Driving Needs

A car for my wife Tina and some repair work on our college van are on our list of requests this month.

We do have a 2010 Honda Fit, which is great little car, but being a one car family with five or so ministries going on between the two of us makes for some pretty complicated and stressful scheduling. We were able to raise some money toward a new car but are a couple thousand dollars short of what we need for that second vehicle.

One of the key resources of our Puerto Rico Baptist college is the college van. During the week it transports students here, there, and everywhere. Weekends it takes students to extension on Saturdays and to church on Sundays. It delivers groceries, takes kids to soccer and even visiting missionary teams to and from the airport. 

Last week it broke down. 

Several items have been fixed, but there are still some major repairs to be done. 

Please pray for God's provision so that we can use it again soon.

Little Girl Evangelist

The big sister in the blue shirt in this picture comes to our church and is active in our new AWANA program, a Bible club for kids.

Her mother gave a testimony recently that her daughter took 25 gospel tracts from the tract rack in our church and passed them out to all her fellow third-graders in school.

One of the girls that received a tract came back the next day and said that she read the tract. She said that she was sorry about how she was behaving and prayed the prayer at the end of the tract and now wanted to ask forgiveness for her past attitudes.

Our AWANA program is very small and reaches little kids. But apparently even the smallest kids in a the smallest missionary church program can produce great results.

I'm thinking it's because that the God they serve in complete faith honors that faith and it is He that give them great power to accomplish great things for Him.

Missionaries Having Fun

One of the fun things about being a missionary is that the people you reach become friends and some of those friends become fellow pastors and missionaries. The first Saturday of each month we have a Pastors and Missionary fellowship.

You can tell by the faces in the video that we all enjoy each others company. We have a great group of pastors and missionaries. Not everything about being a missionary is fun, but we do have our fun moments, and this is of of them.


The song is "Alegria, Alegria, Alegria" and here is the translation:

Mary and her loving husband,
Are going to Bethlehem,
They have in their company
An almighty God.

(Chorus)
Joy, joy, joy,
Joy, joy and pleasure
The Virgin is on her way
With her husband to Bethlehem.

The little birds in the woods,
As they saw the couple pass by,
Sang them melodies
With their harmonious tweets.

(Chorus)

Upon reaching Bethlehem,
They asked for lodging,
Nobody wanted to oblige
Because they saw they were so poor.

Baptism Practice for Our Students!

Teaching young men how to baptise is one of the most fun classes we offer.

Our students gathered together in our back yard and had a regular service, complete with songs. Then the practice baptisms began.

There was an attempt at formality, but there was a lot more laughing involved than might be expected in a regular baptism.

Thanks to some generous helpers, we were able to replace a needed pump and now are using the pool for baptisms again.

Fanning the Spark

Javier quit his job with Homeland Security and has been seeking to serve the Lord. We gave him an opportunity to preach in our church about a year ago. He was in tears when we gave him a love offering.

He said, "I was hoping to serve the Lord full time, but didn't see how I could do it. This opportunity to preach and this love offering is like God telling me that I can serve Him and He will meet my needs."

Javier preached again today, after having spent a month in the Dominican Republic doing evangelism. He has reached over 100 people for Christ in that short time and plans to go back and continue his work there.

The Lord gave him a gift, but it seemed small in his sight. We are happy to be the ones who fanned that spark and see it grow into a bright light that has already led many to Christ.

A Broken Pump and a Baptism

The house we bought came with an above ground pool, which comes in real handy for baptisms, serves as a reserve water tank during hurricane season and also a place for the little kids to swim when we have a church fellowship at our home. 

But the pump for the filter rusted out on it and it will cost us $200 to replace it. 

We do have a baptism coming up and I hope that we can get a new pump and have some clean water in there for our next baptism.

Please help us get a new pump. 

If you wish to help, you can click the golden "Donate" button above our picture in the right hand column or contact Continental Baptist Missions and send in a designated amount through them.

First Fruits From Our AWANA...

AWANA, a Bible club for kids, has a Spanish name: Oansa.

It is new here in Puerto Rico and we thought to give it a try in our small mission church.

For the first few months only a few of the kids from our church would go. But this weekend we saw our "first fruits" from it.

A woman walked by our church last Saturday and peeked in and we spoke to her about our church and the Oansa program. She brought her son yesterday and stayed herself and listened to my devotional. She also talked to one of our lady teachers and prayed with her.

Today she came to church with her son. Her name is Elizabeth. She said that she was studying with the Jehovah Witnesses but was concerned because her Bible seemed to teach something different than what she was hearing at the Kingdom Hall.

Our church was greatly encouraged. We have had people respond to our visits before, but this it the first time in a long while someone just walked in.

It may seem like a small thing to some, but it was a big enough of an event to encourage our church today.

We praise God for the first fruits of this outreach. We pray that we might see more in the future.

Chikungunya and I

I caught something. A lot of  people around me say they were infected with the Chikungunya Virus and they told me that I had it too. Whatever it was, it was no fun. 

My temperature got up 103.3 and I was so sick that I didn't even feel like reading in bed, which is a pretty serious symptom where I am concerned.

After about 4 days, I dragged myself back to work, but it has been a long week. 

We face many challenges in our missionary work here in the Caribbean, and diseases like the Dengue and Chikungunya are no joke.  Please remember us in your prayers.

Baptismal Challenge Accepted!

After our morning church service, this man, Jose Cruz, came forward to speak to me. He recently made a profession of faith and has been coming to church for about a month now. Today he came forward and asked to be baptised.

His decision put a smile on my face. I think we will put smiles on a lot of faces when they see us standing next to each other in the baptistry! If there are people who find humour in contrasts, this upcoming baptismal may provide some moments of amusement for them.

Although there may be some lighter moments in a baptismal service, being baptised is an important and serious first step of obedience in the life of a new Christian. What a blessing it is to us to have a part in it.

Q: What is the drug problem like in Latin America? A: Read this!

I get asked this question a lot. Unfortunately, any discussion of the problem of drugs in Latin America is usually too long and complex of an issue for the time and situations I tend to be in when the question arises.

Rather than listen to a lecture on the topic, I suggest a more interesting way to find out what it is like. Read: "Crossfire" by Author Jeannette Windle. She is the award winning author of the popular "Veiled Freedom" (a book on Afghanistan), but she wrote an earlier book touching this very theme.

The book is a fictional Christian adventure/romance. But since Jeannette was raised on the mission field and latter returned as a wife of a missionary and raised her family in the area where the drama of her book unfolds, the book is extremely realistic.

If you want to know the issues we missionaries deal with regarding drug trafficking and corruption, this book will give you a very good idea of the realities we face down here.

Live in the Pacific Northwest? Come see us, or invite us over.

Tina and I will be traveling in the Pacific Northwest this June and July.

In June we are in western Washington state, and then we are on our way through eastern Washington and onto western Montana in July for church meetings and two weeks of camp. We plan on returning to Puerto Rico, hopefully with some new support, the first week of August.

Scan our itinerary below and find out when we are in your area and come see us. Better yet, invite us over so we can enjoy your fine hospitality and great fellowship.

Please pray for our safety on the road, and that we might raise the new monthly support that we need to do the work of missions in Puerto Rico.

June, Sunday 1
Faith Baptist Fellowship
Pastor Tim Kluver
Port Angeles

June, Sunday 8
Southside Baptist Church
Pastor Jim Saxman
Tacoma, WA

June, Sunday 15
Father's Day
OPEN (Invite Us!)

June, Sunday 22
Morning
Puyallup Community Baptist Church
Pastor Loren Tucker
Puyallup, WA

Evening
Orting Community Baptist Church
Pastor: Dale Gore
Orting, WA

July, Sunday 29
Christ Fellowship
Pastor Dr. David S. Steele
Everson, WA

July, Sunday 6
First Baptist Church
Jim Mailloux,
Richland, WA

July, Sunday 13
Valley Baptist Church
Pastor Matt Schrepfer
Eureka, Montana

July, Sunday 20
Afternoon
Cardwell Community Church
William Grinder
Cardwell, MT

July, Sunday 27
Morning
First Baptist Church
Pastor Scott Craven
Polson, MT

Evening
Bethel Baptist Church
Kalispell, MT

August, Sunday 3
1st Baptist
Joseph A. Kuefler
Marion, MT

August, Monday 4
Return to our missionfield: Puerto Rico

Home Church Homage: What Southside Baptist and Pastor Ron Hill have Done for Us.

About 10 years ago, I wrote a letter to celebrate the ministry Pastor Ron Hill had through Southside Baptist Church of Tacoma, Washington and the part he and the church had in our ministry.

This week we are revisiting our home church, so I thought I would post that letter again in honor of their faithful support over the last 25 years.

========================

Dear Soutside Baptist Church:

I am Steve Prelgovisk, your missionary to Puerto Rico. But before I was a missionary, I served as a deacon, youth pastor and as an assistant pastor under Ken Jobson at Fern Hill Baptist Church. I met Pastor Hill through a number of what I consider to be God ordained circumstances. I am happy to say that the vision and faith that Pastor Hill showed under these circumstances has born fruit. His vision and faith were not alone, but accompanied by great passion and hard work. These are not words meant to flatter, but are an honest rendering of an eye-witness account from a fellow servant and long time member of Southside Baptist Church. From what I have seen, Pastor Ron Hills’ character, vision, philosophy of ministry and hard work have led to greater blessings for both Churches.

How It Began.
I came to Fern Hill as a Seminary student and served as the assistant Pastor to Pastor Ken Jobson. I have the deepest respect for him and was pleased to serve under such a godly man. A few years later, I was elected to serve as a deacon and was confronted with a difficult dilemma. The other two deacons were frustrated that our church growth was problematic and voiced the possibility of looking for a new pastor. I had worked with Pastor Jobson closely and felt that if there was an obstacle to church growth, it did come from him. I said that we should look for another way to grow that did not penalize one of our church’s greatest assets.

Before I came to Fern Hill, I had served in a church in Riverside, California, where I had helped two Baptist Churches merge. I suggested that we might investigate this option for a number of reasons: it would enable us to grow, we could help another church that was looking for a building and we could also make sure Pastor Jobson was cared for. I thought it might be a win-win sort of approach and we should pursue it.

The others liked the suggestion as an idea, but held little hope that it was likely to happen. Questions arose. If it was possible, which church should we merge with? Who would respond in a positive manner to such an idea? Pastor Jobson and the other deacons felt that we might approach Dr William and offer to merge with his church. This was great, except they wanted to present the idea to the congregation at our next business meeting. I felt we were rushing the announcement before we were sure of the desire of the second church. What if we began courting another church and they turned out to be cool to the idea? If we pinned all our hopes on one church and nothing came of it? We might not ever get a chance to do it again. I felt that we needed at least one other live option before we promoted the idea from the pulpit.

The initial response of Dr Williams’ church was a polite “That is an interesting idea.” There was kindness in their response, but I sensed a lack of enthusiasm from them for the merger proposal. This confirmed in my mind the need for another option. I became more convinced that I needed to find someone as excited as we were about it, if we were to ever make a merger work.

As the day of the business meeting grew closer, I grew more concerned about this and decided to ask people I respected for advice. I worked at Northwest Baptist Seminary under Jeff Barbierre (SP?), who was then assistant pastor and Youth Director at Southside Baptist Church. I asked, “Jeff, Do you know of any churches that might be looking for a merger situation? We have a nice building, we would like to find a way to fill it up and at the same time, keep Pastor Jobson on as an associate pastor in the new work, if at all possible.” I added, “Keep this a secret. I just want to know of any possibilities out there before I give my deacons’ recommendation to a merger plan we have on the table. I just don’t think we should do it, if all we have is just one less-than-enthusiastic partner.”

Jeff was stunned. He said, “Our pastor, Ron Hill, just said this last week; “We need to find a new location. If any of you know of a church we can merge with, let me know!” We talked some more and went about our work. About a half hour later, Jeff came to me a bit embarrassed, “Umm…I know you asked me to keep it a secret. But I called pastor Hill and told him about the merger idea. He shouted “Hallelujah,” and… well, you better talk to him right away about it, or he is going to call your pastor right now.

