How to Find the Nelsons...

Thank you for your interest in our family! It has been quite awhile since I last 

posted as bad internet in Venezuela made the process of updating a blog 

unbearable! We are currently in the states to raise funds & solicit new visas to

 comply with Venezuela's new visa laws. Since we are changing up some of the

 providers we use to send out updates & host various websites, I have decided

 to switch over to a different blog platform. If you would like to continue to

 follow along with our family as we live life & embrace our calling of overseas 

missions, please add the following link to your rss feed or subscribe: 

www.patienceandendurance.com 

 You can also learn about our ministry & how you can be a part of what we do  

both through prayer & financial giving by clicking: www.angelanelson.org

Here, you will be directed to a site hosted by the Assemblies of God with lots of cool info 

about our family.

Finally, if you would like to find our personal ministry website, you can click on this link:

www.nelson5missions.com

We are doing everything we can to keep everyone informed about our life, ministry updates, 

prayer needs, & all of the other interesting things that come our way. As always, you can 

find us on Facebook & Twitter with the links provided on this site.

One last thing... If you have a cell phone, you can text the keyword VENEZUELA to the

 number 95577 & follow the prompts to receive small text updates from our family.

If you would like to donate to our ministry to help us return to Venezuela, you can text the

 keyword NELSON5 to the number 95577 & follow the prompts.

Thank you all for your faithful prayer & financial support.

And please... Come & visit me over at my new blog home for more cool stories than ever

 before!

Patience and Endurance

3 Years Ago Today…

Disclaimer: This article was written yesterday but I was unable to publish it. Please indulge me & pretend you are reading this yesterday! 



Life is filled with ups & downs, twists & turns, & occasionally moments of complete & total shock.

Our life has been no exception to that rule.

There are those moments in life where your world simply stands still.

For our family of 5 Nelsons, that day was March 9, 2011.

Chris is wearing the yellow shirt.

Our moment of shock came at the realization that Chris had been in an accident that nearly took his life.

The moments, days, weeks, & months that followed were filled with a variety of miracles, trials, fears,

pain, tears, & joy.

Today, we stopped as a family to remember all of those moments.

3 years ago today, our life was forever changed.

3 years ago today, our family faced a challenge that we never had planned for.

And 3 years ago today, God did the miraculous & showed that He is always present & faithful.

We all remember the events of that day differently.

Each of our boys sees it from their own unique perspective as they were only 6,8, & almost 10.

Each friend that helped us along the way has their memories as well as each family member.

Chris remembers absolutely nothing! 

But we are grateful for that as well.  It is best.

This is our fabulous team, Henry, Yanethssy, Miryect, Us, & Yubisay.  Notice the girls with neck braces who were also in the accident. This picture is about 2 days before I flew Chris back to the states for further treatment.

But out of all of the memories & accounts of that day….

Mine will forever be the most vivid. 

I am blessed to have these memories permanently burnt into my brain & locked inside of my heart.

Every detail,  every tear, every second….

forever they will be a part of me.

I was there when God miraculously provided the money so doctors would begin treatment.

I was there when the surgeon entered & the peace of God filled my heart because I knew that that man

was sent by God to treat my husband.

I was there when the doctor called me into the operating room to have me calm Chris & to tell me that 

he could possibly lose his left hand if they didn't work aggresively.

I was there when the head injury began to manifest & show how serious his head had been hit.

I remember the desperation & the fear.

But I am also filled with the memories of miracles that filled each day for several weeks.

So many miracles happened, that it would take me a small book to include them all. 

Our children were blessed to be with missionary friends who loved them & prayed over them & to 

this day are still very much a special part of our family.

We could not have made it through that day without the prayers of so many faithful friends all over the 

world, touching heaven on our behalf.

Those kinds of prayers bring a peace that only comes from the Spirit of God.

The accident left many scars.

Obviously, there are physical scars like the ones you can see on Chris's body.

There are also many emotional scars that are deep inside of us all.

Chris's recovery was nothing short of a miracle, but his body is still not whole.

Hands don't cooperate, arms aren't as strong, & the brain still needs a touch from God.

But through it all, God has continued to open doors & use our family to bless others.

So today, on this highly momentous occasion,

we thank God for giving us more time with Chris.

We remember the past so that it rejuvenates our faith in the present.

And we continue forward towards the plans that God has for our family.

This tragic moment in history is part of our story.

It is part of the testimony that God has blessed our family to have.

And on this special day, Chris is playing soccer with our 2 oldest boys, our neighbor who has become 

like our son, & about 10 orphaned kids who simply want to know a father's love.

3 years ago today, our life was turned upside down.

And today, 3 years later, I can't think of a better way for him to celebrate the life that God has blessed 

him to keep living!

Patience & Endurance...

In 1998 our family was forever changed.

My niece, Amber, was born.

She was the first of the grandchildren so she was destined to be spoiled.

She was the apple of our eye & the center of every visit.

Amber with her Daddy (my brother, Phillip) and his friend, Beavis at their college graduation.

She remained the only grandchild for 2 1/2 years until Isaiah joined the party. Isaiah was

 actually a month & a half old at the time of this picture & my sister in law, Amy, had just

 learned that she was pregnant with my second niece, Anna. We kept taking turns having 

babies, I suppose!

We enjoyed lots of "Amber-isms" as she learned to talk & communicate.

I have 3 that will forever remain my favorites.

The first is the fact that she referred to the Disney movie "Pocahontas" as "Pokey-honk-us."

To this day, I will always think of her when a reference is made to Pocahontas.

My second favorite & the inspiration for this blog was,

"Patience & Endurance!"

I think she picked it up from her mom, but if ever anyone was frustrated with something or fretful, 

Amber in her 2 year old voice would quickly chime in....

"Patience & endurance, An-shuh-shuh!

(That was another of her Amber-isms for how she pronounced my name! And it would be in my top 3 favorites!)

To this day, when my boys are aggravated, frustrated, anxious...whatever,

they will hear me respond with the phrase, "patience & endurance boys!"

These words have been ringing in my ears in light of all of the unrest in our surrounding world.

We are natured to always GO & DO!

What is all of that talk about being patient?

Ain't nobody got time for that!

And what of that word, Endurance?

I decided to consult the wisdom of our friends at dictionary.com to see what these words really mean.

According to them, 

Patience is the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay

quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.

Wow! 

I am not sure that being patient always sounds pleasant!

In fact, I think that true patience might even at times seem uncomfortable.

In the Bible, Proverbs 19 tells us that a person's wisdom yields patience & in 

Ecclesiastes 7, we see that patience is better than pride.

We are familiar with the common phrase that patience is a virtue. 

Patience is being able to conduct ourselves with calmness & wisdom in the midst of 

annoyance or in many cases, chaos.

Now, let's take a look at Amber's other word....Endurance.

Endurance is the fact or power of enduring or bearing pain, hardships, etc.

the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina

something endured, as a hardship; trial.

lasting quality; duration

Endurance sounds a bit overwhelming too!

Did you see the part where it mentioned trials & hardships?

The Bible refers to endurance as well.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, it mentions that endurance is inspired by hope in Jesus.

Patience & endurance often go hand in hand it seems.

Our family is in a place of learning these principles.

Being patient is not always easy & enduring trials is most definitely a challenge,

but our hope in Jesus continues to be made stronger.

Amber is now 15, yet her words spoken as a 2 year old, still ring true.

May you be encouraged today that whatever situation you find yourself in,

God is still there.

So, Patience & Endurance, my friends....

Our hope is in Jesus.

The Hiatus is Over...

I am pleased to announce that the hiatus is over!

According to dictionary.com, a hiatus is a break or interruption in the continuity of work.

Where I do not feel that the continuity of our work has been on hiatus,

I know that my blogs have...

Venezuela sort of shuts down from mid December til the end of January for the holidays.

I guess they take a sort of hiatus of their own!

Our life has been very full none the less since I last posted.

Our Ian, or Sweet Beefy as we affectionately refer to him, turned 11 years old!

Chris welcomed another birthday... actually, I don't know how welcomed it was, 

but for those of us who have come close to losing him on several occasions, another birthday is 

always a welcomed & cherished event.

I too celebrated another year in December.

Our holidays came with much enthusiasm. Traditional hallacas were made along with some of our 

family favorites. Lots of people passed through our house to both love on us & be loved back in 

return.

Our sweet love, Imanuel turned 9. (insert tears!)

We welcomed 2014 with much enthusiasm & expectancy.

Each year since Chris' accident has been filled with its own challenges & struggles.

Our family is looking at 2014 to be a year of favor & open doors.

We have many teams wanting to work along side of our family & we will also be welcoming Tech 

Carpenter in May. Tech will serve with us for the next 2 years as a Missionary Associate just as the

 Smith family is doing now.

We are in the process of transitioning the ministry of Global University over to the National Church.

We are very excited about this decision as it is time for the Venezuelan church to assume this 

responsibility & ministry.

God is opening the doors for us to purchase a property in Cabudare (a suburb to Barquisimeto).

With this new land we will be able to build a ministry base that will house Latin America Child Care

as well as a plethora of other ministries. We want to use this property to launch a church focused on

families. If you are interested in helping us purchase this property, please contact us by the emails in

 our blog info or comment on this blog.

As we were praying about this property, our neighbor, who is like a son to us, told us of an orphanage

close by that he had visited.

We too visited this home to find 42 children along with 2 single sisters who are caring for them.

They receive next to no support from the government. They care for the children because they know

 that no one else will.

The "God part" of all of this is that the orphanage is literally 2 blocks from the property we are

 purchasing.  We are excited to see just exactly what plans God has in store for our family & this 

house full of very needy children.

We are also excited that God has given the church in Pavia great favor with many of the local 

schools.

The schools are giving them incredible amounts of time to teach the children & disciple them.

We look forward to seeing how God is going to put all of the pieces together for this amazing

opportunity to reach hundreds of children in Pavia. We are also overjoyed that the building & land

for the Pavia Project have all been 100% paid for! What a blessing!

I was thinking about the word "hiatus." 

I remember being a kid & being so frustrated during the summer because all of the best T.V shows 

were showing re-runs! The good stuff wouldn't begin until September!

I think life is sometimes the same.

Sometimes, we feel that we are living in re-runs. The same things happening every day or week.

Those moments can be frustrating, especially when we are hoping for something new!

I have decided that God uses those times of being in a hiatus to teach us & even stretch us a bit.

You see, the longer the hiatus, the more excited we are when the new season begins.

I have great anticipation for our family & ministry in 2014.

I am pleased to announce to myself.... The Hiatus is Over & a New Season has Begun!