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.

Transportation Troubles turned to Triumph: Thanks to…

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

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

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

Missionary Kids Need Love Too...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time for Something New?

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

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

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

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

Cars Trouble Still, but Walking & Getting Healthy

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

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

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

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

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