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    Our Furlough

    I thought I'd go ahead and post a couple things on our upcoming furlough to let you all know what is going on and what we are thinking about it.

    First off, we are REALLY EXCITED!  It has been two years for David since he has been in a predominately English speaking country, and a year for Olivia (she made a quick trip last September for her grandmother's funeral).  We are looking forward to some time surrounded by people, signs, radio, TV, advertisements, menus that are all in English.  Maybe a bit of Spanish or something like that as well, but we won't feel confused at all!  Who knows maybe we will feel a bit weird with no Ukrainian or Russian around us.

    The language is not the first thing we are looking forward to though, we are mainly looking forward to reconnecting with people.  We have put a lot of effort into e-mailing, blogging, newsletters, prayer updates, phone calls, Skype conversations, facebook, etc., but we are really looking forward to face-to-face conversations. 

    Missionary furloughs are vital to missionaries who want to stay on the field for a long time, and especially vital if you want to maintain as healthy a relationship as possible with supporters while you are there.  It is not a Holiday, it is usually tough and draining for most missionaries.  This is due to a variety of reasons.  Many missionaries use their furloughs to accomplish a variety of different things.  And we hear of a lot of missionaries who try to do a lot of different things during this time which leads to them returning to the field exhausted and ready for a break.  This tends to be due to the fact that many missionaries have a short furlough time and need to use all their furlough time raising support that has been lost, or traveling all over the country finding new partners and connecting with existing partners.  We have been HUGELY blessed by God with the supporters that he has given us, over the last two years we have not lost any support.  We have had people who have finished up support commitments to us, and others who have increased their support to us (especially since they found we have another mouth to feed).  In the end we are going on our furlough with almost exactly the same amount of support that we came to the field with.  This is extremely rare among missionaries, and we thank God IMMENSELY  for our supporters.  Another bonus we have with our support is the fact that it comes from only a couple areas.  This is not to say we only have a few supporters, but that our supporters come from mainly two areas.  Our financial support comes primarily from two places:  The Fort Worth area, and Lubbock.  This has lifted a huge burden off of us as we can spend more time in these areas with our partners rather than traveling all over the country trying to spend a little time with everyone.  We do have a couple supporters from different regions that we will try to connect with as well, but mostly we will be in Fort Worth and Lubbock, and New Zealand. 

    Did you say New Zealand?  Why are you going there?  I thought you said furlough isn't a holiday?  Well, maybe there will be a little bit of holiday in there. lol.  But let me explain this.  In case you forgot, New Zealand is my home.  I haven't been back in four years, and that was just a too quick two week trip.  New Zealand has greatly influenced my personality, and the church there greatly influenced my spirituality.  Believe it or not being away from New Zealand has been exhausting. Generally New Zealanders are who I identify with the easiest.  And this dose of home will be exactly what I need to rejuvenate and get me back on track for the next few years.  We will be in New Zealand for a month, and during this time we will be able to spend some good time with family, and friends.  I will get a chance to get excited about what God is doing back in my home, and also share with them what God has been doing through one of their own.  It is New Zealand, so there will be time on the beach and in the water, but this is who I am.  I'm sure many of you can identify with this, especially if you lived near the ocean.

    What we want to accomplish:  Reconnecting and Rejuvenating. (And a bit of retooling)

    Reconnecting.  This will be the best part.  We have many friends, family, and supporters who we haven't seen in awhile.  During our furlough we can spend some time strengthening these relationships and sharing what has been happening in our lives over the last couple years.  I imagine we will be doing this over meals, coffees, in living rooms, or any convenient place to talk.  We love the people that sent us, and that back us up in this work so we want to meet with them.  It is a testimony to how well people at Legacy and some at Sunset want to connect with us, as we have developed and gained new friendships since moving away from those places.  We have so many people that want to get together with us!  We feel so encouraged and appreciated by this.  We of course will have to be responsible with our schedule considering we have an infant with us as well, but we want to use as much time as we can to meet with people sharing, praying, and growing.  Its these relationships that have picked us up in our low times here, who have spurred us on to be what god calls us to be, and who remind us of the bigger body we are a part of.  And these times where we will physically be together will be a huge blessing.

    Rejuvenating.  Honestly, Olivia and I are exhausted.  We are so ready to take a break from Ukraine for awhile.  It's not that we don't like Ukraine, or don't love the people here.  It's just that it has been a hard two years, and we need a pick-me-up.  Our furlough time will help accomplish this. Sometimes, we get stuck in the little things.  Some days we get frustrated when language and communicating seems especially hard, or when we Satan throws up some strong defense against us.  But by taking time on our furlough sharing the big picture with people, it will enable us to refocus on the bigger picture as well.  There are frustrating and disappointing things here, but there are definitely victories, growth, progress and accomplishments as well.  God is working in big ways here, and fruit is being produced.  I hope by sharing this big picture with people we will be even more excited again.

    Maybe a silly analogy for this is the fire triangle.  For any fire to burn you need three things:  Fuel (something to burn), oxygen, and heat.  Well I see the work here as the fuel (and there is plenty of fuel), God is the oxygen (no shortage), and we are the heat.  And what keeps us hot is you guys.  (I did say this was a silly analogy, right?) All of you and your encouragement excites us.  It is your effort that you put into encouraging us that keeps us passionate, and excited about this work here.  So I'm praying that our time with all of you will get us all amped up again and even more excited so that when we get back to Ukraine we can be the Holy Pyromaniacs missionaries that God called us to be, setting Kharkov on fire.

    Retooling.  We will be spending some time on our furlough with ministers, missionaries, and missions committees.  I am excited about this.  It is a time we can sit down and talk about what we have been doing.  And I will lay it straight out on the table now and say, "we could have done more, and we haven't done enough".  And I expect when I talk to some of these people and open up about this there is going to be some productive time discussing some ways to increase our productiveness, advice on maybe some new approaches to take, and maybe even a request or two to make some changes to what we are doing.  This will be good, because all these people we will be working with have a desire to enable us to be the best workers we can be here.  The advice, criticism, will all be so that the fruit in the kingdom will increase and that we as his workers will work well together.  Olivia and I are still young, and we make many mistakes.  We haven't learned the best way to do almost anything, so we will be depending on this sort of help from those back home who have more wisdom and experience.  We have a lot to teach and share, yes, but we most definitely have a lot more to learn.  We want to come back from furlough stronger and better prepared.

    Time Frames.  We will be on furlough for three months, from November 2nd to February 2nd.  We will break up our trip into three equal time slots.  November will be in Fort Worth with Legacy and other supporters in the area, December will be in Lubbock with Sunset and other supporters there, and January will be in New Zealand with family and supporters there.  For those of you in those areas at that time, let's meet up.  Send us an e-mail with a couple available times you might have to meet up, and we can organize it, or if you can't plan that far ahead (and most people won't be able to), tap us on the shoulder when we get there and ask us what days we have open that week so that we can spend some time together.

    We are looking forward to our furlough.  It is going to be amazing, especially if you are a part of it.

     

    • 18 October 2010
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  • The Nelson's Space

    We are a family of three who have been sent to Ukraine to plant churches. We are constantly growing and learning how to be the people God calls us to be.
    We enjoy life, and want to share with others the things that make our lives so great.

  • About The Nelson

    We are a family of three who have been sent to Ukraine to plant churches. We are constantly growing and learning how to be the people God calls us to be.
    We enjoy life, and want to share with others the things that make our lives so great.

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