"We need you here at Harvard."

Imagine you are visiting a friend at Harvard and, on a whim, knock on the door of the dean's office, talk with him for 15 minutes about your interest in a Masters degree and then hear him say those words.

The words thrilled, overwhelmed and woo-hoo came to mind when Nahum told us this story. It happened to him at the Ibero-Americana University, one of the top-two schools in the country... and the most expensive.

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----- Tim and Nahum goofing off in 2000--------- Nahum, Vero & Annette in Argentina '03

I'm pretty sure you've heard us mention Nahum before. We've been investing our lives in him for the last 9 years and he's almost like a son to us. Besides being a youth leader, he's also worked with us as a course developer for 6 years and we meet every Monday for a time of mentoring.

But, the story gets even better. Nahum told us that the professor he'd been talking with asked tosee an example of the animated classes he'd created. Nahum had knocked on the man's office simply wanting know what courses and scholarship possibilities were available so he was not prepared with a résumé. Remembering that some of his interactive classes were on our website, he said, "I don't have any recent classes, but a few that I created more than three years ago are online. Would you be interested in seeing one?" Together they went through one of the classes. Nahum played the role of tour guide, explaining the educational principles and learning styles that we'd taught him to incorporate into online courses. After seeing the class and hearing Nahum's exposition, the professor - who happened to be the chair of the department of education - said, "Nahum, we need you here."

Nahum teaching a group teens how to create animations in 1999

He called another professor into the office and they immediately began strategizing about how to get Nahum into the program. "Can you afford to the tuition?" they asked. Nahum told them honestly that he couldn't. They groaned and told him that scholarships were nearly impossible to obtain. The university only offers three 30% scholarships and these are shared among all the masters programs. The professors told him they'd see what they could do.

That very day Nahum came by the house and told us what had happened. I was overwhelmed with emotion realizing how God had granted our hearts' desire. He multiplied the impact of our work in such a way that these online course not only provided training for youth leaders, and not only provided a few years of income for Nahum and his family, but also gave him marketable skills that would open doors for him.

It turns out those professors somehow found a scholarship for Nahum, and not just 30% but a 50% scholarship, something unheard of.

This August he started his master's degree in Education, Research and Technology. He's loving it and his grades reflect that. His part of the monthly tuition is US$300, a real challenge, but it motivates him to give priority to his work with us in the midst of his many activities (wink).