This was one of a large number of snakes that I saw yesterday morning on my bi-weekly walk. Yesterday I walked farther than normal - about 8 miles.

This particular snake was about two metres long and stretched out on the dead branch of a tree. That is its head upper left. The snake got fatter as it went down and its lower end was coiled round the branch.

At another place I found a whole load of snakes in "reproductive activities" in the hollow of a tree. The snakes kept coming in and out of the tree. This is the breeding season for the snakes so we see more about than normal and we need to be extra careful.

Today is St. John's Day and I thank you all for the cards you thought of sending but didn't get round to!  Actually the current St. John's Festival here is much quieter than previous years for which we are grateful.

I have been informed by the State Government of Paraíba that I have been given the State's Green Award "given to institutions or individuals who make outstanding contributions to the environment". I must say it was a total surprise and whilst happy to receive it am blowed if I can figure out why I deserve it. I suppose the 15 years of Moringa Tree Project has been important as our more recent work with the Neem tree plus our work over the last 30 years in defense of the environment at Green Pastures and the community education work linked to this. So praise the Lord anyway and all glory goes to Him who gave us the responsibility to take care of His earth anyway.

We passed the 49,000 visits mark to this blog yesterday. Another thousand and we'll reach a big mark. Many thanks to one and all.

Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 03h59 PM
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ARCHITECT + ENGINEER

Liz and I have had an extensive meeting with our architect and civil engineer this afternoon. We first of all widely discussed the plans which are at present in our heads for the development of the Integral Mission Centre in Patos on land donated for this end by the Town Council. The architect now has the task of drawing up the initial draft plan proposals for our leadership's approval or alteration. We then went on to discuss the Patos church extension, Care Centre extension and office project which is on-going by faith and without money. The engineer is doing it and trusting us to pay him one day! The meeting will continue tomorrow.

Before we held the meeting this afternoon we visited the land donated by the Council so that the architect and engineer new what we were talking about. We have recently had the land cleared of loads of thorny bushes which have sprouted up with the rains so that we could see the land properly and walk round it without so much difficulty. Please pray for us as we take many decisions of great responsibility over the coming days and weeks. Please also pray for the Lord to provide the funding for these projects so important to the expansion of the work.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 07h18 PM
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2nd EAB CAMPINA GRANDE CHURCH GOING VERY WELL

I made a good trip yesterday to preach at the 2nd EAB/ACEV Church in Campina Grande and got back at 11pm. Patos new convert Ismael went with me and we were able to have excellent conversations on the more than two hour journeys each way.

The church, under the leadership of Pastor Hamilton, is really floushing. There are 239 people in the church and I just don't know how they manage it as they meet in a temporary place of worship which is a house where they have covered the front garden with a temporary roof and still the congregation spills out on to the pavement and street! Quite amazing. They have bought land to build a church nearby and have only just received planning permission to start building.

I felt the church is nicely balanced with a real good spiritual atmosphere and unity. The P&W group is very good too. The church is miles from our central church in Campina Grande, being right on the southern outskirts of the city.

Today Liz and I have a meeting lined up with an arquitect and engineer about the project to be developed on the land donated by the Patos Town Council. We also continue to work on helping people badly affected by the floods as we now have received funding for this from the UK and so are discreetly and carefully using these funds where really needed.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 09h53 AM
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MURDER ON SECOND NIGHT OF FESTIVAL

The 2nd night of the St. John's Festival was again marred by death - this time by murder within the dance area. A man pulled a gun and shot dead one and injured another!

Sunday School numbers were way down this morning but all went well. I took Pastor Schoeps's class as he was away in Natal on his degree course. He will be back this afternoon and preach in Patos tonight as I am off to preach at Campina Grande. Your prayers are valued.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 12h03 PM
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2 KILLED ON FIRST NIGHT OF FESTIVAL

The St. John's Annual Festival in Patos started with an extremely loud firework display which went on and on and on... having started at 11.30pm. Then the State Governor spoke alongside the Mayor to officially open the proceedings but the Governor was roundly booed by the crowd for some reason beyond me. I am not saying he is a saint but he has only been in power four months having replaced his predecessor who bought his way to power and was removed from office for this reason. Anyway the dancing got going and ended at 7am this morning.

The drinking and driving toll for the first night of the Festival is two dead and four seriously injured! The TV tells us the Federal Traffic Police are to bring in reinforcements with extra breathalizers. This year's Festival has got off to an awful start.

I have completed and dispatched the ACEV weekly Brazilian Update today and also completed the preparation of my sermon for tomorrow night in Campina Grande. Please remember me in prayer on the dangerous roads with so much drinking going on. I am now going to prepare the lesson for tomorrow morning's Sunday School class in Patos.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 05h11 PM
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BRAZIL'S JURASSIC PARK

Friday morning was my second relax and walk morning of the week. The doctor says I should do it three times a week but two is not bad! Along the way I came across two of these gigantic Chameleons in different places high up in trees. One whack of the tail would knock anyone for six. It was like a trip back to pre-historic times!

In the afternoon back in Patos I did some more work on one of the Patos Bible College student's dissertations. I think he is grasping where I am trying to help him to get to!

I also have been preparing to preach at the EAB/ACEV second Campina Grande church tomorrow.

On top of this I continue to wade through the documentation needed to register at State level, our NGO, "ACEV Social", which is now the projects wing of ACEV. Being such a large country there are always three processes to go through - local then state then nationwide (federal). ACEV Social was recognised as a local charity + registered with the Social Action and Child and Adolescent Councils. We then had to wait two years before being able to start the whole process off at State level. Thus ACEV Social has now been recognised as a State charity but we need to register the organization with the other Councils at State level before moving to the national Capital and Federal registration. It is a massive amount of work but we believe it will eventually be worth it as we are nationally recognized and permit us to be partners in State and Federal Government projects and not just local ones. Please pray that the Lord will give us patience and wisdom with all this.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 09h50 AM
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THE GUITARIST

Liz and I went to Deborah's house this evening and I was amazed how quickly Felipe, our 11 year old eldest grandson, is learning to play the guitar. He really is doing well and is coping with quite complex chords and solos. Wow!

Good news from the Soledade church is that somebody got converted there at a wedding! Surely that must be some sort of world record!

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 08h57 PM
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NUTSHELLS & DISSERTATIONS

We are bracing ourselves for the annual "St. John's Festival" in Patos which brings tens of thousands of people to Patos for all night parties nine days on the trot! It starts tomorrow night and only ends a week on Saturday night! The noise is always unbearable.

I have produced and sent out the EAB bi-monthly Nutshell Update and have been working today on one of two student's dissertation I am tutor for at the Patos Bible College. I have waded through what he has written about "Music in the History of the Church" and Robério (Baptist Church) has a lot of improving to do and a long way to go. The other student I am tutoring has even farther to go. He is Alex who is the leader of the EAB/ACEV church up the mountain at Teixeira.

I have been doing a variety of types of work linked to EAB's ActionChild Project and have produced the bulk of this week's ACEV Brazilian Update. I am just waiting now to see if anymore news comes in before sending out tomorrow night or Saturday. I in fact already have enough material to go.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 06h43 PM
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THE SINGING NUN

Tuesday morning was long walk morning at Green Pastures where I got this nice shot of a White-headed Marsh-Tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) which locally is known as the little Nun! Anyone who can remember Nuns in the old days can see why. My Nun was singing so it made it even better.

I went through a lot of very dense undergrowth and bushland yesterday and managed to lose my reading glasses in the process. I always carried them in my top pocket (rather stupidly) and at some point bending very low to get under thorny bushes they obviously slipped out and despite intensive search parties they are gone. Perhaps the Nun is now wearing my glasses!

Yesterday I had a superb meeting with our Social Worker, Marah Danielle, who leads our new HIV/AIDS project. We evaluated the first nearly 6 months of the project and are thrilled that a partnership has been agreed with the Patos Town Council for ACEV Social to work hand in hand with the Public Health department. The Council is very pleased as nobody else works in this field in Patos or anywhere in the interior. The Care Centre's dentist is also going to attend people who are HIV positive which alone says an awful lot. Obviously all necessary precautions will be taken. The HIV/AIDS project also now has a psychologist on the team which is so important.

I have also been working on EAB's Patos School building re-structure project which is nearing completion and on some things needed fixing and doing at the Patos Bible College in the mid-year holidays.

Please pray for Sacha who is far from well.

 Escrito por John Philip Medcraft às 09h13 AM
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