Dear Readers, Supporters, and Fellow Missionaries,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
We pray this message finds you all in good health and great joy entering 2026 and we are excited to share some exciting updates/footage of the Mise Lotu renovation project as well as some personal family updates and pictures since our last PNG blog post.
MISE LOTU RENOVATION
You may recall while we were recently serving in PNG that we partnered with our beloved local church, Mise Church of the Nazarene, for a long overdue expansion project. Please click HERE to read the backstory detailed in a previous post.
Thanks to the many generous donors who $ent us to serve at Kudjip March-May 2025, we had extra funds to invest in a number of local needs, one of them being at Mise Lotu. The Spirit of God in this little bush church has captured our hearts over the years that we have served at Kudjip Hospital and we happily consider the Mise Lotu family our “home church” when serving in PNG. On quite a number of occasions we have been asked to help with services by sharing a testimony, leading a song, and by preaching the message.
After we felt called by the Lord to hear more about the Mise Lotu expansion project, Rachel and I were amazed with the professionalism and unity of the church leadership in coordinating business meetings (complete with typed minutes!), church board/elder meetings, and gathering official estimates and invoices for the needed materials. The entire church body agreed to match donations with an impressive promise of their own funds and sweat equity, and we met with a number of veteran Kudjip missionaries to obtain formal approval and their wisdom on best methodology for partnering with a larger local project.
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| Reverend Nelson with Materials |
As briefly outlined in the Blog Post “Your Generosity Multiplied” we purchased Phase 1 materials while serving in PNG for expanding the foundation of the church building, and on the eve of departure from PNG I attended a wonderful ground-breaking ceremony, as depicted below:
One of the church elders helping coordinate the project is David Pia, who is also a nurse manager at Kudjip and a dear friend. Since our departure from PNG, David has regularly sent pictures and videos showing building progress as well as sharing community updates and prayer needs.
With completion of Phase 1 (Foundation) by August 2025, we then raised $4000 in donations from a wonderful community of friends here in Richmond VA to purchase materials for Phase 2 (Walls). These Donations have been going through our church missions account at WEAG so supporters will have the 501(c)(3) benefit. If you feel called to contribute toward completing this wonderful project, Phase 3 (Roof) and Phase 4 (Interior Remodeling) fundraising will be ongoing in 2026-2027.
Please E-MAIL us to get involved!
Thank you donors!
On a final note, we recently learned that communities around/near Mise Lotu were involved in tribal fighting triggered by a local government election. Missionary friends of ours shared a heartbreaking visual of seeing multiple homes on fire one evening across the valley, and casualties being transported across the river the following day to the Kudjip ER. This degree of violence is not uncommon in PNG, but it is rare in the communities nearby Kudjip Station. Please join us in praying for their healing and reconciliation and also for the long term missionaries who care daily for these communities.
HENDERSON FAMILY HIGHLIGHTS
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| Ted's Pediatric practice |
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| Sharing about PNG missions at church |
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| Rachel leading worship - you can tune in LIVE! |
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| Homeschool reading for the year |
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| Our Beloved "Following Jesus" Spiritual Family |
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| Ted's F3 workout brotherhood |
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| Rachel's Homeless Ministry |
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| Solomon LOVES soccer! (and his bestie Jeremiah) |
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| Penniella LOVES to dance! |
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| Ted LOVES hunting! |
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| Family fun in the SNOW! |
FINAL WORDS
We are missing our Kudjip family and had hoped for a 2026 return (converting our trips to annual instead of every other year) but with Ted's practice being down a provider, we will be waiting to return to PNG in early 2027. God continues to enrich our mission work right here in Richmond VA, and we are thankful for following His perfect timing. Now, as a form of benediction and blessing, I would like to echo the Apostle Paul in reflecting how I feel about you all, until the Lord brings us back together again - AMEN!
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God!
Philippians 1:3-11