Destination: Uganda

January 27^th – February 9^th 2011

How am I to type up a small blog about a two-week trip to Uganda, Africa?  It’s funny, when I get back to the EMI office in Colorado Springs everyone says “Hey, and welcome back.”  Just like it was not a big deal.  You know not like it changed my life or anything.  But I don’t blame them, about half of the office just got back from destinations across the globe; just another day of an international Christian design organization.

I step off the plane deep into the night after back-to-back 8 hour flights and it feels like I jumped in a hot tub.  The hot humidity was foreign to me after a winter in Wisconsin and then two weeks in dry Colorado Springs.  We walked through the Entebbe Airport and packed our stuff into a van and a Land Cruiser, but it wasn’t until the drive that the memories of a third world African country became a reality. 

You’ve seen pictures, you’ve seen documentaries, but it’s different when you’re there.  It’s no longer a picture on your television screen, but actual men and women and children living on the streets and in what we call shacks for homes.  I’m captivated by the foreign night life of people hanging out on the streets and in the markets, mostly in the dark.  All of the training we had at orientation about culture and the complexities of poverty flood my head and it seems overwhelming.  But life goes on in Uganda, so a large bump in the road (and they are often) wacks my face against the window I’m gawking out of and I’m back in reality.  We pull into where we are staying in the black of the night, unload our junk climb under a mosquito net and crash.

Only to be woken up by the rooster crow at 4 am.  I lay in bed, pondering what the next two weeks will entail.  A sunrise greets us in the morning to display the beautiful landscape our project sight is on.

More to come on life like a Ugandan, the project, and what God did in our lives on the trip.

Engineering Ministries International

Engineering Ministries International (EMI) is a non-profit Christian development organization made up of architects, engineers and design professionals who donate their skills to help children and families round the world step out of poverty and into a world of hope.

http://www.emiworld.org/  

I started a mechanical engineering internship with EMI on January 15, 2011. I was really searching for a way that my talents could be used as an engineer for the Kingdom of God (and these things seemed on opposite ends of the spectrum).  But, wow, can they be united!  EMI has such an amazing niche in ministry.  They provide free technical support to empower ministries all around the globe.

I hope to write and keep everyone informed of what God is doing through me at EMI and to share what I have been learning in my walk with the Lord.

THE BLOG

Hi and welcome.   So this blog is to just share about my internship with Engineering Ministries International (EMI) and what the Lord is teaching me.  I ask that you would pray for me, EMI, and Uganda as you read.

Thanks so much for everyone who supported me financially.  My work at EMI is as a volunteer so I completely rely on your support!  Your support goes to my project trip (to Uganda) costs, tuition (office and overhead cost), and my living expenses (rent, food, gas, etc). Thanks so much.

On that note I am still in need of some support, so if you feel led, you can give at www.emiworld.org. Click on “Donate” and put “Alex Schmidt” in the designation blank.

God, I pray that you would use me.  I pray that you would use this blog for your glory.  I pray that you would impact the one who read it.  Bring them closer to you.  Challenge them.  Change them. Work in my heart to align me with your ways.

Amen and Amen.