August 17, 2006
Dear Friends & Family,
So much has happened since I have had a chance to write everyone. Over the last couple months we have talked to a lot of you, visited many of you and have given most of you at least a partial picture of the journey God has us on. But we haven’t taken the opportunity to send out an update to everyone in a while. So, in this update, I am going to give the broad strokes of what God has been doing. I hardly know where to start but let me just launch into things!
As I am sure many of you know by now, we have officially moved back to Gainesville Georgia in the good old USA . It seems a little crazy to even type that sentence but it is true. I want to give you a quick summary of how this came about. It is important for you to know this so that you can see God’s hand directing us through the last few months. If I was to endeavor to include all of the ways that we have seen God guiding us lately I would probably be up all night and you would most definitely lose heart before you made it all the way through this email!
Our new Position at AIM and our new Home in Georgia
We were in California from February until we officially moved to Georgia at the end of May. Since we were taking the time to focus on Lisa’s health, we had some time to stop and seek God’s direction. While it was a busy time in some ways with Lisa making WAY too many trips to the doctor and I, Scott, Making two trips to Kenya and one trip to Georgia without Lisa; we also had a fair amount of time together as we didn’t have the daily pressures of living overseas or working in an office. During this time God made it clear to us that there was a change coming.
The trip to Georgia was where things really got interesting. My boss called me and said that he wanted me to fly out for a couple days of meetings. The decision was made that our department needed to go through a structural change and he asked if I would come and be a part of those meetings. The part of AIM that I work for has grown so fast over the last few years that the old structure just wasn’t working and a major shift needed to take place. So, four of us sat around a table for two days and hashed things out until we were able to restructure our department. We now have upwards of 60 staff and 10 international bases with 4 major short term missions programs and numerous field ministries feeding into the bases. The biggest change overall has been the addition of the bases; when I moved to Kenya I was starting one of the first bases and now just over three years later, we are at 10 and growing.
When the dust settled as we finished up our meetings each of us had come away with a new position to consider. I flew back to California and talked and prayed with Lisa until we felt confident that this is what God had for us. In the end I accepted the offered position of Director of Field Staff. What that means is that the staff that we have overseas, roughly just over 30 will report to me and it is my role to help empower, support, encourage and lead them. It is a significant change from leading the 6 staff that we had in Kenya but I really feel like God has been preparing my heart for this. I have big shoes to grow into but even as I type having been in this position for a little over two months now I have seen God provide what I need to serve him in this role. Additionally, we are still responsible for the ministry and vision of the Kenya base and will endeavor to support the staff and be involved in new and creative ways from a distance!
Our new position will entail a fair amount of travel for Lisa and myself but it will also be a Georgia-based position where I attempt to provide leadership to people throughout the globe. There will be a lot of phone calls and emails written and probably some blurred vision and carpal tunnel to go with it!!
Staff Conference and Coming Travel
Tomorrow starts our staff conference and all the staff will be flying in from around the world for 4 days of vision casting, reporting, fellowship and evaluation. It is a big time for us since some of these staff neither Lisa nor I have even met. For us the main goal of this time is to develop relationships. For people to know us and to know our hearts to support them in what God has called them to. It is also a time to gather as much information as we can so that we can help guide them as they are back on-site in a few weeks. It is going to be a crazy few days but we are excited. At the end of the staff conference the Kenya staff will be staying for three extra days for a time of planning for the coming year. There are a couple new staff and one who will not be heading back and so we need to redefine the roles and shore up the relationships that they will have with one another. Lisa and I have a trip planned to Kenya in September to help them get things started, but this time with them will really set the stage for that as well.
On our way back from Kenya we are stopping off at our base in England . There is a young couple leading that base there and we want to give them some needed support and coaching as they lead their first year long team. We will give you more details on those upcoming trips soon.
The Health Update
Before I sign off, I want to take a minute and update everyone on how Lisa is doing. Since we have sent out more updates about this than anything else lately I will keep this short. For those who haven’t heard much feel free to email and ask for more details.
Now that we are in Georgia we have had to find all new doctors. The good news is that God has provided some great doctors and we have made some progress as far as Lisa’s health is concerned. We have a good team of people praying for Lisa’s health and that has made a huge difference (if you aren’t on the prayer update for Lisa’s health and want to be please let us know). A couple of the more frustrating symptoms now seem to be tied to Lisa’s thyroid. We aren’t yet positive on this but it is looking more likely and we hope to know for sure in the next month. That is a blessing because it allows you to stop wondering if there is some other big problem out there just waiting to surprise you. Lisa has more energy that she has had in a while and has been able to exercise more. She has even taken a part time job helping get a publishing company up and running that has been started in association with AIM. Two months ago she wouldn’t have had the extra energy to even consider that.
We still have a ways to go but I really feel like God has slowly walked us through this process. To be honest we would love it to go away and never be a problem again, it is tiring. But God as been faithful and we are really grateful. He has led us, strengthened us, taught us and provided for us all along the way. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and hope on our behalf.
Prayer Requests
ü Pray that our relationships with the Lord would be our number one priority in life no matter how busy life becomes for us.
ü Pray for staff conference, especially as we meet some of the staff we will be working with for the first time.
ü Pray that our time with the Kenyan staff would be a unifying time and that they would be prepared for this coming year.
ü Pray for our upcoming trips to Kenya and England that God would give us wisdom to both lead and encourage the staff and that we would have the insight to help coach and train them in the needed areas. Pray as well that they would feel supported and empowered to serve the Lord in the ministry positions that He has them in.
ü Pray for us as we get adjusted to Life in Georgia . Our desire is that we will feel at home here for this season and that God would use us in the lives of those we encounter as we become part of the community here.
ü Continue to pray for Lisa’s health and that we can keep seeking and trusting God through this time.
ü We ask for increased wisdom as we learn what this new role with AIM looks like for us.
ü And lastly but definitely not least, that we would learn to love each other even more as we head into year number two in our marriage!!
More Newsletters Coming
Since we are back in the USA we will be able to send out some newsletters through the mail. We have a pretty current list of addreses from the Wedding, but if your address has changed in the last year please drop us an email and let us know. We will still send out updates through email as well.
We are Blogging too!
I also want to introduce our blog to you. I am planning to update our blog page as well. It will be a good place to check for the latest news, pictures or other ramblings that we might want comments and feedback on. You can find it at http://scottnelson.myadventures.org/.
Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support in our lives. We love you guys and look forward to hearing from you. Feel free to email or call us.
With much love and appreciation,
Scott & Lisa
