Growing up in Isanti, Kelli Nelson, 35, was immersed in her parish, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, alongside her parents and three siblings.

“My parents were very involved with our church and all the activities; going to church festivals, craft sales, bake sales and pancake breakfasts became a family thing,” Nelson said. “My parents’ generosity of time and spirit — service beyond just showing up at Mass — is something I still admire today. They live their values.”

Nelson’s personal journey of service began while she was a student at DePaul University in Chicago, where she became involved in social and community justice work.

“I was the student director for DePaul’s immersion program, planning student travel over winter and spring breaks for service, reflection, simplicity, community, spirituality and social justice,” said Nelson. “That was a very formative experience, and where my roots in mission lie.”

Following her graduation from DePaul, Nelson headed to Chimbote, Peru, with the Incarnate World Missionaries, serving from 2010 to 2012 as a lay missionary.

“I had a taste of that in college with different immersion experiences, but this was two full years, no coming home, and living within the local community,” Nelson said. “My full-time responsibility was helping women and children impacted by human trafficking — really powerful work led by the Good Shepherd Sisters there.”

Nelson’s mission in Peru was difficult at times. She recalls when a 14-year-old sibling of one of the children she worked with was shot and killed in their neighborhood.

“But I remember often walking away from a long day with such raw and real moments — being with children covered from head to toe in dirt wearing old clothes who had an unending spirit of fun, getting to know people who didn’t have very much yet were so welcoming and generous,” she said. “It was just so real to the core, and I felt humbled and honored to get to know and live with those people.”

“You’ll hear from many missionaries the issues with water and electricity — what do you do when you have several days without running water?” she said. “And there was homesickness — being away from family and missing the milestones.”

Nelson had conflicting emotions as she returned home from her mission. While excited to reconnect with family and friends, she missed the way of life and slower pace of Peru, and the work she had done with families and children there.

“I was 24 years old at the time of my return; I didn’t feel like anything I could have done here would be as meaningful,” she said. “I felt like it had to be as hard and intense as Peru. I was overwhelmed.”

Nelson took a job at a bakery, Bread Art in Bayport, which turned out to be beneficial.

“Making all the bread starts and frosting pastries was so rhythmic, and a way for me to sort through some of the hard emotions,” she said.

After four months at the bakery, Nelson returned to Chicago, working at a domestic violence shelter and then heading back to DePaul, where she earned a master’s degree in nonprofit management.

Today Nelson lives in Cambridge — not far from where she grew up — with her two children and her husband, a native of Peru, whom she met while on her mission. For the past five years, she has served as executive director of From Mission to Mission, a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul that helps people prepare for and process cross-cultural, ministerial and life transitions while continuing their Christian call to mission.

“We are most known for our re-entry and preparation sessions, but I have been most recently doing a lot of work with groups around transitions and intercultural community living, as lay and religious organizations change with the changing mission landscape,” Nelson said.

“This year’s World Mission Sunday theme, ‘Hearts on fire, feet on the move,’ is something we use a lot in our work at From Mission to Mission,” said Nelson. “That’s what mission is, having this encounter that shakes you to the core, and you’ll never see the world the same again.”