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.