Happy Monday! I only have a two day work week, which is sweet!!! With all the bank holidays, weekends and EMI days off, its almost a total of two weeks off. So I get to do alittle sightseeing!
Easter weekend Monica, Carissa and I are going "camping" in Dorset, (which is southwestish) with a stop in Bath on thursday. I am super excited! Then next week Monica, Andrew and I are going to Northern Ireland with Adam who is from there. His parents have graciously opened their home for us to stay. Andrew is one of the newest additions who is from Egypt but have been living in Jordon most of his life. We are super excited to have him on board!
Then....
May Day weekend eMi UK is going to participate in GO 2011, which is the biggest Mission Festival in the UK. We will have a table set up for 3 days. So this week we get alittle break from architecture to get ready for it. Which means I get to learn Photoshop! Its filled with music, speakers, and seminars. The website is:
http://www.go2011.org.uk/
Well that is my next two weeks. I am very excited! (can you tell?)
The Lord has been showing me so much lately. As of yesterday I have started a Bible reading plan to finish in a year. So I have my schedule, journal and of course my bible and can't wait to see what the Lord shows me through this.
*Prayer Request:
- Finances: I am still 1,800 dollars short. It pays for items such as accomodation, travel, per diem, travel insurance. http://www.emiusa.org/ (enter my name in the volunteer/intern blank)
- safe travels
- the project (its huge and crazy)
- Rwanda, Kibogora
I pray that this week the Lord will show you something new and exciting.
His Servant,
Laura
Monday, April 18, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Happy Friday!
Good Evening! Time has flown by since Africa. We are working hard on the project. Today we had a half day of prayer in the office. With worship, quiet time, individual and corporate prayer. It was so good! I found myself reading Matthew 25. Particularly the last part.
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Have I fed you?
Have I given you a drink?
Have I welcomed you?
Have I clothed you?
Have I visited you?
Have I done these to the least of these?
Its so easy to just live life, but sometimes we need to just stop. To think oh someone else will do it. If you don't who will.
Live life like there is no tomorrow.
Evangelise like no one knows Christ.
It was a full week at work and I am glad its the weekend. On a not so bright note. My internship has yet to be paid off. I still need 1,800 dollars before I leave. It must be in. If you haven't donated, you still can. Even if its alittle, it goes along way. You can donate online at http://www.emiusa.org/ and enter my name in the intern/volunteer name slot. Those who have donated... THANK YOU!
His Servant,
Laura
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Have I fed you?
Have I given you a drink?
Have I welcomed you?
Have I clothed you?
Have I visited you?
Have I done these to the least of these?
Its so easy to just live life, but sometimes we need to just stop. To think oh someone else will do it. If you don't who will.
Live life like there is no tomorrow.
Evangelise like no one knows Christ.
It was a full week at work and I am glad its the weekend. On a not so bright note. My internship has yet to be paid off. I still need 1,800 dollars before I leave. It must be in. If you haven't donated, you still can. Even if its alittle, it goes along way. You can donate online at http://www.emiusa.org/ and enter my name in the intern/volunteer name slot. Those who have donated... THANK YOU!
His Servant,
Laura
Friday, April 8, 2011
This, That and Everything else
Good Evening!
Things have settled down abit coming back from Africa. I loved africa and want to go back. Who knows what the Lord will have in store for me. I want to spend sometime in telling you about daily life here in Colchester. I live in a 2 bedroom flat with one roommate. Monica is from Brazil and speaks english fairly well. She spend a few months in the states working.
Work is monday to friday from 8:30am to 5pm. We start each morning with a devotion. I lead them on tuesdays. Our office is located in Colchester Baptist Church in town about a 15 minute walk from our flat, which is totally sweet. Friday afternoon we have an hour devotion doing whatever the Lord leads. Now that we are back from Africa we have to take all the information and put it into a working project. I have been currently working on Google Sketch-up which is a pretty cool program for being free. I am putting all the buildings that are staying the same, as well as the new buildings into a 3d model with the new paths, gardens and roads to make a fly through so the client can get a sense of what the final layout and look of the property will be. We are planning on changes for the next 10, 20 years. Not just what they need now but what they will need. We had 4 medical staff with us, which was a huge blessing. Praise the Lord for them. One of the medical staff that came with us go to the church that our office is in, so it makes it fairly easy to continue to communicate with her. The goal is to finish this before my internship ends... its alot of work so who knows.
The church has a ministry called Open Door (http://www.opendoorcolchester.org.uk/) which is open 3 days a week, I help out on mondays from 10am to about 2pm in the afternoon. We serve tea, coffee, ceral, porriage, and sometimes sandwiches for a small price. They also help with debit management, advice on a range of issues such as welfare and housing and a few other things. The patrons are typically homeless, just making it, or in other situations in life.
After work, things are abit different here. Retail stores typically close about 5/6pm in the evening which doesn't leave much left to do except for a movie or pub. Its usually a night home relaxing. Wednesday night I have been attending what they call "cell group" which is basically a small group kinda of like a house group except younger generation. The cell group is from St. Johns which I have attended on sunday evenings. I have also gone to another church called Fordem, to get a feel of another church. Both churches are anglican. Its been hard finding a church and getting contected because I am only here for a couple of months and by the time you take away the time in africa its even less. The cell group has been good though. Tonight we had an treasure hunt. We were put into teams and had to follow clues all over the center of town. My team won. Started the evening at the Playhouse Pub, use to be an old theater. We sat right on stage and when you look out they have scenes from different plays on the balcony seats. We ended at the Castle Pub. It was fun and different.
We are also getting a volunteer from Eygpt! He recieved his visa a couple days ago and will be here for 3 months. He will also be going to Northern Ireland with us. Which will be wonderful with a day trip to Dublin. In addition to that we have a young lady who will be helping out a couple times a week as well. Praise the Lord. Its cool to see how the Lord works.
Unfornatly I don't have all my funds in for my internship. It must be all in before I leave. I came here with the 2/3rds that I needed in order to come but I still need the rest. I came trusting, having faith that the Lord will provide. I know he will. I still need 1,800 dollars. The donations feed me, pay for the flat, flights, project trip, and travel insurance. It MUST come in before I leave. Please continue to pray for this and if the Lord leads you to donate, you can donate online at http://www.emiusa.org/ and it will ask for the intern or volunteers name and you can put my name.
I am getting so much out of this internship and its crazy that i have less than 2 months left. The Lord is amazing! Africa was breathtaking. England is amazing. The weather is great and there is no snow! or box elders bugs!!!!!!!
Prayer points:
- the project
- Rwanda
- my last couple of months
- finances: 1,800 dollars
I pray that you are all well and glorifying him.
God Bless,
Laura
Things have settled down abit coming back from Africa. I loved africa and want to go back. Who knows what the Lord will have in store for me. I want to spend sometime in telling you about daily life here in Colchester. I live in a 2 bedroom flat with one roommate. Monica is from Brazil and speaks english fairly well. She spend a few months in the states working.
Work is monday to friday from 8:30am to 5pm. We start each morning with a devotion. I lead them on tuesdays. Our office is located in Colchester Baptist Church in town about a 15 minute walk from our flat, which is totally sweet. Friday afternoon we have an hour devotion doing whatever the Lord leads. Now that we are back from Africa we have to take all the information and put it into a working project. I have been currently working on Google Sketch-up which is a pretty cool program for being free. I am putting all the buildings that are staying the same, as well as the new buildings into a 3d model with the new paths, gardens and roads to make a fly through so the client can get a sense of what the final layout and look of the property will be. We are planning on changes for the next 10, 20 years. Not just what they need now but what they will need. We had 4 medical staff with us, which was a huge blessing. Praise the Lord for them. One of the medical staff that came with us go to the church that our office is in, so it makes it fairly easy to continue to communicate with her. The goal is to finish this before my internship ends... its alot of work so who knows.
The church has a ministry called Open Door (http://www.opendoorcolchester.org.uk/) which is open 3 days a week, I help out on mondays from 10am to about 2pm in the afternoon. We serve tea, coffee, ceral, porriage, and sometimes sandwiches for a small price. They also help with debit management, advice on a range of issues such as welfare and housing and a few other things. The patrons are typically homeless, just making it, or in other situations in life.
After work, things are abit different here. Retail stores typically close about 5/6pm in the evening which doesn't leave much left to do except for a movie or pub. Its usually a night home relaxing. Wednesday night I have been attending what they call "cell group" which is basically a small group kinda of like a house group except younger generation. The cell group is from St. Johns which I have attended on sunday evenings. I have also gone to another church called Fordem, to get a feel of another church. Both churches are anglican. Its been hard finding a church and getting contected because I am only here for a couple of months and by the time you take away the time in africa its even less. The cell group has been good though. Tonight we had an treasure hunt. We were put into teams and had to follow clues all over the center of town. My team won. Started the evening at the Playhouse Pub, use to be an old theater. We sat right on stage and when you look out they have scenes from different plays on the balcony seats. We ended at the Castle Pub. It was fun and different.
We are also getting a volunteer from Eygpt! He recieved his visa a couple days ago and will be here for 3 months. He will also be going to Northern Ireland with us. Which will be wonderful with a day trip to Dublin. In addition to that we have a young lady who will be helping out a couple times a week as well. Praise the Lord. Its cool to see how the Lord works.
Unfornatly I don't have all my funds in for my internship. It must be all in before I leave. I came here with the 2/3rds that I needed in order to come but I still need the rest. I came trusting, having faith that the Lord will provide. I know he will. I still need 1,800 dollars. The donations feed me, pay for the flat, flights, project trip, and travel insurance. It MUST come in before I leave. Please continue to pray for this and if the Lord leads you to donate, you can donate online at http://www.emiusa.org/ and it will ask for the intern or volunteers name and you can put my name.
I am getting so much out of this internship and its crazy that i have less than 2 months left. The Lord is amazing! Africa was breathtaking. England is amazing. The weather is great and there is no snow! or box elders bugs!!!!!!!
Prayer points:
- the project
- Rwanda
- my last couple of months
- finances: 1,800 dollars
I pray that you are all well and glorifying him.
God Bless,
Laura
Saturday, April 2, 2011
After Africa
Muraho! (Hello!)
I‘ve been back in the UK for almost a week and a half, after my trip to Africa. A lot of relaxing, sleeping and praying have been going on, as I experienced some reverse culture shock on my return. Let me back up a little and talk about the team I travelled with, made up of 15 people from all over the world. Some who have been on other trips said that we jelled the best and the quickest that they’ve seen. Praise Jesus! Our team consisted of four medical staff, five architects and six in the engineering field. (Pictured to the right is our team with three staff from Kibogora Hospital.) The work the Lord was already doing there, and will continue to do there, is amazing. The hospital staff meets every morning for devotions, and prays with patients before surgeries and other procedures. How often do you see that in the west?
Typically eMi doesn’t touch the business plan of the partner ministry, but because we had medical staff on our team, we were able to help with the hospital’s protocol and business, as well as site development. When we arrived, Kibogora had just received Regional Status, which means they are the official go-to hospital for the area. Our timing, really God’s timing, was perfect, since we could help them develop a required business action plan. Having the medical staff was a HUGE blessing -- we couldn’t have done without them. For example, they helped with hygiene issues, performed surgeries and helped with the overall function of the hospital.
We spent two weeks gathering as much information as possible -- surveying, water testing, sewage measuring. In the end we were wondering how we got so much information. By the grace of God! We presented what we had so far to hospital staff and they were impressed. They were expecting a drawing and we showed them 3d views, layouts and surveys. All very cool.
I could feel the Lord’s presence in everything we did, from gathering information to worship. To be together as a body, from all over the world, and then to join the community at the local church was remarkable. The people, the culture, the language are amazing. I honestly wished I could stay longer. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Now I’m back in England and helping to gather all the information to finalize into a usable plan. There’s a lot of work ahead of us and hopefully we’ll finish before my internship ends in May.
Prayer Requests:
success of the project
health over the next two months
finances (I still need nearly $1,900)
a sense of direction when I return home
Thank You and God Bless,
Laura
Saturday, March 19, 2011
More to Come I promise
Good Afternoon,
I hope all is well in your part of the world. I am writing this in Uganda, arrived this morning from Rwanda. A bittersweet good bye. I will show pictures and stories when I get back to the UK (leave wed morning early). Thanks for all the prayers and support. I LOVED Africa!
God Bless,
Laura
I hope all is well in your part of the world. I am writing this in Uganda, arrived this morning from Rwanda. A bittersweet good bye. I will show pictures and stories when I get back to the UK (leave wed morning early). Thanks for all the prayers and support. I LOVED Africa!
God Bless,
Laura
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Finally an Update: Before Africa!
Hello!
I hope and pray that all is well on your side of the pond. I’m writing this only 2 days before leaving for Africa. I am so excited. The last month has been wonderful!
My arrival in England was dramatic – when I landed in London on February 8th, I fainted at customs. It was a lovely way to enter the country, and I spent most of my first day in the hospital A & E (emergency room). Which is where I met my roommate Monica (from Brazil) and the long term volunteer Adam (from Northern Ireland).
During the month that followed I had orientation and prepared for the trip. I’ve learned Sketchup, a free Google program that can produce 3D images. My roommate and I have done a little touring of the area, as well as our home town of Colchester. We live in a 2 bedroom flat on the 2nd floor (which in the US is actually the 3rd floor), with almost no hot water pressure. There are a few things that I have had to get accustomed to: as most of you know tea time is pretty big here and I’ve been trying all sorts of different teas. Most stores close at about 5/5:30pm, and everyone goes to the pub afterwards or home (I usually go home). When washing clothes it takes 2 hours to wash and 2 days to dry. That’s been fun.
Our Rwanda project trip spans March 5th to March 23rd and we’re flying through Uganda. We arrive in Rwanda on March 6th and will drive to Kibogora Hospital on the 7th (about 5 hours). We will be in Rwanda until March 19th. Then we’ll go back to Uganda for a few days, where we will have a closing session, gather more information from the EMI East Africa office, and enjoy a free day.
In Rwanda, we’ll be surveying, designing and redesigning buildings. There are 15 of us on the team, 4 of whom are medical staff, which is the first time that other professionals will join an EMI trip. It’s a larger than normal project, so there’s a good chance that EMI will visit Kibogora a few more times in the coming years. I am very excited to meet new people and experience a different culture. I hear Rwanda is a very beautiful country, so I’ll take lots of pictures! You can check out the hospital at www.kibogora.org. I can’t wait to see what the Lord will do in each of one us and the people we’re serving.
I have a few prayer requests concerning this trip:
- Safe travel: I most likely will not have internet access, so you can assume if you don’t hear from me or my parents that all is well.
- Health: a few of us have been hit with a cold, including me.
- Rwanda: blessing on the people we will meet and on Kibogora Hospital.
- Finances: I am still in need of about $2,000 for the rest of my internship.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support!
God Bless, Laura
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
TRAVEL PLANS
View Rwanda Kibogora Hospital Project Trip in a larger map
Good Afternoon!
Above is a visual of where and when we are going to Rwanda, with flight and drive times to Rwanda.
Prayer Requests:
* Health!! (my roommate and I are not feeling 100 percent, as well as our director)
* Safe travels- there are 15 of us from all over the world coming together
* Uganda and Rwanda as a whole, as a people
- Uganda is ending elections this month
- Rwanda even though its been 16 years since the genocide, its still have much part of their life
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