Parents Prayer Alert: Nasty Ernesto May Visit

A very bad looking storm skirted us to the south and we are grateful. BUT it appears headed right for where our daughters are attending school, Pensacola, Florida.

We used to worry and pray about hurricanes after they passed us by. Now we follow them for a week afterwards to make sure our daughters get the prayer coverage they need. We invite you to say a prayer for their safety.

How to Make a Rain Sandwich

Hurricane Debbie is above our island and soon-to-be hurricane Ernesto is passing just below us.
(Keep an eye on Ernesto, looks like it could get big and nasty).

We probably won't go on door to door visitation with our college students tomorrow because of the tropical storms. Not much wind, but they pull a tremendous amount of rain over us as they pass by.

We have lots of project though to keep us busy, like sanding the old refrigerator, and refinishing the last two pews we bought to match the eight we have finished and are in the church. We may declare it music day and practice a couple of specials for Sunday as well. All that stuff you save for a rainy day is what is on the schedule for tomorrow.

Good News for Tina

Tina responded well to the physical therapy for her Carpal Tunnel pain. The Doctor says she doesn’t need the surgery and can stop the bi-weekly therapy sessions.

She will go back in a month and abide by some guidelines, but nothing drastic.

He did suggest some light weight lifting to strengthen her back and shoulders, so we started that today with a dumbbell set Tina got for me last Father’s day.

When she bought it, she didn’t have any idea she would be using it herself!

(Book cover courtesy of: http://www.customsigngenerator.com/)

A Bus and a Refrigerator

Our old church shuttle bus needed a carburetor we could not find on the island, but we found a new missionary, Tim Schmitt, here who knows how to rebuild them.

Our town has very narrow streets and the shuttle bus was impractical here anyway, so we decided to let him have it as a missionary gift to his work. The bus was given to us and only has cost us about $400 so far, mostly in permits and registration. Pastor Tim suggested that his church was likely to cover that cost for us.

I would rather see that bus being used for the Lord than sitting around here, so putting it into the hands of a specially gifted-mechanic missionary seemed the right thing to do.

The rusty old refrigerator at the church broke down last week. We decided to give our own refrigerator to the church and get ourselves a replacement for it. Saturday we hope to sand and repaint the fridge we are donating so the church will have a nice looking appliance in the kitchen. Here in the humid tropics they rust quickly, so a little elbow grease is what we will be applying to it before we move it in.

Here is an article I came across on spending and being spent for God:

… I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. - 2 Corinthians 12:15 KJV

It was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and he did not care what it cost. But before we will serve, we stop to ponder our personal and financial concerns—

What if God wants me to go over there? And what about my salary? What is the climate like there? Who will take care of me? A person must consider all these things.

All that is an indication that we have reservations about serving God.

But the apostle Paul had no conditions or reservations. Paul focused his life on Jesus Christ’s idea of a New Testament saint; that is, not one who merely proclaims the gospel, but one who becomes broken bread and poured-out wine in the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.

Oswald Chambers (http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php?day=25&month=02

More Important Than Buildings

We love our students! We do not seek students to build our Bible College, but have as our goal to build students up through the ministry of our school. But when there are more than we have room for, should we turn them away? I hope it will not ever come to that. A piece of land and room to build may be what it takes to house and train all these the Lord has entrusted to our care.

We are encouraged that such high quality young people have dedicated themselves to work in the church and Christian schools and that they have come here to Puerto Rico Baptist College to go out well equipped for the task. May their tribe increase and may we have the facilities to cope with the increase!

Good Problems, but Better Solutions Needed!

Our college started this week and I taught my first groups of students Monday. There is good new and bad news.

The good news: Hurray, all our foreign students got visas and can attend!

The bad: But we didn’t think they all would get them and now our dormitories are packed out with college kids! I was going to spend one night a week at the college in the guest room, but now we had to convert it into a dorm room.

What to do? The first thing that I like to point out is that this is a GOOD PROBLEM. But it does need a solution. Tina and I will be taking in three college kids for the week-ends to help out at church. Other pastors are doing the same, so the kids do get some break from crowded dorm rooms. But what we really need is a new campus!

Last week Tina and I went looking for a solution and found a great situation. A local University contract employee has a site for sale that (miracle of miracles) is already being used as a college dormitory for 75 students and has all the government permits for such use. It has 3 buildings, a large lot to build on and a parking lot along with 11 bathrooms and 9 kitchens. All we need is the money and we can move in. They are asking $825,000 for it. Most commercial real estate is available for a 20% down, so about $160,000 would move us in.

I know it is a lot of money. But it really is a great opportunity. The Apostle Paul said: Phil. 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

We know about suffering need. But we are instructed to know how to handle both need and abundance. A plan must be made when the work abounds, a plan based on not what we can do in our own strength but based on what God is capable of providing.

Consider, please, if God might be moving you to be part of the solution to this need. Smaller needs we do have, ranging from the price of a postage stamp to the investment needed for a new campus. Let us know if you can help. There is a way, a place and a need for you to make a difference.

Slide Show of the Property: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=j89cq5l.4hky0ied&x=0&y=xyexm8

Busy Quiet

Some days are exciting on the mission field and full of activity. Other days, fewer than I would like, are set aside for needed study and preparation. Today I must review a 1080 page book on American History written in Spanish and develop lesson plans and a reading schedule for my students. Classes start next week.

Tina is going into physical therapy to try and aleviate her carpal tunnel problem without surgery. We thought she might have it in both hands. But the doctor says it is just in one hand and in that hand it is moderate. It is a borderline case that might benifit from exercise, so we are trying that first. What concerned us was that one of her hand muscles was seen to have atrophied a small amount. Please pray with us for her helping hands to get the help they need.

Measure of Peace Needed

Our landlord's wife came over yesterday with a real estate person and a tape measure. We ran around and straightened up the place and then they proceeded to take the measurements. It turns out that our landlord and his wife are getting a divorce. They were measuring our home to get an estimation of its worth so that it could be included among the assets to be divided.

Needless to say we had a lot to think about after they left. Will they sell the house and make it necessary for us to move? Should we start looking around for a new place? I think we ought to stay here until the last minute because it is a nice house, in a good place, and at a low rent for the area. But at the same time, it does make us a bit nervous and we are paying more attention to For Sale and For Rent signs than before.

We could buy the place ourselves, but it is a wooden home and banks in Puerto Rico only loan money on cement structures. $75,000 is what we would need to stay put here. We were looking for a new site for our church in the long run. Maybe this is the push we need to scout around more seriously for some church property that could also be used as a parsonage. That way our rent/payments could be used to advance the work here.

In any case, we wish to be good stewards of the funds entrusted us, so for the present we are staying put. With your prayers, it is possible that our measure of peace could extend past what the measuring tape of a realtor can measure!

Hurricane Chris Close

Hurricane Chris is close enough that a lot of people want to stay close to home today and tomorrow just in case it jogs over a bit and gets us. It is expected to just give us lots of rain and 25 mph winds from its skirts as it passes by tonight. It may reach the Florida key area by Monday.

Everyone Needs a Lift Once in a While

One of our young adults lost his job because his car broke down. The church is giving him some funds to get it fixed. We want our members employed! Besides, it was a good testimony to his unchurched mother and sister when we visited him in his home. Some more folks came today as a result of visitation. We are encouraged and are happy to be an encouragement to our people.

What to do with 30 lbs of Ripe Bananas?

We had a lot of bananas ripen at once and had to do something with them all.

Tina made:

Banana cream Pie
Banana Bread
Banana Cake
Bananas with Peanut Butter and Honey on toast
Frozen, Chocolate Covered, Walnut sprinkled Banana popsicles!

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At church we had a few more last Sunday as the result of visitation. We are encouraged to see more come and those who do attend mature in the fruits of the Spirit.

Safe For Now.

I hear the youth group made it safely back home. The work they did down here is important. Maybe more now than ever.

Do you think we have lots of time left for Missions and Evangelism? After reading the news story below, I think maybe not.
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"Would You Volunteer To Be Implanted With A Microchip?

Mark Krieger logs on to his computer using a tiny microchip implanted between his thumb and forefinger. "I just swipe my hand across the reader and it puts my credentials in," Krieger said. It's called radio frequency identification or RFID, the same technology used to pay tolls and make credit card purchases.

The computer programmer voluntarily inserted the device to make life easier. "It's always with me, always in my hands, and I'll never lose it," Krieger said.

A chip, the size of a grain of rice, is implanted beneath the skin and encoded with a unique identifying number scanned, the readable chip allows access to information on everything from products to people.

New Jersey police officer and diabetic Bill Koretsky had a chip embedded in his arm for health reasons. When he crashed during a high-speed chase, doctors accessed his medical history within minutes. "I couldn't answer all their questions fully, but they had all the information there in front of them,"

Koretsky said. Verichip Corporation introduced the first human-implantable microchip and nearly 100 hospitals nationwide now use the technology. But experts warn using RFID to exchange personal and financial data could compromise security. To prevent that, lawmakers need to set standards to keep this latest technology from chipping away at our privacy.

Michelle Franzen, NBC News, New York. KXAN
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Maybe it is time to make reaching our world a higher priority!

Steve Prelgovisk
OverlookedFields.com

Getting it all done.

Psalms 119. 60 I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

How do we get it all done on the mission field? Church planting, Bible College, family, keeping supporters informed, summer camps and personal goals like learning the guitar all demand lots of time. Here are some things that help me manage time and all these important things.

1. Schedule a fixed time every day for study: I try to do most of my study between 9:30-11:30 AM. In this time period I study: *The Bible in Spanish. I have my personal devotions and then study a chapter or two in the Spanish bible. *Greek. I select a verse in the Greek New Testament to translate and try to do 1 verse a day. *Sermons and Bible Study: During my study, I have open a document called “Sermon Ideas” and I write in there any inspirations I receive while studying the scripture.

2. Whenever I think of something that needs doing, instead of jumping up to do it, I write it on a list of things to do outside of my study time.

3. I use a PIM or Personal Information Manager. It is FREE and easy to use. You can download it here: http://www.essentialpim.com/ I placed a copy of the icon in the computers start folder, so the PIM opens up when I turn on the computer.

4. “Never touch a piece of paper twice”That means, whenever I pick up a piece of paper it must be acted on, disposed of or properly filed right then. That way I wont have to keep sorting through the same papers over and over again in the future. I also means that I pay my bills ahead of time, as they come in. This also saves from late charges from bills forgotten or letters put aside to mail later and then overlooked.

5. Delegate: In Bible College I assign one student to be my assistant for each class and also have each student give oral reports. This has the students spend some time teaching each other under my guidance. The reports are handed in also. And occasionally, some have served as new ideas for lessons I teach back at the church. I have the church members all do something. One man has the job to open and close the church. Another may get paper supplies and cleaning products. We take turns cleaning the church. I have another man lead singing and a teenager takes the offering. We have a different church member read the Bible passage and I choose someone to read the verses I reference during the service. This way everyone is getting trained and it gives me some added time and energy for other important things.

6. Mine wasted minutes.Those minutes waiting in lines at the store, for doctors, at red lights or even in the bathroom can be put to good use. I have an ancient Palm Pilot that has bibles in 3 languages and a Greek vocabulary program. So while waiting in line, I can do Spanish or Greek bible studies. It also has a nice chess program just for fun. In the car I keep a tonettte, or recorder above the sun visor. When I stop for a light, I take this down and play a song. It helps my music and my attitude. Sometimes I am even sorry the light turn green when I am playing one of my favorites! We keep the Readers Digests and light reading material in the bathroom, like all the material you get in the mail you aren’t sure if you should keep or not. Not exactly an elegant reading area, but a good way to use otherwise lost minutes.

Conclusion: So it all adds up to getting a lot done. But getting a lot done is a lot easier if you can find more time somewhere and have more energy for the task when the time is found. By being orderly, organized and willing to delegate, and by God's good grace, we are getting some important stuff done down here in Puerto Rico.

Work, Worship and a Little Bit of Fun.

Our church people are amazed over how much work these teenagers did in just one week. We didn't keep them at the grindstone every second though! I wanted them to enjoy our island and see the field, so we had a few outings crammed in there between the work and worship times.

I published a little photo album of the trip you can see by clicking here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=j89cq5l.3oi3cfhd&Uy=-pxuz7b&Ux=0

We hope they come back!

They Worked

The Southside Baptist Youth Group really worked hard. They painted, repaired, cleaned, sanded, rewired and re-did tons of stuff around the church.

Food Adventure. Car Adventure.

We treated our visiting group to a traditional Puerto Rican dinner yesterday. Tina and I took them to a church members house who lives out further in the country and has a nice collection of fruit trees, chickens and a lot of good stories to tell. We had TOSTONES. Tostones are thick slices of the green plantain, a giant straight kind of banana used in a lot of local dishes. It is fried, flattened, fried again and finally served hot and salted. It is the Puerto Rican version of French fries and eaten everywhere.

Unfortunately, our car transmission went out on the way over and we had to get the car towed home. Today we went and got another used car, a 2002 Honda Odyssey mini-van. We are having a lot of fun with the group and are grateful for all the work they are getting done at the church. But the car payments, about $250 a month on a Fifteen thousand dollar loan, are a new burden for us. We give thanks for the positive attitude of the group and their leadership. Please pray with us that we may have the faithful transportation we need to accomplish the work we came here to do.

They have arrived!

The Southside Baptist Youth Group (Alias "Enoch Walking Group") has come to help. It was a long trip, but they made it. For the next week we will have the 12 of them and the 4 of us working together to improve the church building and missionary work here in Puerto Rico.

Time Saving Idea for Busy Christian Servants

I downloaded the Beta version of Internet Explorer 7 a few weeks ago and have found one feature of great use for getting the day off to a great start. It is a tabbed browsing feature that allows you to select multiple web sites as your HOMEPAGE and displays them all in order with their tabs visible just under the toolbar.

Now when I connect to the Internet these pages all open up at the same time:

1. Our Daily Bread (http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml)
2. Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/)
3. Word of Truth Radio (http://www.wordoftruthradio.com/main.html)
4. My E-Mail site
5. CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/)

So now, only a minute after connecting, I am ready for my daily devotions, bible reading, listening to great instrumental Christian music, corresponding with my friends and finding out what is going on in the world. All this without any typing or browsing. I am finding that this speedier sanctified daily start is great conditioning for a more spiritual mind and heart.

Getting mad in a nice way

I like listening to the radio when working around the house. One show that I like is a news trivia show on National Public Radio called, "Wait, wait, don't tell me" But a while ago I heard a segment where the comedian MC made some jokes about God being cruel, then later blasted just one political party and followed up with ridiculing Evangelical Christians. Instead of just turning off the program, I wrote this letter:

Dear Wait Wait,

I have really enjoyed your show, but was saddened when I heard your most recent segment which included a joke about God, slams against Christians and a number of jokes, almost exclusively against just one political party. I can take it when both political parties are mocked, or if atheists get the same treatment you give Christians!

If you want to bite the hand that funds you, fine. But come one, making fun of God? That is just over the line for me. I regretfully will no longer be a listener to your otherwise fine program.

Feeling Bad for Losing a Good Thing,

Steve Prelgovisk

I was tempted to take an angry tone when I wrote them. Then I thought, "If I sound like I am a disappointed fan, it may be a more effective protest than if I just get hostile." I am glad now that I made my point in a more gentle way, because they wrote me a very nice personal letter and instead of getting defensive, they were apologetic.

Getting mad in a nice way, I made my point and maybe made a difference.

New Web Site

I am building a new web page. I liked the blog so much that I didn't think I needed a web page anymore. But first time visitors to a blog sometimes have the feeling they have entered into the middle of a conversation in progress. I felt the need of a Web page as a starting place and an orientation zone. Please visit and make comments.

Long Sunday, Happy Sunday

Well, they got married. I had a part but they are the ones making the big decisions. The groom and the bride are both active Christians and involved in the church. But Miguel is moving into a new home, much closer to the church where his new bride attends.

They say you don't lose a son, but you gain a daughter. I hope we may gain some more members that can continue blessing us with the kind of service our church has received from Miguel. At least we know other believers on the island will benefit from the labors of this fine Christian couple. I suppose we can view him a kind of missionary, receiving Christ in our town and going out from us to promote the Lord's work in other regions.

Everybody loves a Wedding!

This little girl is the daughter of a young man I led to Christ. I performed the wedding of her parents about four years ago. Now she is waiting to see her uncle Miguel get married. We led Miguel to the Lord about five years ago. It was a happy day for everybody!

Demolition Missionary

Company is coming! Our home church, Southside Baptist, is sending a group of 5 adults and 7 teens to lend us a hand. With a housefull like this on the way, we decided to make some improvements around the house. The old tub had to go. I discovered that it refused to go peaceably. The tub was 60" long, but the walls are only 58" apart! Well, after many tries ands a lot of help from Tina, together with many scraped knuckles and sore muscles , I got the old tub sawed in half, the walls widened and a new tub set were the old one sat.

Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Is the Church Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

I saw this sign and was grateful that our church has helped a good number of people overcome personal problems. It is one thing to read a missionary story, but another thing to be in one! But the great part of being here is that we get to see the power that the gospel has to change lives.

Sunday afternoon I will see Miguel Fontanes get married and be in the ceremony. We led him to the Lord five years ago. He completed an alcohol rehabilitation program, came to our church, was baptized, and got involved. Ever since then he has served faithfully in our church. As his old beer-belly got smaller, Miguels life got better. Now he is getting married, has a good job and is a much happier man today than when we met him five years ago.

It sure is great being part of something that is a part of the solution and not part of the problem!