Thursday, January 14, 2010

because HE first loved us...


because Jesus Christ loved you and me.. we are called to share that love with our neighbor. i truly believe that HAITI (even though seems like a long ways away) is our neighbor.

you can donate money that goes straight to the earthquake relief through Heartline Ministries

to give and to pray... that's our duty right now. i will let you all know when more can be done as soon as i know!

Lord, we believe that YOU ARE ABLE. amen.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

7.0 Earthquake Rips through Haiti































I do not have the mind nor the focus to sit down and write what I wish I could... Nathan Ledford reported it very well. Here is the gist of what is going on and how YOU can HELP HAITI and BE A VOICE for them in this time of need:

Reported by: Nathan Ledford
Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 @08:11pm CST

Here in the Ark-La-Miss, a Twin Cities group is now on a mission to get people in the U.S. involved in helping out those who have been devastated by the earthquake.

Just five days ago a group from the Twin Cities returned home after a mission trip to Haiti.

Little did they know a massive earthquake would rip through the country just days after their departure.

Now the group is trying to build awareness to help Haitian residents that are now in desperate need of assistance.

Haiti is a pile of rubble…buildings flattened like pancakes.

"Can you imagine a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hitting the most chaotic country that you've ever been to,” said Monroe Resident Jessica Williamson.

Jessica Williamson and seven others from the twin cities just returned from a mission trip in Haiti Friday.

Just four days before one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in the Caribbean ripped through the country.

A country that was ranked the most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International in 2006.

"In poverty and it's consistently that way number one or number two in poverty,” said Williamson.

The mission group from the twin cities spent 11 days in Haiti assisting a group called Heartline Ministries.

Heartline helps educate and bring hope to Haitian families who may not otherwise get it.

"To see them educating moms that can't read or write but they can learn how to take care of their babies,” said Williamson.

The members of the Twin Cities group say they are glad to be back, but are now on a mission to get people here involved to help out groups like Heartline.

Brandon Broussard saw first hand the devastation in Haiti before the earthquake.

Now he says this disaster is a huge setback.

"The hospital's gone and you say the hospital for two million people and we've got several in this one town for 80 thousand or whatever,” said Broussard.

Since the earthquake, Broussard says he's communicated with Heartline missionaries in Haiti who are actually building makeshift hospitals in the street.

"These guys need to rebuild their walls fast so they can continue what they were doing and help the people that are hurting even more,” said Broussard.

The group says, while they may be happy to be safe at home, they hope to return to help their Haitian friends.

"If your family and friends had one of the worst days in the history of their lives you would want to be with them,” said Williamson.

How to help Heartline help people in Haiti.:

Go to www.heartlineministries.org.

You can make monetary donations through PayPal directly on Heartline’s website.

Also North Monroe Baptist Church is collecting money that will be sent to help Heartline.

Send Checks with “Heartline for Haiti” in the memo box to:

North Monroe Baptist Church

210 Hideaway Rd.-Monroe, LA, 71203


Friday, January 8, 2010

5,000 mosquito bites later...

it does NOT matter how much mosquito repellent i put on or even if all of my body parts are under the covers... MOSQUITOES STILL BITE ME!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :) you gotta laugh about it!

none-the-less... we are starting our journey home today. annie, ainsley, and i are hoping that the airways are wide open for us to be home at 9:21 pm just as projected :) hehe.. it's a stretch but i can hope, right?? :)

yesterday was a great day here in PAP at the women's center. i got to see first hand what their program does for women and it is truly life changing for them! ainsley and i got to help do vitals as the women came in and then helped beth with her teaching session :) we were pregnant women... gotta love it! then i was able to help joanna do the prenatal exams on the ones scheduled for this week while ains loved on a newborn! i wouldnt be surprised if she brought her home in a backpack :) sweet annie stayed at home all day and just slept... she is doing good though. sleeping whatever she has off..hopefully! i am very thankful that she was not scheduled to fly home yesterday... that could have been disasterous.

ains and i got to go with beth & john, tara, troy & their kids, and some other missionaries to eat some creole food at this sweet ladies house.. her name is Rosmaline. Rice and beans, fried plantains, akra... everything is fried! YIKES!! but it was really good! first time i have ever had "creole food" in Haiti. CHECK :)

