April 2020 UK, Latvia, USA, Australia, Canada, Italy
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 We are continuing our online breaking of bread on Facebook on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. GMT, on our
Carelinks Ministries Facebook page. And there is an Australian online breaking of bread on Tuesday evenings Australian time using PalTalk.
UK We'd like to thank all of you who have donated and supported our work in these very demanding times.
Sister Jean Field is concerned that she received an envelope on 14th March that appeared to be a donation sent to Carelinks but the envelope was opened and empty. Please contact her if you're anything to do with this.
At the
Carelinks Conference in February, brother Caleb as a teenager gave a talk about how young people in the UK are not actually disinterested in our message, just they're not so into going to church.
His talk is at
https://youtu.be/6AA978cSH7E We're delighted to say that this week in South Wales, Ed and Caleb and family were able to baptize Caleb's brother JOEL, another teenager who has remembered his creator in the days of his youth. We truly thank God for the progress of the Gospel in that area.
USA The
Bible Companion app is being downloaded by people worldwide including in the USA, where people are being forced to think personally about God because of the various fallouts from the virus crisis. One of them was SOPHIE, who is visually impaired. One blessing of the app is that it is quite usable by the visually impaired, and has thousands of audio files. Sophie baptized herself with her mother assisting.
ITALY Our brethren on the ground in
Sicily continue to provide food to those in need, we're sending funds out there and they are sending back receipts for the food purchased. Here's a video taken as one of our brethren turned up unexpectedly on the doorstep of another brother who we had baptized previously, with food we'd sponsored. He's clearly genuinely appreciative-
see
https://youtu.be/hvvx-bdC0_c CANADA The Google Ads advertising of the
Bible Companion app in Canada has been hugely successful; people are searching for terms regarding God and His purpose, coming to us, and downloading the app. And some are showing further interest. Over 2000 Canadians have now downloaded the app in response to Jim Barton's advertising. Response broadly follows population, with just over 1,000 from Ontario, but includes folk in Yukon and the Northwest Territories- in far northern Canada. Jim's spent about $1,500 on this and feels it the best way to get the true Gospel into the lives of people who are seeking.
This is certainly an unprecedented time of interest in the message we have to offer. When things settle, that window of opportunity and interest may close. So we do encourage you to advertise the app all you can.
SPAIN Pleased to report the self baptism of GUILLERMO and then his elderly mother ISABEL. He has been in touch a while but is an app user; this virus is a bit of a wipeout in Spain for old folks, who are dying in their thousands.
So here we have another example of people turning to the Lord in distress. The key is to remain with Him as, when and if the crisis lifts for us.
AUSTRALIA Over the years we've reported a lot of efforts with African migrants in the Ipswich area of Queensland. Phil Miri have done so very much for those communities. So it's great to report the baptism of JOHN, who at 6 feet 6 inches [2 meters] tall, presented quite a challenge to baptize. It's not every day one gets to baptize such a tall person. So Phil with typical ingenuity turned a large table upside down and constructed an immersion bath from that:
You can see the full baptismal interview and baptism at
https://youtu.be/L_VgUFJxHy0 LATVIA Hard times here in Latvia. Yesterday one of the night shelters was closed because of virus infections. We fear the others will be. This is catastrophic for our dear ones. Here's a file photo of how people sleep together in night shelters:
Snow is on the ground and a very cold wind; a hard time to be made literally homeless. You can see us feeding them in the video at
https://youtu.be/V8uPfrV3eJo , and our sisters with their soup, coffee / tea and plastic food bags in the snow. And you can notice the fear on their faces. You can see from the pictures that we have very many elderly and vulnerable brothers and sisters and friends to care for. Please do pray for our wisdom in knowing how ever to cope with all this.
It needed almost military style discipline to keep them two meters apart from each other in the line for the food, and then to ensure they remained apart from each other whilst eating it nearby. It needed both Max and Duncan outside keeping control of this, whilst Cindy managed to keep soup, coffee and sandwiches flowing to the door as they each took their packages.
We are also up against racketeering, huge price hikes, especially in small shops. This affects those in the villages, and even for us, a packet of disposable gloves which we use at the soup kitchen cost 4.50 Euro just recently; but we bought the same product, same box of gloves, and the price was hiked to 9.55. We had the previous box still with the price label on it; so you can see the price difference.
We began our feeding session with a prayer, recorded at the start of the video, that through what we are doing, we would show truly the love of God and the Lord Jesus; and we prayed those we serve might feel that and be moved by it, to God's glory. Thank you all for your various expressions of support.
PRAYER POINTS: - For those recently baptized
- For those in the night shelters in Riga
- For those now turning to God in spirit and truth, and that we might be able to reach them
- For wisdom in how best to help and get appropriate aid out to the most vulnerable
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks