Russia, Georgia, Wedding in Turkey, August 2008
First we're pleased to report the baptism of ADENIYI, our first brother in the far northern city of Arhangelsk. Truly a people is being prepared throughout the entire planet, from every corner of it, to be ready to rise and meet the Lord when He returns. If you have time and inclination, have a look at where Arhangelsk is situated- it's at the very top of Russia, facing the North Pole.
Further South in Tatarstan (about 1000 km East of Moscow) we visited with our dear brother Alexei Hodusov, who since his baptism in 1993 has faithfully witnessed and brought many to the real Christ. He runs two groups of brethren and sisters in this area, meeting regularly twice / week for Bible readings according to the Bible Companion plan, and for breaking bread. We're delighted to report the baptism and receiving into fellowship of SASHA, LARISA and DIMA.
You can see a video of Sasha's baptism service and of the breaking of bread service here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQW8Y7Ccs . Hopefully you'll be able to feel something of the atmosphere.
Those who are online elsewhere in the Russian-speaking world will be able to download this and thus feel fellowship with their other Russian-speaking brethren. We've also produced some videos of the breaking of bread and baptism services, in Russian only with no subtitles. For the record, these are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waxqhg7Dc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABnri-6_4 .
There are Russian-speaking ecclesias and individual bre & sis in many parts of the world- not only throughout Eastern Europe, but also in many other areas e.g. Germany, Israel, England, Ireland, Canada, Turkey, Australia and the USA.
Sister Nina is in especial need- she is pregnant by her alcoholic and abusive husband, and they have now been thrown out of where they were living. She is temporarily taking shelter with another brother and sister, but she really needs our prayers. She's extremely nervous and broken down but is faithfully holding on to her faith and attending all the meetings.
She is on the far right in this photo: 
In the video of the breaking of bread service, you will see the local brothers and sisters comforting her and having a prayer for her. Please join them in this. There's a lovely spirit in these dear brothers and sisters. Everyone reads 5 round 5 verse each when doing the Bible readings, dear Valya has to go and stand in the light on the balcony as her eyesight is so bad: 
It takes quite a time for them all to stumble through, some read well but most don't. Then Br Aleksei draws simple basic lessons from the chapter, people ask questions and discuss. The singing is enthusiastic, unaccompanied, way off key, but so deeply sincere.
You can see it all on the videos. 
Constantly we remind bre & sis in Russia that they aren't alone, that there are others believing as they do worldwide; and we're trying to use technology to break down the huge gap in language and distance so that you can somehow get to feel for them more. We made a video clip of the Kazan ecclesia relaying their greetings to the world-wide brotherhood. We added to it a similar message from the brothers and sisters in Rostov Oblast, in southern Russia. You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9VA7a1I
We visited another group which was somewhat better off than the first one; here's sis. Larissa and a few other bre & sis singing the Russian version of "What a friend we have in Jesus". Larissa is an outstanding pianist, as you can see for yourselves in the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GragRKjQ . It's only a minute or so- we encourage you to view it!
The little ecclesia in Rostov Obl. are comprised of Andrej & Tanya, Andrej's mother Galina, and Sergej, who responded to advertising only to find out that he already knew Andrej from years ago. He was baptized 3 years ago, and does the Bible readings daily with his daughter and wife, whom he hopes will soon respond. They are really so faithful, and it was a wonderful experience to do the Bible readings and break bread with them. You can see them in the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q9VA7a1I
We also met up with ROBERT, who had studied Bible Basics with us and also some of the CBM course with sister Kathryn Pearce, and again it was a pleasure to baptize him into the Lord Jesus and receive him into fellowship through the breaking of bread.
GEORGIA
Whilst in Rostov, hostilities broke out between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia, which isn't that far from Rostov the airport was full of troops moving forward. We have no brethren in South Ossetia, although there are in Abkhazia, Adzharia and Georgia itself. Our prayers need to be with them at this uncertain time. There are 11 bre & sis in an ecclesia in the Marneuli area, which although a small place has a military airfield there. The town and airfield have been bombed and there have been civilian casualties according to reports, but we've been unable to make any contact with the brethren and sisters. We are especially concerned for brother Guram in Abkhazia, which is now almost fully occupied by the Russian military now. There has been no postal delivery in his area for two years, but he gives his mail to a Russian soldier who posts his letters to us from Russia when he returns on leave, and also gives Guram our mail which we send to him. Guram has been a faithful correspondent since his baptism but has no phone and so we are unable to easily contact him. Naturally all the bre & sis in Georgia are affected by what has happened, not least economically. Please pray for them all.
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks