Feeding the Hungry

Since the Jan 12^th earthquake Haiti Gospel Mission has been keeping busy. We have been involved in many new activities. Many areas of ministry we had always wanted to provide but did not have the means for. One of these ministries has been in feeding the hungry.

Since the earthquake we have been able to feed over approximately 10,000 people.  God is a awesome God!  In the immediate weeks following the earthquake, we were able to do three distributions to three local neighborhoods, despinos, cocoyer, and Lahatte. In this effort we were able to distribute to over 4,400 people. We thank Score International and there teams for making this effort a possibility.

In February we were able to get on a program with Operation Blessing, where they first provided our neighborhood with clean drinking water. They placed a water system behind the clinic, and the entire neighborhood, church and school are benefiting from it.

In the months since, thru operation blessing and other supporters, we have been able to give food items and water to over 5,000 people. Listed below are a few of the places we have been able to help during this time.

In the beginning weeks we gave to two different churches to distribute to their neighborhoods, one in Croix de Bouquet, the other in the town next to us, Beudet.

Haiti children’s Home (mirbalais) we were able to supply them with water, baby food, diapers, canned goods and cereal.

Orphanage in Lilavois (An orphanage with around 40 children, they lost everything during the earthquake.

Haiti Gospel Mission Church in Leogane (This is a church under our mission, the entire congregation lost their homes, church and school. We give to them on a regular basis)

Pilgrim Bible Church (Mission in Leogane, owned by friends of ours, the mission lost their church, house, and major damage to their school) we have been able to give to them twice.

Lighthouse Ministries (orphanage of about 50 children, they lost their church, school, and dormitory) We have worked very hard in getting this orphanage food and water when they need it, and have helped them receive other types of aid as well.

Patients in clinic (During the earthquake we held over 60 patients in our clinic for wound and infection care. We fed these patients two hot meals a day, and when they were ready to be discharged they were sent home with food.

The efforts to feed the hungry are continuing as long as the supplies come. Special thanks to our Lord and Savior with whom nothing is impossible. It is such a privilege to be able to help someone that is need.  Thanks so much to the ministries who have made this all possible, Score international, Gateway Freewill Baptist, and Operation Blessing and to all of you, our faithful supporters.

Please pray that these efforts can continue and thru it we will be able to share the love of Jesus to those who desperately need Him.

The Hess Family

Hey Everybody,

It has been awhile since I have sent out an update to you so there are lots of things to catch you up on. The first and foremost concern for everyone is always what is going on in Haiti so let me start there.  God has been showing Himself faithful in every way imaginable to everyone there on the field.  Thank you for your many prayers and all of your support.  It is never taken lightly when God's people get involved.  When the earthquake first hit in January we had no idea what was going to happen. Joel and April had no idea where any of their food, medical supplies, or really any of their basic needs were going to come from, not that they had much time to sit and think about it.  They were so busy trying to sew people up and find people that needed medical treatment that they really had no time to even think a lot about themselves or where their support was going to come from.  You did though, and you have been responding in a great way.  Through you God started supplying everything they needed, food, medical supplies, you name it.  Then came the problem of how to get all of these supplies down to Haiti.  God took care of that too.  There were several times we were told by airline personnel and others that it was going to be impossible to get the supplies down there when they needed them, but I serve a God who loves doing the impossible.  Every time man said the situation was impossible God proved them wrong!  We praise Him for that.  Among the many miracles that God has made happen is the safety and well being of Joel and April's two kids Emma and Michael.  April was able to get them back here to the states to stay with family so they can be well cared for.  Not only has God been providing all of the needed supplies and giving His protection and safety, He has also been pouring out His Spirit upon the people.  Last time I talked with Joel he told me that over 200 people had gotten saved out at the Leogon church and he estimated around at least 50 have gotten saved at the Despinos church.  All of this since the earthquake.  How wonderful is our God?  He is worthy of our praise!

If you haven't been keeping track of the latest needs and news of Haiti Gospel Mission through the website, please check it out at www.haitigopselmission.org if you can.  A lot of the rebuilding projects and needs that the mission has right now are posted on there with a description and pictures to go along with it.  Please check it out and pray about what project God may be leading you, your Sunday School class, or your church to be a part of.  There are a lot of needs posted so there are plenty of wonderful things to choose from that you could make a difference in doing.  If you are one of the many people that have been wanting to visit the mission on a short term trip to help in that way there will soon be an application form on the website that you can fill out for that as well.  For all of you who have already been to Haiti to visit the work, there are some great new ways for you to tell us about your experience on the website, so please take the time to get involved with that.

The last bit of news for this update is dealing with me personally.  Over the last several months, even before the earthquake God has been dealing with me on different areas in my life and leading me through some major decisions.  More recently I have seen Him confirming to me that it is He who is leading me in all of this.  I thank Him for that, I don't know where I would be if it wasn't for God's hand leading me and constantly holding me up.  At the present time I am going to be continuing to travel for the mission as I am right now, speaking at churches about the needs of the mission and how God has been answering prayer.  If you know of a church or would like for me to come speak at your church on behalf of Haiti Gospel Mission please contact me through email or give me a call at 864-494-4109.  I would love to schedule a service with you!  Lord willing I will be making as many short term trips as I can back in to Haiti to visit the mission.  Lord willing I will be able to make one in April as soon as I'm able to get my taxes filed and sent off.  Although I'm planning on making some short term trips to Haiti for a week or two at a time, I'm not going to be going back to Haiti as a full time missionary with Haiti Gospel Mission.  God has blessed me with a wonderful fiance Rebecca Jones and Lord willing we will be getting married the first part of October.  Rebecca is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner who has felt God's calling on her life for a long time to serve Him as a caregiver for children on the mission field particularly in an orphanage environment.  She has just graduated with her degree and started her first job.  She has about 2 years of work to go before all of her school bills will be paid off and we will be ready to go wherever the Lord leads us.  This is a very wonderful and exciting time for us and we thank you for your prayers for us.  Serving the Lord on the mission field and ministering to children is certainly still our hearts cry.  To all of you who have still been supporting me financially I want to thank you and assure you that your support is being used for God's Kingdom whether it be making sure I have enough gas to make it from one church to the next, paying for shipments of supplies, or buying plane tickets to get back and forth to Haiti.  I will still need your support as you feel God leading you while I continue traveling for the mission, but if you would feel more comfortable designating your donation to the people actually on the ground in Haiti please consider supporting our missionaries Joel and April Hess.   To do that you would simple put their name in the memo section of the "for"section of your check instead of mine.  Once the time comes that I am no longer traveling for the mission I will make sure that you all know and I will ask our treasurer to give any donations that come in for me to the Hess family.  Again that time has not come just yet so if you still feel God's leading to continue supporting my ministry as I travel for the mission I give you my thanks.

As you can imagine there is an overwhelming amount of things we need your help praying for.

1)    Please keep praying for Joel and April.  This time has been very hard on them.  They have been having to spend a lot of time separated as one or the other of them travels back and forth from Haiti to the US trying to get the adoption papers on little Michael finalized.  I can't even begin to image the burden and level of stress that they have been carrying since the earthquake.

2)   Pray for God's mighty hand in the processes of Michael's adoption papers.  I won't take the time to go into details about the miracles that God has already worked out to get the paper work to the point that Michael is able to be here in the US, but we thank God for those miracles and ask that you keep praying.

3)    Pray for the many many souls that are turning to Jesus during this time of great tragedy, that God would help our missionaries and Haitian pastors lead them to a deeper relationship with Him.

4)   That many more souls will be saved in the near future, and that the nation as a whole will truly turn to Christ.

5)    That the finances will continue to come in for all the many rebuilding projects that the mission has on its hands.

6)   That God will continue to use this tragedy to grow the missions outreach far beyond any of our imaginations.

Thank you again for all you have done and continue to do for Haiti Gospel Mission and the outreach of God's Kingdom in Haiti!

We're excited to introduce two ways in which you'll be able to financially donate to the Haiti Gospel Mission. We hope this page will do a sufficient job at explaining the two processes and making you feel confident that your money is getting to the right place.

Our newest way of donating money is via an online service called Paypal. If you have a paypal account already, the process is as simple as signing into your existing account and typing in the amount you would like to download, and then clicking the "donate" button. However, if you're like quite a few people and don't have an existing Paypal account, you can still use this online service! You'll just have to go through the process of clicking the "continue" link under "Don't have a Paypal Accout?" and enter your Credit or Debt card information. Then it will be as simple as typing in how much you would like to download and clicking the "donate" button.

One of the reasons we added this feature was so the process could be very simple, very fast, and very secure. Paypal is the world's most trusted company in transactions like these. You will also know as soon as you hit the final donate button that your funds have been sent directly to the Haiti Gospel Mission! Finally, we have left an instruction form on the donation process which will allow you to specify where you would like your donation money to be spent (ie. Earthquake Relief, The Hess Family, Jesse Hales, General Donation, etc.). It is a little tricky to find and is located near the top of the page and will say "add special instructions" in a blue hyperlink. You can try out this method by clicking on the Paypal link below.