Dear Friends

In the book of Jeremiah, God tells us, "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 19:11).  I wish I could fully describe to you how incredible it is when God begins revealing His plan for your life!

Over the last year I have been working on my senior project at LeTourneau University to develop a better wheelchair for children in third world countries.  I am working with an organization called Hope Haven who's  main production factory in Guatemala.  Over spring break I had the opportunity to travel to Antigua, Guatemala with my senior design team and spend the week working at their factory.  What an incredible week!  We spent the entire week working at the shop demonstrating our design work to the employees there and working with them discover new and better ways we could improve the wheelchair.

I have fallen in love with Guatemala.  I feel almost like Paul, walking down the road of life, thinking I was doing the right thing, when suddenly, out of nowhere, I feel like I was picked up, spun around, flipped over, and set back down facing a completely different direction.  I have always looked at my plan for life as going to go find a good job that pays well so that I could support a family and never have to worry about money.  My idea of how I would support missions work was to earn enough money to give it to someone else so they could tell people about God.  I am not an evangelist; it is simply not my gift.  But you know what I can do?  I can work with my hands.  I have been incredibly blessed with the training and skills that allow me to build almost anything I need with my hands.  Even what I cannot build, I know how and where to find it!

There are already people in Guatemala who can talk about God, but they need people who are good at building things.  They need people who can show the love of Christ by meeting their needs in very tangible ways.  I believe that God has given me the skills and knowledge to do that work!

Working with the children in Guatemala with Cerebral Palsy and other similar disabilities was so very difficult and at the same time, so wonderful for the opportunity to just love on them!  I was brought to my knees in amazement at the joy and opportunity given to a CP child and their whole family when they are given a good wheelchair.  These children are given a chance at life!  A possibility to learn, to grow, and to become great, functioning people!  A chance to break free from the captivity of their disabilities and their lack of mobility!

I want to work for the Lord in Guatemala.  I want to work with Hope Haven to provide an engineering viewpoint and perspective.  I want to be a liaison between Hope Haven and LeTourneau so that we can build an efficient and productive research and development team for Hope Haven.  I want to work with the orphanages in and around Antigua, loving on the children, repairing wheelchairs, and doing whatever other work they need.  I want to work with the families in need!  Families that don’t even have the money to buy a table and are preparing and eating their food off of the floor!  I want to care for these people!  I want to show the great love of our Father to His children through my hands and my skills.

Friends, I am willing and ready to go there.  I am willing to completely give up the idea of how I thought my life would go so that I might do the Lord's work.  I pray and ask that some of you would commit to being prayer warriors for me!  People who will commit to praying for me every day!  I know my life will have huge trials and I will need the support and prayer of my friends!  I will be working at Hope Haven as a volunteer.  Since they are funded solely by donations, I would not be paid by them.  But I could live there for only twelve dollars a day!  I know that God will provide for my needs but I pray that He would provide even more funds so that I might invest the money in Hope Haven, the children, and the families in need in Guatemala. 

Thank you for reading this note.  I wish I could fully express how excited I am about this opportunity.  Please contact me if you want to know more about this missions opportunity!  I would love to tell you more stories about my time there and the work I hope to do in Guatemala!

Vaya con Dios!

Chris Palmer

EsperanzaEngineer@gmail.com

 (530)-913-9554

17961 Lazy Dog Rd.
Nevada City, CA 95959