February 2021 Iranians, Latvia, Uganda, Australia, Benin
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:
Sunday mornings 08:00 a.m. GMT on the Facebook "
Carelinks Ministries" page; and 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/88666715892?pwd=cEx2YUJHTzNiYXg0ODFUY1ViODZnZz09 Sundays at 10am North American Eastern Time [3 PM UK GMT time, 11 PM Sydney Australia time]. Run by Br Jim Barton in Canada.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9123758179 Meeting ID: 912 375 8179 . Also, Bible class on Wednesdays at 7 PM North American Eastern Time
SUNDAY 28TH God willing the breaking of bread will be earlier, around 06:30 a.m. GMT, as we have a total of four baptisms planned for later that Sunday morning.
LATVIA The extreme cold has eased, with some melting and refreezing, creating tracks and paths hardly passable due to the black ice on them. This is a very difficult time for those without proper footwear, the elderly and those generally unsteady on their feet. We're continuing to take food and firewood out. You can see a video of taking food, firewood and sister Evia's freshly baked warm biscuits, with various slithering and sliding experiences on the black ice:
https://youtu.be/rbOw-HH1ZxA Here are some of her biscuits tied in a plastic bag to the door handle of one of the sheds where our folks are temporarily living. They spend the day out looking for odd jobs, or hanging around in the supermarkets to keep warm. But that evening, they would've returned to a welcome surprise. As we comment in the video, we share God's grace as best we can, hoping and praying that in turn, that experience of His grace will elicit response. As it already has in the many who have been baptized:
AUSTRALIA We never cease to be encouraged by how the word sown keeps popping up in fruit. Here's a message from an app user who was also sent the hard copy
NEV Bible but only now got in deeper contact: "Thank you for the copy of the
NEV Bible sent to me last year. I really like the translation and the commentary. I got the full commentary for my Amazon Kindle and the
Bible Basics. I am learning a lot from both. I first came to faith 35 years ago and I have never believed Jesus is God and God is a trinity. I have attended trinitarian churches all my life. I didn't know there were other churches with my beliefs. It was only last year I realised have the same beliefs as I do concerning the nature of God and God's future kingdom. It's refreshing to know. Again thank you so much for the Bible. It is now my favourite" . He's now in touch with local brethren.
Our deep conviction that 'there are people out there...' was confirmed by MATT, who baptized himself in his bath tub. Matt uses the
Bible Companion app every morning, after having left a prosperity Gospel church and turning instead to reading the Bible alone.
As so often, with both these cases, people were quietly using the app daily for a long time without contacting us. And there are hundreds of thousands of users in the world now. So one by one they get into contact with us. There are "people out there". Let's pray for more to come forward.
IRANIANS The constant flow of response from Iranians shouldn't lead us to somehow miss the wonder of the fact that so many are being baptized, and each is special to their Father and to their new Lord and Master. This week we baptized ALI and had many encouraging sessions with others preparing for baptism.
BENIN, WEST AFRICA etc. Our French speaking team have again been busy, with baptisms this week in the Caribbean and West Africa, of ROMAIN, BENJAMIN and AMOS. Brother Cyrille from Togo was involved with the baptism service of Amos in Benin, and was very active in discussing with Amos before the baptism. Discussions went on about 1 and a half hours in total before , it was really great to see Cyrille willing to be roped in and being so helpful. Francophone West Africa is proving so fruitful for the Gospel.
UGANDA ENOCK has been reading all three portions of the
Bible Companion app every day and thus came to a good and deep appreciation of the Truth of the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom. A group of us were happy to baptize him.
PRAYER POINTS: - For our weak and elderly folks slipping and stumbling on the black ice
- For those recently baptized
- For the app users to keep coming forward for baptism and fellowship
- For our efforts to bind together all these new converts into a functional community
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks