Church Planting in Puerto Rico

Funny, but important short video from Puerto Rico Baptist College.

2012-01-11T06:51:00.001-04:00

A few of our very talented students used their considerable skills to make this funny mini-movie that also touches a more serious theme. It was made to honor 3 recent graduates and pokes fun at some of the students, but it also points out the importance of the missions of our Bible College and taking the gospel to the world. If you look fast and don't blink you may see me teaching a computer class for about 1 millisecond. I am at min. 8:54 teaching a computer class. The video has three parts, the first introduces our recent 3 graduates, the second is a funny "Missions Impossible" type skit and the third is about our Bible College. There is even a blooper segment at the end.

For my "M.O.P" (Mothers of Preschoolers) Friends

2012-01-09T11:58:00.000-04:00

"If You Give a Mom a Muffin...." by Kathy Fictorie,

(based on "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff)

If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Motive Malignment: A game anyone can play (but that no one should).

2012-01-03T13:35:00.000-04:00

I am getting tired of the word "homophobia." This word is an accusation that assumes people against the practice of homosexuality are afraid of homosexual people. It also assumes that the accusers know the hearts, minds and motives of the accused. But is this really fair?

Have you never heard of someone rebuked for saying "I know how you feel," when trying to express sympathy in a tragedy? Even though they mean well, they are often rebuked, with “No you don’t! No one can know how I feel!” It is understandable because no one can really know another’s inner feelings. Likewise, assuming to know a person has a phobia because they don't like something is equally unfair. They may have personal reasons unknown to anyone.

I know individuals who are very sympathetic to homosexual people but feel that the practice of homosexuality is harmful. They oppose it to help their friends avoid problems. The motive for opposing the practice of homosexuality can be an altruistic one, such as friendship or even love for the homosexual. One might not agree with the position, but to attack the motive of person involved in not right. How can it even ever be truly know?

Besides, motive accusation is a two-edged sword. One could just as easily say that those who call others “homophobic” are secretly using a debate trick called the “straw man.” Why? Because in their inner selves they are afraid their arguments are weak and so use “homophobia” to redirect the argument to the personality of the position holder. Since this “straw man” is the invention of the accusers, they make it easy to beat up on, in order to give themselves the illusion of a victory. They do this so they can feel better about a position they could not defend in an honest debate.

See? Once questioning motives is the name of the game, anyone can play. Please do not question motives anymore. Do not call anyone homophobic because they do not like homosexuality. They might not be afraid of you or it at all. They may be the person that loves you the most in the entire world.

Time to stop playing church and grow up

2011-12-10T19:49:00.001-04:00

I love this testimony about becoming a real man by becoming a real Christian. I hope a lot of people will be motivated to grow up some more after watching it. I have a bit of self interest in this because the more Christians grow up, the more likely we will get the help we need out here on the mission field! Does this mean we can't have fun anymore? No! We are working harder than ever, but I don't remember when we ever had more fun than right now. A kid has a toy car, but an adult can drive a real one. You might feel you are having fun in life as an immature Christian, but let me tell you, when you put the toys away and man-up for God, the real fun begins!

PRBC Students Have Fun with a Thanksgiving Skit.

2011-11-23T20:09:00.001-04:00

Our College kids had fun making this little video about the history of Thanksgiving. It is in Spanish, but you know the story and can see what is happening by the students acting it out. After the skit, a few of them tell why they are thankful. We are thankful for them! They are great kids who have put God first in their lives. Teaching them about Thanksgiving is fun. One of our graduates at Puerto Rico Baptist College learned how we do it here and he liked it so much that he is teaching his church in the country of Colombia to celebrate Thanksgiving too.

The Wet Monkey Syndrome: Do You Have It?

2011-11-22T11:28:00.001-04:00

Missionary work is tough, but we get a lot done because we are careful to cultivate a positive attitude and to make that the emotional environment or culture in our church and Bible College.I enjoy reading and listening to Christian business man and author Dan Miller. I heard him tell a great story explaining why many suffer from a "Can't Do It" culture and the importance of not being a wet blanket.

"Imagine a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage there is a banana on a string. Before long a monkey walks over and reaches for the banana. As soon as he touches the banana, all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt to grab the banana with the same result. All the monkeys are instantly sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to reach for the banana, the other monkeys will try to stop him.

Now forget the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and obviously goes over and starts to grab it. But to his surprise, all of the other monkeys attack him to prevent him from touching the banana. Next, remove another of the original monkeys and replace it with a new one. Now all of the monkeys currently in the cage stop the new one from getting to the banana. Replace the third, fourth and fifth monkeys with new ones. Each one becomes a willing opponent to allowing anyone to touch that banana.

Now, none of the monkeys in the cage at this point were every sprayed with cold water. But they continue to prevent each other from grabbing that banana, the one food that they should all naturally love.

None of these monkeys ever approaches the banana again. They have no idea why it's off limits. But that's just the way things have always been done around here.

Sound familiar? If you walked in to your work, church, marriage, or neighborhood as an unbiased outsider, what would you question about the "normal" activities there? Are you accepting old traditions that defy the intelligence or spiritual insight you have today?"

The 8 Questions Kids Ask Me the Most about Missionary Stuff.

2011-11-19T18:44:00.006-04:00

I get letters from young people that are interested in how missionaries live and what they do. Here are 8 questions that I get the most:

Dear Kids:

Thanks for writing to us! I took a couple of questions written by AWANA kids (a church youth group) like Joshua, Conner, Jake and others, and made them into a letter that all of you can use. I like AWANA. My wife was an AWANA kid and taught in the AWANA club at Southside Baptist Church in Tacoma, Washington, where she grew up. We like it when you ask questions because we enjoy showing what life is like on the mission field, how you can help and how you can become a missionary too.

#1. Where do you work? I am a missionary to the people from the island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is part of the United States, but not a state. Everybody here is a citizen of the USA, but sometimes it can feel like a foreign country because of the distance and because everyone speaks Spanish. It is a small island, about 35 miles wide and 100 miles long. It is crowded here, about 4 million people on the island. There are another 4 million Puerto Ricans living in the United States. A lot of them come and visit, so it gets even more crowded during vacation times.

Where is Puerto Rico? It is about 1200 miles South East of Miami, Florida. Go to the tip of Florida and look down to till you find Cuba. It is 90 miles South of Florida. Then look to the right and you will see the island of Hispaniola. It has two countries on it: Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The next island to the right is Puerto Rico. We are the smallest of the big three islands, but bigger than all the smaller islands that you can see that go all the way down to South America.

Where we live is a hot place. We never get snow, ice or even frost. I have lived here almost 20 years and have only see it get to 55 degrees one time in the mountains. Most of the time it is 85-90 in the day and at night it gets down to 74 degrees. It is always very humid. If it gets in the 60's many people stay home because it is too cold for them. We don't get cold weather but we do get hurricanes. They can do a lot of damage. We have been safe so far. I think it is because a lot of people pray for us. I hope you will too.

#2. What is your job? My main job is to start churches. The newest church I am starting is in the town of Comerio, a little town of 4,000 people up in the central mountains. The name of our church is "Iglesia Bautista Fundamental." That means: '"Fundamental Baptist Church."We teach the people who come to Christ how to be good church members, missionaries, pastors and Christian school teachers. I do this at Puerto Rico Baptist College. I also help teach in a night school to train busy pastors and help a Christian School in Levittown, Puerto Rico. My favorite part is giving devotionals from the Bible to the kids, just like I do in AWANA club meetings.

#3. Do you have fun being a missionary? Yes. It is not ALL fun all the time. Sometimes there are sad days, like when someone in the church dies and I preach at their funeral. But other activities, like teaching college kids the Bible College makes me happy and gives me energy.

We also enjoy foods, places and experiences that we never had before we became missionaries. The water here is 85 degrees all year round and you can see tropical fish when you snorkel dive. I saw a squid swim by the other day and he looked at me with his big, moving eyeball. It was scary, but fun to talk about afterwards. When we got better in Spanish, it got easier to make friends and I can have fun enjoying jokes in two languages now.

People sometimes feel sorry for missionaries. But, if you always eat the same foods, go the same places, never meet anybody new or have any new experiences, well then….we missionaries just might be having some fun you are missing out on! The best fun in life come to you when you are doing what God wants you to do.

#4. What is it like? What is it like? Well, there are parts of missionary life that drain energy and other parts that fill us up and keep us going. For me, visiting houses door to door in the humid, hot tropical sun is hard work and makes me tired. But when I teach in the Bible college, I am surrounded by a lot of young people that are excited about serving the Lord. I get my emotional batteries recharged when I am with them. Two of those students help me with the church work. When I work with others and mix the fun parts with the hard parts, then I feel very happy to be a missionary, especially when it all adds up to souls saved, churches started and lives changed.

#5. Is it hard being a missionary? It can be, but it is worth it, like many things in life. For example, one hard part is that when we left the United States, we left our families and friends. It is not just the emotion of missing them at the airport that I am talking about. We missed all the help and fun we had with them. We missed the help grandma gave us babysitting the kids, the friends coming over for a BBQ, playing games, going to birthday parties of our friends and family and things like that.

We missed our church too. When we start a new church, there is no choir, youth group or AWANA. By the time the church has all those things, it is time to leave and start another church. I was sad that our children did not get to have some of the good church experiences that you enjoy. But we do have the happiness of seeing a new churches come into the world and that is a lot of happiness.

When we get letters like yours, when people visit us and when we visit the United States and people are kind to us and support us, we feel good about our hard work and feel it is worth it.

It can be hard, but just like it is hard being good at sports or getting good grades , if you work hard and obey God, then good things happen. Most of the things that you enjoy came from somebody’s hard work. We work hard to make these good things happen.

#6. Can anybody be a missionary, Can I be a Missionary? First, you should know what a missionary is. I think a person is a missionary when he crosses a "line" to take the good news to people that are different from himself. That "line" could be a different language, color, age, handicap or even a hobby. That is why people can say they are a "Missionary to the Deaf" or to the Military. They can call themselves missionaries because they take the good news from where they are and cross over a line to bring it to a group of people that are different from themselves in some way.

Could you be a missionary? Let me ask you a few questions so we can find the answer. Do you know Christ and like how He made your life different and better than it was before? Then I think you have something to say. Do you care about someone and want them to enjoy what you have? Then I think you have a caring heart. Are you willing to cross over some line or difficulty to bring them what you have, so they can have it too? Yes? Congratulations! Then I think that you can be a missionary!

The important thing is to begin where you are with what you have. If a person is not a missionary where they are, crossing over a line or learning a new language won't make much of a difference. If they are serving the Lord where they are right now, it will make a difference and they will be a good missionary. AWANA is a good place to start! Get invloved in AWANA, let God change your life, enjoy what is going on, invite your friends to get in on the good stuff that is happening around you and inside you and guess what? You are a missionary too! Now work on being a better one. That is what we do.

#7. Can I visit you someday in Puerto Rico? Is there AWANA in Puerto Rico I could go to? I hope someday you can visit us and see for yourself what we missionaries do. In Puerto Rico, AWANA is called OANSA. It is in my plans, I went to a training course, got the books and stuff, but right now, we don't have enough people or kids to begin AWANA. I wish we did. Maybe you can come and help us make it happen. I hope some AWANA group could help us start another AWANA group here. Maybe it will by your club that makes a difference. You never know!

#8 How can I find out more? Here is where you can see pictures, read stories and even see videos and write us questions:

Stories, Pictures & Videos: Prelgovisk.blogspot.com |Our Family and Work: OverlookedFields.com | Questions: Write us at Prelgovisk@yahoo.com

Dios Les Bendiga,

(May the Lord Bless You)

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk

Ministries: Church Planting in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Baptist College

Mission Agency: Continental Baptist Missions

Nov 2011 Prayer Letter - Please Download the PDF file and share it with others.

2011-11-11T22:05:00.003-04:00

You can read our latest Prayer Letter online here (Prelgovisk Prayer Letter, Nov 2011). To download it, scroll to the bottom of that page, where you will find a download and also a share button. Please print it out and share it where ever people pray for missionaries.
Prelgovisk Prayer Letter - Nov 2011

"Redeeming the Time" Can Be Fun

2011-11-05T13:33:00.006-04:00

Our daughter Bethany taking some time out from her missionary work in St Croix, US Virgin Islands, to do some painting. She sold a few last month. One went for $400. It is great she has some "tent making" skills that can help support her and her husbands' ministry.

I like playing chess, and while it may help prevent Alzheimer's disease, it does not add much to our work. We work hard on the mission field and we need our recreation time, but I felt that it would be a good idea if our hobbies could be profitable to the work. A few months ago I switched my personal hobbies to more guitar playing and blogging as well as Facebooking about health improvement and less chess playing. My chess score on Chess.com has not risen much, but my waistline and weight have gone down and I can contribute more to our churches worship service now.

Do I still like chess? Yes! But I like getting skinny too, and the guitar playing is enjoyable. It is a good feeling to know that you can "Redeem the time" and still have a bit of fun doing it.

Something you can do for us before Christmas

2011-10-28T20:36:00.003-04:00

We are trying to find ways to finance our daughter's college education and have gotten a little

bit of help from an unexpected source. I thought I could get a discount on books, by joining an Amazon.com program and then ordering Sarah and Kristin's textbooks through them. I was right. Amazon paid us back 4%. It amounted to $16. That isn't very much, but every bit helps.

The way you can help is, either by helping us directly with the tuition the next three years or being so kind as to use our Amazon.com search bar to find your Christmas gifts this year. You can also order an e-mail gift certificate or a gift card to put into someones' stocking. It doesn't cost anything and we will still get the 4%.

What we would rather have is your prayers, monthly support and personal visits. But every bit helps, so if you are doing Christmas this year anyway, please consider doing it in such a way that could bring a bit of help to some missionary kids that are away from home in Bible college.

Amazon.com Widgets

Don't Be Disrespecting the Church.

2011-10-28T06:24:00.000-04:00

We need to join with others to fully express our faith. It is popular today to talk about faith without church or religion. But church is about people and religion is about finding a way to put faith to work. No Christ based relationships with people and no plan to put His teachings into practice make for what used to be called "practical atheism." Today this describes what some call their personal relationship with God.

See Puerto Rico at Night & Learn Something New

2011-10-22T11:15:00.003-04:00

People often ask me about the population and economy of Puerto Rico. I answer, but it is hard to visualize the statistics. This map of the North America at night might help. Puerto Rico is the third island to the right, starting from the tip of Florida. Notice how bright it is. Electricity is very expensive in the Caribbean, because it is almost all made by gas engines. Having so many lights on at night shows how dense the population is (4 million in a 35x113 mile rectangle) and how relatively better they are off than their neighbors. While the average Puerto Rican makes half the income of the poorest US state, it is still higher than the other islands in the region.

On the one hand, it is a bad thing, because it means it cost us more to live here, and we do struggle with that. But on the other hand, the good economy comes from the fact that Puerto Ricans are US citizens and migrate back and forth frequently. That means that the ministry here is more productive, because evangelism done here then reaches directly into communities on the US mainland and makes an impact on the immigrants residing in our country.

Blessings x 3

2011-10-16T07:53:00.000-04:00

I invited a graduate of our Puerto Rico Baptist College, Gabriel Rodriguez, to preach today at my church in Comerio, Puerto Rico. Gabriel not only can preach & teach, but developed his music skills as a guitarist so well that he won the classical guitar competition in Puerto Rico this year. He is going to preach on the role of music in the church.

I consider him a triple blessing because he also teaches courses at our college and is now a colleague with impressive teaching ability. I still remember him as a chubby kid from Summer Bible camp. By the way, he lost a tremendous amount of weight and is looking great. If he wanted to, he could add fitness coach to his impressive resume.

Which Door Will You Choose?

2011-10-05T21:46:00.001-04:00

I started a health blog ( Prediabetic HQ) a few months ago, mostly to motivate and educate myself out of the diabetic danger zone. So far it is working. I lost 25 lbs in the last 4 months and have just passed 1 week below my goal weight of 150 lbs. My A1c is 4.8, that means I am NOT even prediabetic anymore.

I have learned a lot, not just about health, in the process. In the fight to get to a better place health-wise, the drama of temptation vs self-control, discipline vs being a sluggard and many other themes familiar to Christians struggling to grow in Christ are evident. What I learned from a victory on one battle field has helped me win on others. I do not believe in "Prosperity Theology" or that the gospel needs to be supplemented with advice from diet gurus, but I do feel I have learned lessons in my struggles (an successes) to get healthier that I can apply in a positive way to my life work as a pastor, missionary, Bible College professor, husband and father.

CBS News Report "It's Raining Money & Drugs in Puerto Rico." They got this right.

2011-09-26T06:32:00.000-04:00

We see these things a lot down here. Many is the time I have carefully stepped over a heroin needle while on visitation for our church. It isn't the drug I fear, but the AIDs virus that is very common on the island.

It isn't easy to work in Puerto Rico, but we are here doing the work. The only thing that keeps us safe is your prayers and God's grace. What keeps us going is your prayers, love and support. Please keep praying!

2011-09-24T18:07:00.000-04:00

Former student of mine, Héctor Alejandro Núñez Cruz doesn't have very good lighting in his church & it isn't finished, but he is baptizing a lot of people anyway.

I love it when our students go and serve with what they have, instead of waiting for conditions to be just right.

What Pastors Do on Saturday...

2011-09-17T22:28:00.002-04:00

The first Saturday of the month, I get together with our Puerto Rican Pastors. We have a time of food, fellowship, singing, devotions and then a time for us all to pray for our churches and each other.

It is a lot of fun spending time with people that love God, lead sacrificial lives and are usually a bit on the extrovert side of the personality scale. Tonight we had a missionary from Venezuela join the group and lead us in song.

I wonder how many realize how a pastor pours his heart out in prayer for his people? These do!

The Power of a Testimony: 9/11 Pilot that missed his flight tells his story

2011-09-08T06:37:00.001-04:00

This pilot was scheduled to fly AA Flight 11, so he packed his bags and was ready to go. At the last minute he was bumped by a pilot who had seniority. In this 15min video, he and his wife talk about the emotional roller-coaster of that day and how it changed his outlook on life.

Hurricane Irene interrupted our baptism, but we finally did it anyway.

2011-08-28T16:28:00.002-04:00

Hurricane Irene interrupted our baptism last week, but we finally got it done. Here is a short video Tina took while I did the baptizing. I don't know how to do subtitling yet, so I will include an English transcript below so you may follow along.

Baptism in Puerto Rico

00-04 Steve: Hello. How are we doing?
04-06 What is your name?
06-07 Daughter of Raul & Annibel: [She gives her name]
08-09 Steve: Ok, Why have you come today?
09-11 Daughter of Raul & Annibel: To be baptized.
11-20 Steve: She was studying about baptism in Sunday School today and has had good teaching about it.
20-31 So then, I will baptize you, my sister, (put your hands like this, cover your nose this way)
32-39 I baptize you upon your profession of faith, in the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
40-48 Under the water represents the death and burial of Christ. Coming up out of the water is a symbol of the resurrection.
49-52 Say “ God bless you” to every one.
53-55 Are we happy? Yes we are happy!
55-58 How old are you?
59-1.01 Daughter of Raul & Annibel: 10. Well, really 9.
1.02-1.05 Steve: That’s good. It’s very important to start your new life out by telling the truth!
1.06[Laughter]
1.07 -1.12Steve: Now you have a new life, like a new born baby.
1.13 We want to see you have a life of success, so continue in the things of the Lord
1.20 -1.24 The Lord Bless! Amen! Let’s give her a hand!
1.33 We just had a baptism here.
1.34-1.36 But there is room for more, room for more

Hurricane Irene Damage: We Survived but Look What Didn't

2011-08-24T21:22:00.000-04:00

I grabbed my Ipod Touch and made a couple of video clips of some damage done by Hurricane Irene down here in Puerto Rico. Please watch and pray for us.

If you would like to help, please do. For immediate help, look at the right hand column of this blog and select the Monthly Support or the One-Time Love Offering option. As always, like I say in the video, please pray for us down here. We give thanks for you that have been faithful.

From Hurricane Alley: So far so good, but it's not over yet

2011-08-21T07:44:00.000-04:00

Harvey missed us and it looks like we will get the north edge of Irene as it scrapes by us. Hurricanes that miss us still take their toll. We have to distill and store water, hurricane proof the house and yard, reschedule activities and church attendance suffers. But then again, a miss is better than a direct hit.

Please pray for our safety,

Getting Things Ready

2011-08-20T17:28:00.000-04:00

We are getting things ready for a baptism we hope to do next Saturday afternoon. Our baptistery is simple: an above ground pool, 4 ft high and 15 feet across. It doubles as a 4,000 gallon reservoir during hurricane season. Keeping it clean and useful is a challenge but putting it to use for that purpose is a great blessing.

We are getting ready for classes at Puerto Rico Baptist College also. I hope to record college classes this year so we can offer them on the internet to students who might not be able to come and study here in person. I have included a "Wish List" on the right sidebar of items that would help us. If you have any experience podcasting, please contact us and give us a hand with your knowledge, skill sets and the equipment.

Keep us in your prayers. Your prayers, experience, advice, help and goodwill make a difference.

Helping Us by Helping Yourself

2011-08-16T16:36:00.002-04:00

Did you know that you can help us and at the same time get something that you like for yourself? Well, you can.

Amazon.com recently accepted our Missionary blog into their Amazon Associates program . When you use the search box in the upper right hand corner of our blog to explore Amazon.com and purchase anything within 24 hours, we receive a 4% commission.

Please consider this: If you are going to purchase something for yourself anyway, accessing Amazon.com from our blog page or this link will get you the same product at the same price, but with the additional benefit of helping a missionary on the mission field. Please bookmark the link and pass it along to others. We are happy when our friends prosper and can get nice things for themselves. We hope you will give us a thought and help us in this small way.

New Prayer Card

2011-07-25T17:29:00.001-04:00

While in Montana, we met up with our graphic artist friend, Nate Horton. We went over some prayer card ideas with him and came up with this one. Our daughters have all gone to college or gotten married, so the new prayer card represents our new status as "empty nesters."

If you want one, let us know.

The Backside

On the Road Again...to Montana

2011-07-01T15:15:00.000-04:00

We are on our way to Montana! Our schedule is pretty full, but we like it like that. I might even be speaking up to 10 times a week. I would appreciate your prayers for our big trip and the many opportunities to share God's word. This is what I understand our schedule to be:

Sun, 3 July 2011: Heron, MT/Pastor Hoover: Preach/Missions Presentation:

Mon 4-Fri 8, July 2011, Camp Blaine, MT (Kalispel, MT area). Camp Speaker: Jr. Boys Camp: 4-7^th grade

Sun, 10 July 2011: Columbia Falls, MT./ Pastor Jerry Buchanan. Preach/Missions Presentation.

Mon 11- Sat 16, July 2011: Camp Blaine, MT. Camp Speaker: Junior High Camp: 7-9^th

Sun, 17 July 2011: Kalispell, MT/Pastor Pestel: Preach/Missions Presentation.

Mon 18- Sat 23, July 2011: Camp Blaine, MT, High School Camp: 10-12^th

Sun, 24 July 2011: Everson, WA./Nooksack Valley Baptist Church

They're there and we're here.

2011-06-03T19:38:00.000-04:00

We took Sarah & Kristin to the airport, kissed, hugged and sent them off to college. We hardly had time to dwell on it much though. We went to our house in Puerto Rico, packed and the next day, went back to the same airport and flew to Tacoma, Washington.

We checked on the Twins and they are doing fine. We spent a cool but comfortable night in a camper in Tacoma. This Sunday we will preach in Tacoma and later in the neighboring town of Puyallup.

We are busy but happy people. I hope we can get a little time to rest though.

Surprised by a Child

2011-05-28T16:54:00.000-04:00

Our Sunday school teacher returned to the Dominican Republic last week. One of her students, 12 year old Adrian, came and sat in the Adult Sunday school class.

The teacher was teaching about baptism and asked rhetorically, “Who can be baptized?”

Adrian asked, “Could it be me? Please, I want to be baptized!”

Of course we said “Yes!”

Adrian, then said, “I have a verse I memorized for my class. Could I give it here?”

So, we said “Yes,” again and Adrian quoted John 3:16.

Toward the end of the class, Adrian said, “I just remembered another verse; could I give that one too?”

Well, we were all smiles and thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected participation. Adrian stayed for the worship service and even helped with the offering. I don’t know what the future holds for Adrian, but so far. It’s looking pretty good.

Tina Honored by the Student Body of Puerto Rico Baptist College

2011-05-08T00:04:00.000-04:00

We went to the graduation banquet of our Bible College last night and got more than we expected. A good number of students went forward holding papers, and one by one they held up there papers to show a letter. Each letter represented an attribute of a person a person they wanted to honor and each student said some kind words. When the last letter was lifted, it spelled out "Hermana Tina (Sister Tina)."

They gave Tina a standing ovation and dedicated the Yearbook to her. I caught some of it on a little video camera. Tina did a great job speaking impromptu, thanking the students and translating for herself at the same time.

Great job Honey! We are proud of you!

Persecution in Puerto Rico, Subtle but Real

2011-04-28T07:12:00.001-04:00

I just saw a CNN news clip about the Chinese government practice of spying on and detaining Christians. It is amazing how much manpower they dedicate to following and recording church activity.

In Puerto Rico, persecution takes a subtle, but very real form. When our churches wish to build, we are required to go by a certain building code that is not applied to businesses, schools or churches in favor with the government. Parking is a problem here, for example. Most businesses and our church have only 2 or 3 parking spaces in front of them, so people just park where they can and walk to get there. The government limits our attendance to 5 people per parking space, but the Catholic church, the taverns and even the Post Office in our town, can have hundreds of people and are not required to limit their attendance.

I think it works this way: They find out you are an Evangelical Christian and wish to build, so they take out a large, rarely used book of odd laws, blow off the dust and trot out the most expensive or onerous ones they can find. If you were a tavern, or a church in favor with the government, that dusty book never comes out.

I guess that is why we have the book of Nehemiah in the Bible. He went through problems with local officials, but got it done anyway. But not until a lot of tears, prayers energy and money had been spent.

Good Friday Service - Good Music, Special Friends

2011-04-23T23:54:00.000-04:00

We had a surprise Friday. We had an afternoon Good Friday Special Service and some of our old members came and worshiped with us and they even brought visitors.

Then Carlos Maldonado, a man that served as a deacon in another church I helped start, came and preached as our guest speaker. He sang a great special, "Jesus is the Cornerstone." I got the last verse on a pocket video camera and posted it here so you could here a sample of the good music we enjoyed.

It is a pleasure having trained men who can preach and give us a break so we can relax and enjoy a service once in a while.

Cornerstone (translated)

Jesus is the Cornerstone, came for sinners to atone

Though rejected by His own, He became the Cornerstone

Jesus is the Cornerstone

When I am by sin oppressed, on the Stone I am at rest

Where the seeds of truth are sown, he remains the Cornerstone

Jesus is my Cornerstone

Rock of Ages, so secure, For all time it shall endure

'Til His children reach their home, He remains the Cornerstone

Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me find my rest in Thee

'Til the breaking of the dawn, 'til all footsteps reach His throne

Ever let this truth be known, Jesus is the Cornerstone

Furlough, Flying, Family and Taxes

2011-04-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

We need help to get home this summer. We are scheduled to report on our ministry to supporting churches, and visit some new ones in the states of Washington, California and Montana. Furloughs can be expensive. Sometimes we have to put our plane fare, car rental and lodging costs on a credit card and then pay it off as love offerings come in. We have a problem this month. We have our calendar full of meetings, but might have a hard time getting those tickets.

Because of two recent challenges, buying those tickets is a lot harder to do. The first challenge is the need to provide airfare and tuition for our Twins, Sarah and Kristin, so they can begin their first year at Pensacola Christian college. The second challenge is this: we just paid our 2010 taxes to both US and Puerto Rico and also First Quarter Tax installments to both the US and Puerto Rico. Taxes must be paid. But, this last week was especially tough.

Meeting these two challenges has drained our savings and used up the available credit we need to begin our furlough. In short, after taxes, we find ourselves hard pressed to buy those airline tickets for our furlough and for our daughters trip to begin their college education.

Please pray for us. You can also help us by:

1. Helping with our airfare. (About $500 each ticket)
2. Helping our daughters financially.
($250 a ticket. Books, tuition, etc. Help sent to them directly lowers our tax liability.)
3. Providing a car for June-July so we won't have to rent one.
4. Providing Hospitality for the weeks between Sunday meetings.
5. Communicate positive things about our ministry, along with our needs, to your church, pastor, missions committee or prayer circle.
6. Come visit us in Puerto Rico, catch the vision for the work and share it back home.
7. Come, stay and help us! The army needs boots on the ground to win. We need your feet on the field to bring in the harvest!

I make College students throw eggs off of a roof...for a grade.

2011-03-31T16:07:00.000-04:00

I am having a lot of fun teaching a couple of classes at Puerto Rico Bible College this semester. I have a small class called "Teaching Science from Kindergarten to Eighth Grade." Besides training pastors, we are also training college students to be the future teacher for our Christian schools.

This last Monday, I had a few of them do a physics experiment involving packaging an egg so that it would survive a drop from a roof-top. Here is a little video I took of the experiment.

Missions is about PEOPLE...

2011-03-27T15:47:00.000-04:00

A few posts ago, I gave you a tour of our empty church building. Here is a short 3 min. video where I walk around our missionary church and introduce you to our people. They are our church, our disciples and our friends. They are also some of the results of our missionary outreach and the fruit of your missionary prayer and financial support.

They are a great bunch. It is exciting to see God work in the lives of these people.

For those of you supporting and encouraging us in the work, Thank you! It is making a difference.

Good News, Scary News

2011-03-23T06:25:00.000-04:00

The Good News

The good news is that our twin daughters have been accepted as college students at Pensacola Christian College and will begin this year. More good news: they have qualified for the "Fourth Year Free" program. It is a special program that allows them to attend three years in a row, and then take the fourth year free.

The Scary News

This is wonderful and we are excited about it, but a little scared at the same time. Having twins in college means double the tuition. It will be really tough on us financially, but we are willing to stretch ourselves to our utmost limit to take advantage of the bargain they are extending to us.

We won't be able to do it by ourselves. Sarah and Kristin are willing to get jobs on campus and have been accepted into the work study program, beginning June 6th. They are doing their part.

We hope to do ours. We hope some of you might help us and our daughters over these next three years so they can get a good Bible College education.

It is important for us as parents to provide for our children's education. Please help us over this three year stretch. We and our daughters need your prayers, love and financial aid.

Quick Video Tour of Our Missionary Church in Puerto Rico

2011-03-20T15:10:00.002-04:00

We opened the church early Sunday morning and while I waited for the first members to show up, I made this quick video tour with my new iPod Touch.

Maybe the Police Should Know What Missionaries are doing....

2011-03-19T19:48:00.000-04:00

My son-in law-Abe organized a youth activity involving Airsoft products (like paintball, but less messy) and had some unexpected visitors. Two police units arrived, lights blazing, having been called about militant terrorists attacking the Church property.

Maybe next time we should tell the police where we are playing...

Nothing tests love like a dead cat...

2011-02-12T16:11:00.000-04:00

Sunday was a great day for our church. I asked all the members to come, challenged them with my vision of the ministry of our church for the coming year and asked them for their input and help.

One woman volunteered to start a Ladies Prayer meeting on Saturdays and invite neighbors. A man in our church who I have asked to preach, offered to do so as often as I wished.

But the greatest visible and immediate contribution came from a poor man named Mike, who attends our services.

This last Sunday between Sunday School and our main service, I noticed a bad smell coming from the Sunday School rooms. I found a dead cat behind a sheet of plywood in an advanced stage of decomposition. I went to get a shovel, a bottle of bleach and Mike follwed me. When he saw the cat he said "Pastor, you just go upstairs and preach, I'll take care of this dead cat for for you."

I was never so relieved to say, "OK thanks!" and get back to preaching in my life.

A lot of people promise a lot of good things, but praise God for the guy that will clean up a dead cat for you. That is really love in action.

Transportation Troubles turned to Triumph: Thanks to…

2010-12-22T12:20:00.002-04:00

Between a tremendous love offering from Sierra Baptist Church of Newcastle, California and the sacrificial giving of three private individuals, $3,700 was raised to get us on the road again.

With the funds, we were able to repair our 2002 Honda Odyssey and keep it running long enough to trade it in on a small, manual, 2010 Honda Fit. The trade worked out perfectly, allowing our car payments to be exactly the same as before, but with a newer, more economical car.

Having faithful transportation when other people are depending on you is important. We deeply appreciate our faithful friends and supporters for equipping us to be faithful in our work.

Missionary Kids Need Love Too...

2010-12-05T20:16:00.001-04:00

Do you like missionaries, missionary kids and good Christian colleges? Well, you can help all three at the same time.

We hope to send our twin daughters, Sarah and Kristin, to Pensacola Christian College next year. But being missionaries and the parents of twin girls, our funds are low and the college expenses beyond our current means.

We hope Sarah and Kristin will be accepted into the work program and they do plan on working to pay for as much as they can. But even so, that will only pay for about half of the investment, leaving $7,000 a year (583.33 a month) for us to finance.

[Correction: I talked to Tina, and she said that the girls can only earn 1/3 of the tuition in the work program. Also I forgot to add student fee's and books. This raises the monthly investment to $1,000 monthly.]

Could you help us out in a special way during these crucial college years? Your financial help will accomplish a lot: it will keep us on the field, give two missionary kids a college education and help a fine Christian college all at the same time.

Please consider a monthly gift to help us through these special years. The easiest way to start is by writing a few lines to Continental Baptist Missions (cbm@cbmoffice.org or Continental Baptist Missions | 11650 Northland Drive NE | Rockford, MI 49341) to let them know of your desire to help us, how much, how often and for how many months or years.

Please pray for us also, as these are the beginning of the “Empty Nest” years for us!

If this works out well, we might even have a guest room here in the Caribbean available for special people like you!

Time for Something New?

2010-11-14T14:34:00.000-04:00

Saturday, in route to do some visitation, a warning light came on in the car we just got back from the mechanic. I had to take it back and lose the use of it for another few days. So here we are again, another Sunday without transportation. I would appreciate your prayers. I don't want our church to be discouraged by our absence. It also discourages us, not being able to minister to the people we love.

We are struggling to find a way to solve this problem.

After so many frustrating vehicle problems impeding our work, Tina and I are seriously thinking of getting a new car. We did some research this afternoon and found that US News & World Report has a good article on the "10 Best Affordable Cars." We like the "Honda Fit," which ranks in the #2 spot. The only problem is, we can't afford the "most affordable" cars on that list! But neither can we afford to be cut off from our work and ministry by unreliable, sporadic and dangerous transportation.

We might be able to limp along for a while, but I really don't want our work to limp along. We want to see it prosper! If you can pray, help, lend or give us a hand, please do so. We really want to get the job done here in Puerto Rico.

Cars Trouble Still, but Walking & Getting Healthy

2010-11-06T19:33:00.000-04:00

With both cars in the shop for two weeks, something had to give. We appreciate the gift of $100 received through a Paypal donation. Thanks to that gift, we can rent a car for a few days and get to the church we are starting in the rural mountain area of Puerto Rico and preach this weekend.

We are walking a lot more. Tina walks to our Bible College, cooks for the students and walks home after dinner. Our daughters are walking back and forth to school, and I am walking whenever possible. I must car-pool sometimes, but other wise we are on foot. The doctor told me I should walk an hour a day, so at least our current car crisis has the side benefit of getting us all in better shape.

We really do need at least ONE car though. We are looking around for a used car in good condition. The prices are higher in Puerto Rico for used cars because they must be shipped in, raising the costs about $800-1,500 compared to US prices for the same vehicles. We are looking for something about six years old or so, that still might have a few good years in it. The prices we are seeing run about $5,500. We don't have the funds to replace our car, but we can't stay housebound either and expect our ministry to continue advancing. Please pray for us. If you wish to help us,please click on the "Donate" button on the right side of the page, or send a love offering in our name to:

Continental Baptist Missions, 11650 Northland Drive NE, Rockford, MI 49341

PS. I started web page called "Prediabetic Headquarters" in order to educate and motivate myself to keep in shape. You are cordially invited to visit it or the matching Fan Page on Facebook and leave a comment.

Two dead cars in one morning. Help (please) !

2010-10-17T16:43:00.005-04:00

Something NOT funny happened on the way to church today.

We filled our 2002 Honda Odyssey with our family, two college students, an electronic piano and headed down the road to go to church. Before we had gone very far, the transmission gave out.

Fortunately, we were still close to home and were able to get back before it was completely unusable.

Well, we loaded up the 1992 Toyota Previa and tried again. We were about half way on our 45 minute drive to church when something else happened. I smelled something burning. The car was making a loud whining noise and getting difficult to steer. It seemed like something was wearing out in the rear-differential and causing friction, heat and noise.

I decided not to risk the mountain road to church and called a church member to open up the church for me and tell everyone I could not make it. Tina said, "Everybody, Let's pray!" and we had an impromptu prayer meeting in the mini-van. We then nursed the car back home by driving about 10 miles an hour for 15 minutes or so and then stopping to let the car cool down for another 15.

Our prayer was answered. We made it all the way home without an accident, lose of life, property or sanity. But let me tell you, a car full of loved ones, a church full of waiting people and a drive home in a dangerous car make for a very stressful Sunday morning.

Please pray for us and our new problem. We have both cars simultaneously needing expensive repairs.

We are grateful for being spared a tragedy today. But we do need some mobility so we can get the work done here on the mission field. Please help as you can.

We Are Coming Home! Can You Help?

2010-10-03T17:51:00.005-04:00

Tina & I will be returning to the States in June of 2011. We plan to report to our supporting churches between the beginning of June to the end of July. Then, it's back to Puerto Rico to continue our church planting work and prepare the school for our incoming students at Puerto Rico Baptist College.

We hope to begin in the Tacoma/Puyallup area in early June, and then make two loops:

1. To Kalispell, MT and back, and

2. Los Angeles, CA and back.

We need prayer and help in the following areas:

1. A house or apartment to stay in when we are in Tacoma

2. The use of a car for 8 weeks. Or a good deal on a nice used car that can make these trips safely.

3. A place to stay in California when we are between meetings there. Most likely from Sunday, June 26 to Thursday, July 28.

Blessing to All,

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk

URB SIERRA BAYAMON
33-15 CALLE 31
BAYAMON, PR 00961-4365

Ministries: Church Planting in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Baptist College
Blog: Prelgovisk.Blogspot.com | Web: OverlookedFields.com | Phone: 787-702-8790

Dodging Hurricanes

2010-09-15T20:53:00.002-04:00

We are busy down dodging Hurricanes. We have THREE nasty ones at the same time in our region. Even if they all pass us, each one consumes our attention & must be prepared for.

I remember snow days in the States. You saw the snow & then could cancel school or church. Here, everyone stays home to get ready, because you don't know until a day or two before, if it will hit.

Please pray that we will be spared these storms!

Prayer Letter: Hard work and Rewards

2010-08-07T12:12:00.006-04:00

Hard work and Rewards

Tina & I have been working harder on our mission field than ever before. But Praise the Lord, there are a lot of blessings to show for it.

A Surprising Salvation Last week, a mother came with her son for most of our Vacation Bible School. I gave a low key invitation at the end of my last chapel message & thought maybe a few kids would raise their hands. They all did! Mom too!

It gets better. Sunday morning a girl named Joyce (about 11 years old, I think) stood up in the morning service all by herself & said, "I got saved Friday & I want to be baptized!" What a great week!

Irrepressible Enrollment: The government hurt our enrollment at Puerto Rico Baptist College by denying many student visas. But I just heard that we now have enough new students coming in to replace our graduating seniors.

My main job is church planting, but we also are training young men & women at the College to serve as the future missionaries we need in Latin America. Some come from Peru, Mexico, Columbia & even California to train here. They then return to evangelize their own lands. It is a ministry that yields great rewards in the workers it provides for missionary work.

Excitement Building : Two college age students that served in our church have decided to become missionaries. Zuley from Peru went & helped a church in Wisconsin reach Mexican families in their town. She is going to start deputation next year & is applying to serve in Panama. Stephanie from Connecticut spent the summer in India & helped at a Bible college there. It is a thrill for me to see the support & prayer we have received bear fruit here and then see that fruit bear new fruit around the world.

Family Expanding, Ministry Expanding: Our daughter Bethany & her husband Abe graduated from Pensacola Christian College this year. They went as missionaries to Saint Croix, one of the US Virgin Islands. Abe serves as youth director & helps at the churches rescue mission.

Our twin daughters Sarah & Kristin hopped the 98 miles between our islands in a 12 seater Cessna. They are helping with the move & also in the mission work this summer. They both plan on going to Pensacola Christian College next year.

Our other daughter Rachel is working, helping husband Max get through Seminary. She is raising one year old Hannah & is expecting her second child. Max is getting his Master of Divinity & plans on being a pastor or missionary.

Tina is preparing to cook for 50 people at the College. Along with her church work, home improvement projects and family care, she outworks us all.

Facing Our Giants: We just heard some sad news. Because of financial troubles in more than one of our supporting churches, our monthly support is expected to drop about $300 a month.

We celebrate the givers & sympathize deeply with those who sacrifice to keep us serving in this fruitful field. But we are anxious as well, seeing some giants on the horizon. We are facing the giant of college enrollment for our twin daughters next year. Essential home repairs, car problems & the cost of doing ministry present a great challenge.

I know David slew his giant with just a sling shot & one of the five smooth stones he had saved in his shepherd’s pouch. I know God gives the victory. My concern is that our giants seem to be increasing & the resources decreasing. Please help us face these giants. Even a small gift or a modest level of monthly support will go a long way in getting the job done & our girls through college.

We Might See You In Person Very Soon: We plan on reporting to our supporting churches & seeking new support June-July of next year. We need a way to travel from Tacoma to Los Angeles & then to Montana and back. If some of you could provide hospitality for the two of us or use of a car for those 2 months, it would help reduce our expenses greatly. We need your help & appreciate it greatly.

Next ImageDios Les Bendiga (May God Bless You All),Next Image

Steve & Tina Prelgovisk

PS. We publish our missionary news frequently at Prelgovisk.Blogspot.com. Please print out copies & share with others.

Surprised by Success: Mom Saved in VBS

2010-08-02T07:37:00.007-04:00

I was surprised at church Friday.

A mother came along with her son and sat through most of the sessions of our Vacation Bible School. I gave a low key invitation at the end of my chapel message and thought maybe a few kids would raise their hands.

They all did! Mom too!

It gets better.

Sunday morning a young lady named Joyce (about 11 years old, I think) stood up in the morning service all by herself and said, "I got saved Friday and I want to be baptized!"

Our rental building doesn't have a baptistery, so we plan to have it at our home. The house we just bought has an above ground pool.

Following baptisms, our church likes to have a BBQ picnic, fellowship & a family game night.

What a great week!

Todays Sermon

2010-07-25T20:33:00.004-04:00

I preached Psalms 103 today.

"The Benefits of Being a Believer."

1 Personal Benefits

2 Public Benefits,

3Their Magnitude &

4Their Administration.

Then after church we got out the puppets & practiced for Vacation Bible School, which starts Tuesday.

Got an outline or illustration you like? Object lesson? Share them with me & we might just put them to work down here in Puerto Rico.

Showers of Blessing?

2010-07-20T19:53:00.008-04:00

We are having record breaking rainfall. That is saying a lot, coming from Puerto Rico!

The good part:

The rains have cooled us from the 90-100 range into the mid-80s. Hurray! We can save on air-conditioning. Our new house has a 5500 watt power generator installed in the car-port. Now, when the rains cut off our electricity, we can save our food and have light during the frequent blackouts.

The not so good part:

These rains revealed a leaky roof plus faulty water reserve and pump system that we had to fix (three thousand dollars). The humid weather has really aggravated Tina’s allergy to mildew. Rainy days put a damper on our door to door visitation and Vacation Bible School is just around the corner. Though we love the convenience of our power generator , it’s loud and smelly and our neighbors don’t like it.

The bottom Line:

We will keep serving in the bad weather as well as the good and hope for blessings as we serve. These blessing often come from people who care, pray and give. We will keep plugging away, doing our part.

Please consider how you might share in our good times and not so good times and be an encouragement to the work and workers of missions.

Boy Saved by Ears (maybe we can be too...!)

2010-07-20T17:34:00.006-04:00

I came across this article (see below) today and it reminded me of the verse:

"James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

Using your ears can keep you out of all kinds of trouble! Remember to use them.

PS. Use your ears to listen to your missionaries and your eyes to read our missionary updates!

Our Missionary updates (almost weekly): Prelgovisk.Blogspot.com

Family, a general overview and missionary information: OverlookedFields.com

The Article:

“Saved by his ears.

A six-year-old boy was saved from certain death by his ears, which prevented him from falling from a high-rise apartment block. Adventurous Ming Ming managed to get his head stuck in window bars of his home in Yinchang, China. Crowds gathered after hearing his screams and rescuers moved into saving the child from an eight storey drop. An onlooker said: 'The only thing stopping him from plunging to the ground below was the fact his head was trapped between two window bars. 'Once inside the flat firefighters quickly used a hydraulic pressure expander to force the bars apart and pulled Ming Ming back into the apartment.”

Catching up on the paperwork!

2010-07-16T13:02:00.001-04:00

Paperwork, the unglamorous part of missionary life: Doing quarterly taxes for Puerto Rico, writing schedules for Vacation Bible School, creating a syllabus for classes at the Bible college, writing a review of a couple of Spanish " Intro to Physics" book for use in our Christian Ed classes, etc

It is not all fun, but like the farmer, the hard work and the sweat of the brow come before the harvest. We are getting fruit, but paperwork is still paperwork.

Fading! Order more ink!

2010-07-15T19:38:00.005-04:00

VBS (Vacation Bible School) is coming & we must print out a lot of invitations, craft instructions and Bible material. Ink runs $79 for a package of the six cartridges our Epson Artisan 710 printer uses. I do try and get the ink on eBay and by refilling the cartridges, but it is still expensive to print out all of what we need.

Sometimes I want to "economize" (get stingy with) our ink. But then I tell myself something like this: "Why do we even have ink? To use! That's what it's there for! We use ink to print out invitations and Sunday school material for our church. The more we use, the more invitations we can put in the hands of people we invite to church. So, don't get to stingy! Use up that ink and get the job done!"

I feel real good about it for a while. Then a few weeks go by and ...time to re-order. Ouch.

Care to keep us in the ink? About $20 a week would keep our printer fed and insure we have the tools we need to get the job done and give us material to hand out and use in our Sunday school. Or $20 a month would keep us in black ink.

We don't want to fade away in this area, so give us hand if you can.

Embarrased by a New Idea: Give Me One of Yours!

2010-07-14T14:10:00.002-04:00

I was embarrassed a little bit recently, by not living up to a high reputation someone had for me.

Our head deacon said, “My friend’s pastor is sending text messages to his church member’s cell phones every week. He reminds them to think of spiritual things during the week. It also reminds them to come to church Sunday. Shouldn’t we do that too? You know a lot about computers Pastor; don’t you think that is a good idea?”

I do! I just never thought about it before. I had looked down on using text messaging in the past so I never gave it much thought. But, I had to admit, that the other pastor had a great Idea. After all, it seems tons of people are text messaging each other. Shouldn’t the church have a part in the content they are receiving every day?

I am usually the idea guy, ahead of the curve in technology. You have to be if you want to teach young college students computer skills they don’t already know. When I heard of the use of text messaging in ministry, it caught me off guard, and I had a “Duh! Why didn’t I think of that?” moment.

I give a class lecture or two on the use of computers in the ministry, but I can see now I need to devote a lot more time to the subject and include more than just teaching on the use of Bible programs.

After considering the cell phones and texting idea, it made sense to examine how all social media could be used in ministry. In my research, I found a chart that supposedly clarifies how to connect with people, but it’s complexity really convinced me there is a need for an entire course on the subject.

An entire course on this makes perfect sense, using Social Media to connect and to minister to a societies of people, such as: Church members, supporting churches, and Bible college students for example.

Now for making the course: I NEED YOUR INPUT!

Do you have any ideas or have heard any stories of how churches, pastors and schools are using social media in their ministries? Please drop us a line at Prelgovisk@yahoo.com or “friend” us on Facebook and help us train a new generation of pastors using the newest and best tools available.

Learning to Be Quiet: Important Discipleship Skill

2010-07-06T20:24:00.005-04:00

Last Sunday I asked a church member to preach. His name is Wilfredo Negron. Wilfredo is in his late forties, is married, has three college age kids at home and is employed making contact lenses in a local factory. I asked another man, Luis Lopez, to teach the Adult Sunday School class. Luis is an air-conditioner repairman for the University of Puerto Rico school campuses.

While they were employing their gifts for the good of the church, I went downstairs and substituted for a missing Sunday school teacher. I think I had the hardest job that morning!

I am learning something: the missionary or pastor can become a one-man show. It is easy to justify: after all, if you think you do every job in the church better than the members , why not do it all yourself? This feels right at times. Who wants a second rate service when it can be first rate? But there is a better way. More often than not, it is a better policy to shut up and let others use and develop their gifts.

Wilfredo and Luis both did a great job. The congregation was blessed. I got to thank them and see them leave the church happy. I felt like I was doing my job as a missionary. That is a win-win-win situation.

It really doesn’t take some of them very long to surpass us in skills, or at least in being a more enduring blessing to the church. After all, if we never shut up and let them serve, how will they ever mature to the point where they can do the work themselves, without our help? It is not easy, but as I see them grow, it certainly is very satisfying!

Time to Get a Big Piece

2010-06-26T10:36:00.003-04:00

I just read this in the news this morning. The news article reports on a trend we are addressing in our ministry: the increasing stream of immigration and it's expanding influence in America.

U.S. Childlessness Up Amid Demographic Shift

Government Projects that U.S. Minorities Will Become Majority by Mid-Century (CBS )‎ Saturday, ‎June ‎26, ‎2010

After reaching a high of 3.7 children per woman during the baby boom, the U.S. fertility rate dropped to a historic low of 1.7 during the mid-1970s and stands at about 2. The findings also come amid a historic demographic shift in which blacks, Hispanics, Asians and multiracial people are growing rapidly in the U.S. population and wielding more influence in politics and society. Minority babies now make up nearly half of all U.S. births.

___

I once worked with church in California in the LA area that was the center of an increasing urban minority growth. But their ministry focus stayed fixed on reaching suburban whites. That church died.

I presented a parable to one of the church members:

I asked: "If your church had two cakes at a potluck dinner, one angel-food and the other chocolate, and 100 people got in line trying to get a piece of the angel-food cake, how would that work out?"

Answer: "Well, most people would lose out, or they would only get a tiny bit each."

I said, "So, how could anyone get a big enough piece of cake then?"

Answer: "Learn to like chocolate and get in the line that has the most cake at the end !"

I asked: "Your city is like those cakes, and all the churches are competing for ever decreasing portions of the white population, but the minority part of the city is growing. Why not get in line for a slice of that?"

He smiled sadly and said, "Well, there are problems."

Yeah, I guess. But it is a problem also when your church dies! Are there reasons or problems that hinder us from ministering to minorities? Well, let's solve those problems and get on with the work. We will have bigger problems if we don't.

People, the population "cake" or composition of America is changing. We as pastors, missionaries and church planters need to learn to like the new mix and line up our ministries accordingly. If not, we will have smaller and smaller portions of a declining group, until there is not enough left to sustain the ministry, and then it will fail.

Let us reach the minorities among us. It is good for them, it will keep our ministries alive and besides that, soon we will be a minority ourselves.

Time for a (Work) Break

2010-06-18T12:59:00.002-04:00

My missionary life has a lot of variety to it: studying, preaching, counseling, weddings, evangelism, teaching, baptisms, funerals, summer camps, etc. But most of this involves reading or talking to people.

Things are about to change.

This Summer, I have about eight weeks until our teaching begins again. Our new home is providing the agenda for our summertime. We will be fixing the leaking roof, scraping and painting the interior of the house, doing hurricane preparation and the 101 other things a house needs when you move in.

Part of me welcomes the change, but another part longs for some quiet hours in a nice cool study. But that is what they say vacations are all about: making you happy to return to your other work.

Projects like this require time, but all of this costs money as well, money that we don't have right now. We have some time now to work on our house. But we could use some help getting the materials we need to do the work. Please consider giving us a hand.

If you are vacationing in the Caribbean this year, let us know and we will meet you and show you around a bit. We want to get in on the fun stuff too you know!

Missionary Wife Month!

2010-05-28T07:28:00.003-04:00

May turns out to be the month I get to celebrate Tina, my lovely and talented wife. I call it Tina's Month - our anniversary is the 7th, then there is Mom's Day & her birthday is the 31st.

This usually means a couple of nice nights out to some nicer than usual restaurants, a couple of funny presents, some earrings and a new something for the house or a lemon tree, etc. for the garden.

This year our daughter Bethany and her husband Abe are going to St Croix, US Virgin Islands as missionaries, and Tina wants to go visit them. I do too, but even though it is a neighboring island, it is more than a bit tight around here, coming soon after our new house purchase, termite adventure & kitchen rebuild.

But... I really want to keep the wife happy, so we are going to try and make it happen.

Hint: I could use some help!

Getting our hands dirty: Car Trouble

2010-05-01T16:23:00.003-04:00

Last night the bumper fell off of our 2002 Honda Odyssey and our 1999 Toyota Previa wouldn't start. Our girls were stranded at the church and had to find a ride home with the Aunt of a friend of theirs. Tina and I have been working on attaching the bumper today.

The check engine light came on and I took the Honda to Pep Boys for a computer scan. They said it was the transmission and I could be looking at about $4000 for parts and labor.

We don't have the time or money to get this fixed right now. So for the immediate future I am just keeping the fluids filled and driving carefully.

The drive to church tomorrow will have my full attention.

Big Plans for the Future

2010-04-19T19:48:00.002-04:00

The school year is slowly coming to a close. We are making plans for some big projects down the road. Some of our upcoming projects are:

1. Vacation Bible School this Summer

2. Finding and training Sunday School teachers

3. Beginning an AWANA/Youth program in Spanish

4. Going the next few steps toward starting Caribbean Baptist Seminary.

There are some big jobs out there waiting for us. Pray for us, please. We need grace, encouragement and empowerment from God. We also could use some help from you!

Too Calm and Too Cool, & Maybe, Too Crazy

2010-04-14T07:04:00.004-04:00

This picture eminds me of the response we get when we try to help people.

I have dealt with people with AIDS, people dying from alcohol poisoning and people losing homes and family. Some of them take the "What, Me worry?" attitude.

I spoke with a man dying from AIDS. He was pathetic looking, with legs like toothpicks. He glared at me and said, "You are just trying to wreck my fun!" Well, he didn't look like he was having all that much fun to me, sitting in his mothers house and wasting away.

Ten days later he died. A week later his older sister died of the same disease. They left behind the mother that cared for them. Someone told me that she was going to lose her government housing for allowing drug her kids to use drugs in her apartment.

Some fun.

Working with what we have

2010-04-10T18:41:00.003-04:00

I saw this great idea today - someone made a hanging chair out of an old shipping pallet and parachord. It is comfortable and just about free, but it does take a while to get it all put together and strung up just right.

This is a great idea, if you have tons of time. If not, you need either some people to help, or the funds to just go and buy a chair.

We have been able to get a lot done too on a tight budget. But like the project above, the less funding we have, the more time it takes to get the job done.

Our ministry is going well, but we have soooo much work to get done. Please pray with us about either getting some help or some increase in support. We need one or the other so we can get the work done in a timely manner.

Family Pride

2010-04-01T15:58:00.003-04:00

We flew to Pensacola this last week to have a special family time and share in an important event with our daughters.

Our daughter Bethany is getting her Masters degree in art and held her " Masters Art Show."

It was the culmination of her 6 years of college and grad school.

It was a fancy, formal and fun affair. It was fun because I heard many people say great things about her work. She even sold three paintings for $750!

Our daughter Rachel had our first grandbaby and I finally got to see and play with little 10 month old Hannah.

I had to leave to come back for our ministry, but I left Tina and the Twins behind so they could enjoy another week of family time together.

Handful of Pills

2010-04-01T15:53:00.001-04:00

"Pastor, last night I had a handful of pills and I was about to take them and kill myself, but something stopped me."

Mike was shaking as he told his story. Mike is a Puerto Rican from New York, who moved back to the island. He came to our church after much witnessing and many invitations. My visiting in-laws also witnessed to him a few weeks ago during their visit to our church.

He said, "I remember what you said to me about the Lord and my soul. I looked at the pills in my hand and tried to take them again, but something stopped me. I saw a bright light and heard a voice saying, "Don't do it. Don’t do it!” so, I put the pills down and said, “OK, Lord, I’ll wait.”

I talked to Mike , expressed my concern for his situation, and that Sunday, presented him with a new bible during our morning service because he had attended four Sundays.

Mike came to church Sunday with a shaken and grave look about him He left with a face all aglow with happiness.

I do not know how it will turn out for Mike, but I do know that for right know, he is in a much better place than he was a month ago. And I am glad I work for the One who made it happen.

Unexpected Fun

2010-03-13T23:17:00.007-04:00

In spite of a very rainy night, we had a nice international/missions night last week. I helped these Puerto Rican 8th graders raise funds at their booth for their future activities.

I love our work: starting churches in Puerto Rico, teaching in a Bible college, but I never thought I would like working with Junior High Kids. Maybe it's just that these kids are great kids. But whatever the reason, we are not just doing ministry, we are enjoying ministry!

Come on down here and help us and get in on the fun!

A Big THANK YOU to a faithful supporter

2010-02-25T21:23:00.003-04:00

Pastor David Pestel of Bethel Baptist Church in Kalispell, Montana just sent us a very encouraging note. At their annual meeting, the church voted to increase their support for our ministry by the amount of $50.00 per month.

What makes this especial welcome news is:

1. We just moved and have a lot of additional expenses,

2. The church is reading our prayer letters and blog. Also,

3. They are praying that God might bless and give us the strength and stamina we need for the ministry.

Isn't great when you get just what you need?

Thanks so much Bethel Baptist! We appreciate you!

If you're too busy for this...maybe you're too busy.

2010-02-13T21:04:00.004-04:00

I saw this picture titled "One sec.." yesterday.

I thought, "Technology is great and multitasking has its charms...but sometimes we need to put it away and concentrate on what is really important."

Monday I am taking time to take my girls out for dinner.

Getting Things Done

2010-01-28T16:42:00.003-04:00

Starting a church, teaching at Puerto Bible College, initiating plans for a Seminary, fighting termites and remodeling our new home...so many jobs at once!

How can we do a good job at all of these things and still manage to have a good family life and not burn out in the process?

Well, there are THREE things that help make it happen:

1. Reading and putting into practice sound productivity principles. (Right now I am reading "Getting Things Done" by David Allen).

2. Your prayers and support! Yep, the more of these we get, the more gets done!

3. Your personal visit! You know all those references about being a "Servant" or a "Slave" for Christ? Some people take that literally and actually come out here and help us for a week or even a month or so.

Have you every considered slavery as a career option? Well, if you do, we can keep the right kind of people doing the right kind of things down here for quit a while.

The Haitian Tragedy and Puerto Rico.

2010-01-23T16:42:00.004-04:00

It is 405 miles from our house to the devastation you see every night on the news in Haiti. We did not feel the earthquake directly. But being so close to Haiti has given the tragedy an extra emotional impact among our people. Last Saturday we had a pastors’ fellowship. One of the first items we discussed was how to help our near neighbors, the Haitians, in their moments of desperate need.

We sympathize with them greatly. Puerto Rico is no stranger to natural disasters. We ourselves have suffered loss in the floods and hurricanes that strike hard here in the Caribbean. Other situations are looming as well: We are 285 miles from a volcano that is erupting on the island of Montserrat. Earthquakes to the west and volcanoes to the south-east, people are getting nervous.

In order to help people in trouble, like the Haitians, and to help our own people, We have decided to take some measures to equip ourselves to respond and offer some kind of aid and services. I have acquired a Ham radio license. This qualifies me to participate in emergency disaster drills. Besides being able to provide aid during an actual emergency, I think just being able to participate in the drills would be a great asset to our evangelism here. We could be a witness to the other emergency care providers and also be identified as a valuable resource by the people of our community.

But…in order to participate I need a radio: a Ham radio capable of being set up quickly in the field. Ideally, it would be something like the radio in this link (http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/hamhf/3450.html). The radio and accessories to make it useful for field and rescue work run about $1,200.

I know it's not cheap. It is expensive to be prepared for an emergency. But what other people tell me is, it can be even more expensive to NOT be prepared for an emergency.

Pictures of our new home

2009-12-25T11:58:00.005-04:00

The move was a real grunt. We switched houses with the previous owners, so we could move in faster. But that meant we had to get everything moved and leave the house completely clean in one day. We never could have done it without the help of three hard working college students, Nancy, Christian, Bairo and Sarah's boyfriend Mario all of whom worked all day Monday.

We left our home clean but found a LOT to do in the new house. The house was all empty except for quite a bit of dust and grime.Tina said that she had heard of "Dust Bunnies" before, but she encountered a "Dust Monster" left under the bed by the previous owners. The first couple of days we lived among the boxes. The twins slept on mattresses on the floor until we got their bunk beds put together. The animals (two cats and a dog) made the trip fine and did not get lost. The cats helped by sleeping on the new boxes to mark where we had to unpack next.

The house came with some unexpected pluses. The owners left behind an installed video projector, some nice furniture, an above ground pool, and a 750 watt power generator for those days when the power goes out. We have a banana tree and some nice flowers in the back yard too. Very nice.

Christmas Eve came and we had our bathroom, living room and two bedrooms set up. We got a tree and Tina and the girls decorated it nice late last night on Christmas Eve.

Horray! We are celebrating Chistmas today, a bit worn out, but very happily from our new home.

We are IN!

2009-12-22T14:43:00.004-04:00

We are in our new house! We moved! What a day!

Two college guys, a high school student and a college girl helped us pack up two minivans and move all our furniture, boxes and odd things into our new house. After ten hours and many multiple trips, we called it a day. We were exhausted and treated the crew to a Taco Bell feast.

Tina gave me some Ibuprofen for my back, but besides a lot of sore muscles, I think we didn't suffer any major damage to anybody or anything.

Now for the fun of unpacking and trying to find the coffee...

The Big Move is Underway!

2009-12-19T16:08:00.006-04:00

We are living among and out of our moving boxes in our old house, waiting for the people in our new house to leave. They were having trouble doing this, so we offered to switch houses. They liked the idea. So today, we took the first load of boxes over to our new house. I got some help from some of our Bible college guys, to help them and to speed things along for us. We hope to finish up Monday, the 21.

I don't think the reality of owning a house has sunk in yet. But it does feel pretty good seeing those boxes finally move out the door.

Our new address is:

Steve & Tina Prelgovisk
URB SIERRA BAYAMON
33-15 CALLE 31
BAYAMON, PR 00961-4365

Busy Week

2009-11-14T12:08:00.002-04:00

Busy week: I graded about 300 student papers and got the progress reports done two days before they came out. We are preparing the house for a move. We hope to sign the closing papers on our new house this coming Friday.

I visit on the weekends with 3 college students and we also are re-starting our youth group, adding a Friday night meeting to our already full week. I am also preparing to teach a new Science class at Puerto Rico Baptist College. It will likely be a Chemistry class that I will teach in Spanish.

My doctor said I should walk an hour a day.

I am not complaining..MOST of it is a lot of fun, or at least exciting. But, I sure would appreciate your prayers for our stamina, energy and wisdom to know when to say no!

I am thinking there is a great deal of wisdom in the old Latino custom of the "Siesta." I believe I will practice some of that cultural wisdom as soon as I can.

Unexpected Fireworks: An Unplanned Revival, a Fire and an Explosions

2009-10-24T13:59:00.007-04:00

Unexpected Fireworks: An Unplanned Revival, a Fire and some Explosions

The week started one of the highest points we have EVER had. It ended with a BANG. Literally!

The Unplanned Revival:

I invited a man I led to the Lord eight years ago, (and baptized, and helped through an Alcohol rehab program, discipled, participated in his wedding, and trained to help in church services, etc) to preach Sunday.

The word got out and many of his friends and relatives came to hear his “debut” as a preacher. Our regular attendance has been in the mid-twenties lately, but shot up to forty for this special day. Well, it was great, more than great. He (Miguel) told of how he lived before, how he met Christ and the difference it made in his life. There were a lot of tears.

He ended by saying, “I will now wait here for the next few moments for anyone who wants to make a decision like I did.” We waited for about two minutes in silence. THREE adults came forward, asking how to be saved! About six more came for prayer. One of the adults was the boyfriend of Miguel’s sister.

What a day! I had them sit in the front pew, opened a bible and showed them all how to accept Christ as their Savior AND THEY DID! After our prayers, we hugged (Puerto Rican style). Tears were running down their cheeks. Our church people were defiantly REVIVED. The drive home from church Sunday was filled with animated discussions and praising God for what happened.

The BEST PART of the whole day was that someone I led to the Lord and trained actually preached and won others to the Lord. And did it in our own church! Wohoo! Opps, I mean, “Amen!”

Fireworks:
I was up late Thursday night, getting paperwork in order for a house we are trying to buy. I heard and felt a violent BOOM. I thought it was thunder. But it went off about six times and was so violent it felt like someone was shaking your body.

Tina came running out of the bedroom, “That can’t be thunder! What’s going on!”

We put on the radio, fired up the Internet and looked out the windows. We could see towers of flame and thick smoke. It looked like Mt Saint Helens going off. Everybody was calling everybody and guessing about terrorists, meteors, etc.

We got on Google maps and saw a gulf oil refinery tank farm about where the flames were coming from. Sure enough, that’s where it happened. About seven giant oil refinery tanks exploded in a chain reaction. Someone just told me it's up to seventeen now.

Last night five neighborhoods around our Christian school were evacuated for fear the toxic cloud might shift that way sometime today. They are letting it burn itself out. The fire is currently spewing out great cloud of smoke and will likely keep it up for two or three days more.

We are safe right now. But it is hard to plan or even sleep when a change in the wind direction might mean a mass evacuation. We are OK here for the time being, but we have to ready to leave on a seconds notice.

Please pray for us! We like the FIRST kind of fireworks , but the other kind, not so much!

Explosions, Fire & Smoke

2009-10-23T23:55:00.002-04:00

Big bangs shattered windows. Pillars of fire and smoke last night came from giant gas tanks ( the kind bigger than houses) at a Gulf oil refinery exploding. Eleven tanks are in flames. There are 40 tanks in that tank farm, some with jet fuel, others supply the islands electrical system. They are just going to let it burn itself out.

Our school is canceled for today. Stay home kids. Everyone here is safe, we hope you are.

We might have to mass evacuate our neighborhood. The pillars of smoke from the oil refinery fire may descend to ground level during the cool of the night. We may just grab some blankets and food and head to the mountain to avoid the toxic smoke.

11:59PM Fri

Some of my students a few miles north of here were just evacuated to a hotel. We are waiting to see if the police come to our neighborhood. I am canceling visitation tomorrow, as everyone is uncertain about which roads are open, etc. We will try to keep the family together in one spot in case we have to move suddenly.

A better home for us...

2009-10-17T14:56:00.004-04:00

The house we are trying to get is NOT the auction home we mentioned earlier. We found a better house.

We decided not to go for the auction house because it was too expensive and had some major possible problems (leaky roof, electrical and plumbing etc.) After looking at a few other houses we found one that is a lot nicer and at a better price.

It's a cute white house with a bright blue awning on the porch. The new house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, great floors, four air conditioning units, ceiling fans, tons of windows for ventilation and natural lighting. It comes with a stainless steel fridge and washing machine. It has a nice landscaped yard with a small above ground pool and fruit trees. The house has been well maintained and has no repairs to make.

The location is ideal. It is on a quiet dead end street and it's a four minute walk from Tina’s work as a cook at the Bible College. The students can come over without us having to go get them in our car also.

It has some unusual extras. The owners are leaving behind a full house generator for when the electricity goes out (regularly), a solar water heater and a cistern. The large carport comes with a surprising feature. It has an outdoor theater projector installed and a 6x4 ft. screen near the back wall, perfect for college classes, church fellowships or just having your own semi-outdoor theater.

The only drawback is the small but very cute kitchen. But Tina says she does 90% of her cooking at the Bible College anyway. We only eat breakfast at home.

The price started at $166,000 a year ago and the buyer agreed to sell it to us for $152,000. We're hoping for a good interest rate from the bank. Our credit score is great. But the question is the down payment and closing costs. The more we put down, the less our monthly payments will be and it will make it easier to qualify for the better interest rate.

Help us get a house! Strategic Giving

2009-10-16T22:41:00.001-04:00

We found a very nice home at a good price and are hoping to buy it. We just met the owners and of the house and their real estate agent. It is a lovely home and only a FOUR minute walk from our Bible College.

If you ever thought of helping us financially, now would be a very good time. Gifts received or money lent to us in the next few weeks would lower our monthly payments, and maybe even free us from paying mortgage insurance.

Please consider helping out a little (or a lot) extra right now. An extra gift this month could mean 30 years of saving every month.

Sacrifices

2009-10-12T09:15:00.006-04:00

This story reminds me of the sacrifices made by Military families:

Four-year old Paige didn't want to say goodbye to her daddy before he was shipped off to Iraq. Paige said later, "I didn't want to let go of him."

No one had the heart to pull her away.The commanding officer allowed Paige to say goodbye as her dad prepared to ship off from Fort Dix.
===

It is a touching story. Families go through this kind of pain because their loved ones go to war.

We Christians are in a great conflict also. We serve a different Commander-in-Chief, but the sacrifices are just as real. Please do not forget your missionaries, as we too have had to leave country and family behind to do our part.

Prayer Alert! Bargain House Opportunity!

2009-10-10T13:15:00.003-04:00

House Auction

Last week Tina saw a public auction notice on this house two doors down from the house we are renting here in Bayamon. It has been empty for at least a year and a half after being repossessed by the bank. They tried to sell it for $178,000, then lowered it to $160,000 but still couldn't sell it. Now it's up for auction.

Tina has had her eye on this place ever since we moved here a year and a half ago, but it was always out of our price range. Is this auction an opportunity for us to get into home ownership? Or could it be a house that falls apart and costs you a fortune in repairs, like in the movies?

On the positive side, the house is huge for Puerto Rico (2,311 sq. ft.). It's really a house with two apartments in the back so it has five bedrooms and four bathrooms (3/2 in the main house, 2/1 in one apartment and 1/1 in the other). The two bedroom apartment is bigger than the house we are living in now! We could even rent out rooms to some of our college students or teachers.

We had no problem getting pre-approved for the home loan. What we need now is the $10,000 for the down payment. PLEASE PRAY that the Lord will show us if this is the right path for us and that the funds needed for the down payment will be provided.

The auction will be November 7th.

I think we really are making some good progress down here...

2009-09-25T22:57:00.003-04:00

I think we really are making some good progress down here. We have:

Progress in our Church
We painted the church basement and are close to finishing up. Thank you, Alpine Baptist youth group and Pastor Scott Florida from Michigan. Now we are almost ready to move our small Sunday School down there. Now we can work on making our small Sunday School into a BIG Sunday school.

We are training 3 new students this year in our church. They doing visitation with us, teaching, helping with the music and doing a lot of the painting. They are: Jose Ivan, a Mexican from the San Fransico area; Laura, from the cloud-forests of Colombia; and Ashley, from Mexico.

Progress in Our College
I am taking our Christian education majors from Puerto Rico Baptist College in everyday to a Christian school for teaching experience. Tina is cooking for the college this year. We get free lunches! Yeah!

Progress in Our Family
Our 17 year old twin daughters are doing great in our revamped homeschooling. And our granddaughter is getting cuter every day. Our Oldest daughter Bethany is preparing for her Masters degree art show in Pensacola, and we will proudly attend.
They are good kids, getting smarter and better looking every day.

I think that is enough to make anybody feel like they are making some progress. It works for me!

"Soul Winning Day"

2009-09-18T21:54:00.003-04:00

Books and study are not everything!

It is important for the students at Puerto Rico Baptist College to have social outings, work projects and group activities that involve helping others. One of these activities provided by the college is called "Soul Winning Day."

All the students, plus our 17 year old twins, Sarah and Kristin, went and participated in this just a few days ago. They all got in the student van and went to a small church pastored by Rosendo, a young Mexican student I trained and who served as my assistant pastor for 2 years. There they passed out tracts and invited people to the church. It was a great experience for everyone. Sarah and Kristin had a great time, Rosendo's church got some help and the college kids got the satisfaction of helping a fellow student.

The picture is of another outing we had, but it gives you an idea of how full and how fun the van can get!

I confess, Sarah and Kristin's attitude toward all this was my main concern. I am happy my daughters enjoyed serving others and got a little appreciation for what their dad does during the week.

Cramming and Commuting

2009-09-06T22:46:00.001-04:00

Early in the mornings and late in the afternoon, I fill my van with student teachers. I take a group of six of our Puerto Rico Baptist college kids to a Christian school so they can get experience teaching. It is a lot of fun to hear their excitement, eagerness and youthful kidding during our daily commute. It is a real trill to walk on that campus with students I have personally taught and see them go and teach others.

Saturdays, I take three of them to visit with me for our church. Sundays, the same three go with me to teach Sunday School, help with the song service or fill in where needed.

So our we keep our car busy hauling college kids all week long. We enjoy them when we they are with us. We are proud of them too. Great job guys! Keep up the good work!

Power Problems. What to do?

2009-08-27T07:13:00.002-04:00

The electricity has been going out a lot lately. I don't mind getting out the candles and the Coleman lantern that much. It is kind of adventurous and reminds me of camping out.

What I DO mind is trying to work and sleep in Puerto Rican heat and humidity with no fans, no ice and no cold drinks. Sleeping in damp sheets is no fun. One or to days of this is tolerable. But once we we without electricity for AN ENTIRE MONTH.

We are thinking of getting a power generator, but they run around $800. I guess we will just have to sweat it out and be philosophical about it.

We are thinking of getting some sort of emergency food supply for those long power outages. I came across "Canned Bacon" the other day, but I think we will just stick with extra tuna fish cans for the time being.

Near miss by Hurricane Bill and Storm Ana

2009-08-22T11:03:00.005-04:00

Thank you to those of you who prayed for us and expressed concern about the approach of TROPICAL STORM ANA and HURRICANE BILL. Just a few days ago, the weather forecast had them heading straight for Puerto Rico.

We felt like the number one pin in the bowling alley watching these big monsters rolling towards us. But little by little, like bowling balls that curve away just inches before a strike, these storms veered away; ANA to the south and BILL to the north.

The good news is, they missed us. Hurray! The bad news is, many people had to prepare for the storms they didn't know were going to miss us. So, we missed some key people Sunday. But we got through the week, thankful for being spared a very nasty encounter with HURRICANE BILL.

It has been very hot here lately. The heat index (opposite the "wind chill" index) has been 100 or more almost all week. It seems odd that at night, when the temperature drops to 75-80, we feel cool.

We keep working, visiting, teaching and preaching. Tina is cooking in a hot kitchen at Puerto Rico Baptist College during the day. We try to find ways to keep cool. But we are happy in our work and feel blessed. We are content to sweat a little to get the job done here in Puerto Rico.

Unexpected Interuptions

2009-08-16T22:55:00.003-04:00

Saturday evening, the weather charts had THREE hurricane/storms heading directly for Puerto Rico. A lot of panic ensued and a good number of people in our church stayed home to prepare.

Even though we had low attendence today, there was a good spirit in the service. The non-Christian brother of a member came and seemed to enjoy the service.

The funeral home down the block had a large funeral at the same time as our service and their music blasted over some big speakers for the entire neighborhood to hear. It was tough singing in competition with that, so we just had one song and went right into the sermon.

The people hung around for about an hour after the service and we enjoyed fellowship with them all.

Hurricanes on the way

2009-08-15T23:23:00.001-04:00

Three storms looking to become hurricanes are in the North Atlantic. Ana, Bill and an unnamed one. Already I am getting calls of people not coming to church to prepare for a possible hit.

Ana looks like it will hit us head on.

Bill looks like it might just miss us to the North, but it could be trouble if it hits us.

Working with what we have...

2009-07-18T16:33:00.005-04:00

Visiting people on an island suggests the idea and usefulness of a boat. But our island is so big (35 x 113 miles: Population 4 Million) that there is enough for us to do without visiting the more inaccessible places by boat.

We use what we have, but could use better equipment to extend our ministry.

We are happy, for example, to work with 3x5 cards and rubberbands. But being supplied with some better technology, such as an Iphone account and phone, wouldn't hurt either

The better equipped we are, the better we can serve. It can be fun being creative, but there is a lot to said for doing a quality job with the right kind of tools.

Is one more bite of ice cream really worth all this?

2009-07-18T16:26:00.004-04:00

I just got some lab results back from my physical exam. For the most part, they look pretty good. The doctor said the EKG was perfect, BUT the blood sugar test result suggests I may be heading for the "pre-diabetic" zone, if I don't make some changes.

I like change and challenges, but...I also like those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as well. I guess I will have to develop some new habits. We have already begun making some new patterns. Tina and I are walking more and plan to add more walks to our schedules every week.

Prov 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear...

2009-07-16T20:09:00.003-04:00

I had some great news and some potentially bad news today.

The great news:

1. I spoke with a 16 year old young man named Peter today for about an hour in his home. He shared some of his problems and I shared some of my life experience and we read together what the Bible said about it all.

After reading a number of scriptures, Peter asked to accept Christ as his Savior. We prayed and he did! Peter then said he would be in church Sunday and offered to help as needed in our church.

2. There is an unemployed college age young lady named Michelle in our church that needs some financial help. I needed help advertising our upcoming VBS. I thought, well, maybe we can help each other. She came by the church today with her mother and I offered her the job of passing out advertisements 3 hours a day for the VBS.

She said "Yes."

When I left town a few hours later, I saw her and her boyfriend going door to door passing out the pamphlets. It encouraged me to see them helping us by "walking the walk" and not just "talking the talk."

The Bad news.

Peter's mother came home just after I prayed with him and told me that she had a bad day at work. She works with the Health dept and said there was a Swine Flue panic in town today. She said 300 people came in all at once for help, shots or information. Apparently, a women who works at a local restaurant might have got it, so all the town was in an uproar. Two people just died of this recently here, so they were pretty exited about it.

I was suddenly afraid how this might affect us. I thought, "Well maybe this will hurt our VBS." But then I remembered that God has asked us to sow and to serve, it is His job to grant the increase. Some other scripture came to mind: Prov 3:25 "Be not afraid of sudden fear..."

So...should we rejoice or worry? I think we should do the following:

We will visit and enable others to visit. We will prepare as well as we can. We also will come with paint, sandpaper and brushes. If the kids come, we will have a great VBS. If they don't, well, we already have seen results in our visitation and will get out those paint cans and make something happen for the good of the church one way or another.

I would love to come & help...exept for the heat and humidity.

2009-07-06T14:44:00.006-04:00

We get a lot of questions about the heat and humidity. Here is a little Q&A on this popular topic.

Q: Is it hard to work in the tropical heat and humidity of the Caribbean?

A. Well, living in the heat of the tropics in a concrete house can really sap your energy. But we have found ways to get the job done, regardless.

Q: Why not just use air-conditioning?

A: I wish we could. But in Puerto Rico, all the electricity comes from gas fed turbine generators, and is VERY expensive. One small room air conditioner all the time can raise the electric bill $200 a month. At our current support level, the cost of cooling the house is just too much

Q: How do you cope with the heat then?

A: We do have some strategies to keep tolerably cool. We have lots of fans and two small air conditioners for the bedrooms. When the heat and humidity get really unbearable, Tina goes into the smallest bedroom, sets the air conditioner to about 78, puts the Algebra books on the bed and homeschools Sarah and Krisitn in there.

We drink a lot of ice filled drinks. I mix diet Sprite and grapefruit juice or get some Crystal Lite Ice Tea mixes. Peach Tea and Green Tea/Mango are my favorites.

Some days it is too hot to study at home, so we might go to the food court of a mall for a break in the heat of the afternoon and study or do things there.

Keeping things dry is a challenge. Many things, like flour or pancake mix go into the frig so the heat and moisture won't hatch out weevils.

Q: Is it always so hot?

A: No, usually it is plenty warm here, but there are a few month where we begin thinking of the beach or some games involving water. When it gets REALLY hot, games like this begin sounding like a good idea.

Here is a game I learned from our camp councilors:

Water Balloon Relay:

Fill a kiddie pool with water and different color water balloons. Put an empy can under a plastic chair with slats in it.

1. Bob for a water balloon.
2. Run to a chair.
3. Sit on water balloon
4. Run back and tag a team member
4. Continue until one team fills the can and wins the relay.

Sweet Fellowship for a Sweet 4th of July

2009-07-03T13:23:00.003-04:00

We are hosting a BBQ for the 4th of July for a few fellow church planters and some Puerto Rican pastors.

We do something like this once a month to encourage new pastors. But I think we get as much or more out of it than they do. When things get discouraging in a new work, there is nothing like hearing good reports regarding a church that was planted from a pastor whom we helped succeed.

But meetings like this also mean cleaning the bbq grill, spring cleaning the house, painting, decorating and yard work. Between visitation, VBS and fellowship preparations, we are getting quite a workout. I guess I shouldn't complain. At least being active in the ministry saves us the cost of a Gym membership!

You never know what you might end up doing in a day...

2009-06-28T17:57:00.007-04:00

Usually I preach Sundays and know what to expect. Today was different.

This Sunday, I gave one of our deacons an opportunity to preach in the morning service. I thought I would sit and enjoy his sermon. Before he began, my wife Tina called me aside.

She said, "There are a few small kids in church today. How about you telling them a story during Wilfredos' sermon?"

I felt a pang of nervousness, because although I am bilingual, I usually go to church well prepared to speak in Spanish. I thought I would keep it simple, so I took the kids over to a table in the back of the church and thought to get out some coloring books and chat with them.

A little girl named Joyce looked at me and said, "Pastor, I don't want to color! We want you to tell us a story!"

Well, how can you argue with that? I took an illustrated Bible and told them the story of Creation all the way to the Tower of Babel. I had a story book on Naaman being healed by Elijah. They smiled and nodded their heads all the way through the lesson time. I really enjoyed their interest and smiles.

After that, I thought to have a time of fellowship and a snack with our people. But just then, I got a phone call from a member who lives close to the church, a Mr. Soto.

Mr. Soto said, "Pastor I am in pain...come to my house."

I told Tina to inform the church and I just ran over, thinking he might be in trouble. He was OK, but in pain from a tumor that is to be removed tomorrow. He wanted his pastor to pray with him. I stayed and prayed and comforted him.

I came back and almost everyone had left...and had eaten all the sandwiches! Before leaving, I opened some mail and found a bill for over $200 for water. That is ridiculously high down here. So my deacon Luis and I looked for, found and uncovered the water meter outside the church. I read him the meter numbers and he wrote them down. We plan to check the numbers again Wednesday night to see if they change. If so, then we know we have a leak somewhere.

So..from a surprise lesson, to a surprise phone call, visit and prayer time, to a surprise water/financial emergency...all goes to show that you just never know what you will face in a day, when you are in the ministry! But, in each situation, we found that we had or were given what was needed to succeed. Amen!

Staycation?

2009-06-15T20:25:00.002-04:00

Just finished teaching Summer School for two weeks..and now for our vacation.

We are painting the eaves, moving furniture, redoing the yard, visiting shut-ins, and generally catching up...

...so I guess we are taking, not a "vacation" but a "staycation" where we stay put and regroup for next months VBS, mission team arrvial and further ministries.

Big Plans for the Summer...

2009-05-23T17:49:00.004-04:00

By faith we are making some big plan for this Summer..

Pastor Scott Florida from Michigan is bringing about 15 members of his youth group to help us down here in Puerto Rico. We hope to keep them all busy doing things that will enhance the work of missions here and will give the youth group an enthusiasm for missions that can be caught by others back home.

We have in mind: Painting the church, sanding and painting the fencing and protective iron work around the church and our Bible college, visiting an orphanage, holding a "Super-Saturday" one day VBS blitz, taking them out to pass out tracts and of course, visiting a beach, eating some Puerto Rican favorite food, seeing some sights and doing some shopping in Old San Juan.

One thing I like about visitors is that it gives us an excuse to have some fun down here! We sometimes go years without visiting a beach, etc.. So it is fun for us to revisit and show others some of the neat things on our mission field.

We are looking forward to a great time of ministry this Summer.

Please pray it will be so!

(Jas 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.)

ALMOST everybody is happy...

2009-05-12T21:26:00.006-04:00

I will be giving final exams for the next two days. Most of the students are happy with their grades...but for the rest, well at least it's Summer, so take a break and better luck next year.

I took the twins to the Mall today, just for some family time together, so they could have a break from homeschooling.

Tina should be coming back in a week. That will make it a month she has been gone. Her absence sure has been felt in our church, the college cafeteria and in our home.

Hurry on home Honey! We all miss you.

PS. Here is a song about a man missing his wife that I like, sung by a very talented street musician:

It's Mother's Day in Puerto Rico too.

2009-05-10T14:54:00.002-04:00

We had a good Mother's day today in our missionary church up in the mountain region. What really pleased me is that everybody did a little something and that it all came together for a great Sunday.

Our Deacons' brother, Manuel, has been attending for about 2 months now, and he surprised me by showing up with a strawberry cheese cake and a box of red roses. He said, "This is something I got for the mothers of the church today." He brought a boom box and a CD of Mothers' day songs that was actually good and was pleased when we thanked him for contributing something to make the day more special for everyone.

A college girl brought an acrostic poem that spelled "Madre" and we read it during our announcement time. Her older sister bought the gifts for me. We called on kids to come and pass them out to the mothers. A woman and her two adult daughters decorated the church. Another family brought rice, beans and turkey for a luncheon. Almost everyone got to do something. It made for a good service and a lot of good feelings.

Hannibal Smith of the old "A Team" series used to say: "I love it when a plan comes together." I agree. But it is even better when we have a day when the church members make the plans and it all works out. Today was one of those good days.

PS. My mother passed away and Tina is still in Florida with our new grand-daughter, so Mother's Day in our home today is pretty low key. I did enjoy listening some Mom's day humour: here is a video of all the advice your Mother gives you in a day condensed to 2 min. 55 seconds and sung to the "William Tell Overture"

Final Exam Week. Are We Having Fun Yet?

2009-05-08T11:29:00.006-04:00

School: Final Exam week.

Students may think I am mean, but they leave and I have to grade all of those papers! I am REALLY looking forward to the end of this school year. Then all I have to do is church planting, evangelism, mission team coordinating, Vacation Bible School...well, at least we will have some variety, if not a vacation this summer.

Church: Mothers Day

I am planning Mother's Day for our church, but without Tina here, it is challenging. It is dangerous to send a man on a mission to buy gifts for ladies. Believing this, I delegated the gift buying to a woman in our church. We are having a small catered luncheon, so the ladies won't have to pretend they like what the men make for them. Sometimes days like these do more for our church growth than our door to door visiting, so please pray all will go well.

Planning activities like this reminds me of Pascal's Prayer: “Lord, help me to do great things as though they were little, since I do them with Your power; and little things as though they were great, since I do them in Your name.”

Family: Anniversary

It's our 26th Anniversary! BUT...Tina is not here! Come home soon! I love her so much. Besides, I can't find my other sock!

PS: We did talk on the phone. I sent her some Chocolate Covered Strawberries and we shared some videos like this one.

Warning: May contain Sunlight and Sweetness.

No Swine Flu in Puerto Rico, but...

2009-05-03T20:02:00.003-04:00

Dear People Who Plan on Visiting Us in Puerto Rico this Year,

There are NO cases of Swine Flu here. Puerto Rico is a lot further from Mexico than most of the US.

However, don't get overconfident, please take SOME precautions. Pack some Mosquito Repellent, Sun Tan lotion and whatever you usually need.

If you forget something, don't panic. We have WalMart, Walgreens and most of the other US type stores and we use the US dollar, so you can get what you need here.

Looking Forward to Your Visit,

Pastor Steve
OverLookedFields.com

New Arrival

2009-05-02T11:05:00.002-04:00

Our Big News

2009-05-02T00:05:00.004-04:00

Our big news! We are grandparents!

HANNAH FAITH KENNEDY was born at 8:35am in Pensacola, FL.

She is 7 lb. 2.8 oz and has long black hair. Mother Rachel and new Grandma Tina doing fine.

This Little Light of Mine...

2009-05-01T23:53:00.002-04:00

This frog just tried to eat a lightning bug, like he was supposed to do. He followed the light, partook and felt a nice warm glow inside. Maybe it is a deep spiritual metaphor, or maybe it just means people leave their Christmas lights out way too long!

No Guts, No Glory

2009-04-29T23:15:00.004-04:00

What does it take to succeed as a missionary in Puerto Rico? I would like to say it is intellegence and skill. But mostly it is getting outside and meeting new people.

It can be pretty scary sometimes to just walk up to someone and share the gospel, especially when you anticipate a negative response. But if you don't have the guts, they won't get to glory!

I was inspired by the nerve of some street musicians, who risk (and get) ridicule, but keep at it. My favorite is Grandpa Elliot. It just goes to show you, that even an old guy can get a message across, if he has the guts to do it.

PS. Our anniversary is coming up (May 7th). Grandpa Elliot and other street musicians do a great version of "Stand by Me" a favorite song of Tina and I when we were dating.