Faithfully Yours  

             Universal Chastity Education 
             www.uceglobal.org

            E-Newsletter March 2020, Vol. 15  No. 2

Dear UCE Friend,

As the world continues to fight the coronavirus, I’d like to inspire and encourage you with another story where God intervened in the midst of a pandemic. That pandemic is HIV/AIDS in Africa, several years ago and still ongoing today!

In the 1980s and early 1990s, HIV/AIDS devastated many lives in Africa. At that time, Uganda had the highest rate of HIV in the world, with 21% of their population infected.  The Ugandan response that proved effective was their approach: “Abstinence, Be Faithful, through Christ,” that is, a person waited to have sexual intercourse until marriage and was faithful to that person in marriage.  This method was counter-cultural since polygamy is intertwined in African culture.   The Ugandans figured if they begged God to intervene in their crisis, got down on their knees to pray, went back to their Biblical teaching, then surely that should help!  In 2001, Uganda surprised the world by reducing their HIV/AIDs rate to 5% by changing their behavior to adopt “Abstinence, Be Faithful through Christ.” It was their faith in God and prayer vigils that gave them the strength to change their behavior.  UCE was founded in 2004 to continue to help them in their Christian approach to fighting HIV/AIDS and living healthy lives through spreading the message of “Abstinence, Be Faithful, through Christ.” The Africans remind us that “Our God is a God of second chances!” Since UCE was founded in 2004, we are approaching 500,000 chastity commitments signed by youth and individuals!

Although the nature of the coronavirus and HIV/AIDS is quite different, one lesson still very applicable to this current coronavirus is asking God’s intercession to heal the people and places affected, and prevent further spread. This Bible verse was recently shared with me by Fr. Peter Kunama, Director of UCE-Uganda, Kasese: “Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people, if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14.

God bless you. Praying that you stay healthy, strong, and prayerful during this time!

In Christ,

Sarah Smith, UCE-USA Director

Donors, we THANK YOU:  494,703 people have made life-saving commitments to chastity through UCE programs!