Updates and Preparation!

Hey y'all!

Come on over to my new blog and read about the preparations that have been going on for moving to Guatemala!

http://esperanzaengineering.blogspot.com/

Vaya con Dios!

3 Down, 1 To Go

We have one more week left until we head home. Even though this seems like we are nearing the end of our trip, we have to keep reminding ourselves that we only had one entire week the last time we were here.

Yesterday we had another fitting. We only fit 8 people total yesterday, but the second chair we worked on took more than 3 hours to fit. The first chair was this little girl. Look at that smile! She was so happy about getting a new wheelchair and she even told us thank you in English! She was so sweet and such a blessing. Her family was super nice as well. In this picture, you can see her mom behind her, and Gustavo, who worked with us on the chairs all day yesterday.

This little guy is Angel (pronounced Ahn-hell). His story broke my heart. He is a little boy of 6 years old. When he was 5, he was a completely normal little boy, who could run, play, and do everything else little boys can do. He went in for an operation on his thumb one day, was given too much anesthesia, and for a lack of better understanding of what happened, it turned him into a vegetable. He is alive, but can no longer walk or play. He cannot move any of his limbs of his own accord. He can no longer chew or talk, and is unresponsive to any sort of stimulation. He doesn't even look when his name is called or when a loud noise happens close to him. His mom hasn't come to terms with it either. She kept trying to get him to play with a little wooden toy car, but his hands couldn't even respond enough to hold it. She told me the story of her perfect Angel that was destroyed by a medical mistake. She tried to seek some sort of restitution for the wrong that had been done, but unfortunately, it doesn't work like that in Guatemala. Malpractice is extremely common. Gustavo is also in a wheelchair due to malpractice.

These are some absolutely beautiful flowers Cameron bought for me yesterday. He's so sweet. I love my flowers!


Well that's all for this post. Please pray for Angel and his family. They still haven't fully realized their new life situation, so prayers that they would be at peace with it.

Love, Morgan

This Past Week

So it's been close to a week since our last update. Sorry about that. This past week we went to the orphanage Hermano Pedro to fix wheelchairs there on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday we had a wheelchair fitting and distribution for about 25 people. However, Thursday I got really sick. I think I got food poisoning, but was lucky enough to expel most of the offending food from my body pretty early on. Cameron also wasn't feeling on top of his game and we were both out for the count on Thursday. Friday, we both headed over to the factory for the fitting, but I ended up tapping out about an hour later, went home and slept for the next 6 and didn't leave my bed for the rest of the day. Cameron helped with or fit 7 people on Friday. I was able to help with 1 in the time I was there. Saturday we both just spent the day recovering. We did all of our laundry, cleaned up our living area, and made sure to cook dinner instead of just eating crackers and sandwiches. I'm really looking forward to Monday so I can try to finish up the grant I was writing and Cameron is going to start working on sport wheelchairs. Wheelchairs that are used to play basketball, specifically. We have 11 days left. Pray that we make them count!

Love, Morgan

New Blog

Hey y'all, Come check out my new blog. This will be my main mode of communication as I prepare for and after I move to Guatemala!

www.esperanzaengineering.blogspot.com

Vaya con Dios!

Well this trip has already exceeded my expectations!  As you have probably read, we had our first wheelchair fitting Tuesday.  It was such a blessing to be here for that and work with those people.  I don't think I could ever get used to that.

We hit up a local restaurant the other day.  Turns out they had chalkboard walls and chalk laying around.  I made sure to leave a mark for 1B while I was there.  (For those of you that don't know, the 1B Bandits were all the guys on my floor at LeTourneau.  We are like brothers and I miss them all a lot.)

Today the guys at the factory were challenged to a basketball game.   This may seem rather insignificant, until you realize that they're all in wheelchairs.  This game is strictly for people in wheelchairs and is located all the way across Antigua.  What does it take to get a basketball team of wheelchair users across the rough streets of Antigua to a basketball court?  The answer is a small bus with a lift gate on the back.  And who better to drive it that the farm boy who grew up driving large machines?  That's right, I got to drive a small bus through the winding and rough streets of crowded Antigua with 8 people and their wheelchairs in the back.  It was quite the experience!  Very few people follow the "rules of the road", so driving really kept me on my toes...or in my seat.

The design that I have been working on prototyping for a children's walker is basically finished.  I have four more parts that I was unable to make today that I need to finish on Monday.  However, it doesn't seem to be quick enough since another request already came in today for two more walkers!  Once I have my drawings all finalized and the walker approved by the plant manager (Larry) and the on staff physical therapist (Ilse) I should be able to make 6-8 of them Monday.

Pray that God continues to use us as we interact with the workers in the plant.  Pray that we don't ever overlook their needs in the hustle and bustle of doing all the physical things that must be done.  Next week is already shaping up to be a busy week.  Pray that we keep our priorities in check. 

With Love,
          Cameron

2 for 1

Hey gang!

So I'm going to tell you about the last two days here in one post. Wheelchair fittings are some of the most exciting work Cameron and I do here. These past two days, we've been doing work that is hard to write about in an exciting way, so here goes:

Cameron has started working on designing a walker!!!! This walker will be built for children and was the number one thing people asked for at the last fitting. Some children have disabilities, but can still walk with help, so something like a walker gives them a lot more freedom than a wheelchair. Unfortunately, the factory does not have any designs for a walker. Fortunately, they have Cameron. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the software he needs to design a walker and know it will work before building it. Fortunately, he has the ability to build anything and the mind to figure it all out. I got to watch him work a little bit today, and was completely lost on what he was doing. But he understood what needed to be done, and that is the important part. He might have a prototype for the walker as early as tomorrow. (and I'll try to get some pictures)

I have been working on writing a grant. That's about as exciting as I can possibly make that sentence. I'm almost done, just need a few more of the statistics to put into it. It will be the first grant I've ever written, but I'm still the most qualified among the people here.

Our next fitting is on May 25th and we have 25 people signed up. It will be a very busy day, so prayers as we start preparing for that day to come would be appreciated. Thanks for all your prayers and support!

Love, Morgan

Giving of Wheelchairs

So today was a wheelchair fitting for 11 kids with different ranges of need and disabilities. It definitely was an intense way to hit the ground running with the things we need to do here. Cameron and I got to fit two people in wheelchairs today and it felt fantastic to be back working with such a great ministry. The faces of the people we gave wheelchairs to were more than enough reward for the work we put in.

 

This was the second wheelchair we fit today. Neither of the chairs were a design Cameron or I had worked with before. Luckily, he was smart enough to figure it all out so we could adjust them for each person.

All in all, it was a good day. Today was also the first day of the rainy season, so we got to watch the roads turn into rivers.

Prayers for: most of the workers at the factory are in wheelchairs, so the rains make it difficult for them to travel home since the roads are bad and they don't have cars.

In Christ,
Morgan

We're Here!

It's hard to believe, but we're finally here! Both Cameron and I (Morgan) have been working so much to get to this point, it's still kind of mind blowing that we're in Guatemala.
We were met at the airport by Ilse and Jessalyn, the two other people we will be living with for the next couple weeks. And then we returned to Antigua last night. It is fantastic to be back. This morning, Cameron and I did a lot of little "errand" type things, such as going to the grocery store and putting minutes on our cell phones that we use down here. Tomorrow there is a wheelchair fitting at the factory, so it will be straight back to the grindstone. We'll try to get lots of pictures to post on here as well.

16 days and we will be in Guatemala!  It seems unreal.  In that time I will check out 28 guys from my dorm floor, oversee the checkout of around 200 Tyler Hall residents, finish the last little bits of my classes, GRADUATE, move out of Tyler Hall for the last time, say many many goodbyes and start my last college class of my college education, an online summer class.  Its going to be a very busy time.

God has been so good in the past few weeks.  It never ceases to amaze me how he works things out.  I received an email from a friend of a friend today asking if we would have room to bring items to Guatemala with us.  Several of the women from Daniel Van Valkenburg's church would like to pack up supplies needed in Guatemala and send them as gifts.  I told them we could take up to 3 suitcases full as long as they're under 50 pounds a piece.  We had no need of our 3 extra free checked bags.  God worked through friends sharing and people caring and now we will be taking some much needed supplies to Guatemala with us, at no additional charge.

Keep praying that God will use us in every way possible.  Pray that we will be stretched and that God will have his way with us.  Thank God that He is going to provide the remaining funding we need for this trip.

