Nelson’s journal 3/31/22  

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Though Nelson feels sick in a variety of ways, he doesn’t dwell on that in this journal entry. Instead he focuses on the positive and the many ways God has blessed him.

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March 31, 2022    

Getting on, or staying on the right path is one of the biggest prayer requests people probably have. We are in the 3rd week of being parents. It’s going pretty good and seems pretty obvious that our little guy is like me, a little restless and likes action and has a thick skin.

Our Little Red Church is handing over the land to the owners of that land on Easter Sunday. It will be our last time meeting there as a Baptist congregation. I think it’s weird how things come to an end like that. We are ready for it to end, but it still doesn’t feel that great to have pastored a church for 6 years and at the end of my time, it closed. I guess it’s ok and God knew it would be that way from the beginning.

Annso and I have been thinking of leaving Hawaii for the entire Summer. We want to buy a Toyota motor home and travel from California to the Ark [in Kentucky] where we will meet the rest of the family in early July.

Then after that, we head overseas to Germany and finish at the Brentwood retreat in England, then back to the US mainland. We could take the RV back across the country and either sell it in the west or actually ship it back here to Hawaii.

It would be nice to have a break from Kokua Crew and hang out like a family for a while, just the 3 of us. After that, we might have a clearer idea of what to do, either coming back to Hawaii or calling it quits and going to Michigan and buying a house. And I become a fixit man. lol. Probably some kind of call on my life toward ministry.

I am thankful for our little baby, for Annso’s patient and sweet spirit. I am thankful that Will is healthy, that Mom was able to come out, that Bates [Klaus, left] was able to come out too.

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“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance.”(Proverbs 21:5)

Nelson’s journal 3/26/22

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In the 13 days since Nelson last wrote in his journal, their baby had finally arrived. Though Ann Sophie labored hard for many hours in their apartment, assisted by two midwives, in the end it was a race to the hospital at midnight to make it happen. And Nelson “forcefully insisted” he be at Ann Sophie’s side through the emergency C-section, despite Covid rules.

 They named their little boy Willard Nelson Nyman—after his father Nelson, his grandfather Willard Nathan Nyman, and his great grandfather, Willard Nelson Nyman. It was exciting to see how they honored three generations with their name choice. They’ll call him Will.

The name Willard means “strong desire,” and their prayer was for little Will to have a strong desire for the Lord.

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March 26, 2022     

Day 12 of life with Little Will. We have John Hartley back with us. I’ll help him change the serpentine belt on his Jeep later this morning.

It’s really cool to have a son. Something I wrote off as probably not happening because it was too late, and because I messed up my life too much to get a woman young enough to bear children, or even be interested. God, you are so good to us.

You have put me into a place I could never have imagined. You have given me a girl beyond my dreams and a son. The Kokua Crew we have is amazing and the job here is even more than I would have imagined. Thank you for everything and for the things I don’t even know about.

Thank you that Annso survived the birth in good shape. Thank you that Mom was able to come out here and get a list for her prayer journal and that she and Annso talked about everything. Thank you for my rock solid heritage.

I pray for the service tomorrow that we can have a good turnout and that you would be found at our church. I pray for Jimmy [intern] and my service at the church in these last 4 weeks.

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“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:7)        

Nelson’s journal 3/13/22    

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Nelson isn’t feeling like his regular self these days, and symptoms of “sickness,” as he calls it, seem to be increasing. The only thing to do is start visiting doctors to find out what’s wrong.

Baby is 11 days overdue, but that doesn’t seem worrisome.

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March 13, 2022    

I’ve had this sickness for the past couple weeks, and it doesn’t get any better. I stopped exercising altogether because I’m trying to listen to my body so it gets better. Not like anything I’ve had before. Just lingers on, lots of symptoms, just generally feel “sick.” Lots of aches and pains.

Maybe I have this sickness so I’ll spend more time here at the house with Mom and Annso, instead of working. It seems to be fairly spiritual. I did a bunch of blood work yesterday so we’ll see what comes back from the doc about that.

Anyway, I’m preaching next Sunday, and it’s probably going to be one of the last times. We will probably turn the church over to the people who own the property, which means we won’t even be going there anymore—not a partial thing, but nothing.

For some reason, I don’t have a problem with it and actually feel quite relieved, like there is a burden off my shoulders. I think Mom and Annso hold onto it more than I do. It’s been 6 years.

Mom is here for the birth of our little baby boy, but he’s taking his sweet time. Almost 2 weeks overdue. People ask constantly, but all we can tell them is “nothing yet.” It’s like we are celebrities and people are all over us about the details of our lives. But those same people are the ones who’ve given us so many gifts that we have no need whatsoever.

We haven’t spent anything at all on our baby except the fee for the midwife. Funny, the birth would have been free if we went to the hospital because we have the insurance that covers it. But we are doing it this way at home because we want it to be more peaceful. I’ve never been through it, but I’ll make an assessment once we’re on the other side of it.

Doors open and close. I was thinking I would work for Tim, the electrician, and preach at the church as a bi-vocational pastor, but now I’m leaning the other way and just going with the thing God seems to keep calling me back to, a full time YWAMer. Annso and I like “YWAM Days” and in that calling, you don’t have the “Sunday Scaries” as Klaus [brother] called them last night, where people dread going back to work for the week. I guess I should go with the thing I’ve always gone with. A job is always there and always waiting. I learned that with Tim. If you work hard, you have nothing to worry about. It will always be waiting for you.

Thank you Lord for the life we have here and for the baby boy who is about to be born. I pray against fear and sickness that tries to invade our lives constantly. Thank you for Mom being here and how we were able to hang out yesterday and shop and talk about stuff. I pray we can make the most of the 2 weeks we have here together.

I pray for the service this morning, that we can meet with you, praise you, worship you, and do the best we can at the end of the Little Red Church, as we know it, as it changes hands.

What is next? I pray for Hans [brother] as he is trying to make the decision about being a pastor or not. I pray you would show me what to do for him if there is anything you would like me to do in the way of encouragement or anything. Please direct our steps today. Amen.

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“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)