Everything is going great over here. I've just finished packing for Liberia and am about to go to bed for a couple of hours before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Africa! Wow, I can barely believe what I just typed. It is actually happening. We are heading to Liberia to do some sweet architecture for a ministry that is in dire need of our help. How cool is that? ... The last few weeks have been so busy that I haven't had much time to let it all sink in. Wow. I am completely blown away by God right now. :)
Ok, just a quick random thought before I tell you a little bit about the trip. The title of this blog is 'A Pencil in the Hand of God'. I really want that to be me. I want to be a tool that God will use to bless the lives of countless orphaned Liberian children. I want to rest in knowing that no matter what my shortcomings are, that God will use me and our team to do His work. We just need to be willing vessels. More of God, and less of us. That is my prayer for this trip. That God would be able to use us to design for His glory!
Now, a quick summary of the past week or so: After a short orientation, we got straight into work last week to finish a past project that eMi did in India last fall. Our goal was to finish the drawings and report and having it printed by the end of the week. We really wanted to have that complete before we started this new project so that we could be completely focused on Liberia. Well, we finished that project on time and folded and bound all the copies of the report just yesterday (which was a lot of work!). Not only that, but we were able to assemble a complete Liberia project profile and are completely ready for our trip tomorrow! God is so good!
Here is the interesting part: I've mentioned in previous blogs that our main plan in Liberia was to design an orphanage for a ministry called ABC Children's Aid Liberia. Just a few days ago we were made aware of some tension between ABC Liberia and ABC International. I won't get into the politics of it, but because of all this tension, we have decided to postpone that trip to a later date. Bummer... or so it seemed.
Here is the God part: We had been planning on spending the first three days in Liberia doing a quick sketch design for a ministry called African Dream Academy that is only a few miles away from ABC Liberia. This was to help them get started on fund-raising for their project, and once funded we were then going to come back to do a full design/master plan. When we found out about the tension with ABC, we called ADA (African Dream Academy) to see if it was possibly to completely focus on their project and do a full design while we are there. Not only was it possible, but they were expecting this to happen and are completely prepared for us to come! Wow, God is so good! They have arranged our accommodations and everything already. Talk about a good back-up plan. The more I look into the project description and everything surrounding this whole mess, the more I realize that this was God's plan all along. He has completely provided the perfect project for our team and one that will do the most good the soonest. Wow.
What ADA is all about: ADA is very similar to ABC Liberia. Both ministries reach out to the orphaned children of Liberia in order to lead them to Christ. ADA's vision is summarized by this: "To feed an African child is good, but to educate an African child is better". Basically, they would rather teach a child to fish, rather than just give him a fish for one meal. They are "dedicated to making Liberia a better place by empowering orphan youth and children to achieve their dreams through providing a quality education that addresses their spiritual needs and provides them technical skills without a high cost (and in many cases free)." This is their vision, but they need help achieving it.
http://www.africandreamacademy.org/welcome.html
Here is where we come in: ADA owns an 85 acre site just outside of Monrovia, Liberia that is almost completely surrounded by a river. On the 85 acre site, ADA would like us to design a technical and vocational school, complete with classrooms, a multipurpose hall, staff and student boarding. They also want us to help with access to the site - bridges, roads, etc. Also, as Liberia has been completely devastated by their recent bloody civil war, they are in need of sustainable electricity, access to clean water, sewage disposal, among other things. With the recent civil war, most of the trained professionals in Liberia have fled the country and they have nobody to do this design at a reasonable cost. So, we get to come in and do it for free! So exciting!
http://www.africandreamacademy.org/videos.html
More info: The more I read about Liberia, ADA and the condition of the people in that area, the more I see their great need. Liberia has been completely ravashed by the civil one of the bloodiest civil wars Africa has ever seen (and that is saying something). The country as a whole is basically starting over from square one. As a result, there is basically no remaining infrastructure (Roads, Water, Sewage, etc). Over 75% of the children in Liberia are illiterate and most are orphans. They are in desperate need of an education. As I look into these conditions, I realize that they have a clean slate right now and there is so much opportunity for them in the future! However, just like Jesus said in the gospels, "the harvest is great but the workers are few". They need us. We are going. How awesome is that!
Prayer requests: While we are in Liberia, the weather conditions are not ideal for designing. We are arriving in the middle of monsoon season and it is going to be very hot while we are there. Hot and humid.. doesn't sound too pleasant. Pray that it won't inhibit our surveying of the site or any of the design aspects. Also pray for us as we endure these rough conditions (plus I have no idea what our accommodations will be like while we are there!). Also pray for team unity and for us to be able to work amazingly together. Pray for us to stay focused while we are there and that we will be willing vessels in the hands of the Father. It will be so awesome to be able to give ADA a sweet design to help them help the needy orphans of Liberia! Pray. :)
Until next time (probably June 20th), Cheers.
