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...