5Crawfords

In March, EMI sent a team of Civil Engineers to the mountainous rural areas of Malawi to assist World Vision with a problem they were having with an enormous water pipeline project they have been trying to implement. They had started the project in 2005 with the hopes of diverting a natural spring up in the mountains to several communities in the hills below, miles away. In all, the system was hopeful of providing a stable water source for up to 40,000 people across many different villages and communities in the region.

To date, they had installed about the first 33km (20 miles) of the pipeline, which would serve about 4,000 people. However, for some reason, the pipeline has been fraught with problems from the outset with no reliability in the system. In fact, the main trunk line had been installed twice and still wasn't working much of the time. The EMI team was called in to help solve the problems with this first section - a daunting task to pinpoint a problem in a 33km section…

The last month and a half has been a unique time for our family! Coming back from the UK without a definite place to plant ourselves was a big faith step, but one we felt God was leading us to make. Now that things have settled a bit, we are so thankful for God's provision over the past 2 months. Here are some highlights...

1) After spending a few weeks on the West Coast at our parent's houses in California and Oregon, we made the trek out to Colorado without a place to land! Fortunately, our dear friends Fred and Laurel Beck graciously and generously opened their home to us. After a little more than week with them, our other dear friends the Reynold's allowed us to stay with them for a week and a half too. In the interest of spreading ourselves around (and against the protests of the Reynold's!) we then headed back to the Beck's for the last week before our house came available. In all, we lived with friends for just over a month!

2) On Day 1 in Colorado Springs,…