Dear Family & Friends,
I thought we would start this update by playing a game of where have the Nelson’s been and where are they now! Hopefully that sounds good. Since last we wrote we have left Kenya and headed home for the holidays. Lisa actually flew into town a week before me to go and see a couple of doctors since she had a hard fall with her health. We thought most was thyroid related and had only had marginal success getting it treated in Kenya. Some friends on the Central Coast of California offered us a place to stay and some good doctors to get us started on the process.
Lisa picked me up at the LA airport a week later and we headed to San Diego to spend Christmas with her family. We had a great time and got to spend some good time with the family in the midst of all of the shopping. After Christmas we headed to Seattle in just enough time to spend New Years with my family. It was an equally good time of catching up with family and friends.
After just three weeks with our families we were back to the Central Coast for four days and some continued visits to the doctors. We were encouraged by some progress there but knew we still had a way to go before Lisa was back to her old self.
From there we were onto our next scheduled stop which was AIM’s main office in Georgia. We had planned on spending about a month there so that we could get some needed work done. It was good to catch up at the office and with friends there. This was the first time we had been back to “normal” office hours and it was a novel reminder of what a 9 to 5 life is like. But even though work was normal we slept in about 5 different places during our time there so our personal life was nothing normal at all.
A side note on our time in Georgia is that for the first time since the Kenya Base started I was able to be somewhere else while we had a team in country. We now have 7 full time staff there Both US and Kenyan and by Next year the number will break the 10 mark. We are so excited about the staff that we have there and it is awesome to see where God has brought this ministry in the last three years since I first moved full time to Kenya. Please pray for Allie, Kayla, Denise, Jason, Michelle and our potential new staff in this coming year. Those who are coming on staff include Alysha, Josh, Simon and Margaret. There are a few others on the fringe so we will just have to pray them in as well.
Back to our travels! From Georgia we headed back to California for more doctor visits. We were scheduled to head back to Kenya on February 11th but by this time we had decided that we needed some more time at home so that Lisa could get healthy. I really felt that my wife’s health was the priority and knew that God wasn’t surprised that she needed to stay in the US for now. So with the list of things to do in Kenya looming and with the staff expecting a visit from the Base director we made the decision for Lisa to remain in the states and for me to head to Kenya for three weeks. It was the first time in our marriage that we had been apart for this long and we learned some valuable lessons through the time apart. First and foremost was that three weeks apart is way too long. We also were reminded how much we had come to need and value the other. We really missed being together and I was pretty sappy through our whole separation!
While I was away Lisa made a trip to Texas with her dad for her Grandmothers 80th birthday (congratulations Grandmommie!!!). I flew to Kenya and then made a quick trip to Uganda and some other areas. A lot was accomplished but I also left a lot in the hands of our capable staff there. It was so good to see the way that God was strengthening them as they learned to step up into new roles of responsibility and reliance on God.
So on March 4th I arrived back into LAX and was met by my wife. Praise the Lord to be reunited again! For those keeping track March 4 marks our 9 month anniversary!! We spent the next week as part of a mission’s conference with our church here. This is the church that I worked at for three years as the High school Director. It was a good time to get reconnected. The next week we both just crashed and lay low, enjoying our time together and catching up.
Along the way we learned that Lisa still had a ways to go to get healthy. We were able to make an appointment with a specialist and we are hopeful that God will continue to bring Lisa to full health. Our first appointment with the specialist was yesterday and we really feel like God is going to use him to bring further health to Lisa. Because of all of this our plans are still a bit up in the air. We may stay in the states for an extended period to make sure that we are on the right track but it hasn’t been decided yet. We will keep you posted on our next steps as God shows us the right direction.
Thanks for making it to the end of this. I am tired all over again after remembering all of the traveling and changes we have experience in the last few months. We are continually grateful for your prayers and support. Please drop us an email and let us know what you are up to and if there are ways that we can be praying for you as well.
I want to close this email by giving praise to God. He has provided for us all our needs every step of the way from cars to housing to doctors and more. He has continually reminded us that we can trust Him with Lisa’s health and though it is frustrating and difficult we have our hope fixed firmly in Him. We know that there is no doctor that is the answer but God who uses all things and people for His glory will use many people and doctors to glorify Himself as He brings Lisa back to full health. We thank you for your ongoing prayers and commitment to support us in this journey called LIFE!
With much love and gratitude,
Scott & Lisa Nelson
