Every summer I look forward to going to Albania as a short-term missionary in July-August. One of the highlights of my journey is teaching precious souls the Good News of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In Tirana, Albania we offer free Summer Bible and English studies for six weeks with American teachers. It’s truly a blessing to sit across the table with your students, teaching them about our awesome God and loving Jesus, morning, afternoon, and evening.
My favorite highlight of traveling to Albania has become attending the third week of Albanian Christian Camp in Bunic. During this week, adult members and their children from Albanian churches of Christ are invited to spend time together in fellowship and worship. Our theme this summer was the Parables of Jesus shared from the book of Luke. We began each day with a devotional and ended each evening with a worship of praise and songs along with a lesson from a parable of Jesus.
During the week, I was blessed to share the good news of Jesus with several searching hearts. After a few hours of study, Skerdiana from Kucova decided she wanted to be baptized. Her father was baptized last summer at Bunec.
In addition to Skerdiana, six campers from the city of Korça—most of whom were participating in the camp for the very first time—decided to surrender to Christ immediately after the camp ended. Among them were two young sisters; a couple whose two children were baptized several years ago, a young man influenced by his girlfriend, and an elderly mother influenced by her son.
Albert and Jona Cepi, the couple who lead and serve the church in Korça, have been studying with these precious souls for several years. We contacted Albert and shared that several people at camp had made a decision to be baptized. They wanted to travel back to Korça so that family and church members could witness their baptism.
Due to several wanting to be baptized, Albert made the decision to move Sunday worship to Pogradec, and he took the entire church family in Korça via a bus to witness these precious baptisms.
On this incredible Lord’s Day morning, August 11, our awesome God blessed Albert and Jona with a WOW, WOW moment. Around 8:39 AM, Albert received a phone call from his mother. She told her loving son that she and his father had made the decision to be baptized today too. Albert, his two sisters, and many of us who love this family so much had prayed for this special day for years. What a great, wonderful, and glorious day! A day we will never forget. To God be glory.
O Happy Day when Jesus washed my sins away!
W.E.I. THANKS ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!
Your contributions and donations allow WEI to continue to reach people in all nations with the word of God.
WEI again partnered with Sunset International Bible Institute, Partners in Progress, and Healing Hands International to sponsor the European Vision Workshop. Missionaries and Evangelists from many countries met in Albania to spend three days together. There were two full days of classes, powerful lessons, singing, praying, and reports.
The time was so encouraging to all 120 individuals involved. Most of the churches represented use WEI materials and sponsor WEI short-term mission outreach efforts. It was unanimously decided by all involved to continue this encouraging workshop on an annual basis.
About twenty years ago, we ran an article in the WEI newsletter stating that the most exciting work that WEI was involved in was in partnership with Aniefiok Akpan at Rhema Christian Academy in Uruk Otong, Nigeria. Aniefiok was using WEI materials to teach English and the Bible at RCA, and he was baptizing high school students into Christ virtually every week.
At that time, all twelve grades were meeting under a circus-style tent. Since then, Aniefiok has been in a life-and-death struggle with Satanic forces. He and his family have suffered greatly, but God has sustained them and has blessed their ministry with amazing success.
Today, hundreds of Rhema Christian Academy students (K through 12) are packed into one multipurpose school building, and amazing things are happening. Dozens of students and parents have been baptized into Christ during the past year, and the church is bulging at the seams. Some members must sit on the walkway outside and listen through the windows. Despite these crowded conditions, the Campus Church of Christ is flourishing, and the community is taking notice.
Aniefiok says, “This year’s Rhema Graduation Ceremony was held on Thursday 25th July. The event featured prayers and presentation of gifts to the primary school graduating class, street rally to campaign for new intakes, miming and drama presentation, cultural dance, and the end of school year.”
The graduation ceremony at RCA was conducted in the school auditorium which was jam-packed with students and parents. The street rally was the most exciting part of graduation celebration. Led by the RCA drummers, the teachers and students marched through town hoping to attract more students to Rhema Christan Academy from the community.
If you are interested in a short-term mission experience, contact Tom Langley at tom@worldenglishinstitute.org for more information.
The most ingenious and effective outreach ministry sponsored by RCA and the Campus Church of Christ is the annual football (soccer) tournament.
Last year, young people (up to thirteen years of age) from thirteen villages around Uruk Otong formed four football teams and competed for the trophy. All players enrolled in WEI and studied the lessons for eight weeks during the tournament. The final football match was played on December 1, followed by a three-day World English Institute Youth Conference which resulted in thirty-six baptisms.
This year, five football teams from five villages have signed up to play. Aniefiok says, “Each team has 20 players and officials. The finals of the tournament will be played on the first day of this year’s World English Institute Youth Conference at Rhema Christian Academy in December.”
