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