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We received a letter from one of our Seminary adjunct faculty members, Dr. Bill Gasser who is a military chaplain stationed in Kuwait. It got us thinking about how it is just one in a thousand different stories we can tell you about how Thanksgiving is spent overseas by our alumni and extended “family”…

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Nov. 23, 2008

Hello from Kuwait!

I’ve been in-country now for two weeks and I’m getting settled with the new time zone, climate, and culture.  At times the landscape looks and feels like some remote stretch of California desert… except that there are no mountains, most of the writing is in Arabic, and the drivers are more aggressive!  I spend most of my time at one camp but also work at several others so I do some traveling on Kuwait’s highway system each week.  The speed limit is 120 kph (75 miles per hour) but lots of people go faster, ride the bumper of the car they want to pass, and feel free to exit or enter the highway at high speed at any point without warning or regard to other vehicles.  The occasional goats, sheep, or camels that wander into traffic complete the picture.   

Camp life is pretty comfortable, even though we live in tents or other temporary structures.  Most of the work and living spaces are air conditioned during the day (and heated at night this time of year).  I’m part of a care team of chaplains and medical professionals assigned to the Warrior Transition Program.  Our task is to help prepare inbound troops to begin their tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then to get them ready to go home as their tours end.  It’s a pretty cool job!  I lead workshops, do counseling, and offer pastoral assistance for troops in motion.  Obviously there are many needs and many opportunities for ministry and I’m very excited about this open door to serve!

Our days start early and end late.  We typically work seven days a week, including Sundays (I can usually catch a Sunday evening worship service or an evening Bible study during the week).  As I mentioned, we work at several bases and camps across Kuwait and as our program continues to develop we anticipate broadening our work further to include sending teams to visit forward deployed units.  The troops we work with have remarkable commitment and great willingness to sacrifice and we are trying hard to serve their needs.  Each person on the care team and support staff honestly counts it a privilege to be a part of this important work. 

Keeping busy does make the time go a little faster.  It’s now been six weeks since I left Portland and I am missing Teri and the kids.  For most of my adult life I’ve left home for several weeks of military duty each year, but this time it’s different because it’s so much longer in duration and so much farther from home.  That’s an adjustment for us.  Like most people, we probably tended to take each other for granted when we were together every day.  Being gone like this is a reminder of how blessed we are to be with our loved ones every day.  Seems like the desert is a good place to gain perspective, maybe that’s why the Lord kept sending His people there? 

I’ll try to keep you posted with occasional e-mails like this.  I’d love to hear back from you as well.  I greatly appreciate the prayers of believers.  Please join me in asking God to comfort and care for my family each day that I’m away.  Please pray for me to be strengthened in body and spirit so that I may serve effectively as a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, and ask the Lord to keep opening doors of opportunity.  If you care to write to me, my personal e-mail is chaplaingasser@gmail.com.  I have access to e-mail most days unless I’m on the road.  A note for all you facebook users; sorry but I can’t log into facebook from my work computer so better to use e-mail if you want to get in touch.  Old fashioned postal mail works too, in fact you can send a letter to me with just a regular first class stamp if you use this address:  CDR Bill Gasser, CHC, USN; ECRC - WTP, Zone 6; Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, APOAE, 09366.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and may the Lord bless you,

Bill Gasser

p.s. - here’s a quick pic of me by my neighborhood, all our homes look just alike!

To All Of Our Alumni and Family Ministering Abroad This Thanksgiving - We Are Thankful For You!

Good News… Deadline Extended:
Multnomah University’s Link: Short-term Missions is now open for Alumni applicants who wish to go on a missions trip during Spring Break or Summer 2009. In addition, the application deadline has been moved so Alumni have ample opportunity to submit their applications. Here is the updated information:

Details:
Download this pdf for more details on each of the trips, including the cost per person.

Get Involved:
If you are a current student, alumni, faculty or staff member, or have any other ties with Multnomah, you are eligible to apply for one of these trips. To apply, you must complete the following:
1. Download the application packet
2. Fill out your portion of the application
3. Have your pastor and a friend fill out the reference forms
4. Submit the completed packet by November 14, 2008

For those who are accepted, there are a few mandatory team meetings
- November 20, 2008 (all teams)
- March 7 (Spring break team)
- April 25 (Summer teams)
- Other meetings will be scheduled by the individual teams

In an exciting new development, Multnomah University has organized several missions trips for spring break and summer of 2009. Each trip will be lead by various Multnomah University faculty and staff members who will take groups to assist Multnomah Alumni who are currently missionaries in the field.

Here are this year’s opportunities:

Spring Break:
Colombia

Summer:
Germany
Israel
Papua
Philippines
Rwanda
Scotland
Slovenia
Trinidad

Details:
Download this pdf for more details on each of these trips, including the cost per person.

Get Involved:
If you are a current student, alumni, faculty or staff member, or have any other ties with Multnomah, you are eligible to apply for one of these trips. To apply, you must complete the following:
1. Download the application packet
2. Fill out your portion of the application
3. Have your pastor and a friend fill out the reference forms
4. Submit the completed packet by October 31, 2008

For those who are accepted, there are a few mandatory team meetings
- November 20, 2008 (all teams)
- March 7 (Spring break team)
- April 25 (Summer teams)
- Other meetings will be scheduled by the individual teams

Please keep in mind that this is intended as an educational and life-changing experience, primarily for Multnomah University’s student body. If a trip is filling up, preference will be given to student applicants.

Multnomah professors Tom and Bonnie Kopp recently returned from a two-week trip to Asia with Norm and Muriel Cook. On their trip, they visited South Korea, China, Thailand, and Taiwan and connected with various ministries, Multnomah alumni, and some of the Cook’s friends from the time they spent doing missions work there.

Here’s what Tom had to say about their trip:

The passion to reach the world for Christ that we witnessed among Asian believers was memorable indeed, especially in light of the immense religious, political, & social challenges they face in their countries. Because existing churches are growing and new kinds of churches are being structured, an educated and experienced assistance from believers worldwide is desired and invited. We were particularly delighted that Multnomah was directly asked to send people for a variety of meaningful short-term internship and strategic long-term ministry options. We’ve already asked the Lord to send more Multnomah individuals into Asia in the coming months, and will continue to do so!

This is a wonderful opportunity for God to continue to expand Multnomah’s ministry around the world for His kingdom. Please join the Kopps as they pray for representatives of Multnomah to minister in Asia.

During their travels, the Kopps also took many photographs. This is just a taste of what they saw and experienced (I wish I could post more photos than what you see here). Enjoy!

Multnomah has been in existence since Valentines Day, 1936. Since then – like many other colleges – we’ve been known by many names starting with “Multnomah School of the Bible” to “Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary” to the latest (and most likely last) “Multnomah University.”

The Conundrum
After 72 years, many people still call us by many different names…so we wondered how best to inform the community about who we are and what we stand for…and definitely what to call us. We have done many of the typical letters, advertising, news stories and other promotions…

But it just didn’t seem to “hit the spot”…

Letting Our Hands, Hearts, and Feet Do the Talking
We heard that Luis Palau (Alum, 1961) was coming back home to Portland and that his Luis Palau Association (LPA) was putting on CityFest 2008 for the Portland-Metro-SW Washington region.

So, we decided to jump on as their first major sponsor, and provide as much support for the Season of Service and CityFest 2008 weekend as possible. Not only will our “Multnomah University” name and logo get out to hundreds of thousands of people – but our vast base of students, alumni, donors, faculty, staff, and friends can have many ways to SHOW what we’re all about with THEIR hands, hearts, and feet!

The YOU in YOU-niversity
YOU are the ones who tell folks what we’re about! Multnomah is YOURS, afterall. YOU do it better than any type of promotion or advertising ever could!

• Students volunteering can earn ministry credit
• Alumni’s PDX chapter event at CityFest
• Decision counselor training is open to the public
• Volunteers working with kids, maintenance, and support
• Volunteers running various Season of Service activities
• Putting out signs, stickers, and getting your church involved
• Join our alumni during a “call party” to get other volunteers committed

Evangelizing to folks who actually WANT to know more about Jesus – it’s a brilliant plan!
And who better to do it than a Biblically trained - Multnomah affiliated - committed follower of Christ?

Oh yeah, you don’t have to be an Alumnus to participate…students, employees, donors, friends, and community members are all welcome!

Get Involved
Contact the Alumni Department:

• 1.877.9ALUMNI
• alumni@multnomah.edu