McDonald's, Kentucky Friend Chicken & a Pizza Hut

Well we took Adalyn for her 4 week check-up (a week late, but you know, there were some scheduling conflicts) anyways- afterwards we decided to treat Karis to McDonald's because she was really good during the entire appointment and in the waiting room etc...

So Jeremy goes up stairs with both girls in tow to the play area and I am getting our order. The line suddenly doubled in size so a McDonald's employee started taking "pre-oders" while folks waited in line- I'm about in the middle of the line and she is taking my order when this older gentleman just out of now where walks straight into me and bumps me with his newspaper. I really don't think anything of it, except "Dude really, its the middle of the line, its not like you didn't see me here". So I go about my business, pay for our orders and then I go to get ketch-up and straws at the condiment bar, when old guy in the suit BUMPS into a second time- this time I feel my wallet shift in my jacket packet- I immediately grab for it and notice that a corner of the older man's newspaper is halfway in my pocket. I push my wallet back down into my fleece pocket and zip it this time. Then he says "Perdon, Perdon" (excuse me, excuse me) Then he stands there and watches me fill up my ketch-up- which I'm already thinking- "Did he just try to lift my wallet out of my fleece?" So I kind of stare at him in bewilderment, which flusters him, he puts down his little ketch-up container and I watch him put the newspaper back on the stand and book it out of there. Which basically did confirm that he tried to steal my wallet. Usually I probably would have tried to say something to him, or an employee but I have a really bad sinus infection today and was starting to run another fever- so I'm sure I looked like the softest target in the restaurant but luckily I felt the "bump & grab" as it was going on. When I got upstairs and told Jeremy he immediately wanted to do something about it but it was too late.

So moral of the story is, beware of old men in suits that randomly keep bumping into you and watch your wallets.

Nana & Paw Paw

Jeremy's parents came down to help us out after Adalyn was born. They were here for 10 days. It was such a blessing. They came when she was about 2 weeks old. It was a prefect break for Jeremy and I because we were pretty exhausted, so the extra set of hands, good fellowshipw and play partners for Karis was such a relief.

Prayer Update- November 5th

Well- Jeremy and I have been really bad about updating our blog in the past few months. We're going to try to get better about it and post more stuff about life in Peru, life with two little girls, ministry updates and of course prayer requests. We'll start with prayer requests:

- Jeremy has been in a two day meeting, yesterday and today, discussing what our team and other teams like REAP North will look like in the future with the limitations we are facing of future personnel serving in South America due to lack of funds and a stronger focus on engaging the lost of the lost- which our team is doing but we are going to have to figure out a way to do it with less personnel and more churches adopting areas. Please pray for guidance of leadership and all of our team mates and strategies are discussed and future plans are carved out.

- Jeremy will also be traveling out to a ministry area tomorrow- it is a simple trip of traveling up with a team, carrying gear for them and coming back that evening but it will be about 10 hours of driving.

- During these meetings, a national friend has come to help me with the girls, since I'm still on a weight restriction for lifting Karis. However, she can't come tomorrow because she will be traveling as a translator with the team going up to the mountains from Lima. Several of our team mates here have offered to help out- which we are thankful for...please pray that tomorrow will go smoothly for Jeremy, and us girls staying at home.

- Adalyn is a great baby and we are SO thankful for her. Her sleep patterns are wonderful some nights with her sleeping 5 and even 6 hours stretches but then she'll go through a few days of poor sleep which also means poor sleep for Jeremy and I. We know this is a season of parenting, but I'm already ready for it to end. =) Jeremy does much better than I do on lack of sleep. I really struggle with a poor attitude and exhaustion when Adalyn has a bad night.

RADICAL by David Platt

Jeremy and I just finished ready the book Radical by David Platt and would highly encourage others to read it. It continues to challenge us and we are in the process of making some major changes in our family as a result of some of the convictions we experienced while reading it.

There are a tremendous number of quotes and challenges from the book that are still vivid in our minds but this one resonates most frequently in my mind, so I thought I'd share:

"You and I have an average of about seventy or eighty years on this earth. During this years we are bombarded with the temporary. Make money. Get stuff. Be comfortable. Live well. Have fun. In the middle of all of it, we get blinded to the eternal. But it's there.

You and I stand on the porch of eternity. Both of us will soon stand before God to give an account for our stewardship of the time, the gifts, and ultimately the gospel he has entrusted to us. When that day comes, I am convinced we will not wish we had given more of ourselves to the American dream. We will not wish we had made more money, acquired more stuff, lived more comfortably, taken more vacations, watched more television, pursued greater retirements, or been successful in the eyes of the world. Instead we will wish we had given more of ourselves to living for the day when every nation, tribe, people and language will bow around the throne and sing the praises of the Savior who delights in radical obedience and the God who deserves eternal worship..." ~ Radical by David Platt

Baby NELSON #2 has a NAME NOW!!!

Adalyn Joy Nelson

So we had a great time visiting family and friends for some vacation in the states before we went down to Florida to participate in First Baptist Callahan's Global Impact Celebration. We have a lot great stories from all of it and I'll share those, along with pictures soon.

First I thought I'd share some comical moments related to basic geography I had while checking out at different stores while out shopping in the States:

Micheal's-

Cashier: "Would you like to be put on our mailing list?"

Crystal: "No thanks, I'll pass"

Cashier: "Are you sure because it will only take a second?"

Crystal: "No thanks, I actually live in Peru and we're just here visiting family"

Cashier: " Well Ma'am that's prefect because this is a NATIONAL mailing list and it will work at

any store of our stores in the US!"

Crystal: "Well thats awesome but I live in Peru, sooooo..."

Cashier: "Yes, but a lady came in just the other day from New York and her coupons were valid

here and there was another lady from California too!"

Crystal: "No really, I'm good for now."

Cashier: "Alright maybe next time."

Poor guy didn't realize that Peru is on an entirely different continent, not so much in the US.

Walmart:

Cashier: "Have you come up with a name for your baby yet? When are you due?"

Crystal: She's due in October, we still haven't decided- one of the names we're thinking about is: Sydney"

Cashier: "Oh that's cool. Is this your first?"

Crystal: "No we have a 16 month old girl, her name is Karis."

Cashier: "Oh, so you guys must have a thing for Foreign COUNTRIES!"

Crystal: "IIII guess soooo?!?" and kind of crunched my face in confusion.

Later however I realized that he must have mistaken me and thought I said "Paris" instead of "Karis". But still- those are names of foreign cities...not so much countries.

Anyways- they were enough to make me chuckle, so I thought I'd share.

Baby Nelson #2

Here is my 4D ultrasound picture at 32 weeks! Isn't technology amazing. It's made us so EXCITED about her October arrival!

The Best Day Ever

So I'm not sure if you ever just have one of those days that go so well- its almost eery! Several times yesterday Jeremy and I even stopped what we were doing and just took a minute to Praise God or just say "This is a total God thing". Life here in Iquitos, as in most places we've done ministry, strives on teaching you to be patient and flexible. We plan, we do, we work and folks don't show up on time, rivers dry up 3 months quicker than they did last year, stuff breaks...it isn't abnormal for us to spend most of our day trying to re-do or fix something that we'd already "accomplished" or thought we had completed. So when those rare days of over-productivity or a day where everything runs as planned and smoothly...we like to really celebrate it.

So here was our day: First the guy that cuts our grass came over and cut it with his machete (it was SO long overdue, I felt so sorry for him). Then the direct TV repair guy comes and at no additional charge to us, tells us that we keep having the problem of not getting a good signal because the wood that was used to attach it to our roof has gone bad and that the cables had gone bad- so he repositioned our dish on to a wall and ran all new cable (now in the shade it was 102 degree- so imagine what it was like for him crawling around in our ceiling with a TIN ROOF on it- I can't imagine. We just kept re-filling water bottles for him and if Jeremy didn't hear him banging around for awhile- he'd yell up to him "Are you still alive?" We were just dumb founded that he was going through all this trouble for us. We've had the dish worked out 4 times plus Jeremy's fixed it a few times. Usually they just fix it for right now and move on. Then when he said that it was FREE...we were even more surprised. But the day gets better....

Jeremy's cell phone has been on deaths door for months now. It stopped being able to charge, so I've been charging his battery in my phone and then switching it over to his for weeks now. Well the other day we took Karis swimming and J jumped in the pool with it in his pocket. So we thought oh there's no coming back from this- it was already barely hanging on...it had also just started white screening at random and turning off. So he took it apart and literally hung the parts on our clothesline outside for 2 days in the sun. Put it back together yesterday and it WORKS- it holds a charge, it moves faster between screens- its better than it was before... yet still our day gets better....

So one our church's that works up here crunched numbers and decided that it would actually be more economical for them to buy a boat & motor than to rent one each time they come down for several years. Well unfortunately the motor has turned out to be rather problematic and we've been replacing each part as it breaks down. The church also rents the boat out at a discounted rate to other churches we work with as a way to over cost of maintenance and gas etc.... So between the International World Changers project and Morningside Baptist trip a part broke on the boat and Jeremy needed it fixed immediately or the team would be able to take out the boat for the trip. The mechanic was nice, knew Jeremy didn't have all the money to pay for it before he rented it out for the next trip, so he said to just settle up with him when the team got back. So Jeremy had about $300 or so in boat rental money and he went last Monday and found the parts that were replaced and got the prices on everything new (which they had put used parts in the boat- so he knew it would be about half price of what the parts were new). Well he came home Monday and was like "Wow- I'm in between a rock and hard place" the parts new were close to $2,000!!! We only had $300 or so to pay the guy. So Jeremy went to talk to him yesterday about it and Jeremy got to his house and asked what the total was going to be and the guy without knowing how much money Jeremy had- gave his price in soles. Jeremy did the conversion and it came to $303. The mechanic could have easily charge Jeremy at least $900 for the parts but cut Jeremy a deal! Isn't God awesome....

While all these great things were happening with Jeremy...Karis was napping. So I decided to do some baking- which I look back on it and think- why in the world was I wanting to bake yesterday- it was 100 degrees inside my kitchen yesterday-literally 100 degrees. Anyways- I had a great time making lunch for Jeremy and I then baking 3 dozen oatmeal cookies and 2 dozen miraculous peanut butter cookies (that's their name...haha)- then after I cleaned up the kitchen- I still had time to prepare everything for dinner. So all we had to do was heat things up later. Oh and I made 6 liters of sweet tea for the Bible study we were having that night. Not bad for being super hot and almost 7 months pregnant. Because usually when its super hot in the house, the last thing I want to do is turn on my oven and make it hotter!

When Karis got up from her nap and J got back from paying the mechanic we decided we were going to go buy a fan for our bedroom and pick-up some groceries. As we're pulling out of the carport the biggest thunder clouds start rolling in- wind was knocking down signs- I mean it looked like the heavens were going to unload. Then we realize we have no rain gear in the truck. So we decided we'd just go about our errands- see what we could get done and if the rain got too bad- we'd just head back home. We were able to get all of our groceries and even looked for a fan (but decided to hold off until another day). So as we are pulling back into our carport and we've finished unloading the groceries- thats when the first drops of rain start falling down. I thought now Jesus- thats just icing on the cake right there- what an awesome day.

So this is the best part. We've struggled for over a year up here with having enough nationals that can help translate for our teams that come down. On more than one occasion we've had to use translators from Lima to help fill in. So this summer we have 4 summer missionaries here in Iquitos- working on ESL ministry. So we held our first translators english Bible study last night at our house. Just to help the translator develop more Biblical vocabulary and to be able to understand more and grow in there walks as well. So after talking with a few of our translators and the ESL girls we calculated that about 4 to 6 nationals would be coming. Well then I felt a little silly for making 6 liters worth of sweet tea and 3 dozen oatmeal cookies (however I felt very assured that Jeremy would do his very best to help finish off any leftovers!) Well by the end of the night we had 21 nationals show up for the Bible Study. It went so well- about half are not believers and the other half spent most of their evening sharing about how Christ has deeply changed their lives and their relationships with Jesus. It was awesome!!!! As an added bonus there were at least 4 more people that we could start using as translators tomorrow if we needed them!!! One guy even said at the end of the evening that he is learning english because he feels like that is God's calling for him- to be a translator for mission groups that come down...he says that is the ministry that he feels like God is asking him to do for his life and said he was SO excited when he heard about the Bible study (he also is the guy that brought 8 of his friends).

I know this is a really long post....but its been a long long time since so many things have come together so perfectly in one day for us- that I just had to give you the back ground on it. We most definitely praised Jesus for such a blessed day.

Oh and I forgot to mention that Jeremy also believes God healed his heart yesterday! LOL! He has thought for awhile that he has a minor arrhythmia (just that his heart will randomly flutter off beat times). Well yesterday while he was helping the direct tv guy he accidentally touched some live wires and electrocuted himself!! That's right 220 volts coursing through his veins. He even has some burn marks on his finger where it came out at. Well- we're thankful- ONE that he survived it and TWO- he is certain that it has cured his "arrhythmia" from all the electricity that coursed through is chest yesterday! =) We've also got a few good laughs out of his imitation of the event. LOL!

A Few Pictures from the IWC Project

From top to bottom: One of the large group International World Changer team pictures. This was taken after we all got back to Iquitos and were able to take a "real" shower with running water =). Next, is the family photo from all three of us out in the community together- our first family ministry trip. Third- Just a cute picture of Karis. Fourth- when we were out in the communities during the day with ministry teams- after lunch I would find a place to either set-up Karis' hammock or find a house where I could use a hammock for Karis to nap in. Which was interesting some days- one day I had about 15 people watching Karis try to get to sleep in her hammock. LOL! So that is Karis being a good jungle baby and napping in her hammock (well Daddy's hammock from Venezuela technically but Karis has claimed it for herself). The last picture is us on the last day in Palmaras while Karis is napping- I enjoyed her nap times, I was able to talk to several of the moms in the communities and/or curious kids coming to see the gringa baby sleeping.

Overall the IWC project was a wonderful trip both from a ministry point of view and from a family perspective. There was definitely some difficult moments and many opportunities for both the team and us to practice being flexible and having plans change. God did some really neat things in and through the team. He opened doors in some of the villages that we haven't seen open like that before. There was solid discipleship that took place, evidence that God was at work in people's hearts before the teams even arrived and there were also those that came to know Christ as well. One girl in one of the villages started asking "What is sin?", "How can I stop sinning?" etc... obviously God had been working in her life before we arrived. Another lady memorized her first Bible verse and other communities had questions answered from scripture about assurance of salvation and what is prayer and many more topics. It was neat being able to see God working in the villages, instead of just hearing about it as I debrief teams when they come back to Iquitos. Karis did better each day we were out. The last day on the boat ride back to Iquitos was rough, but unbeknownst to us, she was cutting her first molar tooth and had really itchy chigger bites on her ankles. So all in all Karis did REALLY well. We're really blessed to have such an adaptable baby- she was sleep deprived, took river bucket baths, was dirtier than she's ever been in her life, has never sweated that much for that long and been surrounded by that many people for a week straight. We were proud parents for sure.

Thanks for your prayers.

Point to Ponder

Iquitos is only accessible by boat or airplane. It is the largest city in the world with no road access, so why the other day when I was driving did I happen to see a "Cruz del Sur" bus company office?

Where can you go by tour bus from Iquitos? No where. Hmmmm? I'm sure they sale tickets to somewhere because they are able to keep an office space here...but really- a bus line office for a city that has no road access?!? LOL

Prayer Request for IWC-Orellana

INTERNATIONAL WORLD CHANGERS- ORELLANA

Please pray for the 56 volunteers, 3 missionaries and 15 translators that will be working amongst Yagua people off the Amazon River, doing discipleship of believers and holding Bible Yard Bible clubs this week. The original plan was to work in 5 communities: Atun Coche, Las Palamaras, Vainilla, Puerto Rico and Catalan Urco.

Specifically pray for safety, discipleship & growth for believers there and witnessing opportunities to those that remain lost.

Also we just learned several moments ago that the water on the river is unusually low for this time of year and the boats will not be able to reach most of the villages. Even Orellana, the community we will be staying in for the week. We will have to hike in & out of the communities each day. Pray for flexibility for the volunteers, missionaries, translators and for the Yagua communities as well.

We also will not know until we try, once we get there but we are fairly certain that we will not be able to reach one of the villages we were trying to minister to this week (Catalan Urco). The river has dried up too much and there is no trail through the jungle to get to it. It is one of the most remote places in the this segment of Yagua and has no church and only 2 new believers. We are discouraged by this news but trusting the Lord in providing a way to either reach Catalan Urco or opening up other doors in more accessible Yagua villages. The river should not be this dry until almost mid-August. Its even taken the Yagua by somewhat of a surprise. We were just there two weeks ago and made it in and out of all of the communities with very little difficulty.

Pray for Crystal and Karis as well. This is our first time out on the river for this long. Pray for Karis to sleep well at night, its hard for her with the intense darkness, no air circulation and new sounds. Last time she was very fearful at night. Pray for protection and safety for Crystal , she is almost 6 months pregnant. Pray for Jeremy as he is somewhat nervous and excited about having his family on-site for the biggest group he has ever lead into the jungle!