Happy Birthday Sarah and Kristin!

Sarah and Kristin turn 15 today! I am on the road visiting churches, but I hope the phone calls, emails and the presents I sent for your birthday today made it a happier one.

Free MP3 English or Spanish Bible downloads

I am reprograming my mind by listening to some pretty good stuff: the Word of God. I just got myself a little mp3 player and plan on listening to Proverbs in Spanish today on a walk. This site (http://www.audiotreasure.com/) has some free downloads for your mp3 player or you can burn them to disk for the car. They have English downloads also.

In Spanish, We use the Reina-Valera version, and this is available too, at least the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. http://www.audiobiblia.org/indexenglish.html

Know of any good stuff? Let us know!

One Month Mini-Furlough

Our Vacation Bible School was not even over when I jumped on an airplane and flew to Pensacola, Florida. I spent a few days with my daughters and future son-in-laws at their college and then drove to New York for a month of missionary meetings in various churches.

The little town of Perth, near Albany, New York, is the home of Perth Bible Church. I am staying in their missionary apartment for the month of July. It is a great blessing to have a place to stay between meetings and a place with the privacy needed to get some serious studying done.

I just spoke in all three services at Valley Baptist Church in Mt. Morris, New York. It is a town of about 4,500. It is a patriotic place and in fact is the birthplace of the Baptist pastor who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. My host, Pastor Phillips has a business, Allegiance Antiques, that reflects that patriotism in its decor. He and his wife Joan received me well and it was a pleasure to stay with them.

I met some Puerto Ricans in the congregation, that I hear visit the island often. One told me that he would stop by my town and take me to visit his relatives in Puerto Rico. That's what I like to hear! I hope that this meeting will lead to a closer link between our ministries.

Tina is alone with Sarah and Kristin in Puerto Rico for the month of July. Don't be shy, drop her a line or make a phone call. We all need some encouragement once in a while, even me!

VBS, Puerto Rican Style

Yep, we have Vacation Bible School on the mission field. It is like in the States, except in another language, in another culture, with different food and with a lot less help. Plus it is a lot hotter in the tropics. But besides that, kids here like games, puppets and stories just like kids everywhere.

Please pray for our busy week that it would go well and yield fruit.

Scary Stuff

One of our faithful elderly men missed a few Sundays, so we went to visit him. He seemed normal, but I had an uneasy feeling that something was up. That something happened just last week and gave us a scare.

One night around 11pm, I heard a car honk and saw him out in front of the house. He had a “vision” of my wife Tina dead from a nail in the head and said that the Twins called him to come rescue them. I said, “But you don’t even have a phone.” He said, “Yes, but Sarah called out to me and I heard her voice in my mind.”

One of his adult daughters, Gloria, was with him and motioned to me that he was crazy. She had brought him by because he insisted on seeing that we were alright and refused to go to bed until he knew.

I thanked him for his concern, prayed with him and later visited the daughter to find out what was going on. She said that he had begun hearing voices, and often talks to people who are not there. Recently the voices in his head say there is evil in our home and that he should burn it to rescue us from it!

What to do? This guy was a friend and a great help up to about 3 months ago, and now we have to worry about him showing up one day and burning down our house because he loves us so much. Yikes!

We bought some new locks for the front gate, and our front porch and upgraded all the security around our house. But what we need is your prayers. We don’t want to become paranoid, but is it paranoia when someone really is out to get you? I think not.

I went to see him again, but they had admitted him to a psychiatric hospital for a few days and would only let family in to see him. He has recently been discharged and is supposed to be guarded by at least two family members 24 hours a day. Our concern is that he might get away and hitch-hike into town and drop by our house.

It is sad and stressful losing a friend to something like this, let alone having to worry about a stalker. Another ripple in all this is that I will be away from home all July , speaking in Mission Conferences in New York state. Please pray for us, our safety and our peace of mind. It would be a blessing to us if you would drop us a line and let us know you are praying for us.

What does an artist feel like when they sell their first painting?

I don’t know, but you can ask our daughter Bethany!

Last week she got engaged and this week she finished her first commercial art project.

Bethany is doing a required internship where she creates commissioned art under the supervision of professional artists. This means she does not have much of a vacation, but on the other hand, she gets paid for doing her art.

