April 2021 Latvia, Iranians, Ukraine, Togo, UK, Russia, Israel
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
LATVIA We continue distributing food and firewood in this very long Winter. Snowstorms are continuing into April, although the snow melts quickly. There is still a heavy lockdown, and no meetings with others are allowed. Whilst distributing welfare, we've been distributing fliers advertising
Bible Basics and the
NEV Bibles in some of the most beat up, lowest income and socially deprived areas of
Riga. Letter boxes are all on the ground floor of the flats, but the front entrance door needs a code to open it. The game is to wait until you spot someone opening the door of one of the large apartment blocks, and then run after them and catch the door just before it slams shut. The tall Soviet era blocks in Riga generally have either 48, 71 or 112 apartments in each entrance. So the children have been getting good exercise catching the doors and distributing thousands of fliers in this way.
You can see a video of it all at
https://youtu.be/mgTtIwLCdpA 
TOGO The French app and team work has been blessed further with the baptism of JEAN in Togo. Like so many in rural Francophone West Africa, he had to travel to a place where there was better internet connection in order to be present with us. And as always, there was great joy both on earth and in Heaven over one more who has repented.We have several desirous of baptism, but their internet connection precludes them from being able to talk freely with us let alone witness a baptism by video. One even walks to another village in order to communicate better with us.
The French language WhatsApp group is growing and is very active, with the new converts and other French speakers from Canada and France. Let's pray for the contacts to be able to find both water and internet connection for the baptisms. Here's an example of one who says he must walk to find these things:
UKRAINE Some time ago , before the pandemic, we reported the baptism of brother Sergej in a really remote area of western Ukraine. He has to walk some way from his farmstead to any kind of road. He keeps a few cows and is self sufficient, but the long Winter, Covid restrictions, the collapse of the economy in Ukraine, the ongoing war in the east etc., all combine to make life extremely difficult. Our brother and his wife have lovingly adopted his two nephews who otherwise would have had to go into state care. We've had lovely reports of how these two boys have grown in their Bible reading and Sergej enthusiastically teaches them the Truth daily.
So with joy we witnessed Sergej baptizing VADIM and BOGDAN. Internet connection was so weak that we couldn't watch online but our brother recorded the video and it was a most moving confession of faith and baptisms in a bath tub of the farmhouse. A very difficult background drew these young men to turn with all their hearts to the Lord Jesus and although young, their baptisms were an act of true faith, love and commitment. Funds have been kindly sent out to help Sergej with the situation.
RUSSIA Near the shores of Lake Baikal in far eastern Russia lives DENIS, who quit the Orthodox church but didn't find truth in the various Protestant groups he then considered. He downloaded the app and came to a very sincere decision for baptism into the Truth. It took a while to persuade him that self-baptism is quite OK, because like so many, he feared the great adventure of connecting alone in personal relationship to the Lord Jesus. But once persuaded, he wrote simply afterwards that he now only wishes to love and please Jesus. He was encouraged by watching the video of sister Oksana's self baptism in France.
UK Very pleased to report the self baptism of PETER in Surrey.
ISRAEL We make a special effort to advertise the
Bible Companion app in Israel, and we get around 30 downloads / day in response to advertising there. It's a project someone might like to fund or take on. RUBY downloaded the app and found our Bible-centered approach without bells and whistles was exactly what she was looking for. Disillusioned with listening to prosperity preachers, she sought the Lord in spirit and truth, and was led to the app. She is very desirous her husband and children come to true faith in Jesus, and asks our prayers. She is also eager to do whatever she can to spread the Gospel in Israel.
IRANIANS EMAD was baptized in Iran- yet again, the usual story of deep disillusion with Islam, searching for God and Jesus and to understand the Bible- and coming to the app. And then encountering persecution and opposition from the oppressively anti-Christian society around them.
PRAYER POINTS - For those recently baptized [7 this week]
- For those in Africa searching for water and stable internet in order to be baptized online
- For those enduring the long Eastern European Winter
- For the many enduring persecution from extremists
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks