Journal

Africa Bound

ellie beth — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:31:49 +0000

It is already spring in Zagreb, and my eighth grade year is nearly over. This year I have enjoyed homeschool co-op, especially the Bible class which has taught me about living a life of purpose and faithfully following God no matter what. After attending a winter retreat about courage at the DPB Kuca, I wrote in my journal that God might be calling me to be a missionary when I am older. Throughout this past year, He has challenged me to be a bolder witness for Him and put both missions and third world countries on my heart.

After I told God that I would go wherever He leads me, He gave me an amazing chance to go to Durban, South Africa for five weeks this summer on a mission trip. This trip is sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ International. While in South Africa, our major focus will be evangelism. Our mission team will be talking with other teens in high school about the saving grace of God, helping out in the communities there, spending time reaching out to needy children, and preparing national students to impact our world for Christ. God put a calling for missions on my heart and I feel that He is telling me that now is the time to act. God is already using this experience to teach me more about trusting Him with my every need and how to find strength in Him. I believe that the things I will learn, practice, and experience on this mission trip will better prepare me for reaching out to Croatians for Christ.

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with me in spreading the life-changing message of salvation in South Africa? I need a group of ministry partners who will join me on this journey with prayer and financial support. My total need for this trip is $4,466, which must be met by June 7 for me to be able to go. This sum includes all travel expenses, training materials, food, and lodging. Any money I raise over my goal will go to helping other students go on mission trips.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through my email (eb@nelsonsonline.net) or through Skype (elisabeth_nelson). Your help would be greatly appreciated and I am excited to share with you what God does on this trip.

If God leads you to give there are two ways to make your gift:

Online through Campus Crusade For Christ's giving page. Just paste 5641914 into the Give a Gift box at the right to be taken to my support page.
Use the contact us button at the top of the web site. We'll send you the address of "Aunt Leslie" so you can mail her a support check. We just didn't want to place her home address on the internet :)

Witness Stand

ellie beth — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:07:13 +0000

This year at youth group we started doing the Witness Stand. It is an opportunity for a student to share about something that God is doing or has done in their life. Ellie Beth shared this in November and we wanted to share it with you.

A couple years ago, I felt distant from God, and realized that my relationship with Him was missing something. As I looked at my life and my relationship with God and then at other people’s lives and their relationship with God, I realized that they had something that I didn’t; a strong love and a steady passion for Him. I knew about God, I went to church, I prayed a little, went to AWANAS, and had even accepted him into my life and been baptized, but I wasn’t excited about Him, I didn’t love Him passionately! “How can I get that passion and excitement, and that love for God?” I asked myself. I had read a couple books that talked about time with God, people I knew spent time with Him, and I felt like I should be too. So I decided to spend time alone with God every day.

At first, it was really hard, especially on the busy days, and I often felt that the Bible was boring. So I started asking Him to give me a love for the Bible, his word. And I still pray that prayer. Ever since then, God has been changing my heart and helping me to love his word. Now I enjoy my time with God, and look forward to it.

He has been showing and teaching me so much, but as I think back over the past couple years, a lesson from 1 verse sticks out more than the rest: Zephaniah 3:17. It says, “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." God used this verse to show me his great love. I had heard John 3:16 more times than I can count, and had recited it every Wednesday night at AWANA club, I had been told that God loved me and had sang Jesus Loves Me, but I never realized and understood in my heart that God loved me until I heard Zephaniah 3:17. When I first read it, I stopped and reread it, not quite believing that it was true. He showed it to me at a time when I was really sad and discouraged. I remember thinking, “The God of the universe who is mighty to save is with me! He actually takes great delight in me! He quiets me with his love and rejoices over me with singing!!!” That verse just gives me so much joy, I am amazed when I think about how much God loves me, and how great it is to be loved by Him! When I realize just how much God loves me and how much He cares about me, it gives me a passion and excitement for Him.

He has shown me a lot of other things too. He has shown me that He is faithful, and that He never gives up on me. He has shown me that I am His child, and that He forgives me. God has also been changing my heart and life, making me more like Him.

Since I’ve started spending time alone with God, I am more passionate and excited about Him, and I love Him more. Now, God is more than just words on a page, or something that people talk about. I now know in my mind and believe in my heart that God is real, and that He is worth living for. Daily spending time alone with God is one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Where Does That Thermometer Go?

dan — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:10:04 +0000

The other day, I was at the doctor’s office. I had a tick bite and because of symptoms, wanted confirmation that I didn’t have a worse problem. Just to let you know, I do not have Lyme’s disease. However, the doctor did not have the ability in the office to do a blood draw and sent me to the clinic for infectious diseases in Zagreb. When the nurse called me for the initial consultation, she wanted to take my temperature, so she gave me a thermometer and asked me to return in 5 or 10 minutes. I obediently took the thermometer, shoved it in my mouth and sat down in the lobby. Then I noticed how large the thermometer was and how awkward it felt in my mouth – more like a cigar. Then I began to wonder where the thermometer was supposed to go and if I really wanted it in my mouth. As I debated this with myself, I looked around and nobody was begging me to remove the thermometer, so I left it in. After I gave it back to the nurse and returned to the lobby, I noticed another guy with a funny protrusion from his armpit. A couple minutes later he got up, pulled the thermometer from his armpit, and returned it to the nurse. Turns out, that in Croatia you take your temperature in your armpit. I love living in a foreign country, especially when I’m at the infectious diseases clinic, with an armpit thermometer in my mouth when the outside temperature is in the 90’s.

Super Stijena

bonnie — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:52:00 +0000

Bojan, Matej, Petar, Mario, Elizabeta, Mateja and Dajmian are just a few of the new campers I met at Severin last week during “Super Stijena,” the camp for seven to ten year olds. Although the weather was cold and rainy and the stomach bug hit toward the end of the camp, we had a great week learning about Jesus. Each day, we sang lots of songs in Croatian and English. Each evening, Mijo, one of the Croatian leaders, played the part of Simon Peter. The kids were enthralled by his story and then listened well as Kate explained what it means and how we can follow Jesus too.

In addition to the morning and evening program, the campers participated in Bible studies, crafts, archery, baseball, rock climbing, tetherball, ping pong and dance praise. Along with leading the dance praise, I was in charge of the daily English and craft times and often got to sing along with different kids at meal and free times with songs like Great Big God and It’s Bubbling in My Soul. I was in the orange room this year, along with two other leaders and four wonderful girls – all from Split. I got lots of hugs and smiles and they even made my bed each morning!

Dan and Lydia are at the teen camp right now. It sounds like Dan is having some great conversations with kids and Lydia is enjoying hanging out and helping lead worship. Ellie Beth and I are gearing up to join them for the English Bible camp for 11 to 13 year olds in a few days. We are praying for fabulous weather, good health for everyone and hearts ready to follow God!

Thoughts of MK Camp

lydia — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:47:09 +0000

I'm back from camp, and after spending some time unpacking, missing all of the amazing friends I met at Severin, and thinking about what I learned this past week, I can safely say that the 2011 MK camp has made my list of favorites. It's hard for me to pick any specific thing that made it so amazing, but a few experiences definitely took a big part in making this camp one of the best I have ever attended: the people, the worship, and the challenges.

Seeing and interacting with other MKs always encourages me. I love going to camp because there I feel safe to talk about things that I would feel awkward sharing in other places or with other people. At camp, I know that I am accepted and understood in a group of people who know about the experiences I've had and share many of them with me. This year the conversations I had with other campers and counselors encouraged and refreshed me in my walk with Christ.

Worship is always another highlight of camp for me, and this year I especially enjoyed it. As I go to a Croatian church and rarely have the chance to praise God with others in my own language, worshiping in English was a huge blessing for me. I also had the opportunity to join the worship team for several nights; an experience I love but rarely have the chance to participate in. I love how in worship it doesn't matter if I mess up the notes or pause my playing for a moment. It's not about me and how I play; it's all about God and giving back to him the blessings he has showered on me. Standing together with other Christians and giving God praise and glory this past week reminded me of our Creator’s greatness.

On the last full day of camp we talked about extreme commitment as our theme for the day. In my small group we talked about how we can merge the lessons we learned at camp into life back in the countries we live in. So often I go to camp and live on the spiritual high there, but when I go home I fall back into my normal daily routine and let the love and joy experienced at camp fade into the background. This year I was challenged, all throughout the week as well as on the last day, to take the lessons I learned at camp and apply them to my life. I don't want to forget about the lessons I learned this week; I want to take them with me wherever I go and learn to follow Christ in the extreme way talked about at camp.

Let the School Year End

dan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:53:00 +0000

Two vans and a car sat on the shoulder of the freeway, and fifteen or so teenagers looked on as Dan and Daniel lay on the ground beneath one of the vans. Cars sped by, making a few of the leaders nervous. Climbing gear and boxes sat haphazardly in the grass on the side of the road. Unfortunately, spare tire extraction in Europe presents an entirely different scenario than it would in America. The Chinese-puzzle-like mechanism for releasing the tire from beneath the van confounded both Dan and Daniel for the better part of an hour, but in the end perseverance and brute strength saved the day. After switching the tire and loading the van once more the members of Struja headed on to Severin for a day of weeding, washing, and rock-carrying concluded by singing and s’mores around the campfire.

Ministry Focus Change

A lot has happened since our last newsletter. Perhaps the biggest “News” is that we have switched our ministry focus. When we arrived in Croatia four years ago, we came specifically to work in a camping ministry. However, in those four years more and more of our time has been spent working with the youth group at our church in Malešnica. At times, the needs of the youth group and the needs of camp would overlap and we were required to choose which ministry to do. After prayer and consultation, we made the decision to focus first on youth ministry, and second on camp ministry. So, now we work with the youth group during the school year and volunteer at camp in the summer.

Youth Group

Youth group this last year has been a joy to be a part of. I often tell others that the first year was a surprise to us as leaders and to the students. We felt something like, “Wow, this is so cool that we have a youth group.” This second year has been different in that we as a leadership team have been communicating to the students a theme of why we have the youth group: to draw nearer to God and his church and to live in such a way as to draw others into that relationship as well. The students have started asking questions like, “Okay, how do we grow in this relationship and how do we draw others in?” That is an awesome place to be and we hope that this fall we can begin teaching and encouraging the students how to live out the answers to those questions.

Home School

We held our annual home school end-of-the-year barbecue on May 30. Twenty five of us - four missionary families with eight fifth to ninth grade students and five “parent-teachers,” along with the rest of the family members enjoyed a fun evening of activities. There was plenty of good food followed by presentations in science, U.S. history, and world view. Two of the students, including Lydia, shared their musical talent with us. It was a great way to celebrate another good year of home schooling and friendship.

Visiting

Bonnie’s mom, Laura, came for a three week visit around Easter. We had a fabulous time reconnecting and hanging out. Laura experienced life with the Nelsons as we went through our normal routines and she watched the girls at their fencing and archery clubs. We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Salzburg before Easter and caught a Sound of Music tour. Bonnie especially enjoyed spending four days in Dubrovnik with Laura having a great mother-daughter time. Laura even got a taste of camp and Struja when our youth group had a work day at Severin and she and Bonnie cooked lunch.

Financial Needs and Future Plans

dan — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:46:00 +0000

We have recently worked with our sending organization to get approval to remain in Croatia long enough to earn the right to apply for a residence visa. This is great news for our family and our long term ability to live and minister in Croatia. However, part of the Croatian governments requirements for applying for the residence visa are that we do not leave Croatia for more than 30 days at a time until the visa is awarded. This means that we will not be returning to the States for an extended stay for about one and a half years. This creates a financial struggle for us and we need your assistance to make this work. Our financial support is currently averaging $700.00 short per month. While this is a significant shortage, SEND is structured in such a way that we still receive our paycheck every month - for a limited time. Our project fund that is supplying this shortage will quickly drop to nothing. The bigger issue is that part of our extension is dependant on our support level going up. If it does not we will not be able to stay in Croatia long enough to get the residence visa.

The benefits of this residence visa are reduced living expenses and greater freedom in leaving the country. Our plan is that after we receive this residence visa we would return to the States more frequently but for shorter visits. These shorter visits are better for our youth ministry where leaving the youth group for a full year would be an unhealthy departure from ministry. The more frequent visits will allow us better personal contact with those involved in our prayer and financial support and with family.

Would you please consider increasing your monthly support or perhaps starting to give on a monthly basis to our ministry? One-time gifts also help. Information on how to contribute to our ministry, is located below on our finances page. Thank you for your prayers and consideration of these needs.

Let the Summer Begin...

dan — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:31:00 +0000

We have wrapped up another school year and look forward to an exciting and full summer! With the end of the school year, the Croatian mass exodus to the coast for summer vacation has started. The Struja leadership team will continue its weekly meetings though, in order to plan for next year and prepare for our first ever Struja Retreat from August 22-25.

On June 27th, Dan started a one month, intensive language course at Croaticum. Bonnie, Lydia and Ellie Beth are currently at MK (Missionary Kids) camp in Severin. The girls can’t wait to catch up with their friends and spend a whole week in English, especially worshipping in English every night. Bonnie will be the official camp photographer and assistant camp cook. The theme for this year is Extreme Answers. The campers will be studying the book of Colossians with a focus on a Biblical world view.

The three Croatian camps start mid July. Our whole family will be involved once again. The theme of the younger two camps is Seaside Rock and we will be teaching the kids about Peter and following Jesus. The older teen camp’s theme will be Extreme Answers and they will be studying Colossians and learning about a Biblical world view with the same curriculum used at MK Camp. This year camp is having a teen work crew so Lydia will be helping out for two camps and then going to the older teen camp as a camper. Several of the girls in Struja will also be volunteering at camp

Struja (stroo-yah; current or wave as in electricity or water)

dan — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:00:00 +0000

As this year closes, we would like to share Struja, our youth group at Malešnica with you. Last January, about 15 kids showed up and had their first taste of youth group. It was a great experience of growth, fun, and laughter for the students and for the leaders. It has been going strong since then. Dan has been heading it up and Bonnie started on the leadership team but has chosen to be a volunteer for the current school year. Struja currently consists of:

two girls groups for girls ages 11-14 and 15-17 meeting three Saturdays per month
a boys group (shorter Bible Study and activities) for ages 15-17 meeting twice a month
a boys Bible Study (focused on how to study the Bible) for ages 13-17 meeting once per month
a large group meeting for ages 11-17 once per month.

Our purpose is to draw the students toward God (personal growth), toward community (life of the church), and toward the world (evangelism). With three leaders and a handful of volunteers, it can be tough to pull this off, but things are moving along well.

This youth group is extremely important for the students. Here, the school system consumes nearly every available bit of free time the students have. Struja gives each student a chance, once a week, to receive spiritual input and to meet with other Christian students. At school, our students are often the only believer or one of two or three believers in their school. The time that they have with youth group is a huge encouragement to them and an opportunity to invite some of their friends to a place where they can be introduced to the Gospel in a way that speaks to their hearts. Through our Bible Study groups we encourage the students to develop a lifelong habit of Bible Study and to teach them the value of staying in God’s word.

I have been challenged in my thinking lately by reading about David and Solomon and the temple David desired to build, but was told to leave to Solomon. For youth group, I consider our task to be one of equipping these students, by any means possible, to be ready to build the church that God places in their hands one day. As youth leaders, we will have a significant impact on how these students are equipped as temple builders. Please praise God for the 20 temple builders we have, ask him to guide us as we equip them for life, and ask him to draw them ever deeper into an understanding of what it means to follow Jesus Christ.

Summer Camps – Woohoo

dan — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:27:00 +0000

The official camping season recently ended with our last camp, MK Camp. Our family is tired, but satisfied with the summer flurry of ministry and ready for a well-earned vacation!

The season started off early for Bonnie and Lydia. They both helped out with Camp A for 6-10 year olds. Before any camper arrived, Bonnie was hard at work, ensuring that the camp program was not, "over the heads" of the campers. But Bonnie can explain it better than I can, so here is how she describes it: "What do tetherball, baseball, a water slide, cinnamon rolls, and the song 'I Wanna Be Like a Tree' have in common? They were all new activities for Camp A this year we added an American flavor to our youngest Croatian camp. This was my first year at the 6 to 10 year olds Croatian camp. It was lovely to work with my favorite age group for a whole week and we had a great staff who was mostly from Split, a Croatian coastal city. I led the English electives, did the rock climbing instruction and assisted Kate Wurzberg, who was leading the camp for her first time. It was a great week of fun with a focus on the Kingdom of God. We had some good conversations come from the Bible study and evening talk times."

Next was camp B. This camp is for ages 11-13. This time Bonnie, Lydia, and myself all served at camp while Ellie Beth attended. Bonnie spoke about God as our mighty king one of the nights. She also served as a girl’s counselor and had a great room of girls who she enjoyed connecting with. I had a room of 6 guys and spoke to the campers about loving God above all else. This age group is a lot of fun to work with and it is exciting to model a life of loving God with these campers throughout the week. What strikes me at this camp is a comment a parent made to me last year. He said, "you sure do love our children, I appreciate that." It's funny how sometimes we can reach the parents through their children. That family sent their children to camp again this year, and we'll be visiting them later this week on our vacation. One of our highlights of this camp was getting several hugs from campers as they went home. Our prayer is that our lives impact these campers in such a way that they clearly see Jesus.

I was the only member of my family to serve at Camp C. To be honest, this was the most difficult camp I have served at. A number of campers at this camp were from a local foster home/orphanage, and it seemed that at any given moment there were two groups of campers doing something wrong. This required me to try to stop both problems while also trying to lead an activity. This constant need for discipline kept me from having the opportunity to play and interact with the campers. At one point, I simply felt that I had little or no connection with the campers. But, by weeks end, they started coming around. I spent a lot of time getting the campers to know that I expected respect for camp leaders and camp property. In time, a number of them started to get the idea that if they followed the rules, I would give them freedom and have time to play with them. I think that week was a good start to a relationship with these campers, and I look forward to seeing them next year. Our theme at camp was faith factor. I spoke the opening night from Hebrews 11:1 and encouraged the campers to spend a week exploring faith through Jesus Christ. On the fourth night of camp I was asked to fill in for another speaker. With a couple hours of prep time, I spoke on Rahab from Hebrews 11:31. I challenged the campers to see that even though God had sent the Israelite's to destroy Jericho and all inside, that Rahab still took faith in God that she and her family could be saved. In spite of the difficult week, I am ready to hold camp C again and look forward to future opportunities to engage with these young people regarding who Jesus Christ is.

Finally, we had MK Camp. Bonnie served as assistant cook and I served as camp director. Lydia and Ellie Beth were campers. The theme at MK Camp was Faith Factor. Prior to camp, we had two days of staff training and getting to know each other. Then the campers started arriving from all over Europe. Again, I started the camp with a challenge to the campers to spend a week exploring faith, and to consider following a simple process of Listen to the speakers and Bible studies; Communicate with others about

the topic of faith; and then take Action on what they had learned. The defining trait of MK Camp is worship. These campers get together each night and worship the Lord in English. It is exciting to participate with them as they praise God in their native language. It seems that they hold nothing back. At one time during the week, nearly the whole camp chose to have an extra worship time rather than free time. What a blessing that was. If Facebook is any indicator, many of the campers are saying this was the best MK Camp ever. At the end of camp, we ask campers to help us explain what MK Camp means to them and one camper wrote this, "MK Camp is an encouraging, spiritually-renewing week filled with the people who understand you the best. It was one of the highlights of my summer". I guess the campers say it best.