..The Great Adventure!

Hi everybody!

Long time no blog.. but I’m finally blogging about my trip to Liberia! I know, I know.. it has taken forever to post this! Since we’ve been back, I’ve been very busy working on the project here at the eMi UK office. Between a few late nights at the office, Picasa Web Album problems, weekend trips, Skype dates with friends and family back home, and the Four Adventures of Richard Hannay (amazing book btw).. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to blog. Well, to be fair, I could have blogged if I really wanted to, but the reality of it all was that I was in a blogging funk. Yes, a blogging funk. I just couldn’t force myself to blog.. and believe me, I tried on multiple occasions. But the good news is that I’m finally in a blogging mood! Let’s see how this goes..

(for those of you that just want a quick recap.. watch the videos below, but make sure it’s HD and full screen!)

LIBERIA = EPIC!

Just for clarification: I believe that the word epic is used far too often and without just reasons. In this case, it isn’t. Liberia was an adventure! It was a life-changing journey of huge proportions. Needless to say, going on this trip was one of the better things I’ve done in my life. Let me expound.

Prior to the trip.. I didn’t have much time to prepare myself for what I was about to see/do. I left Arizona almost right after school ended, and since I’ve left I have been crazy busy over here! It wasn’t until about the night before we left that it finally started to hit me. It was like that sensation you get when you’re a little kid waiting in line for a super intense roller coaster that you’ve never been on.. ok, yeah, I still get that feeling. Anyways. I was beyond excited going into the trip.

Sweet photo of the sun setting on our flight to Liberia! God is cool.

While I was expecting great things from this trip, I really didn’t have any other expectations. I just wanted to go where God had called me and to see Him work through this trip. On the plane flight to Liberia, I had some time to mentally prepare for what I was about to experience. It was not enough.

We landed in Monrovia (the capitol of Liberia) at the sketchiest airport ever. It was extremely late, very dark, and raining hard.. oh boy! Somehow, through the chaos, we made it through customs, found our bags and discovered Sam Enders waiting to take us to the place we were going to stay. I had no idea who exactly this man Sam Enders was, or just how poor Liberia was. Both exceeded my expectations by far.

Liberia just went through one of the deadliest civil wars in the history of Africa. It lasted for about 20 years and ended less than 10 years ago. It has left its mark on the country and only now is hope beginning to emerge in this place. I’ve heard many people refer to Liberia during the trip as a Fourth World Country, because, It has the poverty of a third world country but also just had a devastating war that completely crippled it. The economy is shot (yes my friends, worse than Phoenix). There is no main power grid or running water throughout the country. Everyone has to rely on themselves, and this usually isn’t the best thing.

Sam Enders driving us through downtown Liberia to see the poverty

It is in this rubbish heap (as the English would say) that a dream is rising out of. This dream is called the African Dream Academy and it was started by Samuel Enders. Sam grew up in Liberia and his days trying to make money for his large family or by going through the rubbish heaps for food. He was completely ignorant of the importance of education. One day he was going through the rubbish and found a picture of a happy child wearing a backpack.. it was this picture that started Sam dreaming. He dreamt of a better world.. and thought that it might be possible if he could only get an education.

With his dream and determination, he put himself into school. He flew through the classes, and before long he had graduated high school. This wasn’t enough for Sam. He pursued a bible school in the states. He wrote them letters frequently asking them to accept him and pay his way to the states. They finally responded and he sent them a video of him leading worship at his church (he was very involved with his church.. started a choir group, taught sermons, etc.).. they were sold. He got his chance! Since then, he’s received an MBA and a masters of divinity.. He has seen his dream of education become a reality.. but what about the others?

Sam’s dream changed from a dream about himself, and became a dream for the children of Liberia. He believes (and so do I) that the key of Liberia is found in the children. If he can only find a way to give them education and lead them to Jesus, the nation might be saved. This is where the African Dream Academy started. Its motto is “to feed an African child is good, but to educate an African child is better”. I love it! They see that a quick meal is only temporary. They need to meet the need at its source – education.. or in Liberia’s case – lack of education.

That is where we come in. ADA contacted us to design the African Dream Academy – classrooms for 2000 children, housing for 300 orphans, staff housing, multi-purpose hall, admin buildings, dining hall, sports fields, swimming pool, etc. This was quite a dream, and we were the ones that got to design it! What a privilege!

I was part of an amazing design team full of wonderful people. These people all are using their unique gifts and talents that God has given them to do this great work in Liberia. As I got to know them, I realized that God had chosen the perfect people for this trip. All of them combined to inspired me to pursue God with my gifts, talents, time, and, ultimately, my life. What an honor to be working with these great men and women of God. I was extremely blessed.

the eMi team packed into a 15 passenger bus travelling through Liberia

The trip was definitely a rollercoaster ride! There were many complications with the site, but in the end God ultimately showed us that His plan for ADA was way better than anything we ever could have dreamt up. Instead of describing this in full detail (to save you a few hours of reading), I will just direct your attention to the following YouTube video that we just made that does a great job of summarizing our trip into 4 minutes.*

*For some reason, it won’t let you play it in this blog, just click the link to take you to the YouTube channel, oh! and make sure you watch it in hd in full screen! :) Thanks!

This next video is one that I made with photos that I had taken while in Liberia. If you follow the captions, I basically narrate the project as we go along chronologically. All of these photos are up on my Picasa page - http://picasaweb.google.com/bruce.aka.the.man! I will also be continually uploading more photos of my adventure of this summer.. so keep checking that for more photos! Anyways, here is my video (again, watch it in hd full screen for full effect!).

Hopefully from these videos you can get a feel for the trip and know that the trip was truly epic! God worked in so many ways throughout our time there so that we were constantly reminded that He was in control.

As you can see in the videos, the site was a complete jungle and almost impenetrable. This, along with the hot, humid, rainy days made the surveying very difficult for the engineers. Not only that, but the site was completely surrounded by a river.. we discovered that it would cost at least $5mil to build a bridge that big! Oh, and the site that was supposed to be at least 80 acres turned out to be only 30-40 acres of solid ground with the rest being a swamp! Sam wasn’t prepared for all of this information and was really feeling like this trip would be a major disappointment. He had invested so much money into this property, and it appeared that the dream was beginning to fade into nothing.. but luckily for him and ADA, God had bigger plans.

The initial site was so beautiful! I see why Sam was so attached to it

On a last stitch effort to find another way to access the site, Sam and Joshua went searching for a road just to the north of the area the site was at. To do this, they had to go on a long drive around the river (there weren’t any bridges across it except in Monrovia) and go into an extremely rural area where the road was supposedly located. Upon entering this hidden area, they discovered many villages that were in desperate need for help. They had no schools, no hospitals, no water supply, nothing. Not only that, but when they saw Sam and Joshua, they ran out to them asking them to help! Sam told them about ADA and they were practically giving him land to get him to build it out there Like I said, God had bigger plans.

God immediately placed a desire in Sam’s heart to build ADA here. He returned with Joshua with a new strength. He saw God at work through our trip, even if we wouldn’t be able to design on the site that he had paid for. While he was excited, he thought that for sure our trip had been in vain and that we wouldn’t be able to help him any more. Boy was he wrong! We informed him that we could still carry through with our designs and design based on an illustrative site. Basically, we made up a site with similar conditions to the surrounding area that we could design flexible buildings on. These buildings would then have the ability to adapt to another site of similar characteristics. This news completely blew Sam’s mind! Being there to witness his reaction to this was probably the highlight of the trip for me. :)

This next YouTube video is a fly-through of our design for the African Dream Academy. The main purpose of this video is to help ADA fundraise the money that they need to build it! I did most of the 3d modeling and fly-through design, and Carissa (eMi long term volunteer) did the video effects/text/photos. Enjoy!* :)

*Again, this video won’t play in this blog, just click the link to take you to the YouTube channel, and, again, make sure you watch it in hd in full screen! :) Thanks!

In the end, we were able to bless Sam and the African Dream Academy with a great design that will last for generations to come. We presented our designs at the end of the trip to the ADA board and afterwards we were overwhelmed by their immense gratitude to us for coming to help them! They still have a long road to go before it is built, but with our help they are one step closer to seeing their dream become a reality!

Support the African Dream Academy!

The last of the trip we got to spend at a resort to reflect on our trip. It was a bit odd to be in a place of luxury when I had thought that no such places existed in Liberia. However, the time spent with the team was so great! We had an amazing time of reflection and encouragement! I already really miss the team and the people in Liberia that have so greatly impacted my life! Goodbye Liberia!.. for now. :)

What doesn’t belong? lol.. hanging out with some great kids in Liberia

Well, I’ve written far more than I had intended to write, but I guess that’s what you get when you spend a couple of weeks writing one blog. :p I hope you all have enjoyed learning about what I experienced in Liberia. I also want to express my deep thanks to all those who have prayed for me while I was over there! The entire team was safe and nobody got Malaria or any other crazy disease (although a huge snake rapped itself around Georges leg on one of the treks through the jungle). Praise God for His loving hands upholding us!

I am now back in the UK at the eMi office continuing to work on this project. We are working on all the official drawings and the massive report. Hopefully, by the end of my time here, we will have issued the report and sent it off to ADA so they can begin building!

PRAYER REQUESTS

- Please pray for our team as we are trying to finish the project report by the time we (us interns) leave for home. It can be a stressful time, but I pray that God will give us peace and the ability to finish it in time!

- Please pray for my heart.. God has been challenging me a lot since I’ve been here and I want to really act on what He has laid on my heart. Pray that I will be invested into what He is doing around me. I want to have an outward focus and not an inward focus.

- Please pray for my best friend, Evan. Over the last 9 months, he has been through some crazy intense chemo, surgery and bone marrow transplant.. and now he will have to have radiation done. Pray for strength for him and his family and that the horrible cancer in his body will be forever gone after this! He is an amazing man of God and has an amazing story.. click here to read more about it!

- Finally, please pray that I will get the rest of my funds that I need. I have not received any donations for a while and I just found out that I still need $1,000 - $2,000 to be fully funded. I am not sure on the exact total and will let you know when I find out. If you have the ability to help sponsor me, please click here to donate (place “Tim Berry-2816” in the designation line)! Thank you all so much!

I have a feeling that now that I’ve broken through and finished this blog that I will be updating more frequently (but with much shorter blogs). Until then.

Cheers!

..A Pencil in the Hand of God

Hey everyone!

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.

..Minding the GAP

...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.

..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!

.. 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.

..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!

..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