One-Way Tickets To Florida: Puerto Ricans Escape Island Woes

I knew it was true before I heard it was true.

In visiting door to door, talking to people in the street or trying to make medical appointments, this phrase kept popping up: "They just moved to Orlando..."

It is so significant now that NPR radio just made a four part special just on this one topic.

It is affecting our ministry. But not just negatively, as I feared.

It is true that a significant part of what I would call prospective members for our church have moved or are planning a move to the States. While some have moved to Texas, New York and Connecticut,  the vast majority of them are relocating on the I-4 corridor,  a strip of central Florida that extends from Tampa to Orlando on continues on a bit towards Daytona Beach.

At first I was unhappy to lose some good prospects and some good mature Christians as well.  But I am happy that our work here has meant that a number of these immigrants are now good Christian people and will join churches of like faith and practice and help them grow.

This opens up the way for a new kind of ministry: Referring Puerto Ricans to good churches in the States and helping churches in the States minister to the incoming Puerto Ricans (and other Spanish speaking peoples).

Giving back is a lot of fun. We have been blessed  in receiving help, now we get to experience giving help to some good churches and helping those who have helped us.

Please pray for our ministry here. We need your help. We still have a lot of Puerto Ricans to reach before they move to the USA mainland, and we would like as many of them as possible to arrive saved, baptized, discipled and ready to serve the Lord in some good churches.