Adrian is a college student from Spain who has worked with us this last semester. He has visited with us and preached in our church and done a very good job. This Sunday will be his last Sunday in Puerto Rico, as he is transferring to a Bible college in the Chicago area. Tulio, our helper from Peru, will be spending the Christmas vacation in North Carolina with his parents, but plans on returning and working with us next semester. We are pleased with their work in Puerto Rico and are happy to have a part in preparing young men from different lands for the work of missions. 

Our Web page and Email results in a New Student for our Bible College!

A missions-minded high school student named Eric did a search on the internet and came across our web page. He wrote us about 4 emails last year and I took the time to answer his letters as fully as possible. He asked many good questions about our ministry and our school: Puerto Rico Baptist College. Monday, I noticed a new student in one of my afternoon classes. He said, "Pastor Prelgovisk, Remember me? I'm Eric! I wrote you last year. Well, here I am!" Well, let me tell you, I am very happy about how this all happened! Hurray! Another young person studying for the important work of missions!

Please tell others about our ministry and our web page! Maybe there is another Eric out there, just waiting for the information!
 

Fruitful Thanksgiving Dinner at Church

Two of my college students and I went visiting Saturday and invited a number of people to attend our Thanksgiving service this Sunday. Four new boys came! I had our youngest college student Tulio preach. He is just 17 but in his second year of college. He played the piano for Sunday school and then preached during the Worship service Sunday morning. He did a great job. Afterwards most stayed for our Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey roasted in garlic, Puerto Rican style and all the Puerto Rican trimmings. Sorry, no pumpkin pie. But we did have a big pan of cream cheese flan, so no one is complaining. About 31 came for our dinner. After a good service and a large, fine meal like that one, it's time for a siesta! But I have to get my college material in order for tomorrow, so it can't be a long one.

Our New Prayer Card: It was not easy communicating with our artist/printer friend in Montana to get the new card ready for printing. It was not his fault though. Our phone has been out for about six days, along with the water. But utility problems aside, the work goes on and we are happy to report progress in both our church and Bible college.  

Our New Prayer Card: We like this design. The colors will be gold and navy blue. Our Web page and new support address are included as well. 

Dangerous but Encouraging

The river rose and almost swept away my friend Jim and his van full of people in route to a Missions Banquette we participated in Saturday night. It was the most dangerous Missionary Banquet I have ever attended! It has been raining for about 3 days straight. The road is littered with fallen trees and boulders the rain dislodged and that rolled down the mountains around us. I counted about five avalanches, mud slides and various trees and boulders covering the road as I drove my college students back to their dormitories tonight.

Combined with the heavy rains has been a lack of water! Because of all the mud stirred up by the storm, we have been without water for three days. Since then, I have been hauling water to flush toilets and do dishes. The really difficult thing is to have an entire family and two houseguests take baths Sunday morning using only a Tupperware container full of water and still getting everyone to church on time.

The road to our church was blocked by an avalanche, the rain was torrential and the attendance very low. Never-the-less, we had a great service. An back-row sitting church member that I have wanted to preach for a long time has finally agreed to preach once a month. His name is Wilfredo. He is doing a great job. Our deacons wife, Margarita, is very quiet, but I finally persuaded her to sing a special this morning. She was great and the "Amens" from the congregation were sincere. So despite the danger and inconvenience around us, the work goes on and we are happy to see real progress within our congregation.

Youth Group Fellowship. Here are some of our key young people rehearsing for a Christmas play in their Sunday school class room. They did such a good job at the last youth rally with our bible skit that they have been invited to do the same play at another one of our churches up in the mountains. I am very proud of them for their hard work and quality service they have given to the Lord and to our church. 

Pastors Fellowship. We participated in a "Sword of the Lord" conference with our Puerto Rican pastors, fellow missionaries and some guest speakers from the states. I am the first guy in the front row, going from left to right. There is a good spirit between our pastors and our churches are growing. 

Hello from our church! I noticed that I was not in most of the photos, because I am always taking them. So, Adrian, my assistant pastor from Spain, was kind enough to take this picture of our church. They are a great bunch and I am happy to be a missionary where things are happening. 

Politics Puerto Rican Style.

The election almost equals a hurricane, the way it disrupts traffic. We were held up so late in a traffic jam that we were not able to get to church Wednesday for prayer meeting. In Puerto Rico, everyone forms giant caravans of cars and drives around the island waving the flags of their party. We have 3 parties and 4 million Puerto Ricans on an island 35 x 113 miles. We still don't know who won as governor. The man in the picture (Pedro Rossello) celebrated a win Tuesday, but Wednesday they said he lost by 5,000 votes. There is a recount going on now, so we won't know for a while who is supposed to be running our island. Well, I know who is supposed to be running things! HE was not on the public ballot, but you can still cast your vote for him! Better do it soon, because no one knows when that election will be over either!

Technology for Country Folk

Technology for Country Folk

My father sent me this explanation of "Computer Terms for Country Folk" today. I think those country folk may have a better system! Thanks, Dad! Missionaries need to smile too. Thanks for passing one my way!

Sword Sharpening!

Dr. Shelton Smith is preaching at the "Sword of the Lord" conference this week in Puerto Rico. The "Sword of the Lord" is a Christian newspaper featuring great sermons and good source material for pastors. It is a 3 hour round trip to the conference but I have found it worth the long drive. After about five sermons in a day, there certainly is a lot to think about on that ride home! The fellowship was great as I met the speakers and my missionary friends at the conference. It is all good. Thank you Dr. Smith and friends for encouraging us!

Wishing

Our daughters Bethany and Rachel are in college in Pensacola, Florida and we are on the mission field of Puerto Rico. The good news is that they will get 5 weeks off for Christmas. The bad news is that it will cost about $1000 for two round trip tickets. The girls work on campus during the Summer, so it will be an entire year before we can see them again if we miss this opportunity. We want to go ahead and to buy the tickets. It is expensive, but we love our girls and really want to see them again!

I Kill Something Scary!

Sarah went down to feed the cat after Prayer Meeting tonight and came back up the stairs again very quickly. "I just saw the biggest spider I ever saw in my life!" she said. Tina and I went downstairs and saw some huge spider legs and then we saw the tarantula. Tina said, "If you don't kill that spider, I'm never going to leave this house!" I soon found myself alone with just the spider. I thought to step on it, but I object to stepping on animals that are so big that you can identify their separate internal organs afterwards. I had a can of wasp spray and used that to slow it down and then threw a rag over it and whacked it with a broom. All this had the desired effect and I was rewarded with shouts of joy from my family who where keenly interested in the outcome. I suppose none of this may mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly was a big event at our home this evening out here on the mission field of Puerto Rico!

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

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

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

The Little Things We Take for Granted - Priceless!

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

Accidental Missionaries!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Heart

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