August 2025 Australia, China, Russia, Ukraine, UK
AUSTRALIA Brother Mark Hawkins wants to thank all who donated for brother Mike's trip to Ukraine and the welfare distributed: "Greeting brothers and sisters in our gracious Lord Jesus.
Truly the spirit of our Lord Jesus dwells in each one of you. So many have been praying for the Lord's dear Ones in Ukraine (and further afield); and some have found it within their means to not only offer the offerings of prayer, but also money toward the spiritual and material needs of our dear Ones and also towards the air fare of brother Mike Flaherty who by all reports was a huge and relevant help to so many. So many donate in the spirit of Jesus who said, "When you do alms, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing". But this is not to say that the Lord doesn't see your alms and that we don't see your alms; and we can confidently on the Lord's behalf, thank you all for your love and care of our dear Ones in Ukraine".
CHINA
Brother Donald reports:
Before Typhoon "Jianyu" came, I boarded the last flight to Hainan, the southernmost province in China, to baptize our new believer XUEYOU. Xueyou is from the Li ethnic group, a minority in China. The village where they live was very backward a few years ago. He mentioned an experience from his middle school days in Mandarin mixed with an obscure dialect. His cousin had a persistent high fever. According to tradition, his parents invited a shaman to perform a ritual, but there was no improvement. Upon learning of this, his uncle, who worked in the city, rushed home overnight with fever medicine and medical knowledge. Despite the villagers' attempts to stop him, he carefully treated and stayed by her bedside all night. When she woke up with a weak smile after the fever subsided, the villagers were shocked. They began to re-examine this uncle from the city and the beliefs he brought with him. He says: "Thanks to my uncle's persistence and efforts, some people became the first believers in the village. They abandoned their blind worship of ancestral deities and embraced a new faith. That was the first time I heard a Bible story told in the Li language. At the time, I didn't fully understand it and just listened to it as a mythological tale.
I am currently unemployed and staying at home, I began to re-examine my past so I contacted you in the WeChat group and decided to be baptized. The wind was still accompanied by a rainstorm in the morning we met, causing tree branches to break off halfway, and the road was filled with muddy rainwater. "Brother, how could you still come in such weather?" I smiled and shook my head, saying, "How can we change the day we agreed upon because of the wind and rain? This is an important moment in your life, and God will also rejoice for your determination. "When we started the baptism in the afternoon, by God's willing, the sun was shining brightly, as if God knew that today was the baptismal day I had agreed upon with the believers".
Through preaching and baptism, Xueyou found a spiritual anchor and embarked on a new life of faith. After the baptism, we shared the joy and emotion in our hearts. God bless.
RUSSIA
Let's not forget the sufferings of our dear brothers and sisters all over Russia. They have been gathering in our Zoom room most days of the week for 3 hour meetings, since the lockdown. But as of this week, Russia is closing access to Zoom and WhatsApp. It will make uncensored fellowship and online meetings so much harder. We have been running a weekly breaking of bread with them for some years now, and it's hard to find another suitable platform.
UKRAINE
There has been some of the heaviest bombing of the war this week in Kiev. Our dear ones are all physically OK but the mental trauma is huge. Our correspondence is mainly in Russian and Ukrainian but here's a screenshot of a brief dialogue in English with sister Natalya. Please do pray for them all.
UK
By God's grace we got back safely from Ukraine and went straight to the Orchard Pub for Croydon Church in a Pub. Duncan shared some of the experiences there, including when God saved us from getting possibly scribbled one night by a bridge. Brother Spiro interrupted and showed us a note he had made that same day, it was placed on his heart to pray for Duncan's safety by a bridge, and he made a note of his prayer on his phone in his prayer journal app, that he had prayed that day for Duncan's safety by a bridge. And it was answered. Wow. You can't make this stuff up. God is real. All glory to Him. Here's the pic of brother Mike by that bridge early the next morning, alive by God's grace and Spiro's prayer:
After church it was a joy to bring sister Claire and NANCY back home to baptize Nancy, who was brought to the Lord after seeing the big changes in Claire after her baptism. Such amazing joy for Claire as you can see in the photos- she brought another woman to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And that is the greatest joy really, to bring another to Him.
Video at https://youtu.be/noxVg9zOpts
A lot to thank God for, and to just praise Him for.
We baptized sister Tania about a year ago, and she has continued to not only follow us online but also share the good news with others. As a result of this we made a trip to meet and baptize JAMIE a truly lovely man, who had taken a day off work for his baptism and set up his grandson's paddling pool in the garden for the great event. Sister Evia came along with a schoolfriend she is preaching to. It was a beautiful event and our hope and prayer is that Jamie's very nice wife will also overcome the hangups created by 'religion' and be baptized too in the near future. Here we are with sister Tania:
Video at https://youtu.be/K-kRz2rHz8M
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- Thanks to God for so many prayers being answered relating to our safety in Ukraine
- For those experiencing serious mental trauma living under the bombardments in Ukraine
- For all the friends and relatives being witnessed to by existing brothers and sisters, to respond to the Gospel
- For our now heavily censored brothers and sisters in Russia
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks