Oxford, Funding, and Your Prayers

(St. Cross College, home to 350 Masters/PhD students, 67% of whom are international, is where I'll be living and studying next year at Oxford.)

I just returned yesterday from a great four day trip to London and Oxford. I was doing three days of research in London at the National Archives, and then presented a paper at a conference on researching Africa at Oxford. A great week with a lot accomplished towards papers and my MA thesis.

While I was gone, the one-month mark to when I have to let Oxford know how I'm going to pay for my PhD passed. Oxford's deadline is June 5th. In light of that, I would covet your prayers over the next month - that God would provide in wonderful ways and that I would have ears to hear and eyes to see where He might be leading me to look for funding.

Here are some specific ways that I would love your prayers:

Scholarships/Grants - I've applied for several scholarships and grants at Oxford, but am still waiting to hear back. Pray that the responses would be positive from these funding bodies - and that I would hear relatively soon.

First Year Provision - the first year will be my most expensive year, whereas the second year I'll be in Kenya doing research, where cost of living is considerably less, and the third year I'll be teaching undergraduate classes, which will provide some extra income. I will be able to apply for funds from the US (Fullbright, etc.) for my 2nd and 3rd year, so there should be a lot more not available for this first year.

Wisdom - that God would open my eyes to see opportunities to pursue - ways in which he would want to provide - through finding more scholarships or other funding sources.

Money - that God would provide the money for the three years. I have some debt from my Bachelor's and Master's degrees, and am hesitant to take on more debt then I already have. Loans can be a great way to fund an education, but I'd like to not be limited to high income jobs (which are difficult to find for teaching history) by debt and not be free to follow where the Lord may call - whether that's to a university overseas or a smaller college in the US.

Thanks so much for your prayers! Assuming, in faith, that all the details work out for me to be at Oxford starting in October, there is an open invitation for you to come visit. I'd love to show you around! :-)