The Zika Virus and Puerto Rico

The Zika virus is here.  I have seen absences in our classrooms because of various tropical diseases, but this new one is more worrisome because of its association with birth defects.

Facing tropical diseases is one of the challenges that we face on the mission field.  We are facing it, but your prayers for our health and safety are appreciated.

Here is a good overview of the situation:

'Zika has shaken us to our core': Puerto Rico prepares for the worst as epidemic looms

Putting the "Go" in "Gospel"

Today, I invited a student, Pablo Hernandez, to preach in our church.  Pablo came from Tampico, Mexico to study here at our Bible college in Puerto Rico.

He has a heart for missions and is currently raising funds to do missionary work in Northern Spain this year.

He did a great job preaching. I was especially moved by his sermon based on Ephesians 5:16 about "Redeeming the time..." He asked us to consider what we are doing with our lives, giving solid, scriptural ways to evaluate if we were making good use of the precious time that God has allotted to us.

I am happy that our Puerto Rican church is helping a Mexican reach the people of Spain for Christ. I am also grateful to those of you in the USA whose support has enabled us to help the gospel go to so many places.

Our Newest Prayer Letter

Here is our newest Prayer Letter. Please download, print and share. After you read it, please don't forget to pray!

Prayerletter Jan 2016 by Steven M Prelgovisk

Puerto Rico Declared "Out of Cash"

The CNN article and video below has our governor declaring that Puerto Rico is out of cash and will likely default on its financial obligations early in 2016.

What does this mean to us?

On a daily level, life is pretty much the same. But unemployment and hard times do effect our missionary church and the people we minister to.

Hopefully, many will seek something better than material security in these troubled times.

Pray with us that we may minister effectively to those who fear for their future. We know God will provide for his children. We hope that many might be added to His family in the years ahead.

Congress is trying to get Puerto Rico out of its 'death spiral'

How Puerto Ricans Avoid Going Totally Insane

Today, I renewed my driver's license here in Puerto Rico. The gruelling experience was made more bearable by an agreeable surprise.

Long waits and large crowds in government offices are not much fun anywhere. But here in Puerto Rico, the crowds seem larger and the waiting times longer.  After 3 hours, my patience was wearing thin.

Then this guy came in.

A street musician totally entertained us with one song after another, with a short pause in between for a poem and a joke.

Here is my loose translation of one of them:

"Love is blind, we are often taught,
But remember friend, the neighbors are not."

Thank-you Puerto Rican Government employees for not chasing him out of the building. I guess you too needed that breath of fresh air to keep your sanity.

The instrument is the Puerto Rican cuatro. It has 5 pairs of strings and a sweet ringing tone. 

Multiplying Missions the Fun Way

One of my favorite parts of the Church planting work here in Puerto Rico is preparing young people for the ministry.  I teach college students during the week, and during the weekends some of them work with us at our church. We go on visitation together and I allow them teach, preach and help with the music during some of our services. 

It is a lot of fun to work with college kids. I find their faith, enthusiasm and positive outlook encouraging.  We also feel blessed to be able to multiply the effectiveness of our missionary work through the help that we receive from them. I hope they are learning things from us that will multiply their effectiveness as well in their service for the Lord.

Soul Winning Day and the Empty Hearted Man

I invited the students of Puerto Baptist College to come to our church and help us evangelize in the neighborhood around us. About 22 students came and participated in this "Soul-Winning Day."

About 16 persons made some kind of profession of faith, and of those, 4 came to a special service that we held that same night.

One man, David Figueroa, told us that he had an "empty heart" that he was trying to fill with all kinds of things, but could never find anything to fill it.  

His yearning reminded me of what St. Augustine said of the human heart: 

"Thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

David has been back twice since then. A grandmother and her granddaughter came also. The granddaughter brought two friends since, and one of them has made a decision for Christ.

We are very happy about all of this. 

Please pray for these new people in our church, that they will continue, and that we might minister to them effectively for the Lord.

Iguanas are on the Menu Here in Puerto Rico

We see very large iguanas here all the time, and often, unfortunately, as road kill on the freeway. They used to be a food item here and that idea is making a comeback.

I know people who say that iguana meat is very good, but so far have I resisted the temptation to try it myself. The large tails are supposed to be the main part of the feast.

They look too ugly to eat, but I guess turkeys aren't winning any beauty contests either.

They may end up on a plate here, but at least that would be better than the condition I see them in on our roadways.

Fine Dining May Solve Puerto Rico's Invasive Iguana Problem

Tina Gets a Compliment

My hard working wife Tina got a nice compliment here in Puerto Rico. I know she is amazing. It is nice when others get to see what I notice every day. Here is what a fellow worker said about her:

"I am so thankful for and proud of my partner in crime and shopping buddy, Tina Prelgovisk. This lady is incredible!

With shoulder and wrist issues that would put anyone else out of spirits, she pushes through.

We literally pray for sales and try so hard to be thrifty with the college's weekly groceries.

Last week, Tina and I hit a gold mine...120 lbs of chicken for $40= 30 cents a lb! We were able to buy ahead and come out on top this week by being careful.

She is a modern-day virtuous woman: "She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night...She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness...Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." (Proverbs 31:14-18,27,31)

Thanks Tina Prelgovisk, for being such a great example and for teaching me to value a good work ethic. Love you!"

Noel Ring heart emoticon Noel RingNoel

A request for an odd weather prayer.

It is an odd sensation to hear about a hurricane zeroing in on your location and feel: "Finally! it's about time!"

With the water rationing in effect and the reservoirs so low, the rain the hurricane brings is badly needed. Of course, we would rather have the rain without the storm, but at this stage, most would welcome the rain no matter in what form it appears.

Please pray for our safety. I usually ask for pray for the hurricane to miss us, but not this time. 

Water Rationing Challenging for a Baptist Missionary

There is a severe drought in Puerto Rico now and water rationing is mandatory. Being a Baptist makes it more challenging.

Before the Drought

The water rationing is progressively getting more onerous. We thought it was bad when we had water every other day. Now we have water two days off and one day on. Next week it will go to three days off and one day on.

Drinking water we can buy, but flushing toilets, showers and washing clothes prove to be a bigger challenge. We might not get thirsty in our home, but our home can certainly get stinky.

My wife Tina is faced with the challenge of cooking for our Bible college. Preparing meals for 50 during water outages is what she will be facing when the students return. She is going to work this coming Monday. Our Bible college kids will also face dorm life and limited water during this time.

After the Drought, During Rationing

Water rationing can be a problem for a Baptist who wants to have a Baptist baptistery. We like to have enough water on hand for baptisms of the complete submersion type. Before the drought began,  the above ground pool we use for baptisms and as a cistern was damaged and developed a leak.  We have acquired the liner and things we need to repair it, but with the water rationing in place, we have chosen to leave it empty.

Additionally, here is a $250 fine for what the Government considers as non-essential use of water. I doubt the Government would consider Baptist practises essential usage, especially if the Baptistry/cistern looks like an outdoor pool.

Please remember us during this time of shortages and rationing. Your prayers and encouragement are the refreshment that we need.

Puerto Ricans Learn How to Live Without Water Amid Punishing Drought

Tina Not a Fan of Lizards in Her Fan

Sunday morning Tina suddenly stopped playing a hymn, unplugged the tower fan by her piano and quickly moved to the back of the church and handed it to one of the men.

She said, "I turned the fan on and heard a horrible noise. I can see a little lizard hand sticking out the vent. Please get him out, but after I leave. I do not want to see it or hear about how it looked."

One of our deacons said, "We got him out. About that little hand that was sticking out, well, he was waving goodby."

We really don't mind the lizards too much in church, because they eat the many bugs that breed here in the tropics. But when a lizard catches a big insect and munches it down, it does kind of divert attention from the sermon. I usually have to wait for him to finish his lunch or make it part of the sermon before I can regain everybody's attention.

Small but important harvests

Tina showed me the affect the drought is having on our small back yard garden. The banana tree usually gives a more respectable showing than the sad little bunch it is bearing this year.

Our church is experiencing a dip in attendance as well. But we do have some good news to report. We sent a young 9th grade girl to camp this summer and she gave a great testimony Sunday morning,

But then something better happened, she came to Wednesday night prayer meeting and prayed with the adults. She also said that an number of the kids at camp formed a special group that send each other messages during the day for spiritual encouragement.

In this dry season, this young lady's spiritual progress has been a spring of refreshment for our church.

Red Flame Flower Trees of Puerto Rico

On our way to church, my wife Tina and I drive past beautiful flowering trees whose branches gracefully arch over the mountain roadway. They are called "Flamboyant"  or "Flame trees"  (Delonix regia).

Tina picked one of these flowers Sunday morning and showed it to me. I was surprised. I have always liked the flaming red color of these trees, but I didn't know the flowers were so intricate and beautiful. They remind me of orchids.

They are very popular here and are the national flower of Puerto Rico. They are planted everywhere.

Since we never have winter or autumn in the tropics, we miss seeing the beautiful colors of Fall. But living here in the Caribbean,  we do get to see some nice red foliage, thanks to the Flamboyant tree.

Showing Puerto Ricans Some Christian Love

"But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." Lev 19:34

More Puerto Ricans than ever before are moving to the States. We are reaching as many as we can here on the island of Puerto Rico, before they come your way.

Please give us a hand by supporting us here so we can reach more.

It is our hope that the Puerto Ricans that do move to the US may find good churches and be ministered to.

Please let us know if we can help you reach those who move into your area.

The more you help, the more we can do.

Puerto Rico's losses are not just economic, but in people, too

Segmenting Our Home to Stretch Our Support

We had an idea that saves money, is ecologically beneficial and promotes family unity.

We divided up our home.

The price of electricity in Puerto Rico is very high. But when the temperature and humidity are both high, air-conditioning is not thought of as a luxury, but as a necessity. Using it helps our health and preserves our possessions.

We remembered that when we lived in the cold north, we would heat just a portion of the house to save on the heating bill. We applied that same thinking here in Puerto Rico for the reverse of that problem.

We put up some interior doors that segment our house and allow us to air-condition just one smaller area at a time. This keeps us cooler for less money and also motivates us to share the same room more often.

The interior doors also have the added benefit of buffering the noise from one end of the house, where we have the piano, so we can have a quieter evening at the other end, where we have our front room and dining area.

So, even though the doors were an expense, they are paying for themselves and giving us additional benefits, not the least of which is helping stretch our missionary support so that we can remain on the field.

Update on "Tract Day"

Last week I discovered that there are gospel tracts that can be embeded on our church's web page and shared by our church members electronically.

Here is an example: 

What do you think?

Sometimes we promote a special "Tract Day" in our church.  Of course, we promote the giving of tracts every day. But this new method allows tracts to be sent out electronically allowing our church members to share them in emails, blog posts and on social media.

By the way, I still think that having a "Tract Day" is still a good idea. Here is a post I published a few years ago about how to do it:

************************

About once a year we have a "Tract Day."


I order a "Sampler Pack" or assortment of gospel tracts from a couple of places and bring them to the church. During our Sunday school class,  I put the people in small groups and give each group a pile of tracts. I ask them to each read a couple and evaluate them on:

1. Clarity in communicating the Gospel

2. Was it really good, mildly interesting, OK, dull or offensive?"

3. Would it be something they would feel good about giving to someone? 

I have the groups come together and I ask a spokesperson from each group to give a quick review on their experience and share which were their favorite tracts.  I ask which ones we should order. 

Our people like the Spanish version of this one, for example.  

