Noah's Word of Life Bible Institute Year

Dear friends and family,

So far I’ve spent the last two months here at the Word of Life Bible Institute and have had many ministry opportunities as well as unique learning experiences. Word of Life is a unique one-year faith-based program that is divided into three different semesters (two school semesters and a summer ministry semester). During the school semesters, we go through the Bible a total of 3 times. We have two all-year-long classes (Old Testament-New Testament Literature and New Systematic Theology), and every week a new guest lecturer provides a new class on a specific book of the Bible or religious topic. We also have an all-year ministry that we get to be a part of. I get to be apart of the “Cross Cultural" Ministry. Cross Cultural Ministry is a ministry in which we go to different churches to help young people and children who speak different languages. I have visited multiple different churches, and recently I was able to visit a bilingual church that needed our help to distribute flyers for their event. We have opportunities to share our testimonies and share the message of the Gospel with them. It is a wonderful experience.

While at Word of Life, I received a lot of support from my peers, and they showed me what true love for others looks like. Fellowship and a community of loving one another is something so new to me, and I love it because we always put God first in everything we do. We support one another, as Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” And with discipleship, I have grown a lot in my spiritual life. I am being taught what my strengths and weaknesses are. During this time I have received several changes of heart, I have learned how to treat others better, and I have grown in my relationship with God. These months have been a great blessing for me and my peers. We continue to grow, and we continue to help each other every day in our weaknesses, with Christ accompanying us. God has given me the great opportunity to be here thanks to the constant prayers of my family and the efforts of my parents in the Dominican Republic. However, one of the limitations that we international students face is that we cannot work off-campus due to immigration regulations. This hinders my ability to generate income that allows me to support my parents from here, who already make great sacrifices to pay for my studies.

During the summer, I will be going through a total of 10 weeks of summer ministry. Two weeks will be focused on training for the summer. The two weeks are followed by eight weeks in which I will be putting everything I’ve learned into practice. I will be ministering to teens (years 12-18) from Sunday to Saturday for 5 weeks and young kids (years 6-12) from Sunday to Friday for 3 weeks. I am very excited to carry out the Lord's will for my life this year!

The Lord has used Word of Life to change my heart and be focused on the things of the Lord. Continue seeking His will, loving others above myself, and understanding the importance of my intimacy with God to be able to understand Him better. I say all this to inform you on how busy I am in the year and how I am unable to work. I am currently looking for financial donors and committed prayer supporters. Please consider praying about supporting me; any amount for donations is a blessing as well. My goal is to raise $10,000 by July of 2025. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and putting consideration into praying and supporting me financially. - Noah