June 2021 Cameroon, Iran, Italy, Japan, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe
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
CAMEROON WILFRIED is the latest fruit of the French app in West Africa, as always, his baptism was a time of great joy and simplicity, as ever struggling with internet quality. But through all that, the Lord works.
IRAN We had a wonderful time online baptizing five sisters NAFISEH, SHAHLA, SHAHIN, ZAHRA and ROGHAYE; they are all relatives. All in Iran. With others already baptized also present, from Greece and elsewhere. Really wonderful to see the spread of the Gospel like this, in the teeth of terrible opposition and a culture which makes conversion to Christ so very difficult. Their conversions alone are a testimony to the power of the Lord Jesus and His Gospel. A power available to transform and motivate us all.
ITALY We spent some time with the brethren and contacts in
Sicily. The African migrants are of course in very bad shape what with Covid and the economic collapse, and the economy is very weak anyway in Sicily. With the limitations on cafes and the collapse of tourism, most jobs in the informal economy have just dried up. People are really suffering. And the heat is overpowering at this time in Sicily- we distribute water as well as food and other welfare. It's hard to snap pics of people in need; one African family stay in the mind though, father and little boy sleep in a chair, mother and little girl in the one bed, in the tiny room they have. We gave help as always. All very similar to what was done before here, see e.g.
https://youtu.be/fzGaolYTyF0 . It was mainly a pastoral trip, but it was great to baptize WILLIAMS and AUSTIN . Really sincere brothers who really want to serve the Lord Jesus and be right with God, more than anything else in their difficult lives. There's a video of the baptisms at
https://youtu.be/RsXncrn5kag 
Do pray for them all. We are planning another trip to other African brethren and contacts, again hoping for baptisms, in the
Milan-Turin area and Udine, towards the end of this month. God willing. Do again pray for it and support as you can. And any who'd like to join in on the ground are welcome.
JAPAN We have had around 100 emails with MAKITO in Japan, an elderly Japanese man who became a Christian 50 years ago, but who more recently came across the Japanese version of
Bible Basics and has read it carefully. He doesn't know English so all contact has been by Google Translate. He was especially impressed by our view of the Kingdom of God on earth, the Godhead and the Lord Jesus, and desired earnestly to be baptized. Thank God for Google and modern technology. We were able to work out between us, through Google Translate, how things would go. And then we got together on Zoom face to face and witnessed his simple baptism and prayed together. We used Google Translate audio and he used this too to express a few basic things. It was in one sense difficult due to the total language barrier but in God's strength, using the technology He has raised up for us to use, we were able to do this on Zoom. You can see the difficulties we had and yet the sincere joy from it all, in the video at
https://youtu.be/q02xKzmCezw Just shows that where there is a will to communicate and fellowship these days, all language barriers can be overcome.
SIERRA LEONE A group of young folks at college in Sierra Leone have downloaded the app and are using it; we're so hoping and praying this group, or at least some of them, will come towards baptism. They sent us this photo of them:
ZIMBABWE KUDZAI, a nurse who regularly uses our app, immersed herself in the bath tub with us watching, in her nurse's uniform. Very very sincere.
PRAYER POINTS - For those recently baptized
- For those undergoing endless persecution on big and smaller scales from Islamic extremists
- For our upcoming work in Germany and Italy this week, Lord willing
- For the African migrant brethren in Sicily in their dead end situation
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks