drewnels

Dear friends,

Though the main part of the library project is done there is still a lot I am working on. There are a few hundred new donated books I am sorting through and adding to the library along with plans underway to add a lot of DVDs to replace the VHS tapes. Besides all that I am tweaking the computer system to work smoother and do as much of the work as possible leaving the librarian as free as possible to do the things a computer can’t do (re-shelving books for example).

Since I am not spending near as much time on the library I have started other projects. The first of which has been to go through the school supply storage. I am going through the years of collected supplies to find out what we really use and what we would have been using had we known we had it. I am working to get the stuff to a manageable size so that things we don’t use go away making everything else findable. What does a Mission do with something it doesn’t need or even use and the people in the local community don’t want? I know the answer and you can draw your own conclusions.

I am spending more time with people in the community and am liking it. This year it has been good to get away from the situations of “I am in charge and you have to do what I say.” I had no authority in those areas and it therefore made so I have just created enemies where there didn’t have to be. I am finding the relationships are not easy to fix and it is going to take time.

Prayer is needed for the true gospel of Christ to be presented in this community and the school here. I am amazed at the perception so many in this community have of the gospel. To many being a Christian means following a lot of rules, to others it means not cussing and not being mean, and to yet others it means church, the right prayers, and knowing things about the Bible. The Enemy continues to distort and present the truth in ways that have so many lies mixed in. I see forgiveness taken to mean just pretending something didn’t happen. I see grace taken to mean rewarding someone if they say they won’t sin again. I see mercy as giving someone a second chance without any consequences for their actions. And, I see truth as using the sin of another way to fix your own frustration with them. I realize this is all vague and doesn’t really lay out any specific things you can pray for. I am reminded though of Philippians 1:18 where Paul reminds us that we should rejoice that Christ is preached. I do rejoice that Christ is preached, but am concerned still that the message is not distorted by those who profess to know Christ and yet their actions do not line up with what the true message of the cross brings to us. This includes me.

I do want to give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports me in your prayers. I wish I had time to personally thank each of you that do. Your prayers are much appreciated and very much needed. Thank you for giving your time in bringing me before the Lord.

Wanting to live what I believe,

Andrew Nelson

Dear friends,

I have made more progress computerizing the school library. There are now over 5,000 books with bar codes. Adding items has slowed due to a number of reasons and though there were 4 times as many done in the first month I worked on it I am still pleased with the progress. The system is functioning well and has made the process of checking out and returning books. As of the end of this month the system is reporting 1,342 books read and 148 currently checked out. The K-6 classes have library time twice a week and it is good to see a lot of reading being done. Improving reading comprehension is one of the keys in their education and I am glad I have been able to put a bigger emphasis on that.

Pray for those here at the Mission that make the important decisions. Pray they will look to the Lord for wisdom. I believe it is very important to have counsel and accountability. All the staff need prayer for unity, but the example of this comes from those who make decisions that affect everyone else. Your prayers are greatly appreciated in these areas.

My new apartment now has a furnace. It really is the nicest house I have ever lived in and the first time to have a furnace instead of wood hear. And there is a dishwasher on top of all that. I am thankful for this new house and have been trying to use it to be as hospitable as possible. With the time saved on washing dishes and keeping the wood stove loaded I am hoping to spend more time having people over for games and food. On top of all that I am trying to spend more time visiting students at their homes. Now that I have less of a teacher position at the school that has helped a lot relating to the kids. The perspective a student has of a teacher limits the way a teacher can really interact with them. I am not sure I will be able to go back to the “teacher” mode.

I have some good news. I have now been here over 7 years and though I have been told of students who have made professions of faith in the past I had yet to see any real change in their life when if comes to fruit or even positive change in attitude toward cross and the crucified Christ. That has just changed. One of the students in our school has just recently had a great change in their attitude and also in what they do. Many times I am hearing her singing quietly to herself some good Christian songs. That is the attitude change I have seen. For the last two Sundays she has also started doing a Sunday school class for her siblings and cousins. Has she or anyone else told me she trusted Christ? Nobody has had to, it is just obvious. And it is that that has convinced me of the change. Please pray for her. She now needs someone to disciple her, teach her more how to share her faith, and beyond that teach her how to teach others to share their faith.

Day by day,
Andrew Nelson

Dear friends,

In September I started a rather big project of computerizing the Mission Library. Each book gets a bar code on the cover and a duplicate one on the inside. Also a piece of heavy duty tape over the bar code on the cover to keep it from peeling off. Since many of the books were already in a computer system we had for doing searches I do not have to re-enter the book info for most of them. So I simply look up the book by the handwritten ID number and scan the bar code. So far that process has been repeated over 4,000 times in just September. I was glad to have some help from others for various stages of the process. But, the project is far from over.

In the middle of the month a took a trip to Kansas Bible Camp for an annual meeting there and also for a wedding reception of a friend of mine. It was a lot of time on the road for a 2 day weekend. It was good though to see and visit with many people.

Near the end of the month the progress on the new apartment go to about 99% and was enough to go ahead and move in. I am glad I had plenty of time to get moved in since I wanted to also go through everything of mine and get rid of the unnecessary stuff that seems to pile up over time. I would have to say that this new house is the nicest one I have ever lived in.

Pray for the teachers at the school here. It is a challenge to work with people that think in a different way than they do. The real challenge is not to change how the student things, but rather for the teacher to teach in a way that the student can learn and thrive on. It is too easy to simply cut corners to make the teacher’s job easy at the expense of all the students.

Pressing on,
Andrew Nelson

Dear friends,

The first week of August was also the last week of summer camp at Kansas Bible Camp. I spent that week mostly working in the office making changes and additions to the computer system. During the middle of the next week I headed back to Arizona in time for staff meetings just before school would start.

This year I am working on improving the Mission library by setting up a new computer system for borrowing books and search for them. This will involve putting a bar code on every book and giving each student and staff member a library card. It sounds complicated, but will actually simplify everything greatly when I am done. With the old system just last year we lost track of over 40 books. I am hoping that will change as I implement a better system.

My main classes in the school are all elementary level. In the mornings the students learn and practice their typing skills. And in the afternoon I take care of their library time with stories and time to check out books to read at home. I set up a couple of aquariums in the library and most of the students enjoy watching the fish when they are waiting on the others in their class.

The new apartment continues to progress and is nearing completion. The kitchen cupboards are in and just a few projects remain including counter top, sinks, trim, water cooler, hooking in a water heater and furnace, and a dozen other small detail jobs. It shouldn’t be long before it is all completed and I will be moving over there.

Pray for everyone here to let Christ be the one in control and for us to just be channels of his character. Even people in full-time ministry struggle with doing things our way or Christ’s way. We all want to blame the problems on someone else and have a hard time humbling ourselves and admitting any responsibility. Thank you for your continued support and encouragement in prayer.

Letting Christ control,
Andrew Nelson

Dear friends,

July was a month of relaxing and refreshment. That is not to say that I sat around the whole time though. Although I was generally able to sleep longer hours I also kept plenty busy with odd jobs and such. I spent a good part of the month visiting friends and family and working at a couple of youth camps. These were Kansas Bible Camp in Hutchinson, Kansas and Morningstar Bible Camp in Lawrence, Kansas. KBC I have been helping out at regularly for many years. I did not get as much time there as I usually have in the past, but it was still good to be there at least the time I did. Morningstar is a week long day camp held at the Lawrence Bible Chapel. This year was their 25th year doing it and I think my 4th or 5th time helping there besides the years I was a camper there a long time ago.

The Lord was good to allow a lot of time being refreshed simply by doing things that were not part of any routine I have been used to in a long time. It is good to be in His service and daily learn more of allowing Christ to live in me and I in Him. It is hard not to criticize others when one learns something others maybe have not. But, I guess that is also something I need to learn. It is very true that the more I learn the more I see there is to learn.

School will start soon and I will head back to home to Immanuel Mission for another year. Pray for this new school year as I will be doing less teaching and more ministry with elementary age kids. I have always enjoyed working with kids and not as much being a teacher in an official classroom setting. Although I will still be in the school, I will be doing some different things and also doing more outside the classroom. Pray as I organize my time differently.

Serving Christ first,
Andrew Nelson

Dear friends,

June was a busy month at the Mission. Several groups came for a week at a time and got a lot of projects done as well as kids clubs in the community. The first week there was not a group, but I had plenty to do anyway. I made a circle drive by the new apartment and Lorena’s house. It gave me some extra dirt to also begin landscaping the ground by the apartment/auto shop. John and I also did some drywall mudding in the apartment.

The second week a group from Woodland Park, Colorado came. There were just a few in this group, but they got plenty done. Part of the group built trusses for the Tom’s new house. The other half of the group shampooed the carpet floors in the elementary classrooms of the school. They also started priming the walls in the apartment.

The third week a group from Iowa came. One part of the group put the sheeting on the roof of the Tom’s house. Another part of the group finished mudding the drywall in the apartment as well as primed the rest and painted most of the walls. Yet others framed up the new music room in the school and put drywall up and started mudding the drywall. They then went over to the new auto shop and put up drywall in the classroom and office. Several others went all over the Mission weeding, mowing, and trimming trees. Each night they went out into the community to do a kids club.

The last full week of the month a group from Portland, Oregon came. In the new music room and in the classroom and office of the new auto shop they did a lot of taping, mudding, sanding, texturing, and painting. The floor of the gym was repainted and now has some new artwork in the middle of the school falcon mascot. A couple of the group prepped a house in the community to have stucco put on it. Also a student from our school worked around the Mission clearing weeds and putting them into piles to burn. I think he enjoyed that job. He is in a summer work program funded by the tribe. That last week Ruth helped me paint the edging in the apartment. We also put together a summer newsletter for the Mission and got it sent out.

The last few days of June I headed to Kansas for the rest of the summer to visit family and friends and go to Kansas Bible Camp. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Serving the perfect Master,
Andrew Nelson