March 2020 Latvia, Italy, USA, Corona Virus
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 see the list of exhortations at
http://christadelphia.net/audio.htm The Coronavirus crisis means that we are unable to travel now for some time. And yet people worlwide are eagerly downloading and studying the
Bible Companion app.
We are encouraging isolated contacts to baptize themselves, and you can see explanations of how to do this, and also videos, on the left hand side of the screen at www.baptizo.info .
Whilst this is in some ways a last resort, we feel that if a person has the motivation and strength to baptize themselves, then this is likely a sign that they are personally coming to the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth; doing it solely for Him, for totally spiritual reasons. So do please pray for our contacts in this situation.
LATVIA Brother Norman Stock has come to the end of his epic 5 week stint in the soup kitchen, helped this last week by Henry Jen Perryman from Bournemouth (Winton) ecclesia. They have been a great help in cooking and also went out distributing firewood.
We were pleased to baptize KOSTYA this week. He is a typical case. He was a military man, and in the USSR years fought for the Red Army in Angola where he saw a lot of violence and death close up. He then returned to Latvia, married, and then his wife died. He explains that all through what he had experienced, he was looking for God. The death of his wife made him determined to find out what life and death are really all about. And so he started regularly attending the meetings. In the photos you can see him in the line for food, eating food, having a button sewn back on for him by sister Jen from the UK; and then giving a good confession and being baptized. This is a truly wonderful outreach for the Gospel, into the most needy parts of society:
You can see a video of his baptism, and testimony from the visitors about the work in
Riga, at
https://youtu.be/GsXtXfqRJJU We have done all we can to provide a feeding environment where there is minimum risk of contamination, and have carefully followed all sanitising regulations. However, it's clear that any gathering of people is going to be a risk. And yet with the few other soup kitchens closing down and sources of free food closing, it is clear that some of our dear brothers and sisters and friends are actually going to be hungry. We therefore will be buying and preparing food and taking it out to them. Please do stand with us in this work with your prayerful support. We do need it.
With lots of empty shelves in the supermarkets, profiteering by raising prices up to four fold in smaller stores and many other issues, we need wisdom in how to progress further our work. Do pray for us. We took brother Max to the Riga bus station to return to Poland to work, but the bus was cancelled. Poland has closed its borders to non Poles. We then tried to work out how to get him back to his wife and daughter in Ukraine; but all transport to Ukraine was cancelled. Ukraine is closing its borders to everyone, including Ukrainians. So, Max is stranded with us in Latvia. But there's going to be ample work to do here in this crisis. Latvia is now closing its borders, all flights suspended. So Max and our team are going to be in Latvia for a while now. All clearly in God's plan. Norman, Henry and Jan just flew out back to the UK in time.
ITALY We are in contact with some of our African brethren there. The situation in Italy is just awful. The Africans had an awful existence anyway there on the very margins of society, often hungry, moving around all the time looking for work and food. And now this... they cannot move anywhere, there is totally no work or free food. It's one thing to tell people to 'stay at home' but if your 'home' is the street, then things are really desperate. We are hearing absolutely credible reports that many are seriously hungry, and even without water. Police are patrolling the streets enforcing the lock down. We have sent out money to those able to distribute it and appreciate your donations towards this. Please pray for our brethren, and we hope to report more next week God willing.
Meantime you can listen to a brother explaining the issues at
https://youtu.be/F1ZmfsGgQto USA Brother Jason is back out on the streets of Ohio offering free
Bible Basics,
NEV Bibles and chats to folks. God bless his efforts
PRAYER POINTS - For those recently baptized
- For those suffering from the Corona virus
- For those economically and socially suffering from the Corona virus, especially the marginal in Latvia and Italy
- For those considering baptizing themselves
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks