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Building Nears Completion
According to a recent report from Erik Qirjaqi and Artan Xhaferi, the
construction of the multi-purpose building in Tirana is right on schedule,
and the building should be completed by mid-June—in time for a WEI
short-term mission effort.
The construction work is nearly finished. The doors and windows are being
installed, and much of the painting has been done. Sixty percent of the
electrical work has been completed. Plumbing fixtures will be added as soon
as a sewer pipe can be laid and city officials are satisfied that the new
pipe will handle six restrooms. Please pray that permission will soon be
granted and that the building can be finished in time for the summer
campaign.
New Building Looking Northwest
The building will be debt-free from the
beginning. Funds were already in the bank before construction began. Thanks
to Erik Qirjaqi, who is a construction engineer by profession, the cost has
been held down and the quality has remained high.
The new building will house the Tirana Church of Christ, WEI, and
International Bible Institute of Albania. NationsUniversity students also
will be able to study there and take their proctored tests. People will be
taught and baptized there. Christians will worship the Lord there and study
the Bible there and enjoy Christian fellowship. Preachers, Bible teachers,
and church leaders will be trained there, and God will be glorified
This is a time for rejoicing!
Matching Funds for Furniture
At the time of this writing, we only need an additional $21,000 to furnish
the building with tables, chairs, computers, bookcases, desks, appliances, a
baptistery, and other items.
A California couple involved in teaching WEI students and in supporting WEI
financially has offered to match donations up to $10,500 earmarked for
furniture and equipment. In other words, every $100 you give will be matched
with another $100. When we raise the matching $10,500, we will have enough
money to completely equip the building.
Here is an opportunity for you to stretch your dollars and double their
impact in the kingdom of God. Make your checks to “WEI/Building Fund.”
As someone has wisely said, “We can’t take it with us, but we can send it on
ahead.”
Accolades from a Romanian Preacher
For many years, Frank and Telula Thornton have been involved with the church
in Timisoara, Romania where Nicolae Codrea serves as minister.
In a recent email, Telula wrote, “Nicolae and Rodica Codrea from Timisoara,
Romania are visiting with us in Hartselle, Alabama. He often recounts how he
responded to a WEI ad in a Romanian newspaper prior to the Romanian
Revolution and thus become a Christian.”
Nicolae in Front of Timisoara Church Building
“Needless to say, we are all enjoying
their company. Thank you for allowing the Lord to work through you in
developing WEI.”
More Good News from Crete
In our last Update, we reported that Mike Hale’s email student, John Adesoye,
had been baptized by Dino Roussos in Athens, Greece. Prior to his baptism,
John had been the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Crete. Now, he is
teaching his congregation what he has learned and baptizing many of them.
Recently, John wrote to Mike Hale saying, “This last Sunday was a blessed
day for us. We had seven preachers who came to minister to us. We heard
great preaching. We were encouraged to forget things that are behind us and
to look forward. There was great joy among the brethren.
“More students are enrolling to WEI. The books were not enough to give to
the entire students last Sunday. I hope that when the package shall arrive,
all the students can have their copies.
“Mike, when I see the eagerness the people have to get their WEI lessons, I
think of you. Many today are benefited from what I received from you.”
Your brother in Crete, John
Tom Knuckels Comments
Tom Knuckels, one of the seven preachers who worshiped with the new church
in Crete, writes, “I was able to travel to Athens, Greece with a group of
ministers from Central Texas. While in Athens, we visited with Dino Roussos
and his wife, Debbie. They told us John’s story and how he came from Nigeria
to Crete to work for Panasonic Corp. Unsatisfied with denominationalism, he
searched the Internet for information about the New Testament church and
eventually studied with WEI and Mike Hale of Georgetown, Texas. John has
nothing but gratitude for WEI and Mike and the truth he has been taught.
“Our group had already planned to visit Crete on Sunday. As the Lord would
have it, we were able to worship with our new brother and others who had
been recently baptized. I sincerely believe that John is dedicated to the
restoration of New Testament Christianity.”
Larry Foster, John Adesoye, & Tom Knuckels in Crete
A New Birth
in Nairobi, Kenya
On April 25, we received the following email from Nkurunziza Jean de La Paix:
“I am writing to let you know about a baptism which took place today. The
new believer is Iyamuremye Esau Issa. He is 18 years old, and he is a
Rwandese living in Nairobi as a refugee.
“He has been a Muslim from his childhood. He is a brother to Rene Ibrahim
Issa whom I baptized on 15 May last year, and a son to Uwimana Regina that
was baptized on 18 August last year. He enrolled in WEI three weeks ago.”
During the past year, Jean has taught and baptized dozens of WEI students in
Nairobi.
Praise God for Nkurunziza Jean de La Paix and for missionaries Ted and
Martha Ogle.
Two New
Christians in Durrës
Alfred Zike, minister of the new congregation in the Beach Area south of
Durrës, writes, “We rejoice and sing praises to our heavenly Father. Today,
May 6, 2007, two new souls were added to His church by being baptized into
Christ whom they confessed before the brethren at Adriatic Durres Church of
Christ in the Beach Area. Their names are Alexander Xoxi and Valbona Cani.
Praise the Lord!
.JPG)
Alfred Baptizes Valbona in Adriatic Sea
Six New
Christians in Liberia
John Travis writes, “I am happy to inform you of the success of the
just-ended workshop/seminar. “We had six baptisms, one of which is a WEI
student.”
