Donate

As a result of extending my stay with eMi, I am currently raising funds so that I can come back again in the spring. I am still uncertain of my support goal as the costs of the spring term are still being finalized, but it will most likely be close to my fall goal of $6000. Would you prayerfully consider joining my team of financial supporters by donating to eMi? If you have already donated, I cannot begin to thank you enough. If it weren't for you, I would not be here right now.

Want to learn more about what I am doing? Check out these links:
-eMi
-eMi East Africa
-Questions, Questions, Questions... 
-Project Info

There are two ways you can donate:
1. Send a check to eMi. Fill it out with the information below:

Make it out to:
Engineering Ministries International

Designate it for:
Dan Untch, Intern Account # 2844

Address:
Engineering Ministries International
130 E Kiowa, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, CO 80903

2. Donate online using a credit card. Click here to go to the eMi donation page and fill out the information.

Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I though I would share a few things that I am thankful for!

I am thankful for:

-wonderful family and friends. Despite being on separate continents, I still feel so loved by so many friends and family. I am constantly getting messages and being able talk with people via email, Skype, g-Chat, facebook, etc. I even got to "go" to my families thanksgiving celebration at my aunt and uncle's house. I really appreciate all the prayers and support I have received back home.

-a place to call home. There have been many times throughout the semester that I have missed home. Not only for some of the luxuries, but also for all the wonderful memories. Sometimes there are just certain things about the place that you call home that you can't even use words to describe. I am thankful for those things.

-abundance. God has blessed me in so many abundant ways. This has become so clear by living in Africa. I am living on a fraction of what it would cost to live in the US and I still have so much more than many others that I interact with on a daily basis. To put in perspective, if I were Ugandan man working and making 20,000 shillings a day (a little bit less than $10 a day), not only would I be rich, I would be sending money to all my brothers and sisters and their families to help support them. Certainly cost of living is lower so $10 goes a lot farther, but it is still an interesting thought.

-the little luxuries. You don't always notice them and you may not even realize that they are luxuries. There are a few that I have especially notice since coming to Africa. Some of the following I have here, others I don't. Some of them are important to the quality of life, others are just fun to have. In any case, here is a list of things I've really come to appreciate.

Clean water. Running water. Hot water. Electricity. Smooth roads. Clean air. Soft Couches. TV. Internet. Dish washers. Washing machines. Dryers. Air conditioning. I could list so many more...


-Christ and His saving work on the cross. Without him I am nothing. He gives purpose to my life, something to live for, a hope to hold onto. I only have all of the things I mentioned above because of Him. It is my goal that I treasure the giver of these blessings more than the blessings themselves. I hope to put my joy in God because of who He is and not because of what He does for me. That's why He should receive all of the glory in my thanksgiving.

You know you have lived in Africa when...

Living in Uganda for a couple months now has really been an eye-opening experience and these are just a few of the things that have caught my attention so far.

You know you have lived in Africa when…

-you spend 10 minutes picking bugs out of your bowl of cereal before you have breakfast. The thought crossed your mind to throw it out, but the cereal was just too expensive to get rid of it.

-you get out of a mutatu (taxi) and consider it a smooth ride because your head hit the ceiling just once.

-loading a YouTube video before the internet bugs out makes your day!

-making it a week without losing power or running water for at least couple hours is almost considered a miracle.

-“Don’t forget to tuck in your mosquito net before you go to bed!” doesn’t sound strange.

-you think spending 20,000 shillings (approx. $10) is way too much to spend on a meal.

-the smell of burning trash no longer gives you a headache.

-seeing four people on a motorcycle or a man riding a bicycle while holding three chickens no longer makes you turn your head.

-you are willing to argue with your boda driver (motorcycle taxi) over 500 shillings (about 25 cents) insisting that he is trying to take advantage of you.

-tripping up the stairs as a result of them being uneven isn’t annoying anymore.

I will probably post more of these as I have more new and interesting experiences.

The Throne Room

I thought I might share about one of my favorite chapters in the bible. I was reading it the other day and was reminded just how glorious God is and how amazing heaven is going to be. The passage is from Revelation 4: 

After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once, I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on the heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in a front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.” -Revelation 4:1-11 (ESV)

What at amazing picture of God on his throne! It is such a reminder to me that we serve a God who is so holy that when in His presence, all we are able to do is bow down and “never cease” to call him holy and to acknowledge that he should “receive glory and honor and power”.

This is one of those passages that gets me really excited. Especially because of what Jesus says just before in the end of chapter 3: 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. -Revelation 3:20-21 (ESV)

God’s gift of salvation does not only include eternal life, but it comes with a right to sit with him on his throne. How amazing!!!

Passports Please!

Earlier this week, I got to go on another short trip for one of the small projects that eMi has right now. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday out in Kasese, which is in western Uganda, near the border of the Congo. It is up in the Rwenzori Mountains. It is such a gorgeous area of the country. Among the foothills of the mountains are these large craters that just seem to come out of nowhere. During the eight hour car ride we got out a couple different times to take some photos and just experience the landscape. It was really cool because the hills are covered in so many different tea plantations. We even stopped and bought some fresh tea.

The project is for the Western Uganda Baptist Theological College. We are designing a two-story guesthouse for the college so that visiting missionaries don’t have to stay in tents when they come. We were only on the site for a couple hours talking with the college about what exactly they want in the guesthouse, where they want it to go on the site and did a short land survey to supplement the existing survey. It was a long way to travel (8 hrs each way) just for a couple hours of work, but it was still a neat experience.

I think the highlight of the trip came on the way up to the site. One thing that is unique about Uganda is that police simply stand on the side of the road and flag down cars whenever they please to check for driver’s license, etc. We were about 15 minutes from reaching our destination when we got pulled over by two police officers. The asked to see our passports and visas, but we have been told that we don’t need to carry them with us unless we plan on crossing any borders. They quickly got very angry because we didn’t have them on us and couldn’t prove that we were in the country legally. We assured them that we were, but they still had us pull off the road so that they could lecture us and figure out what we were doing in the country. Eventually, realizing that there was nothing they could do about it, they just let us go on our way. It was another experience that I don’t think I will ever forget.

Here are a few photos of the incredible sights we saw:

Many of the craters had lakes that formed in the bottom of them.

This was actually a salt lake. Locals use it to farm the salt and sell it in the market.

A view of the plain looking west at Congo.

One of the ridges around the crater with the mountains in the background. I wish it had been less cloudy because it was truly an amazing view. The picture just does not do it justice.

Watoto Children's Village

One of the projects eMi is currently working on is a new wastewater treatment plant for the Watoto Children’s Village in Suubi. The village is a place for children who have been orphaned. Most commonly, this is a result of AIDS. There are several Watoto villages throughout Uganda. (You may have actually heard of the Watoto Children’s Choir. They tour all over the US, UK, and Australia to raise money for these villages. I have heard great things about the choir. Look them up on YouTube…). They have recently started up a new village in Gulu in northern Uganda. Many of the children there are formerly child soldiers in the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). It was common for the LRA to kidnap children and then murder their families in order to scare them into becoming soldiers. The LRA is no longer in Uganda so this isn't happening anymore. They are currently in Sudan and parts of the Congo, I believe.

The village is set up with clusters of homes. Each cluster has eight homes. Each home has eight or nine children with one house mom. Many of the house moms are widows as a result of AIDS. Each home becomes a new family with children ranging from primary school level to teenagers. The village that we are working for has close to twenty clusters of homes. (20 clusters x 8 homes x 8 children = a lot of children!) As a result, they are quickly out growing their sewage collection system.

Right now, they are using a series of septic tanks but they want to build a new wastewater treatment plant. That’s where eMi comes in. We spent a couple days at the village last week checking out the site. While we were there, one of the other engineers, Brittany, was taking lots of sewage samples (It was pretty gross. I’m glad I didn’t have to do it). Meanwhile, I was using our GPS equipment to survey the land. The goal of my time there was to figure out the elevations of all the homes so that we can get all the wastewater to get downhill to the plant once it’s built. It was a challenge because the site is on the side of hill that changes over 100 meters in elevation across the property. (My legs we pretty tired by the end of the couple days.)

My favorite part of the trip was getting to know one of the house moms, Mama Harriet. Brittany and I got adopted into one of the homes for the couple days we were there. We were staying in an apartment for visitors, but we ate all of our meals at Mama Harriet’s house. She was the most warm, loving lady and she was just SO excited that we were there. She treated us like her own children and was so generous to us.

This trip reminded me of why I love serving with eMi so much. We get to partner with other ministries all over Uganda and get to see the ways that they are serving others and provide much needed engineering services so that they can continue to effectively minister to others in need. Praise God for what he is doing through Watoto and all involved in making these villages great.

Here are a few photos from our time in Suubi:

A view from the balcony of the apartment we stayed in. It was really cool to see the sun set over the hill.

A view of the courtyard in one of the clusters. All of the buildings are very well constructed and look very nice, especially in comparison to traditional Ugandan construction.

Brittany making crosses out of banana tree leaves with some of the kids.

Moses and Joseph helping Brittany close the lid to one of the septic tanks.

Our meals were very traditional Ugandan food. For both lunch and dinner we had rice, beans, matoke, and posho. Matoke is basically banana mush (it’s the yellow stuff at the top of the picture). Posho is a dish made from maize flour. The best way I can describe it is white fluff with no flavoring (there is a little sitting just to the right of the matoke). We also had eggplant at this meal, but I get the feeling that it was a special treat since we were visiting.

This is Mama Harriet and some of her boys standing outside her house. I cannot emphasize enough how warm and hospitable she was towards us.

Street Kids

Over the past month I have been volunteering with a street kid’s ministry called Frontline. It is associated with Calvary Chapel Kampala, the church I attend on Sundays. So far it has been a very rewarding experience. On Saturday mornings between 30 and 40 boys between the ages of 8 and 18 come to the church and we provide different activities for them and teach them about God. All of the boys are homeless, living on the streets of Kampala. This could be for a variety of different reasons: some have lost parents due to AIDS; others are runaways because their parents are abusive and it is better for them to live on the streets than to live at home.

The first Saturday I volunteered we watch The Karate Kid (the new one with Jackie Chan) with them. It was interesting because the movie was translated into Luganda and had Chinese subtitles. It was a good thing I was familiar with the story because otherwise I would be completely lost. There were a few times that the translation cut out and I caught a few English which helped as well. Other times we have just hung out and played cards and other games with them. We finish each day is ended with a time of teaching from the bible (in Luganda) and then we feed them. In many cases it will be the only meal they eat that day.

It is also heartbreaking because these kids are desperate for attention. From the second I get there until I leave a couple hours later, I have at least one kid either on my back, in my lap, or holding my hand. They are all very dirty, not bathing very often. As result, I always leave very, very dirty. It’s easy to see that they don’t have very many people in their lives that love them. Many of them are tough, always fighting with one another, and tend to lie and steal.

It still has been fun to get to know some of these kids. They all have good hearts. I took my camera with me this past Saturday. The last Saturday of every month is a sports day so we went out and played soccer and basketball with them. Here are a few pictures from the day:

Jonah is teaching the kids about patience, using Job as an example.

This is the basketball “hoop” that we used to play basketball with them. They just got a point whenever they hit the backboard.

This is me with Marvin. He is one of the kids who is always jumping on my back.

Of course, once I took a picture with Marvin, Joseph (left) and Ivan (right) had to get a picture too.

This is Nathaneal, one my roommates, with Moses. Moses loves to teach me how speak Luganda. I can now count to ten because of him.

[Side Note: Nathaneal is working as a social studies teacher at the nearby Christian school for the year. Over the weekend he was diagnosed with malaria. He is still in the hospital recovering. He could use your prayers as he is still feeling very ill.]