Portugal, Belgium, Latvia, China, September 2008

PORTUGAL

Carelinks work here started over 10 years ago with a Bible Basics contact, Sandro, who along with his now wife was baptized some time ago. More recently we had contact with a group of Russians in Lisbon, many of whom have now returned to Russia and Ukraine; but earlier this year we came into contact with a delightful young man, EVERTON, originally from Brazil (right on the border of the Amazon jungle) who has for many years been trying to research Bible truth, having been through Catholics, JWs and Pentecostals. He's currently studying in Portugal. When we say it was a pleasure to meet and baptize him, truly it was. Here is someone who doctrine by doctrine had worked things through and come to the strong conclusion that he needed to be baptized. So it was truly with great pleasure and thanks to God that we baptized him in the Atlantic near a quaint small town in Western Portugal.

Surely the Angels were watching this sequence of photographs and joined together in Heavenly joy:
                         

We look forward to assisting Brother Everton's witness to his fellow students and contacts both in Brazil and Portugal. We have a few thousand Portugueses speaking Bible Basics contacts in Brazil; and Carelinks are grateful to Br Caetano Coelho and Sis Leonie Verster in South Africa for doing a huge amount of work mailing out literature to them.

Everywhere in Portugal, Catholic power is evident. There are huge crosses, which dwarf the houses beneath them:
    

We passed a shrine to Mary, with the inscription "To our virgin Mary, immaculate conceiver, free of original sin"- and it was wonderful to hear how Everton has been delivered from believing this nonsense, and has a good grasp of why the Catholic view of original sin is so wrong:
    

BELGIUM
We were happy to spend time with a very interested lady currently living in Belgium, and hope to be able to soon report her baptism.

God is blessing us with interest all over the place! Indeed whilst on this trip, news came through that one of our contacts in Pennsylvania, USA is to be baptized, God willing, at an ecclesia there this coming Sunday.

LATVIA
Carelinks have been blessed with a young Canadian sister coming forward to help forward our work here for 3 months beginning at the end of October, when we're also looking forward to a shorter visit by brethren from Bracknell, Maidenhead and Reading ecclesias in the UK to continue construction work on the Bible Centre we're slowly finishing off. Anyone interested in helping our sister run seminars about 'Improve your English through reading your Bible' is really welcome to make contact. Accomodation for three months can probably be provided; do contact us if you're interested in coming over and assisting her.

CHINA
Often we report baptisms and make mention of difficult circumstances and family pressures, but aren't able to keep you updated. It's rather like in our Bible reading, we read e.g. about Naaman's Hebrew maid and her faith, but we never hear any more about her... well sister Yanghui in China is typical of so many young people who get baptized and break with their family expectations and culture, resulting in great stress and difficulties which just go on and on. Here's a recent email from her:
"I'm so glad to receive your letter ,it's really a surprise to me ! I'm so sorry that i have problems because of my family. They,including father ,mother,brother,sister ,are very,very against me to be aChristian .Especially my mother ,who said ,if i go on she would die.I have been heart-struck these days .I don't know what i can do .i really don't want to give up so precious life.However ,I can't hurt my family as well.Can you give me some suggestion?
Your sister,YangHui"

Please pray for our sister and the many others like her.

With love from your brothers and sisters at Carelinks