As I write this, thousands of families have fled their homes after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on the island of Java, near where I was serving just over two years ago. Please remember to pray for people in this area who have lost their homes and are in shock. Pray that the light of Jesus would be evident through the help that they receive and that God would use this earthquake to draw many to Himself, shaking unstable spiritual foundations.

Praise God for providing the opportunity for me to return to West Africa with another Engineering Ministries International (EMI) team! I decided to go on the Nigeria EMI trip that is tentatively scheduled for October 17-28. Praise God that we have a full team of designers who are preparing to go! Please pray that God would prepare us and give us technical ability as we prepare plans for the fish farm training center that the ministry Prayers Farms envisions. I am very excited about this trip, and I cannot wait to share more with you! I will send out additional information on this trip soon, but, for now, if the Lord leads you to contribute financially, you may do so online at https://emisecure.org/donate.html (include “Project 5499 – Agee” in the Designation box). If you would rather write a check, please make it out to “Engineering Ministries International” (or EMI) with a memo of “Project 5499 – Agee.” You may mail it to me at PO Box 17225, Golden, CO 80402 or directly to EMI at 130 E. Kiowa, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.

Praying especially for God’s comfort to be felt in Indonesia,
John

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

Peace in the name of Jesus to all of you!

As God continues to faithfully prepare me for what lies ahead, I am excited to share some updates with you.

• At the end of July, I moved out of the house I have lived in for the past 4 years with 7 other brothers who were attending Colorado School of Mines. I now have the blessing of living a little farther east in Golden with a couple that is graciously hosting me as I go through the application and support raising process to join staff with Engineering Ministries International (eMi). Please continue to pray for the application process and that God’s leading would be evident.
• The application process to join staff with eMi continues to move forward, as I initially pursue a project engineer position based in the Colorado Springs office. At this point, my references are being interviewed, and I expect to hear back from eMi within the next month about interviewing in Colorado Springs. Praise God that I was able to complete and submit my eMi application just over a week ago!
• I have been able to spend some time in the mountains over the past few weekends, which God has used to refresh and inspire me. I hiked over 20 miles with more than 10,000 feet of elevation gain to climb Mt. Belford, Mt. Oxford, and Mt. Antero a couple weekends ago. This past Saturday, I got to take a fishing trip to Little Mitchell Lake and Blue Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The picture above is a view of God’s splendorous creation early in the morning looking from Mitchell Lake toward Mt. Toll (almost a “13er,” rising 12,979 feet above sea level). Praise God for the beauty and peacefulness of the mountain areas He created!
• My church is preparing to host the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course next spring, which I am helping coordinate. Please pray that God would motivate many in the church and in this area to take the course and that the Holy Spirit would birth deeper intimacy with and devotion to the Lord as a result. Pray that God would raise up His people with purpose and passion to reach the lost in every community of the world. May God’s fame and renown spread!
• I have another opportunity to visit a West African country as an eMi volunteer civil engineer! There is still a need for civil engineers for an aquaculture and hydroponic training center project trip to the Abak District of Nigeria for about 2 weeks in October. This unique project for Prayers Farm Nigeria will involve the use of a spiral water wheel system to lift water from the river to the fish pool, which is a very interesting hydraulics application to me. Please pray that the Lord would provide direction for my involvement with this project, as I am eager to return to the West Africa region, but I also want to wait on God’s timing if October is too soon to return.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:5-6,13)

Reflecting HIS glory,
John

I must start by praising God for His faithfulness and strength through my weakness! Once again, God showed Himself amazingly faithful on the Sudan trip. It was a very different trip from Sierra Leone, and I think it has taken me a little longer this time to process all that God accomplished through the Sudan trip. There is, of course, more that has been going on in the background of these trips, too, so I will do my best to concisely share where I believe God is leading me.

First, because I know many of you have been waiting patiently for pictures, I have posted most of my pictures from the trip at http://sudan.johnagee.com.

God blessed me in so many ways through being able to go on this trip to southern Sudan, including the following opportunities:

• Sharing life and working closely with three unbelievers on our team
• Participating in long-lasting discussions during devotions and throughout our time together
• Sensing God’s peace throughout changing and delayed plans
• Getting to spend my birthday on a bumpy drive through pools of water on a road in the middle of southern Sudan
• Spending lots of time in airports and passing the time with great conversations and cappuccino (especially in Ethiopia)
• Having a flight cancelled and spending an unexpected night in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Teaching team members (including interns) as much as I knew about water and wastewater design in Africa
• Worshiping God in a Sudanese church
• Learning even more about Engineering Ministries International from two excellent project leaders
• Observing the beauty of God’s creation, including some spectacular sunrises and sunsets
• Conversing with a Ugandan woman on the flight to Juba about how God is working through local African churches
• Landing on a gravel runway in a single-engine turbo-prop plane
• Experiencing God’s provision through His protection of the team
• Visiting eMi construction projects in Uganda

And, the team got to work together on preparing a fabulous preliminary design for a primary school site with a woman’s center, well, and latrines for the community of Jalle Payam. I think we ended up with a simple yet unique design for the school buildings and the women’s
center.

While both the Sierra Leone and the Sudan trips had themes of rebuilding and restoration, Sierra Leone was more of a spiritual mountain-top experience for me that included amazing connections with the indigenous people. God showed me how He is faithful to reflect His
glory through my life, and the reflection of the moon in the Atlantic Ocean still stands out as one of the most powerful images from that trip. Sudan was a more difficult trip for me personally, especially being so soon after Sierra Leone, yet so different. God continued to
show His faithfulness to me through every circumstance during the Sudan trip, but it was much less spiritually charged. I did not feel that I connected as well with the indigenous people, even though I am tremendously heartbroken by what many of them have survived. Throughout both trips, I saw people filled with hope, and I sensed that our presence and designs helped bring more hope into people’s lives.

My prayer is that the ultimate source of hope in these peoples’ lives would be the Lord Jesus Christ–”May the God of hope fill [them] with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit [they] may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13)! Christ is the only lasting source of hope for each of us personally, but it is a privilege to be a part of sharing that hope through designing projects that will further His kingdom and help the poor around the world.

Because of this, I have decided to begin the application process to join eMi’s staff. God has been so good at setting up this next step toward long-term missions, and I am extremely excited to see how He will use the coming months and years in strengthening my walk with Him and my testimony to others. While I had planned to work at least 4 years in consulting engineering before heading out of the country, I believe God has provided this opportunity at a key moment in my career. Work for consulting engineers has slowed dramatically, resulting in my hours being cut and less allurement to stay in private consulting. Working under eMi Professional Engineers still gives me experience toward taking the PE exam in October of 2010, plus it provides rare international design opportunities with a missions
focus. How incredible God is at providing something I cannot resist!

I appreciate all of your prayers so much, and I cannot wait to share new requests with you! Please pray for the application process with eMi, relationships with my current employer, the support raising process, and that God would grow my faith through all of this. Praise Him for His faithfulness!

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.

Giving thanks and hoping in the One whose council stands forever,
John
Psalm 33

Greetings, or “Looi adï” as the Dinka say!

Thank you so much for your prayers throughout the past two weeks. My team finally arrived in Bor Town via a charter flight to the small gravel airstrip. Later in the week, we made the 3.5-hour drive out to the site in Jalle and spent a couple hours on site so that we could make the return drive to Bor before night. The team accomplished the preliminary school design for Rebuild Sudan, and Michael was pleased with our presentation. I feel like we all grew closer to the Lord and each other through our time together, but please keep praying for each member of the team as we reenter our lives in the U.S. I returned home on Wednesday, and the rest of the team that stayed for a safari in Uganda are on their way home now.

I plan on sending out more messages with reflection on this trip and how God has been working in my life recently. And, I will post some pictures soon. In the mean time, I would greatly appreciate you joining me in praying for God’s guidance and direction for the upcoming year. I think there will be some significant life changes for me in the coming months, and I am excited to see how God provides and leads! As He stressed over and over to me on this trip, HE IS THE FAITHFUL GOD (Deuteronomy 7:9)!

Because of HIS faithfulness,
John