China, Haiti December 2009
HAITI
We reported previously the baptism of 10 brothers on this island, and the formation of an ecclesia meeting at the home of brother Esmath. He has a disused car port in his home, where we gathered together after the baptisms:
Esmath has reported how word has spread throughout Port-au-Prince that now there's a non-trinitarian group who aren't Mormons and aren't JWs... and that people have been flocking. That disused carport has been crammed with as many chairs as he can find, twice / week, for Bible studies. And many have to stand. Here are some pictures of the same small space where we met after the initial baptisms. It's an amazing 'before and after' sequence:
Esmath and his wife are expecting a baby any time now and are moving out of that place. We'd really like to assist them in renting a meeting place for this dynamic new group. Seeing Haiti is one of the world's poorest countries, the locals cannot contribute very much. We'd like to lease a place for a year, which would need around 2000 - 3000 US$ for a year, depending upon the extent of local weekly contributions. Of course, this isn't an absolute necessity, but it certainly will enable the Lord's work to go yet more powerfully forward. Any interested in sponsoring this, please let us know. Please do pray for them, and let us know if any are interested in doing a trip to Haiti.
CHINA
We often report baptisms performed by local brethren, who travel great distances often to remote villages to baptize people who've studied Bible Basics. However, the aim of Carelinks isn't merely to baptize people but to help them on their walk towards the Kingdom, to the glory of God and His dear Son. And so we gathered together many of those baptized to a wonderful Bible School. Representatives of most ecclesias in mainland China were present, and it was wonderful to see friendships formed and strengthened. Having such a huge population, everything in China is competitive, and young people have huge pressures upon them in order to score high enough to enter a good university, or later to get a good job. One brother has just resigned his job as a schoolteacher in a private school, preparing teenagers for university entrance. Classes ran from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 6 days a week and also some on Sundays, and papers had to be marked and lessons prepared in the evenings. The pressure is just huge. Yet understandably enough, some people see [as they do in every society] that there must be something beyond the rat race. We have a steady stream of response from all over China.
There was a wonderfully intense spirit at the Bible School. People had taken time off work and study from busy schedules, some travelling for a day by trains to be present. They knew what they were there for, and that was to study God's word. And this they did; hopefully these photos give some sense of the intense atmosphere. This group below in the photos are mostly unbaptized, asking final questions before their baptisms. We were delighted to baptize seven people into the Lord's Saving Name: GUANG, ZHU, TIANYU, WANG, RITA, SHARON and JOSEFA.
Even in the short break times we gave them, they were to be found discussing the Bible with each other.
Evija was a great hit
Here are just a few of the emails we received afterwards:
"Give glory to our Lord. Your action is great for baptism. I believe that we live for ever together in God's Kingdom on earth when Jesus returns".
"I back home safe and work in office now. Thank you very much for everything and especially the chance you give us to be saved by our Father in heaven through the baptism. I hope the seed you plant in my heart will become bigger and bigger and one day grow to a big tree. I will tell you my feeling and my stories in the following mails. The life with God and Jesus is now within my heart".
"I am back home safely now, just wanted to thank you for the good work you have done for me and for us, I really learned a lot from this seminar, and I will definitely share the material with others too... thank you again".
With love and joy from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks