Latest Family and Church News

Dad's Cancer

My dad, Alan Nelson, was diagnosed a month ago with bone marrow cancer, a real surprise. He's 69 years old. I flew to be with him in hospital in Tampa and to be with family as things developed. I'm very glad I did. I stayed until 29 Aug, and I was able to bring him home to his house on the 28th. A week later however, he went back in hospital with an irregular heart beat and fluid build up -- congestive heart failure. While that was being treated in hospital, he contracted a bladder infection which has become serious enough to transfer him to ICU. He's very weak, barely communicating, has bouts of confusion, and the family is very concerned. We would appreciate the prayers of our friends from around the world. Please pray for the infection to be overcome so that Dad will get back some strength to fight the cancer and go on the thalidomide treatment. May the Lord intervene and grant him more time and more strength for the time he has left. Please also pray for my step-mom, Liz, who is working full-time, and sister, Susan, who is full-time mom to two elementary school kids and visiting Dad every day in hospital. Sister Pam lives and works in Tampa. Sister Sally lives in south Georgia. Thanks for your prayers for them as well.

Church Camp

I got back from Tampa and, with Jeni and girls, went straight from the airport to our first church camp at Port Dickson, Malaysia. Seventy people had signed up. Our friend Hakan Gabrielsson came from Singapore to be the main speaker. It was a wonderful time of worship, Word, fellowship, prayer, play, and a missions emphasis. Three missions agencies were represented by local staff in our missions fair: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, Asian Outreach, and Wycliffe Bible Translators. Our own Michael Wong represented Operation Mobilization. Hakan shared about some wonderful things happening in places he visits regularly, like Myanmar, India, and Iran. His missionary ministry is called Touching Asia.

Vanessa Schaefer, our Sunday School co-director, was healed of chronic neck pain during a prayer time at church camp! She had been suffering for a long time from a spinal condition and recently had to quit driving her car because of it. Now she's driving again and free from the pain. Praise God!

Weddings

We expect to have three weddings coming in the next several months: Chris and Winnie (Malaysian Chinese), Victor and Grace (Malaysian Indian), and Julian and Sally (Malaysian Chinese, living in Jakarta). I've got lots of pre-marital counseling to do! I've had the privilege of doing several weddings over the years here in Kuala Lumpur, but not this many in such a short span of time. Funny, we've also had more babies born recently (to other couples) than ever before in our eight years here. Looks like we're experiencing some biological church growth to go with our conversion growth! :-)

Answers to Prayer

Our consulting company is up and running! And Lisa and I have our work permits through GuideStone Consultancy Pvt Ltd! I'm the Managing Director, and she is the Senior Counselor. We each have two-year visas in our passports allowing us to work as counselors which we're doing, of course. The visas came through in June and July. Praise the Lord!

Next Post

Maybe in the next post I'll pose a question that I left on Wade Burleson's blog. We could have a little discussion about a theological subject. Check back in a day or two if you're interested.

Blessings!
Todd