September 2022 newsletter

It is hard to believe but we have been in Honduras for over three weeks now. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind!

God blessed our travels immensely. We flew from Pensacola to Miami to Comayagua with no difficulties. We spent four days in Tegucigalpa at the Mission House - the home base of the city outreach side of WGO. While there we worked to get all of our affairs in order, from residency paperwork to searching for a vehicle. Another missionary was driving for us and translating, but at the end of each day, we were exhausted! We also got to spend time with a visiting Serve Team and experience one of WGO’s medical and evangelism brigades. At least 100 people were waiting in the rain when the event started and all were able to receive medicine, medical or dental care as well as spiritual care during their visit. 🙌 Praise God!

On Saturday, August 13 we arrived at Rancho Ebenezer, a.k.a. The Ranch!!! Words do not express how thankful we were to be back. It is such a beautiful place and we love the staff, other missionaries and children so much. Our boys picked right back up with the children they had made friends with during our visit in March. We played fútbol, four square and “ball tag” at the escuela each day. We met Bryeten and Chance’s teachers and received their school work for the first quarter. We got to attend a quinceañera and we participated in small group worship with a Honduran family who serve as Mentor Parents at the Ranch. It was an awesome week!

We are now in Siguatepeque - a city of about 80,000 residents located about two hours from the Ranch. We are attending the Spanish Institute of Honduras for four hours each day to learn the language and culture. We walk back and forth to school each day. We have purchased a vehicle but it will take about 30 days to get the paperwork in order. Thank you for the prayers! Please continue to pray as we work diligently at learning the language. We really enjoy the one-on-one learning approach, but most days our brains feel overloaded! Please pray for our boys. On top of being in a new country, their school teachers for the next 6 months are us. 😅 Please also pray for a daughter, Yese. We are so thankful for your support and we want to remind you, even though you are not physically here, your prayers and financial support have allowed us to be here. We are a team and we are all being used by God for His bigger, greater plan!

Finally, we have created a YouTube channel and will be posting videos led by the kids. They will share their experiences as MKs (mission kids) as well as Scriptures that we are all trying to learn and live out. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClbSYAkaBfyljkHrUc2MqAQ    

We love you all!
Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac

Interested in a mission trip to Honduras or want to connect with us? Please email us at Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org or Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org. 

What an awesome flight crew! 💙

Shortly after arriving in Honduras, we made a quick stop in the former capital of Honduras, Comayagua. It is one of the oldest cities in Honduras and still has much of the architecture from the colonial era. Here we are standing in the city square in front of the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, aka the Comayagua Cathedral, which was built between 1634 and 1711 and is one of the oldest in Central America.

Perla is one of Mac's favorites! 

Alex is another of Mac's favorites! 

Eat, sleep, play fútbol - it's what these kids do! 

Hiking around the Ranch

These sweet girls were so welcoming to include us in their Quinceañera celebration! 

On our way to Siguatepeque to start language school!

View from a lookout in Siguatepeque

Hiking in Siguatepeque

Our first Sunday in Siguatepeque we attended a wonderful church called Esperanza Viva. We are thankful to have found a warm and welcoming church to attend during our time in Siguatepeque! We miss our church families in Lynn Haven and Pensacola though! 

Our first day of classes at the Spanish Institute of Honduras! 

First week in Honduras!

 We have been in Honduras for just over a week! So far we have spent time in the city of Tegucigalpa and also at Rancho Ebenezer (where we will be serving). This Saturday we will leave the Ranch for the city of Siguatepeque, where we will take language courses for about 6 months. We are all healthy and happy, and things are moving along!

Please pray with us for all the children of Rancho Ebenezer. They have experienced much change over the last couple of years, and COVID has been particularly challenging for these precious kiddos. We are grateful for their kind and welcoming reception to all of us. 

More to come with our next newsletter, but here are some pictures covering some of the highlights of our first week in Honduras. 

Bye Florida!

Today our adventure begins! Praise God for expanding our mission field! We are ready for you, Honduras! ❤️

August Update - We're ready for you, Honduras!

It's a little bittersweet to say this, but here goes… 

Hasta Luego amigos y familiares!  

In other words, it's time to say "See You Later" to our friends and family here in the U.S.

God has answered our every prayer – in His perfect timing, including securing a wonderful new home for our dog! – and we are officially scheduled to fly to Honduras on Tuesday, Aug. 9 to start our 4-year commitment with World Gospel Outreach. 🙌 

Once we are in Honduras, we’ll start language school, begin home-schooling the boys, and spend time immersing ourselves in the culture to prepare for the start of our service at Rancho Ebenezer children’s ministry. We won’t officially be at the Ranch full-time until early 2023, but we will be able to help with planning Serve Team dates for late Fall and beyond - please let us know if you are interested in coming down! 

We will not have cell service, but will be accessible via email, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp … Please keep in touch!  

Our emails are: 

Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org 

Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

If you would like to support our ministry financially, please visit wgoreach.org/nelson to make a secure online contribution. Or contributions can be mailed to World Gospel Outreach, Preference Nelson Family, PMB 250, 6068 US Highway 98, Suite 1, Hattiesburg, MS 39402

We thank God for all our family and friends who have prayed for us or partnered with us in some way to help us get to this point! We are looking forward to having stories to share with you soon of how God is working in and through us to increase our faith and showcase His greatness!  

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We were amazingly blessed with the opportunity to spend much of July traveling and seeing our friends and family in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Here are some of the pictures and special moments from our "See Ya Later" travels... 

Seeing dear friends Meaghan and Stephan, new baby Griffin, and pal Emmett in Port Orange, FL:

Visiting Grandmomma Jane (Kris's Aunt Jane) in Daytona/Ormond Beach:

Enjoying a day on the St. Johns River with friends Robert and Angela in Palatka, FL:

 

Visiting Aunt Cindy, Uncle Earl and cousin Dylan and family in Sumter, SC. Cousins make the best friends! 

 

Hanging out with cousin Amy and family, Aunt Lynn, and cousin Kimberly and family in Winder, GA. Even more cousins to make memories with! 

 

Visiting the Georgia Aquarium with Kris's Aunt Pat and Uncle Don: 

Lunch and visit with cousins Eddie and Martha in Fayetteville, GA: 

One of our farewell meals with local family - Steve's parents Maureen and Danny, and Aunt Kathryn: 

The final stretch!!

Hello friends! 

After a whirlwind couple of months of raising support and making preparations, we are overjoyed to report that we are now in the home stretch of our journey to starting our commitment at Rancho Ebenezer... Our flight to Honduras is officially booked for Tuesday, Aug. 9! 

The absolutely best part about the last few months has been seeing God go before us. We anticipated that He would do the heavy lifting, and He did not disappoint! We are thankful for everyone who has lifted us up in prayer and/or become a financial supporter of our ministry. Aug. 9 will mark the start of our 4-year-commitment. Thank you all for partnering with us and our amazing God as we seek to follow His leading in our lives.  

This weekend we will be speaking at First City Church, our church in Pensacola. The lead pastor Taran and his wife Jessie are good friends and played a big role in inspiring us to follow God's calling in our lives and become foster parents. Taran will be interviewing us during their 10 am service, which will also be available online at their YouTube page. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through us as we share our story. 

With just a few weeks left before we leave, we hope to take advantage of any and every opportunity to see our friends and family. From 7/17 to 7/27 we'll be traveling and seeing family and friends in East Florida, South Carolina and George. From 7/27 to 8/9 we'll be in the Pensacola/Pace area, and on 7/29 and 8/6-7 we will be in Panama City. We have two official "send-offs" scheduled - at our church in Pensacola (First City Church) on 7/31 and our church in Panama City (Lynn Haven United Methodist) on 8/7.

If you are in any of the areas where we'll be and would like to see us before we take off, please let us know and we'll see if we can make schedules work. Email me at kris.nelson@wgomission.org or Steve at steve.nelson@wgomission.org.

All glory to God... and a recent picture. 😃 God bless you all! 

July 2022 update - we are getting closer!

Hi friends! Well, summer is flying by... We are continuing to try to soak up as much family and friend time as possible since we know it will soon be a year or longer before we are back in the States again. In June we were finally able to take the family vacation we had originally planned for 2020. In addition to all of us, Kris’s sister (Hollye) and her husband (Joey), and Steve’s mom (Maureen), joined us. We all had a great time! Additionally, we were able to take some family pictures (aren’t we cute?), participate in Vacation Bible School, celebrate Bryeten’s 8th bday (pictured below with our awesome friend Shelby) and enjoy a couple more soccer and flag football games. We are thankful for all the fun memories we have been able to make this summer so far! At this time, we are anticipating a mission start date of around August 9 (our arrival in Honduras). This date is contingent on our support-raising status as we are required to raise/fund 100 percent of our own expenses. We are praising God and so thankful to report that we are very close to having exactly what is needed for our start-up and year 1 expenses. To say we have seen an outpouring of love and support is an understatement! We are grateful for our church families at Lynn Haven UMC (Panama City) and First City Church (Pensacola), our family, and numerous friends and friends of friends who have become partners in the ministry with us through financial blessings and prayers. As we make our final preparations, we have one major prayer request to ask of you. We have a dog, Nellie, that we cannot bring with us. We have been praying and searching for a new home for her. She's not great with other dogs (other females primarily), so it's not as simple as it might be otherwise. Please pray that we will soon find the right person/family who will love her and give her a great home for the remainder of her life. She's 8 so we know this is possibly forever. Having to leave her behind is probably the hardest thing about leaving! If you or someone you know would be interested in meeting her and opening your home to her, please reach out to us! If you have any questions or if you would like to know more about coming to serve with us (short-term or long-term) at Rancho Ebenezer or with another ministry of World Gospel Outreach, please contact us! From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for your past and future love and support! With Love, Steve and Kris Nelson Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

Telling Our Story!

Our "mission in the making" story is full of God being present in both the small and large details. 

This Sunday we have the opportunity to tell that story to the entire congregation of Lynn Haven United Methodist Church, where Kris has worked since 2018. We are SOOO thankful for the support of Lynn Haven UMC. We joined as members in 2019 and maintain a close connection there even though we are now living in Pensacola again. To our amazement, they suggested doing a congregation offering with a goal of significantly funding our first year in Honduras. (That's God being involved in the large details!) 

If you'd like to watch online, the links to the livestream can be found at mylhumc.net/worship. The services are scheduled to be live at 8 and 9:30 am on Sunday, June 5 or you can watch anytime thereafter. :) 

These three kiddos are super excited that we'll be back in Lynn Haven this Sunday and all of next week - we'll be attending Vacation Bible School, Chance and Bryeten will go to soccer camp, and we'll be spending time with our daughter Yese and some dear friends (including Mac's BFF Tucker and his family). Also, Bryeten will celebrate his 8th birthday! 🎂

We are looking forward to a wonderful week! Please pray for us, especially the morning of June 5, as we ask God to speak through us, for His glory and honor.