Categoria: News

I was up at 5.20am today and left for Green Pastures an hour later. I had a walk, took a few photos and chatted to Tarcísio – the usual routine. However I was anxious to get back to Patos as still there had been no link up to the mains by the electricity company and I was feeling unwell with all the stress that this was generating. The infuriating thing is when you have done everything correctly according to the rules and the law – yet still the company does not link you up or guarantee when they will!


I phoned Liz as soon as I got to a place on the way back from Green Pastures where my mobile phone could get a signal at about 8am, and still there was no sign of the company Liz said. I got back to Patos and to say Liz was fuming would be to put it mildly. She asked me to ring the company boss once again and just ask do we cancel tonight’s Christmas service or not? I phoned him and his assistant, but both had their mobiles switched off!


Liz was on the look out at the church and noticed an electricty company vehicle go past and then a bit later go past again! Liz took the bull by the horns – ran after the vehicle and ended up directing the chaps to our church which they were trying to find not having been given the address or anything by the company! Liz phoned me immediately to tell me it looked like the victory was about to be won!


They started work and Liz plied them with coffee and cake and a couple of hours later the job was done and what a relief! All our dear kids and youth have been rehearsing a cantata for ages and it looked like all was lost. But the Lord undertook. It was like scoring the winner in the last minute of extra time!


So it’s all stations go for tonight’s Christmas service at 7.30pm with presents and sweets for crowds of kids – many very poor – at the end. Then we will go to Deborah’s house for the traditional Brazilian Christmas supper. Happy Christmas everyone and praise the Lord with us for the great victory today!

It would seem we are nearly there with the electricity link up for the Patos church. I phoned the director of the Board late this afternoon who said he had emitted the document authorizing the link. We believe and hope this will be done tonight or tomorrow morning. Please don’t stop praying.

With our big Christmas service scheduled for Christmas Eve, as it is every year, here we sit waiting and praying and hoping for the electricity company to link up our Patos church to the mains! How long will this mess go on? Yesterday morning an inspector from the company went to the church and gave the all clear. However he then turned round and said that they can only link us to the mains when authorization comes from the State capital! I phoned this morning and this OK has still not come! This is absolutely ridiculous! Things you come up against in a banana state! Outrageous!

I will be leaving in an hour or so for the re-opening service of the Patos church. What a mammoth task this has been! Today the electricity board people turned up to put the pole in place in the street on the side of our church for the eventual link up – but that will be another day!


We booked the external mobile generator for 1pm, but the driver went to sleep after lunch and only linked that at 3.30pm! There have been a series of last minute complications but… but… praise the Lord we will be back in our church tonight one way or another and we look to God for a great time of blessing! We value your prayers.


Thanks again at this moment to everyone who contributed to this project in someway or other – with little or with much. May God bless you. You have no idea what an impact this project is having in and around Patos. To say it is the talk of the town would be an understatement and we don’t quite know how we are going to cope with the large crowd expected tonight! 647 people have already “liked” the new church’s page on facebook in less than a week! We look to God for a greatly blessed Christmas period continuing into a wonderfully fruitful year for the Gospel in 2015. May God bless you in the same way.

I am just off to lead a service, preach the Gospel and baptize 12 in the pool at Green Pastures. God is good! I am really looking forward to it. Liz can’t go with me unfortunately as she is fixing final details for the Patos church re-opening tomorrow night.


The church is all washed and shining and ready for tomorrow. The team of volunteers today was great. The last 6 pews missing should arrive before nightfall as they all went for a fresh coat of varnish.


QPR did beat WBA today 3 x 2 so that was good. This takes us out of the relegation zone again. Lovely stuff.


I have a lovely nativity photo for circulation when I can get to it to send out as a Christmas card! Watch this space!

I phoned the head of the electricty board yesterday morning who assured me that all was on target for the desperately needed link up and asked me to go and sign some relevante papers in the afternoon -which I did. However that was Wednesday afternoon and still on Thursday evening there is no sign of power! Today we contracted a mobile generator to be able to carry out tests we have been waiting to do.


I went to Green Pastures this morning with Philip, who is on holiday, and had a good walk and both of us did some photography. The environmental people came a bit after 9am and their visit went very well. I brought in to Patos some vegetables from our little plantation, but that is being run down now for lack of water. This will only improve when the rains come or if we had a dessalinization unit for one of our deep bore wells.


There are so many bits and pieces to finalize in time for the re-opening of the Patos church on Sunday. Liz is stretched to the limit.


Thanks for Christmas cards received today from Don & Pearl Skivington, Rose Callaghan, Steve & Jose Valentine, Mark, Angela & Emma Chafe, Beth Meachen, Vivien Warne and Gill Parsons. 


My prediction for QPR’s match at home to WBA on Saturday is a 2 x 1 win for us, with 1 x 0 lead at half-time and goals from Austin and Vargas. I will be attempting to stay at the top of the QPR prediction league!

This is a hectic week with the Patos church to be re-opened this Sunday evening at 6.30pm (9.30pm UK time). Hence all the final touches are being given to the building and its new instalations. A new Bible has been made to go on the front of the church and the support for this is in place and can receive the heavy new scultured Bible on Friday. The electricity is still not linked up. I will phone the head of the electricity board this morning. We value your prayers for all the preparations and for the service itself.


I went to Green Pastures yesterday and learnt that my sermon I recorded for them has been listened to three times by the congregation! I also sent them a recorded message about baptism and this has resulted in the number to be baptized this Sunday going up from 9 to 12. PTL!


I had a good walk at Green Pastures reviewing the fencing for the increased nature reserve and counting trees and finding 92 of one variety and 150 of another – both fairly rare.


Tomorrow we will receive another visit from government environmental people very enthused by the Green Pastures project and developments, and at the Federal University 3,000 seedlings of native trees are being prepared for when the rains come to Green Pastures.

Last night’s service went well despite the hangover from the awful morning business meeting. Many non-Christians came to church and a good number turned up in general. The P&W was nice and I  preached fairly well. The sermon was good, I felt, but I don’t think I managed to fully get through to everyone somehow. Deborah did a good resumé and that is online for all to read – so we leave it with the Lord.


This morning we received firm assurances that the Patos church will finally be linked up to the electricity network this week so we have gone ahead announcing the opening as confirmed for this coming Sunday evening. I initially was more explicit as to the assurance received on this matter, but later adjusted announcements and adjusted things for “technical” reasons which I can’t explain here. I will only be relaxed when the electricity company actually does the job but we are doing our part and getting everything else ready down to the finest detail.


In the light of the church’s re-opening I decided to go for it today and create, launch and publicize a new Patos church facebook page, as it is a great way of communicating with everyone and build’s excellent bridges with the community and results in non-Christians coming to church. So it has been a very full hectic day with 250 likes already on the page as opposed to 403 on EAB’s page after yonks! We’ll soon pass that!


I see QPR lost tonight. Oh dear! I will probably actually pull further ahead in the prediction league though, as Zamora scored for us as I predicted.

We had a two and a half hour church business meeting this morning which was far from easy. Very stressfull. Sometimes as pastors we do all we can to be merciful, protect people’s reputations and help them in the process to survive spiritually – only to get our “secrecy” thrown in our faces. May God have mercy. Please pray for us and all who were dragged downwards by an incredible lack of wisdom and grace.


Now to dust myself off and get ready to preach tonight and lead the service too.

Oh my word! I’ve now learnt that this TV interview I did on November 19th at Green Pastures will not only be broadcast nationwide in Brazil tomorrow but will also go worldwide via the Brazilian Globo TV channel which Sky carries! 

All that’s left is from them to broadcast it on that comet via that thingamibog they put there recently as well as the moon I suppose!

My interview on Globo TV (produced by EPTV) and filmed at Green Pastures was broadcast today in the south of Brazil and various people have contacted me telling me they watched it and enjoyed it. Now I have just learnt that it will be broadcast nationwide tomorrow! Wow!


It is online anyway – but it’s nice that it’s going nationwide on TV tomorrow as well. 


I have just completed my sermon for tomorrow based on Matthew 12. In the morning we have a church business meeting.

Sorry it’s in Portuguese (of course) but you see a bit of Green Pastures in the present drought and me being interviewed on Brazilian TV. My part starts after 7 minutes. http://redeglobo.globo.com/sp/eptv/terradagenteeptv/videos/t/edicoes/v/terra-da-gente-pico-do-jabre-bloco-02/3828055/

The actually use two clips of my film with my permission of a wild cat and a raccoons! It’s very good all in all. PTL!

Today is the day we’ve been waiting for when the interview I did a while back with a TV crew at Green Pastures will be broadcast. It will be broadcast on EPTV which is part of the biggest Brazilian TV network “Globo”. They have already put a trailer online. It’s in Portuguese of course, but you can see a bit of my interview and Green Pastures. http://redeglobo.globo.com/sp/eptv/terradagenteeptv/videos/t/edicoes/v/chamada-terra-da-gente-13122014/3827763/


I will post the link to the full programme when it is put online later.

I have just got home from a lovely Bible study which covered Jesus refusing to “perform” for the pharisees and masters of the law as portrayed in Matthew 12:38-45. Jesus knows that putting on a “miracles show” is know way to change hardened cynics. Rather He points them to God’s Word as the source of true spiritual life – specifically the Prophet Jonah and the wisdom of Solomon. The study really flowed and was nice and participative too. It was great to have Philip back in church after his India trip.

This morning we received the long awaited news that the electricity board has finally approved our project for a new underground link to the mains at the Patos church. This doesn’t mean we are linked up yet, but it does mean that we have overcome the bureaucracy and now have the green light for them to come and do the job. Please pray that they will do this quickly!


Our target now is to reinaugurate the EAB Patos church a week on Sunday (21st). We are all in gear for this and hoping and praying that this will all now work out.

Today is our granddaughter Louisa’s 15th birthday – the big birthday for girls in Brazil. Louisa is a lovely intelligent Christian girl who loves (and we love) staying at house. Last night her Dad (Philip) stayed up late putting this video together for Louisa. It is beautiful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmrzwYFKmRY&feature=share

Last night Liz and I spent a lot of time at the Patos church checking on final details needed to be done in the restoration. It is looking really lovely. We also did some more work preparing for the Patos church administrative meeting to be held this Sunday morning. I also recorded another message for the Green Pastures church.

I spent much of yesterday preparing for our end of year administrative church members meeting in the Patos church, to be held this Sunday morning. There’s a lot to think through and organize for discussion and prayer.


The Patos church revamp still awaits the electricity board’s link up to the mains. They really are being an awful pain. We hope for an answer on the matter this afternoon. Watch this space!


I went to Green Pastures this morning so got a good walk in. I checked the work on the increased Reserve area.


I dispatched the latest EAB Diary Update yesterday too.

I went out to Green Pastures this afternoon as I hadn’t been there for a week and it was good to see all is well there. The water fountain is now functioning better to the joy of the birds! I walked round with Tarcísio (trying out my new walking boots as my old ones are worn out and have a hole in them – and these give me better protection from snakes). I have now defined where to make a new fence so as to increase the Reserve area where no domestic animals are allowed in. Such a reserve increases vegetation and tree growth, wild flowers etc.


Whilst there I picked up the memory card from the infra-red camera and now back in Patos have just checked it. One has to wade through loads of clips of birds, but you never know what might have been caught on camera! Lo and behold suddenly there appeared on my screen a lovely 30 second clip of another Puma Yagouarandi Wild Cat at a different watering hole from where I filmed the last group. This is wonderful! I have seen that Racoons are drinking at this hole as well. Please take a look at the lovely wild rusty coloured cat. https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmedcraft/15953203086/in/photostream/


“The earth is the Lord and everything that is in it”!

Flickr stupidly stopped the statistics records for some months, but their system is now back up and running. Hence my total number of visitors has passed the 138,000 mark to see my nature photos. The latest posting is a snake from last week. https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmedcraft/

News just in from Pastor Lindon Carlos visiting EAB/ACEV churches in the State of Ceará is that 5 more new converts were baptized at our Felipe Church in the county of Saboeiro yesterday. PTL!


