Geber Derek Boys' Ranch, Guatemala

I’ve just returned from an exciting week in Guatemala, where I had another amazing chance to see God at work, seeking to redeem people from a dire situation. The missionary we were working with, Nathan Hardeman, grew up in Guatemala, where his parents were church planters among one of the tribes of Mayan descent. Nathan now works with Shalom Church serving in one of the poorest areas of Guatemala City, ironically named “Paradise”, and is now opening the Geber Derek Boys’ Ranch, meaning “Way of the Warrior” in Hebrew, after the mighty men of David in 2 Samuel 23. (See more at http://www.geberderek.org)

Our first day there, Nathan took the team to meet some of the families he has built houses for. We walked from his car down a dirt alley, which opened up to a dirt soccer field. Houses crowded the field, pouring back into a huge canyon. Some kids from the field recognized Nathan and ran up to meet the visitors. We continued into the mass of houses, at first sturdy block, but giving way to corrugated tin over wood posts the further down we went. We noticed some conspicuous retaining walls which Nathan had built around the houses of some church members to prevent further mudslides from washing into their houses. Our visit received several reactions, from silent disregard to a warm welcome. Many had been helped by the church’s programs, such as food, tutoring, medical, and house building. The notable absence was the lack of men. The dysfunction in this neighborhood has made it a breeding ground for gang members and drug addicts. It was sobering to think that the young boys following us would soon hit an age where all kinds of pressures would begin hitting them. Their education is woefully inadequate, as schools cram up to sixty of them into a room that often lacks in desks and books, the work available for them is low paying and inconsistent, their living conditions couldn’t get much worse, and few of the fathers stick around. All of this makes escaping through gangs or drugs a temptation to even the most resilient kids, and perpetuates the cycle. Nathan’s vision to remove the boys themselves from this environment, while keeping the families connected through the local church, sounded exactly like what was needed.

With this experience fresh in our minds, our team put our experience to work. Nathan had bought some land in the safest part of Guatemala for the boys, near the city of Antigua. At the beginning of the week, I spent most of my day with the surveyor, providing a very necessary topographic map. With land around Antigua also being some of the most expensive in Guatemala, the most affordable site Nathan could get was much steeper than what we would be used to in the US, with slopes between 3:1 up to almost 1:1. Being the crazy person I am, I actually enjoyed scrambling/sliding across the slopes to get the survey. Later in the week, I helped translate for our structural engineer, who was learning about differences in construction and investigating what was available in the hardware stores, so that our design would be cost effective and attainable.

After our team presented our final design to Nathan, we were delighted to hear his praise for our design. Having done so much construction in Guatemala and having dreamed of this with his wife for the past eight years, he was full of ideas, and we were able to catch his vision and improve it, providing not just a shelter, but a place the boys could call home and be proud of. I myself was grateful for the chance to meet another son of missionaries, hear his testimony, and see how God has been using him.


As we return to work on the design, would you pray for:

• The boys in Paradise to choose freedom in Jesus, not slavery to gangs and drugs
• Shalom’s ministries, spreading not just physical aid, but bringing people to Jesus
• Finances to supply the construction, which Nathan wants to begin this summer

Again, thank you to all my supporters for enabling me to be part of this and contribute my small part. I love how EMI works with ministries with big visions, growing in fantastic ways thanks to God’s faithfulness.


More pictures:



One of the kids had an Argentina soccer jersey!

Houses range from concrete block to corrugated tin on wood posts:
Some of the homes we visited:


Keeping my balance during the survey:
And getting a chance to run the total station myself

Parcel #1Parcel #2
Brad Hoy, the structural engineer

Conceptual layouts

Missions: Not Just For Gringos

Many American churches participate in missions. From high school trips to Mexico, to sending long term missionaries, there are a lot of Americans in missions. But wherever God’s people gather, He burdens some with a heart to carry the gospel to other countries, other people groups, and other cultures. My dad has seen much of this first hand, and it certainly made me think. Many Latin American churches aren’t there yet, but at my church here in Atenas, Costa Rica, I’ve been able to witness it first hand.

Pastor Yeremy of the Baptist church here loves missions. It started small: he left San Jose to come to Atenas because there wasn’t a Baptist church here. Now, for a church of maybe fifty people, he’s encouraged the people to do more for missions than many larger churches around here. There’s always a missions offering, while his family lives week to week off his salary; yet he will tell you that God is faithful. He put on a missions conference for the church, bringing in four missionaries to speak to the church about what they do. Now, he’s gearing up the church to start saving for a mission trip to Uruguay next year.

Some of the youth leaders also have a heart for missions. My own host sister, Maria Fernanda, left studying law at the University of Costa Rica to study at a nearby Bible Institute. Two of the high school seniors, Brayan and Ariel, are being mentored by Yeremy and are interested in ministry. Brayan even gave a sermon while Yeremy was out of town last week. Brayan’s younger sister, Tania, has a passion beyond her years and loves people and sharing the Gospel with them. These four students spent a couple of months raising support to go to a missions conference in Guatemala, where the many things they learned only burdened their heart more for the lost.

These people’s passion for missions is both encouraging and challenging to see, but the most incredible story is that of Jose Pablo. The first thing you’ll notice about him is his height: just above four feet tall. He’s extremely warm and friendly, fun to be around, with a bit of a mischievous spark in his eye. A couple years ago, he started feeling a serious burden for Japan. He didn’t just pray for Japan or learn about it, he started learning Japanese. For about two years, little by little. In February, a missionary team from Mobile, A

labama, came through and visited the Baptist church here, among others. Pastor Yeremy, just conversing with them about missions, mention Jose Pablo’s story to them. That very next Sunday, pastor Yeremy made a stunning announcement: the church from Alabama was going to bring Jose Pablo with them on their next annual, short term mission trip to Japan in two months. For Jose Pablo, and the whole church, tears flowed as God provided a completely unforeseen answer to prayer.

That was about three months ago; Jose Pablo just got back a couple weeks ago. The country left him in awe, but the people left him broken hearted for the lost, and only more determined. One highlight for him was meeting another little person just like him who had just accepted Christ! (isn’t God amazing?) Jose Pablo’s Japanese and expressive personality combined to make communication possible, and his joy was a testimony for Jesus to people whose lives are severely lacking. He came back realizing how hardened Japan is toward the Gospel, but more determined than ever to keep pursuing it. I can’t tell you where Jose Pablo’s story will go, but God is surely preparing something special and unpredictable.

In EMI related news, things at the office have been progressing steadily. A church/seminary project in Haiti and a camp in Mexico have been completed. The Haitian Children’s Home orphanage I described last month has been delayed a little as we added some water supply elements to the design, but should be out this month. Because we got these projects out, some of the other interns and I have been given the unusual opportunity to go on a second project trip. I’m excited to be going to Guatemala on May 14^th, where EMI will help design an orphanage campus called the Geber Derek Boys Ranch. Geber Derek’s mission is to rescue boys from dysfunctional homes who would be likely to join gangs, without intervention, and raise them into mature, God-centered community leaders, something lacking in Guatemala. To all my supporters, I want to repeat my sincere thanks and ask for your continued prayer support—the work EMI is doing will make a difference in people’s lives.

Please pray for:

• Preparations for upcoming projects in Guatemala, Haita, and Honduras
• Focus and a sense of the big picture for me during day to day routines
• A heart for missions to spread among Latin American churches

In Christ,

Jim Flinchum

With March has come some settling in to a steady pace here in Atenas. Since my graduation and preparation to join EMI, there´s always been a big change around the corner. This past month has been a welcome time to make progress on existing work and develop existing relationships.

At EMI, the order of business has been finishing projects. While the church in Peru made sure our preliminary plans complied with city regulations, sent any required changes, along with their own comments, to our volunteer architect, we have time to complete projects from last year. Two of these projects are in Haiti, and one is in Mexico.

The project I have done the most work on, the Haitian Children´s Home, gives orphans a family, a home, and an education. The Pye family founded HCH in 2006 with a vision to not just house orphans, but to adopt them into their own family. If you read about their family at http://haitianchildrenshome.org/, you'll recognize that each child really is part of their family. Right now, the Pyes have adopted 21 children into their family and are raising them to love God and preparing them to improve their community as adults. A second family is about to join them.

The Pyes just bought a 16 acre property with eventual plans to house 8 families, followed by space for school, a workshop, and a church. Of course, the best terrain is reserved for the soccer field. While they actually have a beautiful oceanfront property, most of their land is extremely hilly, and littered with rather treacherous volcanic rock. EMI is providing plans for each family's home, water supply, grading to make the terrain usable and cover up the rocky terrain, and a road capable of handling a bus to reach the homes.

Besides work, the interns (minus Ben, plus a friend of Emily's from Texas) took a trip from Saturday, March 27 to Wednesday, March 31, bonding and enjoying some of the abundant beauty of God's creation here in Costa Rica (which we paid for ourselves, in case you were worried : ) We saw some lava rocks race down the sides of Arenal Volcano, did some hiking in Monteverde cloud forest, and surfed and sat on the beach two days in Guanacaste

We did a good bit of sitting on buses as well, catching some of them with a helping of God's grace, despite our best efforts to plan every detail. The end of our trip overlapped with the beginning of Semana Santa, or Holy Week, a week that everybody has off of work and school. Many go on vacation to the beach, especially near the end of the week. However, since Semana Santa tends to be recognized as a Catholic holiday, many of the Evangelicals here hardly recognize Easter due to the hard split with Catholicism. My church did have a sermon about the resurrection, but some Evangelical churches carry on as if Easter didn’t exist; hardly any of the churches here plan anything special like we are used to back home.

Prayer Requests for April:

• Issuing three finished projects within the next two weeks.
• The volunteers designing for the Iglesia Cristiana y Misionera of Lima, Peru.
• Four of the high school/college age youth from my church going to a missions conference in Guatemala:

¬ Praise that they raised the funds to go

¬ Pray that God would teach, lead, and inspire.

Thanks again for your continued prayers and encouragement.

In Christ,

Jim Flinchum

EMI Project in Lima, Peru

When I left for Peru, I was expecting some things about the ministry there, which excited me. When we met them and heard their vision from straight from the pastors, my impression went from amazed, to skeptical, to challenged, to hopeful.

The church is a Christian Missionary Alliance church in Callao, a low to middle class suburb of Lima. About half of their members are middle class, a quarter are lower class, and another quarter are very poor. Alongside the church, their pastor, who had grown up on the streets, also started a ministry to street children called Corazones Felizes, or "Happy Hearts", which helps them with education, food, medicine, and mentoring.

The first day, our team attended a church service, which was full of energy with music and dancing, passionate preaching, and a warm welcome and prayer for us in front of the church (they also asked how many of us were single. That was a little strange to me...). That afternoon, the pastoral team presented the church's vision and strategy. Their vision is to reach and restore whole families from the surrounding area, many of which are broken from addiction, adultery, poverty, and more. Their strategy has been to target seven zones around them for church plants, followed by seven cities in Peru, and eventually, send missionaries to seven countries. Each zone begins with in-home Bible studies, led by the main church's home-grown leaders, and their growth culminates in a church plant. Currently, they have churches in four of the seven surrounding neighborhoods, apart from their central church, with varying numbers in each, from around 120 in the most recent plant, to over a thousand at their central church. One thing that struck me was their commitment to raise up leaders from their own congregation. Marcos, the 23 year old son of the family I stayed with, is finishing his journalism degree, but also works with the youth and would like to be a pastor eventually; there were others like him.

The church had many hopes for their new building, which would go from their current building with tiny second floor up to a five story headquarters. A major challenge to expansion is the small piece of land they own. They hoped for a larger capacity in their sanctuary, classrooms for children's ministries/bible studies/pastoral training, a dining area, offices for the pastors of each area, room for the Corazones Felizes ministry, and a studio for the radio broadcasts they've begun broadcasting. The scale of their dreams far exceeded what I had envisioned, and challenged what I had thought both they and God were capable of. In fact, God has already provided a connection with a large church in Wisconsin that has promised to help fund their expansion. Still, a large need remains, but I’m confident God will cover it.

Our team was an amazing group of people, and we worked together quite well. The lead structural volunteer, Sutton Stephens, a professor at Kansas State, is very experienced. Thankfully, I was able to be helpful to him most of the time, and did some translating between the team and the church members as well.

Friday, we presented the church with preliminary plans that have extended their sanctuary, added a balcony, the classrooms they wanted, a multipurpose room with a kitchen capable of serving over a hundred people (which they do regularly now with a tiny kitchen), pastoral offices, a recording studio, and finished it off with a small soccer field on the roof enclosed in netting (which a couple of other churches we saw around Lima have). When we presented the plans to the ministry, they were very excited how we had accommodated everything they asked for, refined some ideas to function better, and considered needs and requirements they hadn't thought of. The engineers that attended their church were very busy with their jobs, but were able to provide some very helpful guidance to understanding construction in Peru and to the church’s needs, and were very knowledgeable. We will continue to refine the design and create the plans over the next few months. When we are finished, local engineers will make any minor changes to go through the Peruvian approval process, but the plans as we deliver them will be detailed enough to build from.

I really enjoyed the time we spent with the church members, and they treated us with incredible warmth and hospitality. We stayed with host families that sacrificed their rooms for us to stay in, cooked for us at the church while we worked, and hugged us so tight we could hardly breathe. Every meal they fed us was piled high with delicious Peruvian food, which is second only to Argentine food in South America (in my "humble" opinion). We got to know them, heard some of their testimonies, and left feeling so encouraged by their passion, service, and love. I myself would love to return in a few years and see where God has taken them. I’m sure I’d be amazed.

Heading Off to Lima

It's been a month and a day since our arrival in Costa Rica. Saturday at 4:00 pm, Tom Bastian (the big boss man) Micah Florea (a structural engineer) and his wife Beth, Emily and I will be taking off from Costa Rica to head to Peru. Our project is a church in a very poor, urban area of Lima, which has nearly 1500 members and very little space to put them, let alone continue expanding as they have been. The plan is to design a several story building for them to build on the plot of land their existing church occupies, meaning they will have to demo that building for the new one. Most of EMI's projects have plenty of space and don't exceed two stories, making this project unique, and a bit more of a challenge to the structural engineer, who I will be assisting. While there, we will be staying with host families from the church. I will likely be doing some translating for the team members in the same house as me, plus while we're at the project site.

While we'll be living with host families in a spanish speaking country, this week will be quite different than Costa Rica. Instead of little Atenas, snuggled into the hills, we'll be in a poor part of a huge city, so safety will be a bigger concern. Along with the five of us, a team of six volunteer engineers and architects will meet us in Lima. The whole week will be a marathon of designing, drafting, communicating with the church leaders, and heading back to the drawing board. After the week is done, the team members will take what we´ve finished so far back home with them and continue to work on it for the next few months.

I'm not too sure what my part of the team will be, but I'm going with an open mind to wherever I can serve.
Please pray for:

• Good communication and relationships with the church
• Energy throughout the week to get as much work done as we can
• A good understanding of local building practices, so our design can be followed well.
• Safety and health in travel and while we are there.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

In Christ,
Jim Flinchum

February EMI Update Letter

Dear friends and family,

It’s been four weeks since my EMI internship started, and life has certainly been eventful. I’m just beginning to settle into some semblance of a routine, but we shall see just how routine this turns out to be.

I spent my first week with EMI at a retreat center with all of the incoming interns at a retreat center in Colorado Springs, near EMI’s headquarters. We spent several hours each day flying through the abridged versions of the biblical basis for missions, EMI’s mission to share the gospel with the spiritually and physically poor, and how to design in third world countries where building codes are suggestions at best. We built friendships, shared our testimonies, and discussed our strengths and roles as a team late into the night. And since we were in beautiful Colorado Springs, we unwound a bit with some hiking and rock climbing. The unity in the group was practically instantaneous, despite having come from all acro

ss the country, from different denominational backgrounds, and being made up of both engineers and architects (eternal rivals under ordinary circumstances). And then, having just made friends with about twenty other interns, we had to say goodbye as we headed to our respective offices. Thankfully, the internet is a wonderful tool to stay connected and see what all the other offices are up to, and EMI staff have told us that the connectedness between the interns does wonders for bringing the offices together. My fellow interns are Amos, a civil engineer (who also went to Cal Poly, though I never actually met him there), Emily, a civil engineer from Texas A&M, Michael, an architect from North Carolina State, and Ben(not pictured), an architectural engineer from Colorado, who is returning after interning here last fall.

We spent our first week in Costa Rica going through more orientation. We learned how to find our way around the town center, took some crash courses in Tico culture, got to know the staff, and studied the Bible some more. After our first day at the office, we got dropped off with our host families, which was intimidating for Amos, Michael, and Emily, who spoke next to no Spanish. They managed to survive with very little Spanish for the first week as we went through orientation (though the host families were so concerned and hospitable that one could hardly call it surviving), and just finished language school on Friday. I’ve been very grateful for how deeply imbedded my own Spanish ability is from growing up speaking it. Despite being out of practice, it’s all coming back pretty quickly, which has made me the translator not just for the other interns, but occasionally for some of the newer staff.

Please pray for:

• Amos, Michael, and the rest of the team that just left for Guatemala
• EMI staff that just returned from an overwhelming experience in Haiti
• My upcoming project trip to design a church/pastoral training complex in Peru

In Christ,

Jim Flinchum

You Can't Run There

"You can't run there!"
Normally, my cross country instinct would scoff at such a phrase. Why can't I run there? Watch me!
However, when all semblance of a sidewalk has turned into nothing but one of the very large gutters designed for a rainforest deluge, and when I have a nagging sensation that the path recommended by my Tica host mom was two kilometers back, and that this windy mountain path has been steadily ascending, to the discontent of my legs, I decided I should probably listen to the random Tico driver honking and yelling at me from his van. It turns out, I had indeed missed the road my Tica host mom, who had told me it was about a kilometer out from the house.* After that, it wasn't too eventful. It's not too odd to go for a run around here; I've seen a couple locals running at different times. But, a tall gringo running sticks out a bit more. This probably prompted the Tico driver to offer his helpful advice, which gave me all the incentive I needed to turn around and head back downhill.

*When Ticos tell you distances around town, it's important to interpret those distances correctly. 100 m does not mean 100 m. It means one block, be it a small or large one. However, the highway up the mountain doesn't really have blocks. So how was I supposed to gauge the distance? As I noticed on the way back, it was indeed about 1 kilometer, as my host mom had said. One should learn not to generalize about other countries.