June 2024 Germany, Turkey, UK
GERMANY Thanks for your prayers for Evia and Duncan on their brief trip to Germany. We visited with our recently baptized refugee brethren kept in a camp with barbed wire and heavy entrance gates. They have been sharing the Gospel with the others stuck there and the Lord has moved powerfully amongst good and honest hearts looking for Him. So not without some difficulty about 20 of us again made the trek to Lake Empfingen, and baptized another eight men and women, SEYED, MOJTABA, FATEMEH, TAHEREH, MARYAM, ABDULGHADER, MAJID and FERESHTEH. We were stongly resisted by an aggressive swan, swanning around clearly not wanting us in her family territory... thanks to two of our group who tempted it away with offers of bread and biscuits and thus kept it distracted whilst the baptisms were done.
TURKEY This week we were so pleased to baptize sister ELHAM online, she's currently in Turkey having fled Iran.
UK The Orchard Pub was really packed last Sunday with our usuals and a few new faces.
Afterwards we had a lovely time baptizing JEANETTE. Originally from South Africa, Jeanette was the daughter of a red haired Scotsman and a black South African. Unable to live in South Africa at the time because of the laws against interracial marriage, they moved to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. She ended up marrying an Austrian with a Russian mother in law and has lived in the UK the last 25 years. Such an interesting person, characterized by a search for Bible truth and a desire for baptism into the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth. It was a great moment when we were able to do this in the bathtub... such a long journey for our dear sister.
Thanks all who came to
Lunchtime Church this week, and to Cis and Cindy for helping with food last minute. Croydon would be starving and coffee-less without them. Every lover of the Bible and the Lord will love the great video of Luke talking about the Bible he reads every day...
https://youtu.be/ZO6QLHjkyLE He's a homeless man who sits around reading the Bible a lot. His first Bible he stole... "confiscated" as he puts it... it's a really fascinating listen. Do pray for him, that he will stop feeling unworthy of baptism.
We've started going through John's Gospel; talks were
You aren't lost in this world, God has a plan for you, the Logos in John 1
https://youtu.be/Q2k3ErsPuac
There is a huge comfort from knowing God knew you and all about you from the start, John 1
https://youtu.be/tcTIq97sChU
How and why God works just with a minority, subtly not dramatically, John 2
water into wine https://youtu.be/-ckeSoBxWOk
BUT WE DO NEED SOME HELP... OUR WONDERFUL HELPER, JOY, ISN'T ABLE TO CONTINUE HER DAILY WORK PREPARING THE FOOD AND THIS HAS SUDDENLY LEFT A LARGE GAP. COULD ANYONE COMMIT TO COMING AND HELPING ON A REGULAR BASIS OR COMING FOR A WEEK OR MORE? WE CAN PROVIDE ACCOMMODATION. BUYING EVERYONE KFC IS JUST A STOP GAP SOLUTION... AND NOT CHEAP EITHER. APPRECIATE YOUR PRAYERS ON THIS ONE...
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For those living with the daily uncertainties of the asylum seeker life
- For all those who feel unworthy of the Lord's love
- For more helpers on the ground in Croydon
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks