After Three Years of Honduras as our Home...

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Dear Family and Friends,

For three years now we have called Honduras our home. This beautiful Central American country is special to us in so many ways and we are thankful that God called us here. Every experience - every high and every low - has been a blessing from Him. Thank you to all of you who have faithfully partnered with us and prayed for our family during these last three years! Though we may go many months in between these newsletters, please know that we often think of and give thanks to the people who through prayers, encouragement and/or financial support have been used by God to allow us to serve here. We are so grateful for you all!  

Our last few months have been jam-packed with blessings in the form of people coming to serve with us and opportunities to be used by God to care for widows, orphans and struggling families through outreach, prayer, construction work, advocacy, teaching and meeting basic needs like food and clean water. Though our primary work is with the children and staff of WGO’s children’s home (Rancho Ebenezer), God has opened doors through a growing number of Serve Teams to impact more people off the Ranch as well. Along with our visiting missionaries, we’ve been able to serve together as a family to do things like pour a concrete floor (pictured below during the process of moving and mixing rocks and sand), deliver clean water filters and food, and pray for the physical and spiritual needs of families near the Ranch and in the city of Tegucigalpa. On the Ranch, we’ve assisted teams as they led Vacation Bible School, training and coaching for staff, caregiver respite times, worship services, devotionals, music lessons, sewing classes, sports activities, field trips, fishing at the Ranch laguna (pictured below), a talent show, construction and home repairs, and much more. 

More than 200 people came to take part in these ministries between May 20 and Aug. 16. Some of these team members included kids close in age to our boys, providing an opportunity for new friendships and a lot of fun (Bryeten pictured below with new friend Jayvon who came to serve with his parents). The work of God through short-term missionaries, together with long-term staff both present and former, is to us a beautiful representation of what Paul described in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor." 

As the busy summer Serve Team season ended, in between trying to “catch our breath” we were able to once again participate in the amazing experience known as Missionary Kids Camp for English-speaking children of missionaries in Honduras (Chance and Mac’s camp team pictured below.) This week is always an absolute blast for all of us. It’s a nice break from the regular routine, though we would not call it restful! 😂 Kris was a cabin leader for 14 and 15 year old girls and Steve was with a group of boys ages 9 to 11. We also enjoyed some time hiking in the rain forest at La Tigra National Park and taking in the spectacular views (pictured below). 

During the months of September, October and November we will host several teams and begin planning for our 2026 teams. We will also be planning and preparing for our furlough trip to the U.S. in December and early January. We will share more about that in our next newsletter. ♥️

Prayer Needs: Four of the Ranch kids will transition off the Ranch into independent adult living soon - Cindy, Fernanda, Angeles and Franklin. Please join us in praying for their successful transition, as well as for the spiritual growth of each child here at the Ranch, for the health and strength of the long-term staff, and for the physical and spiritual needs of the many Honduran families who live in poverty unlike any that most North Americans have ever seen. We also seek your prayers for our boys as they begin the 2025-26 school year - Bryeten will start 6th grade, Chance 3rd grade and Mac 2nd grade - along with our daughter Yese. 

Thank you for reading our latest newsletter and for your continued prayers and partnership! May God bless you and your families greatly! 

In Christ,
Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac
Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org,  Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

This year is "different" ...

Dear Family and Friends,

Since returning to Honduras in January after our second “furlough” trip to the U.S., and completing our second full year here at the Rancho Ebenezer children’s community (March), there’s been a feeling that something about this year is “different.” 

For starters, we are more comfortable in our second culture now. Things that once felt so foreign are now familiar and no longer a surprise. We are also making (we think) fewer communication mistakes and cultural blunders. Though we of course miss our friends, family and communities in the U.S., we must be honest that it now feels more like we’re “home” when we’re here. We have prayed to feel a part of the culture here but it’s taken time (many of you and many others told us this would be the case!) As we have shared in previous newsletters, making friends and feeling accepted didn’t come right away. The language barrier was part of that, but another factor was simply time. Our Spanish is technically much better now, so there is that, too! 😉 At any rate, we are grateful to God to currently be experiencing growing connections and friendships both on and off the Ranch. The off-Ranch part is because we have been regularly attending a local Spanish-speaking church (that’s a whole story in itself!) Becoming part of a local church family has been an incredible blessing. We’ve prayed for all of this since our first few weeks in Honduras, and God has blessed us both in the waiting and in the receiving. 

Though all of this is praise-worthy and so good, it hasn’t been easy. We are simultaneously feeling more comfortable while also stepping more and more out of our comfort zone on a regular basis. Relationships here take more work due to the culture and language differences. They require more grace. They insist on being able to laugh at ourselves (and with others at ourselves). Above all, they prioritize connection and conversation over to-do lists. 

As this year started it was clear to us that God wanted us to focus on doing the important work and not the “easy” work. Our primary ministry role here continues to be the coordination of short-term mission teams - which at this point feels like second nature for us. It’s much easier to create team schedules and work with teams to complete projects than it is to develop a true friendship with someone who doesn’t speak your first language. We’re still doing a lot of team planning, of course, since that work is important to the Ranch, but if there’s a chance to sit with another adult over coffee and talk or pray together, we’re making sure there is always time for that. 

We believe that as we continue to deepen relationships, more fruit will be within reach. How can God not reward the efforts of believers from two cultures who are seeking to work together to love and support kids who have experienced tough beginnings? We are thankful for the prayers and encouragement of so many of our friends and family as we do the work God has called us to do here.

The boys are continuing to thrive in their second culture. Bryeten will soon complete 5th grade, Chance 2nd grade, and Mac 1st grade. They are looking forward to the upcoming summer break. Just like this time last year we’re gearing up for another busy summer team season. More than 150 people will come here for a week or longer between May 20 and Aug. 9. We will be hosting many team members who have become friends to us - many of them have been coming to serve at the Ranch for many years before us! It is such a pleasure to help plan the week for each team - identifying projects that they can work on both on and off the Ranch, and seeing them share their love for Jesus with the children of the Ranch who are so special to us. This year teams will be restoring several of our children’s homes through repairs and painting (getting them ready to receive new children in the future) and they will be making needed improvements at the homes of at least three local families. 

A prayer need we have at this time is for the school at our ministry, which the boys attend. We have a wonderful team of Honduran teachers, but the school continues to be in great need of missionary teachers. Will you please join us in prayer that God will send one or more missionary teachers to serve for the 2025-26 school year?  

We haven’t done the best job at communicating these last few months, but please know we hold you all in our hearts and we are grateful for your love and support. ♥️

In Christ,
Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac
Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org  Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

Photos top to bottom:

1) Recent photo of the boys - Bryeten (almost 11), Chance (8) and Mac (6). They won't stop growing!! 

2) We enjoyed a pool field trip in January. Mac loves every opportunity to have fun with his classmates (two are pictured) and other friends from the Ranch.

3) Father’s Day in Honduras is celebrated on March 19. Steve was treated to lunch at our church along with all the other fathers.

4) An incredible blessing this year came in the form of a young lady who served for 3 months. Eleun was involved in so many activities serving the children of the Ranch. She was a bright light here at the Ranch and became a special friend to Kris!

5) This is what 2nd grade Spanish class looks like here at the Ranch! If you are interested in serving at our school, have we mentioned the small class sizes? 😊

6) Steve has perfected the making of cinnamon rolls. Better than Cinnabon, seriously! Come visit and he’ll make them for you!

7) A recent team poured a concrete floor for the sweetest local family. It is such a blessing to be used by God to help improve the quality of living conditions for our local neighbors!

8) Friday nights are for sleepovers at the Nelson home! Whenever possible, we invite 2 or 3 of the Ranch boys to our house for dinner and hangout time. And the next day we sleep!! 🤣

9) We’ve learned that we must prioritize time for our marriage. We celebrated Steve’s 40th birthday with a trip to Roatan, just us. We are grateful for a strong marriage and the opportunity to serve together!

10) Afternoons playing on the soccer field (a.k.a. Campo). It's impossible to capture it in a photo - but the cool breeze during approaching sunset at 5,500 feet elevation can only be described as perfection.

11)  Bryeten was a reader during our Good Friday service of worship and remembrance. 

12) We had been waiting patiently for a day warm enough to have some water activities. It's been a longer rainy season than usual and many days it stayed cloudy and cool. On the bright side, we haven't had many wildfires like we did the last two years during the early part of the year! 

13) We said "see you later" to our dear friend Angelito in March. He is pursuing an opportunity to travel and work overseas! 

14) Chance the Builder! 

15) Our team weeks almost always end with a bonfire. It is always a special but bittersweet time! 

The Goodness of God - May 2024 Nelson Family update

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this letter finds you healthy both in body and spirit! It has been a busy few months at our ministry and we are gearing up for even more action in the next few months. After just over a year of service as the Serve Team Managers and Host/Hostess of Rancho Ebenezer, we have found our rhythm and continue to be amazed at how God has blessed this ministry and our family through everything that is happening here. In this letter we will share three examples of how we have seen first-hand God’s power and goodness to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine… 

Recently we have been used by God to help facilitate some significant physical improvements to the Ranch, including the construction of a metal building to provide shade over the concrete play area at the Ranch school. This project had been greatly needed and prayed about for several years prior to us joining the ministry in 2022. At one point there were plans to build it, but due to COVID and other factors the plans were put on hold. This year, God provided for this project through a new donor to the ministry. The donor had never been to Honduras but is friends with several members of Tech Serve International, a network of skilled missionaries who provide construction and other technical support to the Ranch and in many developing countries. The donor along with several men skilled in the construction of metal buildings came to Rancho Ebenezer in March and had the structure built within 3 days, at no cost to the ministry! The donor was deeply moved by the experience of his first mission trip, and says he intends to come back and help with future funding needs. Our role was simply to communicate and facilitate the planning of this project. We thank God for using us in this way to bring this needed addition to the Ranch! 

In addition to physical needs and improvements around the Ranch, God is also using us to support the development of the Ranch staff in the form of trauma-informed care training. This is a huge passion of ours because we saw first-hand the impact trauma has on kids when we were foster parents. Caregivers of children who have experienced trauma often burn out if they do not have sufficient training and support, and we see this happening among Rancho Ebenezer’s caregiving staff. Not being trauma-informed care trainers ourselves, what could we do? Well, God already had the answer: A team from one of our home churches, First City Church in Pensacola, Florida! For several years, FCC has been on the front lines of efforts to dramatically help kids and families who have experienced trauma in Florida. The church leaders believe that Scripture is clear that God did not call the state to care for orphans and widows (James 1:27), He called the church to do it. In 2018 FCC began exploring ways to help the State of Florida’s child protection efforts. They began with initiatives to recruit and support foster families and more recently they created a nonprofit organization called FC Outreach, Inc. This faith-based organization receives state funding for programs to provide wrap-around care for vulnerable families, create a safety net team for at-risk families, and provide Christian services including case management, therapy and respite care. A team from First City Church will be at Rancho Ebenezer May 25-June 1 to provide trauma-informed care training, meet 1:1 with caregivers to pray over and brainstorm solutions to specific child needs, and provide other services to enhance our children’s services team. Please join with us in prayer that God will be glorified through His servants as they help the Ranch staff better understand and care for kids who have experienced trauma.

A third way that God is using us is by giving us inspiration and ideas for helping the ministry grow resources and better utilize existing resources. One example is Casa Bondad (Bondad means goodness in Spanish). Casa Bondad was constructed, along with the other houses on the property, to be used for housing children in a family setting, but currently it is not needed for that purpose. God inspired a vision to transform Casa Bondad into a Multi-Purpose/Activity Center to include a sensory/play therapy room, art and music room, library/tutoring room, full kitchen, and a more accessible location for storing donations and resources. This project will serve many purposes and meet many needs at the Ranch as there is not currently a designated space for providing therapeutic and development activities for the children, and the storage of children’s services supplies is small and not easily accessible by caregiving staff. We presented the vision to ministry leadership and it was approved in February. At that time, we didn’t know exactly how much or if any funding would be available, so the idea was that we would ask each team this summer to help, and make an appeal for other donations if needed. Well, God again had another idea in mind! About a week after the project was given the green light, I (Kris) was talking with a man who has been coming to Rancho Ebenezer for many years to provide summer enrichment activities for the children and help out where needed. He asked what projects we were working on that he might be able to help with this summer. I shared about the Casa Bondad project, but didn’t ask for his financial support. I explained that possibly he could help with painting and doing light repairs in the house during his visit, and that all our summer teams would be involved in some way. A few days later I received an email from him that he and his wife would be making a donation to the project and that his church would conduct a congregational offering to help with the project expenses!! God answered our prayer for the project resources before we had really begun praying for them! Their donation and his church’s offering will fully cover the purchase of furniture, appliances, storage shelves and many other items that will allow Casa Bondad to be used by our Caregivers, Support Staff, Missionaries, and Serve Teams to conduct a variety of development and/or therapeutic activities with children. As A.W. Tozer said, “With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack?  Surely we are the most favored of all creatures.” Praise be to the God of all goodness, wisdom, power and love! 

Thank you for reading our newsletter! As you can see, some wonderful things are happening. We are thankful that God is choosing to use us in His plans for Rancho Ebenezer, and we pray that through these projects He will receive great glory. 

We love you all! 

Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac

Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org  

Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

     

     

Photos from top to bottom: Easter Sunday at the Ranch. Before photo at the school sport court. After photo at the school sport court. This Spring we were blessed to have several personal friends choose to vacation in Honduras and spend some time visiting us. We all enjoyed these special visitors and getting to show them some of the beauty and adventure here. Kris took a quick trip to the U.S. in May to attend the Skelton Family Reunion, which included a joyful surprise visit with our daughter Yese and her boyfriend Josh. Mac with some of his buddies enjoying ice cream made from coffee and blackberries grown at the Ranch. A recent team donated a pickleball set which has been enjoyed by many of the kids and staff. Bryeten enjoyed learning to play a cajon drum with a team member. Chance during the school’s Easter celebration. The house behind the team was built in just 6 hours for a disabled man and his wife in a nearby community.   

10 Miracles We've Experienced ... February 2024 Update

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Dear Family and Friends,
We hope this letter finds you well. It’s been a little while since our last update and much has been happening since we returned from our trip to the U.S. We arrived back in Honduras on Dec. 9, just in time to participate in and help lead various Christmas and holiday activities. This time with the kids and staff of the Ranch was such a blessing! 

The beginning of March will mark one full year since we officially moved to the Ranch and began our roles as the Serve Team managers and host/hostess. We are still the only North Americans serving full-time but we are seeing progress on that front with several prospective missionaries currently exploring opportunities to come and serve at the Ranch! Please pray for them to receive clear direction from God about His will for them and, if it is to come to the Ranch, to fully equip them with all the support they need. Though our need for a few more full-time missionaries is great, we can say that the Ranch has a wonderful team of Honduran believers who serve the children very well. Over the last 12 months our admiration for them has grown tremendously. It has been a pleasure to do what we can to support their work by engaging teams and visitors to partner with the ministry to make improvements to the Ranch and share the love of Jesus with each child. God is making so many things happen!  

Recently we sat down and wrote out a list of all the miracles that we had seen over the last year. We would need several more pages to include them all, but here are a few we are especially in awe over: 

1. Our marriage, though we have been attacked by the enemy in multiple ways, has grown stronger. Thank you to everyone who has prayed specifically for our marriage - please keep the prayers coming!! 
2. Seeing our boys learn the language, make friends and grow in their faith. They have made transitioning to a new culture look much easier than it is!!
3. Though the initial call was terrifying, our relief to learn that our daughter Yese and her friend Josh survived a car accident last September with only minor injuries. 
4. Our Spanish is nowhere near fluent, but with intentionality it is allowing us to build relationships with many of the Honduran staff. We also have experienced strong relationship development with the children of the Ranch (it’s easier with them because they speak English!) 
5. A “divine appointment” with a local pastor which has allowed us to provide meaningful off-Ranch service opportunities for two of our teams - and more in the works. 
6. Growing financial support for the Ranch, including several larger donations that will allow for the completion of several important physical improvements to the Ranch in the coming months. (Pictures to come in the next newsletter as many of these projects will be fully realized next month!)
7. One of the Ranch youth, José, committed his life to the Lord and was baptized last November!
8. Getting our Honduran residency finalized (after months of prayer) in God’s perfect timing, just in time to attend a drivers’ license class that another missionary organized - saving us from having to navigate the difficult process of becoming licensed drivers on our own!
9. Incredible Short-Term Missionary support for the ministry. Last year we hosted 7 official (week-long) teams and about 100 total people (full and partial-week team members, prospective missionaries and other guests). This year we currently have 11 week-long teams scheduled plus 5 partial-week teams and several visitors, including prospective and former missionaries, for a total of 270+ guests serving at the Ranch! (Every guest to the Ranch represents monetary support for our operations and/or critical help in the form of work being done that our team otherwise could not do!)  
10. The 270+ visitors this year includes Serve teams from both of our home churches in Florida - Lynn Haven Methodist in Panama City and First City Church in Pensacola - plus some very dear friends!

We could share so much more, but you get the idea… Our God is so good and He supplies everything we need in His perfect timing! We are thankful for your prayers and financial support that allow us to serve here and experience these and many other miracles first-hand, knowing all the while that the best is yet to come! We love you all!

Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac
Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org 
Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

Want to partner with our family in Honduras?

Financial contributions can be sent to: World Gospel Outreach, Preference Nelson Family, PMB 250, 6068 US Highway 98, Suite 1,  Hattiesburg, MS 39402 or online at wgoreach.org/nelson. To sign up for our newsletter, email Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org. 

Merry Christmas from Honduras!

Christmas 2023, year-end summary... 

This year was our first full year living overseas as a missionary family. Our transition to Honduras began in 2022. After attending language school for 6 months we officially began serving in our ministry roles in March 2023 at Rancho Ebenezer, a Christ-centered foster care community near Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Bryeten (9), Chance (7) and Mac (5), attend school with the children cared for by the ministry. They are thriving in their bi-lingual classes and have so much fun with the other kids during day-to-day and special activities! Our daughter Yese is still living in Panama City and is working at a hospital there. 

We are serving the Ranch as the Serve Team managers and host and hostess, which means we plan and coordinate mission teams and other visitors to come and serve at the Ranch and in the nearby village. We also lead a weekly youth group and help with other things to support children’s services and the overall operations of the program. The Ranch is located on a beautiful 80-acres of mountaintop property. In addition to all the beautiful flowering and fruit-producing trees, there are 3.5 acres of coffee plants on the property. Steve’s favorite mornings are when we wake up to the smell of coffee roasting. 

Living overseas is both a blessing and a challenge. We love the Honduran children we have the privilege of serving. We love that the boys are getting to experience a new culture and learn a second language. We love being part of what God is doing at our ministry (we have many amazing stories of how we have seen Him moving)! We miss our family and friends. We miss some of the opportunities of home - such as organized sports and activities for the kids, safe and modern playgrounds, getting to spend time regularly with friends, worshiping in English with our church families, and being able to receive mail. We are the only North Americans serving at our ministry location currently. Learning the culture and language is difficult, but we are working hard to build relationships and be of service to the Hondurans who work at the Ranch and are doing such hard, holy work. We have committed to serve for a total of 4 years so we expect to be living in Honduras until at least August 2026, or possibly longer, depending on what God has in store for us in the future. 

When we wrote this message we were in the U.S. on our first “furlough.” Each year we are able to come home for a total of 6 weeks to spend time with family and raise support so that we can continue to serve in our ministry. We enjoyed our time stateside and the chance to see many people we love so much. We were able to relax, ride bikes, walk on the beach, spend Thanksgiving with family, attend our home churches, and enjoy the beautiful Fall weather in the South. We were reminded of God’s many blessings and of his plans and purpose for our lives. We would love to have you come visit us in Honduras sometime. If you are interested in visiting or learning more about our ministry, please email Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org.  

We wish you the most joyous Christmas season! 

The Nelsons - Steve, Kris, Yese, Bryeten, Chance and Mac

From top left: Steve and the boys building bunk beds at the Ranch; our graduation from language school; family photo February 2023, Mac with pal Brando; Chance and friend Junior; Bryeten helping with a painting project at the Ranch school; with Reenie and Big Daddy at Thanksgiving; enjoying beautiful Panama City Beach; with big sister Yese; Riding bikes with cousins.

First Missionary Furlough Thoughts

Over the last few weeks we have learned that missionary furlough essentially means cramming a year’s worth of travel, social engagements and extended family time into 6 weeks. Exhausting but worth it!  

We have been to Pennsylvania, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. We have spent time with Yese and many other family members. We have shared about our missionary work with many supporters and friends. We visited with our dog Nellie and the sweet family who adopted her. We have done our best to keep up with the boys’ school work. And we have had a lot of fun! 

Praise God for this opportunity to be home after our first full year in Honduras! We have just under 2 weeks left! Please pray we get some rest so we can return to Honduras ready to continue the work God has for us there.