Earth Mission was formed to give technical people a way to do short-term missions, with an emphasis on appropriate technology, helping missionaries with technology to make their lives easier on the field. LD, as a PhD licensed engineer, began Earth Mission along with his wife, Sue, who managed the accounting and legal requirements for the non-profit organization.

LD taught mechanical engineering at John Brown University (JBU) and worked under Jim Pearson (Chair of the Engineering Division and Caryl’s father).

In 1982, EM created a building truss manufacturing business in Mexico. LD and several others designed and made fixtures to build steel trusses. Church donations of tools and other equipment to fabricate trusses were loaded into an old school bus, and volunteers drove the bus to Mexico to get the business started.  A local pastor and partner took the business from this beginning, making doors and hydraulic lifts and other products.

Soon after, Scott  (one of LD’s mechanical engineering students at JBU) and Scott’s brother-in-law (an anthropologist) set up a foundry making aluminum pans out of recycled aluminum. Together with a partner in the Dominican Republic, the project had long-term success.

LD and his team then continued to work on other appropriate technology projects such as solar and windmills. Some of these projects were done through his students’ senior project classes at JBU.

When his son, Dr. Mitch, and Caryl joined Earth Mission in 1993, they started the medical outreach mission which has grown over the last 25 years first in Pakistan and then in Thailand and Myanmar.

LD and Sue (left) at a gathering, LD with a colleague on an early Engineering Technology project, Dan Ryan working on an Engineering Technology project, photos of the Engineering Technology projects in Mexico