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ATHENS MISSION BRIEFLY Athens International Bible Institute
rwallace@scrtc.com 001-30-210-894-5469 September 2004 |
Greetings From Athens, It’s hard to believe that we have been here for a couple months already. Since our last communication with you, Robin and I have been adjusting to a very new way of life. It was great knowing that everyone at home was able to get a good view of the Athens, Greece and its culture through the coverage of the Olympics. The Greek culture is quite unique and they are very proud of its uniqueness. Although, being the outsiders looking in, it would be easy to notice and dwell on the negative things (and there are a few). We keep in mind that normal in Greece is to be Greek. Every nuance of the Greek way of life is poles apart from the norm of which we are accustom. However, there is one thing that we can relate to easily. Despite the cultural oddities and the language difficulties, people are still people. That common denominator is where we relate and do communicate. The Para-Olympics begins this weekend. Athens deserves a gold medal for its great job in hosting the Games. We (and the residents here) were expecting chaos, but everything actually ran more smoothly than normal. Now everything is back to pandemonium. We were able to make it to a couple of the events after all. The shipment of our personal things finally arrived several days ago. Dino Tzanetos, the local evangelist, and I traveled in two cars (one his and another borrowed) to the port where they had been unloaded. It took about half a day to process the documents and paperwork. The bureaucratic system is an endless maze of desk clerks with a rubber stamp in one hand and a cigarette in the other. We were fortunate to have an inspector who apparently had an appreciation for why we were here. Dino explained to him that we were here from the states to work with the church, teaching the Bible. He opened one box and signed the papers. Normally, they go through everything. He didn’t charge us a cent of tax. I only had to pay for the process fee. Once again, it seems the providential hand of God was with us. Somehow we packed 21 boxes into two cars with no room to spare. Unpacking was like unwrapping Christmas presents. Robin has everything in its new place and I have my modest library in my office. In our last Newsletter we mentioned that Robin’s mother had undergone open-heart surgery. We are grateful to report that she is doing great. We want to express our thanks to all of you who prayed for her. She was very impressed when we informed her of how many were concerned for her. This lifted her spirits and ours. We want to thank everyone who has sent cards, letters and email. Keep it coming. When the mailman comes riding on his little motor scooter, we listen to hear if he stops. It’s always a joy to hear from you back home. We may not always be able to respond, but we are very grateful. Do send us a church bulletin from time to time. AIBI News Yesterday, we started the new term with an Orientation Program. Since we arrived in July, I have been working very hard to build on the good foundation that has been laid. With the Stamatis completing their work here, I have been given the role of interim Dean of the school. With the direction of Sunset’s International Division, we have restructured the school schedule to become more in line with the other Branch Schools around the world. AIBI is just one of many in the Branch School Program that is quickly covering the globe. The Orientation Program was to re-enforce school policy and introduce a few new ones, as well as being the official start of my role here. The students are eager to get started with their new courses, which will begin next Saturday morning. It looks like we will have a few new students, also. The visiting teacher for this term will be brother Doug Reeves. Doug is the assistant to the Director of the International Studies Division at Sunset. He will be here to assist me in teaching and also help me get things started on a good note administratively. He has experience having served as Dean for five years in the Donetsk, Ukraine Branch School. We are looking forward to having him here. He is due to arrive this week. He will be with us for one month. The courses I will be teaching for this term include a study of the book of Daniel, Romans and Effective Bible Study. The Effective Bible Study may be the most important course they receive here. It is the study of how to understand and interpret the Bible. Many of these students will not have the study tools we are accustom to accessing when they leave here. Bible concordances, Greek lexicons, commentaries if any, will not be at their disposal. So, we must structure this and all courses in view of how to use the Bible as it’s own study tool. The positive result is a heavy reliance on the word of God. But it takes a course like Effective Bible Study to lay the foundation to establish guidelines and objective rules that are absolute. One of our graduates, Philip Van Dijk, left for his home in South Africa last month. He will be working in a community where there is presently no church assembling. He and a relative of his are teaming together to establish a church. He now joins the growing number of graduates who are doing what the school is designed to produce. We are proud of each one presently on the field, from Eastern Europe to South Africa, but most of all we know Christ is being glorified. We have a special prayer request to make. One of our students, Isaac Osagie, a Nigerian, has suffered kidney failure. He has been in the hospital for more than a week and has been placed permanently on dialysis. We do not know what his future holds at the moment. He is a great man of faith. His spirit is good. He wants to come back to school so badly to study. Please remember Isaac as you pray. His family is in Nigeria. He came to find a way to make a living to support them. Now he doesn’t know what he will do. Having serious illness becomes more complicated when you away from loved ones. However, he says the family he has here in Christ gives him great comfort. The students and the church are doing a wonderful job caring for him. Finally Robin and I want to thank you for your prayerful and financial support, without which we could not be here. We would love to thank each one personally. But being afraid of leaving someone out, we want to thank all those who have taken time from your busy schedule to drop an encouraging word. Know that we do not take your generosity for granted. Know that you are in our prayers of thanksgiving very often. May God bless your efforts to spread the good news into the world beginning at home. Pressing On, Darrell and Robin |
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