¿Qué es exactamente EMI?

Yesterday I went up to the barrio where my bus friend lives, because I didn't know that neighborhood and also you can see both the ocean and the Central Valley. It was a nice pause in the day and a wonderful day to start out the week! The picture above shows the cross that we climbed up to to savor the view.

It has now been two weeks since I have returned from Haiti, and it feels different being back. I have found myself a little bit more tired and some what grumpy since returning. Praise God, that things are getting better and more back to normal! I am realizing now that the trip took more out of me - both physically and spiritually - than I had thought. God is always faithful, and as I continue to seek Him right now, He is bringing me back to feeling normal once again!

Praises:

• Everyone - EMI staff, interns, and volunteers - is back safely from both Haiti trips, and it sounds as though the Lord is doing some amazing work in both places!
• I don't think I mentioned this in my last blog, but the intern that went with me to Haiti ended up getting dengue fever the last day we were in Haiti. However, after two weeks rest he is basically back to normal!
• We - the interns - had a wonderful first trip down to the Hogar de Vida - an orphanage here in Atenas! It was a blast getting to play with the kids! At one point in the afternoon I was chased by three girls on bikes. It was a close call, but I got away. =)

Prayer Requests:

• Re-entry of everyone from the trips, and our ability to process the trips and adjust our lives accordingly. Especially the volunteers, since most returned to the United States, and it is very easy to get caught up in "life" there.
• I am really desiring to spend much more time each day in prayer. I really want more frequency and focus in my prayer life. Please let me know how I can be praying for you, and I really do mean this! Please email or Facebook me with your requests.
• That we as interns can use our time here to continue to effectively minister to the community of Atenas - our Tico families, the English class, our churches, the orphanage, & those we interact with on a consistent basis.

EMI in a Nutshell:
After talking with several people these past couple weeks, I am realizing that I have not done a fantastic job describing how exactly the ministry of EMI really works, especially how the office operates. Let me take just a few moments to give you a brief synopsis. The ministry has offices located throughout the world to effectively help ministries globally. Since I am here in the Costa Rican office, I really can only say how our office does things. However, I think that the other offices operate in a similiar fashion.

EMI is a Christian ministry whose mission is to come along side other Christian ministries to provide free engineering and architectural design work. Each fall, spring, and summer each EMI regional office takes trips to different countries for 1 to 1.5 weeks to work onsite in order to complete survey work and initial designs for the water & wastewater systems, the building's architectural design, electrical system, structural design, etc. The project trip includes an EMI project team leader, two or more EMI interns, as well as mas o menos 6 to 10 volunteers who provide their time, money, and expertise. The volunteers are normally professional engineers, surveyors, architects, landscape architects, etc. from all over the world who work with EMI to complete the design for the specific project they volunteer to go on.

The volunteers are the ones who do the majority of the design work, and the regional EMI office is the interface between all the volunteers, and between the volunteers and the Christian ministry. The project leader and the interns are the ones that take the designs of the volunteers and compile them into one construction document. At times, we have to draft the volunteer's design into AutoCAD, because all we received where sketches. Other times, we receive an AutoCAD drawing from the volunteer, and all we have to do is clean up the drawing to make it consistent with EMI AutoCAD standards. The job of EMI is also to review all designs and do any suplimental design that is needed. In general, a project takes 4 to 6 months from start to finish.

To be honest, the office feels just like an office in the States, because engineering is engineering is engineering. However, our design is slightly different, because we are working with much different labor talent and materials available. What I love about the office is that we have prayer every morning and once a week do praise and worship. Also, we will stop what we are doing to pray if anything comes up that needs immediate prayer. This is an office, but it really does feel like a family.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Tal luego!