Pray for Little Nancy
Aniefiok and Etang Akpan, faithful servants of God in Southeastern Nigeria,
have asked us to pray for their little daughter, Nancy, who is recovering
from malaria.
Etang, Nancy, and Aniefiok Akpan
Brother Akpan is using WEI to spread the Good News
about Christ throughout Nigeria and beyond. He writes, “I had been looking
for effective tools that would enable me to reach out to the folks of
Nigeria and other African countries with the gospel. WEI is God’s timely
answer to that prayer. For me, WEI is the best available resource for
evangelism that meets the needs of the Nigerian youths.
“WEI is a blessing to our work. The English has the power to attract many to
study the Bible.
“I am happy to inform you that we have registered over 120 people to study
with us using the WEI Bible and English lessons. Some of these people are
pastors in denominational churches. They like both the English and Bible
courses. It gives us the opportunity to talk about Christ and the Bible all
the time.”
Beginner’s English Course
Tom Langley writes, “As WEI grows and expands, our material continues to
expand as well. Dick Ady has written a very good and effective curriculum
designed for beginning English students.
“We now have testimonies from several students who began WEI in the
beginner’s course, continued to the basic course, and are now speaking,
reading, and writing English. More importantly, they have become baptized
believers.
“This course has been used effectively by both foreign missionaries and
locally in ESL ministries. If you are interested in learning more, please
contact one of our offices.”
“A Man Possessed”
Bob and Jan Towell are doing a great job as directors of the WEI Internet
Ministry.
Recently, Jan said, “To whom it may concern: We have created a monster here.
He is like a man possessed.” Signed: “His wife, and still glad of it.”
Bob Towell is, indeed, a man possessed by the Spirit of God. He writes, “I
want to brag a little about WEI’s outreach. WEI has sent its Introductory
Lesson, the story of the prodigal son, to people in 190 of the world’s 195
nations. Approximately 99.3 % of the world’s people live in these 190
nations. The only large nation that WEI has not reached is North Korea. WEI
is a proven way to ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all
nations.’ And it is a way that even old people, like Jan and me, can teach
the good news outside the USA.”
Praise God for Bob and Jan Towell and for their grandson, Jonathan, who is
developing a new teaching web site for students all over the world.
Tom & Angie
Langley
Summer is quickly approaching, and our house is buzzing with excitement. The
girls are looking forward to summer break from school, Christian camps, and
fun in the sun activities. Angie is looking forward to a break from home
schooling and to working in the flower and vegetable gardens.
I’m very excited about the summer’s short-term
missions. Nine mission sites will host WEI teaching teams in Europe alone.
Some sites will have no more than two teachers, and some sites will have
more than twenty-five. I hope to teach in at least two of these sites and
visit a few others to help and encourage.
“I’m always impressed and inspired by our teachers’ knowledge and
willingness to share the truth of God’s word with their students, and to
help other teachers who receive very difficult questions from their
students. Recently, one student’s faith was being seriously challenged by
his Muslim friends. They were trying to convince him that the Bible contains
many contradictions. The teacher asked for help in answering some of the
student’s questions, so Jan Towell sent out a request to all of our email
teachers. God bless you good teachers!
This ministry would not be possible without you, and many thousands would
not know God’s true plan and path to salvation. The student was more than
satisfied with these answers, and his young and tender faith was renewed.
We were so blessed to recently grant many WEI short-term mission teachers
some partial funds to help in their mission. Our newly established WEI-STM
grant has been an enormous blessing to those teachers as they go about the
difficult task of raising funds. If you are interested in donating to this
worthwhile grant, please contact our Maryville office. We must replenish the
account if we hope to help others in the future.
Angie and I are also very thankful for your continued prayerful and
financial support of the Maryville office. We love and appreciate you all.
---Tom and Angie
Dick & Maudine Ady
It is a joy to share some of the exciting things that God is doing through
WEI worldwide. Each Update is a condensed version of reports that come to us
from students and fellow-workers.
For example, DF and PG are preaching and
teaching in the Middle East and are baptizing people by the scores. Ninety
souls were baptized in UAE last year, and thirteen have been born again thus
far in 2007. The church in Dubai now has 167 members. We have numerous
pictures of people being baptized in the heart of Islam, but we can’t
publish them without putting people in jeopardy.
We just received notice from a brother in the Middle East saying, “PT and I
are communicating with a man in Amman, Jordan hoping that he will do some
translation work for us and help us get the World English Institute Bible
studies advertised. He is very excited about helping.”
One WEI teacher writes, “I don’t know if I told you, but the student in
Syria who studied WEI improved his TOEFL score from the high 400’s to about
600. He credits the help he got from WEI.”
DF writes, “I think Iran and Iraq are countries of special interest since
they show an extra amount of interest in Christianity compared to others. PT
and I cruise the pen pal sites meeting people by location and corresponding.
”
God is working powerfully in Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Oman (where eight people have been baptized), United Arab Emirates,
and other parts of the Middle East. Praise the Lord.
We are happy to report that Enoch Thweatt is healing nicely from his recent
heart surgery and that he and Jeannine are planning to conduct another WEI
campaign in Taiwan.
Maudine and feel tremendously blessed by God and fortunate to be working
with people like you. Thank you, dear friends and fellow-workers, for
supporting us with your prayers and partnering with us financially. May God
bless and reward you.
With deep love and gratitude,
---Dick and Maudine
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