It is breath-taking to watch God work through people who are sold out to Jesus. A good example is found in the ministry of Aniefiok and Etang Akpan in Uruk Otong, Nigeria.
In 1996, Aniefiok bought a parcel of ground in Uruk Otong planning to establish a Christian mission there. This land was the site of an ancient Juju shrine where Aniefiok’s great grandfather sold amulets and offered human sacrifices to the local gods. Aniefiok’s great grandfather was the tribal chief who wore the title, “His Royal Majesty,” and who cast spells as a witch doctor.
The traditional rulers of Uruk Otong warned Aniefiok that if he intruded in their gods’ territory by establishing a Christian mission on sacred soil, he would suffer serious consequences. In spite of this warning, Aniefiok did not give up his dream.
There were no buildings on the property, so Aniefiok rented a large circus-style tent and established Rhema Academy with K through 12 grades. Aniefiok used WEI materials for teaching English and the Bible to the older students, and God gave “the increase.” Then, the government shut down the school saying that the facilities were inadequate.
Since that time, Aniefiok and Etang have faced terrible difficulties. Aniefiok said, “Everyone in my village believes that Satan’s incessant attacks on me and my mission are direct consequences of my decision to build the church at the site of the ancestral shrine. A chief in my village tried to kill me so people would believe that the gods of the land had killed me for invading their territory.” In the end the Chief died of mysterious causes, and Aniefiok survived to serve the Lord. God proved his power over Satanic forces. By the grace of God and the sacrificial giving of Christians in the U.S., a building was erected in 2015-16 for Rhema Christin Academy and the Campus Church of Christ.
In 2016, Aniefiok established a training school called World English Institute & School of Ministry [WEISOM], as an evangelism ministry of the campus church in Uruk Otong. After a year of English and Bible studies and ministry training, he inaugurated an evangelism team and started using WEISOM students in house-to-house evangelism. Aniefiok says, “Now the gospel is spreading like wildfire across our community.”
Even after the new building was erected, the Secretary of the Ministry of Education would not allow Aniefiok to include a high school in RCA due to inadequate classroom space, library, and ICT center. Permission to operate a high school would not be granted until after a new building was added to the campus.
In 2016, the foundation was poured and construction was begun on a RCA High School building which will have a room large enough to accommodate the growing Campus Church of Christ that has run out of space. Unfortunately, the new building has not been completed due to a lack of funds.
If God has blessed you financially, and you would like to lay up treasures in heaven, this is one sure way to lead thousands of lost people to Christ.
Providentially, a faithful member of the Church of Christ and a longtime friend of Aniefiok is now the new Secretary of the Ministry of Education, and he has authorized Aniefiok to reactivate the RCA High School on a temporary basis, contingent on the completion of the new building. The unfinished building can be seen in the background of the following picture.
Thanks to the generosity of Lee Allen and Lola Crouch, Aniefiok has been able to purchase twenty-one used computers for the new ICT Center that has been set up in the current RCA building.
More than 100 students have enrolled in the newly activated RCA High School and will soon be studying English and the Bible with American Internet teachers
God has blessed Aniefiok and Etang with great vision and uncommon ability to organize evangelistic efforts. Rhema Christian Academy and the booming campus church are prime examples.
When RCA high school students study WEI materials for four years, most of them become Christians before they graduate. Finishing the multi-purpose building will not only keep the high school alive to produce fruit; it will also provide space for the rapidly-growing campus church.
If you would like to participate in this exciting ministry, please write your name and email address on the coupon on page seven.
W.E.I. NEEDS YOUR HELP!
More and more national preachers around the world are using WEI courses in their local outreach ministries. National preachers are our most efficient and productive partners in world evangelism. Your donations for printing and mailing these materials are appreciated.
How would you feel if one of your WEI students came to faith and was baptized into Christ?
Let’s let Suzie Winham, long-time WEI Internet teacher in Las Cruces, New Mexico, tell us how she felt when her student in Somalia obeyed the gospel.
There are no words to describe the joy in my heart when, after many months of trying to contact someone to baptize John Bosco, my student in Somalia, he obeyed the gospel.
I received a message from him with pictures of his baptism by an Irish missionary in the Indian Ocean at Mogadishu. I read his message while sitting at my desk where I am blessed to serve as the office secretary of the church, and I jumped up with a shout of “Praise God” on my lips and tears running down my cheeks.
I shared my jubilation and the reason for my outburst with my youth minister, with the IT girl, and with the minister, showing them pictures my student had sent and telling them about his “gestation” period through the entire WEI curriculum.
It would help me if the Holy Spirit would express my heartfelt gratitude toward WEI and my extreme exhilaration as I rejoice with the angels in heaven over this one sinner who repented and obeyed our Lord in baptism.
John Bosco has informed me that he wants to be a missionary so that others can be “born of water and the Spirit.” He is a blessing to me—one beyond measure. I am thankful to God that he arranged for my student and me to cross paths in this lifetime! Blessings beyond belief. Beyond measure.
-Suzie
John Bosco writes, “The white man is Andrew from Scotland (and Ireland). He is a respected UN official and a missionary as well.”
Editor’s Note: We rejoice with Suzie over the new birth of John Bosco in Mogadishu, Somalia. This is the second WEI student in Somalia to be baptized in the Indian Ocean.
Let us pray that God will lead us to more people like John, and to more teachers like Suzie Winham.
Our awesome God never ceases to amaze us!
He opened up the floodgates of heaven and blessed us with an incredible record-breaking number of students in 2022. We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty. You are most worthy of praise!
In 2022, 170,851 new students registered on our website. God desires that every individual in the world be given an opportunity to read and study the Bible.
Teachers, with your loving guidance and care, you encouraged 66,263 students from 200 countries to read and study the Bible. Eight hundred and eighteen wonderful teachers helped teach 292,591 grammar lessons, and 435,313 Bible lessons for a total number of 727,904 assignments. Simply amazing! Thank you so much for your continuous love and passion for helping to reach and teach lost souls all around the world. All of you are a Godsend to WEI. None of this could be accomplished without you!
Thousands of our students learned for the first time that God is our creator who loves them more than they could ever dream or imagine. You taught many of them the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God spoke and worked daily through you and his powerful words changed many hearts, lives, and saved lost souls.
We witness the change of your students’ lives as we study with them. Thank you so much for becoming a wonderful WEI teacher. I thank my God every time I remember you. May the shining light of Jesus continue to guide our way in 2023. Great is the Lord! He is worthy of praise! Your partner in Christ always, Lee Allen.
For the Lord Your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete (Deuteronomy 16:15).
Wouldn’t you like to lead someone to Christ? Chances are you can. Become a WEI Internet teacher by logging on to our web site and signing up at www.worldenglishinstitute.net/register/teacher.
Brother Steven Prine, the man who baptized Edwin E. Vicente in the Philippines several years ago, has now led another WEI student to Christ. Here is his exciting report.
Josiah M. Nyeswah, Jr. is a student of mine. I started a conversation with him. He had several questions, and I took the opportunity to ask him where he was with the Lord. He was happy with his “pastor” and hoped to be baptized April 23, 2023.
I asked him why he would wait, and I mentioned that, in the Bible, when people heard the good news, they responded immediately. He stated he was raised Methodist, but he does not agree with infant baptism, so he left that church and joined another one.
I asked him if he would be interested if I found a local congregation for him. He said,“Yes,” but he would have to investigate that church to make sure its teachings were correct.
I have a good friend who contacted a brother who lives in Monrovia, Liberia. He asked two brothers to make contact with Josiah. As a result, Josiah obeyed the gospel!
Josiah is in the blue shirt, and Amos George is the person who baptized him.
Josiah is 20 years old, and the good news is his parents are now interested in learning more about “this church.” Plans are being made for them to study with the local congregation there.
Now that the Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down, schools in the Philippines are open again, and Edwin’s students at the WEI Learning Center are back in school. Consequently, he is now focusing his attention on young adults and middle-age adults until school is out for the summer. Then high school classes should be full again.
Pictured (below left) is one of Edwin’s current students, Paunlyn A. Flores. Paunlyn is a 20-year-old nursing student who has Wednesdays off. She is studying with Edwin from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon every Wednesday.
Paunlyn plans to study all of the WEI courses in the WEI curriculum with Edwin. She is also inviting a group of her friends to study with her.
Edwin is getting ready to start teaching a group of 30+ year-old adults.
Edwin writes, “I am happy to tell you that Professor John is doing his part with sincerity, along with his wife and some of their friends who are joining the Sunday afternoon church services here at Biday. Our young teens who were baptized, in spite of their hectic academic obligation, they do not miss attending our Sunday afternoon church services. I can see in them that God is working on all of us in our faith as we study the WEI materials and listen to Professor John’s preaching.”
It is a joy to watch Edwin grow and mature in the faith. It is hard to believe that four years ago, he was a practicing Catholic, and now, he is a strong Bible teacher and gospel preacher.
Vasile Luhos, minister of the gospel in Oradea, Romania, writes, “In June, we hosted a WEI summer school after two years of pause. We had two teams of four teachers each, and about 20 students who attended classes. Last year, we had as visitors, Tom [Langley] and his wife Angie.”
If you would like to have a short-term mission experience like this, contact Tom Langley at tom@worldenglishinstitute.org.
