Categoria: News

I am reading another book called ‘Bacon sandwiches and salvation’ by Adrian Plass. I am experimenting reading it on Kindle which belongs to Louisa. The book is good to relax with and is full of corny jokes with Christian connections like: What is doctrine? Answer: It’s what they do up at the health centre. The book has some serious Christian content too.

This week in Patos is the big St John’s festival and Patos has been bubbling with excitement for days now. Every night of the week there are free very late night shows held in an open area near the centre of Patos. The shows go on for most of the night every night. Evangelical Christians do not take part in the festival. 

Over the coming weekend (24th to 26th) we will be holding a youth camp at Green Pastures with between 80 and 100 people taking part. Please pray for this event.

Sunday’s service went off fine with Sunday school for all ages in the morning and the preaching of God’s word at night. The children’s slot at night was beautiful with them singing a lovely song. 

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I am reading another book called ‘Bacon sandwiches and salvation’ by Adrian Plass. I am experimenting reading it on Kindle which belongs to Louisa. The book is good to relax with and is full of corny jokes with Christian connections like: What is doctrine? Answer: It’s what they do up at the health centre. The book has some serious Christian content too.

This week in Patos is the big St John’s festival and Patos has been bubbling with excitement for days now. Every night of the week there are free very late night shows held in an open area near the centre of Patos. The shows go on for most of the night every night. Evangelical Christians do not take part in the festival. 

Over the coming weekend (24th to 26th) we will be holding a youth camp at Green Pastures with between 80 and 100 people taking part. Please pray for this event.

Sunday’s service went off fine with Sunday school for all ages in the morning and the preaching of God’s word at night. The children’s slot at night was beautiful with them singing a lovely song. 

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Liz and I have had a long meeting with a young man from the church. It was a session of counselling, listening and prayer. This young man, whom I will not name, has been addicted to the drug Cocaine since last year. He went all through his story with us telling us how he turned to drink upon the death of his mother and this eventually led to illegal drugs. His addiction started when he lived on the coast and he came to our church at the end of last year. Please pray for this young man. 

We have now booked our flights to Europe in the autumn. God willing we will leave Brazil on September 2nd. We will arrive in Zurich via Lisbon on the afternoon of September 3rd. We will fly to London on September 10th. Our return flights to Brazil are booked for November 2nd. Please pray for our travels and pray for a refreshing time in Switzerland and the UK. 

I guided another school year round the Green Pastures nature trails on Friday. This time it was the Cristo Rei school run by Roman Catholic nuns which is the school Liz once went to and which our granddaughter Alice now goes to. The students were exceptionally polite and well behaved. It is always a joy to influence young people to appreciate God’s creation and to care for it.

Our grandson John David has just gone down with Covid. Please pray for him and us all at this time. He is studying to be a medical doctor in João Pessoa but came to Patos yesterday. He has tested positive for Covid today. 

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Liz and I have had a long meeting with a young man from the church. It was a session of counselling, listening and prayer. This young man, whom I will not name, has been addicted to the drug Cocaine since last year. He went all through his story with us telling us how he turned to drink upon the death of his mother and this eventually led to illegal drugs. His addiction started when he lived on the coast and he came to our church at the end of last year. Please pray for this young man. 

We have now booked our flights to Europe in the autumn. God willing we will leave Brazil on September 2nd. We will arrive in Zurich via Lisbon on the afternoon of September 3rd. We will fly to London on September 10th. Our return flights to Brazil are booked for November 2nd. Please pray for our travels and pray for a refreshing time in Switzerland and the UK. 

I guided another school year round the Green Pastures nature trails on Friday. This time it was the Cristo Rei school run by Roman Catholic nuns which is the school Liz once went to and which our granddaughter Alice now goes to. The students were exceptionally polite and well behaved. It is always a joy to influence young people to appreciate God’s creation and to care for it.

Our grandson John David has just gone down with Covid. Please pray for him and us all at this time. He is studying to be a medical doctor in João Pessoa but came to Patos yesterday. He has tested positive for Covid today. 

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On Tuesday Liz and I went to visit one of our senior ladies called Socorro Help! She is extremely lonely and wanted to tell us about all her family problems. We patiently listened to her for an hour. Such meetings remind us of Eleanor Rigby’s “all the lonely people”. She was like a different person after we listened to her, gave her some advice and had a time of prayer with her. Bless her heart!

I have been doing a lot of administrative work this week and have had important discussions with Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa.

Liz and I have been dealing with some problems which have arisen with the Patos worship group. 

A Guardian journalist called Dom Phillips has been murdered in the Amazon region and his body was cut up in pieces. He and a Brazilian were targeted as they were investigating corruption, deforestation and things being done against indigenous indians in the area. The Brazilian was killed as well. President Bolsonaro has insinuated his support for those who ordered the killings. President Bolsonaro said yesterday that “Jesus Christ only didn’t have a gun because they weren’t available at the time”. How Christians can vote for this man is beyond me!

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On Tuesday Liz and I went to visit one of our senior ladies called Socorro Help! She is extremely lonely and wanted to tell us about all her family problems. We patiently listened to her for an hour. Such meetings remind us of Eleanor Rigby’s “all the lonely people”. She was like a different person after we listened to her, gave her some advice and had a time of prayer with her. Bless her heart!

I have been doing a lot of administrative work this week and have had important discussions with Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa.

Liz and I have been dealing with some problems which have arisen with the Patos worship group. 

A Guardian journalist called Dom Phillips has been murdered in the Amazon region and his body was cut up in pieces. He and a Brazilian were targeted as they were investigating corruption, deforestation and things being done against indigenous indians in the area. The Brazilian was killed as well. President Bolsonaro has insinuated his support for those who ordered the killings. President Bolsonaro said yesterday that “Jesus Christ only didn’t have a gun because they weren’t available at the time”. How Christians can vote for this man is beyond me!

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On Monday I was the guide to the 45 Year Five students of the Fera School at Green Pastures. I was up at 6 am and the trail started at 8:30 and lasted for 2 hours. I led the students round the trails and talked to them about the different trees, plants, birds and animals in a place which is totally dedicated to preservation. I told the students how I first got my love for nature from my parents and in year one at Oxford Gardens Primary School where we used to hear a nature programme on the BBC every Friday afternoon. The idea of these school trips is to awaken interest in God’s creation amongst children. It was amazing how quickly they tired today on our walk. Children just don’t seem used to physical exercise any more.

Danrlei is 15 and the son of the Patos church firefighter. He got his parents to take him up the mountain to our Teixeira church as he wanted to officially ask the hand in courtship of the local pastor’s daughter (also 15) called Emmily. All went off well so we now have another happy couple! All this happened on Saint Anthony’s Day which is our equivalent of Valentine’s Day.

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On Monday I was the guide to the 45 Year Five students of the Fera School at Green Pastures. I was up at 6 am and the trail started at 8:30 and lasted for 2 hours. I led the students round the trails and talked to them about the different trees, plants, birds and animals in a place which is totally dedicated to preservation. I told the students how I first got my love for nature from my parents and in year one at Oxford Gardens Primary School where we used to hear a nature programme on the BBC every Friday afternoon. The idea of these school trips is to awaken interest in God’s creation amongst children. It was amazing how quickly they tired today on our walk. Children just don’t seem used to physical exercise any more.

Danrlei is 15 and the son of the Patos church firefighter. He got his parents to take him up the mountain to our Teixeira church as he wanted to officially ask the hand in courtship of the local pastor’s daughter (also 15) called Emmily. All went off well so we now have another happy couple! All this happened on Saint Anthony’s Day which is our equivalent of Valentine’s Day.

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On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures for the local farm workers and it went well though numbers were down. Louisa led the worship accompanied by Rogaciano. Lindinalva sang a solo, Chico brought a short word of greeting and Rafael preached the Word. 

Liz and I had a good heart to heart talk to the young woman in our church who had expressed homosexual tendencies. She confessed her sin and asked for forgiveness in tears. We explained to her the Biblical position on the matter and we had a time of prayer with her. It was a lovely meeting. It makes such a difference when people are ready and willing to submit to God’s word.

Last night I led the main service of the week and we had Pastor Ângelo as a visiting speaker. He is a very good preacher. He is the pastor that resigned from our Soledade church and he is without a church at the moment.

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On Saturday night I led the service at Green Pastures for the local farm workers and it went well though numbers were down. Louisa led the worship accompanied by Rogaciano. Lindinalva sang a solo, Chico brought a short word of greeting and Rafael preached the Word. 

Liz and I had a good heart to heart talk to the young woman in our church who had expressed homosexual tendencies. She confessed her sin and asked for forgiveness in tears. We explained to her the Biblical position on the matter and we had a time of prayer with her. It was a lovely meeting. It makes such a difference when people are ready and willing to submit to God’s word.

Last night I led the main service of the week and we had Pastor Ângelo as a visiting speaker. He is a very good preacher. He is the pastor that resigned from our Soledade church and he is without a church at the moment.

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A young man (I won’t give his name to be on the safe side), who was addicted to Cocaine and is now a member of the Patos church, has sadly slipped back to using the drug. This is not Valério (another member) who has been free of Cocaine for nearly 6 years now. Please pray for the young man who has slipped back to drugs.

Another problem has come to light. A young mother (she is new to our church and not a member)  has left her husband saying she wants to live with a woman who is a member our church. Please pray as we handle this delicate matter with the young mother. Our affected church member told us about the problem. Homosexuality is rampant here these days.

The Thursday night Bible study went well despite numbers being well down to 25 which is about half of the number on a good night. The Men’s Fellowship meeting on Tuesday and the Women’s Fellowship meeting on Wednesday both had low numbers too.

Our projects team has held another meeting this week with the community leaders at Santo Agostinho in Teixeira County with the possibility of us drilling a well there in mind. The community has 164 families with 156 women, 156 men and 112 children. They stand in great need of a permanent clean water supply. Santo Agostinho is 18 km from the town of Teixeira up in the mountains. It is an area which is difficult to hit water in when drilling. 30 years ago I knew nothing about drilling wells but now I have a fair old bit of experience!

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A young man (I won’t give his name to be on the safe side), who was addicted to Cocaine and is now a member of the Patos church, has sadly slipped back to using the drug. This is not Valério (another member) who has been free of Cocaine for nearly 6 years now. Please pray for the young man who has slipped back to drugs.

Another problem has come to light. A young mother (she is new to our church and not a member)  has left her husband saying she wants to live with a woman who is a member our church. Please pray as we handle this delicate matter with the young mother. Our affected church member told us about the problem. Homosexuality is rampant here these days.

The Thursday night Bible study went well despite numbers being well down to 25 which is about half of the number on a good night. The Men’s Fellowship meeting on Tuesday and the Women’s Fellowship meeting on Wednesday both had low numbers too.

Our projects team has held another meeting this week with the community leaders at Santo Agostinho in Teixeira County with the possibility of us drilling a well there in mind. The community has 164 families with 156 women, 156 men and 112 children. They stand in great need of a permanent clean water supply. Santo Agostinho is 18 km from the town of Teixeira up in the mountains. It is an area which is difficult to hit water in when drilling. 30 years ago I knew nothing about drilling wells but now I have a fair old bit of experience!

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This week our granddaughter Louisa (who lives with us) received her identity card as a lawyer from the Order of Brazilian Lawyers (OAB). Liz and I went to the presentation ceremony at the Order’s headquarters in Patos. We felt very proud of her. When students here finish their law degree they have to sit two independent exams set by the OAB and only then can they exercise their profession.

I have been having some important meetings with pastors Wostenes and Hamilton in Campina Grande to discuss problems with two of our pastors. The issues then went on to be discussed by the whole leadership team.

Liz and eldest daughter Deborah are at Sandra’s house. It is a very difficult and sad case as she has Down’s syndrome and is in her 40s. She is a special case who is helped by a church in the UK. She is currently groaning all the time as if she was in pain. If medication doesn’t kick in soon she will have to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Campina Grande as we don’t have one in Patos. Please pray for Sandra. Pray too for her sister and her husband who are her carers and are exausted.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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