Hi all,
We need help, so please pray for us, that God would meet our needs however He sees fit.
This last 2 months has been crazy busy. It’s been good, but I am becoming more and more aware of our need for help every day. Many days, I feel overwhelmed. Pray that God would continue to sustain us, as He has been doing for so long, and that we would keep our eyes on Him.
The busyness comes in many forms, with much of our energy going into our continual “survival”, including taking care of the kids, keeping up with maintenance of the house, workshop, and vehicles, and making sure we have basic things like power running and food in the pantry and time to cook it.
Beyond that, our requests for help continue to roll in. Each week, we are given the opportunity to help multiple other missions in Haiti, and sometimes we even have to turn them down. But that adds stress on my because I realized that there is no one else for me to recommend them to complete their work/ fix their problems.
On top of that, our guys are constantly itching to learn and stay busy, but many days, I struggle to just get a few minutes in over at the shop because of other commitments>
We are looking forward to possibilities for the future, including the fact that we may have more missionaries coming to help us for longer trips, but this is also a time that I am starting to realize our need to host a few short term trips, and possibly recruit some people to work with us from the U.S. as well.
We were glad to welcome a girl named Anna come to visit us a few weeks ago, and she expressed an interest in continuing to work with F1 Engineering, possibly for a couple months, as we figure out a project where our needs and her skill intersect well.
The following week, we were supposed to be visited by Matt and Christina Smith. This was a long-awaited trip to introduce Christina to our town and country. However, the plans had to be postponed indefinitely at the last minute when their children were passing around a stomach bug.
This was a tripping point for me to realize that we need more help, and I just kept holding out, thinking that they would be here soon and all would be fixed. But the truth is that they still have a big journey before they would make it here, and we are almost drowning as it is.
F1 Engineering has grown beyond what I could have dreamed up 7 years ago, and it is wonderful to see. But it is also growing beyond my ability to manage it all.
Many days, I don’t even get to the workshop to work with the crew because I am too busy with taking care of our family and the never ending emails and administration work to help other ministries down here.
So, I have updated our “How to Help” page with practical information about how some of you may be able to get involved.
We are looking at the possibility of hosting a couple short term teams in the winter/spring timeframe to do some construction in the shop.
And we will be looking for some professional help from mechanics and/or welders to come help us get our shop and vehicles up and running well, and to teach the crew to use and maintain what we have properly.
The link at the top of the page works, but here is the text as well, so it will be a part of this post.
God Bless.
How to Help:
Through Prayer:
-Pray for us. We are a bit overwhelmed right now. Pray for strength, peace, and wisdom for Jamie and I.
-Pray for the Smith Family, who have been planning to come to Haiti to join F1. They have encountered some difficulties along the way. Pray for discernment for their next step.
-Pray for Anna, who visited us, and is seeking if, when, and how she should get involved in this ministry.
-Pray for the guys in the shop. They are growing in skill and maturity. Pray for their spiritual growth as well. Many of them have been burned by church and “missionaries†before, so pray specifically that God would get ahold of them, that His Spirit would call them to follow Him.
-Pray for wisdom as we start into the projects below, that we would do as God would have us, giving Him the honor each step of the way.
Working with us from the U.S.:
*******ASAP, U.S.A. based projects*******
A generator project in Johnstown, PA.
We have been donated an Onan 30.0EK-15R generator, but it needs converted from natural gas to propane before we can ship it to Haiti.
We have shipping lined up from Alabama, but want to make sure it’s ready before we ship it.
This is an urgent need. I have some information about what parts need put on, and it may take someone with some mechanical experience. Please let me know if you can help.
Legal/Accounting:
-We’re looking to set up F1 Engineering as an independent 501c3. We have been a missions branch of Crucified Church for a long time, but some of our donations, like from Lincoln Electric, can only go to a 501c3 registered organization.
-We also need someone who can do data entry into our accounting software. Basically, just take a pile of receipts and enter their information and a scan and/or picture of them into the computer. My dad can continue to handle things after that point, but it would lessen his load significantly as he is overworked right now.
Graphic Design:
-I would love to be able to give the guys business cards. I have the capability to do it, but I don’t have time. If I give information, can someone make up some business cards for Gayly, Waly, and Anderson and I’ll get them printed up.
Electronics Engineering: (both of these will be implemented as soon as done. They could start helping systems
-We are experiencing a great need for a “simple†project. We need to put a current transducer on our battery banks, with a load diversion relay that will trigger automatically when the current into the batteries breaks the maximum threshold.
-Another simple project…A system to take 8 battery voltages (nominal 6V) and trigger a warning light if any of the batteries is higher or lower than the average.
Electrical/Coding:
-Building a data logging system to collect information on our installations to enable better troubleshooting and improve our future designs.
-Specifically will need someone to code a microcontroller to gather timestamped signals from ~20-30 inputs and probably a second person who would be in charge of doing the pre-processing of inputs to meet the voltage levels of the onboard ADC’s.
Accounting/Expense Tracking:
-I need someone to help me setup an accounting system, or explain to me some best practices. As of now, I end up with a stack of unorganized receipts that pile up until they look like a 2 ton weight that I can’t deal with. Ideally, it would be nice to be able to track funds on a missions credit card, checking account, paypal account, and shipping account all in a quick view.
Help with Project in Haiti:
*******September/early October 2018**********
-Pouring concrete for our driveway. We are starting to gather materials, but could use help in the near-ish future with site prep (leveling, sloping, forming) and the actual concrete work.
*******Sept, Oct, or Dec 2018*******
-1999 Chevy 3500, 5.4l V8, Dually, auto (need to diagnose before November 2018 to figure out next steps)
-Stuck in 2nd(?) gear. Runs fine, but never shifts.
-2000 Isuzu Trooper
-Undiagnosed issue. On first start of the morning, will not idle until after a 1-2 minute period of revving at about 2k. Works fine afterwards. Replaced MAF sensor, but did not fix issue..
-2002 Ford F150, 5.7l, auto (would like to fix this truck to sell by the end of 2018)
-Electrical issue disabled the scanner port.
—All vehicles—
-Maintenance on all brake systems and suspension (perpetual needs, anytime a mechanic is available)
***********Winter 2018/Spring 2019****************
General Construction: (before summer 2019)
-Framing rafters on our house and putting on sheet metal roofing. Simple purlin style, open gables. Purpose is to shade our concrete roof from the sun to reduce internal temperatures in our house.
–In turn, this will reduce utility bills, including gas for our generators
-Expanding the roof on the workshop to cover our expanded driveway space.
