Prayer Meeting Tonight. Every Wednesday we pray, but it is not a very well attended service. Let us not forget the importance of prayer! These soldiers understand that prayer changes things, and there are a LOT of things that need changing! 

A Promise Kept. I promised a picture of the youth rally we had in our church and here it is. I think the official count was eighty, but it seemed like a hundred to me! Thanks to our great youth group (see last entry) the youth rally was a great success!

Our Church Youth Group Takes a Breather! After planning and working so hard with such great results, it is time for some ice cream! Hosting an island wide youth rally can work up an appetite! Now we are gearing up for the Christmas play and will be getting and making costumes for our teens. Another church has asked us to travel to their town and put on our Christmas play for them. So far we have resisted going on the road, as we have a lot of work to do in our own town. Instead, we have invited them to visit us. So it looks like we may be hosting another activity soon. It makes us tired just to think about it right now, but it was a lot of fun and had some great results, so...Ok! Please pray for our health, energy and that we may focus on the important things.

The Little Things We Take for Granted - Priceless!

Many Puerto Ricans serve in Iraq, even though no one here can vote in the elections. We hear on the news of the sacrifices the Puerto Rican soldiers have made in Iraq. Here is a soldier stationed in Iraq, in what could be described as a big sand box. He asked his wife to send him dirt, fertilizer and some grass seeds so he can have the sweet aroma and feel the grass grow beneath his feet. If you notice, he is even cutting the grass with a pair of a scissors. Sometimes we are in such a hurry that we don't stop and think about the little things that we take for granted. Let us remember to say a prayer for our soldiers that give up so much for us.

Accidental Missionaries!

Our youth group hosted a youth rally with some surprising results. They started a youth group in another town without knowing it! I met a fellow church planter Saturday who told me the story. He said that his church had no youth group. When he received our invitation, he used our activity to visit and motivate teens to come to his church. He brought a group to the rally and now as a result of our activity, his church has a youth group of eight teenagers!

We are happy to be missionaries in a church with a heart to help others. We are proud of our young peoples group for reaching out to other teenagers and helping other churches. We consider them a great help, even when they don't know they are doing it!

Under the Weather. I guess last week was a bit much for me. Tina and I both were tired and our resistance was low. She had a little bit of a sore throat, but I could hardly talk or eat solid food for about two days. I also hurt my foot somehow carrying around some heavy objects in the church in preparation for our big youth rally. I am looking forward to a bit of rest. Saturday is our pastor's conference in Aguas Buenas, we have church services Sunday and I have College classes to teach Monday. I hope to rest some from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon.

This One is the Winner! We had a couple of family photos taken and selected this one to be on our new prayer card. If you want one, drop us a line and we will send you a couple. 

No Water! The water company is on strike! We have rain every day but no indoor water. I have to haul water for washing, drinking and flushing. We bought a distiller from Sears and are purifying what we drink. The strike got a bit nasty today. Union members are not allowing trucks with chlorine to enter the water purification plants. We have a meningitis outbreak and untreated water may delay the recovery of our island from the epidemic. Please pray for our health and safety during this man-made drought. 

100 teenagers? Today we invited other churches to bring their youth groups to a big rally and dinner hosted by our church. We had about a hundred teens! We had bible skits, "Sword drills" (bible verse searches) and a bible memory competition. We awarded some very nice trophies. Our teens won the drama/bible skit trophy! We are so tired we can hardly walk, but are VERY happy for the great testimony our teens now have among the Puerto Rican Churches. Time for an aspirin! I will write later with more pictures.

Happy Heart

I came across this prayer card last week. It is from one of my students, Giovanni, who graduated from our Bible College a few years ago. Giovanni moved to California, became an assistant pastor in a Spanish-speaking Baptist church, got married and is now going to Guatemala as a missionary! May God bless them. News of his success in the ministry has certainly blessed my heart! We are training others to do the same thing. Your prayers and support DO make a difference!

Our First Big Youth Rally. Tina and I have been working hard getting our church ready for over 100 teens that will be coming to our church the first Saturday in October. Our youth group and their Sunday school teacher are planning it all, with us in the backround. This is the first time they have done anything like this, so I am a little nervous. But being a missionary means training people and then letting them serve. Many of our college kids like the group above will be involed as well. After the rally, they are all coming to our house for dinner! We will let you know how it all comes out. 

Hurricane Jeanne did do some damage to our town. We were spared a direct hit, but the river rose and took away a parking lot that was behind these buildings. No one lost their homes, but it sure is hard to find parking in town when the river takes half of it away! 

Wednesday Night Express. Our students attend churches across the island. Here is a group waiting for their rides to church. We try to have only one or two in each church, so all the churches can benifit from their training and they can have a wealth of experience. The young man in the middle with the grey tie is Tulio, a student from Peru that is helping me in our church up here in the mountains. We really love opening our home to them. It is one of the most fun things about being a missionary. 

Here are some photo galleries of the damage hurricane IVAN did to the Pensacola area 

Time for a new Prayer Card. This is our latest family portrait that we hope to have made into our new prayer card soon. This is the first step in the many preparations we must make for our next furlough. We plan to come back to the States sometime in the Summer of 2005. Bethany and Rachel will be in college, so just the four of us will be traveling together. We will be needing a place to stay. Any ideas? 

Wise Words for Worriers

Words of wisdom From my Mother-in-Law, JoAnn Dorsey. JoAnn (her web page: http://www.pacificgalleryartists.org/Dorsey.htm) faithfully emails us and sends along bits of wisdom, news and humor in her correspondence. Today she passed along a very good article that helps you deal with the minor irritations of life. It was a blessing to me and I think you will enjoy it as well.

It is called: Sands of Peace

After Sept. 11th, one company invited the remaining members of other companies who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share their available office space. At a morning meeting, the head of security told stories of why these people were alive... and all the stories were just:

The 'L I T T L E' things .

As you might know, the head of the company survived that day because his son started kindergarten.
Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One went back to answer the telephone.
One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn't get a taxi.

The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator,
turn back to answer a ringing telephone... all the little things that annoy me. I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.. Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated; God is at work watching over you. May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things and may you remember their possible purpose.

Pass this on to someone else, if you'd like. There is NO LUCK attached.
If you delete this, it's okay: God's Love Is Not Dependent On E-Mail!

Rumor Control

Rumor Control: Pensacola is NOT sending students away. We heard a rumor that the school was closing because all of Pensacola was without light and water. We called Bethany and Rachel and found out the amazing truth. A State University WAS closing down for the semester, but because of a special circumstance, Pensacola Christian College escaped that fate. It turns out that the state made it a priority to restore power to the hospital and that the college shares the same power lines as the hospital does! So, they are among the very first to have all utilities restored.

Both Bethany and Rachel went out with a crew of students and helped clean up the yards of people in town. Instead of being part of the problem, they are part of the solution!

The college web page gives this info:

Hurricane Update

The college sustained minimal damage to its buildings. While we lost many trees, the campus has been essentially cleared of all debris.

Nearly 5,000 people sheltered on campus during the storm. There were no injuries (not even a scratch)!

Pensacola Christian College has full power (including air conditioning) and water restored!

We have resumed full, normal operations.

We praise God for His grace and goodness during this time and we thank you for all of your prayers.

Recovery!

As soon as the electricity came back we ran down to the church and connected our power tools and worked like crazy. We had stripped down one bathroom to the cement walls and had the old toilets and sinks ripped out. We had one day to get a bathroom online before Sunday morning. I ran and picked up our two college student helpers and we all joined Tina at the church for an all day remodeling binge. We finally got the men's room all finished and two walls of the Lady's room retiled. We came home with sore muscles, bruised hands and plaster all over us. It was a lot of work. Our new student from Spain, Adrian, spent about 6 hours in the bathroom getting the tiles just right.

