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| Our Staff Retreat to Bucharest, Hungary |
The European GCM staff met in Hungary for several days of rest, teaching, fellowship and prayer. It was a family affair and the Nelsons all loved it! We felt more connected with our fellow missionaries in Ukraine and Europe. We benefited greatly from sharing our experiences with others who have been through the same things and seen God’s grace give them strength, comfort and faith. We were very thankful that Herschel and Mardean Martindale and Joe Dunn came to encourage us.
Grace First Choice!
Grace auditioned for a voice scholarship at Shorter College in February. After waiting 6 weeks she was offered a partial academic scholarship and only a very small voice scholarship. She was deeply disappointed at first but after sleeping on it made a choice to trust in God’s sovereignty completely and move on. Danelle and I were very proud of Grace; she handled the entire situation with faith and maturity. About a month later we received a phone call from Shorter asking us if Grace was going to attend. We said that she was. They were elated and told us that Grace was actually their first choice! They said they had only offered her a “token” scholarship because she would be receiving a full scholarship since we were Baptist missionaries. We told them we were not Baptist missionaries. We still don’t know how they got that idea. We don’t think she will receive any more scholarship monies, but we praise God for His grace and for our Grace too!
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| Oksana, Danelle & Steve at the market |
Many of you have prayed for Oksana’s salvation. On May 1st we visited her in the market and she trusted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior! It was awesome to see 8 months of friendship and prayer, the Holy Spirit and God’s word change a life! She works 7 days a week from 7am until 10pm, so please pray as it will be difficult for her to ever go to church or have fellowship.
KCA Players Grace and Merry were fantastic in the school plays recently. They both love to act and we totally enjoyed the night! Danelle and I don’t know where they get it!
First Year of Russian Danelle and I have finished our first year of Russian language school. Hurrah! It was difficult, but God gave us perseverance and we learned a bunch. We will begin our second and final year in September.
Prayer requests:
- Grace will leave Ukraine on June 4th to start summer school in Georgia on June 5th. She will start Shorter College in August. Please pray for her, and for us, as we make another emotional transition. They are never easy. Your prayers really help!
- Merry, Danelle and I will work in Chernigov, Ukraine with two youth camps June 5-9 and 19-23 with the Dixon family from Atlanta. Sarah Batchelor is coming from Atlanta to work with us for the second week. Please pray for many of these young people to trust Christ for salvation.
- We will be coming home July 18- August 18th. We will bring Merry back for the GCM high school LT (leadership training) at Myrtle Beach in July and take Grace to Shorter College in August. Stephanie was accepted at UGA (yea!) and we want to help her move in too. We are planning on speaking at several churches and trying to see as many of you as possible.
- Oksana to grow in Christ. Her other family members to be saved too.
We want to express our heart-felt thanks to each of you who support us financially. If you wish to give to our work here in Ukraine you may send your gifts to GCM in Florida (see our website www.gcmnelson.com for the address). Your gifts are tax-deductible and reap eternal rewards! We also want to say thank you to those who gave to help build Kiev Christian School. God has provided almost everything and construction should begin next fall!
Yours in God’s unfailing love,
Steve, Danelle, Grace and Merry
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