Spring Brings New Staff and New Projects

After a Winter of completing projects, raising awareness for eMi Canada and office administration, the arrival of Spring (or at least the promise of it here in Calgary) has brought a season of new beginnings and exciting projects for 2007.

New Staff. The most exciting new beginning is the arrival of Kevin Wiens to the staff of eMi Canada. Kevin is a seasoned Civil Engineer and a veteran volunteer of three eMi projects. He brings experience in both design and management, having worked 11½ years for a multi-office, multi-disciplined engineering/urban planning firm in Fort St. John, B.C. Kevin, his wife Michele and their two daughters arrived in Calgary on April 1^st and already, he is immersed in preparation work for his first project as an eMi team leader. Kevin will be leading a team to Haiti to design new orphanage facilities on a new property for God’s Littlest Angels. Tom Bastian, Director of eMi Guatemala, will be assisting Kevin as he learns the ropes of project leading…eMi style.

Project Approvals. One of my administrative duties has been the role of approving potential projects. Since January I have processed the application for God’s Littlest Angels and now a second project, a new Missionary Kids school in Central Asia, is falling into place and will become my next project. This K-12 school currently educates children from almost 100 families from 34 different missionary agencies.

Central Asia…My Next Project! The school is currently housed in an older building which has been declared not earthquake safe and the property on which it sits is not adequate for expansion. Our project will be to master plan their new property, design a full-facility school for 250-300 children, design for road, power and water/waste water needs, and plan for future boarding facilities and staff housing. Please visit here to see the project description: http://www.emiworld.org/projectprofile_5430.html.

A Busy and Bustling Office. Besides Kevin's and Greg’s trips to Haiti and Central Asia, Steve our Director, will be leading a team to Uganda to design a senior’s care and hospice facility. Beyond the busy preparations for a record three trips in one project cycle for the eMi Canada office, in May we will welcome back Patrick Cochrane, our part-time staffer for the summer months. Along with Patrick we will also welcome four interns. Hailing from the University of British Columbia (Engineering), University of Illinois at Chicago (Architecture), Royal Military College of Canada (Engineering) and the University of Guelph (Engineering), our four interns will be traveling on the three project trips during late-May until mid-June and then assisting with the follow-up work. So in two short months eMi Canada grows from two to eight!

Lots To Be Thankful For, Lots to Pray About. Even as we grow, we continue to pray for wisdom and perseverance. At some point this year we anticipate being granted our own charitable status by the government. As much appreciated as YWAM Alberta has been as our umbrella organization, we would like to release them from that and become independent. Of course with independence come greatly increased responsibility (sounds like me talking to my kids) and a whole new level of administrative work and accountability. However, we look forward to it and are continuing to become prepared for such a time.

Thank you all for your continued prayers, encouragement and support.

New Slideshow Captures 2006

Every so often our family receives "care packages" from our RCAC church family. From cards, letters and drawings with encouraging notes to gifts of extra support during special seasons in the Christian calendar, these are welcome moments for us.

We recently received a scrap book of messages from the Junior High Fellowship group, using my mom as a courier as she and my nephew flew up for an all too short visit. Included in the package was a slideshow with music that one of the leaders, Terence, put together for us. It incorporates photos of our family this winter and a sampling of photos from all of my 2006 project trips. It's called 2006 Family/Projects Slideshow. Check it out on the right side of the blog under Web Links. (Thanks, Terence!)

Thanks Junior High Fellowship, Missions Sunday Kids and all others for your love and encouragement.

A Season Of Missions Fests

Patrick and Steve with a potential volunteer

The eMi year is divided into three project “season” cycles: January/February (Spring), May/June (Summer) and September/October (Fall). The months in-between are filled with both follow-up work on reports and drawings as well as preparations for the next project cycle. Every few cycles each staff team leader will take a break from project leading in order to get caught up on project work and have some time for shared office administration duties.

After three straight projects in 2006, Greg took the Spring Cycle (which in Calgary is something of a misnomer) off from project leading in order to complete an extensive report for Zambia and also spend time “growing” eMi Canada with participation in Missions Fests in both Vancouver and Edmonton. In Vancouver Greg had the opportunity to speak at several youth and adult seminars and although these were not strictly to promote eMi, they did give further exposure to who we are and what we do. In Edmonton Steve had an opportunity to speak directly about eMi at a special seminar session.

Steve and Greg at the eMi booth

Steve and Greg were aided at both conferences by past volunteers and interns (Olwen, Johnny, Freeman, Donald, Rui and Tommy), a present part-time staff (Patrick Cochrane) and in-coming full-time staff (Kevin Wiens). Their participation at the booth helped give Steve and Greg breaks (Saturdays were 13 hour days) and Greg the opportunity to speak at the seminars. Thanks!

