Iranian brother, Russia, Holland April 2009
The Lord continues to mightily call many people unto Himself in what seem to us to be the "last days", when the true Gospel of the Kingdom must go into all the world before the end comes. Some time ago, HENK in Holland contacted us through the websites and studied Bible Basics and other literature, leading him to reject the trinity and earnestly desire to be baptized into the real Christ. He got in touch with his local brethren, and so last weekend, Henk was baptized into the Lord Jesus at the Ede ecclesia, and we're grateful to them for their assistance in this matter.
Photo: Henk being baptized by brethren Martin and Mark with Brother Hans reading out the words 
That same weekend was the occasion of the Moscow Bible Weekend, and we had a great attendance of contacts and brothers and sisters. Renting accommodation is absurdly expensive in central Moscow, and so all 14 of us crammed into the tiny apartment of Brother Igor and spent an intense time together. We did studies on Jonah, and any interested can download them [they're in Russian] from the Russian website at http://www.hristadelfiane.org/jonahrus.mp3
The highlight of the weekend was the baptism in Igor's bathtub of VALYA and also a husband and wife, ALEXEI & LENA.
Alexei and Lena live in the north of Russia in an isolated hamlet. Moscow is still under snow, and up there where they are all lakes and rivers are still frozen, and they have no bath tub. So they made the journey to Moscow to meet us and be baptized.
They had never been in Moscow before. Here's a picture of them on the metro train... it was a huge experience for them, quite the missionary journey for them:
They gave an excellent confession of their faith, having come from atheism through Orthodoxy and JWs to the full picture of the Gospel.
As we wanted to make the most of our time together, we went out and bought McDonalds, ie. Big Mac and fries, from a nearby McDonalds. The visitors from the provinces had never heard of McDonalds and simply loved it:
That said, there were other meals to prepare that weekend, and we're grateful to sisters Lena Belyaeva and Tanya Boldetsova for all their work for us... it all got pretty claustrophobic, 14 people couped up in 40 square meters for a weekend!
Incidentally, it was good to see the large print Bibles some of you sent over in good use, and notes being made in the margins:
One of the attendees, GULNARA, attends the Kazan ecclesia with the Hodusov family, but felt not ready for baptism. However, after the weekend, she was so impressed by the warmth of fellowship that she asked brother Alexei to baptize her, which he did immediately and joyfully called us to inform us. This is the witness of true unity in fellowship!
BROTHER M
However, we've also received news from our Iranian brother M, who learnt the Truth through the internet and in Feburary 2008 came specially from Iran to Turkey to be baptized by Brother Scott Ketelsen of the Tacoma USA ecclesia and brother Duncan. He writes of his experiences:
"I was arrested about 6 month ago, because of the the problems I had encountered in Iran with faith.They gave me 1 month to change my religion from christianity to Islam . 10 days after my arrestment,I was also dismissed from my work.When I found the situation so hard, I came to Turkey and stayed in Istanbul for 3 months .I hoped that some of my problems would be solved. I returned to Iran after these 3 months , but I got arrested again after 16 days from my arrival. They tried to force me to say the name of the person who introduced christianity to me and also the one who baptized me.Again, they gave a 1 month to repent and convert to the true liligion of Islam. But I had chosen my way,so I did not accept that. Although it was against my will, I had to ignore all what I had in Iran and seek refuge in Turkey. I introduce myself to UNHCR and I get a time for an interview...I am in a difiicult situation ,I really request you, my brothers and sisters to pray for me. Thank you. your brother in our lord Jesus"
Please do pray for our brother. We are doing all we can to assist him with his appeal for refugee status but it will be a long wait.
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks