Ministry of Margaret Nelson
Uganda, Africa

October 5, 2004

Does God answer prayer?

Something that sometimes bothers me is when someone will ask for prayer for some situation, and I pray… and then I never hear back from the person about whether the prayer has been answered or if continued prayer is needed. And you know what they say, when you point your finger at another person, there are at least 3 fingers pointing back at yourself! I am not always good at letting people know what God is doing either. It requires going back into previous newsletters and reviewing the prayer requests given out last week, month or year. And it's easier to just move on ahead with what's happening today…

So I decided today to go back through some of my old prayer requests (if I've missed some that you're wondering about, don't hesitate to write and let me know!) and let you know some answers and some that continue to need ongoing prayers:

• Our Foursquare Missions director in Los Angeles, Mike Larkin, who, with his son, was involved in a serious road accident last winter. The boy had a ruptured spleen, but recovered ok without surgery. Mike's one leg was in very serious condition and in need of numerous surgeries and total healing.
  
  Mike was walking again within just a few months after he nearly lost his leg. It had been predicted to be a much longer recovery. The additional surgeries were not needed either.
  
  
• Pray for my 2 Life Ministries Institute classes, in Kabanyi and Nakazzi villages, that God will ground and solidify these churches in His Word, and that the teachings will accurately cross both language and illiteracy barriers.
  
  One of the pastors reported how, thanks to the teaching received in these classes, that when an outsider came in and began "testifying" in his church, saying critical, non-scriptural things about other Christians, his congregation did not take him seriously, thanks to being more grounded in the Word of God.
  
  
• For ongoing provision for our growing New Life Kids' Club and its developing projects. Specifically, we want to start a primary school by February 2005.
  
  We actually want to start 2 primary schools by February 2005. Pastor Ronald, who has the smaller Mamuli branch of New Life Kids Club, has noted that many of the orphans in the government schools (the lowest cost schools) are finishing 7th grade unable to speak English. This guarantees that these kids cannot get a higher education, because all higher education is done in English! He has an abandoned school chosen to use to start a primary school in February and Pastor David is planning on building a temporary structure to start his with.
  
  
• For funding for SEVO, for transportation for Hannington and for an office or land to build an office on.
  
  SEVO has been given a room for an office in one of the government buildings in Butuntumula village. We need office supplies, primarily a copy machine, and we continue to have transportation needs. One government official has promised a car to one of the SEVO committees currently doing a community assessment, but there has been no mention of provision of gasoline, which costs about $4.60 a gallon.
  
  
• For timing and financing of Greg Matthew's planned trip(s) to Uganda for SEVO training.
  
  Greg is returning to Uganda November 8th to 15th, where he will do ongoing training with 16 trainers in SEVO who will then train the rest of the 400 students.
  
  
• For rain in East Africa. A drought is causing hunger in our area as crops are dying.
  
  The rains have started, about a month late. Gardens are doing really well now, but hunger will continue until the harvest in December or January. Prices on dry staple foods have doubled and won't come down until the harvest. So we're having a lot of problems with thieves breaking into homes, stealing bikes, tools, whatever they can get their hands on, probably trying to get money to feed their families.
  
  
• Safety from thieves, both at home, in our cars, and in the city. Safety driving on hazardous roads. (Traffic accidents are the #1 cause of death of foreigners in Uganda.
  
  As I mentioned above, theft continues to be a large problem, and in addition to the problems brought on by lack of food, theft always increases as Christmas draws near. Safety on roads is an ongoing prayer need. Even this morning, driving into Kampala, a large bus, traveling at an extremely high rate of speed, refused to slow down to avoid an oncoming car while passing us. He hit his air horn and barged on between us. We could not get off the road because of a sharp dropoff at the edge of the pavement, but fortunately the oncoming vehicle hit the shoulder. The bus probably missed us both by inches. These buses are the biggest terrorizers of our highways, but there are many, many other traffic risks too.
  
  
• Pray for Ugandan presidential elections in 2006. The current president is to step down then, according to constitutional term limits. There is a move to get him to stay on. Pray for God's will in that matter, plus if he is to step down, that God will raise up a qualified man who truly cares for Uganda, rather than for personal profit.
  
  This is another ongoing prayer request, as aspiring political candidates are starting to gear up. There continues to be discussion on the term limits as there are many people who would like to see the current president stay on for another term.
  
  
• I need healing of an ongoing painful tendonitis in my heels that has troubled me for a year and a half now. It has improved considerably with prayer, but needs a complete healing.
  
  I am still suffering this problem, and am concerned about taking too much ibuprofen over a long period of time. Without it I can barely walk.
  
  
• I will be in the USA on furlough from May 7th through August 17th. I will be traveling, visiting and speaking in a number of states. Pray for travel safety, for adequate finances, and that God will use me.
  
  As you know, due to my mother's failing health, I actually returned to the States in April. Many times I was so aware of the prayers of people under girding me during this time, during which my mother did pass away (in July), and during the travel and ministry times over those 4 months. It was really a wonderful time and God opened many new doors for me.
  
  
• For about 2 years now, I have been having something biting me at night, even with a mosquito net. It raises welts, wakes me up with severe itching, and within ½ hour, all signs and symptoms are gone. I've never been able to see or identify what is biting me, and all attempts to stop the problem have failed. It only bothers me when I'm in my own home, and this includes 2 different residences. Pray that this stops, as my sleep is greatly interrupted each night.
  
  It seems now that this problem has ceased. The only thing biting me now seems to be mosquitoes.
  
  
• Pray the God will enable David to buy a piece of land to establish his church and expand the orphan work.
  
  This prayer was answered with the purchase of the 3 acres a few months ago.

Thank you for your ongoing prayer support. As you can see, God has answered, and continues to answer, the prayer requests that go out. In praying, you are a big part of this ministry!

God bless you all.

MARGARET NELSON