Owen February Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,

We just finished taking communion together to conclude our Spring 2015 PIU “President’s Day of Prayer.” In the spring this day normally takes place right before our annual Board of Trustees Meeting. We want to go into that meeting with the board and administration bathed in prayer. But the prayer time included prayer for much more than the board and annual meeting. Mike led a time of worship in music mixed with prayers of adoration, praise, confession and commitment. The students, faculty and staff then gathered around me and prayed for me as a PIU family. We then divided into groups to pray for the school administration. Then the students were asked to gather around a faculty or staff person to pray for them after which the faculty member prayed for the students. Finally we prayed for our communities (Guam, Micronesia and the world) and for PIU’s and our own personal mission to each one. Communion then ended the service with trust in what Christ has done for us and commitment to the mission he has for us.

We are so thankful for your prayers. Even though we may be far away from one another, when we pray, we join each other in a very important ministry. This is why I am happy to share these requests with you so that you can pray along with us.

First, we would ask you to pray for our trip to Biola. Mike, Samantha and family will join Joyce and me at the Biola Alumni Awards Chapel to receive the Clyde Cook Missions Award. We are very thankful for this opportunity to talk about our ministry at PIU to this audience and are praying for some God-appointed contacts in the Biola community. We are also thankful that Joyce’s parents will be receiving the Biola legacy award at the same chapel. We are very thankful for the godly family and educational legacy we have inherited and are trying to build the same kind of thing at PIU.

Second, as we need to ask every spring, we would ask you to pray for our PIU finances. Because we try to make our school financially accessible to all students we rely on the contributions of God’s people to meet our budget. As we hit February the bottom line tells us that we need to raise $50,000-75,000 between now and June 30 to make our budget, pay our bills and take care of our students. Donations can be made to the PIU Rising Tide Fund at http://www.piu.edu/advancement/donation/ or by mail.

Third, we would ask for prayer for the people of Chuuk. There will be an independence vote on March 3^rd for the citizens of Chuuk. My main prayer for this is for God’s direction in this and that the church will stay united as they face this potentially divisive issue.

Fourth, please pray for the health of our staff and students. Several are struggling with infections, flus and other maladies. Joyce and I have both battled some minor health issues this semester.

Finally, we begin our spring recruiting effort for new students. For the coming year we will be lowering our tuition to make PIU even more accessible to local students. This is a real step of faith for us as we will need to increase our enrollment on the Guam campus to at least 100 students for the fall 2015 semester. We will be traveling all over Micronesia in March and April to recruit students and will make a big effort to recruit local students on Guam. We are hoping for 30 new local commuter students and enough students from the other islands to fill our dorms. Of course, this is not just about numbers. We would like to have the students that God is bringing to us. Our desire is to train the future leaders for the churches and communities of the Micronesian and Pacific region.

Thank you so much for your prayers. If you want to know more about our ministry or how you can be part of the PIU ministry please send me dowen@piu.edu or Joyce jowen@piu.edu an email or check out my blog at http://guamdaveo.blogspot.com/. We value your prayers. If you are in the Southern California area on February 27^th we will be at the Biola University Chapel. I, Dave will be at Woodstock Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday morning March 8^th. We’d love to see you.

Blessings,

Dave and Joyce

Pacific Islands University