Our Seventh School Year Has Begun!
It is so exciting to be back in school! On February 20, we kicked off our seventh school year for the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa. Currently, we have three full-time students enrolled in the program. Tuisamoa Papamau and John Nakabea are returning students. We have added Peter Lanyon. We expect all of these students to continue the excellent standard of past graduates of BIR.
So far this year, we have completed four courses. We currently operate on a three-week rotation schedule. We teach two courses at a time for three weeks – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each class involves 30 hours of in-class time. To date, I have taught two courses: Language Skills and Research (which focuses on some foundational principles like outlining, using library resources, and using digital resources for ministry) and Homiletics 1 (which focuses on how to develop sermons and preach). Brother Emosi has taught a text course on Life of Christ 2: Mark and Bobby Whippy has taught a text course on Prison Epistles. Next week, we will begin our next two courses with me teaching Intertestamental Period and Emosi teaching 1-2 Peter and Jude.
In addition to our full-time program, our Monday night program has started back up a couple of weeks ago. That program continues to be run by brother Emosi Sailo. Currently, Emosi is teaching a course on the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy). There are seven students taking that course, including a couple of new students who have never attended the night program!
On a more disappointing note, this year we were supposed to have had an international student join us from Pohnpei, Micronesia. The missionary in Pohnpei had been working with us for months to get a student to our program. Unfortunately, all of the travel arrangements fell apart at the last minute. There is no direct route from Pohnpei to Fiji, so travel between the two nations requires multiple layovers in various island nations. The problems began about a week and half before the student was schedule to leave for Fiji when Australia approved the student’s transit visa to travel through Australia but denied visas for his two young children without providing any reason for the rejection. After several days of trying without success to find answers, the missionary looked into alternative routes.
Ultimately, he was able to find an alternative flight route that bypassed Australia. Everything seemed fine until the night before the flight, when the missionary received an email from the airline informing him that one of the destinations had just passed a regulation a couple of weeks before requiring all transit passengers (even those who are not leaving the airport) over the age of 5 to be fully vaccinated for Covid-19. While the parents were vaccinated, the young children were not. It would have taken three or more months to meet the requirement. After scrambling at the last minute, it was decided that there was no feasible way for the family to get to Fiji to attend the school. We are so grateful for those who worked so hard to try to make this happen, and we are sorry that it did not work out. However, we remain confident that God is wiser than man, and we trust that there was a reason things did not work out.
Visiting BIR Teacher
Over the last three weeks, we were blessed to have Bobby Whippy visiting with the school. Bobby received his training attending a school in New Zealand for three years. Dad has known Bobby since he was teenager, and he first introduced me to Bobby more than eight years ago. During all of that time, Bobby has always shown himself to be a dedicated servant of the Lord. Dad had originally invited Bobby to come teach a course in 2021. Unfortunately, that trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. When the health issues came up with Mom, we were glad to invite Bobby to come and teach the course he was originally scheduled to teach two years ago. While here, Bobby taught a course on The Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). Bobby did a great job teaching for us!
A Special Note to Brag on Our Students
I want to take a moment to talk about the quality of our students. Over the past few weeks, I have been reminded about just how special our students are. This year, Brother Tui has volunteered to oversee the Sunday youth class and the youth activities for the year at the Raiwaqa congregation. In addition to that, he regularly leads singing on Sunday morning, is a part of the preaching rotation, and teaches a Wednesday night singing class once a month. Before Covid, Brother John had never preached or taught a Bible class. He is now a part of the regular preaching rotation, often volunteers to teach the adult Bible classes (which are done on weekly volunteer basis for Sundays and monthly for Wednesday nights), and helps with counting and recording the contribution each Sunday. This week, we are on a school break. When I drove past the church building on Monday, John was using his free time building benches because we are short on seating space. Brother Peter is currently attending one of the other congregations in the area, but on Sunday night he accepted an invite from the elders at Raiwaqa to come as a guest preacher.
I was recently surprised to learn that not one of our current students have completed a high school education (which is not uncommon for men in Fiji). Yet they continue to work hard at their studies while becoming more and more involved in the work of the church. Truthfully, they are some of the most active members in their congregations. The school is making a big difference in their lives, and we can see the real growth taking place in their preaching, teaching, and Christian service.