February 8th, 2011

Greetings to all in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I just received an update from Joe and it's pretty dire. They are dying of humidity poisoning! NOT!!! JUST KIDDING so please don't run with that and get the rumor mill going that they are not making it. There is NO SUCH THING as humidity poisoning. The fact of the matter is that they are doing fine. They are very busy with school and things. That is why Joe hasn't been able to write much lately. Not to worry...he hasn't forgotten us!

About two weeks ago the care team met at the Fletcher's house and we Skyped with them. As you may or may not know, there was a lot of flooding over there and their house had about five inches of water in it. They were literally living out of the care packages sent from Calvary Chapel Valle Vista until the water subsided. What we have in the works now is a plan to have the women of the church Skype with Sarah. As that plan materializes, it will be announced at church and here on the blog.

Moving right along, school is winding down for Joe. He handed in all of his assignments already. He had to chart the book of Daniel as well as offer a brief explanation of Ps. 18-20 and how it ministered to them. Joe is also teaching on the jail and prison circuit and it's going very well! In the city jail, Joe says the inmates are really getting involved and growing in their walk with the Lord. That is such awesome news!! Joe is going through the books of Peter with them while Angel is going though Matthew. The guys are asking questions and are trusting and seeking the Lord. I know that is also a great encouragement for Joe as well.

Sarah is still doing Sunday school and she conveys that all of the materials that were sent to help were a huge blessing to the kids. They are currently working on picture frames and they have new crafts every week!

Joe has been involved in the aquaponics program there and he explained that to us before they left. He relays that yesterday (Feb. 7th) was a huge day for them. They finished the pond and transferred the fish and they also found about two hundred hatchlings at the bottom of the old pond. They also graded and set the first plant bed and prepared it for plants. As soon as they sprout they will be up and running! This is awesome news as the money raised from the project will help fund things there. This has been an on-going project since July and the guys working on it are super excited about it!!

Later this week they will be heading to the west side of the island to take part in a medical mission with Pastor Ron and doctors from the U.S. They will be there for about ten days but they aren't quite sure yet what they'll be doing. In whatever capacity they serve they will still be the hands and feet of the Lord as they minister there.

Prayer requests for the Nelson family are as follows:

1. Marital and family unity. Being in such close proximity all the time can often tax the patience.
2. Steadfastness and unwavering commitment to the Word and continual growth of faith in their walks.
3. Good stewardship of all things.
4. On the national level, please pray that the people there would continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Pray for the medical mission that it would be a success and also for the safety of all participants.
6. Also pray for all of the kids that they see on a daily basis. Specifically, pray that the kids would see the love of Christ in the lives of the Nelsons and would be drawn to the Saviour.

That's it for now folks. In closing I'd like to post some photos from the recent flood so that you can see what they were dealing with. I'd also just like to encourage all of you who read this to consider being a part of something bigger than yourself by becoming a financial supporter of the Nelsons as they bring the Gospel to the wonderful people of the Philippines. I often say that if we can't be out there doing the work, we should most definitely be supporting those who are out there doing it. It doesn't take a lot of money either. Many hands make light work and many contributors giving a small amount adds up to what it takes to support them as they bring the Light of the Gospel to the lost people of the Philippines. If you want to contribute to the Nelsons, go to the following link:

www.calvaryvallevista.org/nelsons.html

On that page you'll see a link to Shepherd's Staff. You'll also see instructions at the link about how to set up regular monthly contributions.  You can also go straight to the Nelson's Shepherd's Staff site located at the following link and set up your contribution there:

www.shepsstaff.org/jnelson.aspx

Without any further ado, here are the photos we received during the time of the flooding.

The beginning of the rains.

Later that evening.

Two inches of rain in the house.....so far.

Yup.....sandals float!

Almost all the rain has fallen now.

Raquel's house.

Road to Bible School washed out.

Soldiers came to aid during the flood.

 The waters begin to recede.

I will be setting up a web page that will feature the photos sent to us from the Nelsons. Stay tuned for the address information once I get the web site set up.

God bless you all,

Mike Larsen

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hello Friends and Family,
Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New year. I hope that all of yours was as good as ours! Christmas was definitely different, not in a bad way just different. I mean beach Christmas party? We had the blessing of attending both the church and youth Christmas parties and the youth party was held at the beach. We spent our Christmas doing what we love and that is spending time as a family serving our Glorious God. There is a feeding ministry on Saturday that coincides with Sarah's English class, well as you know Christmas was on Saturday. We served 55 children spaghetti and rice crispy treats (which is another story) and did a raffle where everyone got a prize. So the story about the rice crispy treats, there is a story in the Bible of Jesus feeing five thousand with just a few fish and a few loaves of bread, let me just say He is not limited to fish and bread. That Friday night Christmas Eve Brandon, another student, received a package from home that had a box of treats containing 54 treats. The box was opened and some treats were enjoyed maybe four or five leaving 49 or 50, now here is the good part, of you remember we fed 55 children each one received a treat, NOW THAT IS PRAISEWORTHY! Today is New Years Eve and we are just preparing for tonight, not sure of the festivities but are excited to bring in the New Year. Just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and support and wish send seasons greeting, remember what this season is all about JESUS is most definitely the reason for the season.

12/11/2010

As many of you know, Sarah was having some medical problems that resulted in her being admitted to the hospital. The doctors ruled out a number of things but were not really able to determine what was wrong. They ended up sending her home to see how she would do over the course of a few days. The short of it is that Sarah is now up and about again according to Joe and that is wonderful news!! Thanks to the Lord for His healing power because the doctors weren't able to do anything. Another wonderful thing in the midst of all this is that the hospital room that Sarah was able to stay in had both air conditioning AND television. Apparently that is very rare. It's usually one or the other or neither. She got both. God is good!

The family is now learning Tagalog from Pastor Angel if I understood the message correctly. And what I personally find to be awesome is that Joey is going with Joe on the hospital visits and on preaching trips and he is really getting "real world" experience in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ! NOTHING can take the place of that and for Joey to see that first-hand is an experience that probably 95% of the rest of the world will never get to experience.

On the financial front, if you pledged money to support the missionary work of Joe and Sarah and the kids, please make sure that gets taken care of. There isn't a problem but we just want to make sure that they can focus on the ministry and not have to concern themselves with finances. When you help them out, you are storing up treasures in Heaven because lives WILL be touched and people WILL be saved and live with the Lord forever in eternity because people here "back home" supported their work. It's a privilege to be a part of expanding God's kingdom.

In closing, please remember to make prayer a TOP PRIORITY for the Nelsons. There is nothing more powerful in all the universe than the power of prayer because the Lord hears and acts upon the prayers of His children. Consider Cornelius in Acts 10. The angel spoke to him and said that his prayers were come up to Heaven for a memorial before God. And we can also be encouraged and strengthened by 1 Pet. 3.12, which reads, "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers." And we also know from Revelation that our prayers are offered up with incense before the Father. So, don't take prayer lightly and don't use prayer as a last resort. If we did more things by STARTING with prayer, we wouldn't get to a position where we think prayer is all we have left because our human efforts have failed.

God bless you all and thank you so much for your support! Joe and Sarah send their thanks. It's a very busy time for them and so I will be keeping you all updated on the blog from now on (for the most part) so that it can free up Joe and Sarah to do more important things!

Grace and peace,

Mike Larsen