara and Conceição. Then came Isabela from Tavares, Lindon Carlos at Imaculada, Esequias at Juru and Nenem at São Vicente do Seridó. All express much gratitude. It has been good this year to spread the Christmas Hampers far and wide. They have blessed hundreds of people. Happy Christmas! 

 Liz and I visited our Action School in Patos on Monday afternoon where a team was distributing Christmas presents to the children. We called by 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 us in this. We are having a lot of discussions about this with different leaders.

Yesterday Liz and I organized the purchase of small gifts for all our seniors in our Young at Heart group. Márcia and Lila went out and bought them all in the morning and then visited each senior in the afternoon distributing the gifts. As with the children the day before this resulted in many smiling faces! We do try to take special care of our seniors at church at this time because they are especially under pressure with the pandemic’s restrictions.

This morning we have organized another small team to go to the Green Pastures area distributing gifts for the poor children and Christmas Hampers for their families.

Last night I gave a short video message to the final Men’s Fellowship meeting of the year. Philip also took part from the UK online via Google Meet.

 Our Sister Lena from our Imaculada church died yesterday from Covid – 19. Imaculada is a one hour drive from Patos. Lena is the second person from EAB/ACEV churches that we have lost to the pandemic. Lena’s sister Malu is in a Campina Grande hospital with the same disease. Please pray for this family.

Please also pray for another sister at our Flores church and for a man at our Barra de Oitis church who are both ill with Covid.

Last night’s Sunday service went well with our young assistant pastor Rafael ministering the Word. I will be preaching this Thursday (Christmas Eve) at our special Christmas service. The praise and worship team will be singing Christmas carols.

Liz and I keep up our walking at Green Pastures at least twice a week walking a few miles each time. 

Another well has been inaugurated. This time at Macambira dos Dionísio Community in Princesa Isabel County. Much joy was expressed by the population in the thanksgiving service.  

 Please do continue to pray regarding the Covid 19 situation here in Brazil. Please especially pray for 2 sisters that have gone down ill with the virus. One is Nininha at our Flores church in Pernambuco State. The other is Lena from our Imaculada church. She has been admitted to Patos General Hospital after waiting 24 hours for a bed to be available. All hospitals here are full. The situation is serious. 

The Guardian this week has called the Covid crisis in Latin America “unimaginable – lurching from bad to worse”. That about sums the situation up here! Brazil is the second worse country in the world in the number of Covid deaths. We greatly value your prayers. 

I had good discussions yesterday with Pastor Renilson high up in the mountains at Matureia. I also talked to Pastor Nemias (Neemiah) at Flores in the State of Pernambuco. He was asking prayer for a sister in our church there who has gone down with Covid 19. He also told me they have cancelled their mid-week in-person service to reduce the risks of Covid in the light of the seriousness of the present situation. 

The Patos General Hospital is 95% full to capacity as regards the Covid beds. The situation is the same all over Brazil.

This week Liz and I had 2 good 2 mile walks at Green Pastures.

 Last night a lovely special tribute was made to Sister Ivy Dyer who went to be with the Lord almost 8 years ago in January 2013. The tribute was made by a Bible College (JUVEP) on the coast in João Pessoa. Last week they contacted me asking for information, which I gave, as they had decided to speak about Ivy’s long years (over 60 years) of service in the interior and make a tribute to her in their graduation service. Pastor Matheus from our first church in João Pessoa went to the service to represent ACEV/EAB. I have watched the tribute on YouTube this morning and it is really lovely. Praise God for Ivy’s dedicated life to the Lord. She received her home call just 4 months short of reaching 90 years of age.

 Last night Liz and I held a very good meeting with our assistant pastor Rafael. We were all duly masked and socially distanced in our back garden in the open air. We first of all discussed the Green Pastures church which we are in the process of reorganizing after the previous leader Tarcísio left and moved to the town. We are now holding a service there every Saturday evening which is led by Rafael.

We also had discussions on the Patos church as well as the Teixeira and Juazeirinho churches where Rafael had worked previously. 

 On Friday a lovely open-air thanksgiving service was held for a new well drilled at Olho D’água Seco Community in Tavares County. This well produces 2,800 litres of water per hour which is more than enough for the more than 40 families immediately benefitted by the well. This well will be great for irrigation for these farming folk too. We always hold a thanksgiving service at our project inaugurations and it was good to see a good crowd which gathered from the community who heard the Gospel loud and clear. 

 Last week we held a 2-day training course for the women of the Desert Flower Project at Fonseca slave descendants community. They learnt how to plan, how to sell, how to control their money and how to unite so as to improve. The course went very well indeed. The ladies have learnt to make bread, cakes, savories and handicraft and now need to sell what they make so as to improve their income. 

 Our 4-Legs Project attends extremely poor rural dwellers with good quality goats and this week 11 families were benefitted by the project in Custódia and Manaíra Counties and they were very grateful. We thank all who support EAB and make such projects possible.

I have been talking to Jair and Silvânia who lead EAB/ACEV’s second church in Princesa Isabel. They told me about the high levels of anxiety in the church owing to the pandemic. The church is meeting twice a week following all the distancing/mask rules. Please pray for this couple and for their church in the borough of Maia on the south side of Princesa Isabel. Please pray specially for their son who has severe depression problems. He is at university in João Pessoa on the coast. 

 I have been talking to Pastor João George who is doing a great job with the Action Child School at Imaculada despite all the restrictions and limitations of the pandemic. 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. 

I also am talking to Betinho and Maciene who lead both the Ibiara and Conceição churches. Ibiara, where they live, is doing well. Conceição is a 15 minute drive away and is not doing so well for two reasons. First of all because they had a number of cases of Covid so they suspended the church in-person services for a time whilst everyone recovered. Secondly because the church wants and needs a pastor who lives there and can focus attention specifically on Conceição. That person we don’t have at the moment, so please pray with us on this.

Another person I’ve been talking to is Maria José who leads the rural church of Cedro in Princesa Isabel County. Please pray for Maria José as she seems to be discouraged by the difficult days in which we live. The little EAB/ACEV church there can only fit 15 people owing to the necessary distancing, but they often don’t even get 10 there. Maria José was used to 30 or 40 in the services and one can understand her feelings.

 Pastor Hamilton leads the 2nd EAB/ACEV church in Campina Grande and we have been discussing the work there. They are doing hybrid in-person and online services on Sundays and Wednesdays and all is being blessed. Their house groups are mainly online.

Another young pastor I’ve been working with is Iremar. He is responsible for two small churches at Juá, where he goes every fortnight. The other is a church plant in the João Pessoa borough of ‘Funcionários 2’ where he lives with his family. This church plant has been on hold owing to the pandemic but we hope and pray for improvement in the situation there so as to get things moving again. 

I have also been discussing things with Pastor Robério too at Tavares. They are doing things just the same as Campina Grande above. 

I’ve also had meetings with Sister Nenem Guimarães who leads the São Vicente do Seridó church. They are just holding the Sunday service there for the time being but all is well.

I have been discussing the situation at Flores in Pernambuco State with our leader there called Nemias (Nehemiah). They certainly seem to be facing a second wave of the Coronavirus and a number of people have recently died there. Nemias thinks they may soon not be able to hold church services. Please pray for Flores.

Pastor Gersé at Princesa Isabel tells me that all is well in the church and that their services on Sundays and Wednesdays are attended by about half the normal number. He asked us all to pray for them. This is the church where an elder Otávio has already died with the virus. So please pray for Gersé who seems a bit discouraged. 

I have also been talking to Pastor Oseias at our Itaporanga church where they are conducting hybrid services in-person and online on Sundays. He says that they plan to hold other weeknight services in church as from January, but we shall have to see how things go.

Pastor Nezinho Abílio pastors both the Vazante and Barra de Oitis churches and he has asked my to see what can be done to help Brother Damião who has fractured a leg and has been waiting for surgery in Patos for 10 days. I have contacted our Nurse Gisane asking her to see what can be done to speed things up. 

Pastor Esequias has gone down with a heavy cold so he tells me that he got others to lead the service yesterday so as to be on the safe side. Please pray for him. 

Edson and Aparecida are a young couple who came to Christ at our church at Barra de Oitis in Diamante County. This community of slave descendents is extremely poor. The couple fell in love and wanted to do things properly and get married, but the big question was where could they live? So it was that some family and friends got together with them to make them a tiny house using mud and sticks for the walls and clay tiles for the roof, but like most houses in the village it had no toilet or shower.

EAB therefore decided to put them on its list for its toilet/shower project and when funds became available we have just built them behind their house a lovely toilet/shower unit and the newlyweds are over the moon! The circular construction is 2.5 meters wide, has a water tank above and dual cess pits beneath. Inside it has a flush toilet, shower and hand basin and outside has a large sink for washing clothes.

Edson and Aparecida join us in thanking EAB supporters for this wonderful wedding present. May God richly bless you. 

 The election for Mayors and town councilors occurred last Sunday (15th) and our pastor Valdemy just missed being elected as a councilor. He is naturally disappointed as he feels it is an open door to serve his community, but on the other hand too much politics could be detrimental to his pastoral work.

The church at Caroá carries on in blessing anyway as do the other churches in the region at Mandacaru, Água Grande, Pinheiro and Umburana. I had a good chat with both Valdemy and his brother Valdemar to discuss all this.

I have also been talking to Pastor Lindon Carlos at Imaculada where the church is going well despite low numbers owing to all the Coronavirus issues. Pastor Maésio at Teixeira reports all well as does Pastor Renilson at Matureia. The Action Schools are going on too at Matureia and Imaculada and being real blessings.

Last night Liz and I had a very good meeting with Pastor Rafael to discuss a few issues that have cropped up in Patos. 

I have been talking to Pastor Umbirajara from our 1st Church (of 3) in João Pessoa. He tells me that they have had cases of Covid 19 in the church, but all have recovered. PTL! The Sunday service there is hybrid in-person and online.

Pastor Francinaldo at Manaira reports no cases of the virus in the church. Their in-person Sunday services are going well. Numbers are down as older folk can’t go but God is blessing anyway. They recently held an open-air service at Travessia which saw a big group of people come to and hear the Gospel. We have plans to build a little church at this place when possible. We have bought the land for the building. Services are being held at Fonseca as well. All necessary safety precaution are taken by our churches.

 Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything and certainly in this time of pandemic it is being a time for me to keep in contact with all our leaders online so as to support them and encourage them. Our prayer always is that many years of experience may be helpful to all, especially to the younger pastors. 

I’ve been having good discussions with Gleydice and Wostenes who lead our first Campina Grande church. They hold hybrid in-person and online services on Sundays and Wednesdays and these are going well despite the masks and all the other rules and regulations. 

I’ve had chats with pastor Ângelo at Soledade and with Tica and Ramos who lead the Curral Velho church. Everyone is doing all they can under the circumstances. We all seek to make the most of these difficult days. The Lord is faithful and is blessing. We greatly value your prayers for us and for all our church leaders.

 Our Projects Team continue to do a great job. The team is now setting up some new types of work in the Barra de Oitis slave descendants community as follows, similar to what we already do at the Fonseca community.

Training 10 women in cookery and handicraft making.

Training 8 young men in the basics of caring for and fixing motorbikes.

Training 12 people as basic community health workers and also training them to care for the environment. 

Everyone involved in these projects receives hygiene kits to combat and protect from the Covid 19 virus.

Please pray for these projects that they might make real life changing differences in many lives and that they might make commitments to Jesus Christ too. 

 Today is our 51st wedding anniversary by the grace and goodness of God.

Today is also election day here for Mayors and Town Councilors. We pray for honest competent leadership to be chosen as we sure need it.

Please pray for a sister from our Patos church who had gone down with Covid 19. Her name is Linda. She is the church cleaner.

The service held at Green Pastures last night was excellent. Sacha led the praise and worship. The new format of services at Green Pastures is working out very well. 

In Patos there will not be a service owing to the election. There is always lots of noise at the time of the service so we always cancell. 

 Our Green Pastures Christian Conference Centre and Nature Reserve sees the Conference Centre on hold owing to the pandemic. Last month, for example, would have normally seen our annual leaders conference there but this had to be cancelled and essential business was dealt with an online Google Meet Conference. However of course the Nature Reserve side of things carries on unaffected caring for creation and seeking to be a Christian example. Thus we had the thrill this week to register with a Bushnell automatic wildlife camera a deer for the very first time, which are extremely rare in our region. 

Tonight the local church there will be meeting in-person with all the necessary precautions and we pray that God will bless. A team from Patos will be taking the service.

I have been doing a lot more work on the history of the churches and projects here for the benefit of our churches. The idea is to cover the first 80 years and I’ve now just completed 66 years. It’s a lot of work wading through the minutes of meetings plus church and project reports and newsletters but I believe the end result will be worthwhile. I value your prayers.

 Last night’s Men’s Fellowship was both in-person and online and turned out to be quite an international night with our son Philip taking part in England. Gilmarco also took part from the extreme south of Brazil. The meeting was led by Major Esaú and assistant pastor Rafael brought a short Biblical reflection on the subject of repentence based on Psalm 51. The meeting was really blessed of God and one man called Flávio, who has been away from God for years, came for the second time and made a public unsolicited recommittal of his life to God. Praise the Lord!

Monday night’s prayer meeting went well too. This morning I walked for over 3 miles at Green Pastures which is good physical, spiritual and mental exercise in the middle of God’s creation. It is just a pity that it’s getting so hot early, rising to 38 degrees in the shade most days. By 8 am it was really hot and rain we haven’t seen for months so air humidity levels are dangerously low and the vegetation is utterly parched. 

This week our team distributed over 500 items of new and second-hand clothes in good condition to the slave descendent communities of Barra de Oitis and Fonseca. Shoes and hygiene kits were also distributed. These simple expressions of God’s love made many people very happy. 

Last night a team from Patos went and held the first in-person service at Green Pastures for months observing social distancing, the wearing of masks etc. Thank you for your prayers. The service was a real blessing with a good number from the region present. 

 Liz and I did another of our drive-through visits this afternoon. We visited our deaconess Josinete and her husband Zaqueo. They were very happy with the visit. We pulled up in front of their house in our jeep and talked to them whilst they stood a few metres away. We all were wearing masks. It was nice to chat to them and catch up with some of their family news. They reminded us of their daughter’s wedding scheduled for April. She has been going out with the boy for 19 years! That is what I call patience! Both Gisliany and Perlânio are members of the Patos church. She works at the Care Centre and he is an interpreter for the deaf fellowship.

 Cícera Virgulino da Silva is a 37-year-old mother of 5
who is married to João Paulo. Her family has lived at Barra de Oitis slave
descendent community for many generations. She cannot read or write. Cícera has
only ever known poverty and used to walk for 2 hours to find water to wash the
family clothes when she was just 9. By 11 she had to work in the plantations in
the rainy season. This she still does today as a mother of 5.

Cícera says: “I always dreamed of having a bathroom
and toilet which is something we never ever had. We just had a hut for the
women to wash down in but no toilet. This was especially difficult and even
dangerous for the women. Now we are overjoyed by the toilet/shower unit that
EAB/ACEV have built for us. It is wonderful and will serve our house and 7
other houses near ours!”

These folk are also receiving help setting up market
gardens and chicken runs so as to enhance their income and improve their diet.
This community is hearing the Gospel too and seeing God’s love in action. We thank
everyone who prays for and supports the work of EAB.

 EAB/ACEV has been digging and drilling wells for nearly 30 years and their impact on communities is quite extraordinary. When I look back I see how God has blessed us in and through this ministry and project as we had to learn everything from scratch. 

As I am writing EAB/ACEV history I asked our team to tell me just how many wells we drilled and equipped during the first 12 years of this project from 1992 to 2004. The answer is that we drilled or dug 54 wells which is an average of over 4 a year. These 54 wells benefitted very poor and needy people in a wide range of communities blessing at least 22,400 people!

Most of our wells are deep-bore which drill 50 meters deep. The well then has to be tested for the water quality and quantity and equipped with an appropriate pump. A water storage tank is built so that the water can be distributed from there my gravity to the whole community. We always also provide an animal drinking trough near the water tank. 

So thanks very much for all your prayers and support for the wide range of EAB Projects. Thank you for praying too that the living water of Jesus Christ also reaches into these communities for the glory of God. 

 I had a good 3 mile walk at Green Pastures this morning which was refreshing but very hot. One has to be ending a walk before 9 am owing to the increasing heat at this time of year rising daily to 38 degrees. It’s very hot and very dry.

There were 12 in the Monday night “knees to the ground” prayer meeting with 10 in-person and 2 online. Tonight is the Men’s Fellowship night and the women’s night will be tomorrow. 

Your prayers are valued for Liz’s arthritic knees. Her left knee is particularly swollen and painful and she will be going to the doctor’s tomorrow to remove the fluid and apply medication.

 Last night’s service in Patos was good as was the service up in the mountains at Teixeira. The local pastor Maesio sent me photos from there which I have posted on the EAB Facebook page. It seems odd everyone yards apart and wearing masks but this is the new normal.

It wasn’t long after my chat with the Teixeira pastor that I learnt of a forest fire in that region. The fire fighters are on the job but it is quite a challenge in difficult terrain. At this time of year we have seen no rain for months so fire outbreaks easily occur, sometimes deliberately. Please pray for this situation. The fire is on the northwest side of the Jabre Peak.  

Liz and I enjoyed our Sunday morning today when we joined our Children’s Ministry Team distributing sweets and lollipops to children from our Patos church in commemoration of Children’s Day which was on Monday. The shady side of the church was beautifully decorated by balloons and all the families needed to do was call by the church to receive their bags of sweets! It was a simple way to show God’s love and care for our children. The team called the morning – Drive Thru Kids! There were many smiles behind the masks. The whole event only cost us 50 pounds and everything was done safely as the pandemic demands. 

Now it’s time to get ready for the main evening service which again will be in-person and online. We value your prayers and support always for every aspect of the work here. These are difficult frustrating days but we are doing all we can to cope with the challenges and overcome the difficulties. Please DO pray for us as we DO pray for you. Not a day goes by without we pray for all our supporters and partners in mission for the glory of God. 

 We often use that expression – how the other half lives – when we are surprised by the desperate needs of others. A case came to light recently which exemplifies this. Tatiana is a 12 year old adolescent at the Fonseca ex-slave community who takes part in our Desert Flower Project which seeks to help women help themselves. For example, the women learn how to make bread and to bake cakes which they can sell. Tatiana never misses our project’s meetings or lessons but on one particular day recently she didn’t turn up. Our social worker enquired as to if she was unwell but discovered that Tatiana had missed our session because the one blouse which she has which is not torn or has holes in was in the wash!

The sad plight of Tatiana is not limited to her alone of course but this story made us want to do something to help her and many others like her. So we have a campaign going around EAB/ACEV churches and our people are giving used but decent clothes for distribution by our project team to the very poor and needy. As October 12th was Children’s Day we are concentrating on second hand but good clothes for children and we are encouraged by the results. Many people have dug out excellent clothes their children grew out of and during this month our team will distribute them at Fonseca Community. 

As Jesus said in Matthew 25:36 – “I needed clothes and you clothed me”. All we do we do for Jesus. Thank you for all your prayers and support.  

 Last night Liz and I held a very good meeting in our back garden, with our assistant pastor Rafael, to discuss different topics relevant to the progress of the church. We also invited pastor Lucena (ex-Congregational) who I used to work with at the Patos Bible College and who now is with us in the Patos church. The main topic was how we will now run the São Mamede church after the ex-leader left. We decided to run regular Saturday night services there. We also discussed some problem individuals in the Patos church whom I can’t name here and we agreed ways to deal with them. We value your prayers for both these matters.

 This Sunday’s service went off very well and today, October 12th, is a bank holiday for the patron saint of Brazil – Our Lady of Aparecida. Today is also Children’s Day. Later in the week we will be holding a special ‘drive through’ sweets distribution for the children in commemoration of their day. Cars and motor bikes will be able to pull over by the church for the children to receive their sweets and lollipops. I thought it was a pretty good creative idea which the kids will love!

 We have just held an excellent online leaders meeting, which I chaired, to discuss our wide range of projects. There were about 40 leaders from all over the State of Paraíba in northeast Brazil taking part in a lovely spirit. We would normally hold this meeting at Green Pastures but the pandemic made this impossible. We chose the projects leadership team for the next 2 years and heard reports on our projects. We look to the Lord for His blessing as we press on with our projects in these difficult times. We value your prayers always. 

 We badly wanted to visit Maria José following the death of her 90 year old mother. However the quarantine restrictions made it impossible until we had the idea of a drive-through visit! Liz and I drove to her little house and Maria stood in front of it whilst we spoke to her from inside our jeep with the windows open. It worked very well and she was very grateful. We were all in masks and far apart but able to talk to Maria and pray with her. Where there’s a will there’s a way!

