My apologies for letting almost an entire month pass since I last sent out a general update. I don’t know if I am getting lazy, or if there is nothing to report, or maybe we are just too busy to report all that is going on? I will let you decide. In any case, I will try to concisely get everyone back up to speed.
Classes have been in full swing at Waama now for several weeks and we are so blessed by a strong enrollment of over 60 students so far this year. In all reality, there is much to be encouraged about. At the time of my last update, the school board was preparing to meet and we had not yet officially begun teaching for the semester. We praise God for His had of blessing on that school board meeting – not only for the issues that were dealt with but also for our new Dean, Pastor Zakaria Dallei, who seems to be doing all he can to lead the school with faithfulness and humility. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.
Ben and I are also very excited about the classes that we have been assigned to teach this semester. We both teach English and Computer to a selection of first, second, and third-year students. In addition to these, Ben is teaching Philippians and History of the Bible to the first-year students and I am teaching Evangelism to the third-year students. I think more than any class I have ever taught, I am enjoying this Evangelism class. Ben, too, has been thriving on his classes and his spiritual gifting as a teacher especially shows through in his History of the Bible class.
By way of a very practical item of praise, God seems to be doing what I previously thought to be impossible by bringing electricity to the school!! When I returned to the U.S. for break this past summer, I honestly saw no indication that Waama would ever get electricity. This was because the cost of simply running the power lines to our campus was more than the school could ever hope to afford (to say nothing of the necessary expense of bringing all the interior wiring on campus up to standard). Upon our return at the end of September, however, we found out that Waama was somehow able to get the attention of someone in government who was able to successfully designate “electricity for Waama” as a government project. This means that they agreed to finance the running of power lines to the school (previously estimated at US$70,000.00 or more) and requiring that the school is now only responsible for taking care of upgrading the interior wiring. The task of upgrading the interior wiring is still a significant project but we all feel that there is at least some light at the end of the tunnel.
Some of you may be aware I made trip to Dubai this past week to do some work for my previous employer, LEKTRO, Inc. This was a huge blessing not only for its financial aspect but especially because I was able to spend the week working again with my good friend, Eric Paulson. It also offered a good opportunity for drastic change of pace from village life. I praise God not only for his hand on the work that we did in Dubai but also for His blessing at Waama while I was away. Ben was gracious to cover for me both in Computer class as well as English and I was able to arrange for a guest teacher to come while I was away and give some special classes to my Evangelism students on “How to Share the Gospel with Muslims.”
The weekend prior to my trip to Dubai, I am also happy to report that we made a trip to the regional Immigrations Office to begin the renewal process for our residency permits which will expire in the middle of January. God seemed to really give us favor with the officials and we hope to have the new permit stamped in our passports by the 5th or 6th of January. We are requesting a two-year renewal but are seeking God with regards to whether or not this will be our last year here at Waama. Please pray with us about this as well.
As a final prayer request, please pray with us as we have an outreach event including a Jesus Film showing scheduled for this coming Friday in the village of Kainam. We will be doing this event in an area where there is an evangelist working on planting a new church and we hope to give him a boost in his efforts.
Thank you all for your faithful support and continual prayers as we work in this part of the world. God is doing good things and as Thanksgiving is celebrated this coming Thursday, we especially thank God for His love shown through each of you!
God bless you all!
In Christ,
Jesse Long
