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Building partnerships and sharing Christ with the people and churches of Puerto Rico
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Call Connie: (720) 312-3785
Call Howard: (303) 587-4028

Mission and Vision:

A little about us

Howard and Connie have been leading mission trips around the world since 2001. They have a passion and the experience to coordinate your mission trip to Puerto Rico. As a former Missions Pastor at Bear Valley Church in Lakewood CO for 14 years, Howard gained so much knowledge about how to put an effective team together, and match it with the right ministry project!

Just talk to them for 20 minutes and you will hear their excitement about a potential trip for you and your group. Their skills range from budgeting to logistics to hospitality to creativity.

They will design and coordinate a mission trip tailored to your needs and goals for your mission team members. Come for a week, 10 days or two weeks. You choose your area of ministry.Do you want to teach, preach, hold an evangelistic outreach, work in schools, senior centers, do light construction, painting, sports or music ministry? Or some of each area? You decide. We do the rest. We provide you with a complete ground package that includes your housing, transportation, and ministry costs.

Our mission

Our mission is to share Christ while building partnerships with the people and churches of Puerto Rico. We believe we should engage, equip, and encourage local pastors to grow their churches and plant new ones Our experiences tells that if we can connect a local church with a U.S. church, that partnership will thrive. Living in Puerto Rico gave us a great advantage of meeting and knowing the local pastors and church leaders, and their specific needs.

The territory's churches represent your fellow Americans. They are as American as each of you, and today they are going through the worst financial conditions in the history of Puerto Rio, not to mention the results of disasters like Hurricane Maria in2017, and recent earthquakes. The government has cut most social programs and now the churches need to step forward in a dynamic way. However, most of the churches in Puerto Rico are small, and their pastors are often bi-vocational and ill-equipped to do this job. They are asking for help, for education, for teams to come and teach and preach. They need encouragement.

Disaster Relief Projects:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017 in Puerto Rico, and the subsequent hurricanes and earthquakes that followed, Puerto Rico was devastated and has since struggled to recover.

Seven months after that storm, there were more than 62,000 residents of this island nation still without power. Many organizations responded with critical food, survival equipment, cash assistance and rebuilding efforts. Vision Puerto Rico is one of those organizations who is still responding to the needs of the churches and people. Since 2017, VPR has sent almost 1,000 volunteers to Puerto Rico to help with relief efforts. The work continues on the main island and on Vieques Island. These volunteers give a week or 10 days of their own time to help repair churches and homes of Puerto Ricans.

Ministry Projects

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MINISTRY IN VIEQUES (1)

In 2022, more than 150 volunteers each gave at least one week at their own expense to come to Puerto Rico mainland and Vieques, PR, a small island just east of mainland. While they also did a tremendous amount of physical work repairing, cleaning up, painting churches and homes, and providing multiple-day workshops and conferences, most of them came specifically to make new relationships, pray with the people and share the Gospel. The work continues on the mainland Puerto Rico, and on Vieques island. The need for spiritual ministry is huge.

Located seven miles off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico you will find a small island named Vieques (Isla Nena)

Vieques has no stop lights, no movie theatre, no bowling alley, and wild horses run freely on the island. It is a quaint place, visited by tourists because of the beautiful beaches. VPR has made a solid Christian impact on this island. We partner with local nonprofits and the mayor's office. In 2021, volunteer teams came and renovated an outside deteriorated basketball court into a beautiful tennis court for the kids. In 2023, we are continuing to renovate the mission house, to be used to house mission teams.

Below are a number of ministry projects your team can do:

  • Numerous local homes need small repairs and paint
  • Christian teaching in the local elementary school (Yes, they let us take Jesus into the schools!)
  • Block Party for elementary school (grades K-5)
  • Ministry work at local high school (grades 9-12)
  • Block Parties in two of the housing projects
  • Ministry to Seniors at senior center (crafts, music, devotional, visiting)
  • Evangelistic services in the Town Plaza
  • Sports Camps at the ball fields (basketball, baseball)

MINISTRY ON MAINLAND PUERTO RICO (2)

PROVIDE A VBS OR SPORTS CAMP FOR KIDS

Casa Belen Escuela in Carolina is a K-12 Christian school. They would like a youth group to hold another 4-day VBS or Sports Camp in the summer.

Host an Art Camp for kids with local artist, Pastor Ivan Rios.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

  • Food Ministry
  • Survey work for churches
  • Block parties in neighborhoods
  • And much more. If you can dream it, we can make it happen.

