June 2022 Belgium, Germany, Iran, 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
BELGIUM
There are many thinking people out there who are dissatisfied with the general run of teaching in standard Christianity. Not only is this an intellectual disagreement, but people are looking for a relationship with the Lord Jesus "in spirit and truth", and find that the standard teachings of the Trinity and "Jesus is God" are a barrier to them. And so they search deeper, and come to share our positions on the Lord's nature and the nature of our relationship with Him as true hero, master and Lord. One such person was XAVIER, whose intellectual disagreement over the Trinity became a more earnest practical matter when his wife left him- they had had five daughters together. This drove him the more to search for the Lord Jesus "in spirit and truth" [and do pray for him and the family at this hard time]. After some icorrespondence, we took the children on a short missionary journey over the English Channel to Belgium, where we spent a wonderful time with a wonderful man and brother, culminating in baptizing him in a hotel swimming pool:
You can see the brief video at
https://youtube.com/shorts/9_ktFnY9l-M?feature=share
We also gave out a lot of cards advertising the Bible app in small town Belgium:
GERMANY
This week we baptized ABDOLREZA near Hamburg in Germany, having been introduced to the Persian "Bible Companion" app by another refugee.
IRAN
Great response continues from folks in Iran. We began this week baptizing an older married couple, VAHIK and MARIA. They are somewhat unusual in that they are Armenians, and as Armenian Christians they are allowed to practice their religion in Iran so long as they don't seek to convert Muslims to it. However our brother and sister wanted more than Armenian Orthodoxy, and came to know the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth, with the happy result that we were able to conduct an online baptism for them. And then there was KAZHAL, wife of a brother baptized by us online some time ago.
This kind of thing encourages us that the online baptisms are indeed valid- a man gets baptized and then slowly shares his faith with his family, resulting in this case in the baptism of his wife. But the life of spiritual isolation in situations like Iran is not easy, and we do need to pray for them all, grateful they now have the app in Farsi to provide spiritual feeding every day. And then there was a young married couple in Iran, MEYSAM and KHADIJEH, again, searching for the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ in an oppressive and difficult life situation.
TURKEY
This week we were able to baptize MAHDI, one of the very many Iranian Christians taking refuge in Turkey.
UKRAINE
Do pray for sister Nana and brother Sergej there, they feel too weak and elderly to leave and have few options to go to. It's impossible for us to cross the Russian lines and go in there to get them out. Here's the news about Melitopol from CNN:
"Fedorov claimed on Ukrainian television that, according to information he received, the Russians "abduct people and hold them captive, and very few people know how people are being treated while held captive." Since the beginning of the occupation, around 500 people had been detained by Russian forces - some for weeks - Fedorov said. "If we try to categorize those who are under the threat of captivity - first of all, these are the dissidents, those who do not want to become part of Russia, those who condemn the occupation and those who simply disagree. Some people voice their disagreement, some only talk about it in their kitchens at home, but everyone is under threat," he said. He noted that people held by the Russians were forced to sign documents saying that they would no longer attend rallies against the occupation or make statements in support of Russian forces.
Some had been tortured, he claimed. "It's not just dangerous to go out for the pro-Ukrainian rallies - it's dangerous to simply stay in the city. So as of today, over 50% of residents have left Melitopol. That's over 70,000 people." The latest theft by occupying forces was of Melitopol's cherry harvest, Fedorov said. "They are taking it from our farmers, promising that one day they will give them some money in exchange. They also tell our farmers, that according to Russian legislation, one cannot have more than four hectares of fruit trees; anything in excess, they will confiscate," he said."
This fits with what sister Nana tells us, that they are scared to go out to shops or anywhere at all really. Here they are, eagerly comparing scripture in their Russian NEV Bibles at a Bible School in happier days in Kiev:
Please continue to pray for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters now settled in the UK with kind sponsors. The PTSD and bereavement issues are considerable. We were able to take our recently widowed sister Nastya [only 24] and her now fatherless children along with sister Irina to the beach and spent some wonderful time in true Biblical and spiritual fellowship together, although they have so many difficult and confusing choices ahead of them:
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For our elderly brothers and sisters in hotspots in Ukraine
- For our sister Nana and brother Sergej in a particular hotspot there, what with old age and health issues
- For our Ukrainian sisters and their children in all the issues they face trying to settle in the UK
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks