Our First Church Hosts a Pastor and Churches Leadership Conference

 We had a great at the leaderships conference for our churches' that ran 9-3 Friday and Saturday. The church where I served as missionary upon our arrival in Puerto Rico now has their own paid for property and was able to host the event. Classes on Leadership qualifications, how to organize events, creating agendas for meetings, use of statistics as decision making aids, integrating personal and ministry agendas, and time management were interesting and of value. It was good to fellowship with our Puerto Rican pastors and learn from them their life and ministry work experiences as well.

We host a Four Day Marriage Seminar-Feb 2023

 We were blessed to have these pastors attend a marriage seminar we hosted this month. Pastor Urraca from the Dominican Republic gave us great teachings on improving our marriages. 

We host a Prophecy Seminar- Jan/Feb 2023

We hosted a prophecy seminar over six Wednesday mornings. The Wednesday morning service is turning out to be a real blessing to our church. Most of our people can attend, especially those who have trouble driving at night. Also, we can get guest speakers more often that are a benefit for our church. A church we helped start in a neighboring town is pastored by a graduate of Puerto Baptist college, Angel Espada. Angel did a great job and stimulated us to think more of our daily activities in light of Bible prophecy. 

Neighborhood BBQ Outreach-Jan 2023

We put the parking lot of our new church to work! We invited neighbors of our church and their kids to celebrate a Three Kings Day BBQ with us and they came!  Associate pastor Javier Pizarro planned the event and did an amazing job. His wife Lizza gave a devotional to the kids in front of a bouncy house set up in our parking. Their parents listened in while enjoying hamburgers, hotdogs, and fellowshipunder the shade of a canopy we set up. 

Three Kings is celebrated like Christmas here in Puerto Rico, the Kings giving out presents instead of Santa. Three of us dressed up and handed out presents to the kids after the devotional. I was surprised that the owner of a small restaurant in town came with her family. It is a restaurant our visitation teams often stops at for a break. She got to know us over time and seemed happy to be there.

What Happens When Your Mother-in-Law Visits you on the Mission Field

Mom-in-law JoAnn Hayden visited Tina Prelgovisk and I in Puerto Rico, the island where we live and work as missionaries. In spite of her 80 something years, she went on walks with Tina, helped out around the house, and even went with us on workdays to our new church building and did hours of good work.

We were especially touched when she presented us with a gift. Her late husband Joe Hayden had visited us here with her on the island and helped us in a number of ways. In lieu of flowers, she asked for donations to be made in his name toward advancing the work of missions on our mission field. The gift was presented in our Sunday morning service and our people expressed their gratitude to her and those who had contributed.

After visiting us, she flew to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, to visit great-grandkids Ian and Abigail, our daughter Bethany, and son-in-law Abe Kennedy, pastor of Southgate Baptist Church.  

I'm glad she got to visit her great grand-kids and make some good memories with them,

We were doubly blessed to hear that Southgate Baptist voted to support us for $100 a month! Thank you, fellow islanders and near neighbors, your support is greatly appreciated! 

Prayer Requests and Praise:

1. We have water! We have electricity! We have insurance! They were a long time coming.
2. We have begun Wednesday morning prayer meetings 10-11:00 AM. They are well attended. We are beginning Sunday School this coming Sunday. 
3. Chairs! A fellow missonary church is selling 52 upholstered chairs for $15 each. We would like to get them. That would be $780. 
4. Summer help! Scraping, painting, and building improvements need doing. Like to help? We could use people here to help in the work and others to help with the supplies. Your help is desired and deeply appreciated.

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk

Continental Baptist Missions

Puerto Rico, USA

Developing New Leadership: Welcome Javier, Lizza Pizarro and Family to our Missionary Work

 

We have taken possession of the Jehovah Witness building and are meeting there now!

 A New Church

We were a church without a building after hurricane Maria. 

We met in homes and later in a tiny storefront. 

We searched for a new place to meet as we met in cramped quarters.

The Jehovah Witness organization put a FOR SALE sign on a beautiful building (drone video here) in our town. 

It had parking for 40 cars, was above the floodplain of our riverside town, but was also above what we could afford.

But, we had faith and followed up on the opportunity.

We asked for prayer and help. The prayers were answered, the help came and...

We have taken possession of the Jehovah Witness building and are meeting there now! 

God is good. 

Taking possession means lots of preparation, painting, and paperwork. 

Church members, students from Puerto Rico Baptist College, and friends from other churches came to help.

So many work days! 

But, they are days when we can see progress and have fun working with some great people.

Prayer Requests:

Turning on the electricity and water is a big challenge. 

The paperwork and complexity is astounding. 

We really feel we are in a Nehemiah type of situation when dealing with the Puerto Rican bureaucracy. 

Your prayers for wisdom and patience to navigate through all this process are greatly appreciated. 

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk

Missionaries to Puerto Rico

with Continental Baptist Missions

Property Update: About to Cross the Finish Line!

 

What a month! 

We have been praying for a new home for our church, a place we can begin anew after the double blow of hurricane Maria and the following Covid restrictions. 

A Jehovah's Witnesses building came available, but was about three times the amount we had saved for a church property. But, through prayer, some negotiations, and generous giving, it happened. We are about to take possession of our new church home.

The promised matching fund of $30,000 came in and all is ready for the next step.

What remains? There was some disagreement between the Jehovah's Witnesses and the government about whether they owed property tax or not. They are in the process of getting that cleared up, hopefully, soon.

We have secured a great Christian lawyer here to help us in all of this. His help has been invaluable in guiding us through the process.

We were happy to have a storefront to meet in after the hurricane's devastation. But a one room church is hard to grow. We are anxious to have a church with rooms for Sunday school classes, a nursery, kitchen, and all the kinds of things that makes it a family friendly church. This desire has now become a reality!

Please rejoice with us, and send up a prayer of gratitude for what God has done. Having a church building with no monthly payments is a real blessing. It is also a good preparation for the future independence of the church. God is good. Amen!

How a $9,500 surprise in one day is getting us a building for our church in Puerto Rico!

This morning, I was anxious about the deadline for raising $30,000 dollars. This afternoon, I  stopped worrying.

The story:

Our church here in Puerto Rico raised a bit over $40,000 towards a church property. We were stifled by our small, post-hurricane storefront rental. We found a church for sale listed originally at $160,000. After negotiating with them over a few months, the price came down. They were willing to sell to us for $140,00 with the parking lot, or just the building for $100,000!

A pastor heard of our need and told us that of the $60,000 remaining for the purchase of the church, he would help with $30,000, if we could raise the remaining $30,000 by October. Hurray! 

But could we do it?

This morning, I called our mission agency and found that in addition to the $40 thousand our church had saved, $20,866.30 had come in, for a total of $60,866.30. Amen!

But the morning was not over yet. I got a call from a church in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, where we had visited last Sunday. The love offering was $6,500! Then, a church in Paso Robles, California gave $1,000! That same morning, a pastor called from Washington state and indicated that his church might give $2,000 toward what was lacking to get us into that new church building! 

All this together, plus some from another church we helped start here in Puerto Rico, means we can get that church! 

Amen! Now, with so much good news in one day, is it too much to hope for a parking lot to go with it? I don't think so. If God can supply over $9,5000 in one day, what might He do for us between now and October, when we hope to make the purchase?

If you would like to help with that parking lot, closing costs, or new paint, we would be happy to show you how to do that. Contact our mission agency here, and they will show you how to contribute. Thank you to those of you who already have!

Help us get the $30,000 matching gift for our new church property!

A pastor called recently and pledged $30,000 if we could raise the another $30,000 to purchase a church property for our church in Puerto Rico! 

What is special about this property? After the horrible hurricane destruction of hurricane Maria, we first met in homes and now are meeting in small store front. It is fine for a small group, but has no rooms for growth. We need a place where we can invite families with children, have a church nursery, and have Sunday School rooms.

A rare opportunity came about. The Jehovah Witnesses are selling their church in town for less than the price of a house! It even has rooms for a missionary apartment in the daylight basement!  

It is a rare opportunity. But also a limited opportunity. The matching funds offered were given for a 6 month time frame. Since that initial offer, one giver has dedicated $3,000, so we are 1/10 of the way toward the goal already!

Take a look at the video. Can you see what we see? A place for a Baptist church in the heart of Puerto Rico. 

Please contact our mission agency, CBM, and help us get that church and the matching funds we need!

(For helping us by PushPay: Select "Missionary" in the drop down menu, and put "Prelgovisk/Church in the memo." )

March: Cast Off, Boot On, Therapy Begins, School Opens

It's been super busy here this March. The Christian school I work with here in Puerto Rico plans on having students return to the class room March 23. I teach 11th grade Computer Science there and help in the office. The government regulations we need to comply with here in this US Commonwealth are quite extensive and we are busy trying to make it all happen in the time available.

Having a fractured fibula doesn't help.

I'm finding everything is a lot slower in a wheel chair and on crutches.

I was able to get my cast sawn off  last week and now wear a big boot to immobilize my leg. Therapy is scheduled to begin in a few weeks, and until then I am supposed to do range of motion exercises and some light resistance work. 

I got some exercise bands to help. I didn't think much of them before now, prefering home gym equipment. But Im beginning to appreciate them. The bands have a higher "Spousal Acceptance Factor" than a well equipped home gym. What they lack as exercise equipment, they make up in cost saving, space saving, and portability.

So far, I haven't overdone it yet. It's hard not rushing the process a bit when there is so much to do.

Missionary Update-Feb 2021

It's been a while since our last post or podcast. Many supporters started following us on Facebook and I  have fallen into the habit of posting my updates there and have fallen behind in communicating as well as I should by printed prayer letters or by online blog posts. I apologize.

I will include a year 2020 prayer letter in a link here and give an update below.

Our churches continue under Covid restrictions. They are allowed to meet at 25% of capacity, but many do not meet, for fear of injuring their elderly church members. Our congregation is like a small family group, and we all felt like we should have Sunday morning services together. It is a blessing to teach, preach, sing, pray, celebrate the Lord's supper and have fellowship with each other.

Our Puerto Rico Bible College has a few new students, one from a Puerto Rican family in North Carolina. The college is fulfilling our vision of training believers for the ministry, who can then evangelize and plant churches within Latino communities in our country.

Our Son-in-law, Abe Kennedy, has been installed as pastor of Southgate Baptist in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. We enjoy watching his sermons on Youtube. Daughter Bethany went from being the wife of the youth director to the wife of the pastor and seems to be adapting to the that change just fine. 

On my way home from teaching a class at Levittown Baptist Academy, I left the car to bring in a garbage can and slipped in some curbside mud. I landed hard on my knee and twisted my foot about 90 degrees to the side. I hollered and neighbors came running and, with Tina, helped me into the house. I got an x-ray and found I had a fracture in my lower leg. I got a boot, but it wasn't enough. Now, I have a cast and will get a follow up exam next week to see if I need to escalate treatment. 

So, for right now, I am doing as much as I can from home. Teaching my class on the Pentateuch in Spanish by Zoom, though, feels very unsatisfactory. I miss the energy I get from being in the presence of the young people who are there preparing for the ministry. Their hope, faith, zeal and positive spirits are better felt in presence than through a video portal. But, we are doing what we can and God is blessing.

Our church has been able to save and we have been gifted with funds toward the purchase of a church building. We have about $40,000 available and we have some prospective places ranging from $100,000 to $140,000. Please pray for the healing of my leg and my mobility, and also that we will be led to right place and be able to acquire it for the work of church planting here in Puerto Rico.

Dios Les Bendiga,

(May the Lord Bless You All)

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk.

The Prelgovisk's in Puerto Rico Video Prayer Letter

I made my first video missionary "prayer letter" with a Puerto Rican friend, Roque Becerra. Together we share what is happening here in Puerto Rico, both the blessings and the needs that we face here.

Pastors: You are welcome to use this in a church service. Let us know if you do! It's always encouraging to know someone is praying for us!

Getting Out the Good News in New Ways

My pulpit looks different, but I'm still preaching, teaching, and reaching out to others.

I'm  giving sermons from my small home office. I record them on Zoom, convert them, and post them on YouTube, then send out the links to our church members. 

I made a Facebook page for our church where we can share our teaching, preaching, and send encouraging messages. We can geofence invitations and posts also. They can be sent to people that live within just a 1 mile walk from the church. That is important, because a lot of people walk to church and parking is a problem in our town. 

In our Bible College, I'm teaching Biblical Greek and a Christian Ed class on metrics. I'm also using Google Classroom to teach Computer Science and Music classes for a Christian school here, Levittown Baptist Academy..

We are using what we have and are happy to do it. But, I would like to get a webcam to improve what we are doing. We found that the ones recommended to us, the Logitech C920S and a few other models, are out of stock. I think we might go for the budget choice, the Echo, because it's in stock and the price is $62, and it will certainly be better than the laptop camera. 

I'm not happy about the restrictions, but I am glad that we leaned how to use some new methods and technology during this time. I think we will keep using all the methods. Why not have multiple hooks in the water, if you want to catch some fish?

People ask "How can I give?" Here is how!

When people are led to give toward our ministry, we are humbled, encouraged, and very, very thankful!

Sometimes we get requests asking us the best way to give. Here are ways to give, Please use the one that best fits your preferred way of giving.

1. Through your church. If you are in a church that already supports us, you may give the gift through them. It helps to inform them it is an extra gift, so it will be added to the support they already send.

2. Through our mission agency, Continental Baptist Missions
Online ( include our name in the memo)

By mail ( Tell them it's for us)
Continental Baptist Missions
11650 Northland Dr NE
Rockford, MI 49341-8706
(616) 863-2226
info@gocbm.org

3. Through PayPal to Prelgovisk@yahoo.com

4. Through direct mail. Some people like to send packages directly to us. Puerto Rico is in the US postal service.

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk
33-15 Calle 31
Urb. Sierra Bayamon
Bayamon, PR 00961

5. Personal visit!
Give us a heads up on this one!

Please feel free to contact us about any questions you have.
Thanks for caring and thanks for making a difference!

Shaking in Bed Saturday, OK Sunday!

Saturday morning, our bed began shaking. It felt like the bed got shoved an inch back and forth in different directions for about a minute. I've been in earthquakes before, so I thought it felt like maybe a strong 5 point something earthquake. But after the 6.4 one earlier, followed by a swarm of minor quakes, a bit of anxiety came along with the quake.

A hurricane you can prepare for, but when the ground starts shaking, and you realize you're in a quake, you don't know if it's going to be a minor one or keep growing until the house falls down. You just have to ride it out and see.

We checked the news and saw that the Catholic church sent out a message that all masses were to be held outdoors. Some hospitals put patients and beds in the parking lots. As the day progressed we tried to get more info.



Sunday, we found the mountain road to our church was closed due to landslides. The detour we were forced to take was quite an adventure. It took us about an hour and a half to get to church this morning, winding our way through a couple of other small towns to get there. The town mayor said that because of hurricane Maria, the island government has been focusing reconstruction around the big metro areas and our the rural danger areas have been neglected. He predicted the road would be closed until February and then, only one lane opened.

No one said it would be easy!

Church was a blessing. Everyone had an earthquake story. Besides loss of power and water, none of us suffered loss. One the girls from our Bible college and her family were forced to leave their damaged apartment, but none of them were hurt.

We are thankful, especially since our electricity came back on, and we have ice and air-conditioning again, and are safe and sound.

We thank God and thank you for your prayers!

Requests:

1. Tina has had a bad case of bronchitis she is trying to get over. Prays appreciated.

2. I would like to replace our aging Briggs and Stratton generator with one that has an auto start. Our model is a beast to start with a pull cord and if I'm not home, no way could Tina do it be herself.

3. We have raised about $40,000 toward the purchase of a church home for our congregation. For $140,000, we can get a building the Jehovah Witnesses are holding on to. We would like to see ourselves there and them not there! Monthly contributions towards this will help it grow and help us get there.

Please pray and ask the Lord to supply our needs and send us the help needed to do the work of missions here in the  Caribbean. Thanks again!

Orion, Puerto Rico, and the Visit of the Wise Men.

It’s around late November and early December that people begin to notice Orion in the evening sky. 

I pointed out Orion's belt to a church member one night. He told me that those were the "Reyes," the wise men on their way, following the star, to find the new born king.

I don't think Orion's belt was made to tell that story, but you know what? When a Puerto Rican looks up at the sky at night and sees the Wise Men on the way to see Jesus, well, that's a lot better than any message the story of Orion has ever given me.  

So, good for them, and maybe it's time we updated some of our traditions to tell a better story and share a more important message than comes from our traditions.

The Wise men arrive Jan. 6th. The night before, children fill the boxes with grass for the horses (yes, the wise men ride HORSES in Puerto Rico, NOT camels). In the morning, the children find the shoe boxes full of presents, left by the Wise men in token of their thanks.

Now, isn't that a better story and tradition than our Santa Claus and how we have made Christmas a snow festival?

Hurricane Dorian and the Prelgovisk's

Forecast to pass us on the SOUTH-WEST

Hurricane Dorian was just warming up when it passed us. It is extremely unpredictable.

School was canceled here on the island as the hurricane was projected to miss us by 180 miles to the south east. It seemed like excessive caution at the time. But we took some basic precautions anyway.

A day later, the track showed Dorian making a direct hit through the town we live in! We kept checking the weather reports and asked for prayer. That night, Dorian moved to over 100 miles to the north-east!

Passed us on the NORTH-EAST!

To those who prayed, thanks! It seems like the hurricane skirted an invisible wall of protection that surrounded us!

Hurricanes that miss us still take their toll. Depending on the level of stress, people will distill and store water, hurricane proof the house and yard, reschedule activities and allow church attendance to suffer. Then, every thing that was done to prepare for the hurricane has to be undone. It is a bit of an annoyance, but we just look upon it as a drill to be better prepared for the next one.

Please continue praying for us!

How a Dead Porcupine Helped Start a Mission Agency

In the 1940's, a business man turned evangelist was visiting a pastor and his wife who lived in the remote, upper peninsula of Michigan. The formerly friendly family seemed unhappy to see him. He found out why. They were down to their last potato, but the pastor had clubbed a porcupine and brought it home. They were loathe to share their only food.  But, they did.

This man shared the story of the poverty and living conditions of the church planting couple with a number of pastors and churches and Hiawatha Missions was born, founded to support church planting missionaries to the rural, forgotten, neglected or otherwise difficult to reach parts of the United States.

I'm sure glad they did. We joined the agency, now known as Continental Baptist Missions, and are in a church planting work in the US Caribbean, among the 3.1 million souls who live on the island of Puerto Rico.

We never had to eat a porcupine, or even a Puerto Rican iguana so far. We are so glad to be working here with Continental Baptist missions and supporting churches who care about reaching the lost in remote places like these.

How a Simple Request Boosted Our Spirits

One of our friends asked if our mission agency had an online giving app so they could donate automatically without having to remember to send in a paper check every month.

I checked with Continental Baptist Missions and they have a nice, easy to use online giving app called Pushpay. I checked it out and it looks simple. and easy to use.

I like that. Simplicity in giving is biblical. "...he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity..." Rom 12:8.

Once on the CBM online giving page,

• Select "missionary" from the drop down menu
• Under "Memo," put our name and what you are giving towards ( Prelgovisk: Church Building,  Prelgovisk: home, etc.)
• Select how mow much and how often you want to give

After you're set up, it makes it very simple to keep giving without filling in or mailing anything after that.

Our friend set an amount for $200 a month!

What a blessing when simple, biblical giving can be! 

We got the news Sunday morning while speaking to our people about buying a Jehovah Witness building and converting it into a Baptist church. I got goose bumps!

Please visit the online giving page at CBM and prayfully ask God, how much and how often you could give. 

We could not believe the price!

We could not believe the price. A church available for the price of a house!

My deacon Luis Lopez and his wife passed by a Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall and saw a "For Sale" sign on it. We went and investigated it today.

The building is in a good neighborhood, built on a hill well above the highest flood water line.  It is a two story building  of 35,133.4 sq. feet, with a lot across the street of just over 21,300 square feet. It has parking for about 40 cars.

The asking price for all of this is $164,900!

Plus, it is already zoned and has all the permits for use as a church, which are hard to get here in Puerto Rico. 

In a small town and in our post hurricane disaster economy, home prices have fallen, making this a tremendous bargain. 

Our current, temporary building is comfy and cheap, but it t has mold issues affecting some of our members. We really need better place for growth and the health issues of our members.

Could you help us toward this goal?

Our church has over $21,000 saved toward a goal like this. That leaves $144,000.  It seems like a mountain of a price for us. But, like Caleb, we can ask for that mountain!

Joshua 14: 12 Now therefore give me this mountain...

If you can help, please send a special offering to us through our mission agency or here online and put our name (Prelgovisk family) where it says MEMO.

Continental Baptist Missions
11650 Northland Drive NE
Rockford, MI 49341, (616) 863-2226 
https://gocbm.org/contact

Harvest Prayer Answered: Puerto Rican Pastors Rally to Work to Build Our Church

I have been praying for someone to go with me on visitation on Saturdays. I don't like to go visiting door to door alone here in Puerto Rico.

This last week, the pastor of a church I helped get started volunteered to go with me on visitation. His name is Angel Espada, which means "Angel Sword" in English, a great name for a pastor! He said he could give me one or two Saturdays a month. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it was a real emotional boost. During days when we hear a lot of "No's," having a visitation partner makes a difference, as we encourage each other, keep on going, and visit more people. I could also visit people with a partner that I would not otherwise visit if I was visiting alone.

Today,  I just got a call from another Puerto Rican pastor, Gabriel, whom I had helped in the past. He said he wanted to help me visit every Saturday. Gabriel also asked if he could bring along another man who he is grooming to be a future pastor so he can train him in evangelism! Also, he wanted to know if it was OK to visit in the town and pass out gospel tracts on additional days or times! I said yes, along with a lot of "Amen's!"

After all this time praying, how sweet it is to hear people from our past volunteering to give us a hand in one of the most difficult areas of church planting, soul winning visitation!

Rejoice with us, but please continue praying that the Lord of the harvest would send us workers, that their good intentions and offers of help would be realized,  and that our church would grow and prosper from the labor of these willing, worthy workers!

Puerto Rico to California: After Hurricane Recovery Report

Tina and I are planning our 2019 summer and feel we should visit family, friends, and supporters in California. 

We would like to catch up, and share our missionary experiences, especially what going through hurricane Maria was like.

We also want to share what we look forward to accomplishing in our church planting and Bible college ministry here in Puerto Rico.

If you would like to met us, host us, help us with transportation, or help us to find a missionary apartment for June-July, please let us know.

Fishers of Men Tackle Box Additions

Good fishermen have tackle boxes with a good selection of items to choose from, the tried and true and sometimes, something new. We want to be good "fishers of men" so here is what we are currently doing.

The Tried and True: For door to door evangelism, we have recently bought a couple of boxes of gospel tracts. We like the ones that have print big that are easy to read for our poor rural people who often can't afford eyeglasses. The one's that are well illustrated and have fewer words seem to to be the ones that get read the most.

Passing them out in mountain neighborhoods, on hillsides without streets, makes for a lot of hill climbing. We navigate narrow cement stairs that zig-zag up the mountainsides. Some of my previous visitation partners have health issues that have them less able to accompany me. I am trying to recruit new helpers. I have visited alone and will do so if necessary, but visiting with others is the Biblical pattern and it certainly is best. Please pray that I can find some new visitation partners soon.

Something New:  A Puerto Rican pastor's son I know and I talked about a new thing we heard of. We learned that on Facebook you can put a circle around a community, say a 5 mile radius around the church,  and boost a post to that community. So we tried it. I wrote an invitation to our church, connected a Google map to it and set it to run for 7 days. Here is what happened.

We got a lot of reaction! For about the same cost of a box of tracts, we got 206 reactions, 55 written comments, and 29 shares! A few of the comments were negative, but I was able to answer objections, dialog with some people, and was encouraged by the vast majority of positive comments. We received a lot of promises for prayer, and even promises to attend.

We will keep doing the tried and true, but will also continue with the something new. I think this will be a great addition to the various way we do or could do evangelism here where we labor in the  interior mountain region of rural Puerto Rico.