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Dear Friends,
“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck that which is planted;” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a
I was thinking about this verse today, we have been thru so much in the last 5 months, we have seen joy, and felt sorrow, and in spite of all that has happened time moves on. One moment we are grieving for those that are lost, the next we are rejoicing in new life. I was studying verses 9-15, and in the study bible it explains one of the verses like this: “The scriptures call us to live in robust faith during times of trial and pain; in the grand scheme of things God will make everything beautiful in His perfect time.”
I was thinking about His perfect timing and how He has helped us to develop something that was useless into something beautiful.
Back in February in spite of all that had happened we decided to plant a garden. We have a lot of land not being used, and we feed a lot of people, both Haitian and American. We had planned to plant long before the earthquake, but just had not gotten to it yet, nor did we have the funds. So we began to pray that God would provide the needed funds to plant. (We had to close in some of the property) This would be a huge help with all the teams, and also a way of ministry as well.
In March, we felt it was time to begin planting. With all that we are involved in here and our lack of “gardening” abilities, we hired two young boys to plant our garden. After being saved almost two years, the son of one of the local witchdoctors came to work for us along with his best friend, a new convert.
He and his friend have worked very hard doing all the tilling by hand, watering, cultivating. They planted spinach, tomatoes, beans, corn, okra, lettuce, carrots, coconuts, banana trees, patat, and some other vegetables. So far we have eaten spinach out of it, much to Joel’s dismay (he hates spinach!) We are so excited! I’m waiting on team that’s coming in October to help me learn to can some of the food.
We excited about using it for a ministry as well, there are always hungry neighbors about. Even today, we were able to give some spinach away.
As Loran, (the gardener) and I were talking about the garden, he gave me this analogy. He said the garden is like our Christian walk, if we let it go, and don’t watch for weeds, pull them out regularly and give it water, it will die either from weeds that choke the plants, or from lack of water, or bugs. He said the garden is helping remind him to continue diligently in his walk with Christ, to constantly be on the lookout for “the weeds” that Satan will use in his life, and if he is diligent others will see the “fruits” in his life.
We want to thank Emmanuel Freewil Baptist for helping fund our garden project and for continuing to help make a difference in the lives of Haitians.
Have a wonderful day!
The Hess Family
Joel, April, Emma, and Michael
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 June 2010 20:53 |
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06-28 Hess Family Newsletter |
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Dear Friends and Family,
Hello, from the Hectic Hess's or ( as a member on the TLC team say's The Mess's) :)
We hope you are all well, and wanted to give a little update. We have had a team here for the last two weeks from Touching Lives For Christ, based out of Hobe Sound Fl, with there team leaders Harold and Kayla Martin who work for Missionary Flights International. We have had a busy two weeks, and they have accomplished many projects. I would say there biggest was in building a home for a elderly woman in our church who had no home, she was renting and the landlord was putting her out. She is in her seventy's and had nowhere to go. This team built her one of the prefab homes, and we all worked together to get her moved. The lady's in the church along with the team, went to her house washed all her dishes, her clothes and packed her up. She had just had a operation for cancer, and has been recovering. She is so excited and appreciative.
Along with building the house they have been working hard here at the compound. Painting inside the house, putting in screen doors, and Harold has spent countless hours helping Joel fix our generator. They have been involved in bible studies, visiting people, and many other activities. We don't know if its a secret or not, but we feel like the person in the parable where Jesus told him that he didn't need to go and tell everyone how Jesus had performed a miracle for him. The man couldn't keep silent, he went and broadcast the news. We have something we cannot contain! We have a brand new washing machine!! It is so beautiful! Tomorrow I will wash my first load of clothes! This will save on our clothes, and the hard labor that goes into washing them. Many, many thanks for "this miracle".
I wanted to share with you something that has been going on for the last few weeks. About a month ago I got a call that a woman was in labor all night with twins, she had one already, but couldnt deliver the second. She had been this way for hours. This had been going on for hours, I had them rush her to the hospital, where they discovered the mother was almost dead from loss of blood, and the second child died. Apparently the second baby was a fully developed healthy looking baby, while the twin that survived was very sickly.
This baby ( who is now called Kenold) weighed 3lbs at birth and is extremly small and fragile. We were not sure if he was going to make it. The mother is a single mother of two, living pretty far out, in a small tin shack. This baby should have been kept in the hospital for several months. He was sent home one day after birth. I began him on similac, because it was obvious the mothers nursing would not suffice. We began regular check ups. In the first week he gaind 5oz, and his coloring was better. However, this week is a different story, he is losing weight, and Im sensing the mother is drinking the milk and not giving it to him. We have caught her in several lies, the Dr and I both think that she is drinking the milk, along with her two yearold, and is fully expecting this baby to die. We are doing our best to save this little one, but there are some cultural issue's going on as well. Now, I make him come to the clinic all day, and stay while we feed him and try to save him.
I ask that you would please pray for this little guy, no matter how small he is and pitiful, he is beautiful. He opens his little eyes and looks around, and everyone smiles. He is weighing heavy on my heart this week, please help us pray for this little one. Im attaching a picture of him on the 2nd visit that I had with him.
I don't know if you all remember the witchdoctor's daughter that got saved last year, Jwalin. Well, I was so happy last week to see how God is working in her life. After being saved a year, and living under constant persecution, she gave her first bible study. I asked her is she would be willing to try to do a bible study with the new converts that Im working with, she was a little nervous, but said she would try. I was so proud as she sat and gave a great bible study on the parable of the sower and the seed. It is so awesome to see how God is changing her, and how she has grown! Keep her in your prayers, she is supposed to be baptized in August against her father's wishes.
Please pray also for the Association of Women in the Despinos church, they are working hard for the Lord and are finding all kinds of opposition. Please pray that they stay faithful to do God's will no matter what the obstacles.
Thank you for your faithful support, we hope you have a blessed day.
The Hess Family
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Last Updated on Monday, 28 June 2010 04:22 |
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Just a note from Sandra, who works the time scheduling of visiting teams to the Haiti Gospel Mission. She is not taking applications for July, August, or September visits. We are, however, now taking applications for October.
You can see the current booking calender here.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 19 June 2010 20:46 |
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Official Information Video of HGM |
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Matt Webb, a video production guy, spent some time organizing clips of the Haiti Gospel Mission and put together this awesome, professional looking video for us to use. I put a permanent link in the far left column for visitors to the website. Thanks so much Matt Webb! |
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Last Updated on Sunday, 06 June 2010 04:20 |
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