Well, it has been a wonderful end to the semester. I have really enjoyed my time here. I have had made some amazing memories and I have seen some interesting things. It's been an adventure to say the least. I hope that my blog has been an encouragement to you over the past several months. I'm so thankful for all you who have supported me and prayed for me.
My plane leaves to go home Tuesday evening and I will be home by Wednesday afternoon. I have mixed feelings about going home. I am SO excited to go home and see friends and family but I will definitely miss this place. I am glad to come back and experience more of eMi and Africa next semester.
I will try to update my blog periodically while I am home, but I guarantee that the posts won't be nearly as exciting. I hope you enjoy this holiday season and cherish time that you get to spend with friends and family!
Merry Christmas! God Bless!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Project Complete
After three months of work, countless hours playing in AutoCAD, many changes to our design, half a dozen ink cartridges, and many times through my Christmas music playlist on my iPod, we are DONE! Yesterday afternoon we finally finished our Safe Harbor project. It is the project that has taken up most of my time since I’ve been here. There were a few headaches and frustrating moments along the way, but I really enjoyed working on this project.
What exactly did we do? Earlier in September we visited a ministry in northern Uganda called Safe Harbor. They already have a church, hospital, and a primary school. They recently received two plots of land (Choro and Wogo) that they plan on developing into farmland and processing center. Our project was to design a series of agricultural buildings. The buildings will hopefully allow the ministry to become more self-sustainable, depending less on international donors. They will also serve the community by allowing local farmers to use their processing equipment and selling crops to the locals.
For more information, check out these links:
-Project Info
-Project Trip: Safe Harbor
-Project Trip: Meet the Team
-Project Trip: The People and the Church
-Project Trip: Extras
-Project Trip: Murchison Falls
On the trip, I was responsible surveying the site. Then, I created topographical maps of the both Choro and Wogo. I was also in charge of design for the fish ponds on the Wogo site. My main project throughout the semester was the structural design of the buildings on both sites. Below are some architectural renderings of the design. Thanks to the architects for making them look pretty!
I will have a copy of the report with me while I am home over Christmas so if you would like to see more detail, please let me know. Enjoy!
What exactly did we do? Earlier in September we visited a ministry in northern Uganda called Safe Harbor. They already have a church, hospital, and a primary school. They recently received two plots of land (Choro and Wogo) that they plan on developing into farmland and processing center. Our project was to design a series of agricultural buildings. The buildings will hopefully allow the ministry to become more self-sustainable, depending less on international donors. They will also serve the community by allowing local farmers to use their processing equipment and selling crops to the locals.
For more information, check out these links:
-Project Info
-Project Trip: Safe Harbor
-Project Trip: Meet the Team
-Project Trip: The People and the Church
-Project Trip: Extras
-Project Trip: Murchison Falls
On the trip, I was responsible surveying the site. Then, I created topographical maps of the both Choro and Wogo. I was also in charge of design for the fish ponds on the Wogo site. My main project throughout the semester was the structural design of the buildings on both sites. Below are some architectural renderings of the design. Thanks to the architects for making them look pretty!
I will have a copy of the report with me while I am home over Christmas so if you would like to see more detail, please let me know. Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Looking Forward
[WARNING: Long post. I hope you read it though. I think you will be encouraged!]
Have you ever caught yourself thinking about tomorrow? Maybe you have some event coming up that you just can’t wait for. Maybe there is someone in your life that you haven’t seen in a while and you get to see them soon. Maybe it’s because you are just not enjoying this day or this season of life so you just want it to be over.
I have found myself doing this a lot recently. Mostly, I think it’s a result of missing home. I am looking forward to seeing family and catching up with old friends over the holiday season. I am looking forward to normal life in the US where I will have more amenities. But then I am also looking forward to coming back in January and meeting the new interns and starting work on a new project. And yet, I am also looking forward to June, when I come home again and start the next season of my life where I find a real paying job and stuff like that.
However, what I have found is that if we think too much about the future we miss out on the present. I have made this mistake many times. I remember thinking countless times in college about how I just wanted it to be over so I could move forward into a time without homework or tests or the worries of school. Looking back, though, I really cherished my time in college and I made some great memories. I only wish I could have made more and not wished it to be over so soon.
This happened to me again last weekend. I was sitting outside at a restaurant in Jinja watching the sunset over the Nile River and all I could think about was the things I wanted to do while I was home over Christmas. I caught myself. “Am I nuts?” I thought. “I am currently watching the sunset on the Nile River in Africa and all I can think about it cold, flat Illinois. What an amazing opportunity I have before me and I am thinking about being somewhere else.” Doesn’t that seem backwards to you? It sure did to me. A verse popped into my head:
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 118:24 (ESV)
This is what I should be doing. I should be rejoicing in what God had set before me. Instead, I was missing out on this amazing sunset. This got me thinking further. I think it all boils down to where you put your hope and from where you receive your joy. If you put all you hope in relationships or events or things of this world, what happens when it’s over or it wasn’t as satisfying as you thought it would be? You are left looking towards the next relationship or event. You see, the things of this world are temporary and therefore can only give temporary joy. I contend that in order to fully experience joy, we must put our hope in the everlasting… Jesus Christ. It’s only when we follow God’s commandments and abide in his love that will we find true joy. Jesus puts it this way in the Gospel of John:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” -John 15:9-11 (ESV)
So is looking forward to tomorrow wrong? Not always. In fact, I think it can be a very good thing sometimes. For example, I am grateful for the fact that I miss home. I am grateful that it is a wonderful place of which I have fond memories. I think it can also be good to look forward, having vision and a purpose in your life. For example, I look forward to the day “when Christ who is [my] life appears” (when Christ come again) because then I “also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). But I would challenge you to take a look at your life and examine where you are looking for joy. If it’s in the temporary things of this world, when happens when they are gone? What happens when you are planning on them coming tomorrow and they don’t come? What will happen to your joy? If you place your hope in Jesus, he promises “that your joy may be full.” What an amazing thought! So where do you put your hope?
Have you ever caught yourself thinking about tomorrow? Maybe you have some event coming up that you just can’t wait for. Maybe there is someone in your life that you haven’t seen in a while and you get to see them soon. Maybe it’s because you are just not enjoying this day or this season of life so you just want it to be over.
I have found myself doing this a lot recently. Mostly, I think it’s a result of missing home. I am looking forward to seeing family and catching up with old friends over the holiday season. I am looking forward to normal life in the US where I will have more amenities. But then I am also looking forward to coming back in January and meeting the new interns and starting work on a new project. And yet, I am also looking forward to June, when I come home again and start the next season of my life where I find a real paying job and stuff like that.
However, what I have found is that if we think too much about the future we miss out on the present. I have made this mistake many times. I remember thinking countless times in college about how I just wanted it to be over so I could move forward into a time without homework or tests or the worries of school. Looking back, though, I really cherished my time in college and I made some great memories. I only wish I could have made more and not wished it to be over so soon.
This happened to me again last weekend. I was sitting outside at a restaurant in Jinja watching the sunset over the Nile River and all I could think about was the things I wanted to do while I was home over Christmas. I caught myself. “Am I nuts?” I thought. “I am currently watching the sunset on the Nile River in Africa and all I can think about it cold, flat Illinois. What an amazing opportunity I have before me and I am thinking about being somewhere else.” Doesn’t that seem backwards to you? It sure did to me. A verse popped into my head:
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 118:24 (ESV)
This is what I should be doing. I should be rejoicing in what God had set before me. Instead, I was missing out on this amazing sunset. This got me thinking further. I think it all boils down to where you put your hope and from where you receive your joy. If you put all you hope in relationships or events or things of this world, what happens when it’s over or it wasn’t as satisfying as you thought it would be? You are left looking towards the next relationship or event. You see, the things of this world are temporary and therefore can only give temporary joy. I contend that in order to fully experience joy, we must put our hope in the everlasting… Jesus Christ. It’s only when we follow God’s commandments and abide in his love that will we find true joy. Jesus puts it this way in the Gospel of John:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” -John 15:9-11 (ESV)
So is looking forward to tomorrow wrong? Not always. In fact, I think it can be a very good thing sometimes. For example, I am grateful for the fact that I miss home. I am grateful that it is a wonderful place of which I have fond memories. I think it can also be good to look forward, having vision and a purpose in your life. For example, I look forward to the day “when Christ who is [my] life appears” (when Christ come again) because then I “also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). But I would challenge you to take a look at your life and examine where you are looking for joy. If it’s in the temporary things of this world, when happens when they are gone? What happens when you are planning on them coming tomorrow and they don’t come? What will happen to your joy? If you place your hope in Jesus, he promises “that your joy may be full.” What an amazing thought! So where do you put your hope?
Friday, December 3, 2010
Sunset over the Nile
This past weekend all of the interns took a long weekend and went on a little vacation. We had just met one of our big deadlines so we decided to get away and relax a little bit. So Saturday morning we caught a bus to Jinja. Jinja is a relatively small town about two hours to the east of Kampala. Jinja is well know because it is the town located at the source of the Nile River. It's also known as the adventure capital of east Africa because you can go rafting, bungee jumping, kayaking, and challenge death in many other ways. But we didn't do any of that :) We decided to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the quiet atmosphere of the town.
We spent one craft shopping and enjoyed some great food in town. Another day we hung out at one the eMi staff workers house who lives in Jinja. He has four girls and we spent all afternoon playing their games (which included Connect4, Trouble, and Guess Who?) It was so much fun! It brought back so many childhood memories. And those games are just as fun when you are an adult!
Other than that we just stayed at our backpackers lodge. It was really a gorgeous place to stay. It was a little bit outside of town and right on the Nile River. The most amazing part was watching the sunset over the Nile River. It was one of the most amazing site I have ever seen! There were so many awesome colors in the sky. After the sun set, the stars came out and they were super bright. (They aren't nearly as bright in Kampala because of all the pollution.) I will leave you with a few photos of the sites. What a beautiful place!
The last two are a couple more views of the amazing sunset!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December Prayer Requests
As the semester is starting to come to a close, I thought I might share a few prayer requests with you all.
Please pray for:
-safe travels. Along with a bunch of other eMi interns, I will be traveling a long distance to get home for Christmas. Please pray for a safe journey.
-culture shock. Believe it or not I will probably experience culture shock when I am back in the US for the couple weeks over Christmas. The Ugandan culture is so different than the US culture so it will be an interesting transition. They both have positives and negative. Many times when you enter a new culture it easy to focus on the negatives. Pray that I would have a positive attitude and enjoy my time at home.
-the new interns. Two interns (including me) next semester are holdovers from this fall semester, but we are getting four new interns for the spring. Please pray for their preparations to enter a very new situation.
-support raising. Now that I am coming back for another semester I have a whole new set of expenses. This seems like a monumental task considering it will be hard to communicate with many supporters while I am in Africa. Pray for God's provision and my continued trust in Him.
Please pray for:
-safe travels. Along with a bunch of other eMi interns, I will be traveling a long distance to get home for Christmas. Please pray for a safe journey.
-culture shock. Believe it or not I will probably experience culture shock when I am back in the US for the couple weeks over Christmas. The Ugandan culture is so different than the US culture so it will be an interesting transition. They both have positives and negative. Many times when you enter a new culture it easy to focus on the negatives. Pray that I would have a positive attitude and enjoy my time at home.
-the new interns. Two interns (including me) next semester are holdovers from this fall semester, but we are getting four new interns for the spring. Please pray for their preparations to enter a very new situation.
-support raising. Now that I am coming back for another semester I have a whole new set of expenses. This seems like a monumental task considering it will be hard to communicate with many supporters while I am in Africa. Pray for God's provision and my continued trust in Him.
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