July 2021 Cameroon, China, Congo, France, Iran, Latvia, North America, Russia,, UK
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/81015280780?pwd=LzAwNDRTTzhNcFpiRGlmaGx6YUpvZz09 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
CAMEROON Our French speaking brethren in West and Central Africa live in some of the poorest countries on earth- Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, and also in the semi desert areas of Cameroon, Benin etc. Craig and Miriam run an active WhatsApp group for fellowship and breaking of bread, and there is clear and solid spiritual growth amongst them, in spirit and in truth. Brother Wilfried has major health problems, and we feel the need to support his hospital care. We are open to your donations towards this:
CHINA The pandemic has severely restricted work in China, but we are so pleased to report that we were able to sponsor our dear brother Donald to make another trip, this time to baptize CAO. Donald reports: "Brother Cao is a bricklayer, aged 54,his wife died 1year ago and he is very depressed and try to find way to relief. He found us through advertisement online we made 2 years ago, During the conversation online he asked often the questions connected to death, resurrection, etc. So we study together online for a week BIBLE Basics Chapter 4: Death Is Unconsciousness, 4.5 The Resurrection; 5.4 The Kingdom Of God In The Future. The doctrine I introduced impressed him most. He thought the doctrine is so close to the reality. All these explanation seems worthy. He told me all man will die. If I was baptized into Christ, even if I died and buried in the grave, when Jesus come I will also rise up and have eternal life here on earth. So I travelled to meet him and baptize him, he teared before baptism when we read "So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk (i.e. live day to day) in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death (by baptism), we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection" (Rom. 6:3-5)."
CONGO There are nearly 170,000 active users of the French app, and a constant flow of response from some of them. We were happy to baptize online JOVIAL this week.
FRANCE For some time we have enjoyed correspondence online with ANDREJ, a Russian who has lived in Paris for 25 years. He has been an avid student of our material and the Russian app, and it has been a wonderful experience to see the lights go on with him as doctrine after doctrine of the Truth appeared so logical and intuitive. Here is a mature, secular man who came to the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth. He and his wife vacation every year on Lake Geneva, and this year Andrej baptized himself with us online with him in prayer and great joy, real joy, that only comes from the truth setting us free:
IRAN MAJAD was baptized by us online, again after downloading the app. We have been concerned about reports of two serious cases of abuse of two of our members due to their faith; do pray for them. One has received lashes.
If you look at all Android Persian / Farsi Bible apps, at
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=farsi%20bible&c=apps you can see how many downloads the other Farsi language Bible apps have had. The largest one has had "50,000 +", which means they have had between 50 and 100,000 downloads. We alone are marked as having had "100,000 +", and we show up number one on the list; in fact our stats say we have now had 167,000. Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Iran says there are between 500,000 and 1 million Christians in Iran. Most of our app downloads are in Iran itself. So, the app is now the most popular Farsi language app amongst Iranian Christians.
Apple is harder to judge, but Apple is banned from trading in Iran so the vast majority of Iranian app users in Iran are on Android. This means... we are by far the most popular Bible app worldwide for Iranians and Afghans [i.e. Farsi / Persian speakers]. And the app hasn't been out that long, relatively speaking. We know statistics don't mean anything to God, but all the same, this is nothing short of remarkable.
LATVIA We have continued distributing food here and there; here's sister Judite, whom many will remember, with food and welfare we were able to deliver.
NORTH AMERICA A group of us joined together online to witness the baptism of JANELLE, and she and her husband attended brother Jim Barton's breaking of bread on Zoom this Sunday. You can catch them there. She has a deep love of God's word and a desire to believe and do the right thing.
RUSSIA Again as a result of online work, we were so pleased to witness the baptism of DIANA, conducted from Croydon UK.
UK This week we were able to baptize ELIZABETH and also GEMMA and SAIDA, mother and daughter in law.
For some months now, Saida and Gemma have been reading the NEV Bible hard copy and constantly using the app- in a top floor flat around the corner from Clapham North tube station in South London, literally around the corner from the legendary Avondale Hall of Clapham fellowship memory. The lift isn't working, which is no fund when you have a four month old baby. But they sit there with the baby, listening to the app, and reading the Bible with commentary. We entered the flat to see Gemma sitting on the bed with the baby and the green NEV Bible at her side. When you distribute Bibles and put out an app for download, you really have no idea where the seed may take deep root.
We have several baptisms set up this week God willing and we invite your prayers for them. Two on Monday [12th] in Hampstead Heath ponds [open air swimming area], and then a family from South London are going to go to Southend for baptism in the sea on Friday the 16th. Do pray for these events and you are welcome to join in.
PRAYER POINTS - For those recently baptized
- For those planning to be baptized this week and our work in UK this week
- For those in need in Francophone Africa
- For those under real persecution in Iran
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks