January 2025 France, Ukraine, UK
We mourn the falling asleep of our dear sister Helen Pyper, who did so much for
Carelinks work in New Zealand and was a tower of strength to so many around the world through correspondence. We long for the Lord's soon return when we shall resume our work for Him, after the power of an endless life.
FRANCE
We're very pleased to tell you of the self baptism of NAGUEB who at one point was training to be a priest, but had more and more questions and immersed himself in Bible study to find the answers, using the French Bible Companion app.
UKRAINE
We're so sorry to have to ask your prayers for brother Igor, wife of sister Nina who is on crutches as one leg doesn't function beneath her knee. She lives with her elderly mother, also baptized, in a derelict house in a very remote place. They struggle to survive, and Carelinks readers will have seen our various visits there to provide welfare and also to baptize those they have preached to in that very remote place. Life is a daily struggle as there is no shop nearby, little public transport and bitter Winter temperatures.Nina and her mum depend totally on Igor to keep the house warm and to get food. Igor had a major heart attack which left him deserving invalidity and a pension, but the local authorities aren't keen to issue invalidity for men of military age [under 57]. So he doesn't have invalidity, technically. But the army call up unit came and took him away from his home, just like that, to do brief training and then be sent to the front. Ukraine are desperate for soldiers and it seems anyone will do. Even if they have major cardiac problems.
Here are some file photos of our brother and the affected sisters. Please do pray for him and his sister wife and mother in law. We have no human idea how they will survive; we've sent funds so they can move to live with a relative but it's all so very hard, having to leave the house they had made into a home.
UK
Every baptism is special, but that of GEORGE this week in the middle of nowhere in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland... did indeed feel special. An ex-JW, George had searched for authentic relationship with the Lord Jesus ever since quitting the JWs many years ago. He rents a room in a farm house far out in the countryside, surrounded by sheep.
And that has given him the space and peace to search for God's truth. And through following us on YouTube [one of nearly 11,000 people who follow us there] he came to see the glorious truth of the Lord Jesus. It was a long journey to get to him, temperatures down to -6 and icey lanes leading to the farmhouse. George was well prepared. He was worried he wouldn't fit in the bath tub and so had bought a blow up pool for the occasion. He of course had to tell his landlady what was going on, and she was most supportive of us throughout the service and took the video of it, which you can see
at https://youtu.be/dU6Z11E7oMQ
Not every lodger asks permission to put up a pool in the bathroom so a stranger can come and immerse him in it.
George had been up since early morning taking water to the pool in pots. The house was cold, as you can see from how much steam is coming from the pots of hot water we added just prior to the baptism:
George is just such a lovely humble, quietly spoken man. Living in such isolation, reading his Bible, studying online. And so after a lovely confession of faith, he was baptized in the specially and long prepared pool, with his landlady watching us and taking the video:
We again salute the Father and the Lord Jesus for their reach out into yet another life, having searched tirelessly and constantly for George as He has for all of us the lost sheep. His precious coins.
And then back in Croydon the Lord's work with ex-JWs continued with the baptism of brother SAM, who came along with his three adult children as witnesses to his baptism. We had such a great chat for two hours around the kitchen table about personal relationship with the Lord Jesus rather than being merely members of an organization like the Watchtower, and what personal faith in the Lord Jesus looks like in practice. Coffee, tea, a special cake baked by Cindy before she left for work, a power drill... all on the table as we discussed and enthused about the things that really mater eternally:
PRAYER POINTS
- For brother Igor and others being forced into the military in Russia and Ukraine
- For sister Nina and her elderly mum who are now in a very difficult and isolated situation
- For those recently baptized
- For those in groups like JWs who'd like to be baptized into the Truth but fear consequences from their families
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks