Latvia, Kosovo, June 2008

LATVIA

As mentioned before, we're toiling hard to get the Latvian property ready to host our end of June Bible School, God willing. No fewer than 15 Latvian bre & sis and their children came to lend a hand last weekend. It was a great spirit. One sister rearranged her work schedule to be given the Monday off work, she was so into the work and didn't want to return home on the Sunday. Liga & Raimonds and the children worked very hard too. It was a truly happy time of working together in the Lord. Apart from Br Peter Stringer, none were craftsmen, mistakes were made, paint flew everywhere, but huge progress was made.

Photo: Ieva painting; Raimonds and Liga hanging wallpaper, and taking a break; little ones playing in the newly finished yard; sister Irma coming out of retirement to paint the walls Br Eric McKee plastered last year; 6 year old Santa helping Cindy sanding other walls;
              
              

It's hard to put in words the great spirit there was and is, with so many local bre & sis taking some ownership in the project through their commitment to it. We've calculated that over 30 brothers and sisters from 22 ecclesias in 8 countries [from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Canada and USA], aged from 21 to 80- as well as over 25 local Latvian bre & sis and their children- have worked on the home. It's a monument to true fellowship in Christ and is a great witness to the people in the area.

Carelinks are very tight for funds at the moment, with work going on all over the place. We really need to furnish the home... and we have the following needs. We've bought some stuff 2nd hand, but decent, usable second hand stuff; but by the time you transport it, is no cheaper than new self-assemble products:

20 Chairs @ 15 Lats each [= 17 GBP, 35 AU$ , 33 US$ each] 25 Matrasses @ 15 Lats each [= 17 GBP, 35 AU$ , 33 US$ each] 4 double Bunk beds @ 135 Lats each [= 150 GBP, 315 AU$ , 300 US$ each] One large boiler- at present the showers can't all be used at the same time, and with 40 + bre & sis in attendance, we really need it. We saw a suitable 200 Litre one for 252 Lats (= 285 GBP, 560 AU$, 550 US$)

Photo: The boiler we located
    

We also need some tables. At present we're improvising, balancing wood on old paint cans (although we've had some fine discussion of the Bible readings around those tables):
         

Brother Mark Leadbetter is a carpenter and he's due to come over soon from the UK, God willing- we could get him to knock together some simple tables, but he will have a lot of other things to be doing to the home itself. Tables cost around 50 Lats each and we'd need up to 10 of them.

Here's Cindy checking out the cheapest source of them, as well as divans [which can be used for sleeping too]. But they cost around 180 Lats for the cheapest, and decent 2nd hand ones [by the time you pay for transport to a distant village] aren't any cheaper at all:

KOSOVO

Thanks to the generosity of Carelinks readers, we've raised the 1000 Euros requested for the chicken ranch project. Funds have been sent to Kosovo, and building work is beginning. Brother John Brooks of the Worthing UK ecclesia will accompany Duncan on an inspection visit out there in July, God willing.

Please, continue your prayers for all the work that's ongoing, we continue to marvel at how all those who positively seek to be about the Father's business are being united worldwide at this time through these projects.

STATISTICS

As a matter of interest, we print below some statistics of the preaching work involved with the distribution of Bible Basics and other literature over recent years. Over the last five years, a few million have viewed our literature online, and around 62,000 people have requested Bible Basics to be sent to them.

Requests for literature from Carelinks Web sites, 2003-2008

  • Africa [additional to any African states listed specifically] About 16,000
  • Albania 102
  • USA + Canada 23099
  • Algeria 56
  • Gulf states 118
  • Argentina 136
  • Armenia 59
  • Australia 1457
  • Austria 29
  • Azerbaijan 16
  • Bangladesh, Pakistan + India- over 1700 [dealt with by Br Tim Galbraith]
  • Belarus 226
  • Belgium 78
  • Bhutan 2
  • Bolivia 3
  • Bosnia 155
  • Brazil 2272
  • Brunei 6
  • Bulgaria 71
  • Burma / Myanmar 24
  • Cambodia 4
  • Chile 217
  • China 613
  • Costa Rica 8
  • Croatia 520
  • Cyprus 7
  • Czech 57
  • Denmark 106
  • Dominica 3
  • East Timor 1
  • Ecuador 3
  • Egypt 118
  • Eritrea + Ethiopia over 1000
  • Estonia 71
  • Finland 44
  • France 109
  • Georgia 23
  • Germany 269
  • Greece 27
  • Greenland 2
  • Haiti 25
  • Hungary 292
  • Iceland 50
  • Indonesia 659
  • Iran 252
  • Iraq 5
  • Israel 152
  • Italy 205
  • Japan 43
  • Jordan 25
  • Kazakhstan 93
  • Korea 18
  • Kosovo 118
  • Kyrgyzstan 53
  • Latvia 125
  • Lebanon 19
  • Libya 6
  • Lithuania 1748
  • Luxembourg 5
  • Macedonia 143
  • Madagascar 24
  • Malaysia 190
  • Malta 18
  • Mexico 91
  • Moldova 75
  • Morocco 105
  • Mongolia 11
  • Nepal 59
  • Netherlands 171
  • New Zealand 229
  • Norway 62
  • Pacific Islands 62
  • Paraguay 1
  • Peru 39
  • Philippines 362
  • Poland 445
  • Portugal 88
  • Puerto Rico 29
  • Romania 122
  • Russia 1921
  • Serbia 768
  • Seychelles 11
  • Singapore 63
  • Slovakia 28
  • Slovenia 20
  • South Africa 330
  • spain 48
  • Sri Lanka 49
  • Suriname 1
  • Sweden 96
  • Switzerland 97
  • Syria 6
  • Thailand 106
  • Tunisia 4
  • Turkey 192
  • Turkmenistan 9
  • UK 1968
  • Ukraine 598
  • Uruguay 9
  • Uzbekistan 81
  • Venezuela 8
  • Vietnam 62
  • West Indies islands 118
  • 45,679 excluding Africa 16,000

Thus in total around 62,000 people in total have given us their name and address to send literature to.

With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks