All Glory to God! August Ministry Update

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV

Dear Family and Friends,

We’ve now been in Honduras for one full year! In our last newsletter (early June), we shared that we were excited and ready for a busy summer of Serve Teams. We can now say with much gratitude to God that we could not have asked for a better first “busy season” of ministry. We had several teams who have been to the Ranch many times and others who were serving with the ministry for the first time. Being new on the field, we learned a lot from each and every group! And we saw God move in some really big ways, bringing a lot of joy and energy to the Ranch community. 

There are way more highlights of the summer than we can possibly share in this newsletter! For the kids, one of the best parts was making new friends. The Olson family from Houston came on a family mission trip and our boys had the best time playing and serving with their three kids. Our new friends are already planning to return in 2024 and we cannot wait to see them again!  

For Steve and me, the best part was seeing God at work in the formation of many relationships. Many of our team members were very intentional about having meaningful conversations, sharing their own walk with Jesus, and providing encouragement to the Ranch kids. Additionally, we were able to be part of the first ever Freedom Camp at the Ranch (a camp for children who have experienced trauma to help them find their freedom in Christ), partner with a local church to pour concrete floors for two widows and distribute food in the community, and participate in ministry staff events, including trauma-informed care training and a spiritual retreat. 

We are continuing our Youth Group on Wednesdays with the Ranch teens, and we are now leading a monthly “Freedom Forever” activity with the children 12 and under. Freedom Forever is a follow-up to Freedom Camp, designed to reinforce the gospel truths and support each child’s ongoing healing process. Other highlights of the summer included Missionary Kids Camp (Bryeten attended as a camper and Steve as a servant) and getting to see some church friends from Florida who were serving on a mission trip in another part of Honduras. 

On a personal note, since our last newsletter we celebrated two birthdays - mine and Steve’s. Since mine was a milestone birthday, Steve had some big surprises in store. Months prior he had reached out to many of our friends and family asking for letters and rhymes (a tribute to my Granddaddy, Doc Skelton, who was famous for his rhymes) so he could gather them in a book. Somehow he managed to keep this a surprise from me! He also put together a video with photos which he showed during that week’s Youth Group, helped two of the Ranch girls plan a little surprise party/dinner for me, and he and the boys made me a special breakfast. It was a very full and memorable day!  Luckily for me, Steve is two years younger, so I have two years to try to figure out how to make his 40th even half as special as he made mine. 

Now that the busiest time of the year for us has ended, we’ll be working on some other things at the Ranch. Steve is continuing to lead the WGO Kid Art program and will be helping out by teaching some P.E. classes at the Ranch school this year. He will also continue helping with maintenance and light construction projects around the Ranch. Kris has taken on a greater role with the Vocational Education program and is working with other Ranch staff to enhance that program to provide for more life-skills training for the teens. And of course, we are already planning for future teams. We have eight teams, totaling over 140 people, already on the 2024 schedule, with room for more! Teams can come anytime of year, not just summer. If you are interested in organizing a team to come and serve with us, or coming as a family or small group just to check things out, please contact us anytime!  

And finally, we saved the best for last… It’s time to come home to visit! We will have our yearly home assignment from Oct. 28-Dec. 9. Our tentative schedule is as follows: 

• Oct. 29-Nov. 2 - Pittsburgh
• Nov. 3-10 - North Georgia area 
• Nov. 11-17 - Lynn Haven/Panama City, Florida area
• Nov. 18-Dec. 1 - Pace/Pensacola, Florida area
• Dec. 2 - Dec. 8 - Daytona Beach, Florida area 

We hope to be able to see as many of our friends, family and supporters as possible! We will share more information in our next newsletter or you can text or email us to coordinate a time to get together! 

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for our family, for the Ranch kids and for our visiting teams over the last couple of months! We are so thankful to be serving here in Honduras, and for the prayers and financial support that has made it possible. 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 receive e-mail newsletters, email Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org.

Thank you for your prayers and partnership!

Photos from top to bottom: Enjoying a little family time at Lake Yojoa, one of the most beautiful spots in Honduras; Bryeten and Mac with friend, Davis, who came to serve at the Ranch with his parents and sister; One of our summer teams hard at work serving in the local community; Enjoying dinner with friends from Lynn Haven Methodist; Steve and Bryeten at Missionary Kids Camp; Kris and the kids reading all the sweet letters to Kris in her birthday book; Steve receiving a surprise birthday cake from Ranch managers; Steve and the boys building new bunk beds in team housing.

June 2023 Ministry Update

Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare. Psalms 40:5 NIV

Dear Family and Friends,

The last two months have flown by. Summer is here. Are you ready? We are! We recently hosted our first Serve Team of the summer and we have a pretty full schedule of teams for the June and July. We are excited to see what God is going to do!

As the Ranch serve team managers, Summer is always going to be our busiest time of year, so we made sure to have a little fun in the Spring. We were super blessed with Steve’s mom and dad coming to visit in April! Their visit was a complete surprise to the boys and their faces lit up as they saw Reenie and Big Daddy here in Honduras. We had a great time visiting with them. We spent a weekend at the Ranch and then took a family road trip to visit the north coast of Honduras and enjoy a few days at the beach and sight-seeing. 

After Steve’s parents left, we had the pleasure of hosting Abby and Josh. Abby was a teacher at the Ranch from 2007 to 2011 and she shared many of her memories with us. Many of the older kids at the Ranch now were in first grade or younger while she was a missionary teacher and it was fun to see some of them reconnect with her. Abby was not married then. During this trip she was able to bring her husband and make some new memories. Abby and Josh tutored in the school, led some art projects and helped with coffee cultivation (the Ranch has 2 acres of coffee plants with proceeds helping fund operations). Josh had a great time playing soccer with the kids and encouraging them to learn new skills. 

In May, we started hosting a weekly youth group in our home. We invite all the kids 13 and up. It has been such a fun experience.  Our goal is to give the youth a fun and safe place to seek God in different ways. Each week we serve some snacks and each week we are amazed at how much teenagers can eat, even right after dinner. After eating and hanging out, we usually play a game, listen to some worship songs, talk about God’s Word, and break out into guy and girl groups. Please be in prayer each Wednesday evening over the group. Each month we plan to have a service night, game night and/or a youth-led night. To our musically talented friends, if you would like to come teach the youth how to play some instruments, we could transition from listening to worship music to playing worship music!                      

At the end of May, we hosted a possible future missionary teacher named Kayla from Minnesota. She was such a blessing to get to know during her week-long visit. She spent each school day teaching different classes. We were able to have her at our house for breakfast two mornings and spent a day in the city with her. Please be in prayer for her to receive direction from God on where she should serve.  We are hoping it is here at the Ranch! 

During the first week of June we celebrated Bryeten’s 9th birthday and Chance’s graduation from Kindergarten. We also attended the Quinceañera of one of the Ranch girls, Skarleth. Her mentor parents and counselors did a beautiful job of organizing the celebration in her honor. 

We are excited and ready for our busy summer of Serve Teams. We have teams that will focus on food and nutrition, art/sewing, trauma recovery, spiritual development, beautifying our campus and much more.  Please be in prayer for our teams and the kids whose lives they will touch. 

Thank you for praying for our family and our ministry. 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 receive e-mail newsletters, email Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org.

Learn more: nelson5-afamilymission.blogspot.com or youtube.com/@nmkmissionkidshonduras2346

Thank you for your prayers and partnership!

Photos from top to bottom: When Reenie and Big Daddy (Maureen and Danny) come to visit, we go to as many places in Honduras as possible! Happy 9th birthday Bryeten … we are so proud of the young man you are becoming! Chance with school principal Ms. Brenda and his Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Edna during the Kindergarten graduation event. We love hosting the Ranch youth (13+) on Wednesday nights. Before living in Honduras we had not had the privilege of attending a Quinceañera, but now we have been to three … happiest 15th birthday Skarleth! Steve has discovered his new favorite hobby, painting souvenir items for our Ranch guests to purchase and take home to remember the Ranch. We obviously do not have favorites around here, but Yolibeth is pretty special! Walking home from afternoon playtime, every day is beautiful at the Ranch! Kris has not learned how to make these yet, but when you come visit you’ll definitely fall in love with Honduran pupusas (if you like tortillas stuffed with cheese and a delicious cabbage slaw topping, that is!) 

First Month and a Little More - Life at Rancho Ebenezer is busy!

This is our first post since officially starting our mission work at Rancho Ebenezer! A lot has happened since we finished our time at language school on March 3! 

We moved from Siguatepeque to the Ranch on March 4 and officially began the important work of relationship-building. It was harder when we weren’t here every day! There are currently 23 children under the care of World Gospel Outreach at the Ranch. Our roles here are not directly involved in the care of the children, but through our daily interactions we aim to show the love of Jesus and be a support to those who are responsible for their direct care. In addition to the kids, we have been working to build relationships with the counselors, mentor parents and other adults. This is where our language skills are most needed, as most of the adults only speak Spanish. It’s difficult some days, because we are not fluent, but with time and practice we know we will continue to improve. Our boys continue to show us how it’s done. Bryeten and Chance started school at Ebenezer Academy, the on-site bilingual school on March 6, and they are already making great gains in Spanish, overall academics and friendships. We praise God for their smooth transition back to a regular classroom! Meanwhile, Mac is friends with everyone and is excited to be starting Kindergarten here in August.   

Our official roles here are Serve Team Manager and Ranch Host/Hostess. We moved to the Ranch one week ahead of our first hosted Serve Team, 19 student members of Pine Lake Church in Oxford, Mississippi. We could not have asked for a better first team! This team worked hard and did many projects around the Ranch. But more importantly, they overflowed with love and joy that touched even some of the most withdrawn kiddos. It was incredible to see! 

Two weeks after the Pine Lake team we had two smaller teams come and a returning missionary who used her Spring Break from med school to come and visit the Ranch. The team of six men were from Tech Serve International, a ministry based in Arkansas that provides ministries with experienced volunteers, technical services and support. WGO has had a partnership with TechServe for many years and in just a few short days we were able to see why the partnership has been such an important part of the Ranch. The guys on the team worked on maintaining the road, repaired equipment, installed improved campus lighting and built new bunk beds. For anyone who has such skills, we highly recommend TechServe as an avenue to serve in various ministries around the world! More info is available at techserve.org. Our other team, a team of four high school senior girls and two adult leaders, helped tremendously in our on-campus school, helped us relaunch our WGO Kids Art program, and gave our school sign a badly needed makeover! For more information about Serve Teams, please check out the Ranch Serve Team newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/ServeTeamNews

One of the best parts of our first several teams was that they were all so gracious with us as we learned. We’ve technically never done this before  … though God has truly blessed us with plenty of past experiences and relationships that have equipped us well! Thank you to everyone who prayed for our transition here, and for your continued prayers for all the kids at Rancho Ebenezer, including ours.  

After the busyness of March, we started April with Semana Santa (Holy Week). One of the pairs of Mentor Parents had vacation this week and we were thrilled to be able to help out by spending more time with the children of Casa Honor and Casa Luz during the week. We hosted water games, read books, colored, baked and enjoyed getting to know this group of kids more. 

Also during Holy Week some friends from Language School, the Genrys, came to visit for a couple of days and then we all made a day trip to the city of Comayagua to see the tradition of the Good Friday alfombras (rugs/carpets). People work all night to create beautiful works of art with sawdust or sand on the streets around the city center. Early on Good Friday a procession of priests walk through the city telling the story of Jesus’s death for our sins and praying with the people. As they walk they destroy the carpets, symbolizing the beauty and sacrifice of Jesus. 

Though we have no teams scheduled for May, we have a lot scheduled for June and July so we are busy preparing for them. We also have some very special visitors arriving in a few days - Steve’s parents are making their first trip to Honduras! The kids don’t know yet and we can’t wait to see the expressions on their faces. We plan to enjoy some family time while visiting some of our favorite places so far in Honduras and spending a few days in a beach town on the North Coast of Honduras.

Thanks for sticking with us for this longer than normal update! To close, here are our current praise reports and prayer requests…  

Praises: 

• Our successful completion of 6 months of formal Spanish language learning
• Bryeten and Chance’s successful transition to Ebenezer Academy. 
• Emerging relationships and friendships with our Honduran brothers and sisters in Christ. 
• That June and July are now almost full with Serve Teams 
• That recent Serve Teams have brought much joy while sharing God’s love to the kids here. 
  
  

Prayer Requests: 

• For the people of Honduras as there are currently many wildfires affecting the region. 
• For safe travels for Maureen and Danny as they travel and for our time together. 
• For our daughter Yese as she continues to live independently in FL. We hope to have her come visit soon.
• For teams to plan trips in August and beyond. 
• For more missionaries, especially teachers, to come and serve with us here.  
• For our prayerful discernment of God’s will for us as we seek to serve Him daily here in Honduras.  

Thank you for praying for our family. We love you all!

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

Photos from top to bottom: 

Our graduation day from the Spanish Institute of Honduras; Mac with one of his mejor amigos, Brando; Chance and Bryeten on their first day at school; Some of our March teams and the before/after of our school sign; During team weeks, everything is going fine as long as you see Kris with her clipboard; Visiting Comayagua with our friends the Genrys; That is a “carpet” made with sawdust behind the boys; Cindy teaching us how to make Pan Caramelo (delicious sweet bread); Celebrating Día del Padre with the other Ranch dads; One of our favorite activities with teams: Game Night! 

Celebrating friends and memories that will last a lifetime!

Well, we blinked and six months passed! Six months of amazing experiences, learning a new language, being immersed in the culture of Honduras, and making lifelong friends and memories during language school in a wonderful little place called Siguatepeque, Honduras. We are deeply grateful to the staff of the Spanish Institute of Honduras, to the community of incredible people we have been blessed to meet and get to know here, and to everyone who has supported us and made this time possible. Though we are sad to leave friends and school, we are so excited to officially “get to work,” serving with World Gospel Outreach at Rancho Ebenezer, a community for displaced or abused children and teens. God has called us here and we plan to serve for at least four years. 

Our last two months at the language school were very special. We (Steve and Kris) both made it to the end of book 4. It’s so incredible to look back and see the progress we have made. We have learned so much, but we also see that we have so much more to learn. The school began doing weekly “charlas” (group chats) and weekly group worship in addition to the Tuesday night Bible Study and fellowship group. A lot of new students started in-person classes recently so we have enjoyed meeting lots of new people. We all enjoyed a picnic for Día de Amor y Amistad (Day of Love and Friendship) and a number of field trips, including a visit to some nearby caves and lots of 1:1 conversations with people in the community. At the beginning of January a couple that will be serving in a hospital near La Ceiba and their daughter moved in next door to our apartment. The boys have had a great time playing with their new friend Randi, who is 19 months old. We found out quickly that the Genrys love board games as much as we do, and we have enjoyed a couple of game nights and dinners with them. Our neighbors have been a blessing to us and we are thankful to have a God who knows our needs before we do! After we leave, our nanny Mariela is going to start helping the Genry family by taking care of Randi while her parents continue their language classes. We are excited that Mariela will be able to keep working and blessing another family! And finally, thanks to our friend Dana, a fellow missionary who serves at the language school, we celebrated a nice Valentine’s dinner date while she took care of the kids! 

We have had some struggles recently as well. We passed around a stomach bug to each other in January and missed about a week of school as a result. It started with Bryeten and Steve got it about 2 weeks later.  It was a strange slow-moving bug but we are all back to good health. Also, Kris sprained her ankle trying to show the boys that she could also play fútbol. Thankfully it was just a sprain and healed quickly. 

As we prepare to move to the Ranch, we request prayers for the following: 

• That we would finish strong with our in-person language school classes and that we would continue learning and improving our ability to communicate in Spanish.  
• The transition for the kids, especially Bryeten and Chance as they join their peers in a classroom setting at Ebenezer Academy, and for Steve and Kris as we get into a new routine with our roles and responsibilities at the Ranch.
• For teams to come and serve with us. There are quite a few scheduled this year but definitely room for more! If you are interested in coming as a team (or even just to visit and see what the ministry is all about), please reach out to us! 
• The kids at Rancho Ebenezer. There has been a ton of change over the past three years and it definitely seems to be affecting some kids pretty severely with emotional and psychological issues. 

We continue to thank God for all of you who are following our mission here. Thank you for praying for our family. We love you all!

Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac

Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org   

Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

Visiting the cuevas (caves) in nearby Taulabé, Honduras with a group of students and teachers from the Spanish Institute

Fellow missionaries Lauren and Caleb Genry, their daughter Randi, and Dana Argueta, are among some of the wonderful friends we have made during our time in language school

We recently took a day trip to the Pulhapanzak Waterfalls, a must-see experience for any visitor to this beautiful country… we will definitely return for the zip-lining and “behind the waterfall” experience when the kids are a little older

Our first Valentine’s Day in Honduras … we were grateful for the much-needed date night!  

¡Feliz año nuevo! Bienvenidos 2023!

May the God who gives hope fill you with great joy. May you have perfect peace as you trust in him. May the power of the Holy Spirit fill you with hope. Romans 15:13 NIRV

¡Feliz año nuevo! We hope the close of 2022 and the start of 2023 brought joy, peace and hope to your hearts and homes. It certainly did in ours during our first Christmas season in Honduras.  

December is always a busy month for us as it includes two birthdays (Chance and Mac) and our wedding anniversary. We had a superhero themed party for the boys in early December. Several of our friends from language school and church as well as some children who live next door to our apartment attended. As you can see from the pictures below… when you order a piñata or a custom cake in Honduras, you won’t be disappointed! The piñata was as big as Mac and “muy fuerte”(very strong) and the cake was “muy rico” (very rich/delicious)! Also in December, we enjoyed caroling in the Siguatepeque city plaza, attending the language school Christmas party, seeing the Christmas lights in nearby Comayagua and attending a special Christmas service at church (where Mac played a shepherd in the children’s portion!)

The very best part of December (and our time in Honduras to date!) occurred during the last week of the year, which we spent at Rancho Ebenezer. We hung out with many of the kids, went on hikes, played fútbol, watched movies, had a bonfire with S’mores, played board games, attended a New Year’s Eve party with all the kids and staff, and celebrated our 8-year wedding anniversary.  

We request your prayers for all the kids and staff at Rancho Ebenezer. We are truly honored that God has chosen us to serve these kids, at this place, and at this time. We hope we can support and work in partnership with the team already here to help these kids see Jesus and develop a relationship with Him. Pray that God will open their eyes to see what He wants to do in their lives this year and in the future. Pray that God will send teams and new full-time missionaries this year … teachers are especially needed. Pray for our family and the other adults and families that serve at the Ranch, that we can be a united team willing to be used by God to achieve His purposes. Finally, thank you to everyone who has prayed for our family this year and through the years. We are overjoyed to share that our daughter Yese is doing well and has recently started a great job at Bay Medical in Panama City. We are looking forward to her first visit to Honduras (hopefully very soon)!

With all our love,

Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac

Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org

Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

Photos from top to bottom: ¡Feliz cumpleaños Chance (6) y Mac (4)!; Caroling with other students from the Spanish Institute of Honduras downtown Siguatepeque; Mac (second from left) as a shepherd during the children’s performance at Esperanza Viva church; Board games and Christmas cookies with some of the kids at Rancho Ebenezer!; Hiking around the Ranch; Enjoying S’mores and conversations with a short-term missionary couple from Arizona who come every Christmas to help provide respite for the full-time caregiving staff; Yese with Steve’s parents (Danny and Maureen) on Christmas Eve; Out for lunch in Tegucigalpa to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary (Dec. 28).   

Language School update: We have completed four months at the Spanish Institute of Honduras and have two months remaining of in-person classes. We (Steve and Kris) are at an intermediate level of speaking and understanding while the boys are nearly fluent in Spanglish already! Thank you to everyone who has supported our transition to the mission field and allowed us the opportunity to study the language intently prior to starting our full-time service. 

So thankful for this season - Ministry Update December 2022

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:40‬ ‭NIV

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Holidays from Honduras! We were blessed to enjoy Thanksgiving with our friends and teachers at the Spanish Institute of Honduras. Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday celebrated in Honduras and this was our first one away from home, it was nice to be able to celebrate with some of our “family” here in Honduras. The potluck meal included turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin, pecan and apple pies - among other favorites. Both football and fútbol were on the TVs :) 

Speaking of fútbol, we have been watching the World Cup. Have you? We were disappointed to see Team USA lose in Round 2, so now we are rooting for Argentina and Portugal. Honduras does not have a team in this World Cup. All of the games have been fun to watch! 

The highlight of our November was the weekend we spent at Rancho Ebenezer.  Our favorite time of day at the Ranch is at 4 pm when everyone gathers at the school playground to play fútbol and hang out. Also, we were able to purchase most of the furniture and appliances we needed for the house we will be renting at the Ranch. We plan to spend Christmas there as well so we were grateful for the opportunity to go ahead and get our house organized before we officially move there in a couple of months. During our time at the Ranch, we always enjoy talking with the kids (who all speak English as well as Spanish), but this time it was also nice to be able to talk a little more with some of the adults who work at the Ranch! Our Spanish is continuing to improve, poco a poco (little by little). 

Also in November, Kris was able to attend a retreat for missionary women coordinated by a former missionary to Honduras. The retreat, called “Sisterhood Revive,” has been held most years since 2010. More than 50 missionaries from around Honduras attended and it was a blessing for all to have a few days to rest and recharge. Kris continued volunteering with a local church’s Wednesday after-school program. Finally, last month we were thrilled for our friends, the Wolfe family (owners of the Spanish Institute), who celebrated the long-awaited adoption of their son Carlos, pictured above with Bryeten and Chance. Carlos is the same age as Bryeten. They are great friends! 

We continue to thank God for all of you who are following our mission here. Thank you for praying for our family. We love you all!

Steve, Kris, Bryeten, Chance and Mac

Steve.Nelson@wgomission.org  

Kris.Nelson@wgomission.org

Photos from top to bottom: 

We are thankful for YOU!; Steve and Bryeten making apple pies for the Thanksgiving potluck; One of the many incredible worship sessions during the Sisterhood Revive retreat; Afternoon play time at the Ranch; Chance and Bryeten with their friend, Carlos; With one of their language school teachers, Ms. Cesia; Mac discovering that a tree is a great place to hide during Hide and Seek!; Kris with some of the girls who attend the Wednesday after-school program at Iglesia De Dios Zaragoza.