April 2022 Bulgaria, Iran, Turkey, Ukraine
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:
Saturday mornings 09:00 a.m.UK time; 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/87934245299?pwd=WmVDdGdPaG9JU0RTTnFtcW1VNk1pdz09
Meeting ID: 879 3424 5299 Passcode: 411793
BULGARIA
From Turkey [see below] we got a bus, by God's grace and the hand of total providence, see the video at
https://youtu.be/_BYdj1ItlLY
to Burgas, Bulgaria, to baptize some Ukrainians, NATALYA and MIKHAIL.
Natalya is the daughter in law of our sister Ludmila, whom we baptized in Kiev 25 years ago. She has faithfully attended our Bible schools and activities ever since. Natalya fled Ukraine, leaving her husband and older son behind as no males between 18 and 60 can leave Ukraine, as the bombardment and endless wail of sirens was just too much for her autistic son. She is totally devoted to caring for him and has to be with him most of the time now her mother in law can't assist in caring for him. They got to Bulgaria and were given some temporary accommodation- but now Bulgaria has ended their support program for Ukrainian refugees. So she's stuck in Bulgaria with her child. A really difficult situation. As ever we are giving support, but the greatest thing is of course the Truth of the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom. With great joy she was baptized in the bath tub where she's staying, and there were literally tears of joy from her. She speaks English and you can hear her response at her baptism. and also hear the amazing story of how Duncan actually got to her. Surely God works with us if we set our heart to do His work.
She of course wants to return to Ukraine and like all the refugees, so hates the idea of living off others' generosity. But... the idea that "It'll all be over soon" is fast fading and she is considering our offer of trying to find her sponsors in UK and coming to UK. So do pray for her in her very difficult situation. You can hear her speaking in both English and Russian about her great joy at baptism; see the video at
https://youtu.be/_BYdj1ItlLY
IRAN
We were very happy to baptize MOHAMMAD after our breaking of bread meeting online.
TURKEY
It was many years ago that we baptized brother Gulhan in Turkey. He preaches faithfully in this Islamic society, and every now and again invites us to come baptize his contacts. So with pleasure we visited him. He's lost his job and is back in his home village, raising and selling goats and sheep- and also breeding cats for sale. His village is a line of houses literally on the sea shore of the Black Sea. Idyllic. But visibly suffering the effects of sea level rise- here's the swing of his childhood:
He was chatting to a lady who has a blind cat. She mentioned she'd officially quit Islam and was looking for alternatives. So he shared with her the PDF of Turkish "Bible Basics" which she read and eagerly desired baptism; she now has a hard copy of the book as you can see in the photo. SONGUL, "the last rose" [she has older female siblings!] was just a lovely person, so grateful to have found the truth of the Lord Jesus. It turned out a cold and rainy day, so our plan to baptize her in the sea about 30 meters at the end of her garden didn't work out, and we went to a neighbour's house and used their bath tub, with the neighbour being witnessed to as we did so:
You can see the video at
https://youtu.be/1KFEqS--GpE
UKRAINE
We continue to have very distressing daily communication from our sisters in the occupied Kherson region. Lack of food, random arrests, no access to heart medication, Covid spreading, diabetes sufferers lacking insulin, fake news that if they cross the border to the Crimea then Russia will help them relocate to Poland [in fact they will just ship them off to live in remote parts of Russia for their "safety"] . . . so many causes for prayer and so many needs which at present we cannot address. We continue sending funds to those who can receive them. You might also spare a prayer for those struggling with all the paperwork to get our folks into the UK... despite the very visible aid points for Ukrainian refugees all over London, the paperwork to take them into your home is a nightmare [the Council even have to come round and check your home has smoke and fire alarms... and they're short of staff etc etc]:
Mark, Lisa and Duncan are currently driving across Europe to enter Ukraine and evacuate a family whose husband / father was killed at the front, as recently reported. Please pray for this mission as there are so many unknowns, and also for a small team from the UK flying out to Poland to hopefully meet the family once they are evacuated to Poland.
PRAYER POINTS
- For our dear ones in Ukraine and now refugees in Europe
- For the current mission to evacuate a family in very difficult circumstances
- For sponsoring households in the UK struggling with trying paperwork
- For those recently baptized
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks