Later, when she learned about the miraculous birth of Jesus, she mentioned to one of her friends that the baby was God’s Son. Her friend became very angry, and their friendship ended. Her teacher encouraged her to pray to the God of the Bible. She replied, “I felt my soul fly to heaven!” Then she added, “Now, when I know you and more about Christians, I love them more.”

Her teacher explained baptism to her. She replied, “I am afraid too much, but I have a plan to do it one day.”  Several times she mentioned her brother who she believes to be an extremist. “I want to be baptized, but it’s not easy. I need more thinking.”

Time passed. She continued doing her lessons, and her teacher kept explaining the importance of baptism. In August of last year, she wrote, “Mum, I am afraid.” The next day she wrote, “Mum, I am baptized! I have done it! Yes! My soul is free! But, please never leave me alone.”

For the next seven months the teacher did not hear from her. She did not know if she was dead or alive. Finally Rachael wrote that family members and friends had threatened her and told her not to study any more. “Mum, I swore to them that I am still Muslim. I am afraid. Am I guilty because I lied? Can God forgive me?” Her teacher asked if she could move to another city. After that, she did not hear from Rachael for six months.

A year after her baptism, Rachael converted her Muslim husband to Christianity. Somehow, they learned that her husband’s brother was a secret Christian, so the brother baptized her husband. The brother was attending a secret house church with about 20 people. They only had the book of Luke, but they met every Sunday to study the gospel of Luke, pray, and have the Lord’s Supper. They believe in baptism by immersion for forgiveness of sins. This is an indigenous church of Christ that rose up out of nothing with only part of the New Testament as its guide!

Rachael converted her father last year. She is working on other family members. It is not easy. She stayed with her mother-in-law recently while her husband traveled. The Muslim mother-in-law locked her in a bedroom the whole time and beat her declaring she had to return to Islam.

Recently, their indigenous congregation was forced by enemies of Christ to stop meeting. When it was discovered that her husband had left Islam to become a Christian, he lost his job. Though fearful of what additional persecution the future may hold, Rachael and her husband are determined to maintain their belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and to bear his name!

Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.

Editor’s Note:
Did you know that approximately one third of our WEI Internet students are Muslims and that many of them live in countries where it is a capital offense to convert from Islam to Christianity?

Even so, a million Muslims a year are converting to Christianity in North Africa alone. Many Muslims are disenchanted with radical Islam and are fed up with violence. The time is right for us to introduce them to the Prince of PEACE.
God is using WEI to teach people about Christ IN EVERY Islamic country in the world. Please help us reach out to them with the Good News about Christ. Include WEI in your church and/or personal budget.

 
Hindus Come To Christ in India

Brother Mike Hale, one of God’s great WEI Internet teachers, reports that fifty-three students have been baptized in India thus far this year. Most of them have come from Hindu backgrounds.

In April, Brother Abraham baptized two Hindu women in a sugar cane field at Borewell.

Bro. Abraham Baptizes Rani, a Hindu Woman

In May, Brother Parndhamaiah, baptized eight more WEI students.

The reports we receive from Prabhu Kumar, Director of WEI in India, are full of exciting news.

Buddhists Come to Christ in Cambodia

Julie Broyles spent her high school days in Southeast Asia during the 70’s while her parents were missionaries in Thailand. Now, she is a missionary in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Julie is the director of BEST Center (Bible English Study and Training Center) where dozens of Khmer students come to study WEI lessons Monday through Friday year-around. Teachers from America come and go throughout the year. These teachers live, eat, and teach at the Center, usually one month at a time. More teachers are needed. Khmer Christians help with the teaching, and dormitory space is provided at the center for some university students.

Dozens of Buddhists have come to Christ at BEST Center during the past few years. BEST Center students worship with the local Khmer congregation, and they meet for worship and fellowship at the BEST Center several times a week. Some of them continue their studies at the nearby SIBI preacher training school that is directed by Julie’s brother-in-law, Rich Dolan. Some of these preachers-in-training travel to nearby villages on weekends to preach and plant churches.

Two Khmer Buddhists have been baptized at BEST Center since our last newsletter went to press. In her May 6 blog, Julie wrote, “Add Vin Theary to those being saved! Praise God! It’s such a thrill to see a little soul snatched from Satan!
 