PLEASE pray for us as we start heading back towards Louisiana! praying for clear skies and safe landing conditions... and also for the other half of our team that is flying out this morning around 8 am to Atlanta and then to Monroe.

gonna leave you with a haitian proverb:
"a rock in the water does not know the pain of a rock in the sun"

thoughts relating to Haiti??

love you,
jess

Thursday, January 7, 2010

sleepless nights..

yes.. i am awake at 5 45 am.. have been up since 4 40 am.

i have been in and out of sleep all night due to the numerous mosquito bites on my face.. probably because it was the only part of my body out from under the covers. then i woke up because annie was moaning in her sleep... i woke her up and asked what was going on. she is having waves of nausea and chills. turned the fan off, gave her some topical phenergan, and now im up and praying for a full recovery. strange how sleep suddenly seems meaningless...

the supper that we had with the Heartline Runners was AH-MAZING last night! beth made fettuccine alfredo and other pastas :) i bet there were about 30 people here last night, including kids! the best part of the evening was not the food... even though it was DELICIOUS! the fellowship and the time of worship that we shared was life changing. i feel as though what we had last night was what the early church was like... meeting in homes.. sharing a meal.. there was enough for everyone.. and then serving one another. the meal and time together was to encourage the runners that are running in the Disney Marathon on sunday. they are running so that they could raise money to buy an ambulance for the women in the women's program. they have raised over $42,000! just to see their hearts was incredible... these are people that are not running for themselves or for their glory.. but instead to run for those who cannot and for God's glory. john set aside a special time for us to serve them last night by washing their feet and to pray over them. what an honor to pray for them and to speak words of life and encouragement! i felt led to pray specifically for beth mchoul and tara livesay... God has His hand on their lives and His anointing is very evident.

TODAY... becca, brandon, norman, and parker will begin the journey back home. please pray for them as traveling out of haiti and being at the mercy of airlines is usually a very frustrating ordeal. i know they are excited to see you and share what God is doing in and through them :)

as for myself, ainsley, and annie... we will be here for another day! yay! we are all excited :) as far as i know we will be helping out at the women's clinic for a full day of classes and then going to eat at a haitian woman's home for supper. supposedly we can only speak creole at her house?? haha, this could be interesting!

stay tuned for another update tonight! the internet is easily accessible here at the mchoul home :)

praying for God to continue to use our hands and our feet for his glory, whether we be traveling through the air or serving expecting moms. God may your kingdom come through us, on earth as it is in heaven.

love,
jess

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

bonswa zanmis :)

BONSWA ZANMIS :)

hello from port-au-prince, HAITI!!! ---> we have had a FULL day! started at 4 30 am when we left passe catabois via Rob's personal 'taptap'. we thought we were going to have to push our way out... we slid through the whole 1.5 hour ride, almost hit a tree, and drove through a river that covered the exhaust pipe along with the tires. yep... pretty hard core :) our next mode of transportation was tortug' air... puddle jumper. ainsley's brains felt like they were being squeezed out.. sounded pretty painful.. she destroyed my hand in the process. SOMEONE FIND HER A GOOD SINUS DOCTOR!! HA. nader finally made it to pick us up :) he showed us what NASCAR is like in haiti... no lie. SO FUN! then we made it to beth and jon mchoul's... and have had the opportunity to share in their ministry at Heartline here in port-au-prince.

ainsley and i went to do the prenatal clinic in simone pele... it was awesome to be given the opportunity to work with beth, tara, paige, britt, chris, and joanna! they are awesome women! jean and agat were great translators! so many sad stories but even in those few women of haiti.. about 30... i felt like us being there and teaching and assessing could improve the quality of life of those women. that's what we are here for, right?? and not to mention sharing the love of Christ through that care.. each woman and child were prayed over before they left. going to and from simone pele was an adventure.. beth is a great driver!! got to see a lot of PAP and we were about a block from cite soleil (the biggest slum in the western hemisphere). my eyes have been opened so much. dont worry mom, dad, cindy, and scott... we hung on like champs on our ride :)

the rest of the crew: annie, becca, brandon, norman, and parker stayed and helped out at the boys and girls home here at heartline. some of them put baby cribs together, played with the children, hung up rods for curtains... anything really that needed doing. what an honor to serve these beautiful people!

