Categoria: News

Our Pastor Chef (please note the pun! i.e. not Master Chef!) João George is the assistant pastor at our Imaculada church up in the mountains. He is a very dedicated man in all he does. He is an Action School teacher and he is one of the most dedicated teachers we have in any school. It’s just how he is! He is also very good at cooking and at teaching cooking and has done excellent work teaching women to cook at Fonseca slave-descendent community in Manaira County. The aim in this project is to in this way teach women to make bread or bake and decorate cakes so that these things generate income for their families. So yesterday he was at another slave-descendent community at Barra de Oitis in Diamante County teaching a new group of women to make bread and it was a great success. It is so good to see extremely poor women treated with respect and recovering their personal dignity through such projects as this one as well as increasing their income. 

The rain situation continues the same at Green Pastures. We had 30 mm of rain the night before last and 9 mm last night so not big rains to fill our lake and stream up. With just a week left in April the situation in serious at Green Pastures. Last night in Patos it rained 88 mm of torrential rain but unfortunately this didn’t fall at Green Pastures. The rain was so hard last night that I had to turn the volume up to the maximum for Liz and I to be able to watch our serial on Netflix so as to relax before going to sleep.

I have been trouble shooting at one of our Action Schools this week. Problems crop up from time to time but the Lord helps us to solve them and our experience helps too.

Thanks to those who have been praying for 85 year old Brother Silvino at Manaira who had Covid and a stroke. Praise God he is now home from hospital and much improved.

The 2 latest toilet/shower units that we have built are now totally finished and their happy owners are using them with great satisfaction. It’s sad to think that these are the first toilets these families have had in their lives. How the other half lives! For the very poor here a toilet is a luxury and a shower as well is a super luxury! However the photo of Francisco de Assis, his wife Maria de Fátima Lucas and their two children shows a family all masked up and looking very serious. (see on Facebook) That’s just how poor folk here are! To get them to smile for a photo is extremely difficult! I understand such people and I realize that’s their normal, but it might be difficult for people overseas to figure out.

I’ve been having a lot of discussions with different EAB/ACEV pastors today which is always good. I especially had talks with the two pastors, Wostenes and Hamilton, of our two churches at Campina Grande where God’s work is pressing ahead well despite all the difficulties of the pandemic. The first church there in the borough of Catolé, where Wostenes is the pastor, is slowly expanding its building to cope with growth. PTL!  The second church which Hamilton leads, is in the borough of Presidente Médici, and has just managed to buy a narrow piece of land next to the church which is being used as a car park. The church has 5 years to pay for the land on the never never. So we praise God for the two churches in Campina Grande which are growing for the glory of God.

I also have been talking to Pastor Nezinho Abílio who leads the two churches at Barra de Oitis and Vazante. What a joy it is to see how that despite all the Covid problems in these villages (as opposed to churches previously mentioned in a city) both churches are progressing well. At Barra de Oitis they have 54 members and at Vazante they have 62. Both these village churches have their own church buildings which are in the process of being finished off whilst being used. So it always is so encouraging seeing people come to Christ whether in towns, cities or villages!

In Patos we have seen another person make a commitment to Jesus. She is a young woman who heard the Gospel from her neighbour Iris who is a member of our church and who was recently appointed as deputy-head teacher of our Patos Action School. We praise God for people who naturally share the Gospel with friends and neighbours and lead them to Christ.

My blood tests a few days back all worked out well with cholesterol and glucose levels etc. all fine. The only item slightly below normal was my potassium so the doctor has told me to eat more bananas and oranges to fix that. That suits me fine.  

I’ve been having a lot of discussions with different EAB/ACEV pastors today which is always good. I especially had talks with the two pastors, Wostenes and Hamilton, of our two churches at Campina Grande where God’s work is pressing ahead well despite all the difficulties of the pandemic. The first church there in the borough of Catolé, where Wostenes is the pastor, is slowly expanding its building to cope with growth. PTL!  The second church which Hamilton leads, is in the borough of Presidente Médici, and has just managed to buy a narrow piece of land next to the church which is being used as a car park. The church has 5 years to pay for the land on the never never. So we praise God for the two churches in Campina Grande which are growing for the glory of God.

I also have been talking to Pastor Nezinho Abílio who leads the two churches at Barra de Oitis and Vazante. What a joy it is to see how that despite all the Covid problems in these villages (as opposed to churches previously mentioned in a city) both churches are progressing well. At Barra de Oitis they have 54 members and at Vazante they have 62. Both these village churches have their own church buildings which are in the process of being finished off whilst being used. So it always is so encouraging seeing people come to Christ whether in towns, cities or villages!

In Patos we have seen another person make a commitment to Jesus. She is a young woman who heard the Gospel from her neighbour Iris who is a member of our church and who was recently appointed as deputy-head teacher of our Patos Action School. We praise God for people who naturally share the Gospel with friends and neighbours and lead them to Christ.

My blood tests a few days back all worked out well with cholesterol and glucose levels etc. all fine. The only item slightly below normal was my potassium so the doctor has told me to eat more bananas and oranges to fix that. That suits me fine.  

This morning Liz and I have had our second dose of the Coronovac Chinese vaccination so this means in a few weeks time we should have a fair level of immunity from Covid-19. We are grateful to God and scientists for this. We are aware that the vaccine gives limited protection but it is better than nothing. From a few weeks time onwards we will aim at getting more back to normal whilst continuing to be cautious, wearing masks, social distancing etc. 

I have been asked what my links are with LST – the London School of Theology, with whom I attended a virtual Research Conference last week. Well – I did a B.A. (Hons) Degree in Theology with LST many moons ago and this I followed with an M.A. in Theology and Religious Studies with Leeds University. I found these studies very stimulating and they were a very great blessing and enrichment to my life and work. I also find it is important to keep being challenged by Christian scholars who think deeply about a variety of Biblical topics and about the way the Christian faith relates to everyday life, science, the poor, the environment, politics etc.

At our Green Pastures Nature Reserve & Christian Conference Centre we see a lot of lizards. We have so far identified 15 species of lizards and the largest of these we are seeing a lot of lately is called Salvator merianae which grows up to 2 metres in length. At Green Pastures we supply water to our neighbours from our well. We have long had a pipe linked to one of our water tanks which has a tap on an outer front fence which means people can come and help themselves to water whenever they need it without having to come inside Green Pastures. It is always a joy to see poor people loading up their carts with water in this way.

Our main service of the week on Sunday night went very well yesterday. Sacha and João Filho led on vocals as Louisa was away in João Pessoa with her maternal grandparents for the weekend and Fábio was at work as he does shifts, which includes Sundays every other week. On instrumentals were Mailson (bass guitar), Tiago (guitar) and Witagiby (drums). Rafael and I shared the leading of the service and Pastor Lucena preached on 2 Kings 5:1-19.

We had another quarter of an inch of rain yesterday at Green Pastures. Unfortunately it’s one of those years where the rain just comes in small portions, in dribs and drabs, and the river bed and lake remain bone dry. This is going to be one of those years where our deep-bore wells will be vital in the drought, as will be our drinking troughs all over the Green Pastures Reserve for the wild life. Dr. Izar Aximoff and I have just written a very good scientific article on the 20 species of mammals registered at Green Pastures. Dr. Aximoff is a PhD in Biology at the Rio de Janeiro State University. I will publish the link to the article once it has received its final touches and is officially published in English.  

Our main service of the week on Sunday night went very well yesterday. Sacha and João Filho led on vocals as Louisa was away in João Pessoa with her maternal grandparents for the weekend and Fábio was at work as he does shifts, which includes Sundays every other week. On instrumentals were Mailson (bass guitar), Tiago (guitar) and Witagiby (drums). Rafael and I shared the leading of the service and Pastor Lucena preached on 2 Kings 5:1-19.

We had another quarter of an inch of rain yesterday at Green Pastures. Unfortunately it’s one of those years where the rain just comes in small portions, in dribs and drabs, and the river bed and lake remain bone dry. This is going to be one of those years where our deep-bore wells will be vital in the drought, as will be our drinking troughs all over the Green Pastures Reserve for the wild life. Dr. Izar Aximoff and I have just written a very good scientific article on the 20 species of mammals registered at Green Pastures. Dr. Aximoff is a PhD in Biology at the Rio de Janeiro State University. I will publish the link to the article once it has received its final touches and is officially published in English.  

Our main service of the week on Sunday night went very well yesterday. Sacha and João Filho led on vocals as Louisa was away in João Pessoa with her maternal grandparents for the weekend and Fábio was at work as he does shifts, which includes Sundays every other week. On instrumentals were Mailson (bass guitar), Tiago (guitar) and Witagiby (drums). Rafael and I shared the leading of the service and Pastor Lucena preached on 2 Kings 5:1-19.

We had another quarter of an inch of rain yesterday at Green Pastures. Unfortunately it’s one of those years where the rain just comes in small portions, in dribs and drabs, and the river bed and lake remain bone dry. This is going to be one of those years where our deep-bore wells will be vital in the drought, as will be our drinking troughs all over the Green Pastures Reserve for the wild life. Dr. Izar Aximoff and I have just written a very good scientific article on the 20 species of mammals registered at Green Pastures. Dr. Aximoff is a PhD in Biology at the Rio de Janeiro State University. I will publish the link to the article once it has received its final touches and is officially published in English.  

The night before last it rained 12 mm at Green Pastures Nature Reserve & Christian Conference Centre and last night it rained 26 mm, so that adds up to just over an inch and a half of rain in two nights. This is good but sadly not enough to accumulate water in the stream or lake and which remain totally dry.

We watched Prince Philip’s funeral service yesterday on the BBC World Service. It certainly was a beautiful sunny day for the event and everything went off impeccably well with typically British precision. What a contrast with how, when we first came here, TV was black and white and the image was awful, but now we could see and hear everything from Windsor Castle as well as you could in the UK. May God comfort the Queen and all the family.

Another of our pastors, José Renildo, who leads the church near the beach of Jacumã near João Pessoa, is recovering from a second bout of Covid-19. Sadly his experiences, rather than giving him a humble sense of gratitude to God, have given him a sense of spiritual pride and he is boasting about how he “has no fear”. He is a military man and a follower of President Bolsonaro. I will say no more but just ask you to pray for us to have wisdom on how to handle this arrogance which is in the hearts of the majority of evangelical Christians here.

I will be leading part of the service tonight in the Patos church and assistant pastor Rafael will be leading the other part. Pastor Lucena (retired Congregational) will be preaching.

Liz and I are due to have our second dose of the Chinese Coronavac Covid vaccine on Tuesday.

The night before last it rained 12 mm at Green Pastures Nature Reserve & Christian Conference Centre and last night it rained 26 mm, so that adds up to just over an inch and a half of rain in two nights. This is good but sadly not enough to accumulate water in the stream or lake and which remain totally dry.

We watched Prince Philip’s funeral service yesterday on the BBC World Service. It certainly was a beautiful sunny day for the event and everything went off impeccably well with typically British precision. What a contrast with how, when we first came here, TV was black and white and the image was awful, but now we could see and hear everything from Windsor Castle as well as you could in the UK. May God comfort the Queen and all the family.

Another of our pastors, José Renildo, who leads the church near the beach of Jacumã near João Pessoa, is recovering from a second bout of Covid-19. Sadly his experiences, rather than giving him a humble sense of gratitude to God, have given him a sense of spiritual pride and he is boasting about how he “has no fear”. He is a military man and a follower of President Bolsonaro. I will say no more but just ask you to pray for us to have wisdom on how to handle this arrogance which is in the hearts of the majority of evangelical Christians here.

I will be leading part of the service tonight in the Patos church and assistant pastor Rafael will be leading the other part. Pastor Lucena (retired Congregational) will be preaching.

Liz and I are due to have our second dose of the Chinese Coronavac Covid vaccine on Tuesday.

The night before last it rained 12 mm at Green Pastures Nature Reserve & Christian Conference Centre and last night it rained 26 mm, so that adds up to just over an inch and a half of rain in two nights. This is good but sadly not enough to accumulate water in the stream or lake and which remain totally dry.

We watched Prince Philip’s funeral service yesterday on the BBC World Service. It certainly was a beautiful sunny day for the event and everything went off impeccably well with typically British precision. What a contrast with how, when we first came here, TV was black and white and the image was awful, but now we could see and hear everything from Windsor Castle as well as you could in the UK. May God comfort the Queen and all the family.

Another of our pastors, José Renildo, who leads the church near the beach of Jacumã near João Pessoa, is recovering from a second bout of Covid-19. Sadly his experiences, rather than giving him a humble sense of gratitude to God, have given him a sense of spiritual pride and he is boasting about how he “has no fear”. He is a military man and a follower of President Bolsonaro. I will say no more but just ask you to pray for us to have wisdom on how to handle this arrogance which is in the hearts of the majority of evangelical Christians here.

I will be leading part of the service tonight in the Patos church and assistant pastor Rafael will be leading the other part. Pastor Lucena (retired Congregational) will be preaching.

Liz and I are due to have our second dose of the Chinese Coronavac Covid vaccine on Tuesday.

I always walk at Green Pastures in boots. I bought the boots in England I think it was 4 years ago. I buy boots in the UK because my feet are bigger that Brazilian shoe shops tend to stock. I wear boots because they protect me from the many thorns in the bush here and they help protect me from possible snake bites. So you can imagine my sadness when my boots developed big holes in the soles! However a Patos cobbler has brilliantly solved the problem and stuck big lumps of heavy duty tires on the bottom of my boots. They are as good as new again! 😁

I was greatly saddened yesterday at the death of my long time friend in João Pessoa, Marilo Costa, who had been in intensive care with Covid for 12 days. We worked together a lot in the late 70s and early 80s evangelizing students with the Christian Inter-Varsity ministry. Please pray for his wife and family.

I was up again at 5 am this morning for the second and final day of the LST Research Conference. The first paper today was by Dr. Grant Mason on Secularization, Modernization and the Local Church from 1919 up to the present day. Then there was a very interesting lecture on Faith and Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The Conference was well worth getting up early for.  

I always walk at Green Pastures in boots. I bought the boots in England I think it was 4 years ago. I buy boots in the UK because my feet are bigger that Brazilian shoe shops tend to stock. I wear boots because they protect me from the many thorns in the bush here and they help protect me from possible snake bites. So you can imagine my sadness when my boots developed big holes in the soles! However a Patos cobbler has brilliantly solved the problem and stuck big lumps of heavy duty tires on the bottom of my boots. They are as good as new again! 😁

I was greatly saddened yesterday at the death of my long time friend in João Pessoa, Marilo Costa, who had been in intensive care with Covid for 12 days. We worked together a lot in the late 70s and early 80s evangelizing students with the Christian Inter-Varsity ministry. Please pray for his wife and family.

I was up again at 5 am this morning for the second and final day of the LST Research Conference. The first paper today was by Dr. Grant Mason on Secularization, Modernization and the Local Church from 1919 up to the present day. Then there was a very interesting lecture on Faith and Extraterrestrial Intelligence. The Conference was well worth getting up early for.  

I was up at 5 am this morning and got straight under the shower to wake up! This was because the London School of Theology’s Research Conference, which I am attending, started at 9.30 am (UK time) which is 5.30 am Brazilian time. I ate a bowl of cereal with melon, paw-paw and banana as I listened to the brilliant keynote speaker who was Professor Andrew Steane who lectures Physics at Oxford University. His paper was – “It keeps me seeking: the invitation from Religion, Science and Philosophy”. He was so good that his allotted time just flew by! 😀This was followed by Professor Richard Bell speaking on Hegel’s view of time and this dragged by like a tortoise! 😥 The final speaker today was Tim Chen, who is a Chinese PhD student at LST, who spoke on the Wisdom of Solomon. He did well and this brought to an end the first challenging thought provoking day of the Conference. There’s more tomorrow starting at the same time.

China has admitted, and if China admits it that’s saying a lot, that the Covid Vaccine, called Coronavac from China, is limited in its effectiveness and that they are working on improving it. This is the vaccine Liz and I have had and we didn’t have a choice. We value your prayers. 

It rained hard in Patos last night but once again the rain was minimal at Green Pastures which is a great pity. Some places in Patos yesterday received 100 mm but at Green Pastures, just 12 miles away, we had only 4 mm.    

I was up at 5 am this morning and got straight under the shower to wake up! This was because the London School of Theology’s Research Conference, which I am attending, started at 9.30 am (UK time) which is 5.30 am Brazilian time. I ate a bowl of cereal with melon, paw-paw and banana as I listened to the brilliant keynote speaker who was Professor Andrew Steane who lectures Physics at Oxford University. His paper was – “It keeps me seeking: the invitation from Religion, Science and Philosophy”. He was so good that his allotted time just flew by! 😀This was followed by Professor Richard Bell speaking on Hegel’s view of time and this dragged by like a tortoise! 😥 The final speaker today was Tim Chen, who is a Chinese PhD student at LST, who spoke on the Wisdom of Solomon. He did well and this brought to an end the first challenging thought provoking day of the Conference. There’s more tomorrow starting at the same time.

China has admitted, and if China admits it that’s saying a lot, that the Covid Vaccine, called Coronavac from China, is limited in its effectiveness and that they are working on improving it. This is the vaccine Liz and I have had and we didn’t have a choice. We value your prayers. 

It rained hard in Patos last night but once again the rain was minimal at Green Pastures which is a great pity. Some places in Patos yesterday received 100 mm but at Green Pastures, just 12 miles away, we had only 4 mm.    

I was up at 5 am this morning and got straight under the shower to wake up! This was because the London School of Theology’s Research Conference, which I am attending, started at 9.30 am (UK time) which is 5.30 am Brazilian time. I ate a bowl of cereal with melon, paw-paw and banana as I listened to the brilliant keynote speaker who was Professor Andrew Steane who lectures Physics at Oxford University. His paper was – “It keeps me seeking: the invitation from Religion, Science and Philosophy”. He was so good that his allotted time just flew by! 😀This was followed by Professor Richard Bell speaking on Hegel’s view of time and this dragged by like a tortoise! 😥 The final speaker today was Tim Chen, who is a Chinese PhD student at LST, who spoke on the Wisdom of Solomon. He did well and this brought to an end the first challenging thought provoking day of the Conference. There’s more tomorrow starting at the same time.

China has admitted, and if China admits it that’s saying a lot, that the Covid Vaccine, called Coronavac from China, is limited in its effectiveness and that they are working on improving it. This is the vaccine Liz and I have had and we didn’t have a choice. We value your prayers. 

It rained hard in Patos last night but once again the rain was minimal at Green Pastures which is a great pity. Some places in Patos yesterday received 100 mm but at Green Pastures, just 12 miles away, we had only 4 mm.    

Ana Carolina is the name of a 19 year old woman who was once a pupil of the EAB Action Primary School which bears the name of our late beloved missionary Pastor Frank Dyer. This young woman has just sent us a lovely testimony of her love and gratitude for our school. She writes: “I have always loved the Pastor Frank Dyer School. I have fond memories of this blessed and happy place which has such competent teachers. Recently people who know me and my love for children and education said to me that now I have finished High School why don’t I train to become a teacher? I thought about this for a few months and then I applied to the university and was accepted! I am now in the first term of my teacher training course and am absolutely loving it. I know I have a long way to go to my graduation but I am already dreaming about whether God would bless me to one day become a teacher at my dear old EAB Action School!”

Last night it rained 21 mm at Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre. That is nearly an inch of rain which helps our situation a bit but we need a lot more rain as still the lake and river are bone dry. We need abundant heavy monsoon-like rainfall to fill the lake. Liz and I walked at Green Pastures yesterday and looked at the work the painters are doing painting the wooden playground equipment which hadn’t been painted for 5 years. The painting work is brightening up the swings, slides and see-saws ready for new camps once the pandemic is over. Our playgrounds are made of wood as wood is cooler for the children to play on in the intense heat here. Metal would be unbearable. 

Ana Carolina is the name of a 19 year old woman who was once a pupil of the EAB Action Primary School which bears the name of our late beloved missionary Pastor Frank Dyer. This young woman has just sent us a lovely testimony of her love and gratitude for our school. She writes: “I have always loved the Pastor Frank Dyer School. I have fond memories of this blessed and happy place which has such competent teachers. Recently people who know me and my love for children and education said to me that now I have finished High School why don’t I train to become a teacher? I thought about this for a few months and then I applied to the university and was accepted! I am now in the first term of my teacher training course and am absolutely loving it. I know I have a long way to go to my graduation but I am already dreaming about whether God would bless me to one day become a teacher at my dear old EAB Action School!”

Last night it rained 21 mm at Green Pastures Nature Reserve and Christian Conference Centre. That is nearly an inch of rain which helps our situation a bit but we need a lot more rain as still the lake and river are bone dry. We need abundant heavy monsoon-like rainfall to fill the lake. Liz and I walked at Green Pastures yesterday and looked at the work the painters are doing painting the wooden playground equipment which hadn’t been painted for 5 years. The painting work is brightening up the swings, slides and see-saws ready for new camps once the pandemic is over. Our playgrounds are made of wood as wood is cooler for the children to play on in the intense heat here. Metal would be unbearable. 

I am very happy to say that our dear Deaconess and Nurse Samara at Ibiara, who had severe depression problems with extreme consequences, is much better. Thank you for your prayers. Local Pastor Betinho tells me that Samara is smiling again and turned up at his house to visit his family rather than the other way round with the pastor visiting “the sick”! And I saw a post this morning on social media from Samara with her and her Aunt happily together. So we praise the Lord!

We were again very disappointed by the lack of rain at Green Pastures last night because whilst in Patos it rained 59 mm it only rained 3 mm at Green Pastures! 😒 You have no idea how sad this is in this semi-arid region where rain is hard to come by.

The Covid pandemic keeps going from bad to worse here with the death toll now past 355,000 and the President continues to play down the problem as he ridicules all who request action. Thankfully our State Governor is doing all he can to control the people so as not make the Covid situation worse than it is, but the President unbelievably does all he can to mess up our Governor’s good work. What is worse is that I am part of a small minority of evangelical Christians who raise a voice of complaint about our President. Even the President’s language is aggressively foul. What a mess! 

Yesterday we had our first little bit of rain this month which is a great concern as this is our last main month for rain in our rainy season. In May we just get the leftovers. So just 10 mm of rain at Green Pastures was better than nothing of course but a disappointment. We keep praying for some big rains still in April.

Yesterday we had our first little bit of rain this month which is a great concern as this is our last main month for rain in our rainy season. In May we just get the leftovers. So just 10 mm of rain at Green Pastures was better than nothing of course but a disappointment. We keep praying for some big rains still in April.

Next week I will be attending the London School of Theology’s Virtual Research Conference which will discuss if “Science and Faith are at odds?” The Keynote speaker will be Professor Andrew Steane who is a (Christian) lecturer of Physics at Oxford University and I will be up bright and early to listen to him at 5.30 am. I have been reading a paper he wrote which I received as preparatory reading for the Conference. The paper has the title: ‘The Role of Science in the avenues of Understanding and Appreciating Nature’, and it was very good. It is very good to re-charge ones spiritual batteries and be challenged by speakers such at Professor Steane.

I have now concluded writing year 2013 of my book on the history of the work here which will cover our first 80 years from 1938-2018. This means I have five years to go so am nearly there. I hope to publish the book this year. It is in Portuguese for a Brazilian audience. Every chapter (27 written so far) has been checked and corrected by Liz and then by Lynn. We will do a final overall read and check, and add photos, before sending it to the publishers. 

Next week I will be attending the London School of Theology’s Virtual Research Conference which will discuss if “Science and Faith are at odds?” The Keynote speaker will be Professor Andrew Steane who is a (Christian) lecturer of Physics at Oxford University and I will be up bright and early to listen to him at 5.30 am. I have been reading a paper he wrote which I received as preparatory reading for the Conference. The paper has the title: ‘The Role of Science in the avenues of Understanding and Appreciating Nature’, and it was very good. It is very good to re-charge ones spiritual batteries and be challenged by speakers such at Professor Steane.

I have now concluded writing year 2013 of my book on the history of the work here which will cover our first 80 years from 1938-2018. This means I have five years to go so am nearly there. I hope to publish the book this year. It is in Portuguese for a Brazilian audience. Every chapter (27 written so far) has been checked and corrected by Liz and then by Lynn. We will do a final overall read and check, and add photos, before sending it to the publishers. 

It was wonderful that yesterday afternoon EAB/ACEV Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa finished his spell in hospital with Covid and is now at home. As he left he read part of Psalm 46 to the nurses and sang with them part of the song “Because He lives I can face tomorrow”. Umbirajara’s exit from hospital was quite an event. I spoke to him last night and he was profusely thankful to all who prayed for him.

I received the news flash on my mobile phone this morning from the BBC that Prince Philip had died aged 99. This highlights how much communications have progressed between Britain and the interior of northeastern Brazil! There was a time when the only communication was letters which took months to arrive or you could hold your ear to a short wave radio and sometimes hear the news, as long as it was 3 pm when reception was clearer. Now I received the news at the same time people received it in the UK. My sister Jean sent me a message on WhatsApp to tell me what I already knew!

I’ve got an empty arm this morning (for those who remember Hancock’s Half Hour!) after Liz and I had blood tests done for cholesterol, glucose etc. as our routine bi-annual tests. Our blood was collected at our house by a nurse at 6.15 am. The home collection was in the light of the pandemic.

It was wonderful that yesterday afternoon EAB/ACEV Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa finished his spell in hospital with Covid and is now at home. As he left he read part of Psalm 46 to the nurses and sang with them part of the song “Because He lives I can face tomorrow”. Umbirajara’s exit from hospital was quite an event. I spoke to him last night and he was profusely thankful to all who prayed for him.

I received the news flash on my mobile phone this morning from the BBC that Prince Philip had died aged 99. This highlights how much communications have progressed between Britain and the interior of northeastern Brazil! There was a time when the only communication was letters which took months to arrive or you could hold your ear to a short wave radio and sometimes hear the news, as long as it was 3 pm when reception was clearer. Now I received the news at the same time people received it in the UK. My sister Jean sent me a message on WhatsApp to tell me what I already knew!

I’ve got an empty arm this morning (for those who remember Hancock’s Half Hour!) after Liz and I had blood tests done for cholesterol, glucose etc. as our routine bi-annual tests. Our blood was collected at our house by a nurse at 6.15 am. The home collection was in the light of the pandemic.

Amidst all the bad news here in Brazil I am glad to have some good news! I am happy to tell you that yesterday afternoon Antonio, who is the squeeze box (piano accordion) player from our Conceição church, was sent home from hospital and his pastor Betinho picked him up from the Piancó hospital and took him home. Antonio cried as he sent a video message of thanks to everyone that had prayed for him whilst he was being treat for Covid. So we praise God for this victory.

Good news from João Pessoa too is that our Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid may be sent home today. Watch this space!

Nationwide health authorities are warning that at least 1,068 towns and cities are running out of oxygen supplies in their hospitals which are a vital aspect of hospital treatment for people with Covid. Obviously the demand on oxygen is very high owing to the pandemic, but the sad thing is that the government is slow to react. Please pray. 

Tonight is the midweek Bible study continuing in the Epistle to the Philippians.

Amidst all the bad news here in Brazil I am glad to have some good news! I am happy to tell you that yesterday afternoon Antonio, who is the squeeze box (piano accordion) player from our Conceição church, was sent home from hospital and his pastor Betinho picked him up from the Piancó hospital and took him home. Antonio cried as he sent a video message of thanks to everyone that had prayed for him whilst he was being treat for Covid. So we praise God for this victory.

Good news from João Pessoa too is that our Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid may be sent home today. Watch this space!

Nationwide health authorities are warning that at least 1,068 towns and cities are running out of oxygen supplies in their hospitals which are a vital aspect of hospital treatment for people with Covid. Obviously the demand on oxygen is very high owing to the pandemic, but the sad thing is that the government is slow to react. Please pray. 

Tonight is the midweek Bible study continuing in the Epistle to the Philippians.

Amidst all the bad news here in Brazil I am glad to have some good news! I am happy to tell you that yesterday afternoon Antonio, who is the squeeze box (piano accordion) player from our Conceição church, was sent home from hospital and his pastor Betinho picked him up from the Piancó hospital and took him home. Antonio cried as he sent a video message of thanks to everyone that had prayed for him whilst he was being treat for Covid. So we praise God for this victory.

Good news from João Pessoa too is that our Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid may be sent home today. Watch this space!

Nationwide health authorities are warning that at least 1,068 towns and cities are running out of oxygen supplies in their hospitals which are a vital aspect of hospital treatment for people with Covid. Obviously the demand on oxygen is very high owing to the pandemic, but the sad thing is that the government is slow to react. Please pray. 

Tonight is the midweek Bible study continuing in the Epistle to the Philippians.

 Yesterday saw Brazil pass the 4,000 mark in daily Covid deaths for the first time. Sadly Brazil reached a total of 4,211 Covid deaths in 24 hours and two people we knew were part of this total. What is so sad is that our President continues to look the other way, does nothing about it but tells the people “to stop whining” and “get back to work”! He says he’ll never support a lockdown so the death toll just rises non-stop. The first time Brazil reached 2,000 deaths in a day was less than a month ago, so you can see from that how out of control Covid is in Brazil. Total deaths now have passed the 337,000 mark. I am sorry to keep on about such a sad topic but this is the reality we are living here. Please continue to pray.

On a brighter note I can tell you that our Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa is steadily improving from Covid. He is still in hospital but if he keeps improving today he could be sent home tomorrow. I talked to his son now who told me this and thanks everyone for their prayers. 

Our prayer request for rain also persists as sadly the rains have stopped altogether here and we have a dry stream and dry lake at Green Pastures. Liz and I went walking there yesterday and it is sad to see a superficial green coating on the trees but everything is dying underneath. April is our last main month for rain so we are hoping and praying for things to change here.

 Yesterday saw Brazil pass the 4,000 mark in daily Covid deaths for the first time. Sadly Brazil reached a total of 4,211 Covid deaths in 24 hours and two people we knew were part of this total. What is so sad is that our President continues to look the other way, does nothing about it but tells the people “to stop whining” and “get back to work”! He says he’ll never support a lockdown so the death toll just rises non-stop. The first time Brazil reached 2,000 deaths in a day was less than a month ago, so you can see from that how out of control Covid is in Brazil. Total deaths now have passed the 337,000 mark. I am sorry to keep on about such a sad topic but this is the reality we are living here. Please continue to pray.

On a brighter note I can tell you that our Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa is steadily improving from Covid. He is still in hospital but if he keeps improving today he could be sent home tomorrow. I talked to his son now who told me this and thanks everyone for their prayers. 

Our prayer request for rain also persists as sadly the rains have stopped altogether here and we have a dry stream and dry lake at Green Pastures. Liz and I went walking there yesterday and it is sad to see a superficial green coating on the trees but everything is dying underneath. April is our last main month for rain so we are hoping and praying for things to change here.

Our Easter Sunday special service online was really lovely. It was especially nice to have the Christian poetess Zenilda Lua taking part with a poem she wrote about Jesus and the resurrection. She was born in Patos but now lives over 1,600 miles away at São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo. Sacha led the praise and worship and I preached the Gospel.

I have two items of good news. First of all the deaconess Samara at Ibiara is much better after all her depression and its consequences. Her pastor Betinho reports that Samara is much brighter and positive. The other piece of good news is that our dear Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid in João Pessoa is improving, and there is the possibility of him leaving the hospital by the end of the week as long as he keeps improving the way he has been recently. His viral pneumonia has improved so he needs less oxygen, and his appetite has now returned to normal. Thank you for praying.

We heard some startling news yesterday which got Liz investigating to see what exactly had happened. We heard that Sister Judite who is a senior lady in the Patos church, who takes part in our ‘young at heart’ project, “had lost an eye”! Judite is a quaint woman who used to keep a piglet indoors like anyone else would keep a dog or a cat so we wondered if she had had an accident or did she mean she had lost the sight in an eye with a bad cataract? When we discovered the truth we were horrified. For Judite has had an eye removed by surgery owing to some sort of abscess that had formed in her eye. It sounds outrageously extreme to have surgery to remove the eye but we will never know if it was really necessary. Judite now has an artificial eye and she is very low and depressed with this. Please pray for her.

Our Easter Sunday special service online was really lovely. It was especially nice to have the Christian poetess Zenilda Lua taking part with a poem she wrote about Jesus and the resurrection. She was born in Patos but now lives over 1,600 miles away at São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo. Sacha led the praise and worship and I preached the Gospel.

I have two items of good news. First of all the deaconess Samara at Ibiara is much better after all her depression and its consequences. Her pastor Betinho reports that Samara is much brighter and positive. The other piece of good news is that our dear Pastor Umbirajara in hospital with Covid in João Pessoa is improving, and there is the possibility of him leaving the hospital by the end of the week as long as he keeps improving the way he has been recently. His viral pneumonia has improved so he needs less oxygen, and his appetite has now returned to normal. Thank you for praying.

We heard some startling news yesterday which got Liz investigating to see what exactly had happened. We heard that Sister Judite who is a senior lady in the Patos church, who takes part in our ‘young at heart’ project, “had lost an eye”! Judite is a quaint woman who used to keep a piglet indoors like anyone else would keep a dog or a cat so we wondered if she had had an accident or did she mean she had lost the sight in an eye with a bad cataract? When we discovered the truth we were horrified. For Judite has had an eye removed by surgery owing to some sort of abscess that had formed in her eye. It sounds outrageously extreme to have surgery to remove the eye but we will never know if it was really necessary. Judite now has an artificial eye and she is very low and depressed with this. Please pray for her.

Our State Governor has decreed that as from Monday, April 5th churches in Paraíba can go back to holding hybrid services as long as masks are worn and social distancing is observed. I wonder if our Governor will live to regret this decision as we are at the height of the Covid storm and deaths are occurring thick and fast. Brazil has now passed the 330,000 deaths mark. The problem is that many churches do not obey the rules of distancing and masks and this is where most of the trouble comes from. I personally would prefer that our church stayed exclusively online for the time being but my hunch is that such a position would not be acceptable to the majority of our members so I will follow the Governor. We value your prayers for a very difficult and trying situation.

Good news is that our son-in-law’s Aunt is out of hospital and fine after Covid. His uncle had already gone home and is fine too. Hutan asked us to thank everyone for their prayers. Please continue to pray for Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa who continues in hospital with Covid. He is a real cause for concern.   

We are very concerned about Pastor Umbirajara who has Covid and who was admitted to hospital last night in João Pessoa. Pastor Umbirajara is the fourth of our pastors who has had Covid after Wostenes, Jânio and José Vieira (all recovered) but Umbirajara is the first to be admitted to hospital. Umbirajara is EAB/ACEV’s senior pastor in João Pessoa and the first secretary of our senior national leadership team. His wife Conceição also has Covid but she has no symptoms. Their daughter Sara is a young doctor so her father has not lacked medical attention. Please pray for Umbirajara.

Please continue to pray too for the piano accordion player Antonio from our Conceição church, who has been transferred to the bigger and better hospital at Piancó. Pastor Betinho tells me that he is more comfortable at Piancó. 

We are looking forward to our Easter Sunday service tomorrow night at 6:30 pm (10:30 pm UK time) which I will be leading. I will also be preaching. It will be nice to also have taking part the poetess Zenilda Lua with a poem about the resurrection. 

We are very concerned about Pastor Umbirajara who has Covid and who was admitted to hospital last night in João Pessoa. Pastor Umbirajara is the fourth of our pastors who has had Covid after Wostenes, Jânio and José Vieira (all recovered) but Umbirajara is the first to be admitted to hospital. Umbirajara is EAB/ACEV’s senior pastor in João Pessoa and the first secretary of our senior national leadership team. His wife Conceição also has Covid but she has no symptoms. Their daughter Sara is a young doctor so her father has not lacked medical attention. Please pray for Umbirajara.

Please continue to pray too for the piano accordion player Antonio from our Conceição church, who has been transferred to the bigger and better hospital at Piancó. Pastor Betinho tells me that he is more comfortable at Piancó. 

We are looking forward to our Easter Sunday service tomorrow night at 6:30 pm (10:30 pm UK time) which I will be leading. I will also be preaching. It will be nice to also have taking part the poetess Zenilda Lua with a poem about the resurrection. 

We are very concerned about Pastor Umbirajara who has Covid and who was admitted to hospital last night in João Pessoa. Pastor Umbirajara is the fourth of our pastors who has had Covid after Wostenes, Jânio and José Vieira (all recovered) but Umbirajara is the first to be admitted to hospital. Umbirajara is EAB/ACEV’s senior pastor in João Pessoa and the first secretary of our senior national leadership team. His wife Conceição also has Covid but she has no symptoms. Their daughter Sara is a young doctor so her father has not lacked medical attention. Please pray for Umbirajara.

Please continue to pray too for the piano accordion player Antonio from our Conceição church, who has been transferred to the bigger and better hospital at Piancó. Pastor Betinho tells me that he is more comfortable at Piancó. 

We are looking forward to our Easter Sunday service tomorrow night at 6:30 pm (10:30 pm UK time) which I will be leading. I will also be preaching. It will be nice to also have taking part the poetess Zenilda Lua with a poem about the resurrection. 

Please pray for Antonio from our Conceição church who plays the piano accordion there. Antonio is in hospital there with Covid-19 and is going to be transferred to a bigger hospital in another town, when a space for him becomes available, because he is pretty ill. The big problem in Brazil at the moment is to be able to get a place in a hospital if you need it, as the public health system is simply overwhelmed by Covid. Despite this horrific situation, with over 60,000 Covid deaths in March alone, President Bolsonaro still verbally attacks all restrictive measures taken by the State Governors.

I have been talking to our leaders of our second church in the borough of Maia in Princesa Isabel. They are called Jair and Silvânia. Sadly Silvânia’s aunt, who lived next door to them but was not part of our church, has committed suicide. Jair and Silvânia are naturally feeling very sad and are low. Please pray for them.

I have had a meeting with one of our projects team leaders, Pastor Lindon Carlos, and we discussed possible Chicken Run and Market Garden projects to be started at the Belém (Bethlehem) village in Tavares County where we have a flourishing little church plant. He is getting over the flu, which he feared could have been Covid, but he had the test and gratefully it was negative.

Please pray for Antonio from our Conceição church who plays the piano accordion there. Antonio is in hospital there with Covid-19 and is going to be transferred to a bigger hospital in another town, when a space for him becomes available, because he is pretty ill. The big problem in Brazil at the moment is to be able to get a place in a hospital if you need it, as the public health system is simply overwhelmed by Covid. Despite this horrific situation, with over 60,000 Covid deaths in March alone, President Bolsonaro still verbally attacks all restrictive measures taken by the State Governors.

I have been talking to our leaders of our second church in the borough of Maia in Princesa Isabel. They are called Jair and Silvânia. Sadly Silvânia’s aunt, who lived next door to them but was not part of our church, has committed suicide. Jair and Silvânia are naturally feeling very sad and are low. Please pray for them.

I have had a meeting with one of our projects team leaders, Pastor Lindon Carlos, and we discussed possible Chicken Run and Market Garden projects to be started at the Belém (Bethlehem) village in Tavares County where we have a flourishing little church plant. He is getting over the flu, which he feared could have been Covid, but he had the test and gratefully it was negative.

 We have received photos from our Action Schools at Flores, Caroá and Matureia showing the joy of poor children receiving food hampers for their families together with hygiene kits and lessons for the children to do at home in the light of the pandemic.

I have been talking to Pastor Betinho at Ibiara about the deaconess Samara there who attempted suicide. I am glad to report that she is much better and steadily improving. She has asked forgiveness for what she did but said everything had got on top of her so much. She now asks for the pastor and others from the church to come and have little services at her home and she sings with them. She is being given support from a psychiatrist too so we have much to thank God for.

Our EAB/ACEV pastor Umbirajara, who has Covid in João Pessoa, still stands in need of our prayers. He continues with a high temperature, has some discomfort with breathing and has viral pneumonia affecting 25% of his lungs.

We have had a little more rain with 5 mm on Monday and 8 mm on Tuesday so we are now up to a total of 307 mm this year. Please pray for some big heavy rains for us at Green Pastures.

Brazil finds itself amidst great political tension because President Bolsonaro sacked the Minister of Defense who is an army General. He sacked him because he rightly refused to attack the High Court over a recent decision which the president didn’t like. The general also refused to attack lockdown which the crazy president is also against. So once Bolsonaro sacked the Minister of Defense the chiefs of the army, navy and airforce all resigned in solidarity with the Minister of Defense. This news is the first item of news on the BBC World News today. Please pray for Brazil.

 We have received photos from our Action Schools at Flores, Caroá and Matureia showing the joy of poor children receiving food hampers for their families together with hygiene kits and lessons for the children to do at home in the light of the pandemic.

I have been talking to Pastor Betinho at Ibiara about the deaconess Samara there who attempted suicide. I am glad to report that she is much better and steadily improving. She has asked forgiveness for what she did but said everything had got on top of her so much. She now asks for the pastor and others from the church to come and have little services at her home and she sings with them. She is being given support from a psychiatrist too so we have much to thank God for.

Our EAB/ACEV pastor Umbirajara, who has Covid in João Pessoa, still stands in need of our prayers. He continues with a high temperature, has some discomfort with breathing and has viral pneumonia affecting 25% of his lungs.

We have had a little more rain with 5 mm on Monday and 8 mm on Tuesday so we are now up to a total of 307 mm this year. Please pray for some big heavy rains for us at Green Pastures.

Brazil finds itself amidst great political tension because President Bolsonaro sacked the Minister of Defense who is an army General. He sacked him because he rightly refused to attack the High Court over a recent decision which the president didn’t like. The general also refused to attack lockdown which the crazy president is also against. So once Bolsonaro sacked the Minister of Defense the chiefs of the army, navy and airforce all resigned in solidarity with the Minister of Defense. This news is the first item of news on the BBC World News today. Please pray for Brazil.

Last night’s online service in Patos went off very well despite an early problem with the transmission caused by the web camera jamming. This meant that we could hear Sacha singing but the visual part was frozen. I had to keep talking whilst the problem was fixed by our technical man Ray. It was funny because people were asking me to sing whilst we waited! Anyway once this problem was sorted the service went off fine without a hitch.

I noticed during the service that amongst the many people watching was the Poetess Zenilda Lua who lives at São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo which is over 1,600 miles away from Patos. She is a lovely Christian lady with whom I have a partnership. I provide a nature photograph from Green Pastures and Zenilda writes a poem to go with it and our work is published from time to time in a Brazilian Christian magazine. So towards the end of the service last night I invited Zenilda to write and say a poem on Easter Sunday which she has agreed to do. This will be a nice change and I am sure it will be a real blessing to hear Zenilda’s resurrection poem.

We have had some rain over the weekend at Green Pastures. On Saturday night it rained 30 mm and on Sunday night it rained 14 mm so this takes us up to 294 mm this year. This means we have about 700 mm to go! Please keep praying.

This morning we have helped another extremely poor family who were going hungry at Passagem, which is a village about 20 miles from Patos where we have a little church. The situation was so desperate that we gave them 2 food hampers plus a whole lot of fresh fruit and vegetables.    

Last night’s online service in Patos went off very well despite an early problem with the transmission caused by the web camera jamming. This meant that we could hear Sacha singing but the visual part was frozen. I had to keep talking whilst the problem was fixed by our technical man Ray. It was funny because people were asking me to sing whilst we waited! Anyway once this problem was sorted the service went off fine without a hitch.

I noticed during the service that amongst the many people watching was the Poetess Zenilda Lua who lives at São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo which is over 1,600 miles away from Patos. She is a lovely Christian lady with whom I have a partnership. I provide a nature photograph from Green Pastures and Zenilda writes a poem to go with it and our work is published from time to time in a Brazilian Christian magazine. So towards the end of the service last night I invited Zenilda to write and say a poem on Easter Sunday which she has agreed to do. This will be a nice change and I am sure it will be a real blessing to hear Zenilda’s resurrection poem.

We have had some rain over the weekend at Green Pastures. On Saturday night it rained 30 mm and on Sunday night it rained 14 mm so this takes us up to 294 mm this year. This means we have about 700 mm to go! Please keep praying.

This morning we have helped another extremely poor family who were going hungry at Passagem, which is a village about 20 miles from Patos where we have a little church. The situation was so desperate that we gave them 2 food hampers plus a whole lot of fresh fruit and vegetables.    

Last night’s online service in Patos went off very well despite an early problem with the transmission caused by the web camera jamming. This meant that we could hear Sacha singing but the visual part was frozen. I had to keep talking whilst the problem was fixed by our technical man Ray. It was funny because people were asking me to sing whilst we waited! Anyway once this problem was sorted the service went off fine without a hitch.

I noticed during the service that amongst the many people watching was the Poetess Zenilda Lua who lives at São José dos Campos in the State of São Paulo which is over 1,600 miles away from Patos. She is a lovely Christian lady with whom I have a partnership. I provide a nature photograph from Green Pastures and Zenilda writes a poem to go with it and our work is published from time to time in a Brazilian Christian magazine. So towards the end of the service last night I invited Zenilda to write and say a poem on Easter Sunday which she has agreed to do. This will be a nice change and I am sure it will be a real blessing to hear Zenilda’s resurrection poem.

We have had some rain over the weekend at Green Pastures. On Saturday night it rained 30 mm and on Sunday night it rained 14 mm so this takes us up to 294 mm this year. This means we have about 700 mm to go! Please keep praying.

This morning we have helped another extremely poor family who were going hungry at Passagem, which is a village about 20 miles from Patos where we have a little church. The situation was so desperate that we gave them 2 food hampers plus a whole lot of fresh fruit and vegetables.    

 This week we built another toilet/shower unit at the Barra de Oitis Village in Diamante County. This time it was built in the back garden of Katiana Lucas Ferreira’s house where she lives with her husband and two sons. The nice thing was the fact that her husband has just got back from the interior of the State of São Paulo where he had had to go to find work picking oranges. He got back to the nice surprise of a toilet/shower unit being built at his house. It is quite a revolution because it’s the first time this family has had a toilet or shower in their lives.

Please pray for EAB/ACEV pastor Umbirajara who is the senior pastor at our first João Pessoa church. His illness with Covid is worse with his blood oxygen level down to 90. He is coughing a lot and will have a CT scan of the chest tomorrow. 

I have spoken to Pastor Francinaldo at Manaíra this morning who told me that 85 year old Brother Silvino is home from hospital a lot better than he was. Thank you for praying.

I am all ready to lead our main service of the week tonight at 6.30 pm. As the clocks have been put forward in the UK it may lower our UK audience in the light of a 10.30 pm start! Sacha will be doing the praise and worship and our assistant pastor Rafael will preach. I will be preaching next week which will be Easter Sunday. 

 This week we built another toilet/shower unit at the Barra de Oitis Village in Diamante County. This time it was built in the back garden of Katiana Lucas Ferreira’s house where she lives with her husband and two sons. The nice thing was the fact that her husband has just got back from the interior of the State of São Paulo where he had had to go to find work picking oranges. He got back to the nice surprise of a toilet/shower unit being built at his house. It is quite a revolution because it’s the first time this family has had a toilet or shower in their lives.

Please pray for EAB/ACEV pastor Umbirajara who is the senior pastor at our first João Pessoa church. His illness with Covid is worse with his blood oxygen level down to 90. He is coughing a lot and will have a CT scan of the chest tomorrow. 

I have spoken to Pastor Francinaldo at Manaíra this morning who told me that 85 year old Brother Silvino is home from hospital a lot better than he was. Thank you for praying.

I am all ready to lead our main service of the week tonight at 6.30 pm. As the clocks have been put forward in the UK it may lower our UK audience in the light of a 10.30 pm start! Sacha will be doing the praise and worship and our assistant pastor Rafael will preach. I will be preaching next week which will be Easter Sunday. 

 Liz and I have just had an online meeting with the Patos Action School’s headteacher Gerlânia which lasted one and a quarter hours. It was an excellent meeting. As I said some months back Gerlânia had told us she felt it was time for her to move on to different work and we were sad because she is so good. What we agreed today was that we will try and put in place to help Gerlânia a deputy headteacher so as to ease the load. We have a suitable person from our church in mind called Iris and we will now approach her to see if she would like the job. In this way we hope that Gerlânia will stay with us, but if she doesn’t we will have someone properly trained to do the job. Please pray about this matter which is very important.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Green Pastures for a walk, and to check things over, but we ended up not walking as it started to rain and rained 14 mm taking our total this year to 250 mm. It has rained again today but I don’t know how much.

I laughed yesterday because the British press was making quite a lot of song and dance because a number of the very large bird called the Greater Rhea were circulating in Hertfordshire. These birds are native to Brazil so I agree that they shouldn’t be in England but they are harmless birds who run away from human beings. We had a pair of the Greater Rhea at Green Pastures for over a year until they moved on elsewhere.

Please pray for our Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa who today is on day 6 of Covid and he has a high temperature. 

 Liz and I have just had an online meeting with the Patos Action School’s headteacher Gerlânia which lasted one and a quarter hours. It was an excellent meeting. As I said some months back Gerlânia had told us she felt it was time for her to move on to different work and we were sad because she is so good. What we agreed today was that we will try and put in place to help Gerlânia a deputy headteacher so as to ease the load. We have a suitable person from our church in mind called Iris and we will now approach her to see if she would like the job. In this way we hope that Gerlânia will stay with us, but if she doesn’t we will have someone properly trained to do the job. Please pray about this matter which is very important.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Green Pastures for a walk, and to check things over, but we ended up not walking as it started to rain and rained 14 mm taking our total this year to 250 mm. It has rained again today but I don’t know how much.

I laughed yesterday because the British press was making quite a lot of song and dance because a number of the very large bird called the Greater Rhea were circulating in Hertfordshire. These birds are native to Brazil so I agree that they shouldn’t be in England but they are harmless birds who run away from human beings. We had a pair of the Greater Rhea at Green Pastures for over a year until they moved on elsewhere.

Please pray for our Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa who today is on day 6 of Covid and he has a high temperature. 

 Liz and I have just had an online meeting with the Patos Action School’s headteacher Gerlânia which lasted one and a quarter hours. It was an excellent meeting. As I said some months back Gerlânia had told us she felt it was time for her to move on to different work and we were sad because she is so good. What we agreed today was that we will try and put in place to help Gerlânia a deputy headteacher so as to ease the load. We have a suitable person from our church in mind called Iris and we will now approach her to see if she would like the job. In this way we hope that Gerlânia will stay with us, but if she doesn’t we will have someone properly trained to do the job. Please pray about this matter which is very important.

Yesterday afternoon we went to Green Pastures for a walk, and to check things over, but we ended up not walking as it started to rain and rained 14 mm taking our total this year to 250 mm. It has rained again today but I don’t know how much.

I laughed yesterday because the British press was making quite a lot of song and dance because a number of the very large bird called the Greater Rhea were circulating in Hertfordshire. These birds are native to Brazil so I agree that they shouldn’t be in England but they are harmless birds who run away from human beings. We had a pair of the Greater Rhea at Green Pastures for over a year until they moved on elsewhere.

Please pray for our Pastor Umbirajara in João Pessoa who today is on day 6 of Covid and he has a high temperature. 

 Our eldest daughter Deborah had her birthday yesterday so Liz cooked her lunch for her and her sons and we took it to them. Whereas we would have had a meal together in normal times we had to take it to her house yesterday duly masked!

It looked good for rain yesterday with lovely dark clouds, but sadly again it just promised rain which didn’t fall. I was talking to Valdemar this morning at Caroá and there they have had 425 mm of rain, whereas we have only had 236 mm at Green Pastures! Difficult times.

Dr. Izar Aximoff is a post-PhD biologist in Rio de Janeiro and he has contacted me proposing that he write a scientific article on the Green Pasture mammals which I have accepted. We have now started work together on this. It will be produced in both Portuguese and English so I’ll let you know when it’s available.

Last night’s Bible Study in the book of Philippians had just over 20 taking part including Philip from the UK. We use Google Meet for such meetings and all went very well.

 Our eldest daughter Deborah had her birthday yesterday so Liz cooked her lunch for her and her sons and we took it to them. Whereas we would have had a meal together in normal times we had to take it to her house yesterday duly masked!

It looked good for rain yesterday with lovely dark clouds, but sadly again it just promised rain which didn’t fall. I was talking to Valdemar this morning at Caroá and there they have had 425 mm of rain, whereas we have only had 236 mm at Green Pastures! Difficult times.

Dr. Izar Aximoff is a post-PhD biologist in Rio de Janeiro and he has contacted me proposing that he write a scientific article on the Green Pasture mammals which I have accepted. We have now started work together on this. It will be produced in both Portuguese and English so I’ll let you know when it’s available.

Last night’s Bible Study in the book of Philippians had just over 20 taking part including Philip from the UK. We use Google Meet for such meetings and all went very well.

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

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

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