5Crawfords

Part II of V Days 5-6:  7 th – 8 th September I count it as one of the great blessings of my job with EMI to be able to work with so many good examples of Christians – to say nothing of the very talented architects and engineers our volunteers and interns are. This trip is no different, other than the fact that it’s my biggest team yet so there are more of them to like! Here they are: With interns Michael (left) and Deryck (right) Michael Day  (Edinburgh, Scotland) – One of two Scots on the team, Michael is an intern in our office in Colchester this semester. An electronics and IT guy by degree, Michael is helping with the electrical design as well as finishing the report back in the office after the trip. He’s one of those guys with a great attitude and always seems happy. I am really looking forward to having him around for the next few months. Deryck Chan  (Cambridge, UK / Hong Kong) – Deryck is one of the more interesting people I’ve met. He’...

Part I of V Days 1-2:  3 rd -4 th September Having just returned from our Summer visa run to the US 6 days before, I repacked the bag I had just unpacked a couple days before and prepared to head out back to Uganda. I’ve documented well the struggles I have with leaving, and this time was of course no different. However, maybe it was jetlag or maybe we’re getting better at it – or more likely, maybe God was answering the prayers of the many people who were praying for us those days specifically! – but this time we were a bit more resolved about my leaving and the fact that it is part of what God has called us to in this journey with EMI. Ready to depart LHR with my trusted side-kick, intern Michael. In some ways, I think our time back in the US was helpful in that regard, as we left with a bit of a renewed resolution and contentment that we are in fact doing what we feel God has called us to do, however hard it might be at various points of the journey. (I know when A...

by Alisha :) Romans 7:6: “Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.” With Brad being gone on his project trip to Uganda for a couple weeks, I took the boys to the zoo the other day. They each bought a small bag of sweets. I didn’t buy one then, but after tasting one of theirs I decided a little while later that I might buy some too. As I stood in line with my one pound coin and a scrumptious bag of sweets picked out, I felt a “no” that somehow led me to hang the sweets back on the rack and leave the little side shop. I rejoined the boys at the park structure just outside the window and we all headed up to toward the giraffe enclosure where Graysen had his heart set on face-painting.  He had been longing to get his face-painted for many trips to the zoo.  Watching all the fun, Jonah soon decided to get his painted too, and seconds later, Brodie was keen to join in as well. As Graysen finish...

In just an hour and a half, I'm catching the train to head out to my next project trip in Uganda for a couple of weeks! We'll be designing a new primary school for YWAM at their Hopeland Base campus in Jinja, Uganda. It's my biggest team yet - 14 total - and already one volunteer has missed her connecting flight in Amsterdam. Pray that this minor glitch is the last of the logistal problems we face! Also, as always, you can pray for Alisha and the boys as their job of staying home is often more difficult because it's normal life but with one parent removed (i.e. pray for Alisha!). The boys start school tomorrow as well, so that's of course on our minds. Overall safety and good team unity and effectiveness in working together are always at the top of the prayer request list as well. Be on the lookout for further updates on the trip in the near future...possibly on Twitter and Instagram too!

How does the work of EMI help spread the gospel? Connecting the dots from EMI projects to meeting the physical needs of the poor in the developing world is a fairly easy line to draw. Clean water, reliable power systems and safe buildings that our projects create are all desperate needs of the poor in Africa, India and other places around the world. But understanding how the work of EMI promotes the spreading of the gospel sometimes takes a bit more effort. A recent update I received from one of my former projects provides a great illustration how EMI’s work enhances the spread of the gospel around the world – in this case, Uganda. A few years ago, I led a team of 11 design professionals to master plan a university campus for Africa Renewal University (ARU). Since that time, ARU has taken the plans our EMI team provided and moved forward at a speed that’s uncommon amongst development organizations. ARU started out as Gaba Bible Institute (GBI) 6 years ago with 35 students....

We're halfway through our visit home to the USA (to renew our UK visas) so we though we would update you all on things...the visas, my last project, and my upcoming project trip back to Uganda... UK Visa update Good news on the visa front - we just found out a few days ago that our UK visas have been approved! It was an answer to prayer that they were not only approved, but the approval only took 11 days (they only guarantee an answer within 12 weeks). We had allowed 6 weeks in the USA before our return flights (a bit of a risk!), so fortunately things worked out. Now, we are all set to head back to the UK on August 27th. Now, about those driver's licenses... A brief summary of our time in Colorado Springs, though most of my time was spent at the EMI office and meeting with other EMI staff people. It was a busy but great visit for us, as we got to see a number of friends (not all though, sadly) and I got to play in a soccer tournament with my old team! T...

A nice British family It’s hard to believe, but Jonah and I leave the UK to return to the USA to begin the visa renewal process just 3 weeks from tomorrow! We’re going home 8 days before the others to attend a family reunion, while the others are staying in the UK since Brodie’s school doesn’t get out until mid-July! In some ways, it feels like time has flown by, and in other ways, this has been the longest 10 months of our lives! It’s been great, rewarding, hard, fun, boring, exciting, frustrating, gloomy, enchanting, etc. and un-etc. ;) The Colchester Baptist Church, where EMI-UK's office is located. We're in the back corner and stare out the window at brick walls, but we're very grateful to the church for giving us two rooms to work in, rent free. This is also our home church - we really like the people of this church. We have a list a mile long to accomplish for year two, many of it renewing exactly what we had to do for year one. It’s an expensive undert...