So I ran upstairs with Jeff and he handed me the phone. That is where I had my first conversation with Pastor Hill, on the phone on the second floor of the Education building at Northwest Baptist Seminary. I noted immediately that I was speaking to a man of passion and vision.

My first impressions were confirmed when we had a face-to-face meeting between our deacon board, pastors Jobson and Hill and all of the Southside Baptists deacons. I shared a few concerns.  I told Pastor Hill, “Well, if we merge, I will go from being a missionary candidate, an assistant pastor and the youth director of one church, and become “the assistant, to the assistant, to the assistant pastor” in the merged one.”

I was also concerned that in the merger, my missionary aspirations would be overlooked in favor of the many fine students then preparing for the mission field, who where members of Southside. Pastor Hill smiled, but then said to me in a serious tone, “In the merger, Southside will be your church. And your church will always stand behind you and support you.” And he proved true to his word.

What Came of It all.
In the years following, I learned much from Pastor Hill. He has given us many a kind word, good council and material support when needed. His example has been a great value to me as a missionary. I have seen Pastor Hill work hard to evangelize the lost, disciple believers, grieve over sin in the church, work tirelessly to reconcile those in conflict, promote fellowship among church members and, in a multitude of ways, seek to encourage the saints.

Congratulations for a fruitful ministry at Southside Baptist Church. I am so glad that our “Plan B,” turned out to be God’s “Plan A.”  I am glad to have had such great role models in the ministry. Some of our better moments on the mission field have come from emulating a ministry practice that I learned from Pastor Ron Hill.

There are very few men worthy of emulation in our world today. I am so happy that at Southside Baptist Church we have had such a man.

May God Bless You and Keep You and Yours,

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk,
Missionaries From Southside Baptist to Puerto Rico, USA

A Student Takes Time to Say "Thank You!"

A former student of mine, Dave J Shapiama from Peru, sent us a video thanking us for our efforts in training him for the ministry.

Dave, it was our pleasure. Thank you for using your training by serving the Lord as a pastor to your people in Peru.

Cancer Compassion

A year ago, it was me waiting for cancer surgery. Today, I was able to comfort Manuel here after his recent surgery.

When people hear the "C" word, a look of fear comes over their faces, and sometimes I think it disturbs them more than the person who has it.

Manuel and I swapped stories, prayed together and compared scars. He won that contest, which is fine with me. He and I made this selfie so we could show our church members that he is doing fine in the hospital.

Please Do Us This Favor Right Now

Would you be willing to do us a favor?

Tina and I need your help.

A skilled videographer, Josue Laura, a former student of mine, has offered to prepare a missionary video for Tina and I. We hope to encourage viewers of this video to support us so that we may return to the field fully able to be a blessing to those on the mission field and to those who send us.

I am going to ask you to do the following in the next day or so:

Please record a simple, short video (in English, because it is for English speaking churches), more or less along these lines.

1. Your name and where you are from

2. How Tina and I: Have helped you in the past, How we are helping you right now. or How you have seen us help others.

[Examples:

*worked with Tina in the kitchen * we gave you an opportunity to serve in our church. *went soul-winning or did evangelism with us. *worked in a Camp ministry together * helped you develop a spiritual gift * offered hospitality, * opened our home to you *helped you with funds to attend class at the Bible college, *gave you comfort or council that was helpful. *fed you. *took you places. *helped you with you problems, *gave you an opportunity to preach or helped you make a sermon, teach a class or win a child to Christ, *treated you like part of our family, *Encouraged you in some way, helped you become a missionary, etc]

3. How you feel that we could help you succeed in the future in serving the Lord,

4. On the video, say something:
    a. To us: what ever you want
    b. To the people watching the video: What ever you want.

5. Post on Youtube and send us the link, or attach it to an email and send it to both me and to the video editor Josue. Me at: Prelgovisk@yahoo.com and to Josue at: joshua_778@hotmail.com

Thank you. Please do this soon because Josue has only a limited time to help us.

Steve and Tina Prelgovisk,
Continental Baptist Missions,
Puerto Rico, USA

We Baptise a Young Woman

"Pastor!"

"Yes?"

"What about my baptism!?"

This young lady came forward to be baptised about a month ago. Every Sunday morning for the last three weeks or so, she asked about getting baptised. I really like to see that kind of eagarness to do something good.

We had an abbreviated service so that our people could run over and visit a sick member of our church in a hospital near by our home.

Here is a little raw video of the baptism. The young lady gives her name, and as part of her testimony says that she comes to be baptised in obedience to the command of Christ in the Bible.

When the Sun Goes Down

Night time is the only time many of our people have free. We do have young people at our Puerto Rico Baptist College taking day classes, but what of our older church members with jobs?

For them we have the Night Time Bible Institute. 

We schedule classes two nights a week, two classes each night. I usually take one night and another pastor takes another. 

Here I am with some of our graduates, one of which is Luis Lopez, a deacon and Sunday school teacher in our church.

Day by day we do missions. but the work doesn't stop just because the sun goes down, so neither do we.

YOUR HELP NEEDED

WHAT WE NEED:
My wife Tina and I will be in Western Washington in June this year presenting the missionary work we do among the people of Puerto Rico.

We have most of our Sundays scheduled, but we need to schedule mid-week services and a few Sunday evenings in churches this June. Please help us share our ministry.

Our need is especially urgent as some of our supporting churches have fallen on hard times and have shrunk their missionary budgets. What we hope for is that we might raise at least $1000 of committed monthly support to replace what was lost over the years. Small amounts committed over time add up to keeping us on the field and being able to make essential house and car payments.

Besides churches, we would also be happy to accept personal invitations to speak about our field in homes or Bible study groups. We probably would say yes to any offer of hospitality, if you would be so kind as to offer any.

We have some great stuff to share! Hurry and confirm a date with us so you won't miss out on a blessing!

WHAT WE DO:
I serve as a church planting missionary to Puerto Rico with Continental Baptist Missions. My wife Tina and I also minister in Puerto Rico Baptist College, I as a professor and she as the cook. Our ministries are varied and extensive, including a ministry in a Christian school and a new opportunity to serve as Chaplain of the Civil Air Patrol, Puerto Rico Wing.

HOW TO CONTACT US:
Please contact us at Prelgovisk@yahoo.com

WHERE TO CHECK US OUT
Blog: http://prelgovisk.blogspot.com/
Website: OverlookedFields.com
Ministry Profile: Linkedin

Easter Epidemic?

This 22 year old young lady came to church and something good happened because of it.

I noticed her attending our service for a good number of Sundays in a row and I also noticed something special about her. She has a very attentive expression on her face during the preaching and nods her head and smiles when I make an point or application.

After the Easter morning message, she came forward and asked me to baptise her.

I spoke to her about having a class to explain the basics of the faith and what baptism is all about. The word got around that we were planing a baptism and then I heard two others respond "Me too!"

I didn't know that baptisms were contagious! I hope it turns out that they are!

A Missing Dentist Makes a New Missionary

A missionary we know, Miguel Figueroa, did dentistry missionary work in the jungles of South America. I invited him to preach in our church here in Puerto Rico and we gave him a love offering to help with his work.

We heard some sad new regarding him. He was traveling along a river awhile ago and has gone missing. Some say that he was last seen with a lantern going toward the river at night. Others say that he fell in trying to get into a smaller boat. Whatever happened, enough time passed, that he was presumed dead.

A scholarship for the training of future missionaries was created in his honor and this young man, Gustavo from Bolivia, was selected to receive it.

Gustavo came and preached in our pulpit for our Good Friday service. This is same pulpit that the man whose death provided Gustavo the scholarship preached from just a few years ago.

Gustavo preached with passion, power and conviction. When I announced that he would return Sunday morning, our people said "Amen!"

It may have been in a lonely and a forgotten place that one missionary died, but his legacy lives on in a young man who has taken up the torch and boldly proclaiming the Gospel here in Latin America.

It is our honor and responsibility to train Gustavo and help him fulfil that legacy.

When missionaries make missionaries...

Zuley Ramos was a a member of our church who originally came from Peru. She studied as one of our students and, as part of her education, had to visit a mission field and serve for one summer.  She visited Panama. Once she came back, she felt led to return and help.

Zuley presented her desire to be a missionary in various churches here on our island. She eventually raised a small amount of support and went from our field of Puerto Rico to serve in Panama.  We and other churches helped as we could.

She has done a tremendous job. Despite minimal support, she has labored on and seen some good results.

Here is a short video she made. It is a series of pictures from the field set to some typical Christian music of the country.

You won't have to understand Spanish to get the feeling that things are happening in Panama because a young lady decided to serve there as a missionary.

One of the great satisfactions we have as missionaries is when we see people who are part of our ministry become missionaries themselves. Please pray that we would continue to see blessings such as we are seeing now. From such blessings come more blessings, as they enable the life changing work of missions to continue.

Recent Baptisms Multiply Blessing in Unexpected Ways

The great thing about our recent baptisms is that they weren't just a momentary thing. There was the decision to be baptised, a special time of teaching, the baptism itself and (in our church) the church barbecue fellowship afterwards.

This Sunday, the blessing from the baptisms were extended into our morning service.

I presented the nicest baptismal certificates I could find and made a presentation of them to those recently baptised in our church. We took pictures, said "amen" and even applauded. It was a happy day for everyone.

I found that there was a line titled "Witness"on the certificates and I asked each person that was baptised to pick which of us that they wished to sign as a witness. This added an extra nice touch, as these, our newest members, selected other members to sign as witnesses. The older members then felt honored to be chosen as the witness of record of the baptism. More smiles were seen all around after that.

The nice thing about this was how one blessing led to another, sometimes expected and sometimes not. Either way we must say "Praise the Lord!" because He blesses us more and extends His blessings more than we ever could have anticipated.

How A Little Girl Made a Big Baptism

Nine year old Karielys Fontanes asked to be baptised about two weeks ago.

I said "Fine. But we need to teach you what it's all about."
And we did.

9 yr old Karielys's example brings two more to the baptism

Her cousin, 13 year old Shakira found out and asked if she could be baptised too. I spoke to her also.

Today, the day of the baptism, the little girls aunt, Yetzenia, came ready to be baptised.

I took all three of them aside and spoke again of what it all meant. We had a rehearsal of what was going to happen. Everyone was on the same page, so we went ahead and had a bigger baptism party than expected.

All thanks to a little girl who stepped forward to follow Jesus.

[In the video, I introduce the people, ask their names, why they came today and why they wanted to be baptised. They all gave good answers and we went ahead and baptised all three. Afterwards, as is our custom, we had a BBQ and made a full day of fellowship out of it.]

A "One of these Days" Person Comes to Christ in Our Church on Sunday.

"One of these days" Manuel would always say.

"Some time soon I will get into it, but not just now" said this owner of a video rental shop in town.

But his business of many years slowly faded away. He tried again by converting his video rental store into a "Colmado," a small convenience store for his neighbourhood. But that too did not go as he had hoped.

Manuel has a brother in our church and began visiting. Then, to my surprise, he started bringing in presents. At Christmas, he brought in a large number of poinsettias to decorate the church. Every few weeks he would bring something, like a special desert to share after the service.

Then the hugs started. When he came in the door, his face would light up and a handshake would be followed by a strong hug. He would give a smile that was not simple happiness, but had the feeling of a sincere and deeply felt gratitude attached to it. He always looked attentive and content to hear our preaching.

This last Sunday, I asked one of our deacons, Wilfredo, to preach for me. At the end of his sermon, Wilfredo had the privilege of seeing Manuel respond and come forward to accept Christ as his Lord and Saviour.

A suspected cancerous tumor in Manuel's kidney area is part of this story. We are sorry to hear of Manuel's health problems, but happy that he brought them to the right place and is seeking help from the right Person: He who can heal body, soul and spirit.

Welcome Manuel. We will be praying for you and hope to serve with you in our church in the days ahead.