Time to stop playing church and grow up

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.

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?

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 Missions

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." That means: '"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 in 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 comes 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, this blog, is where you can see pictures, read stories and even see videos and write us questions:

More questions?

Write us at Prelgovisk@yahoo.com

Dios Les Bendiga,
(May the Lord Bless You)

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk
3315 Calle 31
Urb Sierra Bayamon
Bayamon, PR 00961

Ministries: 

Church Planting in Puerto Rico, 

Puerto Rico Baptist College

Mission Agency: Continental Baptist Missions

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

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." That means: '"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 in 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 comes 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

• Linkedin: Profile

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

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

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

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.

Don't Be Disrespecting the Church.

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

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

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?

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.

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!

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...

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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...

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

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

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....

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...

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.