It is estimated that 1,000 people will attend this year’s WEI Youth Conference. Last year, 700 players, parents, and friends attended. If that many people come this year, the new, unfinished David & Lola Crouch school building will be used to accommodate them. The concrete floor has been poured, but the windows are still without glass. In a tropical climate, open windows can be a good thing when a building is packed with people.
Partnering with the Church of Christ Plants ministry and the Mekanisa Church of Christ in Addis Ababa, we hosted a reception for WEI students October 8th.
We sent invitations to our best WEI students from 2023 and 2024. Eighty WEI online students attended the reception, and over forty signed up for daily Bible classes with seven teachers.
One of the young men who signed up had also been studying with the Sunset International Bible Institute teacher in residence, Joe Boe. That week, Yohannes Adamasu made the all-important decision to put Christ on in baptism.
Yohannes, after graduating from the University, was finishing school to become a Catholic priest when he discovered the Church of Christ in Addis Ababa. Upon further study of God’s word, Yohannes changed the course of his life by following the New Testament scripture and becoming a member of God’s kingdom.
Four WEI online students named Chali, Yedata, Abdi, and Tsayaasye also decided to put Christ on in baptism after studying with our teachers. We praise God for all of these new brothers in Christ. We were greeted every day with warm handshakes and big, beautiful smiles. Several of our other WEI students informed their teachers that they plan to visit the Church of Christ Bible study and worship services.
We have been enthusiastically invited by the Mekanisa Church of Christ leaders to return. We are still receiving many Addis Ababa registrations and will consider a 2nd reception in the future–partnering again with the Church of Christ Plants ministry.
An Invitation: We invite you to, please, consider including WEI in your 2025 church budget and join us in a concerted effort to lead the whole world to Christ.
Arthur Tatara, a WEI teacher in Papua New Guinea, writes, “Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am excited to bring you the latest updates from our World English Institute PNG programs. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to this vital ministry.
“This year was a good year for me as I was able to teach the three booklets on Living for Jesus at Melanesian Bible College. The Bible College students are now on holiday.”
Although Melanesian Bible College is an interdonominational school, Authur preaches the gospel to students on Sunday in a small auditorium on the campus
“Next year, I will come back and teach them the booklets on Christian Evidences and Who Is God, Who Is Jesus, and The Spirit of God. Each December, Arthur directs a large youth camp somewhere in northeastern Papua New Guinea. This year’s youth encampment is sponsored by the Orouba Church of Christ in Waria Valley. In the past, Arthur has flown from to Lae to Waria Valley in about one hour. Unfortunately, the plane that he has flown on crashed. Arthur says, “I wouldn’t travel by boat because there is tribal conflict between two clans over criminal activity, and it’s not safe for me to travel by boat. I am planning to hire a car to travel from Lae to Bapi and then walk for three days to reach Orouba in Waria Valley, my home congregation. And yes, it will give me an opportunity to share the gospel along the way to my village.
Amazing! We complain when there is a bump in the road.
Ten months ago, Edwin E. Vicente moved to Tuguegarao City, Luzon Island, hoping to find a job, to start a new WEI Learning Center, and to plant a church. His job didn’t work out, but he found fertile soil for a WEI Learning Center and good prospects for planting a church.
Living on subsistence wages, Edwin acquired the use of an unused library/storage room in a local museum–free of charge except for utilities. There, he started a new WEI Learning Center. Little by little, the word got out, and young people flocked to him to learn English and the Bible. Now, he has thirty students, and he needs eighteen more chairs, but chairs cost $22 each, and he needs help.
Two of Edwin’s students have been baptized recently: Jhunmark Jevier and Henmark Ranay. Two more are ready for baptism.
Praise God for these New Births and those to come. Special thanks to Edwin’s son-in-law Aldren Lagahit for coming all the way from San Fernando City to help Edwin with Jhunmark’s baptism.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” – Romans 10:14
We named him Adam. Dr. Abraham took a chance and told his friend he was a Christian. Adam wanted to be a Christian too, but Muslims know about as much about Christianity as Christians know about Islam. So I fast-tracked him through the Intermediate course to pull him away from Satan’s grip.
Yesterday, Adam worked all night to do the last four lessons so he could be baptized today. He was terrified and trusted no one but Dr. Abraham. So, he traveled down from Kabul to Bamyam and arrived late last night. Today, we had another jail break. Adam escaped from Satan and is now under the protection of his Savior.
— Katheryn
What to do when Muslim students refer to God as Allah.
El, Allah, and Theos mean “God” in ancient Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek. How these words are defined affects their meaning, which can be correct or incorrect.
The Canaanites worshiped Baal as El. The Israelites, chosen people of God, worshiped Elohim as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true and living God who made the world and everything in it.
In Greek mythology, Theos was Zeus. The apostle Paul preached Jesus to the Greeks. He shattered their mythology when he corrected their theology. Theos (God) was defined as “God who made the world and everything in it. . . He is the Lord of heaven and earth . . .” (Acts 17:24).
Islam’s God is Allah, which is Arabic for God. But in Islam, Allah is not the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This makes a student’s use of Allah a serious problem when answering their WEI Thought Questions. Should we admonish a student and insist that they correct their answers? How can we help our Muslim students correct their misunderstanding about God?
Sample Question: In what ways are human beings like God?
Student answer: Humans are not made like Allah.
Response: We have many qualities that reflect the image of God, our Creator. We can be forgiving, merciful, loving, and giving. We are moral beings, unlike animals. These are spiritual qualities that show that we are made in God’s likeness.
Notice that I ignored the student’s use of Allah. I do not make it an issue. It will resolve itself as we study. Typically, they will see my continued reference to “God,” and soon, they follow my example.
YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED FOR W.E.I!!
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. Additional funds for printing and mailing these materials are needed.
Honorariums and Memorials
In Honor of Dick & Maudine Ady
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Honor of Lola Crouch
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Honor of Jim & Susan Fox
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Honor of Katheryn Haddad
Conley, Charles & Donna
In Honor of Henry Porter Jr.
Behne, Dean
In Honor of Jan Towell
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Carolyn Allsup
Adams, John & Ginger
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
White, Diane
In Memory of Bascom & Jimmye Allen
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Joy Bishop
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Glenn Burton
Adams, John & Ginger
Edwards, Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
Hafer, Jim & Lisa
White, Diane
In Memory of Wayland Byrd
Smith, Jim & Alice
In Memory of Alfred Chetham III
Eastman, Alma
In Memory of David Crouch
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Jeanie Cullom
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
White, Diane
In Memory of Janet Dale
Smith, Jim & Alice
In Memory of LaRhonda Davenport
Adams, John & Ginger
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Carol Ann Davis
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Joe & Ruth Downey
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Art Edwards
Allen, Lee & Jan
Snowbarger, Richard
In Memory of Jim Foster
Henry, Dan & Debbie
In Memory of Carolyn Sue France
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Jim Frost
Edwards, Bonnie
In Memory of Ernest Junior Gardner
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
In Memory of Sonny Greenwood
Edwards, Bonnie
In Memory of Carla Head
Adams, John & Ginger
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
White, Diane
In Memory of Bill Heckathorn
Adams, John & Ginger
Edwards, Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
In Memory of Doris Hendrix
Jewett, Wilma
In Memory of James Herring
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Johnnie Higgins
Smith, Jim & Alice
In Memory of Julie Hinds
Strobeck, Ken & Kay
In Memory of Fred Jewell
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Leon & Dottie Jordan
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Jimmy Kiles
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Evan Dean Lemon
White, Paula
In Memory of Jo Ann Long
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Geoff Martin
Allen, Lee & Jan
In Memory of Toimi Martikainen
Martikainen, Candie
In Memory of Bill & Mozelle Morgan
Allen, Lee & Jan
Byars, Woody & Gwen
In Memory of Ida Partlow
Partlow, Steve & Kalene
Smith, Jim & Alice
Yates, Michael & Sharon
In Memory of Ruth Phipps
Edwards, Bonnie
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
Samuels, Lawrence & Linda
White, Diane
In Memory of Larry Raburn
Raburn, Shirley
In Memory of Dale Scott
Edwards, Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Tommy Shaw
McClellan, Bruce & Brenda
In Memory of Joe Spencer
Adams, John & Ginger
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Gallaher, Roy & Carolyn
Jennings, Roger & Regina
White, Diane
In Memory of Enoch Thweatt
Baker, Max & Ann
Cox, Bernie & Myrene
In Memory of Margaret Tindell
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Bob Towell
Allen, Lee & Jan
Eastman, Alma
Towell, Jan
In Memory of Margaret Towell
Towell, Josephine
In Memory of Ronald Underwood
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
In Memory of Virgil Weare
Howell, Carolyn & Michael
Shuck, Charles
Tilley, Mr. & Mrs. Cecil
In Memory of C.W. & Louise Whitten
Carden, Robert & Virginia
In Memory of Camille Wilson
Adams, John & Ginger
Dean, Jerry & Brenda
Edwards, Bonnie
Harris, Randall & Judy
Jennings, Roger & Regina
Weime, William
White, Diane