“Vin Theary came to live in the dorm here last October. I have seen her many times out on the balcony at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. reading her Bible. Awy [the BEST Center cook] currently teaches her during the day. Sreyleak [BEST Center secretary] taught her a few months while Awy was away from the center after the birth of her baby. Now, Try [the local Khmer preacher who helps teach at BEST] teaches her Bible/English during the day. Dara [one of BEST’s supervisors] teaches all the dorm kids in the evenings M-W each week. So exciting!”

A Happy Vin Theary Is Born Again

Testimony of a Muslim Convert

“Matthew,” a young college student in Yemen, had given up on Islam. Why? Let’s listen to him as he tells his own story.

“Everyone instinctively needs to love God and to live with love and peace, not with the hatred, fear, and racism of Islam.

“I know how it is to live without faith. It is like being lost in a stormy, dark ocean and not knowing who to call for help. But my heart never stopped searching for God. Then I found you! [his WEI teacher].”

As soon as Matthew read Isaiah’s prophecies of a divine king who would save the world, he knew he was reading something important. When he read about Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus the Son of God, he wrote, “Some people have great faith. I wish I could be like them and have the spark that gives people the strength to overcome all the evil in this world. This spark is from God.”

At this point, his teacher explained how God sent his Son Jesus to deliver us from sin and Satan. Matthew replied, “Your words were all I needed. Now I understand it, and I believe it. There is a war with Satan which I intend to win by following the Savior Jesus.

“The Al Qaida and Muslim Brotherhood are everywhere here. They won’t think twice before killing another Muslim if he doesn’t agree with them. However that has nothing to do with me. I will do the right thing. They don’t own my heart. How can someone be baptized?”

Christian Being Crucified in Yemen

When his teacher explained to him how to be immersed in baptism, he went to the beach that night, confessed his faith in Jesus, and was baptized for the forgiveness of his sins.

Afterward, he said to his teacher, “I felt an overwhelming sense of peace. It made me forget all the hardships of life’s road. It was a great moment, and I will never forget it!”

When he went home from his baptism, his mother sensed that there was something different about him, and she cried. She had thought he no longer believed in God. Now she sensed that he did. He prays that he can convert his mother.

His teacher gave him the Christian name “Matthew” which means “gift of the Lord.” Matthew said, “I like it.” Indeed, our new brother in Christ is a gift from God. He is a young single man attending a university with courage. We look for great things that this young man will do for the kingdom of God in a hostile environment.

Internet Ministry
 

Bob and Jan Towell

Three Internet teachers are now on short-term missions in Albania: Bob Patterson, Leon Haight (Fier) and Jo Huddleston (Tirana). They will recommend that their students continue to study via the Internet.

In addition to conversions behind the Quran Curtain, more and more Muslim students declare they believe Jesus is the Son of God but are still too fearful to make the final decision to become Christians. Changes in attitude are apparent. Complaints that we are not in God’s image because God doesn’t have a body, that God never got tired, so he didn’t need to rest on the seventh day, that all prophets were sinless, that God did not have a wife (Mary), and that God took Jesus to heaven without dying, etc., were once frequent, but not now. Effective teaching continues.

This quarter, several new teachers have started, but some have had to stop because of declining health, and one has died.

Clifford Yeldell had a missionary heart, having worked in Russia, Ghana, and Cameroon. As he taught on the website, he noticed the large number of Haitians, so he not only traveled there himself but persuaded Samuel Matthews, a preacher in St. Thomas, to go last year and work with Manius Vixamar in teaching denominational preachers and others. While there, Samuel also further taught Steve Foltz’s Internet student, Jean Gardy Joseph, and Manius baptized him.

Jean Gardy Joseph Is Baptized in Haiti

This spring, Clifford traveled to Haiti again, and was scheduled to go again when a fatal heart attack took him from us. Surely at the resurrection, he will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” ---Bob and Jan Towell

Short-term Missions

Tom, Angi, Brianna and Bianca

This is always a thrilling time of the year and the culmination of many months of recruiting and preparing teachers to go and teach the word of God in a one-on-one setting all over the world.

I want to share the backgrounds of some of our teachers who are teaching with me in Romania. They come from seven different states. Combined, these eight teachers will conduct over 660 hours of Bible study. Perhaps you will be encouraged to participate in this unique aspect of the WEI ministry. It’s a life-changing experience.
Mike and Diana Folkerts have now taught WEI in seven different countries of the world.

Coker Mayes, an elder and medical professional at the Tenth Street congregation in Opelika, Alabama, has participated in WEI short-term missions for nearly twenty years.

Tricia Leprettre, twenty-one years old, is experiencing her first trip out of the country, her first time to fly on an airplane, and her first WEI mission.

Dorothy Langley, my mother, is teaching WEI for the 14th year in the same location.

L to R: Diana & Mike Folkerts; Dorothy Langley;
Tricia Leprettre; & Coker Mayes

It is always encouraging and inspiring to serve with such dedicated Christians. We are also inspired by all of you who generously continue to support and pray for WEI. Please know that we are forever dedicated to Jesus’ Great Commission and to the spread of the gospel in a powerful way. We love you, and we thank you.

---Tom and Angie Langley
 

Maudine and Dick Ady

God’s people are caught up in the cosmic war between God and Satan. This conflict between good and evil has become increasingly obvious to me during the past month.

On June 2, Maudine and I celebrated our 59th wedding anniversary. Actually, I had shoulder replacement surgery on June 2, so we celebrated three days early by taking our daughter Debbie, her husband Dan, and our 12-year-old granddaughter Lisa to the Oregon coast.

Early Saturday morning, while the tide was out, Lisa said, “Bappa, let’s go climb the rocks.” (There were several large barnacle-covered rocks at the water’s edge.) So we walked down to the beach and started climbing the biggest rock. About halfway up, I lost my balance and tumbled backward landing on my hands and knees ten feet below. I jumped up and shouted, “I’m okay.” My hands were bleeding, but by the grace of God, I didn’t have a single bruise. Later, I thanked God for protecting me from major injury or death. Maudine thinks I have a host of guardian angels.

The following Friday night, while I was at home recovering from surgery, two men in a black SUV rounded the corner at high speed, ran through the church parking lot, went airborne, and plowed into the WEI office. The impact broke four concrete blocks, shattered a window frame, and left the east end of the building without electricity. The driver of the SUV was not insured. Now, Debbie is working at the WEI office by lamplight.

About that time, Oregon Lithoprint’s computers went down, and they lost most of the five books and covers that I sent to them last month. Some of these books are needed in short-term mission campaigns this summer. The printer is a month behind schedule, but it looks like the books will be available by the time they are needed in Europe. God has defeated Satan again.

Today, my right arm is still in a sling, and I am typing this newsletter at home with one finger. Yet, I am ahead of schedule.
Satan has hindered us at every turn, but God is stronger than Satan. To Him be the glory!

Thank you, dear friends, for your love, help, and encouragement. We love you.

---Dick and Maudine


Richard, Emily and Anna are Harding students participating in Harding’s “Go Program” by teaching WEI in Romania for four weeks. I have a feeling they will be teaching God’s word through WEI for many years to come. Richard, Emily, and Anna have done a WONDERFUL job and have been great ambassadors of Harding and God’s kingdom.

Harding Students Teach WEI Students in Romania

Student Saved From Brink of Atheism

Each WEI Bible lesson ends by asking the student, “What have you learned in this lesson that is especially meaningful to you.”

After studying the first lesson in the WEI Intermediate Bible Course, a student in the Philippines wrote: “I doubted the existence of God because I watched a video on YouTube about the theory of evolution. I was persuaded that the theory had more scientific evidence than the story of creation. My heart kept telling me that I should believe God, but my brain logically analyzed the facts. Since then, I have been standing on the line between believing that God really exists and accepting that God is not real.

“Having read this lesson, I feel so much better now—believing that I am not alone in this world, that God is always by my side, that he is real, and his promises are real. God existed, exists, and will always exist. I honestly feel secure and protected now. Thank you.”

Jan Towell concludes, “What an encouraging way to start a new study!”

How would you like to rescue someone from atheism? You can. Fill out the coupon above and sign up as an Internet teacher today.