March 2021 South Africa, Iranians, India, Cuba, UK, Australia
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 08:00 a.m. GMT on the Facebook
"Carelinks Ministries" page; and 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/81015280780?pwd=LzAwNDRTTzhNcFpiRGlmaGx6YUpvZz09 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
This has been a week of unusual blessing for the progress of the Gospel, with 10 brothers and sisters baptized online. We are getting so many people studying the lessons on the app with us and responding to the teachings in various ways. Our team have been busy in online meetings with people around the clock, in English, Farsi, French, Russian and Spanish.
If you'd like to get involved with this work, and are able to respond quickly on WhatsApp and Zoom, let us know. Possibly the amount of response might be limited by the Lord according to our capacity.
The work is not only teaching and preaching and answering questions; but running follow up breaking of bread meetings with individuals. Even post-pandemic, God willing, this work is likely to continue.
We are getting answers like this come in around the clock:
After baptism, there are follow up meetings. For example, we did a receiving into fellowship service / breaking of bread for sis Oksana in France. We did it in English and Russian, based around Isaiah 53.
Video at
https://youtu.be/HH-HLMOWok8 We arranged to meet on Fridays at 14:00 Moscow time [11 a.m. UK time] for regular breaking of bread meetings in our Zoom room:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6697401754?pwd=K0VWNDlScGwzaThPM2tiU0didmNyUT09 Meeting ID: 669 740 1754 Passcode: XPb9Sz
Meetings will be in Russian but translated to English. All welcome.
And then after the baptisms of Vijay in India, Maria in Australia and Robert Justine in North America, we did a fellowship and breaking of bread meeting run by brother Mark Hawkins.
You can view it at
https://youtu.be/LL81lpKwrFA This is the kind of work going on. Have a look at the videos and let us know if you'd like to get involved- although it does take a fair bit of time and patience.
Our Spanish team are reporting news of serious need amongst our brothers and sisters and contacts in Cuba and South America. Reports of children with only rice to eat, and living in crumbling accommodation. Our team have responded to this.
CUBA ANALEIDA and CELIO are a married couple in Cuba who have been looking for the Truth a long time, and were led to us by the gracious hand of providence. We had a lovely baptism service for them online, as they took turns holding their baby whilst they did it; with sister Cristina from Colombia and brothers Pedro and Ben from USA present. The Hispanic brethren run several WhatsApp meetings / week in Spanish and our new brother and sister are already connected with them.
UK This week we were able to baptize ASAD and AMIR. They came to us after having been given the hard copy of
Bible Basics in Farsi from brother Gholam, who was baptized some years ago at our house church in Croydon. They both expressed interest in attending the online breaking of bread at Horley ecclesia.
INDIA Pleased to report the baptism of VIJAY. He is a high school teacher of physics from a strong Hindu family facing a lot of opposition for his conversion. He gave the most wonderful confession of faith, understanding and appreciation of the Lord Jesus in contrast to the world of wrong religion he grew up in and has to live in. Our brother speaks in the breaking of bread meeting mentioned earlier of how he first turned to Christianity after reading the book of Proverbs in the Bible, progressing from the Old Testament to the New.
IRANIANS This week we had baptisms of two men from Iran, both called MOHAMMED.
We have had some lovely meetings, with Iranians from literally all over the planet present:
And then there was the baptism of KHADIJA , an asylum seeker refugee living in India, who came to us from the Farsi app. She has a most intense faith in Jesus and hopes to attend breaking of bread by Zoom with the Horley ecclesia in UK.
AUSTRALIA With Mark Hawkins and family so keen to follow up, we have been pushing the Bible Companion app on Google Ads in Perth, and MARIA downloaded it and has spent a few months using it. She decided for baptism, and we had a lovely session together. She baptized herself in her bathtub, and was just so excited to come up out of the water in connection with the Lord Jesus. Observing these candidates praying, listening to their prayers and chatting, it is absolutely the case that these online baptisms are credible, legitimate and totally genuine.
It is, after all, a strange thing to immerse yourself in your bathtub with others watching. We believe this only arises from absolutely genuine conviction of the truth of the Lord Jesus. Maria then attended Mark's online breaking of bread. It's wonderful to see a young, secular person step out of the world and turn to God like this.
SOUTH AFRICA Those of us familiar with the truths about the human nature of the Lord Jesus, and the devil not being a literal dragon etc., can easily forget how for "the truth shall set you free" for those who once believed in the Trinity and myths about Satan. You join the dots, and so many lights go on. It was a pleasure to have a lot of correspondence with BRENDA in South Africa, and to see her come to the Truth on these points.
Brenda baptized herself in her bath tub surrounded by her young children, in the presence of Brother Mike Floyd from South Africa and others. Mike is setting up a trip to visit our new, isolated sister [she lives in Kimberley, a diamond mining town in the northern Cape], and Sister Leonie is sending her down hard copies of Bible Basics in Afrikaans for distribution, and plans to also visit Lord willing. You can listen to her wonderful testimony of how the truth about the nature of the Lord Jesus, and of the devil, set her so free. We thank God for the triumph of His truth.
Brenda explains how when Covid hit South Africa [and Covid is a major issue there, with the new variants there], she heard this was all of 'the devil'. And so she wanted to 'know my enemy' and researched about the subject. Through the app and our YouTube videos, she came to the truth. That the only real adversary is our own sin. The Port Elizabeth ecclesia are most encouraged by this, as they had been funding Google advertising of the Bible Companion app and this is fruit of that. Let us know if you'd like to run an advertising campaign in your area.
The video with Brenda's testimony and baptism is at
https://youtu.be/O4jWSI3VSKI 
PRAYER POINTS: - For those recently baptized
- For more helpers in the work of responding to contacts
- For those suffering the economic impact of the pandemic especially in Cuba
- For those fearing family opposition
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks