Design, Discipleship, Diversity

Jacob and I at Red Rock Amphitheater

I leave for Trinidad tomorrow!  Our project team is made up of 15 people.  Jacob and I are the two interns, along with our project leader Rex and his wife Sally, we make up the Engineering Ministries International members of the team.  We will be joined by nearly a dozen other professional engineers and architects for the 10 days at Victory Heights Bible Camp, including 2 local engineers from Trinidad.  Over the course of the trip we will be meeting daily with local ministry leaders to hear their vision for expansion, evaluating their current survey and site, conducting soil and water tests, and developing preliminary architectural drawing(s) for the multi-purpose auditorium we’ll be designing as well as any other upgrades we recommend to the facility.  I will be working closely with a couple of other structural and civil engineers.  I am very excited for this opportunity to travel, engage cross-culturally, learn from some new perspectives, and serve where needed as I’m able.  One of the aspects I have been growing to appreciate the most about EMI is the emphasis placed upon prayer and seeking to engage others in a way that understands their needs from their own perspective as we seek to equip them.  

Over the last couple of weeks I have been trained in several of the programs we use, been organizing preliminary drawings and reports for our team, and had the opportunity to help finalize a project report for a previous trip to Haiti. I enjoy dressing up for work and being in a professional environment, but I have found the pursuit of community and spiritual growth to be even more satisfying.  We open every day here in a time of devotion and prayer for our different offices and projects around the world and each Friday afternoon we spend a couple of hours serving at a local food bank known as Marion House.  Between traveling, work in the office, off-work adventures, and opportunities to serve we get to stay pretty active and engage with a large variety of other people.  I haven't had to cook for myself much yet, as a different full-time staff member invited all of us interns over for dinner each night our first week so we could get to know them and their families.

This last week was finally a bit slower, as we adapted to life in the office and many of the other interns began to leave for their project trips.  Our EMI office here in Colorado  is working on projects in 6 countries this term and we have already sent teams out to Haiti, Tanzania, and the Dominican Republic.  It has been exciting to hear some of the stories from abroad and has made Jacob and I all the more eager to step out ourselves.  We've had a bit more time to explore and have some fun with other staff during this week finding opportunities to go skiing at Mt Copper, and explore the Red Rock Amphitheater near Denver.   

Since arriving here, I have been praying through and journaling goals that I have over the next 3 months. 3 of the guiding principles at EMI are Design, Discipleship, and Diversity—all of which are areas that I want to pursue and grow in as I intern.  It is my hope to explore, observe and practice what it looks like to perform engineering design work as a profession cross-culturally and missionally. I hope to be able to discern and process over my time here whether the Lord is guiding me into a specific ministry and how He simply present in my life day to day.  I have been pondering recently about how much of the depth of our walk with Him is about more of an ordinary faithfulness each day and less the dramatic and exotic moments that may excite us.  I don’t want to be so caught up while traveling or serving as a “missionary engineer” this term that I miss the little ways I may encounter Him in the lives and circumstances of the everyday.  I am ready and excited to encounter a lot of new things and to have a lot of fun along the way, but I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’s words at the same time:  “It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.”  I don’t want to be so enamored by the view from a mountain top that I miss the details from the dirt below.  

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported and encouraged me so greatly through affirmation, prayer, and giving.  I have raised over 4/5^ths of my support so far and am only a $1000 away from my fundraising goal by mid-May!  If you have not supported me financially yet and would like to do so, please do so through my support page: http://makemypathsstraight.blogspot.com/Supporters