we were all given the opportunity to meet Naomi... jason hyatt's daughter! i loved on her for a while and just kissed on her! she is so beautiful and such a wonderful little spirit :) she made my heart happy!

tonight a bunch of people that are running the marathon for heartline's women's team are coming over for supper.. should be a fun evening! beth and john have been so hospitable... could not ask for better hosts. God is really blessing their ministry.. and i think i know why... when you give your life to serve the poorest of the poor and are as hospitable as the early church... your numbers and spiritual life GROW. we are seeing that here... :)

i know it's a day late.. but i really want to share some of our last day in passe catabois. it was a hard day for most of us as goodbye's came and went. i met with wilfet for the last time and just enjoyed his company. i may have left that out but i have been meeting with wilfet (a 20 year old boy from haiti who wants to learn english and know more about jesus.. not to mention he is teaching me creole). such great times with my sweet brothers in haiit... wilfet, louvnet, and krishna :) i will have to post a video of the 3 of them when we get home! they WILL steal your heart! tears poured as they walked off towards their homes and i knew that i would not see them again for a while... i think they become more and more real each time i visit. God is going to use them to further His kingdom in Haiti.. i know it.

i was also given some sweet time with sandra last night :) jaques and isabel let me hold her and be with her... i did not think i would feel as much love for her as i did. so much that it brought tears as well. i seriously want to adopt her... God only knows how that could ever happen. she needs a mom and a family.

the WHOLE gang has so much to share... and we cannot wait to return to share our hearts for Haiti with YOU ALL!

love you so much!
jess

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

We are heading out TOMORROW: Tuesday, January 5, 2010

hey everyone!

i knew it would happen... but the updates stopped :) haha... it was harder to get here each night and then the rain came yesterday! we had about 5 inches of rain! wow! crazy!

we are all doing really well... it's a weird day because we are trying to get things together before we head out in the morning at 3 am! wow!!! our flight out of port de paix leaves at 6 30 am and by 9 am we will be in port au prince helping beth and their crew at heartline with their innercity prenatal clinic! how exciting!

we brought in the new year with some singing.. dancing.. playing... soccer... lots of kids!!!! so many needs... it's almost crippling. but it has just been sweet to be here with the people that are so much of a part of my heart. we went swimming in the river and bathed half of passe catabois with johnson's baby head to toe wash! SO MUCH FUN!!!!! what a way to bring in the new year!!!!! i wouldnt have been anywhere else :)

annie is falling more and more in love everyday... it is awesome to watch her heart grow for haiti. i am so glad that she is here with me. not sure what i would have done without her.

i think the boys are pretty consumed.. they want to fix it. you know??? i guess that's the man's mindset?? but it has been cool t hear about what God is laying on their hearts. they have no problem with holding the kids and just doing life. brandon told me the other day that he just shelled some peas with kuku and another dude :) parker spent lots of time this morning building the little wooden toys with the kids... they love him so much! and norman just runs around with them like wild things! so cool to watch!

ainsley walked up one day with corn rows.. haha.. it made me laugh! she has been very good about just growing and being here. learning the kids names.. letting them sign her shirt. she is fabulous.

becca just has a heart full of love to give.. you can tell that she is going to to be a great teacher! such a sensative spirit and i have enjoyed being here with her!

we went to the beach on sunday :) and WOW!!!! AH-MAZING! the carribean is so beautiful here. we swam in the blue water... you could see 10 feet down! crazy!!

then we hiked along the ridge to the cliff where the water was breaking... i have never really seen anything like it. it was so much fun to go and i think Rob, the girls, and the rest of the crew really needed it :) praise the Lord for His goodness, His beauty in creation and His day! not sure any other Sunday will ever compare to the worship that i experienced in Haiti on this past sunday.

a quick story and i will let you go...

