the nelsons http://thenelsons.posterous.com A glimpse into our lives and our work posterous.com Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:49:00 -0700 Baby Boy to Come! http://thenelsons.posterous.com/baby-boy-to-come http://thenelsons.posterous.com/baby-boy-to-come

For over a month now, our friends and family here and abroad have been asking us THE question: "Do you know what you're having yet?"  Then it became, "Are you finding out?" And finally it was, "How many more weeks until we know?"  We were all so excited that so many of you wanted to know what we were having and were just as excited as we were to find out.  We all waited for that magical week 20 to come...

Here in Kharkov especially everyone wanted to know if we were finally going to have a girl.  Our team, you see, had only boy kids - 6 total.  Several were sure it would be a girl... chances are, right? But then others said it was impossible... just look at our track record! 

We saw a few photos from what seemed to be a "new" thing in the States, Gender Reveal Parties, and it didn't take much to talk David into doing it.  At first, we were going to know, but everyone else would find out at the party, but then the week before we made the decision to wait and find out with everyone who came. That way we'd have fun with the games with everyone else.  We made our appointment, took in an envelope with two cards: "It's a boy!" and "It's a girl!" on them and asked the doctor to put the right paper in the envelope without us knowing.  She was very compliant, even telling us when to shut our eyes during the ultrasound. We got the envelope on Wednesday and waited... until Thursday night.

We had about 37 people people packed into our little apartment for our little reveal.  It was a lot of fun.  We had snacks, and I did my best to label them according to what people generally predict you'll crave when you're pregnant.  Blue and pink were everywhere. 

Snacktable
Cupcakes

As soon as our guests arrived, they cast their vote and if they weren't already wearing blue or pink, we pinned a pink or blue ribbon on them so their vote was clearly seen.  We also had a couple games for people to guess the size and the weight of the baby at that time (I was currently 21 weeks along).  Then, we played pictionary - those who thought it was a boy versus those who thought it was a girl.  The idea behind that game was "who has better intuition?"  It was too close, so we had to have a tie-breaker match that the boy team won. 

Voting

Game1
Our final game, leading up to the reveal was testing the old wives tales.  I had made a list, plus we asked everyone to contribute what they believed could tell, or what they had heard.  We looked at where my belly sat and what shape it was.  We strung a ring on a string and watched whether it would spin or sway.  We looked at what I'd been craving.  We looked at my face to see if a girl had "taken" all my beauty away.  And we tested a lot more. The outcome: 50/50. Funny, how that one worked! ;)
Wisetales

Finally, our last few guests arrived and we Skyped in with Mary, David, and Jacob (in New Zealand, so at 4am in the morning), and we opened the envelope together: BOY

It was heaps of fun and everyone expressed how much they enjoyed it with us.  So, that's the latest family news for the Nelson family.  Baby boy (who has yet to be named, as that's probably your next question!) is due November 15th.  We plan to be back in the states for this delivery, so if you're in the Lubbock area, you'll be the first ones to greet our little man.  Fort Worth friends, we'll be seeing you pretty soon after. 

Thanks for being excited with us and keeping our family in your prayers.  This pregnancy hasn't been without worry, but God has taken care of our little boy and we are so thankful and excited to meet him soon!

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Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:24:00 -0800 The art of advertisment http://thenelsons.posterous.com/the-art-of-advertisment http://thenelsons.posterous.com/the-art-of-advertisment

This week I came across an advertisement that stood out to me.  It's something I've heard in passing, but never saw the ad.  Yesterday one ended up in my car so I thought I'd share it with you.

Sober_movers
I am no marketing genius, and probably only have a superficial understanding of how advertising works.  But from what I gather, a common practice among business advertisements is to highlight aspects of your business that makes you unique.  Find a service that you are especially qualified to offer, or a characteristics that sets you apart from the rest of businesses in your industry, and highlight those.  

This advertisement I found is for a moving company.  They highlight a couple services that they offer that may cause you to hire them.  For instance, they work around the clock seven days a week and they offer special vehicles to move items that may be out of the ordinary.  But the first line on their advertisement is something that is pretty rare in Ukrainian moving companies.  It is the first line on their advertisement as it is likely what they want people to notice first about them.  Something to cause a passerby to glance at it and continue reading the advertisement.  

In case your curious "всегда трезвые"  means "always sober".  That's right. The service that this company provides that sets them apart from the rest is the guarantee that their employees will show up to move your possessions sober.  They won't be drunk!

I'm guessing you reaction to this is similar to my first reaction.  Your probably asking yourself, "Is this serious"?  Sadly, it is.  People here generally have no expectation for those involved in "grunt" work to remain sober all day.  Alcoholism is definitely a huge problem here, so much so that an advertisement that offers sober workers, is not the normal.  It is the trait that sets this business apart from the rest.

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Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:00:12 -0800 A Spoonful of Blessings http://thenelsons.posterous.com/a-spoonful-of-blessings http://thenelsons.posterous.com/a-spoonful-of-blessings

In July, our team got together to brainstorm what we could do to follow up with the contacts we received from the Let's Start Talking (LST) campaign we had in July.  We had a bunch of new contacts and we wanted follow-up with them as best as we could.  We started several different activities and parties, one being a cooking class once/month.  Our team makes bakes a lot of stuff here - cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. and are always being asked for recipes.  Ukrainians really don't bake very much, if at all.  In fact, many don't have an oven in their apartment.  They cook, but when it comes to sweets or breads, they usually buy them from the store.  We have a lot of events and host a lot of people in our homes, so we bake a lot - partly because we enjoy doing it, partly because it seems more welcoming, and partly because we just like some of our sweets better than what is in the store.

Katie took on project of the cooking class and started it up in her home.  She prepared a recipe, had the ingredients ready, and set up her kitchen.  There were eleven of us there at the first class, three who had been LST readers.  The next month, we did it again.  We've had four classes so far and they've all been great. 

Two months ago, I was able to teach the class how to make pumpkin bread and pumpkin soup - one recipe I picked up in the States, the other from New Zealand-- both weren't common here in Ukraine.  This last month, we hosted the class in our kitchen.  We had 19 of us crammed into my kitchen and since it was around our Thanksgiving holiday, Lucy and one of our AIMers EJ taught how to make pies.  We ate one of them, then invited all our guests to our combined assembly the next day where we were planning on eating all kinds of pies together.

Opening up our homes is easy.  Converting the recipes takes a little effort, but it's not difficult.  Measuring 1/2 cup in a small tea cup (instead of our 1/2 measure) or trying to get precisely 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda on our teaspoon (rather than using a 1/4 teaspoon measure) takes a little practice and a lot of guesswork, but it's workable.  (They don't have dry measuring cups or spoons here.)  Explaining what "dough" is can be complicated, but dictionaries and visuals make it possible.  The fact that we're able to do it is a blessing.  The friends and visitors who come encourage us.  In fact, I think we gain more from these classes than we put it. 

God is good.  It is a privilege to be able to serve Him here and a joy to do it through mere cooking.  

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Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:06:56 -0800 A Visit from Home http://thenelsons.posterous.com/a-visit-from-home http://thenelsons.posterous.com/a-visit-from-home

In the month of September, we were blessed to welcome our second parents - Jim and Nancy Snelson - to Kharkov, Ukraine.  Jim and Nancy have been our liaisons at Legacy for over three years now.  They have become very dear to our hearts, so it was a joy to have them visit.  They blessed us so much while they were here, emotionally, spiritually, and physically!  They came with bags stuffed to the gills and we had an early Christmas.  Then came the letters from many friends at Legacy who just wanted to let us know they were thinking of us.  Over the next 8 days, we had a wonderful time sharing Kharkov and our friends here with them.  Our worlds collided again.  We can't express enough gratitude to the Legacy eldership and Missions Ministry Team for sending them our way! 

Jim and Nancy were kind enough to write a little paragraph of their perspective of their visit here, and we wanted to share it with you:

The Legacy church sent us to Kharkov to encourage and bless the Nelson family, but as so often happens in ministry, we came away as the ones who were blessed and encouraged.  Eight days can only give a brief glimpse into lives that are dedicated to planting a church in a foreign tongue and culture.  But what a glimpse into how God uses his people to work out his plan!  An intentional afternoon of Ultimate Frisbee at the park builds relationships with new seekers and opportunity to meet neighborhood kids.  A Ukrainian man offers his interpretation services to Jim and Nancy at the supermarket, as Olivia jumps right in and invites him to their English group using the Bible.  Praises ring out from the apartment of a Nigerian Christian attending university in Kharkov, where two of the friends he invited, one a Muslim and another with family issues, join in a study of Luke.  Sunday worship service in English is followed several hours later by a Russian service primarily attended by neighbors and friends who are non-believers.  We pick up only a few words of David’s lesson when he uses words that have no Russian translation (he’s making application with a story about his New Zealand All Black rugby team), but we enjoy watching him share the Word in a language that he’s worked so hard to learn. And Russian songs of praise are beautiful, familiar not by the words but by the tune and the bond of a common faith.   Hours are spent around the kitchen table enjoying great food and conversation, meeting friends and joining in Olivia’s Bible study with Ukrainian and Chinese women.  The Friday night English group that meets in the Nelson’s home brings together men and women of divergent cultures and languages who read and discuss Bible stories and proverbs.  They see it as a time to improve their language skills, but seeds are being planted and more is happening than just English practice.  Caleb is a joyful bundle of energy – loving life, food, toys, books, puzzles, making animal sounds and learning to walk.  The Nelson’s teammates welcome us as well, at team meetings and prayer sessions, lunches, dinners and tea.  Everyday city life in Kharkov was shared as we rode the metro (subway), visited the markets, parks and cathedrals, and experienced the traffic.  The elevator wasn’t working the day we arrived (they live on the 6th floor and we had 4 LARGE bags), and the water was off a few days later, but these inconveniences were taken in stride as normal occurrences in Kharkov.  Along with all the ministry activities and opportunities, there are times of disappointment, doubt and trial. We went to listen, to act as a sounding board, to ask questions, and most importantly, to pray. Those were some of the sweetest times of our trip – praying around the kitchen table, praying late at night, praying with teammates and AIM students, praying for wisdom, discernment and patience.  The seed is being sown in Kharkov, pray that the Lord of the harvest will give the increase.

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Tue, 26 Jul 2011 06:23:00 -0700 The Seeker's Study http://thenelsons.posterous.com/the-seekers-study http://thenelsons.posterous.com/the-seekers-study

A couple months ago I wrote about our team's plans on beginning a new church in the city.  Our plan to begin this new church was to start forth with a basic gospel Bible Study- we call it a Seekers study.  In this study we invite people who are seeking to learn about and know God.  Right now we are studying the gospel of Mark, following Jesus' life and ministry and learning from this book who Jesus was and what he did/said.  It is not complicated, but it is very fulfilling.  So far almost every week we have had someone new to this study, and every person expresses how much they enjoy reading the Bible, especially in groups were we can talk about it.  Some come who already believe in God and are trying to follow Him, and others come who have no religious background at all.  It is a great group, and we are thankful for every one who comes along.

This study started about two months ago, and at that time we were not sure how it would go.  For the first two weeks no one came.  We invited people we thought would be interested, but no one came.  Now someone new comes almost every week!

It first started with Oksana.  Oksana has been coming to our English-through-the-Bible group every Saturday night for more than a year now.  We had told her about our church gatherings, and the purpose our family was here in Kharkov, but until recently she never accepted an invitation to our meetings.  I think that over the past few months our relationship with Oksana has changed.  I can't say that one event changed our relationship, but now we are definitely closer to Oksana than ever before.  She is open, friendly, she laughs a lot.  She and Olivia often go on walks together (as is it is the most popular Ukrainian pastime), she has introduced us to her sister, and we are just generally sharing more of our lives together.  She comes every week to the seekers study, and we are so thankful for this!

Recently we hosted our first LST team in Kharkov.  And from this we were introduced to more people who are interested in studying the Bible.  The Sunday after LST left we had one of the readers come to our Bible Study.  Olya was someone I personally remember handing a flier to inviting her to LST.  As I stood in front of the metro entrance with a flier in my hand saying, "Free English practice", she walked right past me.  She went about ten steps when I saw her turn her head, stop for a second, then come back to me and ask more about what I was doing.  Now she attends our study.  She is a great person to be in this study with.  She does not have a lot of religious background, and this means she asks amazing questions in our study.  Since I have grown up going to church, studied in a Bible College, I often glance over some of the simpler points in scripture.  But in this study, as we read through something, Olya stops us and asks, "What is this?", or "What does that mean?" or even better, "How does that help?"  It has been so great to have this!  It makes me stop and think, and sometimes I'm surprised that these "simpler points" I usually pass by are actually very rich and deep.  She is a blessing to this study!

Another girl, Lena comes almost every week and she is a great part of our group.  Lena is very eager to learn and understand what the Bible says.  A few weeks ago when she was told that in our studies we are spending a lot of time looking at who Jesus is, she said, "Good!  I really want to know more about Him " Lena also has a gift with music.  She came to an English Bible study where we sang a few songs, and she sang with us.  Even though she had never heard the song before, she sang loud and she sang well.  Lena told me after she really appreciated the singing, because they make you feel good and happy.  Each week we see her process and take to heart what she is reading. 

A few weeks ago our family was blessed with an opportunity to meet Sergei and his family.  We had a wonderful time!  Sergei comes from a home that knows God, and seeks to serve him.  It was great to hear that he wants to become a preacher one day and share the Bible with people.  His understanding of the Bible, his humble spirit, and his cheerful attitude make him a huge asset to our study.  On multiple occasions Sergei has talked to us about bringing his friends to this group as well, specifically some of his friends that don't believe in God yet.

Julie is the first person to be baptized and saved in this church plant.  Though she has only come to a couple of our Seekers studies, she has been involved in a study with Olivia and Katie for the last few months.  This new addition to the kingdom brings our church plant to its next phase.  We have started off this work with the plan of studying the gospel with people, and as they are saved we invite them to fellowship in the church.  With Julie being baptized, she'll now hopefully join us in the time together as a church before the Seekers study.

Our plan from here is to keep doing what we are doing.  This study seems to be a great way to share with people the life and teachings of Jesus.  Soon we will be getting to the point in Jesus' life that he begins to head towards the cross.  We pray that as we see Jesus make His journey, all of us in the study connect with and relate to what He is doing.  Those, like Julie, who understand and become a Christian we will invite to meet earlier in the day as a church.  Our hopes are that this study will continue to reach people and help them understand God's plan in their life.  Then as they come into His church we can together, as one body of believers, share the gospel with others.

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Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:27:00 -0700 We got goodies!! http://thenelsons.posterous.com/we-got-goodies-52420 http://thenelsons.posterous.com/we-got-goodies-52420

We received our first package since our furlough from Legacy today. Wow. It was filled with everything we love and miss. For the last 3 months I've been rationing my jar of Jif peanut butter and used the last teaspoon this morning. I mourned and tried to convince David to go with me to the Chinese market where we just found small jars of Skippy. It's not Jif, but it would do. (We didn't go, by the way.) This box couldn't have been better timed! Thank you, Legacy!!! We are so spoiled by you and thankful for the love you send via cake mixes, jalepenos, books for Caleb, and marshmallows!! :)
Here are a few pictures of Caleb enjoying his first big care package. There is a video as well, if you want to see him in action.

Thank you again, Legacy!

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Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:03:00 -0700 The beginings of a Church http://thenelsons.posterous.com/the-beginings-of-a-church http://thenelsons.posterous.com/the-beginings-of-a-church

This last Sunday marked the beginning of a new step in the work we are involved with in Kharkov, Ukraine.  Our team came to Kharkov to share the good news of life to those that do not yet know it.  We have hopes and goals that as we share this news and lives are transformed, new communities of Christians will form and grow.  Our hopes are that when our team leaves this work we will leave behind us multiple communities of believers throughout the city of Kharkov.  We want to start churches throughout the city that will be lights to their neighbors, used by God, and places of growth and strength for the weak and needy.

Late last year our team foresaw the immediate need for a portion of our existing church to be sent off to begin another congregation and unanimously decided we were at a healthy point to do this.  The process started mid-way through last year as we took a general focus on growth and evangelism in our congregational lessons and meetings.  We took the time to discuss and converse with the local church about our team's goals of growth and church planting.  We walked through various pros and cons concerning the concept of house churches in Kharkov.   We asked for their input, advice, and participation as we moved in this direction.  Over the course of several months, the whole congregation was on board with the idea that sometime in the near future a portion of the church will go out and begin a new work. 

The plan was at the beginning of the new year two families from our team would go and start a new church.  However, the circumstances at that time led us to believe that a little more time together would be better.  After some time we decided that a little more time together would be better.  Then a little while later we decided a little more time together would be beneficial.  Eventually we realized that "a little more time together" would always feel better initially, but we needed to stop putting it off and go and do it. 

So now we are here.  Our team chose which two families would be best suited to begin a new church plant in the city, we gained the blessing and encouragement of the whole church, and this past Sunday it finally happened.  One congregation met in the home of Ivan and Sveta, and the other congregation met in David and Olivia's home.  It was a big step in the right direction for our work in Kharkov, but it felt really weird.  We had been meeting with our church family for the last year, sharing our Sunday evenings together, singing, encouraging each other, and this last Sunday we missed it.  This is how it should be, but it is something that we will have to get used to.

Of course to get a clear idea of what is going on with the congregations in Kharkov you will have to come and experience it first hand, but for those that won't be able to make it I will try to describe as best as I can.  The first church we were a part of starting here in Kharkov spent the first few months meeting in the homes of the missionaries, then transitioned into meeting in the homes of the local Christians as well, then it moved to a point that seemed to meet more regularly in the homes of the Ukrainians and less in the homes of the missionaries.  Because of the locations of our apartments, as well as the location of the Ukrainians apartments we ended up meeting all over the city.  This was difficult for many of us, but especially for one Ukrainian family who had a baby born in October.  Now with the current changes, there will be an encouragement on our team's part to work towards the church meeting mainly in one region of the city, and hopefully meeting in only one or two apartments in that region. 

The plan for our second church plant will go a little something like this....  On Sundays at 5pm we will begin a "seekers" Bible study going through the Gospel of Mark.  We will invite our friends and acquaintances to this study, including people who have recently shown signs that they are receptive as well as people we've asked before, but declined - we're hopeful their hearts are open now. This Bible study won't be the Church, but it will be a place where we directly teach and study with people about Christ in hopes they will believe and obey the Gospel.  For those who obey the gospel, we will extend an invitation to come and meet with us an hour before the Bible study to take the Lord's supper together, spend time in prayer, and encourage one another.  I'm really excited and hopeful about the future: after our friends are added to the church, we will be able to spend time together as a Body, then immediately afterward we can engage others who are seeking to know God together as a church.  Of course, we're still at the beginning.  Right now we are extending invitations to the Bible study, praying for open hearts. 

As this new step in our work begins we are also beginning to put more focus on inter-congregational relationships.  Just because two families left one congregation to begin another does not mean that we no longer wish to fellowship with the other congregation.  Every month we will be putting together a combined assembly for the churches in Kharkov.  On May 1st our church hosted a city-wide assembly, inviting members from all the churches of Christ in Kharkov to participate in leading the assembly, and it was a huge success.  The churches were excited about it, and it was something that really helped connect people from various congregations.  We will now do that every month, leaving an invitation open to all of the congregations of Kharkov, but especially to the churches we are directly working with.  We're also taking the opportunity to advertise this event among the public as an evangelistic tool.

We are all very excited about this new step toward some of our goals.  Though we don't know exactly what is going to happen or how it will happen, we are confident that our God is "able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus...." Ephesians 3:20-21

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Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:06:00 -0700 Our Furlough http://thenelsons.posterous.com/our-furlough http://thenelsons.posterous.com/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.

 

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/759272/Family__3_.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4akUL5ck2E4p The Nelson Dave & Liv The Nelson
Mon, 20 Sep 2010 11:44:00 -0700 Our New Blog http://thenelsons.posterous.com/our-new-blog http://thenelsons.posterous.com/our-new-blog

If you are here, we're glad you found our new blog!  If you were signed up to receive email updates when we posted something on our old blog, we'd like to help you do the same with this one.  Please just either go to the bottom of the page where it gives the option to subscribe, leave a comment here, or email us and we'll subscribe you. Thanks for making the transfer with us, we hope this blog will help us keep things organized and keep you updated on what's going on with our family and work here in Kharkov.  

- David, Olivia, and Caleb 

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/759272/Family__3_.JPG http://posterous.com/users/4akUL5ck2E4p The Nelson Dave & Liv The Nelson