First off, I want to apologize for not writing an update sooner. Things have been quite busy lately! (And I just hate writing, so I was putting it off! ;) )
Wow, so much has happened! Unfortunately for you, this is going to be a very long post filled with lots of words and not many pictures, but hopefully it will bring you up to date on my escapades in Guatemala!
A lot of exciting things are happening at the Hope Haven shop! The tool crib project I mentioned before has been pushed off (due to lack of space... we got in two shipping containers last week and have three more coming in soon!). So instead, I've been working on starting a massive 5S project for the shop! (All my Deere buddies will be proud of me!)
For those who don't know, 5S is a workplace organizational process and is something I learned about during my internship with John Deere last summer. The five S's are: Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. My goals for the the project are to completely revamp the Hope Haven shop by cleaning and organizing the equipment and supplies that we have and reorganizing things so the employees have easier access to the supplies they need. I also want to work on redesigning the process flow of the actual wheelchair assembly. It's really exciting, but also a massive project for just one person to attack. I'm taking it day by day and praying that God will help me get it done as well as I can! If anyone wants more information on this project please feel free to message me! I've attached a few pictures of one of the areas that I'm working on cleaning up... should give you an idea of the size of the project I'm facing!
As you can see... that project has been taking up most of my time... but I'm also working on updating some of the CAD drawings that the LeTourneau team created last year. The drawings are mostly correct, but they were done from a distance, so now that I am here I can directly measure the current parts to make sure the drawings are accurate. It's a good filler project for when I get tired of cleaning. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who has any CAD software down here right now, and mine is only a student license of Solidworks. If anyone wanted to donate a full copy I know it would be very helpful! :)
Outside of work, things have been going really well! My Spanish is coming along nicely! I can understand the gist of the conversation usually, but I still have a lot to learn. I've been putting off taking Spanish classes, but I think I do need to do that soon in order to take my Spanish to the next level.
I also joined the Antigua gym! It's a nice gym right in the city, and it happens to be exactly a mile away from my house, so it's a perfect warm-up run to get there. I'm really glad I decided to join the gym. Definitely has been helping keep myself healthy!
Two more big bits of news and then I think y'all will be mostly caught up with my life! First off, I did decide to accept the job at John Deere! So, I will be returning to the States next August. I don't know exactly where I will be working yet, or what my exact start date is. I'm definitely excited! I'm going to be here about a year and I know there's a lot I can get done while I'm here! It gives me almost a deadline... a point to work toward in order to keep myself on track.
And last but not least, I'm actually going to be returning to the States this Thursday for a month. God's been really gracious and worked things out in really cool/bizarre ways for this trip! I'm going to be going to two really good friend's weddings, and then spending some time in Longview in order to work with this year's Frontier Wheelchairs team! So, first I'm flying to Virginia for Becah's wedding, then flying back to Dallas to meet up with a friend there, and the two of us are driving north to Colorado for Peter's wedding... then driving back down to Longview. The original plan was that I would then be flying back out of Dallas to Guatemala, but I found out that the director of Hope Haven, Mark Richard, is going to be driving two vans down from the States to Guatemala, so I'm going to stay a few extra days in Texas, meet up with him and help him drive them down! I'm really excited about this trip! I'm really grateful to God for allowing me to attend the weddings of such close friends, and I'm also excited about the opportunity to work one on one with the new Frontier wheelchairs team for a few days. I pray that God uses me to get a lot of good work done during the trip!
Thank you all for your consistent and dedicated support! Your prayers, words of encouragement, and financial support have been such a blessing! Please keep me in prayer as I am traveling all over the place, and especially as Mark, his team, and I are driving down through Mexico!
Dios te bendiga!
Chris
We're so excited you get to come too! :)
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