February 2020 Latvia, Ukraine, Australia, App
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 see the list of exhortations at
http://christadelphia.net/audio.htm Helps for the
Bible Companion readings this week:
Exodus
https://n-e-v.info/exoduscomm.pdf Psalms
https://n-e-v.info/psalms.pdf Mark
https://n-e-v.info/NEVMarkCommentary.pdf UK A reminder that the
UK Carelinks Conference will be held in Croydon on Saturday Feb 29 God willing.
UKRAINE It was really some years ago that we baptized brother Samuel in Ukraine, a Nigerian footballer. He's attended various Bible schools since then, and we were very happy to visit him again and baptize GLORIA. She's a Nigerian who qualified as a medical doctor in Ukraine and remained, currently working there. Like so many, the hard life in Ukraine [especially for an African in a very racist society] brought her to think more about God and the Bible, and she expressed a strong desire for baptism. Here you can see her reading Romans 6 at the baptism service, from the app:
We baptized her in a hotel bath tub, and then had great fellowship over a pizza:
LATVIA This season we've had so many cancellations due to ill health and other things. And now, brother Donald from China is unable to come due to the coronavirus complications, despite having bought his tickets. And then Max has to unavoidably return to work for 2 weeks. So, we're down to just Norman Stock in the kitchen. Dear Norman is the best, unflustered as ever, but, it's a huge amount of work alone. We really do need more workers to come out next season, say from November 2020-March 2021. God willing. So many of our faithful workers are now advancing in years. Do have a serious think about whether you can come.
Here are Denis and Jackie about to go out delivering firewood:
And here's Norman now soldiering on alone:
APP I know we don't believe in stats as the Lord can save by many or by few, but the Android version just passed 100,000 downloads. That is excluding the downloads on Apple iOS devices which are harder to track. 65% retention rate which is amazing for free apps. Someone somewhere boots up the app about every 20 seconds, that's 24/7. So, a high degree of usage. Lots of people using this every day. Thanks to all who have shared the app around- please continue to do so, and do give us a 5 star rating on the stores as this boosts our visibility.
We have Trinitarians and a few cranky folks giving us bad reviews and ratings, and it'd be nice to compensate for those.
Work on the Russian app is going on well.
And for those who like statistics, our
Carelinks channel on YouTube has now passed 1 million views over its lifetime.
AUSTRALIA We're pleased to say that this coming week, God willing, we hope for two baptisms in Australia directly from the app. So do pray for Robin Steve and John Thatcher as they again meet and baptize a contact in NSW, and Dale Smith and Brad Lawson from Lismore as they travel to baptize another one further north. More news, hopefully and prayerfully, next week.
PRAYER POINTS: - For those recently baptized
- For the planned baptisms in Australia
- For our continued work on the app
- For more workers in the soup kitchen
- For Norman as he does the cooking more or less alone in Riga
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks