“]A Seventh-day Adventist student missionary who was teaching at the Adventist school on the Pacific island of Yap was found dead on Wednesday, the victim of an apparent homicide off the school’s campus, church leaders said.

Kirsten Elisabeth Wolcott, originally from Laneview, Virginia in the United States, had reportedly gone jogging alone before morning classes and did not return, church leaders said. Her body was later found in a wooded area with stab wounds.

Police have made an arrest in connection with Wolcott’s death, said Louis Torres, president of the church’s Guam-Micronesia Mission. He and other church leaders from the church’s regional administrative headquarters took the one-hour commercial flight from Guam to Yap Wednesday evening to assess the tragedy affecting the school and provide grief support for other teachers.

“This is a difficult situation for the school, the mission and the Island of Yap,” Torres said. “The police officer said nothing like this has ever taken place in the past to a visitor.”

Classes are suspended for now and a memorial service was held Friday for Wolcott, who taught second grade.

“This is devastating news, not only for the family but for the school and the Adventist Church,” said Homer Trecartin, associate secretary for the Adventist world church and director of Adventist Volunteer Service.

Left for Hyderabad on Oct 26, 2009 to meet Phil a 73 year old man coming to help at Miryalaguda school with evangelism and construction.  The taxi to the airport came 30 minutes late to our home to pick me up plus he had to gas up on the way.  So stopping at a service station which had the lights off, the driver proceeded to shout and finally had to go shake the man to awaken him.  The tank was filled with petrol and we were on our way.  I verbalized my concern for the taxi driver being late and arriving at my home with an empty tank of Gas.  He wanted to know what time my flight was and I would only tell him he was 45 minutes late. So at 5:30 am with light traffic, I think we broke the speed limits getting to the airport on time.

From Bangalore to Hyderabad was a one hour flight.  I purchased some supplies for the school and then went to bed early. At 2 am I was at the airport to meet Phil.  We then drove for 3 1/2 hours to the school.  Looked over the progress and then was on my way back to Hyderabad arriving at 8 pm.  We had lots of traffic to weave in and out of and an exhaust to inhale.  Left for Calcutta (Kolkatta) in the morning and arrived at the office at 2 pm.  Found the guest room and then headed to a restaurant for something to eat.  After lunch I slept and when I woke up a couple of hours later was happily surprised to see Mr. Chuck.  Chuck is the one supervising the construction of our school on the Sunderban Islands.  I had brought him a hammer drill with some bits and we discussed the project.  Click Here so see the floor plans.

I met Chris at the Hyderabad airport at 2:20 am on Oct 7, 2009. He had come to volunteer as a helper at our school and was so excited to be back in India. However, all the way to the school at Miryalaguda he kept telling me about a lady he had been seeing who always invited him over for food and how nice and cordial she was to him. I thought to myself, “very interesting. Why would a guy come to India and leave such a lady behind? Oh, well, I guess time will tell.”

Before the day was over we had purchased for him 10 cases of water, set him up with a mosquito net, and a bed, outlined work for him before heading back to Hyderabad. The round trip by road from Hyderabad to Miryalaguda was a 7 hour journey. I had hoped to be home in Hosur that evening with my Brenda but was not able to travel until the following evening. So EARLY the next morning I went to visit our school at Zaheerabad, another 7 hour journey. A Canadian group is sponsoring the construction of a Cafeteria and girls dormitory there. I was pleased with the progress of the construction work and we took a few pictures to send to the donor. Right now the Cafeteria is being used as a dormitory and the dorm should be ready by the end of November.

The next morning I was back in Hosur. After being home for a few days, Chris phoned me and said he was home sick and wanted to return to USA. I really think it was a case of Love Sickness. While there he installed a clothes line 7.5 feet off the groud, I think he was floating on cloud 7.

BUC News: Newsflash (23 October 2009)

Dear Friends,

This morning I was notified by my friends in Pakistan that armed Taliban fighters entered the campus of Pakistan Adventist Seminary and College (where I had been president for eight years). The district and local police arrived and closed down the campus. Everyone was given only 30 minutes to leave. Hundreds of students and faculty and staff fled with only what they could carry in their hands. Most of the students went to their homes but many who lived in the cities of Quetta, Peshawar, and other areas could not go home because those places are no longer safe. Those students went to Adventpura near Lahore where the Union office is located. Many faculty went there as well.

Yesterday the Taliban attacked the National University in Islamabad where several were killed and many wounded. The Taliban say that they will mount Attacks against all schools in the country until the government removes the troops from the border areas with Afghanistan. It appears that our college was the next on the Taliban’s list. Fortunately, God’s hand was over the students and faculty as we have no reports of any being killed. The district police are on the campus and the army is searching the area for the Taliban. In any case, the college and seminary are closed until further notice. This afternoon all the schools in Pakistan were closed.

My friends, the situation in Pakistan and many other parts of the world are most serious. We must stay close to the Lord and pray for these dear people and for ourselves.

Below is a notice which came from our church office in England regarding the Pakistan Adventist Seminary and College.

George Babcock

Email Newsletter of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland

PAKISTAN ADVENTIST SEMINARY UNDER ATTACK

[FRIDAY 23 October] Reports just in indicate that the Seventh-day Adventist Seminary and College at Farooqabad, near Lahore has come under attack by six Taliban fighters. Aftab Barki, accounts clerk at the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists based in Watford, England, has been in contact with his father who is head of security at the college. He reports that thankfully the police and army intelligence were able to give staff prior warning of the attack allowing students and staff to be evacuated from the campus. Pastor Petras Bahadur, one of our SEC ministers is also closely monitoring the situation. His brother, Pastor Pervaiz Bahadur currently serves as Vice President for Academic affairs at the seminary and college.

The situation remains critical and prayers are being requested on behalf of the students and staff. The staff are currently working closely with the security forces.

For more information on the Campus itself visit: http://www.pasc.edu.pk/about.htm

Victor Hulbert

Communication Director,

British Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

When you see these things. . .”

Whole villages were flattened or washed away after four tsunamis hit in rapid succession in the South Pacific region of Samoa and Tonga after a killer earthquake measuring 8.3. Death and destruction were everywhere. In rapid succession there has been massive unprecedented destruction in the Philippines as a wave of typhoons has hit that area causing millions of homes to be destroyed or damaged. More than a million people are homeless. Again, more destruction is seen in Indonesia after an 8.0 earthquake hit the area collapsing thousands of buildings and homes causing death and destruction everywhere. … Read more

Pastor Bill Tucker,

Quiet Hour Ministries president and speaker

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Jamaica, an open door for evangelism: After years of encouragement and support, God has opened every possible door for Quiet Hour Ministries — by request of the church in Jamaica we will be holding meetings in the city of Mandeville, from November 6 to 21, 2009.

As you read this message, Christians in Jamaica are preparing the harvest by inviting friends, family and neighbors to their Bible study programs and services. Here in the U.S. mission team members are collecting medicines and other supplies to take with us when we go. … Read more

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The Cruise and the Kodiak … Revelation 14:6 talks about the sight of another angel “flying in the midst of heaven…” with a gospel for those that dwell on the earth, regardless of culture or geography.

Quiet Hour Ministries is an invited guest on the Morning Song eStore Caribbean Cruise. The highlight includes a group of artists used to the hustle and bustle of travel – rushing through airports… the typical challenges of planes, trains and automobile rentals. … Read more

September 25, 2009 my wife and I headed for Erode, Tamil Nadu. For several years brother Moses had invited us to come to his school of nursing, where some of our workers & pastors children and other poor young people have been trained to become nurses with minimal tuition fees, but we were never able to do so until that evening.

Now on that particular night we were to be at the train station by 23:55, O clock. The instructions were that when the train came into the station we were to count the bogies and ours would be number S-6. Each bogie holds about 60 people and we were to find Moses’ son in Bogie # S-6 who would have our tickets in hand and would help us find our place of lodging on the train.

I did not have the name of the train, nor a train ticket, and the question in my mind was could I find the compartment (Bogie Number S-6) with the gentleman who had made arrangements and was to meet us on the platform having boarded the train in Bangalore.

At the enquiry window I asked the clerk what the name of the train was that would be heading to Erode from Bangalore at 23:55 O’ clock. He indicated that it would be on platform # 2 on the other side of the station. It was scheduled to arrive on time but would only wait about 2 minutes to have passengers board.

Up over the trestle we went with our baggage to the other side, found a place to sit down and waited for the train. As the train came into the station I began counting the bogies and when I got to number S-6 I saw a young man stick his head out the doorway and say “Hello Pastor Robinson”. Now that was music to my ears. But the train just kept on going.

It finally came to a stop a LONG ways down the track. We began HURRYING down the platform while Moses’ son jumped off the train and ran to help us with the luggage. The conductor was telling us to quickly jump on the train or get left, so we hopped on at the nearest door.

To read more stories from this Children’s Magazine Click Here.

Larissa and Rosette live in the tiny country of Burundi in eastern Africa. [Locate Burundi on a map.] Larissa is 8 years old, and Rosette is 7. The girls live near each other and are best friends.

Larissa’s Invitation

Larissa and her family are Adventists. One day while the girls were playing together, Larissa’s mother called her to come into the house for family worship. Larissa looked at Rosette and said, “Come on! It’s time for worship!” Rosette followed Larissa into the house. The family sang a song about Jesus, then Mother read a Bible story and they all prayed.

“I liked Larissa’s family worship,” Rosette says. “My family doesn’t have worship together, and I wanted to worship with Larissa’s family again.”

Come to Sabbath School

“Then Larissa invited me to Sabbath School,” Rosette says. “I told my parents about Larissa’s family worship. I told them that Larissa wanted me to go to Sabbath School with her. I’m so glad that they said I could go. I love Sabbath School!”

Rosette has been attending church with Larissa for three years now. “I really like Sabbath School,” Rosette says. “I like the songs we sing and the Bible stories that we hear. We also memorize Bible texts, and I like learning those too.”

Rosette often told her mother about what she was learning in Sabbath School. Sometimes she recites the Bible texts that she’s learned, and sometimes she sings the songs she has learned in church. Her mother listened as Rosette talked about the fun things she did in Sabbath School. Rosette even liked the worship service that followed Sabbath School.

Life is so busy and life is but a moment in passing it seems. While attending a Camp-Meeting in West Virginia I noted in a restaurant a sign which read. “Every old man looks at his life and says, How in the World Did I get here?” Here I am 67 years old and enjoying my work tremendously. One of my favorite physicians friends, age 92, told me I should come home and spend the rest of my life in a more convenient environment. Less risk to health I suppose.

After graduating from Oregon State University my employment placement advisor looked at my past employment record and flat out told me I would never be satisfied with any job here in USA.

While on furlough at my home in Sutherlin, Oregon. I ate supper with Jack and His wife Ellen. I normally just invite myself over and they add water to the soup. At the time of leaving Jack presented me with two flashlights. The reason he gave them to me was so that I could give them to some small child and make them smile. It was a one cell flashlight with a small light in front and a tube on the end like a florescent. One of the tubes was blue and the other red. I put them both into one of the suitcases along with other purchases. They are quite small and could fit in most any corner. I assumed they cost one or two dollars each. I never dreamt though how important they would be on our journey home.

We arrived in India at midnight and by the time we cleared customs and were ready to leave on our two 1/2 hour journey home, it was already 1:30 am. Immediately the sky opened up and we were welcomed with a rain storm. Therefore the journey home was a bit slower.

It would seem that, at that time in the morning there would be light traffic. However, in India they are now restricting truck traffic in and out of the cities, so the large lories are driving the roads at night. On the main road it is just one continuous line of them.

You may have been hearing more rumblings recently regarding the validity of the Creation Week as recorded in the book of Genesis. This year is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin.

AWR believes that God created the world in six literal days, using the same creative power that Jesus Christ uses to transform people today and will use to recreate the earth in the future. And as our story demonstrates, God is still transforming people using interesting means to do so.

“Creation Leads Evolutionist to Believe in God”

Andrey had been an atheist since he was a child. That’s what nearly everyone was in communist Russia in those days. As he grew, he developed an interest in things of science. In school he was taught that humans evolved from lower forms of life. The earth and life on earth just “happened” to develop by a series of random events over many millions of years. Evolution was considered fact, as it continues to be in many parts of the world today.

One day, when Andrey was about 18 years old, he obtained a radio and began listening to it. By “chance,” he says, he heard a program that was talking about the creation of the world. It was the Voice of Hope program broadcast by Adventist World Radio. It caught his interest, and he continued to listen intently to the series of broadcasts on creation. He had never heard of the concept of the creation of this world by someone called God, especially in six literal days.

Islam’s View of the Bible

I have often been asked, “What does Christianity have to offer Muslims?”

I can only report from my own experience and from personally witnessing the effects on thousands of others that have come to Christ from Islam through our ministry. By far, the most expressed benefits are peace and joy – which are direct results of salvation. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John 14:27 (KJ): “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

Muslims do not enjoy the assurance of salvation. I have heard the prayers of devout Muslims begging God to deliver them from torture in the grave and the fires of hell. Unlike Muslims, Christians have the assurance of salvation. For Christians it is a gift of Grace – Acts 16:31 (KJ): “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

When I accepted Christ as my Savior, my heart was filled with peace and joy. Now, one of the greatest rewards of my ministry is to hear the same expressions of peace and joy from thousands of Muslims who have come to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and His assurance of salvation.

The Qur’an vs. the Bible

According the Qur’an, the Scriptures of the Jews and Christians, the Bible, has been “corrupted.” In their view, the Qur’an is the “pure” word of God which explains for them the many ways in which the Qur’an differs from the Old and New Testaments.

For example, the Qur’an teaches that Jesus (or “‘Isa”) is only a human prophet, like Abraham or Moses, and is not divine. Abraham was called to sacrifice not Isaac, but Ishmael, from whom the Arabs claim descent. Thus, many Muslim governments, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, forbid the printing, importing and distribution of Bibles in order to keep their people ignorant of the Gospel and its Old Testament roots.

Muslim evangelists attempt to mislead those in the West by claiming commonalities between the Qur’an and the Bible while concealing their true views that the Bible is unreliable and has been changed over time. In fact, discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and early New Testament manuscripts prove the integrity of the Scriptures over thousands of years.

IAM’s “Bibles for Iran” ministry, as well as our pastoral call-in satellite TV show and Persian-language teaching materials, have opened the eyes of hundreds of thousands in Iran to Bible truths. Persian-language Bibles and New Testaments are available for purchase from the IAM web site for those in the West who would like to provide them to their Iranian friends and neighbors. We appreciate our wonderful donors who enable us to provide Bibles and New Testaments for seekers in Iran.

Radical Muslim finds Healing, Joy in Christ

Netherlands, Zari: If your Jesus is real…!

Zari, a fanatic Muslim woman who now resides in the Netherlands, called us a few months ago almost in a rage. “If your Jesus is who you are saying He is, then He has to heal my three-year-old granddaughter, ‘Kimiya’, who is suffering from seizures.” I began by trying to explain to her why she first needed to accept Jesus as her Savior. Before I could continue, she interrupted me by saying, “Jesus is only a good prophet.”

“Can I at least pray for you and your granddaughter since you called us?,” I asked. She agreed. After prayer, I challenged her to ask Jesus herself for Kimiya’s healing.

Last week, we received a call. One of our prayer counselors answered. “This lady insists on talking to you,” she said. I took the phone and heard a lady who was adoring Jesus and calling Him Lord and Savior. “Do you remember me?” she asked. “I apologize, your voice is very familiar but unfortunately I do not remember who you are,” I replied.

Then she began to tell me the story. With huge joy and excitment in her voice she said, “I am that fanatic Muslim woman who called you a few months ago for a healing prayer for. . .” Interrupting her, I exclaimed, “Oh, I remember! You called for your granddaughter, Kamiya.” “Yes, yes,” she said and and began to laugh.

“Jesus completely healed my granddaughter. He is not any longer a ‘good prophet’ for me but my Lord and my Savior,” Zari proclaimed with zeal and assurance in her voice. I answered her with a hearty, “Praise God!”

Zari continued, “My daughter-in-law, Kimiya’s mother, is expecting another child. Would you please pray with me for this new addition in our family so that the baby will not go though the same thing as Kimiya did?” Gladly, I agreed. I prayed with Zari who was very exuberant and expecting the Lord to grant her new grandchild radiant health.

Our counselors rejoiced in another Muslim finding salvation and answer to prayer through Christ.

(To protect new believers and their families, the names in our

testimonies have been changed.)

How You Can Help

We depend on the prayers and donations of those in the West to support our dear Iranian brothers and sisters in the East. New Iranian Christians face severe persecution every day. Your donations help us to bring Iranians to Christ, while stregthening the faith of new believers. With your help we can ensure the continuation of our 24-hour Christian satellite TV broadcasts into Iran, the delivery of Persian-language Bibles and New Testaments, the training of leaders and providing humanitarian relief. In addition to ministering to Iranians, IAM is using Iran as a gateway for spreading the Gospel to the whole Arab and Muslim world. Please prayerfully consider what you can do to support this ministry. We are sure that God will bless you many times over.

 

– Pastor Hormoz Shariat

President and Senior Pastor

International Antioch Ministries

www.iam-online.net

750 E. Arquez Avenue

Sunnyvale, CA 94085 USA

IAM is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax deductible.