Welcome to neelys.org !

We posted the February edition of the International YWAMer last week.  A little late, due to technical difficulties, but a great issue on the topic of evangelism and how our mission is changing the ways it tells people about Jesus.  Read it yourself at : www.internationalywamer.org .  I’ve had a great time today going through the feedback that came in over the weekend, mostly from people telling their own stories about how they try to show people that Jesus loves them where they are at - in suburban America or rural China or red light districts in Thailand.  As I was doing the exercises meant to convince my muscles they aren’t as old as they think they are, I was reflecting on the enormous privelege it is to edit a publication which so many people, from so many nations, contribute to and which is seen all over the world by more people from more nations.  I stopped exercising in order to write down my thoughts on how the internet has truly brought the world to our fingertips. 

Sometimes, I don’t want to know.  When the net brings stories like one we posted on www.ywam.org today about the suffering of a friend, I get a sick feeling and just want to close my eyes and make it go away.  Were we ever meant to be aware of all the sadness and all the sickness and all the tragedy that we are confronted with every time we click on a news site?  Maybe not.  Hopefully ywam.org and the IY counterbalance that burden with news that brings hope, demonstrates the goodness of God, and reminds us that todays news is old tomorrow, but our eternity stretches before us in glorious promise. 

At any rate, I love that this role enables me to exercise (get it ?) my gift of nosiness.  I’ve always loved meeting new people and I get to do that on a much bigger level via Facebook and twitter and all sorts of other social networking services which I surf in the name of research!  For example, I met this lovely lady working in Rwanda today - she serves at a primary school started by YWAM there, and she tells the most beautiful stories of her experiences which I can’t wait to publish. I met her at her blogsite, of course, just like you are meeting me here at mine!

Right, it’s getting late.  Here’s a few photos from Jeff’s trip to India.  He’s still more of a reality kind of a guy, living in a virtual world, a fact for which I am immensely grateful.

The streets of Pune

Students on the SIS

The SIS kitchen - better food than we have!

What a week!  England has had the most severe snowstorms they have seen for 18 years!  Not a lot of snow to you, but this island does not have the infrastructure to deal with as much snow as we’ve seen in the last few days.  The kids have been off school for four days, and more snow is forecast on Monday.  We have been hunkered down, going out to build snowmen and enjoy the beautiful frosty trees in between moaning about cabin fever and boredom!  To add to the general sense of being cut off, our servers were hacked into early this week and the phone engineer has been unable to get here to fix it so - no email either! 

A few texts from Jeff indicate he is well in India, sorry to miss the snow (easy for him to say!) and in meetings now with other leaders.  He comes home on Tuesday - if the airports are open!

The scene from our doorway

The kids are making the most of it!

While Jeff is enjoying tropical temperatures in India, we have had the worst snow seen in this area in 18 years!  The Canadians and Colorado readers will laugh to know that 10 inches of snow shuts down the country but when you don’t have snow ploughs or snow tires or even snow boots, what else can you do?  The kids are enjoying two days off school and hoping for more. 

It’s always a struggle to drag yourself back to routine after the Christmas holidays.  All that good food and relaxation is intoxicating.  But we made ourselves come home, and are battling jet-lag in order to start a productive new year.

It was a brilliant Christmas in Colorado.  Despite the lack of snow, the kids did get up to the foothills for a little sledding and Samuel got to try snowboarding! We hung out a lot with Jeff’s brother’s family and the cousins went ice-skating, mini-golfing, to the movies and made a lot of memories.  We met up with some old and new friends and enjoyed being at our Denver church again.

At the Christmas lights at Denver Zoo.

Later this month Jeff is off to India with a friend from the partnership.  This is the first of not-as-many trips as last year!  He’ll be gone for two weeks, travelling mainly in the north to visit church planting teams and partner agencies.  But first, we’re going to try and finish unpacking and get ourselves back on English time.  Stay in touch for more news and email us at : tneely@oval.com

I’m just so excited about them that I want to direct your attention to some of the stories on our www.ywam.org website!  One of my jobs in YWAM Global Communications is helping to keep the news section updated here, and with YWAM staff in almost every nation on earth, we usually have someone close by when a big event happens.  Want to know what God is doing behind the scenes at the Mumbai terror attacks?  Or how the situation in Zimbabwe really is for ordinary people?  Or, off the radar of the big news stations, how lives are being transformed by men and women who love Jesus?  Check out www.ywam.org! 

I promise even more stories of hope in the upcoming edition of the International YWAMer e-zine which is due out in 2 weeks.  Subscribe for free at : www.internationalywamer.org

Jeff is in Scotland this week, teaching on Islam at a School of Frontier Missions which is preparing a new group of students to plant churches  in a cross cultural situation among unreached people groups.  Do pray for him and for us! 

We’re off to Colorado in only a couple of weeks!