Doesn't sound like missionary work? Well, it is! Besides our two students, our deacon, Luis, came and hooked up the sink and toilet to the city water. Sunday morning, all the people of our church "Oohed and Ahhed" at the work and were very encouraged. They began talking of improving our building in other ways and of giving more to make it happen. Who needs a revival to get church people excited? Just remodel your bathrooms!

I teach tomorrow at the college, but our students have not had electricity, computer access or water for 4 days, so I am expecting a lot of excuses for not being ready for the test I have scheduled. Well, I guess we can have a review day. Our students need time to recover too!

Survivors!

We Survived!

Tina, Bethany, Rachel and I survived simultaneous hurricanes! Our daughters in Pensacola survived Ivan and we survived Jeanne here in Puerto Rico on the same day! Talk about a family that does everything together!

Bethany and Rachel were sent to spend the night in a hurricane shelter on campus, in the Communicative Arts building. They slept on the concrete floor on what little bedding they were able to carry from their rooms. During the night Ivan screamed and hurled branches around campus. The next day they found the fierce winds had removed some windows in the girls dorm. Their rooms was spared, but Bethany and her roommates took in one girl from down the hall who was wandering the floor as an on-campus refugee from Ivan.

Here we prepared for Jeanne but did not expect much. We got more than we bargained for! There was over 13 inches of rain in 24 hours and winds up to 70 on the island. We were without water and electricity since Wednesday. We were afraid we would not have clean clothes for Sunday or a working bathroom in the Church, but both utilities came back online today. Our house is ok, but not having fans or ice or a washing machine in the tropics makes for an icky, sticky week.

We were under emotional stress, mostly from not having any idea what our daughters were going through. We had no TV and the radio was all concerned about Jeanne and gave no information from Pensacola on the Florida panhandle. Our phone worked, but all lines were down in Pensacola, so we could not get through. We really could have used a lap top computer and a radio for emergency communication. But the best thing we had going for us was your prayers. Keep praying! Your continued support, special gifts and prayers make an enormous difference!

Gratefully Yours,
Steve Prelgovisk

Jeanne Upon Us. The river is rising and the streets are deserted. We prepared the church for the storm last night. We put a trash can under a drip coming from a light fixture in the church last night and found 6 inches of water in it this morning. 50 mile an hour winds coming. Power just went out and battery alarms sounding. More later.  

Double Trouble! Our daughters Bethany and Rachel and all other students at Pensacola Christain College are being evacuated from their dorms into hurricane shelters on campus. Rachel called this morning and said that she would be spending the next day or two in the building where the college radio station operates (the building pictured above). AT THE SAME TIME, we are being hit by JEANNE. The winds are picking up right now. We were without electrcity for about half of yesterday. It is going on and off all day. Just now the back up battery alarm sounded, so I must go. Keep praying! 

Eyeing Ivan, But AMBUSHED by Jeanne!

We were surprised to find a tropical storm at almost hurricane force within 12 hours of striking us. We were so busy looking West at Ivan, nobody paid any attention to the East where Jeanne was being formed. It should strike our area between Midnight tonight and Noon on Wednesday. This will be the second week our Tuesday night visitation has been cancelled for hurricane preparations. I can hear the thunder rolling in, so I will sign off now before we get some voltage surges. Keep praying for us, please! 

A Marriage and a Mission

A Marraige and a Mission

David is one of my students from the Amazon jungles of Peru. He came to Puerto Rico from Iquitos, Peru to study at our Bible College. He married Sylvia, a latino girl from California that was studying at our school. They both graduated last year. I found out today that they have moved to South Carolina and are starting a spanish-speaking Baptist Church among the immigrants of that state. David is a very bright young man with a great attitude and is gifted in many areas. I am happy to share the good news that our students are carrying the gospel into spanish-speaking communities within our own country! We came to Puerto Rico to reach immigrants, who in turn could carry the gospel into US latino communities from the back door of Puerto Rico. I am rejoicing today to see fruit from our labors!  

Ivan just scraped us a little but now is on a path toward where Bethany and Rachel are attending classes at Pensacola Christian College. At the posting of this entry, the winds of Ivan are 160 mph. Please keep our daughters and the students of PCC in your prayer!