Bledar Valca (affectionately known as Bledi) was born and reared in a predominantly Roman Catholic community in northeastern Albania. There, he became a WEI postal student and was baptized into Christ in the mid-1990s.
It has been pure joy to watch Bledi grow through the years. He and his wife Bona now provide crucial leadership in the Tirana church.
Bledi is well-prepared academically having graduated from IBIA (International Bible Institute of Albania), and having earned a Master’s degree in theology from NationsUniversity. Bledi writes:
“Almost 20 years ago, I was asked by Artan Xhaferaj (who would become a dear brother and friend), ‘Why do you want to be baptized?’ I remember answering something like this, ‘My life is a mess. I need a stool on which to rise up, and I find nothing better than Jesus.’ I was led to this decision by my studies with World English Institute.”
“God works in mysterious ways; however, the tool he used to reach me was WEI. I was born and grew up where there was no presence of the Lord’s Church. An acquaintance gave me the address, and I enrolled. He never became a Christian, but God used him to lead me to the studies that led me to Christ. I was seeking, and God providentially led me to this amazing evangelistic tool.”
I have had the privilege of being a WEI student, of teaching WEI students, and of following up on WEI students who have requested baptism. WEI has been involved in Albania for more than twenty-five years. It started as a correspondence course. Then it moved to one-on-one studies in Summer Sessions. Then it was upgraded to e-mail and Internet teaching. WEI continues to provide a flow of contacts with lost people. Recently, we held a WEI Internet Students Reception at our building. They signed up for one-on-one studies in our Summer Session, and they had people in their circle of influence enroll. Because of the flow of students who attended, this was the first year we did not need to run a newspaper ad.”
“A church member approached a Christian author, deeply concerned that his church was not doing enough about evangelism. The author replied, ‘Increase the money you allocate to missions. Jesus said “Where your treasure is, your heart will be also”’” (Matthew 6:21).
Bledi concludes, “I promise you, if you want to give your time, talent, and treasure to the spread of the Truth, WEI is the means to do it. So pray for, teach with, give to, and publicize WEI.”
In addition to his many duties, Bledi directs the second week of the Albanian Christian Camp each summer. Eleven people were baptized during the three-week camp this year. Four were baptized by Bledi during week two.
Charles Mungu, a national preacher and volunteer WEI teacher in Freetown, Sierra Leone, continues to lead people to Christ. Some of his converts have come from Muslim backgrounds.
A few weeks ago, Charles sent us pictures of two Muslim students (Mohammed Jesu and Suliman Sesay) being baptized into Christ in a jungle river. According to Charles, both were born into Muslim homes in southern Sierra Leone. Both grew up to be strong Muslim believers. According to Charles, they first “came into contact with the salvation in Jesus Christ through WEI teachings here in [Freetown] Sierra Leone.” Both are now members of the congregation where Charles preaches in Freetown.
Attached to an e-mail dated September 15, Charles sent photos of two more WEI students being baptized: Lilema Aruna, and Fatmata Mustapha. Both of them are now members of the church in Freetown.
In the following photo, Charles is baptizing Lilema Aruna into Christ.
About this time last year, Arthur Tatara was studying to be a preacher at the Singapore branch of Sunset International Bible Institute. He was also a WEI Internet student being taught by Brad Forgy.
Arthur wrote saying, “My intention was to study English, but instead, I learned something more precious than English. For that reason, I don’t want to keep this wonderful knowledge of God to myself. There are many young folks out there like me who need to hear this awesome story. That’s why I really want to introduce this material in Papua New Guinea. It has had a huge impact on my life. Praise God Almighty.”
In early October, Arthur wrote to say that he is now at home in Papua New Guinea, and he is teaching WEI lessons to students in a local high school. His students are now studying Book 3, The King Has Come.
Arthur says, “Many good comments are coming from the students about the way the lessons are arranged from OT to NT. Everything is connected, and some of the things mentioned in the lessons they have never heard from their pastors. The lessons really are encouraging, and they reaffirm the faith of the students who are in the Lord’s church.”
Willy Yudah, fervent evangelist in Tanzania, reports: “Ashery Laison Mwalingo and Jenipha, his wife, were baptized last week for the remission of sins.
Ashery has been a denominational pastor for five years. He began as an evangelist of the Tanzania Assemblies of God in Mbeya. Later, he and his wife started a church where he became the pastor. He enrolled in World English Institute in January 2016. Later, he and his wife invited me to their church, and my wife and I went there, and I taught a seminar for three days.”
“Three of the members were baptized for the remission of sins five months later. He continued to make changes in his church which made some of the members leave. Two months later, he called me to say that three more members needed to be baptized. They were baptized. He knew the truth, but he hesitated to be baptized though he had changed the worship pattern in his church.”
“It was such good news last week when he and his wife sought baptism.”
Katheryn Haddad, WEI Internet teacher who has taught more than 6,000 Muslim students, writes the following article titled, “I KNOW EVERY ONE OF US MAY DIE AT ANY MOMENT.”
He lives in one of the war-torn countries of the Middle East hit by ISIS. He, like so many whose families have become victims of their own people, had learned to hate Islam. Of course, he dared not admit it to anyone.
For his protection, we shall call him Alexander. It took him two months to make his decision to completely abandon the religion he’d grown up with.
By his fifth lesson, Alexander was showing signs of frustration with his Islamic government and ISIS. The question in his lesson was about Noah and the great flood, but Alexander wrote about what was happening in his own world: “Evil is the source for corruption, suffering, and abusing. The conflict between well-being and evil is continuous as long as evil is powerful and has widespread forces.”
A month later, his confusion began showing. Was Jesus just a prophet, or was he much more? He said, “Jesus, the prophet, couldn’t be tempted by Satan.” Then, in the same lesson, he said, “Jesus was the Son of God in that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life and won’t be judged guilty. But everyone who doesn’t believe in him. They are already judged guilty.”
Later he told his teacher, “Jesus performed miracles to prove he is the Son of God.” His teacher began encouraging him to consider becoming a Christian so he could have his sins washed away. Now he began wondering how he would be able to live as a Christian in a hostile society. Despite the fear he had expressed earlier, he wrote back, “If one is confident of his ideology or belief, he doesn’t care about the mock of other people even though this considering be a reason for his death.”
His teacher reminded him of the uncertainty of life. He replied, “I know that every one of us may die at any moment. Please, tell me what I’ve to do. I believe and confess that Jesus (Issa) (Peace upon him) was, and still is, God’s Word on earth in a human body. I tried many times to repent of my sins.”
He was baptized on Sunday “because it is the Christian holy day.”
Prabhu Kumar, the Director of WEI-India, tells an inspiring story of a young Hindu woman’s conversion.
“K. Sirisha is our WEI student in Punadipadu. She got married and was blessed with two children, one male and one female. She came from a strong Hindu background. After she gave birth to her two children, her husband left her for another woman—one who is his colleague. He works in a state government office.”
“Sirisha left her father-in-law’s home and returned to her parents. Later, she rented a house here in Kankipadu and began working in the village president’s office. She was surrounded by Hindu women and men in her working premises.”
“One day, Sirisha suffered from fever and went to the doctor. He sent her to the lab for a blood test. The owner of that lab is a denominational Christian, and he not only tested her blood, he also noticed she had an English language problem as she drafted letters in their conversation. For five years, he has been my friend, so he suggested that she join our WEI classes. She joined us and studied from January to June 2015. With that introduction, she began attending the worship services and Bible classes at Punadipadu.”
“While attending all the activities of the church, she gradually understood the word of God deeply. At the same time, she had many doubts. Finally, on the 18th of July, she was baptized.”
“In her story, WEI-India played a good and wonderful role. Because of our Institute, she learned the English language and improved her skills on the job. When she started reading the Bible lessons in the form of small stories, her zeal was increased to understand about the real God who is extremely different from the Hindu gods and goddesses. Her faith gradually grew, and it led her into the serious baptism. Though all her family, friends, and colleagues were opposed to her baptism, she was not stopped. God helped her a lot to go ahead and obtain salvation in Christ. WEI helped her to start her journey toward spiritual life.”
Even though she had systematic Bible study, English classes, and worship services, Sirisha never expected any miracles in life except having faith in God. In spite of the incidents and happenings in her life, she never trembled. She put her trust in God Almighty who granted her salvation. In response to her strong faith, God also worked miraculously and granted her victory in her two-year battle for her husband. This made her a popular Christian in a Gentile [Hindu] society.”
“Now all her relatives, friends, and well-wishers are praising God for WEI because it has changed her life physically and spiritually. A few weeks back, the court commanded her husband to be with our sister Sirisha and their children without fail. On that day, she ran to me and shared the good news and felt so happy. Before that, I had never seen her with so much happiness.”
Prabhu could tell dozens of stories like this about the fruitful work God is doing through WEI-India—especially among Hindus.
One of the most fruitful works where WEI materials are used is the work of WEI-India under the direction of Brother Prabhu Kumar. We have highlighted this work many times through articles and baptism photos in this quarterly newsletter.
Students in over 50 year-round schools in India are taught the Bible while studying the WEI materials. Scores are baptized each year and assimilated into local churches of Christ.
The WEI ministry neither sponsors nor supports missionaries. We believe that local churches, under the direction and oversight of elders, should be the ones responsible for supporting missionaries and evangelists. The WEI ministry itself is under the oversight of local elderships.
The elders of the Maryville Church of Christ in Maryville, Tennessee are currently providing sponsorship and oversight of WEI-India. They agreed to assume this role until another local church of Christ could be found to take this good and fruitful work over. If you know of a congregation of the Lord’s church that might be willing to assume sponsorship and make a significant financial investment in WEI-India, please don’t hesitate to contact us at WEI.
WEI-India desperately needs funding and spiritual oversight for 2018 and beyond. Let’s find WEI-India a more permanent home among God’s people. If we don’t, who will? I’m always reminded of what John wrote in his 3rd letter concerning the support of traveling missionaries and evangelists: “You will do well to send them along on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For his name’s sake they went out, receiving no help from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to receive such men, that we might be fellow-workers for the truth.”
Thank you for all your support and prayers. Without your prayers and sacrificial giving, WEI could not be starting approximately 1500 new Bible studies every month. We are most grateful for your partnership. God is glorified, and the truth of his kingdom is proclaimed to people in every nation in the world.
—Tom and Angie Langley
“To everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1), but there is something for us to do in every season. In our senior years, our service may be different than it was during our younger years, but God does not recognize retirement as a reason to stop serving.
Dale Yoder has written a little masterpiece that offers advice for a Christian’s retirement years. Yoder says, “When we get close to the end, SPRINT.” The word “sprint” is taken from his analogy that the Christian life is like a marathon race rather a nine-inning ball game that will be followed by many similar games to complete the season. As a marathon runner approaches the finish line, he actually breaks into a sprint with the goal of crossing the finish line just as his body collapses from exhaustion.
When we cross the finish line, whom do we want to hear say, “Well done!”? The crowds of people on earth? No, we want to hear these words from God. We are sure you do as well. Our objective is to die with our bodies used up in serving God, and our money sent ahead to Him who will not lose it.
We hope that all of you who are reading this will make a similar goal for your lives. Your ways of serving may be different. The pace of our sprint may be slower. It may even be in a wheel chair, but Kingdom work can be the major priority in our lives. We can still encourage others. We can still pray. Whatever season of life you are in, find some way to serve.
We won’t regret the effort when we wake at the resurrection and hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joys of your Lord.” That will be far more valuable than any cheers of the crowd on earth.
Yes, Jesus’ blood will have to cover our sins but “sprinting” as long as we can proves that our faith is genuine (James 2:18).
—Bob & Jan Towell
One of the most serious problems in the church today is apathy—especially the lack of concern for people who are lost and can’t find their way to God.
How would you feel if your child were caught in a riptide at the ocean beach, and the lifeguards on shore were so focused on reading novels, talking, playing video games on their cell phones, or flirting with the girls that they failed to hear your child’s cry for help, and your child was swept out to sea and drowned?
That’s how our heavenly Father must feel when we become so preoccupied with our own worldly interests that we are apathetic to the perilous plight of people around the globe who are caught in the riptide of sin and can’t get free.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and he considered that an urgent mission.
One day, while Jesus and his apostles were passing through Samaria, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57). Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” In other words, “Count the cost of discipleship. I’m not offering you earthly riches.”
Jesus said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” In other words, “Let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. We can’t wait. It is urgent that we proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Another man said to Jesus, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).
There is no room for apathy in the kingdom of God. Our mission is URGENT! Jesus has called us to action. He is asking us to focus our attention on our mission.
The aim of WEI is to fulfill the Great Commission. Thank you for joining hands with us as we proclaim the kingdom of God in every nation.
—Dick & Maudine Ady
Jan Towell just received an e-mail from Shawn Collins, a WEI Internet teacher in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, saying that his student, Jennifer, in Namasagali, Uganda, has been baptized into Christ. We join Shawn and Jan in praising God and in praying for Jennifer.
A few months ago, Lola and David Crouch approached John L. Kachelman, Jr. of Ukraine Missions (a ministry associated with the College Church of Christ in Searcy) about the possibility of sending a container of supplies to Aniefiok Akpan in Nigeria.
Lola writes, “This is the huge [40 foot] container we helped with. We have worked for weeks on acquiring the hundreds of things in it. These men are something else. The whole project was amazing. They do know how to load a shipping container! Wow! This humanitarian aid is for Aniefiok and Rhema Christian Academy.”
