Gospel News · January - April 2019

31
Carelinks | Mayotte
T
he Gospel is to spread into all the earth,
and then shall the Lord come. “The isles of
the gentiles” are certainly responding and the
true Gospel is getting into every nook and
cranny of the earth. In May we were contacted
by a Congolese refugee who attended a Chris-
tadelphian ecclesia in a refugee camp in Africa
and there read Bible Basics in French. The
camp was a dead end, and so he joined other
desperate refugees who made the very danger-
ous voyage from the coast of Africa to the tiny
island of Mayotte. This island belongs to France
and is in fact a Departement of France, using
the euro and under French law and control. It’s
a tiny island situated in the Indian ocean.
We spoke to David extensively by telephone,
via WhatsApp and Skype, and it became clear
that he understood the basic doctrines of the
Gospel and wished to be baptized, along with
others there on Mayotte. To this end, trips
have taken place and we have been able to
baptise David, Paul, Selemani, Saveri,
Bileale, Nicholas, Suzanna and Diane.
We did the baptisms on the beach near to
where they had arrived after a perilous
journey by dugout canoe from the Comoros
Islands, where they had arrived by boat from
Tanzania. Hearing their confessions of faith
and praying with them afterwards was a
deeply spiritual experience where surely was
the presence of the Lord Jesus. We reflected
upon God’s grace and His special purpose with
them. Bodies of those who drown when the
canoes capsize regularly wash up on the very
beach where we did the baptisms, to be put
in body bags and taken away by the authori-
ties.
They continue in good spirits spiritually, read-
ing the Bible daily and breaking bread weekly,
with an exhortation provided by Bro Phil
Martin from the UK. They are very committed
to Bible doctrine and absolutely genuine in
their love of the Truth.
But life for them on this tiny island is very
hard. They will not be deported as they have
no documents, but neither can they work
there, so they are stranded. They get no
support from the Government and resources
are at a premium. Everything is very expensive
as it has to be flown in and there is very little
land. This is but an outcrop of black rock in
the ocean with no soil much for agriculture,
no natural resources and little housing. Many
people are just living on the streets or behind
a piece of corrugated iron which they call
their ‘door’. We are renting a room for them
which at least has a roof. They spend their
~ continued ...
Suzanna, Diane and Nicholas with Duncan before their baptisms