Starting work

It has been a couple months since I have been working.  Some would say that packing up your house, moving your family halfway across the country, settling into a new home and community are all work, but it has been a while since I have woken up everyday at the same time, showered, spent time with God, ate breakfast, drove to work, turned on a computer, and did whatever it is that engineers do.

When I quit my job back at the end of June, I did not miss it at all.  However, I really enjoy getting back to the schedule of working.  It is good for man to be idle.  So here I am, only half time at this point, learning new systems and structures and organization.  Learning how to get to the bathroom, where highlighters are located, how to scan a document, etc. etc.

Looking up from my cubicle is a great reminder
that the ministry of eMi affects the whole world.

The immediate task that sits in front of me is preparing for a project trip that I am co-leading to Peru that will have me traveling from September 25th through October 7th.

There are a few reasons that I am excited for this upcoming trip:

1. I have not been back to Peru since our family lived there in 1979 and 1980.  I am sure I won't remember things from then, I can't even remember what I had for dinner yesterday, but it will be good to be back in Peru.
2. This will be my first opportunity to meet (face to face) John Pillar, who is one of the other eMi staff who will be re-launching the Latin America office.  We will have the opportunity to work together, talk, worship, eat, sleep, etc, etc, etc. I am looking forward to having some opportunities where we can share our vision of the future for the Latin America office.  We also have a volunteer on the trip who is considering joining eMi and helping out with the Latin America office as well!  Very very exciting, and a huge answer to prayer.
3. Along with going to a great place with some great people, we are going to be serving a wonderful ministry.  The Easter Mennonite Mission has a school in Cusco that has too many kids for the available space.  They have purchased some land on the outskirts of Cusco, and we will be developing a masterplan for a new school!  That masterplan will allow the ministry to make realistic plans moving forward, and give them a shot in the arm toward bring reality to a dream.

I will post some more information on the trip in the next week, take a lot of pictures on the trip, and will work toward getting updates on the blog (maybe even from Peru!).

Hope that the summer has treated you all well.  Seems to have gone too fast for our family.  Please stay in touch via comments, or e-mails, or calls, or visits!