July 16, 2002
Greetings
Friends and Family,
Some
of you know that I’m planning on going to India in the fall to be
involved with engineering missions, but I wanted to give everyone a little more
information now that I have a better idea of what I will be doing. Beginning this September, I will be
working with EMI (Engineering Ministries International www.emiusa.org) through an engineering
internship for eight months. EMI
is a non-profit ministry that combines engineering skills, service for the
Lord, and outreach to developing countries.
EMI’s vision is to provide
design professionals a way to use their skills to help others, to give them an
avenue to share their faith, to expose them to the realities of our underprivileged
world, and to provide them with a fellowship of believers that would encourage
and strengthen them in their faith.
While I will be working on design projects like schools, orphanages,
churches, hospitals, and water systems, I will also have opportunities to reach
out to the community in Mussoorrie (near Dehra Dun, north of Delhi -see map), which is the town
I will be living in for around 8 months.
Since
the rising conflicts between India and Pakistan have flooded the news, I know
that a lot of people have a list of concerns and would prefer me to stay in
Michigan, or at least in the country, instead of running around the world
looking for danger. This summer,
after President Bush issued travel warnings in both India and Pakistan, EMI
immediately responded by pulling all of their interns and other engineers out
of the country and canceling all summer trips. Even though the situation has calmed considerably since
then, I know that the risks were taken seriously and that EMI would not send me
into a dangerous situation. In the
event that I will not be able to travel to India in the fall, I will be given
the opportunity to stay in the United States and volunteer in another EMI
office, which is located in Colorado Springs, CO. There I would be working on the same type of projects with a
focus on this region of the world.
You might be wondering why I
wouldn’t want to go for this safer option in the States first, especially
with all that is going on in the world right now, but I feel a definite tugging
on my heart for developing nations.
They have such few resources to work with, which only increases my
desire to help in any way that I can.
I will never forget the first time that I went on an international
missions trip to Tijuana, Mexico, which is only 26 miles south of San Diego,
California. I was shocked by the
immediate change from beautiful palm trees and large houses to dusty roads and
deteriorated shacks as we crossed the border. It was the first time that I saw real third-world poverty
with my own eyes and could also smell, touch, and hear it moving all around
me. The rows and rows of huts
constructed from pieces of scrap wood, bits of metal, and anything else found
lying around looked almost surreal as if they only belonged in the background
of one of those child sponsorship commercials in some distant country. These images just didn’t belong
only a few miles from the American life that I accepted as everyday reality. How was it that we could have so much
and they had so little? My eyes
were opened to this new concept that everyone in the world didn’t live
like I did. During our week in
Mexico, our group built three houses made of plywood and rebuilt a roof. Actually these houses were 12 by 8 foot
plywood shacks with tarpaper and shingles nailed to the top and were only
slightly larger than my dorm room at college. As we were building, it seemed like every child in the
neighborhood came to see what was going on and wanted to help. They were so willing to help and so
precious that we couldn’t refuse giving them hammers and holding nails
for them as they pounded away.
While I was thinking about my roommate and I feeling cramped in our
small living space, one of our team leaders told us that one of these houses we
built was for a family of 12 people.
I couldn’t believe it.
I couldn’t even imagine 12 people sitting comfortably in that
one-room house, let alone all sleep, eat, and live there. Even though all of the families
graciously thanked us for building homes for them, I was overwhelmed by this
sense of guilt because I couldn’t do anything more for them. I didn’t have a lot of money, but
I started sponsoring a child in India that week through World Vision. Her name is Kagitha and her favorite
subjects are math and science.
Since then, my desire to help has only increased with each mission trip
and volunteer opportunity I’ve experienced.
I first knew that God was calling
my life to missions when a woman named Mary came and spoke to my bible study
group during my freshmen year at Hope College. Mary was a spokesperson for Operation Christmas Child and she
shared her testimony of what God had been doing in her life since she began to
serve Him with everything she had.
During her testimony, she read a parable from Matt 25:31-46 describing a
call to care for the least of God’s people.
Then
the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world. For I was hungry and
you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to eat, I
was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit.
Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and
feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing
clothes and clothe you? When did
we see you sick or in prison and go an visit you? The King will reply, I tell
you the truth, whatever you did for one of these least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me (Matt 25:34-40).
As I listened to Mary speak about
this passage and its impact on her life, I truly felt that God was speaking
right through her into my soul, that through her eyes I could see Jesus’
love and compassion for the least of His people shinning through and I knew then that God had called me
to act on that compassion. But
then I remembered that I was an engineering major. How could God use that for His glory? I had so many questions. Should I
switch majors? Should I drop out
of school and go now? Should I go
to seminary? What do I do now?
After
a time of sharing our testimonies together, Mary came up to me and put her
hands on my shoulders and said, You are gonna rock some boats. I was surprised that she even
remembered me, but something in her eyes was so comforting that I knew God was
working through her. It was her
love and compassion that radiated from her presence and convinced me that God
was giving me only a small glimpse of the joy He had in store for me. That night, I felt a definite
confirmation of my desire to serve God’s people, but what I didn’t
know was How? I had never heard of
missionary engineers and had no idea where to even look for them. After looking into the Peace Core and
other non-Christian organizations, I was finally directed towards a mission
conference, which is held every four or five years, at the University of
Illinois in Champaign-Urbana (www.urbana.org)
over last Christmas Break. I had
the opportunity to talk to over 30 organizations, specifically about
engineering opportunities, but most organizations turned me towards EMI. After many conversations, meetings, and
many months of prayer, I felt that this internship program was at least the
next step in my journey because EMI offered both a great engineering learning
experience and the opportunity to use my talents to further Gods Kingdom.
I
am so excited for this coming year in ministry and I hope that all of you can
be a part of it. Most importantly,
I will need constant prayers for safety, for the ministry, for the design work,
for health, for the organization, and for the people that I will encounter in
India. Hopefully, I will be able
to send out more specific prayer requests once I am there through mass e-mails,
but I have been warned that I may not be able to access the Internet very
often. Secondly, I will need some
help to get there. All staff and
interns raise their own support, and the costs of travel and living expenses
for 8 months will be around $6250.
All gifts within the US are tax deductible and will receive a
receipt. The prayer/support card
(found below) needs to be returned in the enclosed envelope to EMI, before
August 13th (3 weeks before I leave for orientation in Colorado and
then off to India).
Thank you and God Bless,
Kellie
Bleecker
KELLIE BLEECKER’S
SUPPORT TEAM
I/we would
like to join your support team and
___ pray for you on a
regular basis. Please include me
on mass-emails.
___ contribute a
one-time gift of $___________
Name:
__________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
E-mail:___________________________________________________________
Please
send to: EMI
110
S. Weber, Suite 104
Colorado
Springs, Colorado 80903
Checks Made Payable to Engineering
Ministries International are Tax Deductible