DrewMcNeil.com

My parents have always been consistent in reminding me to check my antifreeze when cold weather is approaching. You would think by now I wouldn’t need to be reminded. I did check mine this morning. It’s fine. But I find myself wanting to put a little extra in because this week, my car is experiencing winter for the first time in its 12 year history. I’m in Ohio. I drove here from Chicago, by way of Muncie, Indiana. Tomorrow I’ll go to Cincinnati and then head home. It’s cold up here. I have several friends in this area that I don’t get to see often. I’d been promising to come visit for a while, and finally this week I decided to make the trip. It’s been great. But yesterday when I woke up and there was 3 inches of snow on the ground, I really wished I had made this trip a little sooner. And this morning when the street where Brad and Courtney live was covered with ice, I decided I needed to (carefully) make my way to Autozone to make sure my car was more prepared for this than I was. It’s fine. The only problem I have is that my heat doesn’t work. But I already knew that. Again, this is where I have to recognize that my timing for this road trip was just poor.

But aside from the weather, it’s great to be with these friends again. I am blessed to have good friends that God is using all over the country. All over the world, really. It’s not often that I get to see most of them. So I’m grateful for any opportunity. Soon I won’t be able to do something like this. I’ll be on the other side of the world. And that’s hard. But at least there I don’t have to worry about driving in the snow.

And I discovered this weekend that it gets even colder if you go farther north. I met a girl from Canada who grew up where it’s very common on a winter day in January for the temperature to be 30 below, and it can get as cold as 50 below. But the coldest she had experienced was when visiting family even farther north where it hit 70 below. I looked at weather.com when I got up yesterday and it was 23 degrees in Muncie. that’s 93 degrees warmer than it could be in Canada. Putting that in perspective, that’s the same difference you would feel if you went from 116 degree heat, to Muncie Indiana yesterday morning.

I never knew I could be so thankful for Mississippi winters.

I’m going to see if I can’t breathe life back into this blog. March to December. That’s a pretty long dry spell. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write about. Half that time was really busy. Half of it was really slow. But no one who knows me well enough to read this blog doesn’t already know most of that anyway. It would take too much time to catch up, so I’ll just start new right here. The post on Worship is from a draft of a prayer letter that I just sent out. Those thoughts got removed from the blog to save space.

I think I’ve learned a lot about what joy is, and where we should find it. The next step will be to learn how to take that knowledge and apply it. As I learn about joy, I am also evaluating my definition of worship. As I share about missions in Italy, I often borrow a pastor’s statement about why missions exist. “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” It helps to know a little of this pastor’s theology, summarized best in his statement that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” That satisfaction in Christ is necessary to find true joy in Him. And worship, I believe, is the outward expression of our joy. Sometimes it’s in song, sometimes it’s in prayer, sometimes it’s in deed. But I think it ought to always come from the heart in a desire to praise God for who He is. And I think I’m not very good at that. But I want to learn to be. I remain convinced that when any person understands God’s character even just a little bit, then our natural response is praise. And I think the failure to worship is always tied to a misunderstanding about God. And I think the more we learn about God, the more we will want to worship Him. I guess that’s why it’s so important to continue to learn more, to grow, and to be sanctified. I think it’s a process that will teach us to worship better and better until we see God face to face and the worship just pours out naturally, loudly, and uncontrollably. I long for that day. I long to see some of my Italian friends worshiping with me.

MAGIC FORMULA FOR REACHING ITALIANS WITH THE GOSPEL (with a short discourse on the Italian culture)
In this culture, the most common worldview is that God exists and he is the creator, and we as people our main goal is to be good.  Good people.  That’s what God wants.  From this perspective, lives can be lived in a wide variety of ways, and all of them are equally valid.  Going to church is almost always a good thing.  (even those who hate the church here would not discourage anyone from attending if it makes them feel good — but they might discourage someone from giving to the church because many of them believe that the church and the priests are only interested in money)  Helping others seems to be one of the highest values.  Beyond this, opinions vary greatly.  Actually, this would probably apply in most of the world.

So from this perspective, an Italian who hears the Gospel message that God loves him and Christ died for him, might readily respond that this Gospel is beautiful and he may even say he agrees with it.  But generally that doesn’t mean he understands it.  The critical element that seems to be missing is for the Italians to understand their NEED for the Gospel.  It’s the fundamental principle of Romans 3:23 that no one is good.  It’s the idea most critical to understanding the part of the sermon on the mount when Jesus talked about entering the kingdom of heaven, telling those who had done many great works, ” I never knew you;  depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  (Matt 7: 21-23)  It’s the truth that Jesus’ death doesn’t HELP us enter God’s presence, (as many people here believe) it’s the only WAY for it to happen.   And the reason for that is that no one is good.  No one meet’s God’s standard of goodness (or righteousness).  So the magic formula basically helps people see that a Savior isnt’ simply a good thing to have, it’s essential.  Seeing Christ as Essential completely changes the way most Italians understand the Gospel. 

How can they see this?  How can we help them understand?  We take them directly to the Scripture. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  Heb 4:12
First, it’s important to explain that no one is good even from a worldly standard.  I’m sure some of you are familiar with this method.  The Liar test:  Have you ever lied?  what do you call someone who lies?  A Liar.  Then you are a Liar.  So am I.  I’m a big fat liar.  (It’s kind of amusing at first).  Have you ever stolen something?  piece of candy from a store… a pen from the bank?  You’re a theif.  So am I.  I’m a liar and a thief.  Those things are very selfish, and we are all selfish.  These things, even by the world’s standards, prove to us that we are not good people.  Thieves and Liars.  Then you can go to the Sermonon the Mount.  Matthew 5 shows us examples of being adulterers and murderers just by thinking impure thoughts  (27-30, 21-22).  But really, just one example of sin can be used alongside James 2:10, which says “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  This truth emphasizes the idea that on our own we truly have no hope.  There is no “good person” path to God.  The situation apart from Christ truly is desparate.

From here Galatians 3:10-14 moves further into this truth, and leads on to the beauty of the Gospel.  “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’  Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’  The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, ‘The man who does these things will live by them.’  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by  becoming a curse for us, for it is written:  ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’  He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”  Obviously it needs some explanation, but it seems that in light of our NEED, the idea that Christ became a curse for us takes on a whole new meaning.  Christ taking on my sins because I am in no way able to be good before God otherwise becomes a much more significant event.  When we understand our need, we can appreciate the solution.  Christ died for my sins because God loves me and wants me to spend eternity with him is an even more beautiful message.  The fact that I can know God, that he loves me even in light of how evil I am becomes that much more incredible. 
It’s important also for us as believers to never forget how desparate our need was, and how deep the Love and amazing the Grace of God must be to save us. The Gospel is not just a message for gaining our salvation.  It is true for us every day from now to eternity.

That’s it.  That’s the secret formula.  I wish I could tell you it works every time.  Sadly, many Italians are confronted with the issue of their sin and separation from God and experience no repentance or remorse.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” (1 Cor 1:18) God is sovereign, and He is good.  He will change lives in His good timing.  I’m so thankful the pressure is not on us to be persuasive or convincing.  But it does again remind me of the need for prayer.

I hate to cheat you with this post, but for those of you who get my update emails, this will be nothing new.

We’re coming to the end of the following week.  I can’t think of a better name for this week.  But last week represented such a significant milestone from many facets, and the week after  (this week) just seemed to rush in behind it.  So we’ll call it the following week.  And it’s almost over.  This update would have been more appropriate 5 days ago.  But I’m still recovering.  And things are finally starting to slow down.

