Designing The Kingdom

I've only been in Colorado for 10 days and am already falling in love with the state as I dive into my internship with Engineering Ministries International! My first week here was spent tucked away at a retreat center with all the new staff and monday began my first day in the office downtown.  

Exploring the Garden of the Gods with Interns

Orientaton was amazing.  I spent the week with 16 other interns and about a dozen full-time staff heading to EMI's expanded office in Uganda.  I am working with 8 of the interns out of EMI's Colorado Springs Office while the other 8 interns are heading off to work in the Ugandan, Indian, and Candaian field offices.  Our schedule was packed between seminars on poverty, cultures, and the unique work of design in missions as well lots of small group discussions on how God has uniquely gifted and shaped all of us to work towards his Kingdom.  Design, diversity, discipleship are three of the primary principles guiding EMI as we seek to invest in Christ's work with head, hands, and heart. We got to hear from a lot of perspectives and firsthand experiences of men and women who had led and served on projects all over the world.  Cross-cultural design work and missions are very multi-faceted and require a great deal of intentionally and adaptability in order to truly enable and impact communities within their native environment.  I've been discovering how engineering work gets less technical but a whole lot more interesting and challenging when you step away from western culture!  Who would've thought? :)

If there was anything that I was truly surprised with during my first week here it was with how much discipleship is taken to heart and how inviting and engaged the staff at EMI are.  I don't think I have felt so welcomed into a community with a new sense of belonging since being a part of the Summer Staff at Twin Rocks Friends Camp. My small group quickly became quite close as we shared our life stories with each other and processed what we were learning about our gifts, calling, and God's unique nature revealed through the diversity of culture. I got to hear so many amazing testimonies about God's incredible work around the world and had the opportunity to briefly share my own as well!

I'm excited to make this place home as I learn more in the office, begin mentoring, and travel to Trinidad in 2 weeks! The official dates of our project trip our Feb 11-20th.  As of now I'm being trained in some of the basic work and testing I will do in country.  Once back in the office I will be working mostly with AutoCad to draft the engineering drawings and models for our master plan.  I'm grateful for the friendships already being formed with my fellow interns and staff and for the opportunity to pursue more internationally in a couple of weeks!

Thank you for all of your prayers! God is clearly moving powerfully amongst this ministry and I've been amazed by the depth of community and relationships ive already found here!