- Missions
Dan Nelson loves rice and beans. He wants rice and beans more often than most people. Even at 8 and 9 years old, he ate arroz y frijoles with delight.
“Whenever you go someplace, they serve you a plate that’s full, a pile of rice and beans,” he said. “It’s my comfort food. You give me a plate of rice and beans and a little dollop of sour cream and I’m a happy boy.”
When he was 2 years old, his family drove a truck from northern Minnesota to Minas de Oro, Honduras. They were heading there to serve Christ.
The family ministered there until Nelson was 11. Then, they started a church in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Now, he lives in Guadalajara, Mexico, with his wife, MeLinda, and their adopted son, Marcos. But there are still arroz y frijoles everywhere he goes. So, he’s been a happy boy for a long time.
However, rice and beans, tasty as they are, have nothing on the delight in Nelson’s heart when a new Christian prays.
“What really drives me, what pumps me up is when I have the opportunity to lead someone to Christ and hear that first prayer,” he said.
Crossing the border, hearing the call
In Mexico, just across the Rio Grande, Latino children swarm college students from America.
Years ago, a Mexican pastor heard five American college students on a musical ministry tour, including Nelson. So, he invited them to the orphanage. The children zoomed into Nelson’s arms as soon as the music ended.
“It was at this point where God said, ‘See Dan, this is why I’ve given you the experiences I have ― so you can do this.’”
Related: How to become a missionary
He knew then he was called into ministry, and not because of who his parents were. No, this call was for him.
“It’s not for nothing that you speak Spanish, that you like rice and beans,” God went on to tell Nelson.
MeLinda Nelson is Dan’s strong partner in ministry
Born in Guatemala to missionary parents, MeLinda Nelson traveled in a trailer throughout the Latin American country. Her father was an itinerant evangelist who loaded up a tent, movie projector and podium for every trip.
“He would hold tent meetings during summers and show movies and preach all down through Central America,” she said.
Related: Converge ministry in Latin America
Dan met MeLinda at a boarding school in Oklahoma that frequently educates children of global workers. It was there that she felt called into missions.
They both attended Moody Bible Institute and started dating before they graduated. When she and Dan got serious about their future together, MeLinda had a straightforward request: don’t make me live in a trailer or a mobile home.
“It wasn’t that hard. I’ve never been able to afford a trailer,” he joked.
After they finished college, they moved to Denver so Dan could get a master of divinity degree. They planted two churches there, including a congregation of Hispanics.
Then, in 2006, the Nelsons went to Mexico to continue a ministry to Latin Americans. First, they planted a church in Guadalajara. Five years ago, the Nelsons shifted their ministry into their current leadership role.
How is God active from Mexico to Argentina?
Now, Nelson oversees all global workers in Latin America. He works with them to set strategies and offers them mentoring and training. In addition, he recruits international workers and prayerfully researches the least-reached regions or groups from Mexico to Argentina.
He’ll be making a trip to Peru as part of the Quechua Initiative in May or June of 2022. The Quechua people are one of the world’s least-reached communities.
Moreover, Nelson is seeking a leader for that initiative and the Bajio Initiative to serve people in the Guadalajara area.
Both of these leadership needs are a prayer request, the Nelsons said.
Related: Pray for Converge global workers, church planters, chaplains and staff. Download the 2022 Converge prayer calendar. (PDF)
Violence, blended religious ideas and disillusionment
Currently, Guadalajara is one of the more violent cities in Mexico because of wars between drug cartels. Even so, there are six million people packed into the city, many of them with advanced education in computers and technology.
The Guadalajara area is the Silicon Valley of Mexico, Nelson explained.
The spiritual values of people in the region are a mix of folk religion influenced by pre-Aztec or Aztec philosophies and Catholicism.
“One hundred percent would say they believe in Jesus, heaven and hell, but they have no idea if they’re good enough to get to heaven or not,” he said. “People try to do it in their own strength. Most people are pretty sure they’re not good enough. But they‘re going to keep trying or just give up and quit going to church.”
Related: Assisting ministry partners in Latin America
Those that have stopped attending church are disillusioned, he said. Nevertheless, Nelson knows God steadily pursues all men and women.
“I talk to them about a personal relationship with Christ,” he said. “They feel they have a personal relationship with Mary, Jesus’ mother, but they don’t feel God is a personal savior. He’s a God who’s demanding and requiring them to do certain things and jump through certain hoops.”
Correcting that perception through the gospel is why Converge emphasizes starting and strengthening churches and sending global workers. Local churches help people meet, know and follow Jesus.
Sending global workers from Mexico
The Nelsons’ church in Guadalajara is sending global workers to Central Asian country Kyrgyzstan.
The Guadalajaran man being sent to spread the gospel grew up on a farm growing chiles. But now, he and his wife and children will serve people in the former Soviet republic.
Related: Reaching out to share the gospel worldwide
Nelson’s heart fills when he sees global workers go or share the gospel or start a church. Even though he’s an American on the outside, he feels like a Latino on the inside.
“It always feels a little more like home when I’m here,” he said. “I truly do love the Latin American people. They’re my people, even though I don’t look anything like them.”
I’d like some more of that
Nelson is eager to have many more plates of rice and beans with these people he loves so much. He learned as a young boy that a good hijo cleans his plate.
When he did, he learned a valuable lesson: every time you empty your plate, the warm, generous people bring you more.
He’s hoping God does the same with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. He wants to hear many more prayers from mouths that just discovered the mercies of God.
“To hear them express their thanks for their newfound forgiveness, that’s really what keeps me focused, that’s what it’s about,” he said.
Converge International Ministries is praying for a gospel movement among every least-reached people group – in our generation. Learn how Converge can help your church reach the nations with the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
