12days299hrs.

In twelve days (299 hours) I  will be finished at Nissan, Smyrna, TN.  I started there the first Monday of October 1984.  I had attended state-sponsored training at their training facility for several months.  I learned about hydraulics, pneumatics and welding before I was hired for the Sentra project.  We would attend school for several hours each Saturday.  That cost me and most of my co-trainees a lot of money, and the companies we worked for knew all about where we were when we were not working for them.  But finally I was interviewed by several supervisors from the Trim and Chassis department.  They asked me all sorts of questions an electrician shouldn't have known the answers to.  They asked me trick questions and tried to upset me; they really ran us through the ringer.  If my Dad had not made me work on farm equipment, motorcycles and snowmobiles, my mother instilled in me a love of reading and Ms. Mary Jo Wilson made me love learning in the fifth grade, I never would have done so well.

I started out in the tire room and we completed lots of training.  It felt like we were back in High School.  I went to several computer schools.  About one hundred days into the employment I found out that I had cancer and missed the next ninety days.  I had great disability and insurance and was receiving a bigger check than my previous job.   Elizabeth and I found a great church that took care of us and the boys - First Baptist Smyrna.  The Trim and Chassis plant manager came to our apartment and prayed for us.  As well as most of the members of our previous church, the Gospel Tabernacle, Tullahoma, TN.  I recovered and went back to work in June of 1985 with a head that was as bald as a watermelon and except for the stripes it looked like one too!

In 1989 I moved to the Stamping Plant which is the beginning of the process of building a car.  I have been there ever since.  I was able to go to Japan twice while in Stamping.  It was an amazing experience for a farm boy from Michigan.  When I was picking up rocks in a wheat field, I never imagined I would eat horse meat and Tuna Sushi served by a Geisha.

More than a year ago I was offered a buyout to leave.  I always thought that if someone offered you a lot of money to leave a job you should take it, so I did.  That opened up the opportunity for my next career - being a missionary to Belgium.  In addition to the cash, I have my health insurance, and in three years I will be able to draw some pension.  It seems that God planned it for us.

So thank you, Nissan, for the opportunities to meet great people,  the salary to travel around the world experiencing Missions in Brazil, Canada, Africa and India.  It has been a great ride!