La Iglesia

{ September 27, 2009 @ 11:17 pm } · { eMi, prayer requests, trips }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

One of the highlights of a project trip is always to worship with the local church and this time was no exception.  But I’m not sure this is what we were expecting:

The church outgrew its original space, and has been meeting at the Hilton Hotel in San Salvador for about a year now.  They have three services (we went to the second, which started at 9:30 and ended just before 11:30, when the third service started).  I recognized all but one of the songs, and thanks to the words on the power point, was even able to try to sing along in Spanish.  I didn’t do as well on following the sermon, but thanks to a brief recap on the drive home, I can put the pieces together a bit more.  Other than the Spanish, it really could have been a church service anywhere in North America. 

One of the things that struck me was that in the vestibule outside the church service, they were having a fundraiser for a variety of different projects – including Samuel & Charity’s Father’s Heart Foundation.  It’s neat to see the support behind this project from the local Christians too. 

After lunch we had some downtime.  For Kevin and a few of the guys that involved heading over to the soccer field and starting a game of “football” with some of the kids that were around.  By the end, the kids had grabbed their dad – and the three kids and one adult soundly beat the “Canadian” team of four adults (despite the fact that they had adopted Samuel as an honourary Canadian :D ).  I’ll add a link to the El Salvador pictures in the sidebar – I’ll try to add a few each day.

This evening the more serious work began.  The team met with the board of directors to hear them out and try to understand their vision.  This is still big-picture stuff . . . what needs to be included on the land, what programs do they foresee in 10 years . . . how will public space and private space be divided etc. etc.  It’s a big vision – a God-sized vision – and the challenge for the team is to put that vision on paper in the coming week.  Please pray that we’ll listen and understand and catch God’s vision for the Father’s Heart Foundation.

Up, up, up

{ September 26, 2009 @ 11:29 pm } · { eMi, prayer requests, trips }
{ } · { Comments (1) }

What a great start to our time in El Salvador!  Today we started the day with some team building – namely a 4 hour hike up a local volcano.  Well – actually two volcanos.  We drove up to what I think was a national park, where we started our hike, complete with tour guide and local tourist police . . . by walking DOWN.  I guess we were on top of one volcano, an inactive one, and we were walking down to the valley and then up to the crater of the active volcano (which erupts every hundred years or so and last erupted in about 1966).  Here we are about halfway through our hike . . . at the bottom of the volcano we are about to hike up:

Needless to say, it was quite a climb!  What a gorgeous view from the top though.  A few of us walked all the way around te crater, before our tour guide suddenly rushed us to begin our descent.  None to soon.  After climbing (and sliding) all the way down the volcano, we hit the jungle cover just as the rains that had been rolling in became really heavy.  The jungle kept us dry for a long time . . . but by the time we got back to the top, we were all pretty soaked.  But at least we weren’t too hot . . .

After leaving the volcano, we also took the time to stop by the ministry’s site.  We walked through both the planned agricultural section and the section where the children’s home will eventually go. 

Tomorrow we’ll hear the vision from Samuel and Charity and the board members, but so far we have gotten glimpes . . . and its pretty exciting.

We also got to hear Samuel and Charity’s personal testimonies tonight.  Samuel is originally from northern Uganda, and Charity from Vancouver.  It’s is absolutely amazing to hear how God took them on their individual journeys and brought them here, to El Salvador, to do the work God has prepared for them.

It’s late, and I need to get some sleep before church tomorrow – but I want to thank you for praying for us.  Pray as we catch the vision and start this process . . . thanks!

We’re Here!

{ September 25, 2009 @ 11:12 pm } · { eMi, trips }
{ } · { Comments (1) }

The flights went smoothly, we found everyone in Houston, and we met Samuel and Charity (and Baby Benjamin) when they picked us up at the airport.  It looks like it’s going to be a great week!

Right now the laptop is propped on top of the washer and dryer, which is in a little open space between the two parts of the house (Kevin & I are staying in the “maid’s quarters”).  The washer and dryer are in a dry area, but the area between the maid’s quarters and the main house is not roofed, and the rain is dripping in.  Occasionally, a drip will splash up to my ankles.   It’s rainy season, so we’ll be expecting rain showers every night.  When we arrived, though, the weather was beautiful.  It was dark already, so we haven’t seen too much of the countryside.  Tomorrow will start with a site visit, and then we’re going to hike up the local volcano.  There’s church and meetings with the board planned for Sunday, and then surveying and designing starts on Monday.

I’ll try to keep you posted!

Ready, Set, GO

{ September 24, 2009 @ 10:08 pm } · { eMi, family, prayer requests, trips }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

Well, we’re packed.  At least I think we are.  I hope I haven’t forgotten anything important.  I’m sure Kevin hasn’t – he’s got his trusty list and he’s done this so many times.  Good thing I’m with him :)

Kevin’s parents arrived this afternoon, so the kids are in good hands.  Kaisa was a bit clingy tonight, but I’m sure she’ll be fine once we’re actually gone.  We said our good-byes tonight since we’ll leave before they’re awake.

The flight is at 7 a.m., which doesn’t sound so bad until you start calculating backwards through check in and customs . . . we’re leaving our house before 4 a.m.  I’m hoping for some sleep on the airplane!

I’ll try to update the blog while we’re in El Salvador, but I’m not sure how the internet access will be – or whether I’ll have access to a computer (Kevin’s computer tends to be pretty tied up and project design takes precedence over blogging!)  Please pray for us, even if I can’t blog . . .

Now off to bed . . .

Making a list and checking it twice . . .

{ September 22, 2009 @ 10:34 pm } · { eMi, family, prayer requests, trips }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

I can’t believe we’re leaving on Friday already!  Somehow, this El Salvador trip has really snuck up on me.  I need to pack, I need to make sure my camera is working, I need to make sure my house is prepared for my in-laws, I need to make a list for Grandma and Grandpa with all the kid’s activities and correlating times and addresses . . . I think I’m about ready to panic . . .

It really isn’t THAT much to do, but right now I’m feeling rather overwhelmed.  Today I was in at work and had to finish the ACDP because the graphic design will be completed while we’re away.  Tonight Bible Study was at our house.  Tomorrow already has a few commitments, and Thursday really is our last day . . .

But more than the packing and the cleaning, I also want to be prepared spiritually for this trip.  I want God to stretch me – and to use me.  I want to be an encouragement to the missionaries that we’re going to serve.  I want to want what God wants for me on this trip . . .

So please pray for us.  Pray for the logistics, the team unity, and all that kind of stuff.  But also pray that we would be right where God wants us to be, doing what God wants us to do.

Thanks.

(There’s a prayer guide on the eMi website if you’d like more details about what each stage of a project trip entails.)

Team eMi :)

{ September 14, 2009 @ 1:02 pm } · { eMi, family }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

Well, race weekend was fun, though I’m definitely a bit sore today.  I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to be able to keep up with Kaisa, unless I definitely get a bit more serious about training for myself.  I’m NOT the runner in the family!  Kaisa finished her 5 k in 38 minutes – that’s 8 minutes faster than last time!  Talia took a few minutes off her time too, and finished in 30 minutes.  Kevin had his second-best time in the half-marathon, at 1:38 – definitely not bad considering the second half of the course was pretty hilly.  The interns and Greg all seemed pretty happy with their performance on the 10 k course too – and it was neat to have a whole “team” around, cheering and taking pictures.  I don’t have all the eMi pictures yet, but here’s our family after the race:

We all enjoyed a picnic lunch together after the race, and then decided to stretch our legs with a bit of a hike.  Since there was a geocache in the area, we introduced the interns, Steve, and Jim to the fine art of geocaching in the process :)

The girls have definitely taken to the new batch of interns.  They FINALLY got to meet Cindy, who’s staying at our house this semester (she arrived Thursday late, but hadn’t actually been home while the kids were awake) and Heather, who stayed here for a few days until her permanent homestay became available.  Between interns and homestay students, my children are learning to form strong attachments – for four months at a time.  I haven’t quite decided if that’s a good thing ;)   With Cindy staying here, we’ll likely see this group of interns a bit more frequently . . .

A Week of Transitions and Training

{ September 9, 2009 @ 9:45 pm } · { eMi, family, friends }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

It’s only Wednesday, but it already feels like it’s been a full week.  Part of it has been transitions . . . we said a final good-bye to our homestay student who joined us in April (she was gone for most of August, but came back for a week before heading home) . . . we’ve enjoyed having friends here from Fort St. John, who left this morning . . . and in the midst of this, the girls are still adjusting to being back at school, adjusting to the fall schedule, adjusting to their new classes, making new friends and the like.

Then there’s work.  We’ve been blessed this week to have Scott & Laura up, a couple from the eMi office in Colorado.  Laura has been developing eMi’s capacity for member-care and the like, and she came up to do some training for the Canada office.  The topics have included things related to intern/new staff orientation, listening skills, debriefing, human resources procedures, cross-cultural adaptability . . . fascinating topics (and the sorts of things I thrive on!) . . . but right now I feel like my brain is FULL.  Scott & Laura are also the couple who hosted us when we went to Colorado Springs for our own new staff orientation several years ago, so we also enjoyed having them over to our place for dinner tonight, to enjoy some more personal “catching up” time.

There’s a few more busy days yet.  Tomorrow, we have another full day of training, the CEO of eMi US is coming to visit the Canada office, and we’ll get a chance to meet the first two interns who arrived today.  In the evening, there’s a staff social planned.  At around midnight, the intern who will be staying at our house is landing in Calgary.  Then, this weekend, Kevin is part of the eMi board meeting and I’m involved in doing some cultural training (as a “trainer” this time, not as a “participant”).   And, much of the eMi Canada office (including our whole family) will be taking part in a race supporting a local ministry.  Kevin will be running a half-marathon, Greg and some of the interns will be running the 10 k, the girls will be running a 5 k . . . and my job will be to keep up to Kaisa :) .

It’s amazing how quickly this month is going by . . . almost scary how quickly our trip is coming up . . . wow.  Maybe life will slow down in October?!?

ACDP

{ September 3, 2009 @ 9:08 pm } · { eMi }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

No, it’s not ACDC . . . or BCAA . . . it actually stands for an “Association of Christian Design Professionals.”  Design professionals are engineers, architects, surveyors and the like – the types of people who come on eMi trips.  And eMi provides this informal “association” as part of its ministry to raise awareness for design needs in developing countries – as well as to raise support for the operating costs of Engineering Ministries International.

So – what does that all have to do with us?  Well, during the summer, the individual who used to produce the ACDP Technical Newsletter for eMi – out of the Colorado office – went on maternity leave.  And in the process of searching for a replacement, my name got mentioned.  Now – producing the ACDP takes almost 40 hours a month – and I generally work about 10 hours a week.  I did the math, and realized that this would NOT work.  But there was another individual in the Colorado office who was also considering helping out – and together, we’ve formed the new “ACDP team”.  I do the coordinating and the editing; Jeremy does the graphic design and produces the pdfs.  Then I prepare the html email and send out the electronic version of the ACDP newsletter, and Jeremy prints and distributes the hard copy version (Canada only offers the electronic version, while the US has just started trying to encourage its members to switch over to the e-newsletter).

This month was our first go at it.  Of course, the article is due from whoever is writing it mid-month the month before the newsletter comes out.  So yes, I was editing an ACDP article before heading to the beach on my vacation . . .

Today was the day I actually sent out the September ACDP.  I spent over an hour on the phone with our web design guy learning the intricacies of how to customize the template he had prepared for the html emails, how to import the ACDP contact lists, and how to use the mailer system.  By the end of the phone call, my brain was full!  But, by the end of the day I had both versions (the Canadian and the US) successfully emailed out – and it seems to have gone smoothly.  Yay!

Next month, it’s the Canadian office’s turn to provide a technical article for the ACDP, so Kevin is writing about household water filtration systems.  We’ll see how well we work together as writer and editor team ;)

If you’re a design professional, and want to know more about eMi’s ACDP, check out emicanada.org/volacdp.shtm.  There’s even a sample copy of the newsletter online . . .

One bonus about all this is that I’ll hopefully be able to use all the neat things I’ve been learning about html emails to pretty up our office’s eMiC Connected . . . and even our personal newsletters!

But for tonight – I’m tired.  It’s time to relax with a good book.

I think I blinked!

{ September 2, 2009 @ 9:42 am } · { eMi, family, friends }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

How did we get from the upcoming open house to the first week of September?!?  I think I must have blinked and missed it!  Here’s the highlights . . .

  • A wonderful open house at my parents house!  My parents invited a lot of their friends who have been asking about us and how we’re doing, so there were a lot of people who hadn’t heard much about eMi before.  It was exciting to share (and I also learned how to say “design” in German ;) )
  • Beach time!  It was fun to be a tourist in my home town.  We floated down the channel, spent some time with friends and relatives, did some geocaching – and, of course, spent almost every afternoon at the beach
  • Heading home.  We had another chance to go to Kaleden Church our last Sunday, and then did the long drive home – including a quick stop in Armstrong for ice cream with Grandma & Grandpa.
  • Last days of summer.  A few “down days” was just what we needed.
  • Back to school and work.  School started VERY early in Calgary this year.  The girls were excited to go back though.  Talia has more friends in her class this year, and Kaisa is busy making friends with all the grade 1-ers in her 1/2 split.  I’m back at work now too, trying to catch up with everything that piled up all summer.
  • A camping weekend.  Kazue, our homestay student from last semester, is back for a few days before heading home.  She’s wanted to come camping with us all summer, so we headed out for a weekend at Kananaskis.  The weather cooperated beautifully, and we had a great weekend that included campfires, mountain biking, hiking, plaster casting, playing in the river, and just plain fun.
  • Our anniversary!  Kevin and I celebrated 13 years this week!  Kazue offered to watch our kids, so we headed out for dessert and an evening to ourselves.
  • Care group BBQ.  Care group has been a bit sporadic over the summer, but it was nice to be back and catch up with everyone (well, almost everyone).  We also got to meet Cassidy, our newest member, who was exactly 1 week old!

So there we go – that’s what’s been happening in our lives.  We’d love to also hear what’s been happening in yours . . .

Open House Reminder

{ August 19, 2009 @ 12:00 am } · { eMi, family }
{ } · { Leave a Comment }

Just a reminder that my parents are hosting an Open House for us tomorrow (that’s Wednesday the 19th) at 7 p.m.  at their home in Kaleden.  If you’re in the Penticton area, we’d love to see you (leave a comment or call if you need an address).  We’ll be sharing stories about our recent eMi trips and in general explaining a bit about what it is we’ve been doing with Engineering Ministries International.

Newer entries » · « Older entries