© 2022 Joanne Strobel
© 2022 Urantia Foundation
| The Cultural Advisory Council Welcomes Colombia | Volume 16, Issue 4, Oct. 2022 — Index | Sharing The Urantia Book |
By Joanne Strobel, executive director of Urantia Book International School, Georgia, United States
Just as Urantia Foundation grows translations out of love for the revelation, trustee Georges Michelson-Dupont has spent the last 22 years cultivating an online education program. Urantia Book Internet School (UBIS) recently updated its name while retaining the familiar acronym. With courses now presented in seven languages, the program has earned the moniker of Urantia Book International School!
Our September trimester opened with three additional languages. Translator Cseh Gábor is presenting a Hungarian version of “Jesus the Master Teacher.”
Portuguese branch manager Geraldo Nunes de Queiroz passed the baton to Jorge Lauri Mörschbächer so he can focus on offering courses in German. His initial offering is “Der Universale Vater.” Urantia Foundation’s Cultural Advisory Council representative Krystyna Wardega-Piasecka is facilitating a Polish version of her course, “Machiventa Melchizedek and the Notable Legacy of His Mission.”
When reviewing the evolution of UBIS over the past two decades, I inevitably turn to the analogy of a growing tree because it describes the multifaceted process of many successful programs. A seed is planted, the soil is watered and nourished, and the emerging sapling is tended. Trees grow both downward, through the roots and shoots, and upward, through the stem, branches, and leaves. Feeder roots draw nourishing water and mineral salts from the earth. The sun provides energy which fuels the processes necessary for survival. It is an intricate and elaborate system, and each aspect is essential to growth.
There is also something about a tree that resonates with a powerful and reassuring combination of security and expansion. Across the globe, and throughout history, trees have been used to depict life and growth. They are often considered representative of wisdom, power, and prosperity. People plant trees as living memorials of departed loved ones.
From the seed of an email correspondence school, the emerging web-based UBIS sapling kept steady pace with internet technology, tempered by readers’ comfort and familiarity with it. Slow growth evolved the school into a maturing specimen with a sturdy trunk of Englishlanguage staff and students, three substantial branches of Spanish-, French-, and Portuguese-speaking students and staff, and three budding twigs of new languages. Its roots are firmly embedded, just as our work is grounded in the teachings of The Urantia Book.
Our UBIS tree is also evergreen. Three times a year, every year, up to 18 free courses are offered by trained teacher-facilitators and staff. The fruits of their labors are manifested as enthusiastic students from around the world step forward to be trained and mentored to create original courses and facilitate classes.
The entire ascendant plan of mortal progression is characterized by the practice of giving out to other beings new truth and experience just as soon as acquired. You work your way through the long school of Paradise attainment by serving as teachers to those pupils just behind you in the scale of progression. UB 30:3.9
Urantia Foundation is deeply grateful to the UBIS team of volunteers, who unselfishly share gifts of time, enthusiasm, and brotherhood with their fellow readers. Without these “soldiers of the circles” there would be no school.
If you are interested in becoming involved with UBIS, please write to me at joanne@urantia.org.
¶ References
| The Cultural Advisory Council Welcomes Colombia | Volume 16, Issue 4, Oct. 2022 — Index | Sharing The Urantia Book |