Patrick and Brenden are off

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3 17-18.

Greetings Family & Friends.

My son Brenden & I will be traveling to Chiapas, Mexico for 2 weeks as the team surveyors helping to develop a Master Plan for an orphanage and outreach facilities. We will be a part of a team of design professional volunteers serving with Engineering Ministries International www.emicanada.org Our team will be led by Tom Bastian from eMi's Costa Rica office. We will be helping guide the missions organization El Faro de Esperanza as to how best develop their 105 acre ranchland property to meet the needs of serving orphaned and abandoned children.

Brenden, who just turned 24, has been working for the past year as a chainman (surveyor's helper) for Midwest Surveys out of Grande Prairie, Alberta, and has found much satisfaction and challenge in this work. He approached me and asked if we could go on a trip together to carry out a survey. Of course I didn't have to think about that at all. He reminds me that his intent is to "hang" with me and share our survey skills, and not to make it sound any nobler than that...Little does he know!

What's also interesting about this trip is that after I signed up for it, I learned they were looking for help designing fish ponds for Tilapia. So I will also be able to share my skills in fish habitat restoration; albeit I have to crossover from salmonids and study up on Tilapia culture.

Please hold us in your prayers as we travel, serve, and learn more about what it means to be a follower of Christ. This is a most opportune time for Brenden to be a part of a faith community. Please also pray for the security of our equipment in transit and service, as it is quite valuable and integral to completing our part of the project. And for Joan, whose love, support, and encouragement enable me to serve.

In His Service, Patrick

Times of fellowshipping

BBQing in our backyard.




Our backyard faced onto the Elbow River. Patrick and the interns in the water on a hot day.




Floating down the Elbow River. Not very deep but lots of fun.

Patrick on Shamu.

We were so blessed in our time away, reconnecting with past friendships, meeting new friends and learning from every experience. We have met challenges and been changed by them. God is great!

Remembering Uganda

This taxi stand is downtown Kampala. What is so facinating, is that there is a rhyme and reason to the parking and everyone in Kampala understands it.

In the market near the eMi office.



"In your face chicken place" Yep, that's what its called. You don't have to get out of your car....no waiting...and the BBQ'd chicken was done to perfection. Yummy.



Patrick and Jonathon, swimming in the Source of the Nile, at Lake Victoria.

Jackson Hole, WY, eMi Conference

Our 4 staff members from Canada, Steve - the director, Kevin - staff engineer, Patrick - Intern Co-ordinator, and Greg - staff archetect.

The Canadian contingent all wore hockey jerseys and cowboy hats.

eMi staff around the world.....from our 5 offices in Colorado Springs (HO), Guatemala - soon to be moving to Costa Rica, Uganda, India, Canada, and a future office in Jordan.

Our time in Jackson Hole, WY, was spent in workshops learning about disaster responce in the developing world and how eMi can best partner with NGO's like Samaritan's Purse and World Vision to best accelerate the process of re-forming infastructure in countries devastated by disaster.

Animals we saw

Lots and lots of baboons.

Wart hogs......I didn't know that they kneeled down to eat.

Antelope and a water buffalo.

Giraffe....so majestic...they even run in slow motion.

Ugandan Cox

Elephants..incredible

Yes....that a wart hog....in fact a family of them continually wondered the camp. That is not our tent....but even from our little cabin, I could hear them russtling and snorting about in the middle of the night. Afraid to go out at night, oh YES!

"Goin on a lion hunt" Well we did but did not see one that day.

Yep, those nasty crocs got all excited when the boat went by. They stopped their sunning with their mouths wide open to scampering into the water looking for their next meal.

We probably saw over a hundred hippos easily. They were afraid of our BIG boat and moved quite quickly away when we got near.

Momma and baby. Cute

Serving ROTOM in Uganda - reflections

There Patrick is again goofing off again.





Lots of work is accomplished in 1 week .





Engineering staff working hard.



Archecture staff also working hard.

The presentation on Friday night to the Board of ROTOM and friends. That's Steve, eMiC's director, who will speak first on all the drawings completed during the week. Still, there is much work to be accomplished yet and most design professionals will complete the work after they get home. The finished project report will then be sent to ROTOM to being the next phase......construction.

Home Again - with reflections

Remembering our time in Uganda, the beautiful people and the sharing of a vision with ROTOM.

Patrick goofing off with some kids from a local orphanage.

Joan enjoying a moment with the case workers Edith, Sarah, and Admin asst. Elizabeth of ROTOM.

Joan goofing off with her Canada stickers. One Big Family.

Yep....that's a live goat on the back of this bike.

At another orphanage for babies-toddlers.....these little ones were desparate to be picked up and loved.