Add this to more baptized at Juru (I think it was about 10) and you have a real festival of end of year baptisms around the EAB/ACEV churches. PTL!

I gave Liz a cup of tea in bed at 5.45 am this morning! Now how about that? I fed the birds whilst the tea was massing (or brewing – but my Mum always says massing so like mother like son!). The bird food goes on a bird table in our front garden. I can hear a Roadside Hawk calling in the vicinity!

I produced and dispatched the latest EAB Nutshell Update this afternoon so if you don’t receive them, and would like to, just email eabrazil@gmail.com


The communion service went well tonight in Patos. We had a full house which was surprising as so many are away, with tomorrow being a public holiday.

I’ll be leaving at midday today to go to Tavares County in the mountains where we will inaugurate another new well – this time for another ex-slave community at Arara. I will sleep the night at Princesa Isabel.


Tomorrow morning I have a trouble-shooting meeting at Princesa Isabel. Oh boy! I worked 40 years with Pastor Manoel Jorge without a hitch, but now he’s gone to glory… crumbs!


In the afternoon I will travel on a long journey to Ceará where on Sunday we will baptize 12 (I think) and I will preach at the communion service. I will be back in Patos on Monday.


On Tuesday we will have another new well inauguration in São Mamede County so it’s non-stop!


Another church situation is presenting problems too so I have to sort this out as well. Help! Please pray for us at this time.

I have just received word from another university professor, other than the one already involved with research at Green Pastures, that she wants to go there with me this afternoon and view the land with a view to helping us plant lots (I mean LOTS) of trees there in the coming rainy season hopefully fairly early in 2015. This is an interesting development as this professor is responsible for the production of native tree seedlings at the university. Watch this space.


Liz and I watched some of Paul McCartney’s live concert in São Paulo last night on TV. It was brilliant and very moving at times. A great musician and what life for 71!


I have just taken the plunge in the QPR prediction league for this Saturday at home to Leicester as follows: 1 x 0 at half time + 2 x 1 at full time with goals from Austin and Barton. I was severely tempted to opt for a draw, but looking at Leicester’s season decided to take a chance with a win. Let’s hope I’m right as we sure need it!


I have already exchanged emails with Philip in India this morning and had discussions with someone regarding housing for the poor. I have also lined up some counselling for a deaf person with our deaf pastor.

I was surprised last week when Tarcísio, who leads EAB’s Green Pastures church, asked me to start sending them recorded teaching on a memory stick, of about 15 minutes in length, for him to play to the church leading on to possible group discussion! Modern technology is out in the sticks alright and I have just recorded my first message for this which lasted just over 11 minutes. We shall see how this develops!


I also had a message from a young man in our Imaculada church who is very hungry for the things of God. He told me that he had got someone (I don’t know who) to record my Sunday sermon in Patos and that he had already heard it and been greatly blessed by it. So praise the Lord again!


Then there are a constant stream of people who send me questions via private messages on facebook. Sometimes these are Biblical questions about passages they don’t understand and sometimes they have problems in their lives or families and ask for advice. I never ever sort of suggested this but it is just happening so PTL! “By all means save some” comes to mind.


I guess it would be nice to be able to set something up on the internet for both preaching and teaching and communicating in general either via audio or video. I have no idea how I could actually start this, but we shall see. I value your prayers.

I continue in 2nd place in the QPR prediction league as I predicted a 0 x 0 scoreline at half-time on Saturday and won 5 points for that. Now comes Leicester at home which we all say is a “must win” – but will we? I’ll decide to go for a win or a draw in the next couple of days. http://qprtillidie-predictionleague.webnode.com/table/


I have worked all morning on a project report and completed that. PTL! I have a bit of a cold today which is a nuisance.

This morning has been a difficult one with no signs of any presents whatsoever from Father Christmas! What is this world coming to?


Then I heard his factory was on strike… and then I saw a note on facebook to say that the reindeer had come out on strike in sympathy! (Memories of Arthur Scargill’s days!)


Then I woke up… and realized it’s the 25th of November and not December! What a gigantic relief!

This list says it all about a pagan lost UK – a post-Christian nation which only faces the reality of death because it has to! May the Lord have mercy on the once “Great” Britain! http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30143250


I say this, not to be offensive to non-Christian friends who might read this, but to simply express my shock at the state of things in a land which still sings (I presume?) “Abide with me” at the FA Cup Final and that played “Nearer my God to thee” as the Titanic went down. It would seem to me that with the Titanic went down a lot more, and one just wonders where it’s all going to end?

I am drinking at this moment my first mug of Moringa Tree leaf tea because I have read that it is good for lowering blood glucose levels. I figure like this that Moringa leaves are fine for eating so to make tea from the dried leaves (which we dried at Green Pastures) should do me no harm! If this blog ends abruptly as from today you will know I was wrong! I will now start observing my glucose levels and see if this tea does have any positive effect. I am therefore, as from now, a sort of Moringa ‘guinea pig’! (I made this mug of tea by the way!)


News from the the Mandacaru church building project is good. They are getting on very well. News from Ceará is also good where I will be going to baptize 12 at the weekend. PTL! We also held our first little communion service at Ipueira in Rio Grande do Norte State on Saturday where the church plant has its first members. PTL again!

My sermon from the Epistle to the Romans last night went amazingly well, considering how tired I was. The service as a whole went great.


Liz has already gone to the church renovation project with some supplies. The heat is on with less than 3 weeks to go to the inauguration and still no electricity company link up! Please pray.


Philip continues in India with his work and is not finding it easy to cope with the 9 hour jet lag. Please pray for him.

This week I have trips for ministry at Tavares and Ceará ahead so value prayers for all this too.

I am just off to lead the service in the Patos church and preach on the first 3 chapters of Romans in one go! Pretty ambitious! What an epistle it is! 


We got back at 9.45am from Campina Grande and I immediately started working on tonight’s sermon which I completed at 3pm. Liz and I worked on it on the journey as she read the first chapters of Romans to me and we discussed it all. Fabulous stuff.


The graduation went well in Campina Grande – just a bit long (two and a half hours!) and tiring. Nevertheless it was great to see 8 graduating including 3 from EAB/ACEV churches – including Rafael who leads our Teixeira church. A lovely lad.

Liz and I will leave shortly for the EAB/ACEV Bible College graduation service in Campina Grande where 8 will be graduating. I prepared my message this morning. I still have to prepare my message for Patos tomorrow. Help!


QPR have just lost 1 x 0 at Newcastle which was about what I expected, though I officially forecast 0 x 0 at half-time (correctly) but I gave it as a draw at the end too, which was unfortunately wrong. Oh dear. It’s not looking good for Rangers!

The Bible study went well in the Patos church this evening. We covered Luke 8:1-3 which took us into some good discussion on the role of women in God’s work. We then went on to Mark 3:20-21 which makes you reflect on prejudice against the Gospel and Christians. It was a blessed evening.


Tomorrow I have a meeting at Green Pastures with the university folk and then in the afternoon travel to Imaculada to inaugurate a well with a thanksgiving service with the community. I always enjoy these joyful occasions very much. I value your prayers for the journey up the mountain.

I had a great meeting yesterday afternoon with a Federal University forestry engineer professor in which I agreed for new research to be carried out there starting tomorrow! The plan is for it to initially follow 3 phases:


1. A team of 5 students under his supervision will do research over a period of months defining which species of native trees are where, their state of health, quantity etc. in the eastern section of Green Pastures in the sprawling area on each side of the lake. This will be done by a scientifically approved method chosing 20m x 20m example chunks of the woodland from which to arrive at the overall totals.


2. At some point next year, following this, a detailed individual count and definition of tree species will be carried out in the Reserve around the stream/dam area. This is an area of intense reforestation and preservation.


3. At some point next year work will also be done with all the neighbouring farms, small holdings and farm workers so as to understand their perception of the importance of the Green Pastures Nature Reserve and to seek to educate them concerning the environment so as to seek their cooperation as neighbours in our work. For we can’t stop birds flying for a visit to neighbouring farms and need the neighbours’ backing, as far as is possible, in this venture.


I am now preparing the Bible Study for tonight in the Patos church.