Congratulations Bethany!

Online Dictionary for French, English, Spanish, Italian, German.

Online Dictionary for French, English, Spanish, Italian, German.

This site hosts the best free online Spanish dictionary I have found.

Training Faithful Men for the Ministry.

These two men are assistant pastors right now and both are preparing to become pastors. I am training them Thursday nights, from 7-10 PM. This last semester we studied Biblical Geography and Introduction to New Testament Greek.

Marcos (left) is going to become an interim pastor this week for a missionary friend of mine. He will fill in when missionaries are on furlough and get some good experience in preparation for getting his own church. Roberto (Center) is serving as an assistant pastor but may continue with his construction company for a while, but feels led to pastor someday. The guy on the right is me.

Please pray for us all, as their studies and my commuting and lesson preparation time is a sacrifice. I am happy to spend and be spent discipling men like this, but it can be draining, physically and financially. Your support and words of encouragement make a difference and help us to keep up this good work.

Some of our work is paying off!

One of our graduates is staying and helping us for a bit.

The pictures are from when our students held a birthday party our for our newest and youngest teacher, Rafael. He is a Engineering graduate from Colombia, South America. I taught him here over the last few years and am pleased to see him teaching with us. He plans to be a missionary to Colombia and is raising funds right now to go. He plans on starting a Seminary in country, possibly in the city of Cartegena. In the meantime he will continue in his new position as a teacher here at Puerto Rico Baptist College.

We plan on starting a Seminary here too. I am hopeful that he will help us with this and continue to give us input later, as he develops a similar ministry in his country, Colombia.

Graduations at Puerto Baptist College

The graduation went fine, we had nine graduates this year and an enrollment of about 50. In the photo are just a few of our graduates.

Although only four girls are in this picture they represent many different combinations. Lissette (on the left) is Mexican, but from the Bay Area of California, she is perfectly Bilingual. Next to her is Stephanie from Burlington, Vermont. She represents students who come to our school because they want to study missions ON the mission field! What a good idea! Then Muriel is from Mexico but does not speak any English yet. at the extreme right is Deborah, from Peru. She was going to study engineering in Peru but came to study Bible here with us for a bit and stayed to complete all four years. She met Patricio, a student we had from Texas. She graduated and went to Texas to marry him just last week.

So they come and go, some to the States, some to other countries. What a joy to be in this special place, this crossroads of ministry and missionary activity. We are especially happy to see our ministry affecting areas where we have supporting churches, like in the Bay Area of California. It is nice to be able to return something to help the churches that are supporting us!

We are pleased to announce…!

BOTH our daughters just got engaged!

Bethany is engaged to Abe Kennedy, who is studying to be a youth pastor, and Rachel is engaged to Max Kennedy, Abe’s brother. Max is studying to be a pastor or missionary. Both couples plan on going to graduate school.

We are pleased with their engagements and exited about their prospects for the future!

Church Growth and Family Happiness

I read this in a "Our Daily Bread " devotional for today.

"A builder in California has come up with an innovative idea to sell his houses. He thinks that a good way to make a house more appealing is to have a family there when showing the house. So he hires actors to play happy families in his company’s model homes. Would-be buyers can ask them questions about the house. Each fake family cooks, watches television, and plays games while house-hunters wander through."

The builder is right! The presence of a happy family in a house does make it more attractive. The buyers feel that if the house can make one family happy, their family can be happy there as well.

The church is called "The house of God." We can make that house more attractive to others if we have happy families inside! We want others to come and make it their home. If "play acting" a happy family can do it, imagine how effective genuine happiness can be!

We are working here in Puerto Rico to heal families and establish a home for them in God's house, the church. We hope to share with others the happiness we receive from serving the Lord and building His church.

The saying "the more, the merrier" really does apply when you have an inexhaustible supply of something worth sharing! What God has for us is just that. He has made for us a real family and supplied it with everything that a real family needs to be happy. Let's get some families to enjoy a real relationship with God in God's house, and we just might see others wanting to join.

Psalm 68 :5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Staying Posted but Helping Hands Needed

" ... The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts,

because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them. " 2Ch 35:15

We are well aware that it is through the labors of our fellow servants that we are able to continue serving at our post on the mission field.

With the recent car accident and two daughters in college, this help has become even more important. It is a temptation to put aside our regular work of ministry and get other jobs to raise the needed funds (about $9000), but then who would do the evangelism and church planting, or train our students at the Bible college? We are on the field to do these things and struggle to remain until the job is done.

Please help us remain at our post, serving the Lord. Your help makes a difference.

Revival Idea: Family Happiness Seminar

We are trying a new idea for a revival.

Usually we have a guest preacher, which is great for attracting church members from other churches but not such a good way for reaching non-church people.

To appeal to our community and to give them a reason to attend, we are hosting a “How to Have a Happy Home” seminar. Everybody needs that!
Even couples with happy homes can chuckle at quotes like this:

“Winning an argument with your wife is like winning the war with Iraq,” Democratic political consultant James Carville said. “Once you win, you’re in even more trouble.”

So I hope that by providing a theme like this, we may attract people and then show them the great resources for family happiness that are available to a Christian family and how they can become one.

Please pray for our revival. We will hold it this Friday and Saturday at 7PM and from 9:30-12:00 Sunday morning.

An Accident

Our daughter Rachel took a group of students out on visitation last Sunday and was involved in an accident. She is alright and no one was hurt.

She made a u-turn on a rainy day and the car fish-tailed into a parked card. The airbags popped out and the front end of the car has a good sized dent in the bumper.

The accident will cost $3,763 for the other car and about 1,000 for our car.

We praise the Lord for bringing Rachel through this trial unharmed. Any help received to aid us in recovering from the accident will be greatly appreciated!

Please remember all of us in your prayers.

She did what she promised!

I visited Lydia, a 70 year old woman who is dying of colon cancer. We prayed. She told me she would come the next day to church to give her testimony. I did not ask or even suggest this, but was very glad to hear of her desire to make a public declaration of her faith.

At some level I had my doubts about ever seeing her again. But then again, I felt I must honor her faith and find a way to make this happen that would be not too stressful on her in her weakened condition.

I sent one of our college girls, Cynthia Flores, to Lydia’s house Sunday morning to tell her she could come later if she wished. If she came toward the end of the service, she might not tire herself out or be in pain so much. I was surprised to see Cynthia enter the church with Lydia holding on to her arm!

“Did she understand you?” I asked.

Cynthia replied, “Yes, Pastor. She just didn’t want to wait!”

Sure enough, just as she had joked about, she had come in pajamas with a hospital robe pulled on over them. As soon as I started the Sunday School hour Lydia raised her hand and said “Excuse me, I have something to say.” Lydia came forward and said, “Last night I accepted Christ as my Savior, and I am trusting in him to save me. I love home and now I belong to him!”

We were all very touched. Here was a woman with every excuse in the world to not come to church. She had not clothes, health, family or freedom from persistent pain, but there she was glorifying God in the Church. How many have so much, enjoy so much, yet remain at home, self absorbed, ungrateful and unconscious of their greatest needs?

We pray for Lydia, but with joy, as she has responded so well to the claims of Christ upon her life. It is a great thing when an older person receives Christ. Our hope is that we may reach more young people with the same powerful gospel. We need help to grow this church. Please pray that we might receive the help we need to continue our growth.

Bathrobe or Bust

I heard Lydia moaning from the street. She is 70 and suffering from colon cancer. I called at her window and she said “Come in Pastor, the door is unlocked.” She was very skinny. I could see the outlines of her bones clearly. I brought her a large print bible to read and she was thrilled. I read her some verses and prayed with her for about a half an hour.

She told me “I want to go to church tomorrow and walk up front and make a public declaration of my faith. Even if I only have a bathrobe and have to be carried, I am going!”

I smiled at her enthusiasm and hope she can do it! But just wanting to do do something like that shows a heart full of faith, which in the Lord’s book, counts for a whole lot.

Soup and Salvation

During one of our weekly visitation times, I came across the home of a seventy year old woman named Lydia.. She is suffering from intestinal cancer and is often in pain. I was surprised one Sunday to see her in church. She grabbed her side in pain a few times during the service, but she was all smiles and friendly between these episodes. She has visited for about a month. I go to her home about once a week and pray with her.

The other day I found out she hadn’t eaten for two days. I went and got some chicken soup while my visitation partner stayed and spoke to her. I made her the soup and we sat and talked while she ate it. I had asked her before if she was a Christian and she said yes.

This day I asked her, “How do you know you are a Christian? What happened to you that makes you say that?”

She replied, “I went forward in church and the pastor touched me in the forehead with his finger.”

I replied, “He could touch you with all ten fingers, take off his shoes and use his toes too, but that would not save you. Only Jesus can save. Here is what the Bible says about it…”

I shared what we call “The Roman Road” (Romans 3:10, 23; 5:6-8, 6:23, and 10:8-13.) and asked her to pray, and ask our Lord to save her.

Lydia prayed and was all smiles a bit later. We witnessed to her son Juan Carlos and are keeping in touch with her neighbors. Please pray for Lydia. She is in the hospital a lot and still in much pain. We wish to be a blessing to Lydia and her neighbors.

There was a Lydia in the Bible whose hospitality became a great blessing for the early church and aided in the spread of the gospel in the regions beyond. We hope these visits to our Lydia may have an impact in her life, but also an impact that may be felt beyond the four walls of her house, and may spill over into the neighborhoods all around our town.

Some Things You Don't Learn in School

Videojug and PBwiki: Two great tools for our students

Our college students arrive and many of them are quite competent. Others seem to have missed some basic life lessons. We take them into our home and teach them more than how to do church work. Cooking, basic life skills, how to study, how to change a flat tire, etc., may be the subject of the day.

It is a lot of fun for us to use our home on the mission field helping college students become competent young adults.

Here is a site that is a lot of fun, http://www.videojug.com/

You can learn how to wash a car, make buttered toast or fix a doorknob. So now we too have a way to fill in those gaps in our education.

PBWIKI:

There is another site we use that is excellent. It is PBwiki.com. This site allows our students to post their homework online. Enough students doing enough homework can add up to quite a bit of information, that in turn can be used to teach others. Come visit our site:

Check out the PBwiki tour!

Create your own wiki at http://www.pbwiki.com/?r=pob

Link to
http://educators.pbwiki.com/PBwiki-educator-videos

Turtles and Daffodils teach a lesson.

Someone asked me, "How can you plant a church, teach in two Bible colleges and still have time to blog, learn the guitar and spend time with your family?"

My answer is "Cancel your cable TV subscription and start plugging away at something worthwhile. A little bit every day adds up." I call this "The turtle method." Turtles aren't very good looking or very speedy, but over time they can make a lot of progress.

My Uncle Tom sent me an article with a more appealing name. It is called

"The Daffodil Principle"

Here is the story:

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the
greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt, and, Dance like no one's watching.

If you want to brighten someone's day, pass this on to someone special.

I just did!

Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

Kayaks and Dungeons

We had a lot of fun showing Abe and Max Kennedy (Bethany and Rachel's' Boyfriends) around our island. It wasn't all just vacation, we did manage to get some work out of them! Both preached in our church and did lots of painting.

After all that hard work we took them to the phosphorescent bay and joined a kayak night time tour of this unusual part of God's creation. We paddled up some dark mangrove lined channels and could see our paddle blades glow where they entered the water. There is a kind of small sea creature that lights up when the water is disturbed. Some folks on the tour jumped in and swam around and we could see a green glow all around them.

We later went to a beach near the town of "Cabo Rojo" and took along our old dried up Christmas tree. We burned it and had "S'mores" (roasted marsh mellows and chocolate between Graham crackers). We rented some kayaks and went picnicking on a small off-shore park called "Gilligans Island."

It was fun to relax. Besides the beach, we took them all to see some old Spanish forts, and even shut them up in the dungeon. They broke out though and are now all back in Florida and their college studies.

Being a missionary often means being separated from family for long periods of time. It was sure good to have a few weeks with everyone here.

For more vacation pictures visit our Flickr albums:

http://flickr.com/photos/32321157@N00/sets/72157594439778628/

http://flickr.com/photos/32321157@N00/sets/866367/

Surprised but Prepared

I was enjoying some time with my kids Saturday morning when somebody called, “Dad, someone outside wants you.” It was a nurse. The nurse pulled in front of our driveway and I saw that she was crying. She said, “Don Steven, Your church member William Baez is in the hospital. I am his daughter. Please come.”

I ran and changed my clothes and drove the 40 min. up to the Mennonite hospital to see him. He was full of tubes, wires, but most ominously, made a loud gurgling sound whenever he breathed. He was alert and conscious and I saw him mouth the word “Thank-you” through his oxygen mask.

I stayed in the room for about five hours and read to him from the bible, prayed with him and spoke to the family as they came and went. I asked the nurses about his status and a few said he could last for a couple of days like that, but one thought he might die the next day. He became unconscious and I could no longer communicate with him. After a while, I left for home and spent what remained of the evening preparing for our Sunday services.

Sunday morning, on the way to church, a neighbor stopped me and said, “Pastor, William Baez died last night at 2 in the morning. Can you do his funeral today at Noon?” Of course I said yes.

Before we left the church for the funeral, I had the privilege of translating a sermon given by a young ministerial student named Max Kennedy. He is the boyfriend of my daughter Rachel. He did a fine job and our people were blessed. His brother Abe carried some hymn books over to the funeral home right after the service and I got ready to preach. There were only a few people so we came back at seven that night and had a preaching service then. Today, I preached again at noon and gave another sermon at the grave-side at 1:30.

I met William Baez during my visits to town and invited him to church every time I saw him. He started coming after about a year of invitations and attended for over a year. He was friendly, positive and had a great sense of humor. I will miss him. One of the last things he said to me was, “I prayed that I would not return to my house. I want to leave the world from the hospital. I want to go and see my precious Saviors’ face.

I went to church yesterday expecting to translate a message so I did not write one. Since then I have preached three funeral sermons. Fortunately I have kept some of my old funeral sermons and was able to reuse some of them. Preparation and planning for the future helped me in this situation. Brother William Baez also made his preparations beforehand, preparations of a more important kind.

I hope you, dear reader, will make what preparations you need before that expected, but somehow surprising time comes, that day when it is your turn to leave this world.

Small things can be very important

I had a nice surprise this Sunday. We held a birthday party for one of our deacons after the service, and as a result, many “irregular” attendees came to honor him, help with the birthday dinner, or maybe just to have a part in the feast we had. But whatever the reason, it was good to end the year with a church a good bit fuller than usual.

Tina tried out a traditional Puerto Rican garlic-pork recipe and it was sooo good that all the Puerto Rican ladies wanted her recipe! We usually bring home left overs, but not today! They kept coming back for seconds of that dish.

After the meal, we took some food to the home of an elderly man who has been too sick to attend services lately. We prayed with him, his wife and grand-daughter and got lots of hugs.

This week Tina and our college age kids went to the church and finished painting the interior and doing a really good cleaning.

Wednesday we had our prayer meeting in the home of a family that lives up an extremely steep road, which is really saying something here in Puerto Rico. Not ever having ice or snow and being cheap, the government has allowed roads to be built so steep, that it makes those streets in San Francisco look like roads for beginner drivers.

I preached a New Years Eve Sermon on “Gods’ Apgar Score.” A summary follows :

“The Apgar score is a system used in hospitals for rating the condition of a new born. I used this metaphor to teach about how the world evaluated the newly arrived Jesus. And how by judging him, we categorize ourselves. I spoke about the smallness of the baby, and compared it to another small thing. In Zechariah 4:10 a man holds in his hand a small object, a plum bob on a string. It is a very small object, but it is a sign than soon something big is about to begin, a project that will include some destruction and some building up. The holder of the small object will use it to make his judgments, depending on what relationship the object of his attention has with the plumb line. Jesus, though small, makes a line. God views us in relationship to his Son. What side of the line are you on?”

Tonight we are going to watch all eight hours of a DVD series we have based on the book “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens. It is really very good.

Happy New Year!

Family Reunion Plus

Bethany and Rachel have come home for a 5 week Christmas break from their studies at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. They brought with them two fine young men, Max and Abe Kennedy. They are helping us paint the church, get some chores done and of course, a bit of site-seeing in as well. This is us visiting an Indian village on the south coast.