Long Time No Post

I (Alice) enjoyed a much needed time off in early September. But His Wheels kept marching on in my absents thanks to our volunteers and our bike and trike coordinators.


Today there were 7 of us. We were from 6 different area churches. On our Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday morning workdays we take time for updates and then we pause to pray. Here are some of the updates I shared today.

• Kevin our engineer brought our new US trike by so volunteers could take it for a spin and give input.
• Yesterday I got to try the trike and Kevin and I had a long discussion about the pros and cons and maneuverability of the trike.
• A Boy Scout from a neighboring suburb heard me on the radio in August. He contacted us about doing his Eagle Scout project with us. The project has been submitted for approval and then he hopes to begin with us.
• A friend of the ministry referred one of his friends to begin helping with HWI. The man just lost his wife to death and is looking for a place to volunteer. He is an avid cyclists and does his own wrenching (bike mechanics) and has a dream to build his own bike. He came by today to check us out, he talked with our trike design engineer about his ideas and he plans to join our team.
• On Friday a missionary is coming by to discuss ways he can reach out to an immigrant apartment community using bicycles as his curriculum to draw the adolescent boys in the complex together. We are going to brainstorm with him. He has the missionary heart and some bicycle knowledge but his dream is part of our dream.
• On Saturday 10 Master's students from University of Illinois are coming to the headquarters to learn more from us as they venture out to do a U.S. trike feasibility study for us.

We stand in awe of how the Lord is growing His Wheels and using bikes and trikes as a tool for expanding His Kingdom. Pray with us about these up and coming opportunities.

Open House August 27, 2011

We had an awesome open house. About 30 people attended. What we lacked in numbers we exceeded in sharing, encouraging, and passing the torch of God's goodness on to each other through recalling stories of God's faithfulness. We brought in 15 bikes. This AM we had 10 people help us. Thanks to all who came, encouraged us through notes and prayer. We serve an awesome God who wants to astound us by His miracles.

Update

The radio interview with "This is the Day, Worldview Wednesday" on WMBI.fm went well yesterday. 


We had over 40 people view yesterday alone. Thus far for the month of June we have had 629 people view our site. 

A church member said, "Great report today and God was very center of your report, thank you for all you do in a humble way. May God continue to grow His wheels."

A former board member said, "Sounded great! It's encouraging to hear the story again."

One couple wrote: "We heard about you on Moody today. My husband has given away more than 2,000 bikes over the past twenty years. We would like to volunteer for the 4th of July parade. We look forward to getting involved in your ministry.


Another wrote I have a bike to donate-  how can I get it to you???


My editor said, "Woohoo! Not many people get plugs for their book before it's even published! Nice job. :-)"


Today after I received this note back after our June Newsletter went out by email yesterday.


"It's exciting to see what you've done with your life and to know that I "knew you when" you were a vibrant, busy teenager. Now you suffer from such a dreadful illness and are still vibrant & busy & fruitful for Christ! Totally cool!! Blessings!"

May's Activities

We had 10,500 color brochures printed in May. God provided us with an awesome deal.

2. After paying all our bills for May and June's rent we remain debt free.

3. Over 442 people watched our You Tube video in May

4. We had 619 people view our website in May of which 315 were new viewers as opposed to 363 total people view our site in May 2010.

5. In May we picked up bikes from Winfield Police Department.

6. One of our big give away projects was in conjunction with an elementary school in Wheaton and Wheaton E. Free Church, my home church. We gave away 18 bikes to 12 families. We had 11 families from the church do the deliveries. We just got a new request today for another family from the school for 4 bikes.

7. We also gave away 2-3 bikes weekly to World Relief DuPage

8. During our weekly mechanics days we continued fixing bikes.

9. In June we provide bikes for a group of Christian workers who come from the Eastern European block to study for 6 weeks. They will be here soon.

10. I've already had a few missionaries knock on my door to let me know they are back in the country. They last received bikes from us in 2006 and are now back on their next year long furlough.

11. Here's our new challenge from one of our consultants. For 10 new people to view His Wheels site at www.hiswheels.org and to watch the video that is on the front page. Then for those 10 to tell another 10 people each and those 10 tell another 10 people to equal 100 and the repeat the cycle. Our overall goal is to aim for 10% increase in hits to our website and views to our video per month from May until December.

12. Our trike designer worked on 4 new trike prototypes over Memorial Day weekend. Here is one of the chassis. He has nicknamed the one below the rambler, after the car because of its look. (Oh and observe our new steel table addition we bought this month for welding)!