Sadete Hoxha, WEI and church secretary in Tirana, Albania reported that the church in Tirana hosted a short-term mission campaign again in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sadete reported that twenty-one teachers taught eighty-five Albanian students over a period of seven weeks. August 2, 2022 marked the 30th birthday of the church in Tirana. Many of the teachers in the picture below had taught in summer missions again and again through the last thirty years. Praise God.
On November 30, Marcella Bailey reported that she had just received a large number of photos of people being baptized by Bartholomayo in Aweil East, Rumawu, South Sudan.
Bartholomayo writes, “It’s my pleasure to share with you the results of our trip to Aweil East, Rumawu. We went there for four days of evangelism, and the trip was blessed with an additional 36 new souls. We removed grasses under a tree and worshiped with 93 people as the Church of Christ. We again came and met Malong Deng, [a WEI student of Marcella Bailey] and a WBS student in War Awr town on the way home. We had a Bible study with him, and he obeyed the gospel by baptism which makes a total of 37 baptized on our trip.” Marcella says concerning Bartholomayo, “God has given him a special talent, and he is using it to bring many, many souls to Christ.”
Recently, Marcella reported that Bartholomayo had called to let her know that he had baptized another one of her students.
She writes, “The young man is James Bol Bol. I am pleased that he is one of my students. God has answered my prayer when I asked him to ‘lead me to some soul today’ and ‘teach me Lord, just what to say.’ Only with the help of God have I had study sessions with him [James Bol Bol], and he has now made the most important decision of his life. I am thrilled beyond words”
INVITATION
We invite you to include WEI in your church budget
planning for 2023. Please join us in a concerted effort
to lead the whole world to Christ.
After graduating from the Singapore branch of Sunset School of Preaching, Arthur Tatara returned to his home in Papua New Guinea. Since then, he has taught WEI materials in high schools and at Melanesian Bible College in the city of Lae.
As a dynamic young preacher, churches in northern PNG are looking to Author to serve as a mentor and role model for young people inside and outside the church.
Arthur writes, “It is a great pressure to be a mentor for future generation of PNG. I went to Bugandi Secondary School with my nephew (who is a medical student), and I shared truths about faith and works in James 2:14-21. My nephew shared about life in the university. Keep me in your prayers.”
WEI-India, in partnership with the McDermott Church of Christ in Plano, Texas started the new year off with a bang by sponsoring the International Teachers’ Conference in Vijayawada, India on January 9th. One hundred and two people from India and the USA assembled for seven hours, ate lunch together, and listened to four well-known church leaders speak, one by one.
Prabhu Kumar, Director of WEI-India, writes, “This is a great incident that God has done in my lifetime.”
W.E.I. THANKS ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
The contributions and donations you provide
allow WEI to continue to reach people in all
nations with the word of God.
Honorariums and Memorials
Allen, Lee & Jan
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Art & Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
Langley, Tom & Angie
In Memory of Bobby Fesmire
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Arvle Fleeman
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Betty Foister
Adams, John & Ginger
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Art & Bonnie
In Memory of Harold Gentry
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
In Memory of Harold Hailey
Hailey, Margaret
In Memory of Harold Haislip
Floyd, Virginia
In Memory of Clarence Heaton
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Jean Hicks
Allen, Lee & Jan
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Walt, Teresa
In Memory of Lela Mae
“Johnny” Higgins
Biszmaier, Bill & Mary
Robinson, Lois
In Memory of Violet Hindman
Edwards, Art & Bonnie
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Mrs. Hallie Ann
Holmes
Holmes, Greg & Laurie
In Memory Of Ruth Horis
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Chris Houser
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Scott Isbelle
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Mike Lane
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Art & Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
Langley, Tom & Angie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of William Langley
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Joyce Lewis
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Donnie Lynn
Blanks, Julia Ann
Langley, Tom & Angie
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Teresa
McClanahan
Allen, Lee & Jan
Blanks, Julia Ann
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Walt, Teresa
In Memory of Priscilla Millard
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Langley, Tom & Angie
In Memory of Barbara Jean
Mohundro
Manchester, Anna
In Memory of Bill Morgan
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Rochelle Wallin
Powers
Griffin, Jim & Diane
In Memory of Larry Raburn
Raburn, Shirley
In Memory of Harold Richey
Bodine, Gary & Brenda
In Memory of Jim Sentell
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of David Wayne
Shelton
Tate, Jean
In Memory of Paul Shirley
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of John T. Smithson
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Osalene Smithson
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Suzanne Blanks
Snow
Blanks, Julia Ann
In Memory of Van Tate
Tate, Jean
In Memory of Bill Van Horn
Van Horn, Bev
In Memory of C.W. & Louise
Whitten
Carden, Robert & Virginia
In Memory of Dub Wingfield
Griffin, Jim & Diane
In Memory of Mildred Winstead
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Charlotte Wood
Biszmaier, Bill & Mary
In Memory of Paul Yates
Allen, Lee & Jan