We met literally hundreds of people, from those who were eager to be personally involved to many spouses, parents and friends of architects, engineers and those of other related fields. “Oh, I gotta let _____ hear about this” was an often heard phrase. Each Missions Fest we have participated in has resulted directly in the participation of new project volunteers and great connections with numerous potential ministry clients seeking our service.

We intend to continue our participation in these conferences so make a point of coming to see us the last weekend of January in Vancouver (Canada Place) and the final weekend of February in Edmonton (Shaw Conference Centre). As we gain new staff and resources we plan to expand our presence to other Missions Fests across Canada.

Family - Reflections of 2006

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”

- Philippians 4 (The Message)

A Look Back. Some years seem to fly by. For us, 2006 was so packed that January feels like both yesterday for its vividness and long ago for all that has happened in the remaining eleven months. After moving in to our home just days before Christmas of 2005, 2006 started off with a flying start as we finally unpacked into “our” home after sojourning for almost 4 years, living out of “just necessary” boxes, in 3 rental homes, and traveling 1000 km away from Vancouver. Years of uncertainty and transition finally gave way to a period of adjustment as Caitlin and Cameron settled into their new school, Julie found a part-time hospital physiotherapy job, Connor got comfortable with new friends at part-time daycare, and Greg finally jumped with both feet into project leading with eMi Canada.

Adjustments. We were thankful for some great ex-Vancouverite friends who welcomed us to Calgary, but besides getting used to the (often) bitter cold and dry air of winter, no doubt the greatest challenge was missing all of our friends and family in Vancouver. Julie’s coffee and desserts with girlfriends, Greg’s weekly Friday night hockey, fellowship and worship with our Richmond Chinese Alliance Church (RCAC) family, the kids’ being baby-sat by doting grand-parents, uncles and aunts: all were difficult casualties of our move but even during the anxious, sometimes overwhelming days of adjustment, we saw in our quieter moments of prayer and reflection, the gracious hand of God as our life in Calgary was assembled piece by piece, in a manner completely unpredictable and uncontrollable if done in our own strength and by our own efforts.

A New Church Home. From our first days in Calgary we visited and then began to settle into nearby Foothills Alliance Church. Caitlin and Cameron thoroughly enjoy the kids program and now even Connor smiles when asked “Time for Sunday school?” Julie and Greg helped out in the nursery with Connor during the spring and summer until his “graduation” to a class for two year olds (Yay!). In the fall we were invited by the senior pastor to join the church and become financially supported as Foothills Family Missionaries. What a warm welcome to the church and a blessing that was! We are now proudly members at both RCAC as well as Foothills Alliance.

eMi Recap. Project cycles for eMi follow the typical school pattern of Spring, Summer and Fall because of the integration of architecture and engineering student interns on project teams. Greg’s first team this year traveled to João Pessoa, Brazil in January to design a new residence for a YWAM ministry which houses and educates homeless street boys. It was eMi’s third trip to this site since 2000 as a continuing service to this growing ministry.

In July, Greg returned to Brazil with another team to nearby Recife to design a Camp Retreat and Orphanage for a ministry to the poor called Kid’s Place. One of many blessings during this second trip was when the team visited the YWAM base in João Pessoa; a visit where Greg hand delivered the completed Project Report and Construction Documents which his first team from January completed at home after several months of hard work.

Greg’s final project trip of the year was in October to the southern Africa country of Zambia. There his team helped a local pastor to develop a poultry business to promote stable employment, provide locally raised healthy and affordable food, as well as create a source of funding through profits for church development projects.

Check out previous posts for more project details and the Photo Gallery for lots of pictures!

A Good Year. Looking back at 2006, we can only be thankful. Our friends, family, churches and ministry partners have provided prayer and funding to uphold our family so that Greg can serve at eMi and after some financial uncertainty late in the year heading into 2007, we are thankful for new and renewed commitments from a number of people so that even though support raising and maintenance will always remain an ongoing effort, we are greatly encouraged that Greg can remain focused on applying his efforts to organize and lead teams as well as help to grow the ministry of eMi Canada. As our CEO in Colorado recently stated in a year-end report “We have had a busy and successful year. (The statistics) are not evidence that God is with us in the work of eMi. Rather, these statistics indicate the context in which eMi staff, interns and volunteers have experienced “God with us” in 2006.” I believe this statement also applies to our first full year as a family here in Calgary.


Looking Ahead. We are looking forward to a year with no thoughts of packing, moving, unpacking, or (extensive) renovations! In the spring of 2007 Greg will be at both the Vancouver and Edmonton MissionFest conferences to promote eMi Canada. At the Vancouver conference, Greg will be leading an adult seminar as well as participate as a panel member for a youth careers workshop. Projects in the works for the summer and fall include an orphanage in Haiti and a Christian & Missionary Alliance MK school in Central Asia. We’ll keep you posted!