Stories from Haiti

Hey Friends,

I wish that I had magical fingers that could type a million words per minute, because my heart is to share literally every single moment of my time in Haiti with you. It was the most incredible and yet hard experience of my life. I still struggle with putting these stories into comprehensible words, so please bear with me as I try.

Before I begin I just want to remind you guys as well as myself that we serve an awesome God. It has been hard for me to not be angry at God for the horror that has happened to this Nation, but then I am reminded of His goodness and sweetness and how He can take a truly horrific situation and redeem it to be the most beautiful of situations. Jesus is going to restore Haiti. It is as plain as that, He has big plans for this place that has chosen to forsake Him for so long. Every time I intercede of for Haiti I get verse out of verse out of Isaiah, which is God calling His people back to Himself. One of the verses is, "For your Maker is your husband-the Lord Almighty is His name-the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit-a wife who married young, only to be rejected, says your God. 'For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. " Isaiah 54:5-7 That is powerful stuff and so I am deeply encouraged that Haiti will rise up as an awesome nation under God.

The following stories are things just random snapshots of our time, again I hope to share more, but may try to do that through a written newsletter or video blogs that I post on here. So here goes...

When we got to the YWAM base in St. Marc we jumped right into ministry. One of the biggest needs was the make-shift refugee camp that the base had set up in their outdoor arena. There were about 56 victims there lying side-by-side on straw mats. The situation was very crude due to the lack of supplies and resources available. Because most of these people are so severely injured they are not able to walk yet alone get up and go to the bathroom. So each person had their own bucket which was often filled with waste, vomit, or blood.

I have a huge heart for the medical aspects of things and although I have absolutely no training, the Haitian doctor at the facility was quickly referring to me as a nurse and was given me orders in Creole. All we had in terms of medical supplies was peroxide, iodine, and neosporin so we set to clean the deep cuts, third degree burns, and deep head wounds with these basic supplies.

One particular young boy, about 11 years old, had a horrible head wound. It was triangular in shape and was about three inches wide and deep enough we could touch our fingers to his skull. After cleaning out his wound, the doctor asked me to push on both sides of the wound in hopes that the skin would begin to repair itself as we tightly would it in gauze. As horrible as this sounds the thing that struck me the most was his bravery, he didn't shed a tear, as they say in Creole "Bon force" meaning "be strong," and that he was.

Please pray for this boy, that he would be able to get to a hospital and get the surgery he needs so that his head can properly heal. Also be praying that he stays free from any sort of infections or bacteria that may try and enter his body so that he can stay strong and healthy. Also pray that he will be able to tangibly feel God's love and peace resting upon him at all times.

There were 6 little orphan boys at the base that had severe wounds. They had been living in an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince when the earthquake struck, the quake destroyed the orphanage and killed most of the children living there but these six were able to escape.

One of these little boys, whose name is Mayclave, had been pronounced dead on site. The doctor took his pulse and found none, so Mayclave was put in a coffin and shipped off to the morgue to be buried with the rest of the dead. While the doctor was walking around the morgue he heard this faint knocking noise, he figured out that it was coming from the coffin so he quickly opened it up and found that Mayclave was still alive! So they brought him to the base to be cared for.

People at the base are prophetically speaking identity and destiny out over his life and are saying that Mayclave will be the next Haitian president, because clearly God has a purpose and a plan for this little guy's life. What an awesome God He is!

Another man that was mid-twenties told us that he also was pronounced dead by the doctors and loaded into a dump truck full of dead bodies being sent to the morgue. He said that he woke up and found these bodies stacked on top of him and began to frantically kick the side of the truck. He managed to unlatch the back gate and rolled out into the middle of the street, but he was too weak to move, so he just lay there in the middle of the road. Two days later a medical team came across his lifeless body and brought him to the base for recovery.

On our way out of Haiti we stopped at a pile of rubble that had been dumped there, as the people in Port are trying to clear out the rubble. We wanted to pick up some pieces that we could have as a reminder to be continuously be praying for Haiti. We were stopped in our tracks when we saw half a small body lying there in the pile of rubble. The small child had been crushed by the concrete that fell. Words cannot describe the extreme sadness and reality that hit me at that moment....Again I am rendered speechless...

Off in the distance we were also able to see the mounded dirt that marks the mass graves they are digging to bury the thousands.

I think I will stop here now as these stories are really hard for me to tell. I often am paralyzed by some pretty heavy emotions, but I am trying to see them as a blessing. Although my human emotions cannot begin to compare to the burden and loss that God is facing I am grateful to feel a sliver of His heart for Haiti. I know my life is forever changed and I hope that 30 years down the road I will still feel the urgency to lift the Haitians up in prayer.

Please continue to pray for these incredible people. God has a plan and a purpose for this nation and restoration is coming and already happening! Tyler and I are beginning to pray into outreaches that Project Sixty-One will be taking to Haiti over the coming year. So please be praying that we would hear the discerning voice of God and that we would be patient if He asks us to wait and ready if He asks us to go.

I hope to post, write, and do more video updates regarding our time in Haiti, because there is so much more to tell, so please keep checking for new blogs, emails, and Facebook updates.

Also check out these videos that YWAM Haiti has posted as they are powerful.

http://www.ywamhaiti.org/VideoGallery/Earthquake2010Updates/Earthquakeof2010/tabid/2236/Default.aspx

http://www.ywamhaiti.org/VideoGallery/Earthquake2010Updates/WednesdayUpdateJan20/tabid/2237/Default.aspx

http://www.ywamhaiti.org/VideoGallery/Earthquake2010Updates/ThursdayUpdateJan21/tabid/2204/Default.aspx

Love,

Jacque

Back in the Dominican Republic

Hello friends!

This update is going to be very short because there is a long line behind the computer and its getting quite late.

Tyler, Will and myself left Haiti early this morning. It was heartbreaking for me to leave. I spent some time looking out into the arena where the refugees lay, praying that God's presence would be heavy upon them.

As a team last night, we debriefed our time. It was cool to hear each one of our perspectives of the things that God had done in and through us. As I was saying yesterday, this outreach has been life changing for me...one of those cornerstones that you look back on for a lifetime. I am very excited to see the doors that God will continue to open for Project Sixty-One and Haiti.

Tomorrow afternoon, we are heading back to California. Please be praying for safety and smooth travels. I just wanted to say again that I really appreciate your support, encouragement and prayers over this past week and a half. It was like I could tangibly feel your prayers throughout the day. God has big plans for this nation and I am very excited to see them unfold before our eyes.

In the next few days, I will be writing more stories, uploading pictures/videos and sharing more testimonies of the Haitian people. I will let you guys know when I post things on my blog or Facebook.

Love,
Jacque

Our Last Day In Haiti

Hey Friends,

I don't know where to start but that always seems to be the case lately. Today was an excellent day to say the least. We started out by preparing for 300 or so people to come thru the YWAM base. These people were all from Port au Prince, some injuried but most were those that had lost their homes and needed somewhere to stay. Will, Tyler, and I spent several hours registering these people into the computer database and creating idntification badges for each of them. We only had a few minutes with each person, but most were very sad, lacking all joy. I can't even begin to imagine the scheer trama they are feeling. My heart was broken again and again with every person we registered.

As we spent most of the day doing this, we finished up by saying our goodbyes to those we got close to in the clinic. As I sit here writing this I weep because Jesus has given me such an awesome burden for this nation. Honestly my heart would be to pack up and move here but I know I cannot abandon my responsibilities at home. Tyler and I will be spending a lot of time in prayer over the next few days just hearing God's heart for what He would have Project Sixty-One be doing in Haiti. If we have it our way we will be down here a lot more in the coming weeks, but we want God's blessing and wisdom before we jump in head first.

Tomorrow morning we head out at 5 a.m for the Haiti/DR boarder, which is about a three hour drive, and then will be picked up by the DR YWAM base and head the 5 more hours to the base there. We will spend the day catching up on rest and debriefing and then will head home to California on Saturday afternoon.

I just want to say that God is good, I am honored to serve such a mighty and awesome God and to see His hand in this large scale situation has been another one of those life changing cornerstones. I think a piece of my heart will always be in Haiti and that's the way I want it. I want my heart to be scattered amongst the Nations and my hands and feet to bring Christ's love with every step I walk.

You guys are incredible, your words of encouragement and prayers are straight from Heaven and they bring me so much joy. Thank you for being the mouth of Christ to me.

Love,
Jacque

Haiti: A Rough Day

Hey Friends,

I really think I could tangibly feel your prayers today so thank you for them. Honestly your prayers are so huge and mean so much to me and truly are a huge part in breaking through some tough spiritual things. Let me fill you in on today, there are many stories but I will just pick one or two because it is late and I need to head to bed.

We were woken up this morning to earthquake tremors. Supposedly it was rating at a 5.9 at the actual location but was much less up here in St. Marc. It only lasted a few seconds, but being my first earthquake experience, it was pretty scary and disorienting. It helped me have even more of a heart for the victims because it was a small, small taste of what they experienced. When the ground shook here, the victims that are receiving medical help here at the base started screaming and trying to run. Most of them have severe enough injuries that they shouldn't even be sitting yet alone running. They all are experiencing such fear and trauma that really needs to be lifted up in prayer so that they can receive emotional healing as well.

