Nelson Newsletter - November 2008

Greetings from Ukraine! Thank you for your vital part of our work here. Here’s the latest news.

Safe Haven Orphanage Bagdon (with goatee and glasses) and his wife Anya (holding their son) continue their fine work with older orphans at Safe Haven. They invite specific orphans who are interested in spiritual matters, when they leave the state orphanage (have graduated), to come and live with them at Safe Haven. Safe Haven is a Christian ministry which teaches young people life skills, helps them get jobs, and/or attend college. God has radically changed many of their lives! Also, there’s a house church that meets at Safe Haven and the orphans are a vital part of it. Danelle has met with the women of the church several times to study the Bible and answer their questions about marriage and children. We are excited for this opportunity to build into their lives. Recently, they started another church!

Family Affairs On Saturday, October 11^th, my father passed away. Donald H. Nelson lived for 85 years and was happily married to my mother for almost 60 years. We got the call in Ukraine from my family and left the next day for Atlanta. The funeral service was a sweet time of remembering my dad, celebrating his life here and his eternal life with Christ. It truly captured his life and personality and glorified God. My brother, sister and I all spoke, along with his pastor and friend, Bryan Pillsbury. Our daughter Grace sang several songs, and David Carnes played the piano, as requested by my father. The trip was bitter-sweet. We were able to be there for the birth of James Stephen Nelson, Scott and Maria’s first child. And we were able to attend the opera, in which our daughter Grace had the lead. She amazed us all! We thank God for my father and all the great memories he gave us. We miss you dad!

Prayer Requests “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
1. Mentoring. Pray for us to have love and wisdom as we mentor Ukrainians.
2. Revival. Pray for God’s love for the lost to motivate Ukrainians to evangelize.
3. Disciples. Pray specifically for Maxim and Lena, Ivan, Vlad and Lena, and Bagdon and Anya to be committed to God’s plans for Ukraine and to be effective in making disciples.
4. Russian. We continue to need God’s grace to persevere in learning Russian.
5. Sports School. Pray for our future Bible study with Vlad (coach) & Elena. They initiated this!
6. Mother. Pray for God’s grace to strengthen my mother as she adjusts to life without dad.

Yours in our Savior’s love,

Steve and Danelle