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In July we had a great weekend with members of the Waterside ecclesia in Bournemouth UK giving out New Testaments at the beach, during an absolute heatwave.

We had lots of good conversations over two days, with some people asking about meetings. We got some good contacts whom we hope will attend their meetings - their hall is right on the sea front so that is a great attraction. If you live anywhere where there are masses of people... do wear the ‘Free Bibles’ vests and engage with people, they’ll just come up to you and ask you once they see the vests. We left some vests with the ecclesia and will get more New Testaments to them as they want to repeat this. It’s a great way to actually engage with people.

The response for calendars from the UK prisons has been incredible. At least 10 of those 50 contacted replied wanting significant numbers. The chaplain of Gloucester Prison phoned up wanting lots of them. He explained that he works in a short sentence prison, which releases about 200-250 prisoners per month. He gives each released prisoner a package when they leave and he would like to put our calendar in the package. The calendar includes a quite lengthy statement of our beliefs and also offers the NEV Bible. Other chaplains do the same thing and have asked for significant numbers likewise. Several hundred calendars have been mailed out to the chaplains. Calendars have also been sent to prisons in New Zealand and Australia. We seem to have hit a hole in the market here; and prisoners leaving prison having ended their sentence would seem a really good group to target, in our aim to take Jesus Christ to secular, searching people in society. This is a really exciting situation and possibility which we seem to have ‘stumbled upon’, naturally under Divine guidance and the desire of the Lord Jesus to work with those who seek to serve Him. So please do pray for a harvest.

Sample letters:
“Thank you for your recent letter and ‘sample’ calendar. HMP [] is an open prison and so many men are pleased to pick up a calendar that is particularly colourful - but with a message! I can easily foresee at least 50-70 being taken, so if that is possible please send them to the address below. Thank you for your support”

“Thank you for the calendars, they were ‘snapped up’! I can easily see another 100/150 being used, if you still have some to spare. We are an open prison, so men are in and out of the Chapel all the time, and it certainly gets the message into their rooms! Thank you for this service.”

Those who have taken to the streets with NEV Bibles and calendars to hand out report the following:

Sis Martha DeLorenzo (Springfield, Vermont, USA):
“Our New Testament and calendar distribution went very well (pictured above), in spite of below freezing temperatures. Many folks in Springfield were gathered together for a tree lighting and caroling ceremony, so we figured it was a good time to do this. Thanks for this opportunity to reach others with God’s truth. The 100 calendars you sent have almost all found homes, and the few remaining will be gone soon.”


Sam Abel and Bro Andy Downton

Bro Charles Abel (UK) and others have also been out on the streets with good response.

Charles writes: “Oh, we of little faith! Headed to Crawley today to hand out free Bibles and Creation Calendars with Julie, Sam, Andrew Downton, Margaret Quaife and Dawn Skinner - fearful the rain would dampen our efforts. How wrong we were! God, in His wisdom, ensured nearly every shopper walked right by us along the one covered walkway beside Queen’s Square. Amazing how many people were interested and willing to take a copy we ran out of Bibles and Calendars in under an hour! Bit too wet for lots of pics though. Same again next Saturday, in Worthing, God willing...”

In Worthing the following week …: “We gave out 250 calendars, all with literature flyers inside, and a number of complete Bibles, and had a number of short conversations with people and some street praying too. It was a really joyous afternoon, so uplifting, and all completed in little over an hour, which just shows what is possible. We’re planning to do more in Horsham and maybe Horley next weekend.”


Daniel giving out NTs in Croydon


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