4JCg\o/org

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray over the past few months that I have been traveling around the world! I look forward to sharing more about my time in Ghana and Nigeria with you through written accounts, pictures, video, and chats. For now, please enjoy the photos posted at http://ghana2010.johnagee.com.

Thanks for praying for the recent EMI conference in North Carolina last month, too! I enjoyed making some presentations and connecting with past and future EMI volunteers at the disaster response training and the conference. May God continue to stir passion in the lives of design professionals to spread the gospel, offering hope in Jesus as they use their technical skills.

Please join me in lifting up two significant EMI family prayer requests that have been heavy on our hearts.

Ryan Hoffman is the son of Craig, an EMI staff member in the Colorado Springs office. Ryan, almost 2 years old, fell into a pool unnoticed and nearly drowned on October 13 while his family was on vacation. Ryan experienced seizures in his brain and has brain damage that could permanently range from learning disabilities to needing full assistance in everything from eating to going to the bathroom. Please join me in praying for Ryan and believing that God will reveal His glory in and through this situation. Visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ryanhoffman for more of Ryan’s ongoing story.

Jim Hall, EMI’s CEO, was diagnosed with melanoma and had surgery on his lymph nodes late last month. Praise God that the cancer is out of his body! Only one node had a bit of cancer in it and the rest were clear, which his doctor called miraculous given the depth of tumor and that it had spread to the sentinel lymph node. Jim is recovering and on bed rest, but he is eager to return to EMI. Pray for healing, patience, and rest in God’s peace as Jim recovers.

I am back in the U.S. and ready to continue with a busy schedule for the remainder of the month.

I will be a couple in Virginia who I have not seen in several years and sharing more about my role at EMI with some of their contacts and at their church. From there, I travel to Asheville, NC to give some presentations and lead worship at EMI’s Association of Christian Design Professionals (ACDP) Vision 2020 Conference. Please pray that this time would encourage past and future volunteers and that God touches lives with greater passion to spread the gospel around the world, bringing hope through professional designers using their technical skills.

Throughout my recent time in Ghana and Nigeria, God directed my heart to rest in the stillness of His peace. West Africa can feel like a crazy place: different languages, raised voices; roadblocks by villagers on the Ghanaian road; feeling alone and vulnerable at the Lagos airport; overwhelming poverty; intense greed and desire for money; being asked to preach with 3 minutes notice; police stops with questioning along Nigerian roads; taking your live meat home to slaughter in the back yard; and intense wind and downpours during the rainy season flooding design work areas at inopportune times.

Throughout all of this, I experienced God’s peace that is deeper and security that is stronger than anything this world can offer. God’s Spirit enabled me to say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6) Knowing that the Lord does not leave or forsake me gave me hope and encouragement during the times I felt most alone and unable to relate with the people around me. God granted me good rest throughout my stay in southern Nigeria, and He continues to guide relationships with the Ukpe and Ikpe families that I visited there. The included photo is of me with Jane and Vine Ikpe. Thank you for your continued prayers, especially as Jane and I consider our future together by God’s grace. Please join with us over this next week, asking God to lead us in His way for His glory.

Several high points from the Ghana project trip include the following:
Our witness and testimony while we worked among a predominately Muslim community, partnering with the ministry to rescue at-risk children who are rejected by their community
Meeting with George, a past EMI volunteer from Ghana, and seeing his enthusiasm to get other design professionals from Ghana and West Africa involved on future EMI projects
Time on a radio broadcast with project co-leader Gary when we returned to Accra
Visits to villages where we were able to take the hands of children and walk with them
Meeting with a passionate believer named Jesse in Accra after the rest of the team left and learning more about his ministry and hope for an upcoming building project
God used this trip to grow my faith in Him and my heart of compassion for the people of West Africa. The picture of rejected children being taken in and loved will remain in my mind, and I have a new appreciation for our Father’s heart to take us from the ashes, transform our lives, and express His love through us. Praise the Lord that He used this trip to realign team members’ priorities through the ways that Sister Stan joyously gave, even with how little she had. Continue to pray that God provides and gives grace to her as she serves in northern Ghana. May God’s light spread in this dark region through the brilliant spark of Sister’s ministry!

Psalm 33
Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.

Thank you very much for your prayers! I know that God has been working powerfully over the last week in and through my life for His glory!

Gary and my short time on the radio in Accra went very well, and we shared about EMI, how to get involved, and the orphanage project we worked on in the north. God also provided opportunity for me to share some of my story–how I left my engineering job for full-time engineering missions work. Praise God!

After the team left on Wednesday evening, I spent some time around Accra with a man named Jesse. I learned more about his ministry to children and youth, training them to fear and honor the Lord. He desires to add to his existing structures so that he can host youth conferences.

I departed Ghana on Friday morning and landed in the crazy, sprawling city of Lagos, Nigeria. I had realized at the last minute when booking my flights that it was not going to be possible to have less that a one day layover in Lagos. Praise God for connections from my last time in Nigeria who were able to pick me up at the airport! My time at the airport included a period of feeling helpless and alone as I waited for my ride. God led me to some police officers who I waited with and was able to converse a little with. My friend John finally arrived and we started the tedious journey to his home using several taxis, trying not to over pay for their services.

After spending Friday night with John and his family in Lagos, a friend of theirs drove me back to the airport, where I waited 2 extra hours for my delayed flight to Akwa Ibom state. I have spent the past 3 days here with the Ikpe family who are storing supplies and equipment for the nearby Prayers Farm Nigeria project. Construction on this project that EMI sent a team to design last year will likely start in a couple months, as God provides.

I preached unexpectedly, with a couple minutes notice, on Sunday morning at the Ikpe’s church, and God used that message to encourage and challenge the body. The Ikpe family is so grateful for EMI’s work on the Prayers Farm report that I have shared, and everyone is looking forward to what God has ahead. Yesterday we spent time praying and fasting specifically for Prayers Farm and those involved. Today I will deliver the report to Chief Thompson, president of Prayers Farm Nigeria.

Praise the Lord for the time I have been able to spend with Jane and Vine (the eldest Ikpe children), and the rest of the family: Mr. Matthew, Sister Anam, Deborah, and Emmanuella. God continues to grow us closer together, and I cherish this time to overflow into their lives as we pray, sing, worship, eat, play, and share life together. This photo is me with Emmanuella, Deborah, and Jane in front of their house. Please pray especially for Jane and me as we prayerfully wait on the Lord for what He has ahead in our lives.

Also pray that God would continue working in and through me as I enjoy 5 more days in Nigeria, meeting with a national architect and everything else that God has planned. To Jesus be all praise and glory!

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
- Jude 1:24-25

Thank you for your prayers for this past weekend as I traveled to fellowship and speak at Stockham Community Church in Nebraska this morning. It was great to worship with them and to share more of my heart and involvement with Engineering Ministries International. And, it was a blessing to spend time with my grandparents on the drive and to visit extended family in Nebraska as a part of this trip.

As my grandparents prepare to drive back to Indiana and I prepare to fly back to Colorado, God blessed us with a beautiful sunset tonight in Kansas City, which I am sharing with you in the photo below. Praise the Lord that He created dawn and sunset to shout for joy (Psalm 65:8)!

Please pray with me for eMi’s Golf Marathon on Tuesday, the annual fundraiser for our general account. I plan to participate only as a cart driver/caddy, but if you would like to give toward this general fundraiser, you may do so at https://emisecure.org/donate.html with a designation of “golf marathon.” Several staff from eMi offices around the world will be golfing, in addition to some volunteers and other eMi contacts, so the day will be a good time of fellowship and enjoying the day outside in Colorado Springs.

Praise God for providing a team for the Ghana project trip this fall! Team members will be finalizing their commitments to the trip before we purchase airfare this week, so please pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in their hearts as they commit and as we prepare for the trip. I will update more about this trip soon.

I am in the middle of another exciting week at Engineering Ministries International, my third week of full-time work. The following are some highlights from the past few weeks:

• Listening to testimonies from project trips to Kenya and Rwanda
• Working with staff and interns on plans and reports for Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and North Africa projects
• Hours of design review for a vocational school project and a hospital project
• Volunteering with most of the staff and interns for a local Habitat for Humanity fence-building project at a Colorado Springs home (picture below)
• Moving the Hoffmans (returning staff) into their new home in Colorado Springs

Please join me in praying specifically for our mid-year day of prayer and fasting tomorrow, Thursday, July 22. We will start with a corporate time of worship and prayer, spend several hours in solitude prayer for individual and eMi guidance, pray in small groups for several hours, and close our time with sharing and praise. Ask that God would renew our minds and spirits as we seek Him, and that His will would be accomplished in Christ Jesus as His Spirit works through our lives. May our prayer be filled with thanksgiving and joy for what God is doing personally and corporately through eMi. Praise the Lord for this opportunity to seek His face throughout an entire day! I will be lifting all of you up in prayer throughout the day as God leads, too, so please share anything specific that you would like prayer for. I thank God for the blessing of partnering with you in proclaiming the gospel to the nations through design!

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:3-11

Greetings on this Saturday from the Town of Castle Rock, Colorado!

My move last weekend puts me one step closer to my commitment to join staff with Engineering Ministries International by July 1. Praise God for providing this place to live until I move to Colorado Springs in June! James, one of my friends and former coworkers, recently started a job in Lakewood, which resulted in him vacating his apartment in Castle Rock. Since he still had time remaining on his lease, I offered to take his place so that I could be closer to both my company’s office and Colorado Springs. I plan on taking advantage of my short time based in Castle Rock to visit churches in Colorado Springs, as well as to volunteer weekly at EMI’s office.