The Rev. Maximino Cotto's boiler at home blew this month, singeing his eyebrows. Then his car broke down.
But the worst part of his month came Friday night when the church he oversees in Camden, Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal (Pentecostal Church of God), burned.
The congregation had just purchased the historic church, the former home of Rosedale Baptist Church, on Oct. 1. It spent about $10,000 and hundreds of volunteer hours fixing the building the last few weeks.
It had held only one regular service, on Oct. 17, before the blaze.
"When this happened, I was a little down," Cotto said yesterday. "But with God's help, I feel a little better."
Congregants held services yesterday in the storefront building they had been using, which is directly across from the newly purchased church, at 37th Street and Westfield Avenue.
The original church building, now the annex, was constructed in 1892. A red-brick structure, complete with white steeple, that faces Westfield Avenue was added in the 1950s.
When the primarily African American Rosedale Baptist congregation decided to move, the mostly Latino Pentecostal congregation, which had grown from a dozen members to more than 150 in a few years, bought the church.
"It was getting too small," Cotto said of the storefront church.
Volunteers have been cleaning and helping to make the new church ready. New carpeting and painting were among the improvements.
The fire began about 7 p.m. Friday near a heater in the annex. No cause has been released. No one was in the church at the time of the fire, and no one was injured.
Now the freshly laid carpeting is mostly ruined. The wood floors have water damage. Black residue from the smoke in the shape of flames runs up a portion of the freshly painted all-white sanctuary walls. And the annex was destroyed.
A contractor was already at work yesterday.
Cotto said the church had insurance. But, he said, it will take months to repair the damage and get rid of the smoky smell that permeates everything.
"To our congregation, this is painful," Cotto said. "We spent so many weeks painting and cleaning."
Despite the setback, the church's regular Sunday routine continued, beginning with Bible study at 10:30 yesterday morning.
Heddy Pabon, a church member, attended the Bible study, held at Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal's old location, where services were held yesterday evening.
"We really feel bad," she said. "Everybody has been working so hard. I didn't believe it when I heard the news."
