May 2022 Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Germany, Iran, Ivory Coast, Norway, Turkey, Ukraine
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:
Saturday mornings 09:00 a.m.UK time; on Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6697401754?pwd=K0VWNDlScGwzaThPM2tiU0didmNyUT09
Meeting ID: 669 740 1754 Passcode: XPb9Sz.
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] on
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87934245299?pwd=WmVDdGdPaG9JU0RTTnFtcW1VNk1pdz09
Meeting ID: 879 3424 5299 Passcode: 411793
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 . Also, Bible class on Wednesdays at 7 PM North American Eastern Time
AFGHANISTAN
This has been a special week of blessing for our work with so many Farsi speakers, not only in Iran and Afghanistan but throughout Europe. There was ZAKIR in Afghanistan, after much effort to find a time and place where he wouldn't be disturbed by family and Taliban sympathizers. He is an older man now struggling with ill health and a collapsed health system in Afghanistan. His illness made him think back to all the people who had tried to persuade him of Christianity- an Afghan Christian man who was executed by the Taliban, and western Christians with whom he had worked during the Karzai period, one from Canada, another from South Africa. And he realized that the call of Christ had weighed on his conscience. So he went online searching for a Bible and Christian teaching, and found our app. Truly God knows His people.
BULGARIA
We made a brief visit to Bulgaria to meet with Ukrainian refugees there, mainly women with their children and some older folks, parents, aunties and uncles who went to help with the children or didn't want to be left alone in Ukraine. Bulgaria has now ended their support scheme for Ukrainians. Sister Natalya is still waiting to get a passport for her son- she was allowed to enter with him without him having a biometric passport, but now the law has changed and she can't leave Bulgaria unless he has a proper passport. So she's awaiting getting that. Major financial support has been given in these cases. We were shown WhatsApp group messages from Ukrainians in Burgas, Bulgaria, complaining they needed food and had gone to the Ukrainian Refugee Help Point and there was no food. So we were able to buy some food and assist as we could, and the highlight was the baptism of VARVARA, who fled with her children from the endless bombardments in the contested town of Nikolaev. We see how through the evil of human actions, the Gospel spreads, and man lifts his eyes to his Maker.
CONGO
A happy, full of life young man, ANGELO, has been searching for the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth, and found the French Bible Companion app just what he needed. So with joy he was eventually baptized online.
GERMANY
FARSHAD was baptized this week, currently staying in a refugee camp in Germany and frightened of being deported.
IRAN
First there was MOHSEN. Our brother is partially sighted and had benefitted greatly from the audio of Bible Basics read by other Iranian brothers and sisters. Thanks again to brother Arash for his constant help with translation. Then in later meetings this week there was IBRAHIM and AZAD.
Every day, we are getting approaches from people who seriously want to learn the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ:
IVORY COAST
ANTOINE has also been a user of the French app, and again it was a pleasure to baptize him online into the Lord he has been so seeking.
NORWAY
MILAD is an Iranian asylum seeker in Norway. Just as much as Iranians are scattering everywhere from the oppresive regime in their homeland, just as surely the Gospel is thereby spreading throughout Europe and the Middle East.
TURKEY
Sister ROYA was baptized online in Turkey, again fruit of the Persian Bible app. All the work that went into it was so very worthwhile.
UKRAINE
Brother Duncan is now out of Ukraine, thanks for your prayers. Some video at
https://youtu.be/QyWM-t5qxjc
So many tragic scenes, so many once middle class people now with their kids thrown into the refugee life with everything so unsure.
In other news, we're pleased to say that sisters Nastya, Irina and the children arrived safely in the UK and are now safely with their sponsor.
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For the Ukrainians stuck in Bulgaria and other areas where state support schemes have changed or ended
- For those under Islamic extremist persecution
- For those weighing up the cost of following the Lord Jesus in Islamic societies
- For those like brother Zakir in areas like Afghanistan where the health services are barely working- that goes for some parts of Ukraine too at this time, where our brothers and sisters are generally elderly
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks