Welcome to neelys.org !

Me at the first Oval Apple Festival - see the article at www.ywamharpenden.org

Jaela, who makes a much cuter apple!

Samuel and the boys bobbing - or is that bathing? - for apples!

Wow, the month sure flew by!  We have been on the go non-stop since I got back from Kona!  You should be getting a newsletter all about that soon. Let me know if you would like me to send you an email version, if you are too impatient.  Jeff took it with him to Denver, where he has been for the last week, handing over the chairman’s role for the partnership.  He comes home long enough to take a deep breath (one week) and then heads out to Kenya for African partners meeting (email me for more info on those - it’s classified!) for 2 weeks.  Then he’s home for awhile until we go to Colorado for Christmas, so just pray for us to have grace through October.

We had the joy of two special guests in September - one of our longest supporting friends who gave us an excuse to do all sorts of fun tourist trips, and a YWAM friend from way back in our single days, who currently works in India.

Speaking of India, we just issued a prayer alert encouraging believers to pray for the church in that nation, who are enduring violent persecution at the hands of Hindu radicals.  For information, please see the article on www.ywam.org

More updates are coming soon!  Check out www.ywamharpenden.org in a few days for a report on our first ever apple festival, which was a roaring success!  We invited the local community to come and enjoy the fruit of our orchard which grows largely untended at the back of the Oval.  What a fun day - over 200 people came!

There is a lot to write about - and I am.  The second edition of the International YWAMer (www.internationalywamer.com) comes out in two weeks,  things like the prayer alert come up unexpectedly, and there are other regular communcations to produce which keep my fingers flying on the keyboard.  But I love it!  

Jeff and I are praying about a new role for him which would engage him more in YWAM’s work among the unreached, after the last two years of focusing on partnerships.  Please email me if you’d like to know more about that, too!  We are so pleased to have Chris and Laura here now - Chris is working with Jeff in research projects which will improve our strategic efforts out there. 

The kids are off at school and I must head off to the office to talk about insulation and electric bills with our head of property management.  Like you, undoubtedly, we are doing everything we can to reduce our fuel bills, even as we are planning improvements to the site to accomodate our growing numbers of staff and students.  At present, we have over 100 students on site for schools and seminars, which is pushing our resources to their limits!  God is good!

Hawaiian dancing at the welcome ceremony

  Jet-lag has me up early enough to enjoy the Hawaiian sunrise, but most of the days are filled with meetings - in groups and with individuals to collect the most amazing stories of God’s work among YWAM international.  Find out more about what we’re doing here at ywam.org - there are daily reports and even a you-tube video.

After an 18-hour journey, I made it to Hawaii! Our meetings don’t start until tonight so a few of us from “Team Harpenden” took advantage of the time to catch some sun and sand…after all, it would be a shame to come all this way and not see the beach! 

Hawaii is something else.  It’s a little disconcerting to realise you are perched precariously on a tiny rock in the middle of this enormous ocean.  But it is beautiful, and the YWAM centre here is pretty impressive, too.  Kona is our largest training centre, and the old hotel we purchased here has many different DTS and training programs going on at any one time, with hundreds of students.  I’m having fun catching up with all the old friends Jeff usually gets to see when he travels and trying to focus around the jet-lag on the task ahead - summarising what God does at this event where YWAM leaders are seeking His direction and strategising on how to implement His word.

Jeff is also having a productive time in Washington with the team working on global trends in their focused evangelistic efforts.  It also sounds like the kids are doing well and having fun hosting parties at the flat in our absence!  I’m not sure how much time I’ll have in the next week to blog, but I thank you for your prayers - the flight was smooth and peaceful.  Let’s see what happens next!