My Assignment and other stuff

Hey, everyone.  This makes me even more excited about Costa Rica and getting to work on a project this spring.  There are so many things to be excited about it's hard to talk about it all.  I think back to all my homework and projects in school, and how it all seemed like a blur, with the real projects seeming so far off. I knew my work was important for preparation, but it was so small compared to the idea of getting my hands dirty on a thirty floor hospital or a ten acre site plan.  But now I have my assignment and as I am writing this, it's all becoming so real.  I'm actually going to be working to design this training center and camp.  And I cannot ask for a better setting or function to build for.  A training camp in the mountains of Latin America combines all things I've always had an excitement for and definitely will make working through all the hairsplitting details worth it to make this site work.  So, without any further ado, straight from the office in Latin America...




Ministry:   Word of Life Fellowship
Project:  Youth Camp and Conference Center
Location:  Quito, Ecuador


Project Scope
Strategically located in over 80 countries Word of Life (WOL) takes the life changing truth of the Word to the youth of the world.  Through its ministries around the globe, over 3.1 million were reached with the gospel last year.  WOL has been present in Ecuador since 1970.  The property that EMI will be designing is intended to provide a venue for evangelism and outreach, Bible clubs, camps and conferences, and discipleship training.  Located about a 40 minute drive north of Quito and at an elevation of 7,500 feet, the property is in a remote cloud forest surrounded by jungle.  the site is already partly developed with three camping cabins and limited meeting facilities.  The ministry would like to improve and expand the current facility by designing the infrastructure (water/sewer/storm) building more camping cabins and providing a multi-purpose building for meeting/dining/cooking activities.  They would eventually like to house 250 people on the property.


The EMI team will provide a master plan for the site, integrating the existing buildings with the future plans.  The team will also provide a detailed design for the multipurpose dining hall building and for site infrastructure.  The existing water supply consists of a spring collection point and several holding tanks on the property, which will need to be upgraded to accommodate for future construction.  A power line runs through the property to service a cell tower on the neighboring land, so electricity is readily available from this source.  The constant rains require that the site drainage be designed and built properly.  WOL has been operating from rented camp facilities for years, and they have experienced that many camps aren't reliable from year to year due to a lack of proper infrastructure design.  WOL is looking forward to having its own camp facility that is designed properly and will be dependable for years of service. 


I am seriously blessed by God to be able to do this, and I ask for your prayers that God would continue to bring funds to help me on my way.  Lastly, I do have a prayer request that I would love you all to take to God and ask him about.  Lately, God has started to make me aware of the atmosphere surrounding missions, and reminding me that I am on a mission - a missionary (there's a lot of stuff in my emotions surrounding that idea) -  and my purpose is as a missionary.  To use Engineering jargon, the scope of my work in Costa Rica goes far beyond designing a mission center.  So please pray that God would increase this idea and this truth, as well as anything else he is teaching.  Thanks and I love you all

God Bless,

Brad Montgomery

Family Portraits

Hello friends and family, many of you know Shelley Dormont, and about the awesome photography work she's been up to over the past couple of years - if not you should check it out.  A few weeks ago, she and Alex Brown decided to team up with me and hold mini family photo shoots to help raise money for me to go to Costa Rica while serving those in the community.  We have 30 minute slots still open for this Friday the 18th and Sunday the 20th, but they're limited so email Shelley (shelley.elena@yahoo.com) about available slots so that your photos can be ready by Christmas.  Attached is a flyer for more information, or you can email me at bradlywayne@gmail.com

Welcome

Hello, and let me bid you an official welcome to my engineering endeavor in Costa Rica with Engineering Ministries International.  


I want to start with the name of this blog.  Two days ago, a couple of friends and I were discussing the picture of rock climbing and how it relates to clinging to God our rock that David mentions in Psalm 18 (the word is actually crag), but is also everywhere in the Bible.  It was rather an amusing and fun game, but the parallels are numerous and awesome.  I encourage you to do the same - chew on it a while and see how many metaphors clinging to a rock while climbing you can connect to clinging to God a midst everything.


So, to name my blog, obviously you want a name that is short and easy to remember.  I wasn't sold on the term "clinger," until I saw this on (and I hesitate to name this) Urban Dictionary, "that one that just wont let go."  And then Webster reassured me that it's in his dictionary, so it's a for real, non-crass word meaning to never let go.  And that's what I want to be - that guy that just wont let go of God our rock, won't ever let my sight turn from him, and never ever let go of his solidity.  Which is awesome cause it goes right along with my recent discovery of rock climbing (I've always liked climbing, but I bought the shoes in September, and for those of you who don't know, that is when you can really start climbing consistently).


Because I'm learning and loving the language of Hebrew right now, this word 'cling' reminds me of a Hebrew word, 'chutzpa' (the ch is the really raspy sound that we're all really embarrassed to make).  


חֻצְפָּה


It's a word that means essentially audacity in persistence.  In modern Hebrew, it is used as a negative description, but in ancient and Biblical Hebrew, it is a very positive word.  The widow who persisted in front of the unjust judge asking for justice had this chutzpa.  The phoenician woman who said "yes, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that the children leave behind."  Jesus responded "I haven't seen chutzpa like that in all of Israel" (I stole this paraphrase from Ray Vanderlaan).  They kept at it - never let go - clung to the hope that they would receive justice and mercy if she kept at it.  Jesus loves this.  Isaiah set men to pray on the walls of Jerusalem to beg him all the time to restore Israel and he himself hardly quieted.  Isaiah 62


"1 For the sake of Zion I will not be silent
For the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still...
6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have set my watchmen,
Who shall never be silent
By day or by night
O you, the LORD's remembrancers,
Take no rest
7 And give no rest to Him,
Until He establish Jerusalem
And make her renowned on earth." (JPS)

By God's gift, may I cling tighter to the rock every day, so that he may prove to His glory that He is steadfast, He is trustworthy, and He will never release you when you cling to Him.  Thanks for listening, and check the support page here in the next few weeks.  Some friends are planning some fundraisers you may be interested in participating in.  

God Bless,

Brad