Dear friends,
This past summer Lorrie and I traveled across the United States and visited with our friends, supporters, and fellow missionaries. As we traveled we were encouraged by many and hopefully encouraged many as well.
In June we attended a “Salt and Light” conference at Bethel Church in Redding, California. The emphasis was for us as Christians to positively affect our culture wherever we may live and work. The worship and teaching were excellent! After the conference, we returned to Alaska and met with friends, family, and churches.
As I write, we are in Ireland visiting our daughter Heather and her husband Noel and their children. Noel pastors a multicultural church in the city of Portlaoise and Heather is involved in children and women’s ministry. Lorrie has ministered at a women’s group and met with women individually. I have spoken at two of the services and look forward to meeting with the men’s group as well as with some of the leaders this week. As a bonus, we are planning a visit with our youngest son Jeremy and his wife Nicole in Finland. They attend nursing college there and plan to do mission work in Africa in the future.
After Ireland and Finland, we are scheduled to return to the Philippines where we will speak at our annual pastor’s conference in October. We are excited to be back with our friends and co-workers there.
While we have been traveling, Amy has ministered in the Philippines. She states:
“The last month has been hectic. Planes, vans, buses, ferries, tricees, pedicabs, motorbikes and good ol’ foot.
Over the river and through the jungle, to Camporag Church we went! Across a log bridge over a flooded river and through the pouring rain.
I was privileged to be the guest speaker at the Camporag Church’s fourth anniversary service. Getting there was an adventure, to say the least! The theme was “Standing Together In Unity” and this really resonated with me, as I have been pondering unity lately. There is so much through the Scriptures about Unity. As so often is true, we see this principle illustrated first in the natural, then in the spiritual. To be a fully functioning body, every part needs to work together in unity and the same is true for our spiritual bodies. Whenever a part is out of sync with the rest, it’s hard to get things done. Not impossible, for ‘With God, nothing is impossible’, but certainly more difficult. We need to build each other up rather than tear down our fellow Christians.”
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Nels, Lorrie, and Amy