Philippine Connection: WOW! Back from Training at EMI

We just got through our training here at Engineering Ministries International (EMI). It has been an incredible time. Flying with no kids was heaven! We stayed with a great couple from the area and it was great to see people who truly have the gift of hospitality. We didn't get to spend too much time with them, our schedule started at about 8:00 am and ended around 10:00 pm. It was definitely a lot to soak up! The training was wonderful. It really focused on God's heart for the poor, our response, and how we can use what we have been given, ( strengths, talents, abilities, gifts, and passions) to accomplish this work. Thrown in among all this was culture training and communication, safety overseas, as well as overseas finances. All of these topics could be a semester long but it was condensed into 8 long days.

As a side note, if you ever offer a ridiculously low price for a rental car on priceline.com and they accept it, be very scared! They told me I saved 72% with my offer....

This little beauty was 4 doors and I could actually touch the back window and the break pedal at the same time. It worked great except when it snowed and we had to barrel through a monster snow drift that measured at least 4" tall!

EMI is truly a unique ministry. They strive to bring people together that have talents and skills in design and construction to proclaim the gospel through their design and construction. This enables their partners to continue the work that they are doing, whether that is a seminary building, hospital, bridge, or an orphanage. Their mission is to "design a world of hope for the spiritually and materially poor throughout the world." We feel privileged to be a part of this mission.

I know that people react differently when they hear missions or missionary. There have been some abuses of this word in the past. However, this does not negate the message or the call placed on each one of our lives to go and make disciples, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus. But how do we do this? Some people want to focus solely on the individual gospel, telling others of their need for Jesus. Others feel that they need to show Christ's love by serving the poor and other around them, the social gospel. A quote from British missionary E. Stanley Jones encapsulated what we feel our calling is...

"The individual gospel without the social gospel is like the soul without the body; the social gospel without the individual gospel is like the body without the soul. One is a corpse, the other a ghost." This resonates with us that we need to proclaim Jesus with action and with words. Both are needed.

Please if you have a second look at this power point presentation on God's heart for the poor. It was an incredible teaching time and the statistics alone might shock you. Go to http://emiusa.org/documents/ContinuingED/Poverty_Presentation.pdf It will not have the speaker but it will give you a better understanding of the issue of poverty overseas and what God's Word has to say about it.

The most amazing part of the week was to gather with 37 other people that have a heart to serve Jesus with the gifts He has given them. We connected so much with the couples there that are doing even crazier things than we are... with young kids too! It was great to see that normal people can do unusual things ( in our eyes) for God and still be normal people. They still did everything a normal family did, just felt called to do it serving people overseas. Amazing. Normal people doing what God wants them to do. We can all relate to that, even if it is bringing a meal to our neighbor. We will miss them so much, just as we will will miss our family, church family and friends here.

Here is a picture of our orientation group, minus a great family that decided to skip:). Also there is a picture of the big game of Colorado Springs!

Finally, we want to say thank you so much to both our parents! They took the kids for a total of nine days, and survived! Here are a few of those pictures.