November 2020 Latvia, Ghana, App appeal, South Africa
We strongly recommend you download the "
Bible Companion" app, from where you can access
Carelinks messages, daily Bible readings,
Bible Basics, commentary on every verse of the Bible and audio exhortations on every chapter of the Bible.
For Android / Google Play at
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carelinks.bc and on the App Store for Apple / iOS at
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bible-companion/id1475914490 You can break bread live online as follows:
Sunday mornings GMT on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/69292278377
Sundays at 3:00 PM New Zealand time. That's 1 PM in Sydney Australia; 10 PM in New York, USA on Saturday evening [run by Br John Aldersley in New Zealand]
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87515766908 Meeting ID: 875 1576 6908
Sundays at 10am North American Eastern Time [3 PM UK GMT time, 11 PM Sydney Australia time]. Run by Br Jim Barton in Canada.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9123758179 Meeting ID: 912 375 8179
APP APPEAL A reminder of last week's major appeal for significant funds [13,000 Euro] to majorly upgrade the app, offer video talks and a breaking of bread exhortation for each day, and make it available in Farsi, Russian, Spanish and French on Apple [iOS].
We are now approaching 700,000 downloads in all languages. We really appreciate all who have contributed to this. Several have gone public with advertising it, so that their light is not at all now hidden under a bucket. Mark Lisa Hawkins in Perth, Australia have erected signs outside their home:
And brother Tim Anderson in Virginia, USA regularly puts up new advertising slogans on his vehicles and workplace, parking his car strategically to get more exposure, and inviting folks to not only download the app but text him their prayer requests. He has had some takers:
GHANA Pleased to tell you of the baptism online of PETER. He is a long term Christian but had come to see through the Trinity and other standard church doctrines. He found himself very isolated and thought he was the only person who thought as he did. Research online from his phone led him to download the app, and he was so delighted to find others who have come to the same conclusions. We spoke for quite some time and then our brother baptized himself in the darkness of the African night in a home in rural Ghana, the scene illuminated only by an oil lamp and the torch on his phone.
It is amazing how the Gospel has penetrated like this, enabled by the availability now of the internet and smartphone possession even in such remote areas. Again, we thank God for His blessing of the app and Google advertising. One by one, as we have observed before, a mighty army of the Lord's new people is arising, although they are scattered throughout the globe and not in one place.
This clearly is the Lord's doing, in His wisdom, "and it is marvellous in our eyes".
SOUTH AFRICA God willing this Sunday, a contact from the app is due to be baptized by Paul Leonie Verster in Johannesburg. He is the gentleman in the cream tie in these pictures, his name is TALENT. He's been attending the small meetings which are still possible there, held outside a brother's home.
Let's pray the baptism works out in the difficult conditions.
LATVIA We've been spending a lot of time getting food, clothing and bedding out to the most needy in
Riga. The night shelter system isn't functioning well with the Covid crisis, with quarantine and lockdown making such a problem for so many. Not to mention that many of the Russians who are without citizenship must pay over 50 Euro to get a Covid test. So Covid is rampant well beyond any published statistics. Brother Robert, baptized as a result of Google advertising of the Bible Companion app, continues to be a huge help in scouting out where our brethren and contacts are living- in derelict sheds and empty buildings all over town. Many of them are advancing in years and have health issues. Taking the food out to those who need it takes a lot more time and resources, but has the advantage that we can do Bible study and pray with people individually.
Along with Robert, we've been going through
Bible Basics with a few who live in an abandoned garden shed, with no water nor electricity, and only burning the firewood we bring them for heat. So by candlelight, and the light of cellphone torches, IEVA has been reading
Bible Basics. And it was a great day when along with those she lives with in the shed, we were able to get back into the hall and baptize her in the bath tub. And they were all able to have a decent wash there as well.
You can see the video of the baptism at
https://youtu.be/nXHG23z8aB0 
This was a time of especial joy for brother Robert, to see the fruit of his labours:
We've also been street preaching, as we take food and clothing to those who literally have nowhere to go in the day time because the remaining night shelters only provide night time accommodation. You can see the video of this at
https://youtu.be/desrQVzftUQ 
These people sit there in the cold, let down by society, often with crutches and walking sticks, and depression. To relate to people, you have to get down to their level. There's a lovely clip of Robert literally getting down to the level of a grumpy looking elderly man, and shaking hands with him. And it puts a big smile on the man's face.
You can see the clip at
https://youtu.be/EuJ_oAje7-E You can see the progression in these stills from the video:
https://youtu.be/desrQVzftUQ 
Bro Robert is appealing on various Latvian social networks for second hand clothing for us to distribute, and getting several kind offers of good clothing. But a woman in rural poverty about 1 hour drive from Riga saw his appeal... and asked if she could have some of that clothing. She is about to give birth to her fourth child and lives in quite pathetic rural poverty, in a village where there is very little work. She takes water from a well and lives in a couple of damp rooms in a broken down house. So, we drove the clothes out to her. Along with a Bible etc., as she has been responding to Robert preaching to her. You can see her holding the Bible in her hand when we met and discussed the Gospel with her and gave her the clothes.
Video at
https://youtu.be/nEJPN9iJdhg 
PRAYER POINTS: - For those recently baptized
- For wisdom in how to help those cold and needy given the lockdown situation
- For the safety of those being baptized in Iran
- For protection from Covid and other issues as we minister to the homeless and very poor
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks