January 2024 Burkina Faso, Ukraine, UK
BURKINA FASO The French version of the
Bible Companion app continues extremely popular with thousands of users each day, mainly in Francophone Africa. We are delighted to report the self baptism of JOHN in Burkina Faso, a country largely composed of the Sahara desert. This was after much correspondence and a lengthy process for John rejecting many false teachings he had received.
UKRAINE
As reported over the last few weeks, there has been major increase in the bombing attacks and some of our dear ones have suffered direct hits, with brother Sergej and also sister Ludmila and her husband still in hospital. Ludmila's flat is completely burnt out from the hit. There are others in serious need in other parts of Ukraine. Typically they are elderly sisters who fled the occupied areas and were given abandoned village properties to live in. These are typically far from public transport, poorly insulated and hardly fit for habitation. And the temperatures have been down to -25 this Winter where our brothers and sisters are living. This is extremely cold. We're trying to provide what help we can with firewood and other things. Brothers Mark and Duncan are now in Ukraine and we do ask for your prayers for them there and for the work they are doing in extremely difficult circumstances. Mark is now finding out how black ice feels and the novelty of snow and very cold weather has worn off... and it's a very cold, grey miserable reality in Ukraine at the moment.
Please especially pray for sister Ludmila as she is still in intensive care with burns in her lungs. She was dragged out of her burning apartment only just in time to save her being burnt to death. Here's a file photo of her with her Bible at one our Bible Weekends in Ukraine some years ago:
We are open to your donations towards the work going on to try to assist our brothers and sisters this Winter in Ukraine.
UK
It's a very long way from south London to Trimden Colliery in the far north east of England. But there in one of the homes near the long disused coal mine is a gem of a man, JAMES. He came into contact with us from watching Croydon Church in a Pub videos. We have a large number of people in the UK and in fact worldwide who are very inspired by the teachings and the concept of "church in a pub" and many are coming to baptism. Trimden Colliery is about as grim as it sounds. Depressed, two up, two down delapidated terraced housing, doors opening right onto the street. We got there and there was no answer when we tapped on the door. We peered through the window from the street and there was an open Bible with marker pens next to it and a pair of specs on it. We'd come to the right place. James appeared and was just as he'd sounded on the phone. We did the baptism in that humble home and truly the Lord Jesus was present with us. James had been a fighter, from a family of boxers and wrestlers. In and out of prison, drugs, everything. Until he read the Bible and was convicted of his many sins. And especially by the fact God loves him when he has as he says, absolutely nothing to give Him by way of good deeds. He kept reading the Bible and has a remarkable knowledge of the Bible text, encouraged over the years by studying how archaeology confirms the Biblical record. And he found the churches far away from what he was reading in the Bible. He longed for baptism, to die with Jesus, to die to sin, and be clothed in the Lord's righteousness. A truer convert to the Lord would be hard to imagine. He took off his work boots with such enthusiasm to be immersed in his bath tub. His family and work mates have noticed his major change, and he witnesses to all. You can see the video of the baptism and
his testimony at https://youtu.be/dNJkNNF8oXE
And a huge shout out to brother Daniel Aldersley from New Zealand who is running everything single handed in Croydon whilst Duncan is in Ukraine- food, talks, music, teaching, pastoral work... it's all on Daniel. And he's doing amazingly well. Without him the current trip to Ukraine wouldn't have been possible. Do pray for him though as it's really so hard to do all those things alone. We do really need more help at our midweek meetings... so again... would anyone consider coming to help?
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For Mark & Duncan in Ukraine and for the many needs they are trying to address
- For Daniel has he manages everything at the Croydon meetings on his own
- For those whose homes suffered direct hits recently in Ukraine and especially for Ludmila and Vladimir with deep burns in their lungs
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks