Categoria: News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The hospitals here are working at …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The hospitals here are working at …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Liz and I visited our Action School in Patos on Monday afternoon where a team was distributing Christmas presents to the children. We called by to encourage the team for all their dedicated work throughout a difficult year.

Please pray for this school as the headteacher Gerlânia has decided to move on to different work after 17 excellent years in our Pastor Frank Dyer School. She will not be easily replaced so please pray for God to guide us in this. We are having a lot of discussions about this with different leaders.

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

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

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

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 Liz and I visited our Action School in Patos on Monday afternoon where a team was distributing Christmas presents to the children. We called by to encourage the team for all their dedicated work throughout a difficult year.

Please pray for this school as the headteacher Gerlânia has decided to move on to different work after 17 excellent years in our Pastor Frank Dyer School. She will not be easily replaced so please pray for God to guide us in this. We are having a lot of discussions about this with different leaders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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