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Perhaps the highlight for many was the talk by
Bro Chris Sparkes explaining how doctrine by
doctrine, he arrived at the same doctrinal
positions which we hold. It’s how it should be
- that truth is arrived at by different paths.
The talk is lengthy but really a wonderful wit-
ness to the power of God’s word to explain
itself to a thoughtful seeker after truth.
Chris’s talk is at:
Amongst the other talks was one by Bro Nor-
man Stock about the work of the Riga Bible
Center and feeding program which he recently
visited. Norman’s talk is at:
In our group prayers we prayed for the work
in Riga - and those prayers were answered in
a wonderful way over the next few days
(please see the Latvia report).
Carelinks | United Kingdom ... continued
Bro Norman Stock
Bro Chris Sparkes
Carelinks | Ukraine
T
he Winter Bible School was held in January
and we were pleased to record a very good
attendance of over 60 brothers and sisters,
including some from Russia, Belarus and
Moldova. These schools work out expensive
but are the only way many of these dear
brothers and sisters get any fellowship with
each other. But Ukraine is rapidly becoming a
basket case economically. The heating was
very low in the accommodation we stayed in,
with many wearing fur coats both in bed and
at the talks; and no hot water for most of the
school. With temperatures down to -16 this
made things most uncomfortable. The war
continues in the east, with transport between
the east and the rest of Ukraine very difficult.
Sister Tamara (in her 70s) made a special
effort to come, having to travel nearly two
days through Russia to avoid the border area.
She was made to stand for five hours in the
freezing cold waiting to be fingerprinted by
the Russian side. She eventually arrived, and
had a cardiac arrest; she struggled on but then
had another one, whilst being far from her
home in Lugansk region (in the Russian occu-
pied zone). She told us of the awful situation
there, with the economy in the hands of the
Russian mafia, a mass exodus of professionals
to Russia or the west, hospitals with no doc-
tors, young people leaving in droves, many
homes just abandoned. Pensions remain very
low in Ukraine, although prices have shot up
with the collapse of the currency, and health
care now has to be paid for even if you paid
your health contributions for decades. We
were able to give help for operations and
medical issues to several and there is under-
standably an increasing number turning to
alternative and herbal medicines and therapy.
It’s very difficult for ordinary people to cross
the border from Russia to Ukraine and back,
as both sides suspect anyone doing so of being
a spy, as there are constant rumours of a full
blown Russian invasion of the rest of Ukraine.
Sister Iya and her child and her aunty set off
from Russia to Ukraine but her aunty was
turned back at the border, and our sister