Owen December Prayer Letter

Dear Friends and Mission Partners,

Merry Christmas!! As we celebrate the advent of Jesus Christ; God come to earth as a human being, now seated at the right hand of the Father and ready to return to earth to set things right; we remind you that He has called us to be the image of God in the world as well. Our mission is to make disciples and that takes time devoted to relationship. Joyce and I have been in Micronesia now for over 31 years. We have raised our children here and now 4 of our grandchildren are here with us. We have seen multiple generations of students come through our classrooms and home. Through all of this God has enabled us to build relationships within the churches and communities of Guam and Micronesia. We are amazed at what God has done in our lives and what he has done through our lives through these relationships, and we are thankful for your relationship with us and the prayers, encouragement and support that have been part of God’s plan to make this happen.

We look back on a year which began with us receiving the 2015 Clyde Cook Missions Alumni award from Biola University along with Mike and Samantha (Joyce’s mom and dad received the Legacy Award). It was a blessing and honor for us and for all the people of Pacific Islands University and a testimony to the faithfulness of God over the years. It ended with us able to reconnect with our partners in Chuuk and resume classes there, which had been suspended for the last 6 years. In between all of this we have seen God work in the lives of our students in meaningful ways. For example I am so proud of Janny Palsis, my intern this semester, a single mom who has been working with me, and our church, to reach out to her community, who graduated this semester with a BA in Biblical Studies.

Ultimately it is all about connection: us connecting with God and, through our connections in the community, connecting others to Christ. This is why Jesus said that we will be known and shown as the people of God by our love and unity. Christmas is the season that we remember that God showed his love to us by becoming one of us and meeting our needs, and calls us to “go and do likewise.”

I would ask you to consider including PIU in your Christmas giving or becoming a “Rising Tide” partner of PIU. The Rising Tide Fund allows us to keep PIU affordable to a new generation of students by providing scholarship and operating funds to continue to hire local, non-missionary faculty and staff. We would appreciate your kind consideration of this opportunity to help us connect Jesus to more students. You can get more info about the Rising Tide fund here: http://piu.edu/make-a-donation.

We appreciate you very much. Thank you again for your support, prayers and encouragement.

Merry Christmas,

Dave and Joyce,

172 Kinney’s Drive, Mangilao, Guam, 96913