PROJECT Vieques (3)

Team Assigned

Located seven miles off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico you will find a small island named Vieques.

Vieques has no stop lights, no movie theatre, no bowling alley, and wild horses run freely on the island. It is a quaint place, visited by tourists because of the beautiful beaches. VPR has made a solid Christian impact on this island. With support and cooperation from some church partners, VPR has been able to complete the remodel of an old apartment. What was a rat-infested, bee-hive infested neglected space, is now a clean, modernized, modest Mission House that can house up to 15 people. Visiting pastors and mission teams have used the space.

Below are some ministry projects available on the island of Vieques (Isla Nena):

Provide two days of Christian teaching in the local elementary school (Yes, they let us take Jesus into the schools!)
Block Party for elementary school (grades K-5)
Ministry work at local high school (grades 9-12)
Block Parties in two of the housing projects
Free Car Wash Ministry
Ministry to Seniors at senior center (crafts, music, devotional, visiting)
First Responder Ministry (provide and serve first responders; Bible study with them)
Evangelistic services in the Town Plaza
Sports Camps at the ball fields (basketball, baseball)

PROJECT Iglesias Bautista Apocalypses in Aguadilla, PR (4)

Team Assigned

Crash Boat Beach is one of the most famous beaches of this community. And it is located about 5 minutes from this church. This church has a pastor who was a former district judge and is on Vision Puerto Rico's board of directors.

They have had some real problems in the past year and need a dedicated team to help repair the church from some vandalism. Also, they need the outside of the church painted and a new window placed in the sanctuary.

But the main emphasis is on reaching the community. They are open to any evangelism opportunities.

For more information email: Howardvpr@gmail.com

PROJECT Pastor, Women and Men's Retreat (5)

One Team Assigned

Talk about a project that would make a huge difference! These are the ones. Teams coming to provide a retreat and training for one or more of these groups would change so many churches and homes.

The divorce rate is very high in Puerto Rico, pastors leave the ministry each week because of discouragement. Families are in desperate need.

Are you willing to move where only faith can survive? Find out how you can provide a retreat that would change a life and possibly yours.

For more information email: Howardvpr@gmail.com

What people are saying

Howard and Connie Waller know how to make a trip work! They can help you develop a relationship, projects, and details with potential partnership churches.
Dr. Bob Ryan, Former Team Leader, Mile High Baptist Assn, Denver
After working with Howard and Connie, I knew about their real interest in helping others. They are both amazing and are doing a good job with the students of Vieques high school. May God bless them.
Carmen Delerme, Director, Vieques High School
Howard and Connie have hearts the size of the mainland. They seem to know partners everywhere and have that knack for recruiting and empowering people to go and to serve.
Jim Walters, Retired Senior Pastor, Bear Valley Church, Lakewood, CO
People are still talking about the number of people who came to Christ last summer at the outreach Howard and Connie planned!
Dr. Daniel Juarbe, Executive Director, Puerto Rico Baptist Association
If you want to know how angels work, ask me about Rev. Howard and Connie Waller. They have taught us how to expand our evangelism with outreaches to our island people.
Pastor Hector Cruz, Pastor Emeritus Iglesia Bautista Saron, Vieques, PR
Our mission partners Howard and Connie Waller have been doing ministry and missions (around the world) for over 20 years.
Chip Colee, Worship Pastor, First Baptist Montgomery (Alabama)

Board of Directors

Bart Poole (Chair)

Bart is currently lead pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Aurora Colorado. He has served in churches in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado for 40 years. He first fell in love with the people in Puerto Rico when he led a group of volunteers from 10 churches in the Denver metro area to help refurbish a church building in Vieques. The team worked hard. The people there captured his heart and seeing the end results of moving a dilapidated building back to a usable, functioning space got his juices going.

Bart has been doing mission work all over the world most of his ministry years but has been drawn to the work in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic because God has continued to open doors for ministry in those two countries over the last 10-12 years. He LOVES to help people and is excited to be a part of this amazing team! Bart enjoys anything outside and is a huge fan of his family and all of his 6 grandkids. He's been married to his bride Denise for over 40 years.



Bob Ryan

Bob Ryan retired from Mile High Baptist Association, Denver September, 2014. He presently serves as part-time pastor, Ranch Drive Baptist Church, Ponca City, Okla-homa while developing the R&R Ranch and Restoration Retreat Center, Inc. in Newkirk, Oklahoma. The ranch is being developed to serve as a short-term retreat center for Pastors under pressure and Combat Veterans seeking help with reentry skills. He currently supervises Doctoral Students for Golden Gate Baptist Theologi-cal Seminary. He serves on the Board of Trustees for Vision Puerto Rico and Church-es of Excellence, Inc. with Attorney Steve Lewis of Edmond, Oklahoma. Married to Charlotte for forty-six years, they have two sons living in Newkirk/Ponca City, Okla-homa with their families. They have eight grandchildren residing on the R&R Ranch (a working ranch) or nearby where he and Charlotte retired.




Dr. Karen Taylor

Karen attends Bear Valley Church in Lakewood, Colorado. She said she supports VPR because, “Having participated in a short term mission trip to the Philippines, led by Howard and Connie I determined to be a part of whatever ministry they would lead in the future. Upon retirement from BVC, the Wallers formed VPR and I jumped at the chance to be a part of their work in this beautiful but challenged land and her people. My heart was further touched by the work they are doing. They have an ability to connect with young people, which astonishes me! I am quite hon-ored to be invited to join the board to help these fine missionaries in whatever the Lord leads them to do. My heart joins them in unity as they love on people of other cultures, spread the gos-pel, and encourage members of the Body of Christ.” In retirement, Karen is a short-term mission-ary, psychotherapist, spiritual coach, and writer. Karen holds a Doctorate in Ministry. She was also Ms. Colorado Senior America, and then 1st runner-up for National Ms. Senior America in 2011.

Robert Northway

I am honored to be asked to serve on the board of Vision Puerto Rico. I am proud to be a native Coloradoan, and the son and grandson of native Coloradoans. I graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver. Before God led me into Education, I worked a variety of jobs. I worked for Hutchinson Homes on various labor crews, I was a collector for Chrysler Credit, and I worked at a photo lab (when we still had those) processing film. God then led me up to Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, where I earned my teaching degree. I taught elementary school for 12 years, and then I attended The University of Phoenix on weekends to earn my master's degree in Guidance and Counseling. This is my 35th year with Jefferson County Schools and I have been a Counselor at D'Evelyn Jr./Sr. High School for 23 years.

I have always had a heart for the Puerto Rican people because my dad was stationed there during WWII, and he always spoke very highly of the people and the island. Howard and Connie Waller are two of the most dedicated and faithful people I have ever known. That, combined with their energy and willingness to work hard, to serve the Lord are why I believe in and support Vision Puerto Rico.




Maureen Lord

What a privilege it is to serve on the board of Vision Puerto Rico with Howard and Connie Waller! I love the passion they have to help others in Jesus' name. Their organizational skills, planning, loving spirits and outreach to people, especially in Puerto Rico, is remarkable! I have experienced it first hand on two different international mission trips.

Retiring from a Denver mentoring organization, I currently spend time volunteering in my local church. Being on the healing prayer team, working with an anti-trafficking organization, as well as attending Bible and book studies have helped me grow in my faith. Some of my past experiences include: being an elementary bilingual educator, teaching Sunday school, tutoring, being a mentor to various ages and working with the oppressed and poor. These have helped shape me into a person God continues to use for His glory. My family consist of a married daughter, a son and 5 grandchildren. They make life fun and interesting!!



Brenda McCoy

I have known Howard and Connie Waller for many years through Bear Valley Church. My husband, Pat, and I went on a VPR mission trip in July 2019 where we visited Vieques and the main island. We look forward to returning and I am now privileged to serve on the board of Vision Puerto Rico. Howard and Connie's vision for helping the wonderful people of Puerto Rico is inspiring.

Pat and I are both Colorado natives and I had the tremendous blessing of godly parents, grandparents and a large extended family. I am a retired IT specialist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service after 30+ years where I was a project manager, and managed the Email system and the IT Help Desk. We enjoy reading, music, walking, hiking, and travel. I have participated in numerous bible studies, choir, served as a deacon, Homework Help with Mission98, and mentoring. I currently co-lead a women's class, serve on prayer team, attend Bible Study Fellowship, a small group bible study and volunteer with Re-fined Ministries. We enjoy family time with my 3 married children and 8 grandchildren (all local).

Donations

Contact

We are eager to hear from you!

Howardvpr@gmail.com

303.587.4028 (Howard)

720.312.3785 (Connie)

Our Colorado Address
P O Box 37
Littleton CO 80160
6-23-2023