Costa Rica, here we come!

This post was written before I arrived at Costa Rica. Another post regarding my first week in Costa Rica at eMi will be written at a later time.

Well, the time has come to start my internship with eMi in Costa Rica! But before I begin my time in Costa Rica, I must try to summarize my week of orientation in Colorado Springs, CO. This orientation was with 23 other eMi interns and full-time staff who were sent all over the world - Egypt, Uganda, India, and Costa Rica - or stationed at two of the three sending offices - US (Colorado Springs, CO) or Canada (Calgary). The orientation ranged from the technical to the relational in the nature of discussions. The discussion included a brief history of eMi; God's heart for the nations and our role in that; cultural training; tricks of the trade, which involved architecture/engineering design considerations in developing countries; and God's workmanship, which involved an in-depth look at Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." The training in God's workmanship throughout the week focused on how God has graciously gifted each one of us with certain strengths - not for internal self-actualization (as much of the secular world will teach) but for external Christ-exaltation.

One highlight of the week was many new friendships that I have formed with the staff and interns of eMi. Our orientation group was made up of individuals from a variety of majors - interior architecture, architecture, architectural/civil/mechanical engineering - from colleges all over the country - UC Davis, MIT, Texas, LSU, Colorado School of Mines, Texas A&M, NC State, Kansas State, Hope College, UW-Madison, and even Oxford (yes, by jove, that prestigious school in England). Through various team-building exercises, activities (ie: rock-climbing, hiking, visiting Garden of the Gods), testimonies, and simply living together for a whole week, we got to know one another at a personal level and hopefully develop friendships that last a lifetime. Although we came from many different backgrounds, we all have one purpose in mind: To see God glorified in a practical way through the application of architecture/engineering. That is the heart of eMi - designing a world of hope for the physically and spiritually poor. The recent catastrophe in Haiti was a very real reminder of the need for organizations like eMi in countries that are hurting. On Friday, eMi sent two teams down to Haiti to provide short-term solutions - creating clean water systems - and long-term solutions - assessment of structural damage and restoration possibilities. One of my roommates during orientation, Josh Canez - an architecture student from Texas A&M - had visited Haiti a couple weeks before the earthquake and has family living in Haiti. His immediate family is safe - praise God. Please pray for the safety of his family with the current state of chaos that Haiti is in.

Today, I am traveling with three other interns to Costa Rica. Our group is made up of Emily, Michael, and Jim. Emily is a civil engineering grad from Texas A&M. Michael is an architecture grad from NC State. Jim is a civil engineering grad from Cal Poly - just like this guy (me). The funny thing is, Jim and I never knew each other even though we both graduated in December. Pretty crazy, huh? We will be joining Ben, an engineering intern returning from the fall semester for 6 more months in the Costa Rican office. I'm looking forward to how we will mesh together as a group. The intern group from last semester (including Ben) actually created their very own full-length (yes, 25 min.) episode of The Office - eMi-America Latina-style! Needless to say, we have a lot to live up to!

This next week will involve intern orientation in the eMi-America Latina office and meeting our "Tico" (local Costa Ricans) host families. After a week of orientation, we will be put through two weeks of language school. Which brings me to a point on language. During the flight, I was able to finish reading "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ" by John Piper. The book is totally legit and demonstrates Piper's intense, all-in passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. In the book, Pipe discusses the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) and how God confused their languages because of the pride of man in building a tower to make much out of himself and not God. How does God use this "spectacular sin" and it's resulting consequence of many languages for the glory of Christ? Piper believes that it guards us from pride. "Humans are far too evil to be allowed to unite in one language...The gospel of the glory of Christ spreads better and flourishes more because of 6500 languages, not in spite of them." I will definitely have to remember these words when encountering language/cultural barriers!

Well, that's it for now. I'm excited to give these next six months of my life to "building" God's kingdom...hopefully it becomes a habit.

PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for...
-physical/mental stamina during these next three weeks of orientation and language school
-Josh Canez and his family in Haiti, as well as all others affected by the earthquake
-eMi staff/volunteers on their current trip to Haiti
-the integration of us new interns with the staff at eMi-AL
-a good first impression/relationship with my host family
-an open mind and a humble, servant's heart around my host family and in the office