Carelinks Reports

FIRST BAPTISM IN IRAQ

[For security reasons this version of the original Carelinks message is abbreviated and non- specific.

We're delighted to report that two Carelinks committee members made the journey to Iraq to baptize a Moslem contact with long term interest in the Bible and Christianity. We appreciated your prayers for this unusual and at times challenging trip. So many things, great and small, nearly went wrong and stopped our meeting, but God was surely with us, and we arrived at our prearranged meeting point within literally two minutes of each other.

We could have done with a satellite telephone- anyone with a spare one is welcome to donate it to Carelinks as we could use one on these kinds of trips.

Our brother travelled a road where there are daily killings, and travel websites advise that travelling it is 'suicidal' and 'looking for a bullet'. He came to meet us in a quieter area of Iraq because of the difficulties for us entering Baghdad itself. Such was his desire for baptism. He was given a Gospel of John 12 years ago, then realized this wasn't the whole Bible, so he got a New Testament, read it, and realized from the text that this, too, wasn't the complete Bible; and so he borrowed money to buy a complete Bible, which he also read. He then embarked upon the path of seeking the correct understanding of the Bible. He had asked several Christian groups to baptize him. However, to baptize a Moslem can result in execution or severe problems; everyone fears converting Moslems. And so he was always turned away from these groups. This was all in God's hand and God's good time.

We were able to give him an NASB Study Bible with maps and concordance, which Sister Anna Ryder had left at the Riga Bible Centre. He was so thrilled with it. He's very much into Christian music, and we gave him some Praise the Lord CDs.
He now rejoices in that everything makes sense in his life. So our brother truly "went on his way rejoicing" although his journey home lay through some of the most dangerous territory on earth. We took this photo with some trepidation- every highway intersection is heavily guarded by security and they don't take kindly to being photographed.

Whenever we hear of yet more deaths in Iraq we can pray that our brother is OK, and especially that he continues to grow in Christ and bring more people to Him in spirit and truth. Anyone who may be travelling to Baghdad on business or contract work is welcome to contact us to see how they could assist.