One significant bit of news that otherwise would be worthy of it’s own email, but, as is, will get merely a simple comment.  We finally have internet in our apartment after 5 months of waiting.  Sadly, the vonage adapter shorted out when we tried to plug it in, so the US phone number is still at the girls.  But if you have vonage yourself you can call for free, or if you have a calling card or skype or anything like that, you can call our Italian line.  (011) (39) 089 995 0482

VISION TRIP
It came and went, changed the face of our ministry, changed the lives of 7 Italian students, opened new doors on campus for Agape Italia Salerno, and nearly got our team leader arrested.  Maybe I should elaborate.  Easily the busiest week of the year for me, and for the rest of our team.  It flew by.  Every day we were on our feet all day, on campus for about half of it, eating for the other half (we really did have a 4 hour dinner more than once).  55 American students total.  27 for the first half of the week from UCF and MSU, then 28 from Ole Miss for the second half.  I think that’s right.  I lost count.  It was great for our ministry and great for our team.  They brought a lot of American food, some very valuable materials to pass out on campus, and a lot of energy.  That’s what we needed.  It’s easy to lose focus on why we’re here, and going on campus can become routine.  But when 55 new people come in and we’re all of a sudden the experts and having to verbalize the things that motivated us those first days on campus… their fresh perspective can transform our team morale.  And it did.  That, and an obvious moving of the Holy Spirit.  We met a ton of spiritually interested students, really advertized English club so that some days over 30 Italian students came, and presented the Gospel to countless Italians.  I think we’ll be seeing fruit from this week throughout the rest of the year, and probably even longer.

7 NEW BELIEVERS!!
Jutty Valiquette was the summer project director here last summer when 40 students prayed to receive Christ.  This week he was back with the vision trip and there were 7 new believers.  It seems obvious to me, then, that Jutty has solved the mystery of ministry to Italians.  Actually, Jutty was able to share with us some great perspective on sharing in this culture, but I continue to be convinced that God is simply moving on the campus, and more people were praying for Salerno last week than probably any other week of the year.    I’m convinced then that if more people will come, or if more people will begin to be serious about asking the Lord to raise up a movement of Italians, then we will see tremendous fruit, and we will see it soon.  But for those who are convinced that Jutty really is the key to this ministry, I’ll disclose his magic formula in the post script of this email.

ALMOST ARRESTED
I almost forgot to include this detail, and to say I almost got arrested is a gross exaggeration, but I did have a long conversation with the Italian police. One of the disadvatages of being in charge down here is that when the Police come on campus to ask by what authority we are there, the job of giving answers falls to me.  Thankfully, these police were very nice, and I think they understood that the university official who called in the report generally likes to cause problems, and they didn’t take her too seriously.  But we did learn the hard way that to put out tables on campus to distribute information, you must have the proper authorization.  We’ll know next time.

BAR LOVE STORY
That’s the name of the place where we had the midweek party.  I think we had between 70 and 100 Italian students come.  It was really hard to count because there were 65 Americans, and the place was kind of small.  But overall it was a great party.  Matt and Megan Magill came with the Ole Miss group and they played and sang for us all night.  They were a big hit.  Haswell came to speak again, both at the party and the next day on campus.  Both environments were very tough places for him to speak, but he delivered like a champ.  I guess I should clarify that what they call a ‘bar” here in Italy is what we would call a caffe.  Just in case anyone was skeptical of our choice of locations. 

THE RACE
I almost dont’ want to mention anything about the marathon.  It was very disappointing for me.  I ran the first half at my typical long run training pace, and for the most part I felt pretty good.  But soon after I crossed the half way marker, my legs just started to quit on me.  I noticed everyone was starting to pass me, and I just didnt’ have the strength to keep running.  And I realized later that I didn’t have the mental stamina to push through the pain.  So I stopped to walk.  And once I walked a little, I could never start running again, not for more than a kilometer at a time.  The second half of the race took a full hour longer than the first.  So I’ve decided that I have to do it again. But I think I need to rest a while.  For now I have my list of excuses to comfort me.  and a small hope that next time will be better.

PERSONAL UPDATE
I could really use some prayer for my personal walk with the Lord.  I realized this week that I’m really tired.  Marathon and Vision Trip notwithstanding, I should not be this exhausted.  Emotionally and Spiritually, I should have more energy than I do.  I should be more available to serve the team, and to invest in Italians, and to be a good steward of my time here.  But lately, I’ve noticed that I just don’t have the energy to push.  Vision Trip might be an exception because I had so many people around with fresh energy to motivate me.  But kind of like the marathon, I’m in a place where if I have the option to walk, I’m unable to pass it up.  Even with the knowledge that the Holy Spirit will sustain me, I am too easily pulled down onto the road of greater comfort, avoiding challenges and shying away from opportunities to really depend on the Lord.
So tonight I will begin to fast in order to really seek God on what root issues are causing this, and hopefully to experience His presence more deeply.  I dont’ know how long the fast will be.  But I would really appreciate your prayers during this time.

As always, thanks for reading this far.  I think you’re probably in the minority.  But I believe that if you’ve read this far, then you’re really praying for me and you really care.  And for that I am deeply grateful.
Drew

I guess that’s old news now.  here it is almost march and the last post I put on here was Jan 2.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting so close to 30, but it seems that weeks go by much faster now.  Maybe it’s just Italy.

on campus

Almost a month worth of time on campus, and we’re officially back in the swing of things.  One obstacle was that students didn’t start their spring semester until this past monday.  And that’s just certain departments.  Most won’t start until after next week.  It’s a different system over here.  Students have been on campus despite no class because they take their exams during these months.  Again, different system.  I’m still not sure I understand it.

Haswell came back

Yesterday we had our first big outreach of the semester.  For the first time in my experience here, it was completely initiated by Italians.  Pastor Antonio of the church in Battipaglia, also the man primarily responsible for our STINT team being in Salerno as opposed to some other Italian town, was so impressed by the results of the Thanksgiving outreach that he convinced Haswell to come back once a month for the rest of the year.  This week we did a Valentine’s Day theme, and Haswell talked about love relationships.   (He couldn’t make it last week).  Low attendance, but a great message.  I was very encouraged by the involvement of the MLK students.  They did more to prepare for the event than we did.

prayer

I’m really starting to see more clearly just how much greater the role of the Holy Spirit is in ministry, and how much smaller my role is.  It really makes me value prayer.  I wish that this revelation was transforming my prayer life, but I continue to be a slow learner.  But recognizing this truth has made me very optimistic about what God might be doing here.  I’ve been able to step back away from the worries about what I’m doing and what we as a team are doing, and observe a little bit about what God is doing in the lives of my friends.  They really are being convicted by the Gospel.  And not because of our clever strategies or pursuasiveness.  Probably more in spite of those things.  The Gospel is so powerful.  Look at what it has done for so many of us.  That’s no small feat.

Thanks for praying with me and for me.

Drew

Christian soldiers must be as intense in their praying as in their fighting, for their victories will depend much more on their praying than on their fighting.  – EM Bounds

Well, sort of. All of us have our visas except Morgan. For some reason hers didnt’ arrive Saturday like the rest of our team. And since the mail hasn’t run since then, we’re not sure if that was just a postal issue or visa issue. We’re praying it’s a postal issue and that it will arrive tomorrow.

That means our plane tickets booked for Jan 10 out of Miami will not need to be changed and we’ll be back in Italy a week from Thursday.

Our team was finally able to reconnect at Christmas Conference this past week in Atlanta. Across the board we’ve all had challenging times at home, and we all have mixed emotions about going back next week. We’ve all seen first hand why they don’t allow first year stinters to come home during their term. I’ll try to explain. As a team we had learned a lot about community, but we know we still have a ways to go. We had a very busy, very tiring first semester, and most of us have had relaxing time at home with friends we know really well, relationships we’re comfortable with, and environments that are familiar. Going back to a full, if not overwhelming, schedule in a foreign culture with a team that by design stretches and challenges relationships doesn’t seem as appealing as it did in August. The excitement of the unknown is gone because the unknown is now known. The reality of STINT is what we face now, and the motivation is not as strong. We could all probably use some encouragement if you have a second. Use the links on this page to leave comments on their blogs or send them emails. I know we’d all appreciate it.
I think part of the low desire to return is just the reality I described. But I think another part of it is spiritual attack, and we could definitely use prayer against that. We definitely saw evidence when we were in Atlanta of the Enemy planting seeds of lies to divide us or discourage us or make us feel isolated. Some of those lies were very effective. But we will not be defeated. We have the power to overcome the enemy. We would really appreciate your prayers.

One highlight of my time at home was a trip to Lambert’s. 4 of us were all that remained committed from the original group that was large enough that we were talking about getting a church van to make the 3 and a half hour trek to Sikeston, MO. It’s a tradition among friends of mine that I try to uphold at least once a year. We drive up, eat, visit the grave of the restaurant founder, and drive home. Everyone should try it at least once. This year’s menu selection might have been the best, but also the most unrealistic. I’ve had large meals there before, but this 40 oz center cut ham easily surpassed all others. Maybe it wasn’t 40 oz (maybe it was more), but it filled the entire bottom of a large skillet and was at least a full inch thick throughout. I recommend it. It’s the only item on the menu with XXL beside it.

Time at home was great. There were 3 new family members in my house for Christmas this year. 3 marriages brought them in. I’m glad I was able to be here for that. I should include more details, but it was a pretty calm Christmas. I mostly included this update just so no one would think that in spending my Christmas with my family the only highlight worth mentioning was the ham from Lambert’s.

We’ve been in America for a week now.  Strangely it seems like much longer.  I was talking with some people on my team about how strange the transition is coming home.  I feel like there is no transition.  There’s Italy, and there’s America.  Totally different worlds.  Right now Italy seems like a long way off, and a long time ago.  The same thing happened to America when I got to Italy in September. No connection between.  When I arrived in Salerno, it felt normal.  When I came back home last week, it felt normal.  I don’t understand it, but that’s the best way I can describe it.  And when i say normal, my stomach would disagree.  It is much happier in Italy - not so much for the way things taste, but for the way they feel afterward.  It’s best if I don’t elaborate.

Our time in Miami went really well.  We flew in Tuesday night, and caught a shuttle to the hotel.  Wednesday we rested, and thursday we met with the lawyer who took us to the consulate and walked us through the application process.  Thankfully, she’s from ITaly and knows Fabbio, the guy at the consulate who has helped us get our visas in the past.  We were in and out in less than 20 minutes.  He said he should get them processed and in the mail by the end of this week.  It couldnt’ have gone any better.  We still don’t have the visas in hand, but we should know within a few days whether we’re going back in January or waiting until March.  Thanks for your continued prayers.  God’s provision is both abundant and good.
As soon as we left the consulate, we went to the airport to rent two cars to go along with the one Adam’s parents brought down from Kissimmee, so that we could get all our luggage up to Orlando where Jutty and Abbey and some students from UCF Crusade (one of our partnership campuses) had arranged places for us to stay for a few days to relax and enjoy some good team time and evaluate the semester.  Paul Mayer also came down as our coach to help encourage us during that time.  They even arranged for us to spend a day at Disney World for free.  Like the rest of the semester, it was a lot busier than we planned, but we had some good team time, ate some good american food, and were still able to slow down a little before going home.

NOw I’m in Auburn with a rental car that needs to be in Birmingham by tomorrow at noon.  I still dont’ know how I”m getting to Tupelo from there.  If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.  I have a few options, but all of them so far involve people going out of their way to take me places or pick me up.  There’s one potential option that has me going north, south, north, southwest, then north again and will get me home on Saturday.  But most of that is still up in the air.  So if anyone is going from Birmingham to Tupelo between now and saturday, I would really appreciate a ride.  Another potential obstacle is the 150 lbs of luggage I’m carrying with me.  I know this seems really irresponsible.  Just for the record, I would never do this if I weren’t travelling alone.   I can already see people doubting my ability to lead a team of missionaries with so little foresight and wisdom.  Either that or you’re amazed at my great faith.

The story is really long about why I’m going home.  I considered creating some kind of elaborate tale about conflict with national leadership or perhaps a sketchy relationship with an Italian girl, but I know jokes like that don’t always translate so well over the internet, so I think it’s best if I just fill you in on the real story.

Yes, I’m going home soon.  Sometime in December I’ll be back in Tupelo, and I’ll be able to spend Chrismas with my family.  I really can’t tell you how good that feels.  But there is a feeling of disapointment at the same time, because we’re having to miss some valuable time on campus, and some valuable team time over the holidays.

ok, so as I read back over this, I realize that i’ve neglected to clarify that I’m coming back here.  My time here is far from finished.  I should be back in January, but that’s not certain at this point.

Right, you want the story.  Remember how I was asking for prayer about our visas?  We still need those prayers.  And now I can fill you in so that you’re able to pray more specifically.  When we leave Italy, we will fly straight to Miami to apply for religous visas at the Italian Consulate.  This is the same kind of visa I had during my previous two STINTs here.  Since I last came, the laws have become more strict for both entering and staying in Italy.  The laws for staying here require that we stay only 90 days without a visa, and when we leave we must remain outside the country for an additional 90 days, meaning we have to be gone by Dec 7, and can’t return until March 7 without a visa.  The laws for entering require recipients of religious visas to be ordained ministers of a religious order.  Fortunately, since I am on staff full time with CCC, I qualify.  The challenge, and great prayer need, however, is for the rest of my team who is not on staff, and are at the mercy of the Italian government who may decide to declare them ineligible.  If that happens, well… Let’s just pray that doesn’t happen.

So, I’m thankful for the opportunity to come home for a while and spend Christmas with my family.  But at the same time, this isn’t great news for us, or for the ministry (at least from our limited point of view… who knows what God has planned in this).  We’ll fly to Miami and spend some time there going through the application process, and possibly debriefing and evaluating the semester as a team.  After that, we’ll be free to go home.  Speaking of, is anyone driving any particular leg of the journey from Miami to Tupelo within the first few weeks of December?  I have a crazy plan of not flying, but bumming rides all the way home.  Let me know if you can help.

Gayle continues to amaze us all.  Each day on campus we have someone who just prays the entire day.  Gayle was doing that on Tuesday, and while she had stopped to talk to Francine, two Italian girls called them over to talk.  So they did, and a girl named Filomena prayed to receive Christ!  That’s 5 for the year.  All 5 with Gayle.

Hopefully I can send a better update soon with prayer requests for our last few weeks here, partnering with the Christian student group MLK, our thanksgiving dinner outreach, and a description of my first Italian wedding.  Please continue to pray, especially for our visas.  Thanks.

Seems like every time I send out an update email or post on this site, I immediately have more news of a new believer. Irma responded to the Gospel with faith yesterday as she met with Gayle and Sarah Love and Francine. If you’re keeping track, Gayle is officially an evangelism machine. That’s 4 for the semester, all with Gayle present, and 3 for Sarah Love.

I thought we might have another as I took the train to Rome yesterday morning with Gianluca (I was going to pick up Morgan from the airport — she went home for her sister’s wedding). I didn’t intend to have a travelling partner, but at 5 in the morning he and his dad needed help with the tickets, and I was the only person available. As far as I could undertand, he was on his way to try out for an Italian version of American Idol. I just talked to him and he didn’t make it. But I showed him several passages of Scripture and as far as I could tell, he believed. But right now I’m not sure how clearly he understood. But I talked to him today. (He didn’t make it on the show) But we’ll meet again when i get back from Florence. Please pray for him this week.

There’s also a guy named Joe (Gio - Giuseppe) who met Justin the other day and has called him everyday since. Last night he read the 4 laws booklet and really agreed. We also just discovered that his roommate is Luigi, who became a believer when I was here before. They live in an apartment with 6 other guys, and we’re hoping to begin a weekly Bible Study there.

Lots of plans in the works. Much prayer needed. Still can’t find half of the new believers from the summer project. Much prayer needed. Because of our visa situation, we have to leave the country by December 7th, and it’s not guaranteed that we can return. Ok, it’s not really all that scary, but still much prayer needed.

It’s been a while since my last update.  It may be just as long before the next one.  It seems like since we started going on campus I haven’t stopped moving.  Thankfully, the Lord is moving as well, and we have some encouraging things to share.

Most notably, 3 students have prayed to receive Christ since we arrived.  Nunzia, Paola prayed with Gayle and Kat and Sarah Love on Monday, and the next day Gayle and Adam witnessed Francesco pray the same prayer.  It’s so great to see fruit in such a tangible way.

That was almost 2 weeks ago, and we haven’t seen as much success since.  In fact, our conversations have been a little discouraging overall.  And we’ve had trouble connecting with the new believers from the Summer Project.  We’re still missing contact information for several of them, and for others the information was wrong.  But some have been very excited to meet our team.  Not excited enough to come to an event, though.  We’ve had three gathering events fail pretty miserably in terms of attendance.  But we trust that the Lord is sovereign.

This week we’ll go to Florence for a national training conference.  All Italy Campus staff will attend, and possibly some students, if any are available to miss class from Wednesday to Friday.  It will be the first time all of the STINT teams have gathered together in Italy.  I’m not sure we’ll have the pleasure, but I’m really hoping to hear Haswell Beni tell us how beautiful our feet are.

General summary of the last few weeks.  Last weekend we went on a spiritual retreat as a team.  We chose an agriturismo outside Caserta, about an hour and a half from Salerno.  Agriturismo is Italian for “this place has amazing food because it’s a farm/hotel/restaurant where all the food they serve is grown/raised on their land.”  Did I mention this was a prayer and fasting retreat?

Otherwise we’ve done a lot of initiating, met a lot of students, forgotten their names, had some awkward conversations between Americans and Italians where verbal communication wasn’t much of an option, and squeezed in some really good team time.

We also finally all got our Permits to Stay.  All 10 of us.  We went out to a special restaurant to celebrate and thank the Lord because it felt like that big of an accomplishment.   But our VISA situations are still very complicated, and may involve a trip back to America to apply.  This issue is bigger than we realized, and we really need specific prayer for favor in the eyes of the Italian Consulate.

And we now have a mailbox.  Encouraging letters and packages are now an option.  We dont’ know how long it will take, but if any of you care to experiment, we’ll be happy to help.

Drew McNeil

via Portacatena 47

84100 Salerno

Italy

The Gallos apartment situation has been resolved. They didnt’ find a new place. in fact we looked at several places that helped them to see how nice their place actually is. The problem still remained with the foul odor coming from the sink, however. But yesterday we finally convinced the landlord to call a plumber to come look at it. As soon as he saw it, he knew the problem, it was missing some crucial tubing that would prevent the odors. Half an hour later, our prayers for the Gallos apartment were answered.

Also, we have all the documents we need to get the legal permits to stay in Italy. Within the next few days that problem should be cleared up as well. But please pray for that process.

One more thing. I’m adding the links to the blogs of my teammates. They have pictures. I’ve been having trouble loading pictures onto this site. Plus I don’t have my camera.

Oh yeah… I cut all my hair off. There’s a picture on one of the blogs. I have before and after shots if you’re interested. Just email me.