I say "I am going to order our favorite tracts, but I want them all passed out. Who will pass out a tract if I order them?"

I place the order, and when they come in, I make a big deal about it. 
We have a scheduled Saturday as "Tract Blitz Day." We try and have every member come and pass out tracts for about 2 hours. Then we have a lunch at the church and share our experiences of what happened. 

The following Sunday, I ask them to give testimonies and praise their efforts in evangelism. We encourage and motivate each other to do more evangelism this way. 

I find that our church is more likely to pass out tracts they have read and got exited about then they would if we just had a few that we picked and put out for them to take. It works!

Thieves Strip Our Girl's Dorm of Copper Plumbing

Thieves broke into our Bible College the other night and stripped out all the copper plumbing in the girls' dorm. Thankfully, no girls were sleeping there when the robbery occurred

Apparently that is a big thing down here, now that scrap copper is paying over $2.50 a pound. One of our church members had his house stripped of copper plumbing while he and his wife were asleep in their home and they never heard a thing. In concrete houses, most of the plumbing runs across the roof and down the outside of the walls, so it is easily accessible to thieves.

Please pray for our Puerto Rico Baptist College.

Other needs that we have:

• Replacing the copper plumbing with non-copper plumbing
• Repair of a large commercial size refrigerator that we use in our kitchen
• Repair of the 15 passenger van we use for the College.
• Funds to support students. 

Students pay $300 a month for room, board and tuition. Students are required to work in local churches during the weekends. Our church takes two students every semester. They help us and we try to help them. Funds that we receive for the students are paid to them through the church and so the financial support helps both the student and the Bible college, as well as our church that benefits from their help.

What Makes California Say, "At Least We're Not Puerto Rico."

We have a drought here in Puerto Rico that is getting severe. They are shutting off the water to our homes for 24 hours every other day. There are fines for non-essential use of water.

I wonder,  will the Government consider filling a baptistry as an essential or nonessential use of water? There is a $750 fine for non-residential misuse of water.

If they impose that, I suppose we can always baptize in the ocean. The only problem there is, sometimes a large wave comes and baptizes everybody before we are ready.

Either way, we will continue doing the Lord's work, the Lord's way.


Be Thankful, California. At Least You're Not Puerto Rico.

Taking our work up a notch, techwise

Just a few years ago, many of the people in our church had no computers or access to the Internet. Now, I see them whip out iPhones and large Galaxy smart phones to share Facebook posts and favorite Youtube videos.

I figured it was about time that we got a web page for our Puerto Rican church. We have passed out a lot of gospel tracts and invited many people to our church, leaving directions on how to find us.  With the new web site, now tech savvy Puerto Ricans can find us.

I found a simple and inexpensive solution. A fellow missionary, Jeremy Markle, told me about Weebly, a hosting site that offers a drag and drop web building site. I was able to build a simple site in just a few hours today. The price is OK, $4 a month for a hosted domain name. I signed up for a year.

I hope this site will be an encouragement to our people and a portal that will bring us into contact with more, local Puerto Rican, who we can help and who in turn can help our church.

Iglesia Bautista de Comerio

Tidal Wave of Puerto Ricans Coming Your Way

The wave of immigration from Puerto Rico to the US has just become a tidal wave. We are here in Puerto Rico trying to reach them before they reach you.

There is a mass exodus of Puerto Ricans leaving the island for greener economic pastures. They aren't dispersing into the surrounding Caribbean nations or Latin American countries.

Puerto Ricans are all naturally born US citizens and can enter the US at any time, just like anybody from American Samoa or the US Virgin Islands would, without any passport.

What happens on the mission field, doesn't always stay on the mission field.

About 4 million Puerto Rican were in the US and another 4 million were content to remain here on the island. Now, it looks like a lot more will be moving to join friends and family residing in the US.

What is done on the mission field will affect those living in the States.

Will the Puerto Ricans entering the US be Christians or not? What will they be packing in their suitcases? What kind of neighbors will they be? We are working here on the island to make a difference, changing the nature of that stream entering the US.

Please help us make that difference by supporting our ministry. You may contact our mission agency here and they will tell you how to do it.

Continental Baptist Missions, cbm@cbmoffice.org, (616) 863-2226
11650 Northland Drive NE, Rockford, MI 49341

Puerto Rico's terrible economy is causing a population exodus

Why What is Happening in Puerto Rico May Touch Every American

I read two good summary articles about how the economic crisis in Puerto Rico is connected to US politics and economics.

The first one is a good overview, while the second speaks more about the economic impacts that it might have on America.

Why Every American Should Care About Puerto Rico's Austerity Crisis

If you thought bailing out Detroit hurt the American economy, then what is happening now in Puerto Rico should get your attention. This is an older article, but if anything, the situation has gotten worse since it was written.

Puerto Rico, with at least $70 billion in debt, confronts a rising economic misery

Tearing Down and Building Up

Bedroom Bathroom Door Now an  Exit

We decided to fix the bathroom and carport roof at the same time. Even though it is expensive for us, doing both projects at once will save on the cost of demolition, carting away the debris and it also enables us to pour the cement for both projects at the same time. So, although the cost of doing two projects is great ($23,000), doing them together reduces the cost by about $3,000.

Tina is a very good at stretching our missionary budget to cover our needs. She also has good taste and does a lot of construction work herself. But this project is beyond both our budget and our skill level. We are having a contractor do the cement work and Tina is picking out the tile and other things.

Please pray with us and help us if you would.

Where Our Bathroom Used to Be

I know that praying for a missionary's bathroom and carport seems like an odd request, but we have to live somewhere to do the work here.

Having a bathroom that is not falling off of the house and a carport that isn't falling on our heads are things that we hope to have soon.

Carport with Forms, Ready for Concrete

Please Help Heal Our Missionary Home

Tina and I have been under stress about our home lately. I feel we have a good attitude about all the bad news that has recently beset us, but it takes prayer, a lot of conversation and the emotional support of our friends to keeps us in the good attitude zone.

Here is what is happening:

We were told by a contractor that we trust, that our basic home was in good condition.The problem is with the carport and the bathroom that were added later. The bathroom has a bad foundation, while the carport roof has a cement roof that was made from poor quality cement.

It looks like the owners used sand from a local beach, and this is certainly cheaper than buying it, but it is poor quality and salty. This made our rebar rust and spread like a cancer through the carport, endangering us with falling chunks of concrete.

Bathroom Crack: big as a brush handle

So, inspite of the fact that our bathroom is falling of off the southeast end of our house, the collapsing roof of our carport on the northwest side of our home has become our new priority.

What does this mean financially?

The demolition and reconstruction of the concrete carport is $16,000. The low-ball quote for the bathroom is for $10,000. That is $26,000 that we don't have. So where should we start and what should we do?

Prayer to God and communicating with our friends and supporters are the first steps. Next, we had to consider our health and safety.

We have begun the demolition of the carport, to remove the danger of falling concrete on our heads.

We have decided to do nothing about the bathroom until it becomes unusable. Although the cracks are so big that I can see daylight through them and put a pencil in them, the plumbing still works and that is a blessing.

At least the core of our home was built well. It was just the shoddy construction of the later additions that are causing the problems.

Our house was built on a firm foundation, but those who came later and made additions, did not put those additions on the same foundation.

I think there is a lesson for us in this. It isn't enough that we build on the correct foundation, we must not make any additions or extensions that are not supported by that same foundation.

We need your prayers, emotional and financial support. Please consider giving an extra offering, a special prayer or an encouraging word (or all three!) soon.

You can contact our mission agency here: http://www.cbmoffice.org/contact-cbm/

Peeping Tom Bathtub & Shower?

May God Bless You and Yours
(Dios Les Bendiga)

Steve Prelgovisk
CBM, Puerto Rico