Come mid-afternoon I was feeling pretty sick, dizzy and nauseous, and so I forced myself to take a break and go lay down for a few hours. I opened up my Bible and was reading through some chapters in late Isaiah and was reading some awesome stuff about Israel and how God was calling His people back to Him. Of course my heart loves chapter 61, because it is what Project Sixty-One is based off of, but it talks about replacing beauty for ashes and gladness instead of mourning. Verse three ends with saying that the people will be called oaks of righteousness planted by the Lord for His splendor. The whole time I was thinking how beautiful it is that God is calling these Haitian people back to their first love, He wants them to be a people planted for the Lord's splendor. Let's keep praying for redemption and restoration in this time of incredible brokenness for this Nation. Jesus we invite you even now to come and do a supernatural work in this land.

By the late afternoon I was feeling much better and headed out to the make-shift clinic again to help out. We had spent the morning entering each person into a computer database and creating badges so that we can give the data to the Haitian government. After this we began helping the victims pack their things so that we could move them to a hospital. So we packed them into trucks and buses and took them about 70 miles to this place that was rather treacherous. Upon arriving we were told that the victims couldn't stay there, so we had to bring them all the way back to the base, driving along the bumpy roads, causing them more pain. It was sad and painful to watch, they have already suffered so much. We got back to the base and set up everyone again on their mats and tended to the new wounds caused by the journey.

So all in all it was a long and hard day. Tomorrow we are expecting about 300 more people to show up here from Port au Prince that we will badge and try and find shelter for. Please keep praying for us, the base, and the Haitians. We need strength, these people need strength, and the base here needs strength. Tomorrow is our last full day here and we want to be able to serve at full capacity.

Until tomorrow God Bless,
Jacque

Update from Haiti

Hey Friends,
First of all I just want to say thank you so much for your prayers. I have gotten so many emails from you guys and it so blesses my heart! I wanted to give you another update, so much is happening day-to-day that I want to share as much with you daily as possible so that I don't leave anything out.
Yesterday we spent all day traveling from the Domincan Republic to Haiti. We left the DR base at 3 am and rode on a bus for 5 hours to the border. God blessed us tremendously at the boarder and we happened to be there at the same time that a World Vision caravan was passing through. So they allowed us to go straight in. We had a police escort the whole way into Port au Prince because of the dangers. In the small towns before the Port we began to see the destruction of buildings. But when we entered Port au Prince words cannot describe the true intensity of the situation. Huge buildings were crushed, cars were smashed to street level, rubble covered the streets, huge refugee camps were set up in the middle of the city for the homeless and injured, and there were signs painted on demolished homes that said things like "Many dead, please help." We were told that we didn't even drive through the bad part of town, so it is beyond my comprehension that things could be even worse. As I sat in the van I wept, it was all I could manage to do because of the horrific scenes around us. My heart was yearning in a desperate way to share the hope and love of Jesus with these completely broken people. We were able to capture some of it on video and camera and so as soon as I get back to the States I will post those so that you can see a small part of the devastation.
After driving through Port au Prince we drove another hour and a half to a town called St. Marc. St Marc was relatively untouched by the earthquake and so we headed to the large YWAM base that they have here. Because of their large facility they are able to house about 50 victims. Due to the Port being so unsafe many are fleeing up here to find food and shelter. Today we had two very important jobs, one of which was to gut and sanitize a building that was given to the base here, so that they can use it as a hospital. Once this is done they will transport the 50 victims there and be able to take even more. The other task was to go around to the victims and care for their wounds and pray for them. I spent the day washing out severe abrasions, burns, and head wounds, also healping wrap broken bones. Most of the victims here are women and children. These are some of the bravest people I have come across because we were treating them with no painkillers due to the lack of supplies. Jesus was so present though in the midst of the pain and we were able to speak healing and restoration over these broken people.
We will be doing these same types of things over the next two days and on Friday will make the long journey back to the Dominican so that we can fly home on Saturday. We have already been talking about bringing a team back in a few weeks and so please be praying that God continues to provide the finances and resources for this.
Also please pray for our continued safety, health, and strength. We are working long and hard days and our bodies are tired but God has given us incredible grace and we are able to push through. Also malaria, H1N1, and other diseases are very prevelant due to all of the injuries these people have suffered so please pray for protection over our bodies. I just wanted to end and say that God is good, admist all the choas, brokeness, and hurt, He is still good. He loves these people so much and has such a desire to see this Nation be restored under His name. Please pray that that more of His presence would come and dwell in this place, that these people would see supernatural healing and provision come to them, and that ultimately His name would be glorified. You guys are awesome prayer warriors. Thank you so incredibly much!
God Bless, Jacque