May 2020 Latvia, Iran, Burkina Faso, Fellowship App, Canada, China
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
IRAN
The Farsi language app continues to be downloaded by the thousand in Iran and Afghanistan, and by the many Iranians outside of Iran. Those who have self baptized are growing in the faith. Here's a text we recently had; and these fears are not at all paranoia but are very real:
And then there are the continual stream of messages from folks interested in learning about Christianity, but with nobody and nothing to guide them- apart now from the app and our correspondence. This is an amazing entry in to countries which otherwise would be totally closed to evangelism:
We're pleased to report this week the self-baptisms of HOSSEIN and MOSTAFA. Mostafa arranged use of the bathroom where he lives for very early morning, when he returned from night shift, whilst others were still sleeping. This meant setting the alarm early to be awake and present to baptize him online. He has carefully been through Bible Basics and the material on the app, and is very persuaded of the truth of the Lord Jesus. After the baptism, he texted his appreciation as follows:
BURKINA FASO
This is a country in the Sahara desert area of Africa. Largely Muslim and French speaking. ADAM had been searching for Bible truth for a long time, but didn't really find it in Burkina Faso- one of the world's poorest countries. But he downloaded the French app and studied from it, and soon saw the need for true baptism. It was a pleasure to run a baptism service in French, to the best of our ability, and witness his self baptism. The connection was awful and at times we had to resort to texting as the video and audio kept breaking up. You can get the spirit of it from these photos. The true Gospel is penetrating to all kinds of corners we would never have been able to reach otherwise. The Gospel of the Kingdom is going into all the world, and then shall the end come.
FELLOWSHIP APP
Last week we invited ideas for how best to make an app for the We are to some extent in the hands of our younger folks to tell us what sort of things they want to see in an app. Our teenager brother Caleb from Wales, UK has worked out, along with his family, some great ideas. Our "call for ideas" is still very much out there. We need as much input as you can give. You can see Caleb's ideas drawn out at
https://www.n-e-v.info/picts/caleb1.jpg
https://www.n-e-v.info/picts/caleb2.jpg
https://www.n-e-v.info/picts/caleb3.jpg
This is wonderful stuff to get us all thinking. What do you like about those suggestions? What don't you like? And what other suggestions do you have? Let us know!
The existing "Bible Companion" apps continue growing in popularity, with over 2,000 new downloads of them / day on some days this week.
CANADA
Brother Jim Barton reports:
"Since last October with the launch of the first "Bible Companion" app in English, the response here in Canada has been amazing and surely a rich blessing of our Lord. It was followed early this year with the launch of the app in Russian, French, Spanish and Farsi (Persian). The timing could hardly have been better as it positioned us well with these 5 language versions to be readily available for people as the Covid-19 virus caused so many to pause their worldly distractions, stay home and give thought to things eternal.
In mid-February we initiated Google ads across Canada for the English "Bible Companion" app and we followed it with ads for the other languages as they were released for downloading. It's so easy to feel the Divine hand played an active role in coordinating all this with the need to call so many. As the results continue to build, so far we have had almost 8,000 actual downloads by late May. This is just from Android, and as a result of Google advertising. There have been more on Apple and from people browsing the stores and downloading the apps.
"Bible Companion" app download results for Google Ads*: (Canada only)
Language Ad Launch Date Impressions* Click Throughs** AppDownloads***
English 17 Feb 651,947 7,358 3,174
Russian 24 Feb 316,946 1,618 270
French 26 Apr 2,012,701 14,601 3,252
Spanish 24 Apr 497,547 2,009 474
Farsi 29 Apr 502,222 4,004 336
Totals 3,981,363 29,590 7,506
*Impressions: frequency that Google displayed our ad to people searching the web.
**Click Throughs: frequency a person clicks on our displayed Google ad.
***App Downloads: frequency someone responded by actually downloading the app to their device.
We have had significant response from Nunavut, as well as from Yukon and the Northwest Territories. So the word is getting out to the very ends of the earth. The new apps also invite people to request physical copies of the NEV Bibles and Bible Basics, which exponentially drove those requests way up over our usual levels of on-line requests.
In addition we have had some people sponsoring Google Ads in their own geographic regions to generate local contacts. If you or your ecclesia are looking for a way to conduct an outreach program during these socially-isolating times, this may be just the conduit for that mission. Please contact us to make the arrangements. Any budget big or small can be made to work.
The Lord will often use adversity to gain our attention to matters of eternity. The time is now to capture people's attention and focus on things that truly matter. Let us work together to help spread the Gospel hope.
Jim Barton, Carelinks Canada
LATVIA
Our feeding program continues. With people looking in on what we are doing, which is to simply reflect the love and grace of the Father and Son, it did indeed feel like being the light of the world.
Video at https://youtu.be/6GO5HnxY6zM .
Sister Tanya brought us a flower in gratitude...
We also have progressed the work of removing the old guttering from the building and replacing it:
CHINA
We received an application for Bible Basics from Wuhan, China. Clearly one of the positive spiritual outcomes of the current pandemic and lockdown:
PRAYER POINTS:
- For wisdom in making the new fellowship app
- For safety and blessing for our new brethren in Iran and those there who are looking into Christianity for the first time
- For those recently baptized
- For the tens of thousands of people studying the Bible through the app worldwide
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks