No Guts, No Glory

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.

Six countries for lunch

We don't have to go far to have a missions conference at our Bible college. Here are five of my students having a little informal fellowship. These five come from five different countries. Add a teacher from the USA and we can have a mini-missions conference every time we have coffee together!

These are just 5 of the 40 or so students we have this semester. They are great guys and give us hope for the future of missions. The future looks bright with quality students like these in our classes.

Please pray for them. They need about $500 a month for room, board, books and tuition. This is a bargain by today's standards, but still pretty steep for many of them.

From left to right:

Ricardo - St Lucia. Trilingual. Christian ed major, talented cook.
Goal: Christian business man. Hopes to have a 5 star restaurant

Dave - Born in Paraguay, raised in Nebraska. Great at personal evangelism. Mechanic also.
Goal: Missions

Bairo - Colombia. Talented preacher.
Goal: Missions

Roque - Puerto Rico. Father is a pastor and licensed psychologist.
Goal: Christian School teacher.

Irving - Born in Peru, raised in Spain.
Goal: Pastoral training AND Secondary Education. Great with Youth groups.

College Kids Having Fun

College kids are under a lot of stress, so it's nice to have some fun once in a while. We have a couple of "crazy days" during the year to help them have that fun. We had an "Animal day" and a "Super Hero" dress up day this last school year.

The kids loved it and it really boosted their morale. The French call it "Esprit de corps," but we just call it "cheering up the students." Whatever you call it, even Bible college kids need some fun once in a while! I'm glad they had a good time.