Until next time!
          Cameron

Queremos Vitaminas

Cameron and I leave for Guatemala in 17 days! We've started thinking about what to pack, and when I say that, I mean we've said "we should think about what to pack" and then moved on with whatever else we were doing. One of the needs down there is for children's vitamins and Tylenol. Recently, Cameron was contacted by someone who wanted to send stuff like that down there with us, but that's in Cameron's court, so he can update you guys about that in his next post. Right now, we're just both hoping that the rest of the money we need comes in soon, and praising God for all we have received thus far!

Love, Morgan

Buenos Dias!

Hey guys!  As the semester is winding down I'm finally finding some time to get on here and update my information!  It's been really amazing to watch God work through everything as I'm planning to return to Guatemala.  I never would have expected to be doing something like this but it is amazing to see God so obviously involved!  I'm almost finished writing my first support letter so as soon as that is done I'll upload it to the blog.

Vaya con Dios!
Chris Palmer

Hola Mi Amigos

     Chris Palmer is one of the members of my sr design team that traveled to Guatemala over spring break.  He has been looking into traveling back to Guatemala in the fall for his last semester of school.  God has been working out details as he has been scheduling classes and looking into other issues.  Chris will be looking for sponsors for the entirety of his trip, so if you would like to get more involved, this is a great place to start. 

     I have a meeting with my pastor this Wednesday.  One of the things I hope to talk about is how to make tax deductible donations through the church.  I will let everyone know how that goes as soon as I have more information. 

     Please keep us in your prayers.  I have over 200 dollars pledged toward my trip already.  Its exciting to see how God works things out and how he prompts people to give.  Only 34 more days! 

     Love, Cameron

Storms in Dallas

A severe storm system including tornadoes ripped through Dallas today, damaging over 40 of the planes in the American Airlines' fleet.  We are flying with American Airlines in May.  Please pray that God would be in the situation.  My first thought was that our tickets may get canceled, but God can work in every situation.  Tickets may go up in price after this and it may work out very well that we already have our tickets.  Please keep this in your prayers.

Romans 8:28  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

       Love, Cameron

39 Days

So I was counting the days until Cameron and I leave for Guatemala, and I realized there are only 39 days. Holy chocolate starfish batman! We have so much to do before then, like raise all our funds for the trip and make sure all our arrangements are taken care of. I'm sure people are getting bored of hearing "how excited we are to go to Guatemala", but it's true. We are really excited. Last night we talked about reading the Guatemala newspaper together in order to catch up on local current events and to practice Spanish. Learning another language can be both difficult and funny. There are so many times when people say things like " I have man" when they mean to say "I am hungry" in Spanish. I remember in one Spanish class, talking about walking on the oven. Of course I wasn't aware of what I was saying or why the teacher was laughing at me so hard. As I try to teach Cameron some Spanish, I'll try to make sure I post his funniest mistakes on here so we all can laugh about it.

         Love, Morgan

Support Letters

We have been working on our letters the past few days.  Morgan's support letters were mailed this morning.  My letters include a trip summary for my past two trips and should go out tomorrow morning.  Expect to see them in your mail boxes by Friday! 

With any luck, Morgan will start teaching me some spanish before we head back to Guat.  I remain skeptical since she didn't teach me any last time before we went.  :)  Maybe I can learn Spanish while I teach her how to use a drill.  Go team!  

Love Cameron

Step of Faith

We did it. We bought plane tickets. This is a step of faith because neither one of us has received the support to cover the cost of a plane ticket, much less our living expenses while we're down there. But we both have a confident assurance of what we hope for and certain of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1).

Buying plane tickets is exciting. There is a lot of commitment that goes into hitting the purchase button. And it means that wherever your plane ticket is going, you're going. Either that or you just spent a lot of money to not go there. Cameron and I talk about Guatemala daily as our anticipation grows. A month in Guatemala will allow us to do far more work than we could accomplish over Spring Break, but it will also give us the opportunity to grow in our faith. Being in a culture completely different from our own, amongst people who do things differently than you do them, can be very challenging to your thoughts about how the world is supposed to work. We will learn a lot while we are there, but we are both looking forward to it!

         Love, Morgan

Support for Morgan

Last fall, for my final semester of college, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Latin America. I did things that I would never dream of doing, from herding oxen on horseback, to learning that sometimes it is more important to just be with people than to be doing things for them. I spent most of my time in Costa Rica, but also visited Nicaragua and Cuba. Being in Latin America really stirred my passion for the culture and the people. I was fortunate enough to spend enough time down there to learn Spanish as well. When I returned to the United States, I enjoyed meeting up with friends and talking about what we had been doing during the fall semester. From one such friend, I learned about the Frontier Wheelchair Team from LeTourneau University (my Alma Mater). Last December, the team went to Guatemala as part of an engineering trip in which they were redesigning the footplate of a wheelchair. He told me that the team was intending to go back to Guatemala over Spring Break and that they were in need of a translator. My Spanish is far from perfect, but I jumped at the opportunity to go back to Latin America.

To back track a bit, at the beginning of the academic year, the Frontier Wheelchair Team from LeTourneau University set out to design a new footplate for a wheelchair manufactured by Hope Haven in Guatemala. The previous design did not allow the wheelchair occupant to exit the wheelchair without personal assistance. For people with disabilities, but some mobility, having the ability to be self-sufficient for little things like going to the bathroom, can be empowering both physically and mentally. Many of these wheelchairs are for children with cerebral palsy, and so they have moments where they will tense up and push down on the footplates. The concerns for these footplates are that they could either break or move with this exertion, which is not desired. With the newly designed footplates, the plates can swing out of the way while still being able to take the force and weight exerted on them. Designing a plate that was able to do both was the challenge. With two prototypes now in use and the design on the verge of being manufactured, the new footplates will be life altering for the people who can benefit from their installment on their wheelchairs.

The Hope Haven factory where the wheelchairs are manufactured was our home for the week we were there. Eleven of the twelve people employed there are also in wheelchairs. Our team had the opportunity to work side-by-side with the workers in the factory and learn a little about their lives. One man in particular, named Gustavo, was tremendously intelligent and resourceful. He became a good friend while we were there. He even said that if I moved to Guatemala that he would adopt me. :) He worked intensively with our group, making sure he understood all the changes that were being made to the chair, and even came up with ways it could be better, right on the spot.

The work that we did in March was helpful on many levels. The Hope Haven factory employs disabled employees, thus the factory is not maximizing their production possibilities.  Therefore they are not producing the necessary profits to afford research and development to stay current in the market of wheelchair technology. With the help of LeTourneau University’s Frontier Wheelchair Team, the factory can both continue to provide jobs to their workers who would be otherwise unemployed, and can continue to provide wheelchairs with more advanced modifications.

A few of us from the team have the opportunity to return to Guatemala for the month of May. Our main liaison at Hope Haven talked about their need for all the things our group has to offer. We have the engineering ideas, but they also want help with the business aspect of the factory. Currently, the person in charge of all their public relations, grant writing, accounting, and other business and administrative tasks is their physical therapist, who is being asked to wear many more hats than is possible. Our group also brings a spiritual element into the factory as one of our group members regularly leads praise and worship at LeTourneau, and in March we all participated in having worship time during our week there.

The goals of the Hope Haven factory are to continue to employ its disabled workers and to continue to produce wheelchairs that are on the cutting edge. Some of these wheelchairs are given away when the need is great, and the recipient has no ability to pay. They need our team and others like us, to help out in any way we can. Our mission is not to create dependence on us, but rather to teach them to think and do the things we already know how to do. Because my area of knowledge is business, I want help in the business operations of the factory, as well as serving as a translator.

Currently, I am seeking support to return to Hope Haven in May. In addition to desiring your blessings, good wishes, and prayer, my target for the financial support I need is $3000.00. My parents are encouraging me in this endeavor, but we agreed that I have to do my part to raise support. They have committed to match what I raise by May 1st. With this money, I will be able to travel to Antigua, Guatemala and live for a month. I will be working with the engineers, helping translate for them, fitting children in wheelchairs, and working on the business relationships with various partners in Guatemala and the United States. With your help, we can make a difference. This blessing cascades from those who work in the Hope Haven factory, to those receiving wheelchairs, their families, and on and on. So your support of me, helps me to be a conduit to help others, who can in turn, help even more people. 

Love, Morgan