We took part in the Bible Study last night which was another hybrid in-person and online edition. All went well with a total of about 40 taking part with 21 in-person. 

Pastor Maésio leads the EAB/ACEV church up the mountains at Teixeira and we had a good chat today. He is positive and encouraged by the services going quite well there despite of the pandemic. The sister who leads the São Vicente do Seridó church tells me she is feeling better after a severe period of anxiety. Please continue to pray for Nenem as she is called. 

 I have just had a good talk with Betinho who leads both the Ibiara & Conceição EAB/ACEV churches which are fifteen minutes apart. Both churches are holding services again with people wearing masks and observing social distancing. Betinho asks for prayer for a couple to take on the leadership of the Conceição Church as he finds it difficult to cope with both. Betinho lives at Ibiara and that was his lone responsibility, but he had to take on Conceição too when their pastor moved away. 

Please pray too for the Caroá church where we dug our first well many years ago. The issue at Caroá is that their pastor Valdemy is standing for election as a town councillor. The election will be held on November 15th. Valdemy was elected in 2012 but not in 2016. A mandate here is 4 years. Now he is trying again. I am not opposed to Valdemy being a councillor as long as he can conciliate politics and the church. He has done many things to benefit Caroá and neighboring communities which is important and good. However we don’t want to see him growing cold spiritually and there has to be the balance. Valdemy is a lovely brother and we want him to stay that way. It is excellent how he has served and is serving his region. This brings glory to God as long as it’s done with honesty and balance. My experience just makes me feel cautious and wary. May God richly bless Pastor Valdemy and the Caroá church. 

 A lot of my daily work is taken up with the oversight and coordination in conjunction with all our leaders. In recent days I have had discussions with members of our senior leadership team involving a wide range of matters. Pastor Wostenes, who is my vice-chairman, is excellent. He pastors the first EAB/ACEV church at Campina Grande. He and his wife Gleydice are Liz and I’s closest colleagues and friends. 

I have had discussion on money matters with our ACEV treasurer pastor Hamilton and with the projects treasurer Eduardo. I am in constant contact with Pastor Lindon Carlos at Imaculada who is our projects team leader. I often need to chat things over with his assistant leader and social worker Marah Danielle too. We are now about to drill a further well at Macambira Community in Princesa Isabel County and we are praying of course that we will hit water. Drilling 150 feet underground is always a challenge as you never know for sure if you will hit a vein of water. The location is defined by an expert but that doesn’t make the endeavor a certainty by any means.

I am constantly in contact with Gerlânia who is our head-teacher at our Action School here in Patos. This the Pastor Frank Dyer School has once again just received top prize as the best school in its category in Patos. Gerlânia is a very capable and dedicated administrator who helps oversee all our Action Child Schools as well.

I am also busy working with my new assistant pastor Rafael in Patos who is doing very well, not forgetting in Patos our men’s fellowship leader Esau. Esau is a lovely brother and a Major in the Patos Military Police.

Finally I must also mention my discussions with pastors Umbirajara and Manoel Oliveira Filho in João Pessoa. Despite the fact that they are 200 miles from me on the coast, modern technology allows us to share rich fellowship in Christ on a regular basis.

 The ex-landless community at NS Aparecida II was happy to receive the visit last night of the Patos Men’s Fellowship. The community is a few miles north of Green Pastures. The men conducted an open-air service there in front of Brother Paulo’s house and his wife Dora who are proud participants of our market gardens project which is being a great blessing in their lives. The couple both made commitments to Christ some time back as an indirect result of the well and market garden project. They also are beneficiaries of the 4 Legs Goat Project. Please pray for this couple and community that many more there will come to the Lord.

 Our first in person service in months was held yesterday and it was a real blessing. Our new young assistant pastor led and preached and he did very well. He admitted to me that he was a bit tense but that it is only natural. The service was broadcast live as well for all who couldn’t be there. Please pray for Rafael – our new assistant pastor.

Please pray for Liz’s very painful arthritic knees. Also pray for EAB finances which are very low. Please pray for this Saturday’s meeting online of all our church leaders. We will be discussing all our projects and how we are coping in the pandemic. We will also be choosing the projects leadership team for the next 2 years. 

We need a new caretaker worker for Green Pastures so please pray for this and for a service to be held near there tomorrow night. Please pray for a serious electricity supply problem at the Patos church.