Dear friends and family,
I am so excited to write to you about my upcoming mission
trip with Engineering Ministries International (EMI) and ask for your
support. If the name sounds familiar,
you may have heard of an internship I had with EMI in 2011. There, I helped
design a masterplan for a Bible College (Africa Renewal University). It was such an awesome ministry to be a part
of, I have to do it again – this time as the lead Civil Design volunteer team
member.
“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 around the world step out of poverty and into a world of hope.”
This project trip will be to Visakhapatnam, India for a
masterplan at a K-10 school called Hope Academy. The school’s mission is to “provide every student—irrespective of caste or background—with a life-changing education…” which
includes providing scholarships to children who would otherwise be trapped in
poverty.
I am especially drawn to this project trip because they had
a unique need for storm water management.
It is a perfect fit for me because my field of civil engineering is
water resources, which includes just that.
There is a mountain fed stream that runs through the projects
property. I will be analyzing the
potential for flooding of the stream, as well as designing a water conveyance
system.
I believe my involvement in this project is evidence of
God’s directing my life. After college, I needed some direction on where to
take my career. My friend told me about
EMI, and my internship there made my decision clear that I wanted to go into
civil engineering. My hope was that, sometime
in the future, God would be able to use the skills I would learn from a professional
career to help people in the developing world. I was unsure if my interests in
water resources would be able to be used to that end. This project trip could not have been more on
the mark. Proverbs 16:9 echoes my story, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the
Lord directs his steps.”
The cost for my expenses in volunteering for the project
will be approximately $2,200. Would you consider financially partnering with me
on this project? The project trip will
be from September 9th to 21st, which turns out to be a
good time because our baby girl is due mid-November! It will be hard to spend
that time away from Aiden (now 18 months old) and Chelsie, and going will
require me to take unpaid time off work for when the baby comes. But these are clearly minor troubles in
comparison to the experience and opportunity I have to serve the kingdom. I
would appreciate your prayer for the project: for travels, for the unity of the
team, for the ministry of EMI, for the Hope Academy School, and for this
project to be used to spread the love of Christ to India.
If you would like to give, you can do so online, here. On the giving
page, use the dropdown lists to select ‘Project Trip Volunteers’ and then ‘8269
– India’. Type Alex Schmidt for the Volunteer’s Name and fill out the rest of
the form. If you would prefer to give by
check, contact me and I can give you instructions. I appreciate it!
In Christ,
Alex
