Owen Prayer Letter June 2012

This is the prayer letter I just sent to our supporting churches…

Another school year has already gone by (I am turning back into dust faster and faster it seems) and we were blessed to graduate 27 students on May 7th, including three with a Master of Arts in Religion, 3 with an Associate of Arts in Biblical Studies and 21 with a Bachelor's degree in Biblical Studies. These graduates will going on to grad school, beginning ministries in churches as pastors (some have already been pastoring churches as students), youth pastors and children's workers, and starting jobs as school teachers in the public and private schools throughout the islands, working in government and business and many other things. We had an enjoyable, though financially tight year and are very thankful for the way God provided to get us through the school year with a short staff and faculty. We are excited about the new Bible translation emphasis in our Bible program and our new relationships with TITIP school in Papua (we have 6 students from Papua now) and with the SIL Isles of the Sea Group. We are truly blessed with the people that we work with, and Joyce and I both enjoy the ministry God has called us to in Micronesia. It is hard to believe that we have been out here since 1984 and have now been missionaries with Liebenzell USA for 28 years. Many of you have been part of our prayer and financial support team for all of that time and we are very thankful for you. We are very thankful for all of you who make it possible for us to be here in ministry full time.

Here are a few prayer requests as we head into summer ministry....

1. Summer Programs At PIU: This summer PIU is teaching several summer classes on campus and on line. The first summer session has already started and another session will begin in July. I am teaching two seminary courses. One is Old Testament Theology and I am doing an individual study with a student on New Testament Theology. This coming week we will begin the PIU 8-week summer remedial sessions. We will be offering these 4 classes: speaking and listening, reading, writing and study skills tuition free to serve the community. We had hoped that a local grant would fund these classes but we found out yesterday that we would not get the grant. We still believe God would like us to offer these classes so we are moving forward on faith to do that. We are hoping to get some donations to fund the materials ($10 per student per class) and the outings ($80 per student for the summer) so that finances are not a barrier to any student who wants to come. Michael Owen and Joey Charles will be teaching the classes.
2. Owen Personal Financial Support: Since 2002 Joyce and I have been fully supported to minister at PIU through Liebenzell Mission USA. PIU does not pay us one penny for what we do here. We have been so blessed that we have had 10 years of adequate support but, because some of our support team has died or gone through hard times, our support has gone below the break-even level and we will probably go into the red in our account with Liebenzell Mission by the end of this year. It will be very difficult for us to get away from our ministry at PIU to raise support so we would ask for your prayers on this. We would also that you might prayerfully consider becoming a financial supporter of our ministry or increasing present support if God so enables and leads. For information on how to support us please email me at dowen@piu.edu or click here to get info or to donate to us on line. We appreciate it.
3. PIU Summer Ministry Trips: You can read a lot about the two PIU groups doing ministry this summer in Yap and in Susanville California in the blog posts below. We have 10 students in Yap right now helping the Yap Evangelical Church with VBS, youth ministry, evangelism and Bible studies. One student Kita Mokut is working with the Susanville Baptist Church with women's and children's ministries. Please pray for them that God will make their ministries fruitful and will overcome the spiritual warfare they are experiencing.
4. Grants for PIU: I mentioned above that we had missed out one grant already this summer. We have about 5 grant applications in right now (private and government) to seek funding for much needed items such as administrator salaries, seminary scholarships, Bible Translation scholarships and for improvements on our buildings and property (paving a road and parking lot is one urgent need). In addition we are needing donors for our Rising Tide program which helps fund PIU yearly regular operations. Our students pay less than 1/3 of what it actually costs us to educate them and so we ask you to pray that God will supply the resources necessary to make Christian education accessible to the people of Guam and Micronesia.
5. New Applicants: We have more new applications in process than we have ever had in the history of the school. Please pray for the applicants that they are able to get all their testing done, paperwork in and everything done to get accepted and on campus in August. Please pray for us that we have wisdom in accepting and placing students. Our goal is to have 120 students enrolled for the Fall semester.
6. Family: Finally please pray for our dads. Both my dad and Joyce's dad have been experiencing some health problems this summer and we would ask prayer for them. It may be necessary for us to go to California this summer to spend some time there (not that we don't want to do that but it is hard to get away from PIU) and we need wisdom and provision for that.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayer and support for the ministry God has given us in Guam and Micronesia.

From Kita’s PIU Ministry in Susanville California

Below is a recent post from PIU student Kita Mokut who is ministering this summer at the 1st Baptist Church of Susanville California. The church there in Susanville has large Palauan and Chuukese congregations within it, and Kita is working with the already extensive ministries among the Micronesians there to provide some much needed help to the leadership of those ministries.For more about her and other summer ministries see here.

“Something crazy but amazing just happened here in my white-Parents' home :D A girl whom I do not know very much showed up for Bible Study last Monday was moved & touched by a praise I shared...Today, she wrote to me saying she wanted to see me...(she had questions for me)... I called her up and she came over today at 4 something... well at 4:30 May 30, 2012, She accepted Jesus into her life! Believe it or not, she is a daughter of the KING!!!! She broke down, & prayed on her own, accepting the LORD into her life! She will be returning to AZ tomorrow afternoon, please keep her in your prayers. She prays and hope to find a home Church & Christian friends in AZ... God thank u for YOUR WORD and for preparing me for this great opportunity today. Protect Kimberly Ruda and lead her in the life you now want her to live for you. TO JESUS FOR JESUS!”

PIU Yap Ministry Team Day - 9

Guest post by PIU Yap Team Student Leader Josh Ladd

Today was a interesting day for our team, but a very good one. Last night as our team was meeting together in the church here, there were several strange noises and loud banging sounds coming from on top of the YEC church. There were also sounds of coughing coming from the back of the church, but nobody was there. As a couple of us stayed back to pray later on the sounds got more intense and it sounded like people were walking around the church quickly outside, but once again there was nobody there. Pretty much, long-story short, we believe that our team has been under a lot of spiritual attack lately from stories like last night as well as some other really weird stuff that has happened to a couple of our team members. So this morning our team met together and shared some of what we have been experiencing. We also talked to Pastor Asael and he came and shared about the seriousness of spiritual warfare here on Yap. Our team then read a bit of scripture together, such as Ephesians 1 and 2, talking about how Christ has been raised and seated above all rule and authority with believers having been raised and seated with Him. We also read Colossians 1 which affirms that Jesus is the creator, sustainer, and reason for all things created - including all powers and spiritual authorities.

After this our team went and did a prayer walk around where both our girls and guys are staying. We also prayed for Pastor Asael's house, the YEC church, and the youth center where the youth retreat and VBS will take place. It was a very special time together and I believe it opened our eyes to a lot of things that we need to be watching for.

Many Christians today are doubtful concerning spirits and demons. All I can say is that both from Scripture and from multiple experiences of missionaries here in the islands it is very clear that there is a kingdom of darkness in opposition to God's Kingdom. It is also very clear however that Jesus has been given complete authority by the Father and no spirit or demon has any power outside of His control. We are so thankful to have King Jesus protecting us and watching over us here in Yap.

Here are some prayer requests for our team today:

1. Now that our eyes have been opened to some of the spiritual attack we are under, please pray that we will be very serious about prayer and reliance upon the Lord in all of our ministry. Pray that we will guard our hearts very carefully.
2. Pray that our team will continue to be protected from division and that the love of Jesus will be shown in every thought and action. Pray that the people here in Yap will see this love in all that we do.
3. Pray for the Bible study that was started yesterday - that more people will continue to come and be involved in God's word. It was awesome to see one of the guys come to Bible study for the first time who is not involved in any youth or church activities. Some of our team has known him for over a year now.
4. Continue to pray that God will bring more local girls for the girls on our team to minister too. He has already been answering our prayers in that area by bringing two new lady friends into our lives which is awesome, but we still desire to see more come.
5. Tonight Jesse Hartt will be leading Bible Study in the village of Tomil. Pray for him as he speaks and that the people will clearly understand and will be grown.
6. Davie Welle will be preaching at 3 services this Sunday (PMF Outer Islander service, Chuukese service, and English service) and I will be preaching at the Colonia Yapese service. Please pray for us as we prepare our messages as well as for the people who will hear the Word of God. Pray for our team as well because we will be doing songs, a skit, and Grace Neth will be doing a testimony. Another thing to pray for concerning the English church service specifically is that some of our friends who we hang out with here will come to the service. Several of them came last week who would not usually come if we were not involved in the service.

I know this is a lot to read and pray for, but there is quite a lot going on right now with our team. God has placed us in several ministries here, and I believe that He is using us to make an impact that Satan is not too happy about. We continue to need your prayers every day and we are soo soo grateful for everyone who is faithfully lifting us up. God bless you all!!

PIU Yap Ministry Team

Here is a post from Josh Ladd, the student leader of the PIU Yap ministry team. The team left Guam for Yap this past week and will be there for 5 weeks working with the Yap Evangelical Church, especially focusing on youth and children’s ministry. We are praying for them and appreciate your prayers for the requests listed below.

Day 5 in Yap.

Thank you once again for all of our prayers. Jesse Hartt was able to give his message this morning at the church in the village of Maap here on Yap. He was translated into Yapese and did a very awesome job. His passage was Ezekiel 16, which is an oracle about Israel's unfaithfulness to God despite Him taking the nation from her ashes and brokenness and adorning her in beauty and splendor.

Our basketball sports ministry went well overall yesterday. We had some confusion from a lack of communication, but we were able to play both girls volleyball and guys basketball with a local team training for the upcoming Yap games. At halftime of the basketball game we performed a skit presenting the gospel message as answer to what is the purpose of life. It was a new experience to most of us, but a very good one. One of our prayer requests shared tonight in our team evaluation is for the courage to be more open in talking to people that we meet in these ministries. We will have many more opportunities as we continue to play in these sports ministries.

Tomorrow our team will be having a rest day to catch up on some much needed sleep. Here are some updated prayer requests for us:

1. Continue to pray for good health for our team and healing from all sickness
2. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to open up relational ministries for both guys and girls. (One of my favorite things about our team this year is the flexibility that we have. We are easily able to be divided into groups of 2 or 3 and make great relationships with the youth walking around where we are staying. However, this is still much more difficult for the girls to do simply because there are not youth who are girls walking around in the same way that young guys do.)
3. Continue to pray for unity for our team and openness between our team members to resolve conflict when it happens.
4. Please pray that God will provide for those here in Yap who are interested in attending PIU. (Our team brought 50 applications for PIU as well as a lot of other material. Filling out applications with the youth here also provides an excellent opportunity to share the gospel message when they get to the page that asks for their personal testimony.)
5. Finally, pray that our rest day tomorrow will be a very refreshing and restful day for us. And that we will be wise in how we use our time. We plan to have a rest day each week on the trip.

Japanese Cultural Dancing Show

  Last Sunday the Japanese School of Guam, where Joyce teaches English, held a cultural dancing program at the Guam Hilton Hotel to help raise funds for a new gym. (It was in the same room where Matt graduated from high school in 1998). Several of Joyce’s students performed in the program.

After the program Joyce poses with several of her students and her co-worker “Mrs. Smith” who put the program together

Avocados and Mangos!

Yes, we have avocados and mangos! Some (few) of them are from our own tree in the backyard but most were given to us by a friend. Last night we brought avocados over to the Collins’ house to have large portions of guacamole with our fajitas. We have been freezing the mangos and then blending them into smoothies for our nightly smoothie dinners. Fresh mango with frozen blueberries makes a great smoothie. Joyce is now peeling, bagging and freezing mangos so we should have enough for a couple weeks worth of smoothies. MMM! I am allergic to the blossoms but love the fruit.

PIU Signs Agreement with the SIL Pacific Group

Monday was another historic day in the development of PIU as we signed an agreement with the SIL Pacific Group to work with the Isles of the Sea project. The agreement was signed by (r-l) Nico Daams, Director of the Pacific Group of SIL, Mark Taber, Pacific Area Director for SIL and by me for PIU. The purpose of the agreement is to second SIL Pacific Group Members to PIU to be teachers in the new Bible Translation emphasis in the PIU Bachelors Degree in  of Biblical Studies program. The introduction of the agreement encapsulates the goals of this partnership...


SIL Pacific Group (PCG) and Pacific Islands University (PIU), hereby agree to work cooperatively for the following reasons and with expected benefit to both organizations:

• to build vision and capacity for Bible translation as a mission and ministry of the church
• to equip Pacific Islanders in the work of Bible translation
• to build vision among future church leaders for the importance of language in the spiritual growth of the church
• to build capacity so that Pacific Islanders can think theologically in their own language and context

The first teachers in the program will be Wycliffe translators Peter and Robin Knapp. Together with their sons Joshua and Joel they have moved to Micronesia, where they will teach linguistics and translation courses, and will be helping the Mwoakilloa people in translating the Bible in their own language. Their first courses will begin this Fall. In addition Isles of the Sea will be funding a scholarship for students in the Bible Translation emphasis at PIU.