Day-to-day in the shop

Here is a post from Grant

Bike division coordinator & HWI's first intern.

Grant in the summer at the shop

What happens in the shop day-to-day: Each morning one or more of the volunteers greet me heartily as I walk in the shop door. They almost always arrive up to an hour before me to start working on their projects. I check which bikes they are working on, put away bikes/parts that may have just been donated, and make sure our sign has been rolled out.

Sign in the Summer

The majority of the next 3 hours is taken up with helping volunteers with repairs, sorting parts/bikes, checking in with Alice, praying together, and interacting with people picking/dropping off bikes. Because there is no Internet at the shop I don’t spend much time planning new programs or connecting with other organizations that we work with. Because the weather has been very cold we haven’t had many bike heading out besides those we give to World Relief every week.

He's so special he has his own blocks

Prayer Discovery

Sometimes human interruptions are an important component of prayer. The crying needs of people are part of the Spirit’s sensitivity through prayer. Over the last two days as I’ve set aside time to pray, and have been in the midst of prayer three significant interruptions have come my way.

Through these situations I realized my heart was in prayer but I was also called to give. It is at these times that I have to marry the different components of prayer, which in these encounters required the feet of action. I didn’t seek these encounters but God knew I was available for them to come my way. They were divine encounters that touched God’s heart and the hearts of many as there was a rippling effect outwards from each person I encountered. The rippling impact was as far reaching as Tanzanian as a friend there said, “Tell Alice thank you for helping us to tell our story.”

Prayer is an attitude, that requires action, stamina, perseverance, and interaction with the Triune God. As I come to the throne of God in a posture of humility, with ears, eyes and a heart open to the Lord Jesus the Holy Spirit will uncover new things to me. My discoveries will come through the inspired and inerrant words of Holy Scripture, the leading of the Holy Spirit, the beauty of nature, the individuals that I encounter, and other tools God has creatively made to sculpt me into the child He wants me to become.

It is only in retrospect that I can see these different components of prayer. So, now as I will reach the goal of praying 8,000 hours by the end of February on my Pray 10K journey I now understand the concept of praying without ceasing. However that is only the beginning. Now I must learn to implement the components of praying without ceasing. For me as these interruptions came I was at first annoyed by the interruptions. But now I see I can only pray without ceasing if my attitude is in the right place before God when He asks me to participate in the things that are near to His heart.

As God revealed these amazing discoveries to me I also experienced how only God can fill the deepest places in my soul. Through prayer I am clothed in honor, glory, majesty, blessedness and a richness that rivals all the money in the world. Prayer has provided a thrill and joy that is more exciting than any sports venue I could ever view. It is an adventure second to none. Prayer is enveloped in a peace that passes all understanding. It provides a freedom beyond bounds leaving me in a spacious place beyond what I could ever hope for or dream of uncovering.

Mile Markers-From a trike dream to a reality in Ethiopia

Assembling 15 trike kit sets for Ethiopia

March 2010

Packaging 15 set of trike kit sets

First week in new headquarters

Constructed crate for 15 trike kits sets and 1 completed trike

It takes an engineer to get the contents for 16 trikes into a 4x4x4 ft crate

One week after we moved in the crate was packed

Mission accomplished-many mile markers behind us.

The trike kits will one day look like this after being welded and painted in Ethiopia

Many miles in front of us

Our neighbors are helping us load the container onto the truck.

The crates next leg of the journey to meet the shipping container.

After 10 days in our new headquarters our first of hopefully many containers left the site.

Final Destination of the trikes

Good bye 2010 in Wheaton IL on December 31st CST

Happy New Year His Wheels International as the container pulled into Soddo Christian Hospital on the morning of January 1 Ethiopian time

The big job of unpacking begins

Every box must be thoroughly checked by a customs officer for contents

A long and tedious process

Mellessa, the first HWI trike recipient waiting on with great anticipation.

The trike crate-Mellessa at front left. Dr. Anderson, American surgeon also looking on.

Mellessa said good-bye to his Ethiopian made trike and hello to his new HWI set of wheels.

He's ready to go to the hospital where he works with Dr. Anderson. Mellessa speaks eight languages so he translates for Dr. Anderson.

Notice the adaptations Mellessa made to his trike:

Added a wheelchair leg support for his right knee that was fused together.

Added wheelchair sides to his trike

Added a plush seat. I wish I had a seat that comfortable for some of those long 100 mile days on my hard bicycle seat.

Many mile-markers behind us and we look forward to the mile-markers ahead of us