Hi everybody!  We hope and pray you are well.  We’re changing our format for our regular letters – people have suggested a single topic, and a little shorter.  So, here goes. 

Prayer Changes Everything at UCU

At Uganda Christian University, we pray for everything. Every meeting includes prayer, and prayer is on the agenda for all important meetings, both opening and closing.  Minutes of all meetings even record who prayed – evidence that we did not skip it.  

The substance of the prayer is usually “Lord, guide us to do what you want us to do.”  We pray we will make wise decisions and use resources well.  In our closing prayers we request that ‘only those ideas pleasing to the Lord should be retained’ and anything else would just ‘fall away.’

Chiefly we pray that the University testify about God.  We seek direction to make it a place that brings glory to God. 

We pray for our students – those planning to come, already there, preparing for exams, and anticipating moving out to the world.  We pray also for our poorest students who cannot manage to find fees.

We pray about new ideas, programs, and initiatives.  In the early days of our time at UCU, Doug was asked to form an HIV/AIDS program.  After months, Doug finally gave it up to God, saying “I cannot do this; I don’t have time or energy.  If you want it done, find me time and energy, or find someone to do it.”  Two days later, a student who we had never met knocked on our door and volunteered to get HIV programs going.

We give thanks.  “Thank you Lord for bringing us safely back here for this meeting.”  “Thank you Lord for the students whom we are able to serve.”  “Thank you Lord for keeping the rain away for another graduation.” 

We seek forgiveness.  “Lord we have not done everything right in this situation, forgive us we pray.”   We make mistakes, and that is ok.

Who prays?  We are blessed with clergy and often joke that whoever is wearing their collar that day gets to pray.  Lay people like us also pray just as often.   Students often participate in important meetings, and are asked to pray.  

Our Vice Chancellor, Stephen Noll, will stop a meeting to offer a matter in prayer.  If we hear someone has a problem, no matter how important or ‘big’ the meeting is, we stop and pray.

Sometimes prayer is painful.  JoEllyn meets hundreds of students a year who have no financial means to pay for their education.  Some of them are bright students who managed to pay for part of their education and lack the final balance to pay – in some cases, just a few hundred dollars.  JoEllyn always expects that God will lead people even if they have no money.

Doug prays before teaching.  “Help us think your thoughts this week, Lord, about nutrition.” 

Prayer, like everything else, is relational in Uganda.  A friend on campus rises at 4am every day and phones her prayer partner to pray over the phone.  Then they set out on their day. 

Praying brothers and sisters invade our homes!  As Americans we like to suffer illnesses in private – a cultural hang-up not shared by the majority world.  When someone hears we are sick even with just a cold, they’ll pass by the house for just 10 minutes, stop in and pray for ‘God’s mercies and healing.’  

International prayer works too!  Doug and Alyssa were in a terrible car accident recently.  Friends in the US had sensed the need to lift our safety in prayer – and as a result, the car was damaged, but both Doug and Alyssa walked away without a scrape.

The fruits of the University bathed in prayer are evident.  We have grown from 150 to 7500 students in 11 years; our graduates and faculty have terrific reputations; our programs are respected. 

Students come to know the Lord and deepen their faith through their time at UCU.  We bring together cultures and experience the diversity of God’s creation in our shared lives.  Prayer changes things.  Ugandans have deepened our understanding of this truth.

The primary impact of prayer is change in us.  Prayer opens us to the possibilities and opportunities God has for us, in things big and small.  We conform to His will, and rely on His authority – and we get more done.  Are you outside of God’s will for you?  Pray.

In the absence of prayer, expect nothing to change. 

Friends, please pray for our finances during this difficult time.  Our mission funds are down as a result of regular attrition and the economy; meanwhile, 14% inflation in Uganda drives our cost of living up.  Our funds are at an all time low.  We need another 20 donors at $50-$100 per month to sustain this work, plus over $10,000 to restore our fund to a healthy balance. Please pray if there are friends that God would lead you to invite to be part of this ministry.

We are finishing our “brief” 2 month visit in the US.  JoEllyn’s mother just passed away, so she is in Oregon with family, and Alyssa and Doug are heading home to Uganda. 

This is a spiritual journey that we take together.  We really would like it if you would share your prayer needs and thanksgivings with us too.   Thanks!

God bless you,

-Doug, JoEllyn, and Alyssa