there is a young man at the hospital.. he is 17. brandon and i went to visit him yesterday during the rainstorm... we walk in soaking wet.. haha.. and he gladly welcomes us. we brought a little boat to make with him and he dida great job putting it together and painting. the reason he is in the hospital is because he broke his leg over a month ago and the cast was too tight. this caused major ulcerations on his foot. he may lose it... it looks really bad. but we went to visit him and just to see if we could bring some joy! the amazing thing is.. this guy isnt mad or upset...he is joyful! man i have so much to learn! brandon and i had a great visit with him yesterday and knew we would come back today. so norman and i went this morning and brought some marbles and balloons to share. his eyes lit up :) we talked with him and his mom for a while. found out some details.. his name is Joncet Petitfar. 17 years old.. he lives in Moskit which is not far from Passe Catabois. Norman prayed over him in english.. such a sweet time. as he was finishing, the rest of the crew walked up and got to meet him! parker prayed for him as well. i shared with him that i was praying that God would do great things with him.. he said that he knows "Jezi" :) please pray for Joncet.. that GOd would use him for His glory.. and that He would be healed. prayer moves mountains..

so as our time in passe catabois comes to a close.. please pray for us and for the people here. for rob as he is here by himself with his girls. it is hard for them without anne marie. we are going to do some prayer walking around the village... it has been very evident that the devil has a foothold here... prayer breaks those strongholds... and our God is powerful. please pray with us!

becca, parker, brandon, and norman will be in monroe at 9 21 on thursday evening if all goes according to plan. please welcome them home and love on them. myself, annie, and ainsley will follow on friday. we are excited about what we are going to get to see in port au prince.. so our journey is not quite done yet :)

we love you and miss you all!

love,
jess

First Full Day: Thursday, December 31, 2009

hey everyone!

just wanted to write you after our first full day.... gotta love these updates :)

i think the day went very well for everyone! parker started his day off at 6 am by meeting Rob, the missionary, to go to a village to pick up medicine for the clinic via tractor and a trailor :) i would love for parker to update you personally.. but this will have to do! he was able to see the haitian markets in Booshon... there are about 150 witch doctors there... and just got to see all of that. then the village of their final destination was on the ocean. he said it was beautiful and im sure it was! the trailor was used to transport haitians the whole time.. parker said that he made lots of new friends in haiti :)

the rest of us stayed in passe catabois. as we walked about town norman, brandon, becca, ainsley, annie and i met up with some of the faces of the village! annie and i had a lot of fun seeing familiar faces :) they run and hug and get so excited! they been asking about sydney.. rebecca... garrison.. jordy :) they miss those guys. but it was so FUN to see my friends interact with the people that have become my family over the past year. the new faces become familiar after about a day as they invite you to do life with them. it is so sweet and special.

today has been pretty come what may because we dont have any of our bags yet! well.. 2 of them made it. but unfortunately no food and the majority of our fun things to do with the kids. it turned out to be good that we packed a soccer ball and some finger nail polish :) there are lots of girls and maybe a boy or so running around with purple nails in passe catabois, hehe! i love it! soccer game around 3 today.. and for the rest of the week. such funny memories.. brandon and norman were so awesome with the boys during the game. i just love seeing annie with these people.. ainsley letting little haitians braid her hair and crawl all over her...becca putting herself way out there and being willing to be here... parker going on the hardest ride of his life... i have loved it ALL! i even loved it when the little kid peed on me.. gotta love no diapers :)

we had rice and beans tonight and i promise they have never tasted so great. still no sign of the food bags but there is hope! no worries though... we have enough rice and beans to last a month so we will not go hungry.

please continue to pray for us! norman has formed a special friendship with louvnet's brother, Krishna. so cool to watch! i hope that we are able to spend more time with the hospital patients tomorrow... most are plagued with AIDS and TB. we are going to dance when we get the boom box.. they are so excited! i also have the haitian creole bible with pictures in it that we are reading together... they love it. forming relationships with the children and the people... praying that Christ's love will shine brightly through us.

we love you and are begging you to pray! asking God to use us for His glory and His purposes.

jess

Off to Haiti: Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Haiti Team: L to R: Ainsley Beeman, Norman Elrod, Jessica Williamson, Parker Lee, Annie Rainwater, Becca Sloane, & Brandon Broussard

It's always a party at the airport! :)