January 2023 Australia, Cameroon, Kenya, UK
AUSTRALIA A note from bro Mark Hawkins:
Carelinks Australia would like to thank all donors for who have given towards the needs of brethren and sisters and importantly, toward further outreach with the Gospel in countries near and far. We do not have contact details of all donors and therefore it is impossible to acknowledge receipt of donations where we just see a bank transfer and no other details.
Your donations have purchased many things, such as heating wood for brethren and sisters in Ukraine and food needs for the desperate in some cases. Welfare for brother Zébéde in Cameroon who was attached with machetes. Aid has been provided for medical needs. Donations are spent on our core mission of bringing the Gospel to this world. We continue to distribute in good faith your donations toward good and Godly works.
So this is a thank you to all donors on behalf of Carelinks Australia.
CAMEROON
Brother Craig provides more news about the wellbeing of brother Zébéde after the machette attack:
We recently reported the baptisms of bro Idriss and sis Safira. Through the witness of bro Idriss, his elder brother, Bachirou, requested baptism. On the 29th of December bro Wilfried travelled to their village to perform the baptism. Bros Zebédé and Idriss and Sisters Aïcha and Safira were in attendance. We give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the baptism of our new brother in Christ.
After the baptism bro Wilfried returned to his village, but on arrival he received word that bro Zébéde and his wife had been attacked. The attackers left bro Zébéde in a pool of blood and his wife Yvonne badly shaken with a machete wound on her forearm from trying to protect Zébéde. If it had not been for the intervention of sis Safira's father, who arranged transport to a clinic 20kms away, Wilfried believes that Zébéde would have bled to death. Our brother remained unconscious for a couple of days and received two blood transfusions. During this time his wife Yvonne, although in a very distressed state, was progressing well. It was decided that as the clinic did not have the necessary equipment to carry out the tests and x-rays that Zébéde needed, he should be transported to the nearest hospital, a trip of around 150kms over some very rough terrain. Bro Wilfried met the 4x4 en route and accompanied Zébéde to the hospital. The main concern was that bro Zébéde had internal bleeding, but by our loving Father's grace, after a number of tests this was proven not to be the case. During Zébéde's stay in the hospital, donations towards medical costs were sent from his village, one of these donations came from sis Safira's father. It turns out that he is the local Imam and since his daughter's baptism he has been amazed at the change in her character and maintains that everyone has the right to choose their religion. In conversation with bro Wilfried, he has encouraged him to continue his preaching and even stated that he would like his daughter to marry a Christian. As the local Imam, he has warned that attacks on others for their religious beliefs will not be tolerated, and the perpetrators of the attack on bro Zébéde and his wife have been called to give account of their actions. We would like to thank the generous hearted brothers and sisters who donated towards the costs of bro Zébéde's medical treatment. We would also like to thank bro Wilfried for his untiring work and commitment to spreading the Gospel. Wilfried has stayed with Zébéde during the time he has been hospitalised, sleeping on a bench in the waiting room. God willing, bro Wilfried is planning the baptism of Jean, a local man who he has been teaching, next Saturday. Please pray for this and the continued convalescence of bro Zébéde and his wife Yvonne."
This baptism happened, despite great difficulties. An invalid carried piggy back through the jungle of West Africa to be baptized in extreme difficulty. The area is likely snake infested as well. These brethren are true heroes of the Faith in our age. Brother Craig writes: "Jean was so keen to be baptized Wilfried carried him to the lake. God willing I will write a report of Jean's baptism on Saturday for the following weeks newsletter".
Video at https://youtu.be/O2lSJPetopc
please do view it, it's amazing. This is the power of the true Gospel, for what else motivates men to this effort and self sacrifice. All this began from the French "Bible Companion" app so again, thanks to all for their sacrifices to make that happen.
Brother Craig reports:
It is with great joy that we announce the baptism of brother Jean. Brother Wilfried baptized brother Jean in a lake yesterday, and as you can see from the videos, Jean had to be carried to the lake as he is recovering from a broken leg. Brother Wilfried met our new brother some months ago. Whilst out preaching in a village around 25kms from were he lives, Wilfried was asked to come and pray for Jean by one of Jean's neighbours. Wilfried found Jean in a sorry state, he had a broken leg which was infected and his wife had left him after his accident and become a prostitute in a local town, in order to feed their children. Wilfried prayed with Jean, who said he would be happy to die there and then confessing Jesus-Christ. With the kind financial help from a brother and sister in the UK, Wilfried was able to arrange the operation that Jean needed. Wilfried stayed with Jean while he was in hospital and was even allowed into the operating room and sent us a rather gory video of the operation in progress. Over the last couple of months Wilfried has been caring for Jean and preaching the gospel message to him; an amazing witness by Wilfried. Recently Jean has felt that there was something missing in his life and this could only be rectified by him being baptized into the saving name of Jesus-Christ. The two men that are helping Wilfried in the video of Jean's baptism are Jean's neighbours and Wilfried has not missed the opportunity to preach the gospel message to them. He has high hopes that they will also soon be baptized. Please remember them in your prayers. Brother Zébéde is now back at his village and recovering well from the machete attack. Please continue to pray for the safety of our brothers and sister s in the area. We only receive intermittent reports as there is no internet coverage in the area and one of the brothers or sisters has to walk a number of kilometers to update us. We offer our heart felt thanks to all those who support this work. God bless
KENYA
This week we had the online baptism of PAUL, after a lengthy study of Bible Basics through the app.
UK
So pleased to tell you of the baptisms of ALI, DAXI and HAMID. All wonderful stories of people coming to the Lord through His grace, from very complicated and difficult lives. Here are Evia and Duncan After Ali's baptism in the West Midlands, catching up with Julian and Jayne Shipley- true fellowship in the one true Gospel:
Back in South London, here's sister Daxi, originally from Portugal, living a very lonely life which led her to seeking friendship and fellowship with the Lord Jesus. We've ordered her hard copy Portuguese Bibles for her and her two children:
And then the amazing story of brother Hamid in Wimbledon, whose knee caps were shattered by the regime in Iran, greatly limiting his mobility. He came to the Lord through reading old Ladybird books of Bible stories which he was given- he has a large collection of them now. So good he has now got the Bible Companion app and to be able to give him hard copy Bibles. Our brother speaks excellent English and cooked us an amazing meal of celebration:
We are now in full swing with our lunchtime church meetings on Mondays-Wednesdays at The Venue in central Croydon. Currently we're doing English only on Mondays, English and Russian on Tuesdays, and English and Persian on Wednesdays. Response has been good, and most encouraging that several from "Church in a pub" are joining us and involved in the outreach. With the cold weather and cost of living crisis, the offer of a warm space and free meal is clearly appreciated, but without doubt the main interest is in the Gospel. There has been phenomenal response to our Facebook pages advertising these meetings. You may like to visit and "Like" and "follow" the English one at
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089245961237
As you can see from the screenshot, over 1600 people have "Liked" our initial post advertising our meetings, and 164 of them shared the information with their friends. The online interest is huge- although many can't physically attend, there's certainly a huge outpouring of interest in involvement in a straight forward, no frills, Bible based church. And these days "involvement" isn't necessarily through physically attending a meeting place.
No fewer than six of our "Pub" attenders have been out there on the streets distributing fliers and engaging with the crowds who pass the door of The Venue. We did capture on camera brother Spiro approaching a blind man, and guiding him to the meeting place, and to the Gospel;
see https://youtube.com/shorts/TRNC8KTEge8?feature=share
PRAYER POINTS
- For brother Zebede and others facing persecution
- For those suffering post traumatic stress, now living obscure lives in relative poverty in state provided rooms and flats in London and elsewhere
- For our outreach at The Venue in Croydon
- For those recently baptized
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks