August 2022 Iran, Cameroon, Latvia, UK, Ukraine
CAMEROON
Brother Craig and Sister Miriam Clark continue working so hard running our French speaking WhatsApp group and many other things catering for the needs of the huge number of people in Francophone Africa who have responded to the true Gospel through the French app. They are making the following appeal for brother Wilfred in Cameroon:
"We would like to appeal for funds for Bro Wilfried in Cameroon, who has been enthusiastically preaching the Gospel on a daily basis since his baptism in June 2021; you may have read some of the reports of his preaching activities and baptisms in the newsletter.
Bro Wilfried's mother died young and he was raised by his beloved grandmother, Maman Jeanne. Sadly Maman Jeanne died of cancer earlier this year. Just recently his aunts and uncles decided to sell the family home, leaving our brother homeless. Because he is such an active preacher he is having to cope with a lot of mocking from unbelievers or Muslims, not least from his own aunts and uncles, who ask why his God isn't helping him. But his faith remains strong despite his situation. We would be very grateful for donations towards his food or credits for his phone so he can keep in touch with us and continue to communicate with those he is teaching."
We're looking to raise up to 500 pounds and you can donate to Carelinks in the UK for this. Here are some photos of our brother preaching, and having just baptized brother Zebedee:
IRAN
ZOLFA and YASHAR were baptized this week online.
LATVIA
We have spent the past week meeting up with brothers and sisters here. The decades of work in this poor and forgotten corner of Europe have been so blessed by the Lord. Hundreds of baptisms, many now asleep in the Lord, and we found those who are alive and remain to be truly strong in the Lord. The cost of living crisis has hit Latvia harder than almost anywhere in Europe. Many shops closed, and hardly any cheap cafes still in business. So it wasn't easy to find a place where we could invite our brothers and sisters for a wholesome meal and a breaking of bread. We did find a place, out of town, and wondered how many would make it. We were delighted to have 30 turn up. We ate together and broke bread together, with so much joy and many years. The wonderful feelings we all had to each other are only and solely possible as a result of the true fellowship and bond between persons which arises from being in Christ. We provided a lot of help to various ones throughout Latvia as well as in Riga, clothing, food, and paying energy bills left over from the Winter, without which they would be evicted or lose their property and have to live in the dreaded night shelters.
Brother Vladimir is now totally blind and in his 80s but he somehow managed to locate us and get to the meeting. He served so faithfully with us at the hall for so many years. And we pay tribute to all that work and its huge spiritual result:
Here you can see him with sister Nina, who again managed to find us despite failing health. In Soviet times, she used to type out the Gospel of John on a typewriter, using onion skin as carbon paper, to make more copies. This was a great generation, of true believers... which in this age of ease and post modernism will likely not be equalled. It has been an honour to serve them to the end:
So many have fallen asleep in the Lord. Brother Yuri, who had one of the most amazing lives imaginable... one time Soviet agent detailed to murder Ian Smith, president of Rhodesia, imprisoned in South Africa, where he for the first time held a New Testament in his hand, and vowed to find and commit to the Lord if ever he returned to Riga. Which he did. Here's Cindy with his widow sister Rita, one of our converts from the Riga Synagogue, who came to the Lord in spirit and truth and met Yuri at our meetings when we were meeting in the basement at Kalnciema:
And "old Tatyana", our beloved sister Vija... so many... here's Cindy comforting her daughter sister Yvette... we read the beatitudes, and looked at each other and said "That was your mum...". It was. What a wonderful day is coming, when from the sandy soils of the Bay of Riga and the Baltic Coast there will arise so many, to life eternal:
And then there was sister Zhanna mourning the death of her young child, and so many others.
Our joy was made even fuller with the baptism of INNA, who used to attend our meetings but never got baptized. Now frail and leaning heavily on a cane, we were able to take her to the beach near Riga and baptize her in the presence of several of our brothers and sisters:
The breaking of bread was wonderful, with sister Sandra pouring out the juice for the memorial meeting just like it was old times:
So we look forward if the Lord tarries to holding more such occasional meetings and ask for your prayers for those who are doing life so hard there- especially the Russian population, who are subject to a lot of Russophobic racism as a result of the war in Ukraine.
UK
Another record attendance at Croydon Church in a Pub last Sunday. Thanks to all who came. The sermon was much shorter because we spent so long discussing the problem of suffering, why God is allowing children to perish in Ukraine, why infant sprinkling isn't OK as baptism... and many other questions. You can see the sermon at
https://youtu.be/1bFhYTgQmVs
We also had our first long distance visiting speaker, brother Andrew Dunning from Newport ecclesia in Wales, who drove up specially to visit us and give us a few words and who gave good answers to some of the questions. You can hear brother Andrew's impressions and see him, Bible on the bar, giving good Biblical answers to questions and teaching about how the Lord died as our representative and not as God Himself, see
https://youtu.be/GbDcc1KGDgE
UKRAINE
So sorry to hear from brother Yuri that his apartment block came under direct fire, he took some photos as the shelling crept closer to his flat- but then, his flat was hit by shrapnel. The windows were smashed and he has now boarded them up. Need to help him get them fixed before Winter comes. Do pray for him and his family.
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For wisdom in trying to help our brethren in Ukraine especially in Russian occupied areas
- For brother Wilfred and others persecuted like him
- Gratitude that the decades of work in Latvia have been so blessed and so many are remaining faithful in the Lord unto death
- For all those Russian brothers and sisters suffering from Russophobic racism
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks