First Week in the Office

Sorry this post is a little late. I am going to try to get at least one out per week on Monday or late Sunday night, but this week was pretty slow. The Colorado Springs interns spent this week in office orientation. Most of our time was spent in the conference room learning about design conventions and fun stuff like that. I have been learning how to use Google SketchUp, which is pretty handy for 3d modeling. I practiced by re-developing a model of a clinic in Gabon from a few years ago (pictures below).

More importantly, I learned a little more about the project I will be working on in Uganda. But first, I’ll give you a little background on how eMi works (or at least how I understand it). Typically, a pre-existing ministry reaches out to eMi to fulfill a design need that they have. They usually have a grand vision for where God is leading their ministry but need technical expertise to make it happen. That’s where eMi comes in. Through meetings with the ministry, we develop a master plan in the form of a report that delineates in broad terms how their grand vision will be executed and ultimately completed. The concept of a “master plan” is common to secular engineering firms as well except that eMi incorporates Christ into the actual writing of the report. Using data gathered onsite, the master plan prioritizes project goals and sub-projects, creates a tentative timeline for project completion, and highlights technical obstacles that must be overcome for a successful completion. Hopefully, the ministry then opts to continue to partner with eMi to carry out the specific design necessary to complete each portion of the project. This is essentially what is happening in Uganda.

Restoration Gateway (RG) was a ministry started in 2004 by a few men who met to pray underneath a tree. Their vision was to create a place that not only provided housing and food for orphans, but also gave them the skills they needed to be productive members of society. With the help of a few donors, these men bought the tree under which they used to pray as well as 500 acres of land. In 2012, eMi sent a team to Karuma, Uganda to meet with RG. The result of this visit was a master plan that outlined increased orphan housing, educational facilities, agricultural development and a hospital among other things. Now, eMi is returning to do the design work on the hospital portion of their vision. You can find out more about this ministry at (http://www.restorationgateway.org/about.php). If you need more evidence that this is a good ministry, their U.S. office is located in Texas!

There were a few other things that happened this week. The first project trip of the semester left on Saturday and I had the privilege of dropping them off at the airport at 4:00am. Work was delayed one day because of snow, but we went in early anyways for some reason. Trust me, your prayers for my safety were felt that morning and I hadn’t even left the country yet (who needs four wheel drive when you have prayer)! Speaking of cold weather, I have done something I told myself I would never do: wear a scarf. I don’t care if I look like a hipster or get made fun of by my family. Tell me you told me so. It is unbelievably cold here in the mornings and I am unashamed. Someone please explain to me how it can be cold enough to wear a scarf in the mornings and warm enough to play Frisbee in the afternoon.

Highlight of the week: We got a really good deal for lift tickets at Copper Mountain on Saturday so we went and spent the day on the mountain skiing and snowboarding. The mountains are an amazing testament to God’s power and creativity. Here is a picture from the top of the mountain. It doesn’t do the sight justice, but I hope that you get a little bit of an idea of the size of the God that we serve. 

Well, I leave for Uganda this coming Thursday. I am not entirely sure what to expect except for God to move and for me to be changed and grown in some way. Your prayers are very much appreciated; keep them coming! I am very excited to see what God has in store and to hopefully learn A LOT.

As always, thank you for those who have donated to make this possible. I have been incredibly blessed!

Blessings,

Ryan

Orientation Week

On Sunday, we arrived at the inn at which we would have our weeklong orientation. All of the eMi interns from across the world gathered here in Colorado Springs for this orientation before we were all sent to our respective offices (even though the inn was only about 30 minutes away from my own office). The interns came from all over North America. We had an Alaskan, a few Canadians, and a few from Alabama (Alabamans?) amongst other places. But I was the only Texan (a fact in which I take much pride). Side note: for the life of me, I don’t know where to put a period when using parentheses at the end of a sentence and I can’t look it up because my apartment, where I am currently writing this, doesn’t have Wi-Fi.

Everyone at orientation became quick friends. Not only did we have Christ in common, but engineering as well. Unlike the summer camp experiences I have had in the past, I didn’t feel like the nerd of the group! But really - It was great getting to know people from different parts of the country and hearing their stories. I especially enjoyed hearing their opinions about what Texas is like and educating them on the truth. It is amazing how quickly the bonds of friendship are formed in a setting centered on Christ. The whole experience was spiritually uplifting and energizing for the tasks ahead.

We bonded over team building activities and worship throughout the week, but a vast majority of our time was spent in class learning about the different facets of engineering missions. First we learned about the past, present, and future of eMi. It was amazing to hear where it came from and see how this vision was formed. It was inspiring to see how engineers came to use their skills for the glory of God. Subsequently, we learned extensively about cultural awareness both pertaining to social settings and technical design in the developing world. For instance, though we see modern toilets as a necessity, these mechanisms are potentially worthless in the developing world. The people there don't know how to use them, are uncomfortable once they learn how to use them, and are ultimately more expensive than other, equally sanitary, forms of waste removal. We also spent some time taking assessments that would categorize our personality types, spiritual gifts, and personal strengths. If anyone is interested, I am equal parts D, I, and C for my personality assessment. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, don’t worry, it’s not that important. For my spiritual gifts, I tested strongly in Administration, giving, serving, craftsmanship, and helps. My strengths are Restorative, Learner, Achiever, Ideation, and Adaptable. Again, don’t worry if it sounds like jargon to you.

Anyways, it was extremely sad to send off all of the other interns at the end of the week, but I am ready to hit the ground running when I finally start work. Every morning before work starts, the office gathers to pray over the company and any particular prayer requests that staff might have. On Fridays, the office worships together before starting work. I can’t describe the feeling that comes over you when you realize that you are working in a place like that. I would say that it is an awesome balance between technical and spiritual work, but I don’t think that is it. I think it would be more accurate to describe it as the integration of spiritual and technical work. Needless to say, I am extremely excited to start using my skills for the glory of God. As always, thank you to my donors who make all of this possible.

More to come,

Ryan

Humbling Beginnings

Whether you are a friend, family member, supporter, Prayer-er, or other, welcome to my blog about my experiences as an intern at Engineering Ministries International for the next semester. First a brief background on how I got here.

Through a variety of events, none of which worth mentioning here, it came to pass that I would have a free semester between when I graduated from Texas A&M University in December of 2013 and when I wanted to attend graduate school (location currently unknown) in the Fall of 2014. After discovering this "free" time, I contemplated a variety of things that I could do to fill this gap. I thought about everything from traveling Europe on my own to getting a job and making some money for graduate school. It dawned on me, however, that I had never been on a mission trip outside of Texas before and even that was when I was in the 6th grade. After a bit of prayer (probably not as much as necessary) I decided to pursue a mission trip.

After much frustration in my search for mission opportunities and finally learning to pray adequately for the situation, I attended the Go Missions conference at Texas A&M's Breakaway and went to the breakout session for engineers. A man named Brad Saltzmann from Living Water International listened to what I was looking for and directed me to the eMi website. It hadn't even occurred to me that I could use my degree and pursue missions simultaneously. It was already late in the semester, especially for support raising, and I was sure that all of their positions had already been filled, but I thought that I would apply anyways. And so it came to pass that God blessed me with an opportunity far beyond my expectations.

Now I find myself in Colorado Springs, preparing for a trip to Uganda in less than 3 weeks, and at a complete loss for words to describe the past two months. It feels like a whirlwind - like I just woke up one day and all of a sudden I am in Colorado without really knowing how I got here. I am in awe of all of the people who have donated to my mission here. I don't exactly know what I was expecting out of my support raising efforts, but I definitely wasn't prepared for the humbling and gracious experience that it was. Needless to say, thank you to all of the people supporting me on my mission here. Thank you for the prayers. I look forward to sharing with you all of my experiences and hopefully at least a little bit about what God is doing here and around the world through me and eMi.

Thanks,
Ryan