Update

Friends,

This has been an exciting time in my life. The Lord is working in the Nels home in so many ways and I am glad to be a tool in The King's hands. (I just called myself a 'tool' and I'm pretty happy to admit it in the service of Jesus.)

I'll be attending meetings with school administrators in July to start the process of bringing the JFA training (seat and feet work) to Georgia schools in the Spring of 2011. Right now, I'm not the full time man-on-the-ground here in Georgia because my support isn't raised, but through God's provision I will be doing this work full time soon. Please pray for these meetings; that the Lord will work in the hearts of the school administrators we meet with and that the Holy Spirit will give them boldness and courage to stand up for the unborn. This is a highly controversial topic, as you can imagine, and school leadership must always face opposition when they try to educate their students about abortion.

I'll post some new stories from campus soon. I apologize for falling behind on the updates. Life has been adventurous to say the least. I thank God for the work He has blessed me with, but sometimes I wish He didn't trust me with so much all at once.

Israel is talking in paragraphs. Some French, some English and the rest no one quite knows. She is climbing everything in sight and becoming her own person more and more everyday. We have taught her a short prayer in sign language and it fills my heart to overflowing to see my daughter talking about and to Jesus.

Helen is crawling like a champ and beginning the scary process of walking. I used to think babies were made of rubber, but now that it's my baby I'm much more protective. My poor brothers and the stuff I put them through...

Opening our mouths together, Jacob.

In the beginning...

I met Heather at my first Justice For All campus outreach. As I recall, she wasn’t too happy to meet me initially. It probably had something to do with the giant abortion photos I was standing in front of.

I approached Heather as she was standing in front of the exhibit, with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. I asked her, “So, what do you think of this exhibit?” She replied back through clenched teeth,

“You don’t want to know what I think!”

This is where my JFA dialogue training came in because prior to my JFA training, the old Jacob would have incited a heated debate right then. But the JFA training taught me to first ask questions. Second, listen to people's concerns and then try to build common ground in order to discuss the abortion issue in a productive manor. So, I told Heather,

“Actually, I do want to know what you think about this. I know that I believe in things that are false…I just wish I knew what they were. I’m here to seek out truth and I really do want to know what you believe on this issue and why.”

Well, you should have seen her face. She looked completely taken aback. From this point, Heather and I started a 15 minute conversation about abortion: what she believed and why she believed it. I hated the conversation ended so soon when she suddenly realized the time and said she was going to be late for class.

Heather asked me,

“Are you going to be around this afternoon?”

I told her,

“Absolutely!”

I often tell people, I wish I had two pictures of Heather. One picture of the Heather I first met on that day and another of the Heather who came back a couple hours later. She looked and acted like a whole different person.

Her statements went from, “I believe this about abortion…” to “So, I was asking a friend about abortion after class…” She not only was examining her beliefs, but she was questioning others and actively seeking out truth.

And that’s what the Justice For All training program is all about. "Train thousands to make abortion unthinkable for millions, one person at a time."

Will you join me?