BIBLE INSTITUTE AT RAIWAQA, FIJI REPORT
17 February 2018
By: Rocco Hugh Pierce
Things are shaping up for a good year. School starts back on Monday the 19 of February 2018. We are looking forward to a great year. Debbie and I arrived back in Fiji on February 10th and have been very busy settling in and trying to get ready for the coming school year.
We have two new international students enrolled for the 2018 school year. Alphonsus comes to us from the Solomon Islands. He brings with him his wife, and two children ages 9 and 5. Alphonsus has been preaching for the Honiara Church of Christ and comes to us highly recommended by Rod Kyle, a missionary to the Solomon Islands. We have been busy helping him to find a place to live and started the process for his student visa.
Our second new student comes to us from the island nation of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, Asher, is a single man in his fifties and an active leader in the church in Pohnpei. Debbie and I are headed to Nadi this weekend to pick him up from the airport, along with Wayne Parker, the missionary to Pohnpei who is traveling with him.
We should have 7 returning students from last year. We also expect to have 2 students readmitted to the program that had to drop out last year due to family or personal issues. All total, we are looking at 11 students for our first term of 2018.
In this first term, I will be teaching three classes: The Sermon on the Mount, Congregational Development, and Beginning Greek. Jason will teach, Old Testament Prophets 1, General Epistles, and Christian Evidences. The subjects this year are upper division and may serve as a bit of challenge for our students, especially those who are entering the program this year. I know our students would appreciate your prayers!
I just got word from Healing Hands International, that our books for our library have been picked up from their warehouse in Nashville, for their journey to a sea port in the U.S.A (either New Orleans, San Francisco, or Los Angeles). The shipment contains nearly 2,000 pounds of books in 72 boxes. Cargo ships leave the U.S. every two weeks heading for Fiji. Once the books are stowed in the cargo hold of the ship, it will take another 45 days for the transpacific voyage. Hopefully, they will arrive by the end of April or 1st of May. Our students are very excited about having access to the resources that these books will provide.
We are so grateful to God for the opportunity to serve in this work. We are also thankful to Bear Valley for their support and encouragement. We appreciate the dedication of our students to learning Gods word. Truly, God has been gracious!