Everyday with eMi2

Photos:
(1) The clouds of Mussoorie, which sometimes settle so heavily around the office that you can see fog entering the door to the office
(2) An electrical repair job – a common site here in India
(3) A road that loops around the hill near Oaklands
(4) Everett Frank – Graham and Carrie Frank’s 18-month-old son
(5) A stray dog napping on a store roof – there are a lot of stray dogs here.
(6) My cozy bed in the loft space of the girl’s dorm
(7) Jaclyn (an architect volunteer from MN) and Austin (civil engineering student from FL) by the eMi sign at Oaklands (you may notice that eMi stands from Environmental Management International)
(8) Jaclyn and me with the mountains in the background
(9) Himalayan mountain view from the driveway of Oaklands – the eMi campus where the girl’s dormitory, office, and Frank home is located. I have only seen this view once since it’s almost always hidden by clouds.
(10) Wild monkeys – which are everywhere in Mussoorie and known to attack you (so we carry around sticks to defend ourselves that are literally called “monkey sticks”)

Greetings from the foothills of the Himalayas! I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time here in the cozy Mussoorie eMi² office (Engineering Ministries International-India). Our team is making great progress on our design and we hope to print and publish our project drawings by the end of next week. I found out that we print the project folder for every team member, so I’ll be able to bring a copy of our work home to show anyone that’s interested in seeing it.

I really enjoy the company culture here at eMi². The people on staff are really close friends and the relational nature of the Indian culture permeates our office. The fellowship here has been awesome so far.

My every day with eMi²:
6:45 - 8:15 AM –Wake up and get ready for the day
8:30-9:00 AM – Devotions with the interns and eMi² staff in the office (which is immediately adjacent to the girls dormitory)
9:00 – 12:30 pm – Work
12:30 – 1:00 pm – Our company eats lunch together, prepared by our cook
1:00 – 1:30 pm –Occasionally we enjoy a walk, a game of hacky-sack, or we play with Graham’s kids (he’s on staff and his family lives next door to the office)
1:30 – 3:30 pm – Work
3:30 pm – (4:00-5:00) – Chai time, which consists of socializing, having a design review, or watching some sort of presentation
Post Chai time – 6:00 pm – Work
6:00 – 6:30 pm – All the interns eat dinner, prepared by our cook, but the staff often go home to eat

In the evenings, all of the interns (currently 9 people) play games, watch movies, hike around on the beautiful wooded trails, play guitar, check our e-mail (when the internet is working - which it hasn't been all week (not even at the internet cafe)), read, go to one the local cafes, or walk to the Mussoorie market (which is actually just a long road of stores and is a really good work out since it takes an hour to even get there and the path is quite steep).

The laptop that my parents bought me before coming has become somewhat like the office laptop, since two of the other interns did not bring a computer and another has been having problems with his. The long battery life of my laptop has also been really helpful since the power goes out regularly. Thanks mom and dad! Your generosity is benefiting my entire team.

I recently wrote the following article about the leader of the ministry we are serving for an eMi² publication. Her name is Yadamma and she has become my new hero. As you will read below, her story is extremely inspirational.

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees, or diplomas, but for scars.” These words, penned by the American author Elbert Hubbard, offer hope to a fearless Indian woman named Yadamma. Born into a Hindu family, Yadamma never learned to read or received a formal education. Her father was blinded by an explosion at his job as a construction worker, leaving her, her mother and three younger sisters without a consistent source of income. Desperate for money, Yadamma’s mother arranged for her to sleep with a village leader in exchange for a loan. Thankfully, she used her wit to escape the situation; but the betrayal she felt from her mother left its mark.

At age fourteen, Yadamma’s family arranged her marriage to a young Hindu man, as is common practice in rural India. She was initially glad to move away from her parents, whose relationship had severely soured by this time. Unfortunately, her in-laws proved less hospitable than anticipated. One weekend while her husband was out of town, Yadamma’s mother-in-law locked her in a room with another wealthy man who wanted to use her. She escaped his advances by threatening him with a crowbar, but she couldn’t escape further feelings of betrayal.

Bitter from the injustice she endured as a poor woman, Yadamma urged her husband to join a Sihk terrorist group with her. They were actively involved in the group for six years. In His sovereignty, God did not give Yadamma the opportunity to kill anyone, though she did not yet know Christ. It wasn’t until her husband was diagnosed with blood cancer that she began searching for answers. She and her husband could not afford proper medical treatment, so Yadamma approached a local Christian pastor to request that his God heal her husband. The pastor presented the gospel to her and Yadamma accepted Christ into her life. She then prayed that her husband would be healed of his cancer and he was healed!

The couple quickly left the terrorist group and her husband studied to become a pastor. Yadamma began to spread the good news of Christ fearlessly and soon both of her parents embraced Christ’s message. In 2005, Yadamma accepted God’s call for her life to give village children the love of Christ and a childhood that she never experienced. God brought a man named David alongside her and they formed El Rohi Ministries (God is our Shepherd) in a village in Andra Pradesh. Together they lead the El Rohi Children’s Home which especially ministers to children and widows affected by the growing AIDS/HIV epidemic spreading across India, of which the state of Andhra Pradesh is said to be the worst affected. The children supported by El Rohi are typically born into poor village families but are now fatherless, orphaned, or in some cases, rejected by their parents. El Rohi leaders present the gospel to the children as they clothe, feed, educate, and love them. Today, at age forty-two, Yadamma acts as a mother to the thirty children living in the Home, though she never experienced that type of mothering herself.

Through Yadamma and David’s leadership, El Rohi Ministries has grown to impact the greater community in and around the village as well. They currently lead the only church gathering in the village, with more than forty weekly attendees. Yadamma and David have also traveled together to villages that have never heard of Christ to preach the gospel.

In the beginning of June 2011, eMi² sent a team of architects and civil engineers to equip this ministry to better serve their neighbors and the children of the Home. The ministry owns over five acres of land but currently operates out of a temporary thatched-roof pavilion and two small sheds. The eMi² team completed the preliminary design work for a new Home that can fit up to 100 children and a Church facility for 150 attendees.

El Rohi Ministries continues today witnessing to villagers in Andra Pradesh and offering children affected by HIV/AIDS a new life. The architects and engineers at eMi² felt extremely privileged to partner with this ministry and the incredible woman who makes it tick. In spite of physical poverty, Yadamma’s strength, perseverance, faith, and joy radiate from the crevices of her scars, offering an abundance of hope to the children of the El Rohi Home.

Our office also had a photo contest for our quarterly publication (called The Indian Thread) and I submitted this photo from our project trip. It reminded me of how God asks us to trust him with childlike faith. Following in the footsteps of a child seems counter-intuitive for the average adult, and yet it is a daily necessity for this blinded man (Yadamma’s father). Watching five-year-old Leah lead him with such a gentle handclasp around his index finger testified to her patience with his cautiousness. It reminded me of God’s incredible patience with our hesitancy to trust Him.

Thank you for all of your prayers, e-mails, and financial support! This experience has been spiritually invaluable to me. If I could, I’d write you each a personalized e-mail with an update, but please don’t be upset that there’s simply not enough internet access for me to e-mail everyone. Keep sending me updates about your lives though! I love reading them whenever I have access to the internet.

Your sister in Christ,
Hannah