As Christmas came and went I thought January and February were going to be pretty quiet and uneventful months. I’m constantly looking for ways to be useful in my duties here and the prospect of not having ways to do so laid out in advance tends to make my palms sweat.
I should quit worrying!
The end of January filled up with two weeks of travel to Kuala Lumpur, Hsinchu City, and Hanoi. A few days after I return home to Medan Gena and I will hit the road (or the clouds) for Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Gena will accompany SE Asia Mercy Manager Aimee Cima on a visit to the villages of Cambodia to see Community Health Evangelism (CHE) in action. Gena was trained in CHE last October and is excited for the opportunity to see it in motion on the ground, hopefully so she can be of use in implementing some of the principles elsewhere in the future.
CHE is a methodology for eliciting grass-roots ideas and support for making needed changes in a community. Rather than outsiders coming in to assess needs and prescribe methods, outsiders guide and enable locals to speak up and identify what is needed, and to gather others in the community to help make necessary changes or improvements on their own and with primarily their own resources. It has proven very successful and is used in other regions of the world with great success.
Once we return it looks like I may be headed to Papua New Guinea (PNG) with Aimee to meet with long-time PNG missionaries Rev. Ron & Maryann Rall. They served in PNG back in the early 70’s along with Gena’s parents (she was born in PNG!) and have continued to return regularly to assist at the seminary in the Highlands of PNG. They are amazing examples of faithful service to the community there and, as such, to our Lord.
Add in a quick trip to Singapore to lead worship and perhaps a stopover in Kuala Lumpur to try and start gathering a group for theological discussion and prayer and February is shaping up to be pretty full. And then in March the family heads back to the US for Home Service!
It’s going to be a busy spring but we’re excited about the opportunity to share what the Holy Spirit has been doing in Southeast Asia, at least from our limited perspective!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 