...Wow! It has been a busy week! I plan on blogging again tomorrow or the next day with more detail, but I just wanted to say something I was thinking about today..
After two trips to London this week, I've discovered a few things about myself:
- I love traveling! I love seeing different cultures, different cities, different styles of architecture and the history behind it all!
- I don't enjoy being a typical tourist. Let me explain. On Wednesday, I took the train to London and made my way to meet a friend from eMi at a Thai place for dinner then went to a low key concert in a small venue called the "Underbelly". It was very chill and I really enjoyed the experience. Today, I went to London with a few friends and we toured all over London. We saw many of the main tourist attractions (In terms of architecture, of course). However, for most of the day, we spent most of our time just walking and taking the underground to see as much as we could. It was after a few hours of this that I realized that I would much rather just explore one or two buildings, or just go to an English event that was rich with British culture. Ah, but we finished the day with dinner in a legit English restaurant. So, all was good!
- I really wish Phoenix had an underground! It is so much fun and quick to get around the city! Also, an announcer tells you to "mind the gap" every time you board or leave the train! So legit! I also realized that I need to really enjoy the city more when I get back. I know there's a lot to see/do in Phoenix that I really have never taken much interest in for whatever reason.
Anyways, that's what I was just thinking about today. Hope you enjoyed the quick read (for me that is, ha ha!).
Cheers.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
..Tea Time!
Well, I made it. I'm here, in Colchester, England just sipping on some tea in my flat. I love it here. It is beyond amazing. I'm so grateful to God that I get to be here. This past week has been incredible, so let me tell you briefly about it.
If you've read my previous posts, then you know that I had a hard time getting to the UK. My flight was canceled late on Sunday, so I was stuck in Charlotte for 2.5 days. This wasn't all that bad because I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep! But, since my last post Wednesday, I left for Philly, then caught an overnight flight to Paris which was entirely impossible to get any sleep on because of crying babies! :/ From there, I was able to take British Airways to London Heathrow. I was traveling with one of the other interns, Jess, and we actually had a fairly good time of it.
The trickiest part of the journey was getting through customs, or so we thought. The other intern, Ryan, was detained for questioning when he went through customs on Tuesday. Apparently England is not as loose as the US when it comes to who they allow over the border, ha ha. Needless to say, we were very worried we might not get in. However, we prayed about it and were very confident as we went up to the customs officer. After a brief 5 minute conversation about what we were doing there, and a very awkward pause as he looked at our paperwork, he decided to let us through with a smile. He seemed to like the fact that we were doing charity work, both in the UK and in Liberia... once he believed us. :p
We met Mike Woods (the director of eMi UK) at the airport and he took us to his home called the Baylies (in the countryside they don't have street numbers, just names!) in Suffolk, just outside of Colchester. While there, we met Marietta - Mike's wife - Ryan - the other intern - and Carissa - a long term volunteer for eMi. They are all really awesome people.. so far anyways ;) After a nice dinner, which was surprisingly good after all the mishaps Ryan and co. had while preparing it, we were driven back to our flat in Colchester (Our flat is called Wheatsheaf court, how cool is that?). It was late already, and we both had jet lag (Ryan and I) so we fell asleep instantly.
Friday and Saturday were very similar. We had to cram a week's worth of orientation into 2 days so we had a lot to do. It was a good time of team building: personality tests, strength tests, spiritual gift tests, devotions, prayer, testimonies and just good ol' hanging out. I could go on and blog about each of those things for a long time, but I'll try not to bore you all any more than I have to. :) But, not only did we begin to unify as a group, I also discovered that one of the other people at the office and I have identical personalities. Crazy! Who knew there was another person who could understand how I though/processed things? Oh, and I forgot to mention Jean. We met her on Friday at orientation. She's the lead engineer at our office and she's a really sweet person with an awesome testimony. We only get to have her at the office on Fridays though, because she works at her paying job 4 days of the week.
Sunday was very interesting. It was Pentecost Sunday and we were able to go to 2 churches. In the morning we went to the church that our office is located at which is an old Baptist church. We were introduced to the congregation and had a pleasant time there. It was very traditional but I enjoyed it! After a drive through the countryside to the Baylies, I wandered through their garden (English word for yard) which is 5 acres big. It was a great time of just reflecting on the past week and preparing myself for this next week. They have probably 50-100 large trees and 5 acres of grass, so it was quite a relaxing time.
We then went for cream tea at Denham. This is a very traditional British thing to do. Just picture a little old tea shop in a historic English city where everyone sips on tea with their pinkies out. It was great! Oh, and the cream and scones (English word for biscuit) were the best part!
After that, we went to an old Anglican church (that Carissa and Mike both go to) for a more contemporary service. It was really good! The worship was great and the message was on prayer and was very encouraging. At the end there was more worship and the entire congregation (about 30-40 people) went to the front to kneel. It was a sweet experience as the presence of God just poured down on us. I really was not expecting that from an Anglican church, but definitely loved it!
Ok, so now we get to Monday (today for me). Today marked the start of actual work. We leave on our project trip to Liberia next Thursday, but before that, we have to finish up the last project they did in India. We mainly just have some AutoCAD drawings to finish and then print them all out and create a report for the ministry in India. It's actually quite a lot of work, and we are aiming to get it all done by the end of this week! :0 It ended up being about a 9 hour day, but with tea breaks and just having a good time while working, it didn't seem that long at all. I really love the fact that I get to serve the Kingdom with my small skills as an architecture student. It's amazing!
That leads me to right now, as I sit in my little room, in my little flat, in the small town of Colchester, in the great country of England. I am beyond excited for this summer! I still can't believe that God has allowed me to come out here and serve with this great ministry and with all these amazing people! I feel so fulfilled right now that it is almost ridiculous! Praise Jesus! I could literally go on and on about how I feel about this summer, but I think you get the point.
As we go forward from here, there are a few big prayer requests that I'd love for you to pray about:
-Jess: She is the other architecture intern, and is not feeling well and has not been able to participate in very much since Saturday afternoon. She even missed work today. Please pray that she does not come down with anything major and that tonight she will be healed from whatever is wrong with her so that she will be able to help our team try to finish up this project this week.
-The project trip to Libera: We are still hopeful that we can get a Surveyor and Agricultural Engineer before we leave next week. Please pray for that! That would be amazing! The weather in Liberia is not very good right now either, so pray that we make it there safely and are safe on all our travels around in Liberia. Oh and the weather there sounds miserable (90 degrees, 95% humidity, feels like 115 degrees and T-storms throughout our trip). Please pray that we somehow make it through the 17 days we are there and come up with good designs, both for African Dream and ABC Christian Academy.
-The project report for the India project: Just pray that we finish everything we need to get done this week. It can be a stressful time, and I just hope and pray that we will put it all in God's hands and do our best. We will be very busy, so we could use prayer for extra energy and stamina! :)
-Our team: Most of the members of our team have some really big things that they and/or their family is going through. Please pray for continued peace, rest, and unity in our group. Also, pray for miracles to happen in our lives and through our work here at eMi! We really need you praying for us!
Thank you all so much for everything. I can not tell you how much your prayers mean to me. Oh, and if you are able to donate to help me do this work this summer, then please do! I'm still in need of support. Not only do I need about 2000 for the rest of this trip to be funded, but I had to pay for an unexpected hotel stay in Charlotte and an extra flight from Paris to London, so I know that total went up about 200-300 dollars. Please pray for all the finances to be taken care of. :)
Thank you again!
Cheers!
If you've read my previous posts, then you know that I had a hard time getting to the UK. My flight was canceled late on Sunday, so I was stuck in Charlotte for 2.5 days. This wasn't all that bad because I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep! But, since my last post Wednesday, I left for Philly, then caught an overnight flight to Paris which was entirely impossible to get any sleep on because of crying babies! :/ From there, I was able to take British Airways to London Heathrow. I was traveling with one of the other interns, Jess, and we actually had a fairly good time of it.
The trickiest part of the journey was getting through customs, or so we thought. The other intern, Ryan, was detained for questioning when he went through customs on Tuesday. Apparently England is not as loose as the US when it comes to who they allow over the border, ha ha. Needless to say, we were very worried we might not get in. However, we prayed about it and were very confident as we went up to the customs officer. After a brief 5 minute conversation about what we were doing there, and a very awkward pause as he looked at our paperwork, he decided to let us through with a smile. He seemed to like the fact that we were doing charity work, both in the UK and in Liberia... once he believed us. :p
We met Mike Woods (the director of eMi UK) at the airport and he took us to his home called the Baylies (in the countryside they don't have street numbers, just names!) in Suffolk, just outside of Colchester. While there, we met Marietta - Mike's wife - Ryan - the other intern - and Carissa - a long term volunteer for eMi. They are all really awesome people.. so far anyways ;) After a nice dinner, which was surprisingly good after all the mishaps Ryan and co. had while preparing it, we were driven back to our flat in Colchester (Our flat is called Wheatsheaf court, how cool is that?). It was late already, and we both had jet lag (Ryan and I) so we fell asleep instantly.
Friday and Saturday were very similar. We had to cram a week's worth of orientation into 2 days so we had a lot to do. It was a good time of team building: personality tests, strength tests, spiritual gift tests, devotions, prayer, testimonies and just good ol' hanging out. I could go on and blog about each of those things for a long time, but I'll try not to bore you all any more than I have to. :) But, not only did we begin to unify as a group, I also discovered that one of the other people at the office and I have identical personalities. Crazy! Who knew there was another person who could understand how I though/processed things? Oh, and I forgot to mention Jean. We met her on Friday at orientation. She's the lead engineer at our office and she's a really sweet person with an awesome testimony. We only get to have her at the office on Fridays though, because she works at her paying job 4 days of the week.
Sunday was very interesting. It was Pentecost Sunday and we were able to go to 2 churches. In the morning we went to the church that our office is located at which is an old Baptist church. We were introduced to the congregation and had a pleasant time there. It was very traditional but I enjoyed it! After a drive through the countryside to the Baylies, I wandered through their garden (English word for yard) which is 5 acres big. It was a great time of just reflecting on the past week and preparing myself for this next week. They have probably 50-100 large trees and 5 acres of grass, so it was quite a relaxing time.
We then went for cream tea at Denham. This is a very traditional British thing to do. Just picture a little old tea shop in a historic English city where everyone sips on tea with their pinkies out. It was great! Oh, and the cream and scones (English word for biscuit) were the best part!
After that, we went to an old Anglican church (that Carissa and Mike both go to) for a more contemporary service. It was really good! The worship was great and the message was on prayer and was very encouraging. At the end there was more worship and the entire congregation (about 30-40 people) went to the front to kneel. It was a sweet experience as the presence of God just poured down on us. I really was not expecting that from an Anglican church, but definitely loved it!
Ok, so now we get to Monday (today for me). Today marked the start of actual work. We leave on our project trip to Liberia next Thursday, but before that, we have to finish up the last project they did in India. We mainly just have some AutoCAD drawings to finish and then print them all out and create a report for the ministry in India. It's actually quite a lot of work, and we are aiming to get it all done by the end of this week! :0 It ended up being about a 9 hour day, but with tea breaks and just having a good time while working, it didn't seem that long at all. I really love the fact that I get to serve the Kingdom with my small skills as an architecture student. It's amazing!
That leads me to right now, as I sit in my little room, in my little flat, in the small town of Colchester, in the great country of England. I am beyond excited for this summer! I still can't believe that God has allowed me to come out here and serve with this great ministry and with all these amazing people! I feel so fulfilled right now that it is almost ridiculous! Praise Jesus! I could literally go on and on about how I feel about this summer, but I think you get the point.
As we go forward from here, there are a few big prayer requests that I'd love for you to pray about:
-Jess: She is the other architecture intern, and is not feeling well and has not been able to participate in very much since Saturday afternoon. She even missed work today. Please pray that she does not come down with anything major and that tonight she will be healed from whatever is wrong with her so that she will be able to help our team try to finish up this project this week.
-The project trip to Libera: We are still hopeful that we can get a Surveyor and Agricultural Engineer before we leave next week. Please pray for that! That would be amazing! The weather in Liberia is not very good right now either, so pray that we make it there safely and are safe on all our travels around in Liberia. Oh and the weather there sounds miserable (90 degrees, 95% humidity, feels like 115 degrees and T-storms throughout our trip). Please pray that we somehow make it through the 17 days we are there and come up with good designs, both for African Dream and ABC Christian Academy.
-The project report for the India project: Just pray that we finish everything we need to get done this week. It can be a stressful time, and I just hope and pray that we will put it all in God's hands and do our best. We will be very busy, so we could use prayer for extra energy and stamina! :)
-Our team: Most of the members of our team have some really big things that they and/or their family is going through. Please pray for continued peace, rest, and unity in our group. Also, pray for miracles to happen in our lives and through our work here at eMi! We really need you praying for us!
Thank you all so much for everything. I can not tell you how much your prayers mean to me. Oh, and if you are able to donate to help me do this work this summer, then please do! I'm still in need of support. Not only do I need about 2000 for the rest of this trip to be funded, but I had to pay for an unexpected hotel stay in Charlotte and an extra flight from Paris to London, so I know that total went up about 200-300 dollars. Please pray for all the finances to be taken care of. :)
Thank you again!
Cheers!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
.. What Breaks Yours
Cheers everyone! I made it to England this past week. w00t! It has been quite a busy week, but oh so good! God has been incredible (I guess He always is but I just noticed it more so this week). I'll just do a quick recap of this past week and then tell you about the upcoming weeks later on in this blog. :)
Sunday, May 16th (which in England they would say 16 May 2010 cuz they like to be different): I flied out from Sky Harbor (PHX) to Douglas Intl. (Charlotte) and that in and of itself was quite an adventure. I almost missed my flight because my correct boarding pass did not print out. Anyways, I made it to Charlotte, but then my flight to LGW (London) was delayed, and then canceled because of the ash cloud. One of the other interns met up with me there and we had a hard time rescheduling our flight. We almost were sent back home and had to wait 10 days, but we somehow managed to book a flight to Paris on Wednesday and then figure out our way to England from there.
Monday: Checked into a hotel in Charlotte (Sleep Inn) at about 2am with Jess (the other intern, and in seperate rooms, of course). Slept in (@ Sleep Inn), well actually, pretty much slept the entire day. Later that day we were able to book a flight from Paris to London on Thursday! (We also watched the Suns get cremated by the Lakers.. boo!)
Tuesday: Slept a lot more! Able to prepare my heart for this internship and just spend a lot of time with Jesus. :) I really needed that! I didn't really do much that day, but in the evening I met some friends of some of my good friends who live in Charlotte. We hung out for a while and I got to meet their family.. pretty chill! Lemme give a shout out to the Volks! w00t!
Wednesday: Was very tired that day from a late night and early morning. Hung out at the airport for a few hours. Flew from Charlotte to Philadelphia in the afternoon. Hung out at that airport for a while, then caught a flight to Paris later in the evening. I had been hoping to catch up on some sleep on the flight so I took some Benadryl when we took off, but the entire flight there was a baby screaming right behind me! Ugh! Gotta love being tested, haha! Well.. more to come later!
Cheers.
Sunday, May 16th (which in England they would say 16 May 2010 cuz they like to be different): I flied out from Sky Harbor (PHX) to Douglas Intl. (Charlotte) and that in and of itself was quite an adventure. I almost missed my flight because my correct boarding pass did not print out. Anyways, I made it to Charlotte, but then my flight to LGW (London) was delayed, and then canceled because of the ash cloud. One of the other interns met up with me there and we had a hard time rescheduling our flight. We almost were sent back home and had to wait 10 days, but we somehow managed to book a flight to Paris on Wednesday and then figure out our way to England from there.
Monday: Checked into a hotel in Charlotte (Sleep Inn) at about 2am with Jess (the other intern, and in seperate rooms, of course). Slept in (@ Sleep Inn), well actually, pretty much slept the entire day. Later that day we were able to book a flight from Paris to London on Thursday! (We also watched the Suns get cremated by the Lakers.. boo!)
Tuesday: Slept a lot more! Able to prepare my heart for this internship and just spend a lot of time with Jesus. :) I really needed that! I didn't really do much that day, but in the evening I met some friends of some of my good friends who live in Charlotte. We hung out for a while and I got to meet their family.. pretty chill! Lemme give a shout out to the Volks! w00t!
Wednesday: Was very tired that day from a late night and early morning. Hung out at the airport for a few hours. Flew from Charlotte to Philadelphia in the afternoon. Hung out at that airport for a while, then caught a flight to Paris later in the evening. I had been hoping to catch up on some sleep on the flight so I took some Benadryl when we took off, but the entire flight there was a baby screaming right behind me! Ugh! Gotta love being tested, haha! Well.. more to come later!
Cheers.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
..Sleep Inn
When I wrote my last blog, I was really bummed out that our flight had been canceled and upset that we wouldn't make it to England until Thursday - three days after we were supposed to. :/ Our flight would've missed the ash cloud if it had left an hour earlier too! So, needless to say, even though our spirits were high, I was definitely discouraged by this.
Well, as it says in His word, God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. I've found this to be especially true during our time in Charlotte. I have been able to catch up on sleep and really prepare myself spiritually for this internship. I feel that the semester had been so busy and then I went straight to packing after it ended that I didn't really have time to just take a deep breath and take it all in. So, I really thank God for giving us this chance to relax and chill with Him - even though the circumstances were not ideal at all.
Well, I am now about to head to the airport for a flight to Philly at 2:45 ET. We'll then jump on a flight to Paris, go through customs, switch airlines, jump on a flight to London, go through customs there, and then finally drive to Colchester, England! Phew! This will be a lot of travel, but we are ready for it! Thank God for that!
Please be praying for all of our travels - that we wouldn't have any complications with any of our flights and that everything would go on without a hitch! Thank you so much! I can't wait to start updating you all on what is going on during the internship - instead of just the trip there! Ha ha!
Cheers!
Well, as it says in His word, God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. I've found this to be especially true during our time in Charlotte. I have been able to catch up on sleep and really prepare myself spiritually for this internship. I feel that the semester had been so busy and then I went straight to packing after it ended that I didn't really have time to just take a deep breath and take it all in. So, I really thank God for giving us this chance to relax and chill with Him - even though the circumstances were not ideal at all.
Well, I am now about to head to the airport for a flight to Philly at 2:45 ET. We'll then jump on a flight to Paris, go through customs, switch airlines, jump on a flight to London, go through customs there, and then finally drive to Colchester, England! Phew! This will be a lot of travel, but we are ready for it! Thank God for that!
Please be praying for all of our travels - that we wouldn't have any complications with any of our flights and that everything would go on without a hitch! Thank you so much! I can't wait to start updating you all on what is going on during the internship - instead of just the trip there! Ha ha!
Cheers!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
..Layover
So, my layover in Charlotte is turning into what will be a 3 day stay. The flight from Charlotte to LGW was canceled because of the volcanic ash. We just booked a flight from Charlotte to Philadelphia to Paris on Wednesday afternoon. So, if everything goes according to plan, we should be in England by Thursday. Not quite ideal, but it's better than waiting 10 days to get any kind of flight to London.
All in all, it looks like it will work out ok. As long as we can find a place to stay here in Charlotte for not too expensive. The worst thing we had to deal with today was waiting in the worst line ever for 3 hours to re-book our flight, only to be told that they could not book any more flights tonight... here is a picture of the line from my perspective.
Right now we are booking our hotel for the next few nights. I'll try to update again before our flight Wednesday once we figure everything out.
Please be praying that we are able to get lodging for the next few nights and that we somehow make it to the EMI office as planned. Thank you all so much for everything!
-Tim
All in all, it looks like it will work out ok. As long as we can find a place to stay here in Charlotte for not too expensive. The worst thing we had to deal with today was waiting in the worst line ever for 3 hours to re-book our flight, only to be told that they could not book any more flights tonight... here is a picture of the line from my perspective. Right now we are booking our hotel for the next few nights. I'll try to update again before our flight Wednesday once we figure everything out.
Please be praying that we are able to get lodging for the next few nights and that we somehow make it to the EMI office as planned. Thank you all so much for everything!
-Tim
..Adventure
..so.... I'm leaving for England in about 30 minutes! I can't believe it is finally here! This is crazy. In 24 hours, I will be sippin' on a cup o' tea in Colchester England... well, I actually don't know that, but I will be in England with eMi Lord willing (The volcanic ash might cause some flight delays :/ ).
I have very mixed emotions right now about leaving. On the one side, I am blown away by this opportunity and cannot wait to get there and start this adventure and see what all God has planned for me and the entire eMi office! But, on the other, I am really going to miss my family and friends this summer. 12 weeks is a long time. That really wouldn't be too big of a deal, but my best friend ever Evan Lumpkin has been battling a rare cancer for the past 8 months or so and will be going through the most intense round of chemo (and his last) starting this Wednesday. It breaks my heart that I will not be here to be with him during this hard time. However, I really feel the Lord is calling me to this internship, so I am leaving knowing that I am in His plan for my life which is very reassuring. I just wish it didn't have to be this difficult.
Anyways, if you could please, please, please pray for my friend Evan as often as you think of him in the next coming weeks. He will need all the prayer he can get. Also, check out his blog and see what his specific prayer needs are. He appreciates every prayer so much! His blog is found here - http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/evanlumpkin
Aside from that, if you could be praying for me, and the entire eMi team as we are all preparing for this trip to Liberia that would be amazing! Pray for safe travels, open hearts, and for God to just completely blow all of our minds on this adventure! I cannot wait to blog about all the amazing things that are happening through this awesome ministry that I get to be a part of this summer. I cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers. Prayer is truly powerful. Thank you.
Also, if you were wondering about my financial goals for this trip, I believe I have raised about 75% already! Thank you all so much for your generous giving! I am well over the $5000.00 I needed to raise before this trip starts. I will however be continuing to raise the remaining $2000ish over summer. If you would like to donate please donate online at www.emiworld.org by clicking “Donate” and putting “Tim Berry-2816” in the “Designation” line. Thank you so much! I could not have made it this far without your generous giving and prayers!
Until the next blog.. cheers!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
..Support
Hi everyone! I'm sorry I have not been updating this blog very often, but I have been extremely busy this past month. This past week, I just finished my semester-long studio project - what a relief to be done with that! I can now catch up on some lost sleep and turn more of my attention to this summer internship!
On that note, I am so excited to tell you all that I've raised 56% of my goal for this trip already! Thank you all so much for all of your gifts! I am blown away by your extreme generosity! God is so good!
All that being said, I still need $3,280.00 to be fully funded on this trip. I know it seems like a lot, but I believe God is going to provide it! If you would like to help me reach my goal - and we both know that you want to! :) - you can donate online. It's actually super easy. All you have to do is go to www.emiworld.org and click on the “Donate” button. Next, fill out your information and put “Tim Berry-2816” in the “Designation” line. That's it.. see how easy it is? :)
If you can't support me financially, please continue to pray for me, my trip, and the entire EMI team. I know there are a lot of needs for our trip and would love to see God come and meet each and every one of them in a way that only He can do. Thank you all so much again!
Cheerio!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)