Category Archives: Remembering

Nelson’s Sister Linnea, Conclusion

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All Christians are called to disciple others. We’re all supposed to influence each other for good. But some people do it more than most, and Nelson is that kind of Christian. (I wonder how many of you reading this right now would say Nelson discipled you in some way? Probably a lot!)

I’m not sure who I would be without my big brother. I definitely would not have gone to YWAM, so I wouldn’t be Adam’s wife and we wouldn’t have our six wonderful kids.

I’m also not sure where I would be spiritually. As a kid, I thought of Christianity as a lifestyle. We were good people and we went to church every Sunday because it was the right thing to do. But Nelson showed me that a true life of faith is so much more than that! It’s an adventure.

It’s about meeting with God when you first wake up. You open your Bible, read and pray, but you also listen. You wait for God to speak, and you trust that He will guide you. You expect that God has good things planned for you, and you look for His hand in every circumstance.

People in YWAM have almost no money, but somehow they go all over the world! I watched Nelson do it and then I did it, too. During my YWAM years, God took me to China, Taiwan, Nepal, India, Japan, Thailand, and New Zealand. In between, I lived in Hawaii and then Montana.

I held the sweetest orphan babies, hiked through the Himalayas, and met Christians who had left everything familiar to be lifelong missionaries overseas.

Those years shaped me in a way nothing else could have. How can you complain about a van without air conditioning after you’ve watched a mother in Calcutta nurse her baby while lying in the gutter on the side of the road on a 90 degree afternoon? I will always be grateful for the gift of YWAM in my twenties and the brother who encouraged me to go.

Right now our children are ages 3 to 13, and they all love their Uncle Nelson. We live way down in Florida, but Nelson still finds a way to visit. He has always gone out of his way for people, including us. Our six year old is named after his uncle, and out of all our kids, little Nel asks me about his Uncle Nelson the most.

I read updates from the blog to the kids in the mornings, and we then pray together for him and Auntie Sophie and baby Will. Even little kids understand the power of Nelson’s thankful spirit right now. Even now in this season of battling cancer, Nelson continues to influence the people who know and love him, always toward God and His faithfulness.

I am thankful to have a little time in Minnesota this week, to chat with Nelson and Sophie and hold baby Will as much as possible! And I’m thankful for the things I’ve learned from my big brother—mostly that a life following God is the best kind of adventure, full of laughter and strong coffee, wild stories in faraway places and friendships that never end.

It’s a life of peace and gratitude even when circumstances are crushingly hard. Nelson has suffered through so much this year, but he is still the Nelson we all know and love. Still strong, still optimistic, still up for a good conversation about what God is doing in our lives.

From Linnea about her brother Nelson

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I owe a lot to my big brother Nelson.

When I went off to college, I began to drift away from the things I had always believed. I used my doubts and questions about God as a reason to basically do whatever I wanted, even things I knew were wrong.

Then during my senior year, Nelson moved to town. He had been out serving at the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) base in Hawaii for several years, but since he was only one year short of his bachelor’s degree, he decided to come back to the Midwest to finish it. The two of us graduated from Anderson University together on the same day in May of 1999.

What a relief that must have been for my dad! Education was a top priority for him and he worked hard to make sure we all had the chance to go to college. Nelson mostly finished school to honor his father, which makes me think of Ephesians 6:2-3: “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.” When I pray for Nelson now, I love thinking about how he has obeyed this command!

During the year we were together at Anderson University, Nelson went out of his way to spend time with me. We would go out for coffee and talk about spiritual things. He never preached at me, but always listened to me without judgment and tried to answer my questions. And he talked a lot about YWAM.

As graduation approached, I had a growing uneasiness about the direction I was going. I felt guilty for some of the choices I was making and wondered if I needed to make a complete break from my life as it was. I began to think maybe God had a better plan for me.

I will admit, I might not have initially decided to try YWAM for holy reasons. But once I got out there, far away from everyone and everything I knew, I could suddenly see my life more clearly—how ungrateful I had been, how self-focused, and how deceitful.

As I read my Bible, listened to the teachings, and talked with my leaders, I realized I was far from who God wanted me to be. And I was a wreck, filled with regret and desperate for God to forgive me and change me. After two months there, I was baptized in the Pacific Ocean off the main pier in Kona, and I knew I would never be the same again.

During those early months on the YWAM base, the same thing happened many times. Someone would mention my brother Nelson, and a new acquaintance would say, “Wait! You’re NELSON’S sister?!” And then suddenly, a virtual stranger would give me a hug and start telling me a story about some crazy adventure they’d had with Nelson in a third world county. I had instant friends everywhere because I was Nelson’s little sister. I loved it.

A year into my time with YWAM, I met Adam, who became my husband. At that point Nelson was living in Nashville and not on the YWAM base, so Adam had never met him, but he knew all about him from the stories his leaders had shared!

(Conclusion tomorrow…)

Q & A with Ann Sophie Nyman 

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What was your background growing up?

I was born and raised in Karlsruhe, Germany, in a loving home with Christian parents. I was an only child and never dreamed I’d marry into a family of 29 people!

Tell us how you and Nelson met.

I had half-a-year before starting my big career as an occupational therapist in Switzerland. I’d been trained for three years in my home town and had had internships in both Germany and Switzerland. I decided to volunteer with Youth With A Mission in Kona, Hawaii, on the Big Island. Little did I know how God was about to change the direction of my life!

Among the many people I met in YWAM was one in particular who was very nice to me and spent lots of intentional time with me. Nelson and I were both on staff there, helping top manage 70 young YWAM campus workers between the ages of 18-25. Nelson and I shared many tasks and got to know each other well in the process. I liked his close relationship with the Lord and his wisdom and his adventurous lifestyle. A friendship between us quickly developed, and in time it turned romantic.

When did you marry?

We got married in Kona, at the ocean’s edge, on August 26, 2017. We’ll be celebrating our 5th anniversary this year.

When did you learn about Nelson’s cancer?

We had just mentioned to each other that this was the happiest time of our lives. We had longed to have a baby throughout our marriage, and finally our little Will was born. Though the birth was traumatic, it had a happy ending, and we were thrilled with our new son.

For several weeks leading up to the birth, Nelson had had a persistent cough with some swelling in his neck. He had seen a doctor, and the doctor thought it was thyroiditis. The medicine they gave him wasn’t helping, and one day his coughing got so bad he went to the Emergency Room.

They admitted him and began testing to see why he was coughing. They found fluid in his lungs and kept him for several days, planning to drain it. I visited him and felt relieved that they’d found the answer to his cough and could fix it. I went home feeling good about it.

Then, on that afternoon, my friend Kari was with me, and we were having fun with the baby. I didn’t notice I’d missed a text and three phone calls from Nelson. The text said, “Tell Kari to stay with you.” I remember standing at the kitchen counter and calling Nelson back. That’s when he told me the doctor thought he had cancer. It was a terrible shock. Thankfully Kari was with me when I got this awful news.

What happened next?

Kari stayed with me, babysitting Will so I could visit Nelson, where children weren’t allowed. She was a tremendous support to me. In the hospital, Nelson’s cousin Luke from Minnesota was urging him to pack up his family and leave Hawaii for better medical care on the Mainland. While Nelson was still sitting in a hospital bed in Hawaii, he went online and found an apartment for us near the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As soon as Nelson was discharged, we packed four suitcases with our clothes and left YWAM and our apartment and everything in it—with two days notice.

How have things gone since you’ve been in Minnesota?

Rochester is a wonderful place that has welcomed us with open arms. Luke is here with all his encouraging support, the weather has been great so far, our apartment is comfortable, Mayo Clinic’s care has been outstanding, and all this time together as a family of three has been wonderful. We used to talk about what it would be like to live on the Mainland, and now we’re getting a chance to find out.

What do you envision in your future?

Right now it seems like we’ve left the earth and are living on another planet. But what I’d really like is for Nelson to see little Will grow up and for us to be together as a family—with several siblings for Will.

I wouldn’t mind putting down roots here if it would help Nelson. I look back at how fast we left the island and all that’s happened in the month since, and I see God moving in all of it. We believe he wants us here, so we want to accomplish whatever work he might have for us to do here. Day-to-day, we are following him.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)