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!
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