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| Our House of Hope in Port au Prince, Haiti |
August 2012
I searched for my first entree on this blog, A Heart for Haiti, and smiled as I read the emotional recap of my first visit to Haiti in September 2008. "Forever Changed" best described my heart and mind. Haiti's strong imprints on my heart and mind could not be washed away by time or distance. Even then I knew that Haiti would somehow be an important part of my future; I just didn't know how important!
I traveled to Haiti several times in 2008 and 2009, each time vowing to return with more resources. I have raised relief funds and covered my precious Haitian friends and missionaries through floods and earthquakes. As a new doting grandmother, I honored a family promise not to travel back to this "disease ridden" country during my daughter's pregnancies and the critical first years of my granddaughters' lives. As Lilah now prepares to celebrate her 3rd birthday and Sammi nears 16 months, I have answered the cry of my heart to return to Haiti. I have struggled with a restless spirit and intensely sought God's will for my life during this past year. I long to feel on purpose and passionate in my service to God. I have tried to create positions where I could "conveniently" use my gifts for God's glory, but everything felt like I was struggling to fit a square peg into a round hole. I prayed for a clear path and wisdom, and God answered.
My brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Debbie Hambrick, have served as full time missionaries since 1997. Last year they founded their own mission board entitled Until the Whole World Knows, http://www.untilthewholeworldknows.com. They have prayed for an opportunity to open a Ministry Center in Haiti and God has now faithfully opened up the path to fulfill that dream. Jim was in Haiti last week picking up the keys to Our House of Hope, a 14 room house in Port au Prince. The house has sat vacant for years and was damaged in the Fall earthquakes last year. UTWKK has signed a one year lease on this house with the intent to raise the $200,000 purchase price in the next 12 months. After much prayer, I have decided to join my brother and his mission work in Haiti for the next year. I am joining UTWWK as a full time missionary with primary responsibilities in fundraising and Mission Team training. I join Jim and Deb in Haiti on August 31st! In preparation for this year in Haiti, I have given up my internet radio show, Rivers of Faith, which I have hosted for two years and am closing out my beautiful river home on the river in Colonial Beach VA. Letting go of the material possessions isn't as difficult as preparing to leave my beloved grandbabies, family and friends, but I have great peace that I am doing the right thing in following God's call to Haiti. Jim says that this will not be a one year mission, but rather a lifetime commitment; Guess we will see what God has planned!
I will be responsible for raising my own funds for this year of Haiti mission work. If you would like to support me in this ministry, you can send a tax deductible contribution by clicking on our ministry website at www.utwwk.com/give/. You can also reach that UTWWK contribution site through a link on my website at www.drtyson.com. If you prefer, you can make a check out to Until the Whole World Knows (be sure to mark the check for Donna Tyson support) and mail it to Until the Whole World Knows, 731 Duval Station Rd., Suite 107-281, Jacksonville, FL 32218. I invite you to follow me as a FB friend - Donna Hambrick Tyson. My new email is donna@utwwk.com. Whew, that is a lot of information, but I want you to be able to stay in touch with me.
I am walking in faith that the funds will manifest as I follow God's call. I am asking my friends and family to cover me and this project in prayer and love. I also ask you to prayerfully consider assisting in the following ways: 1) make a one time contribution or regular deposit into my UTWKK mission account 2) invite me to make an inspiring mission presentation to your church and/or civic organization 3) come on a mission trip to help us with the massive home repairs and the start up of Our House of Hope ministry. It is going to be an exciting year! I can't wait to see what God has planned as we serve as his hands and feet with the beautiful Haitian people. I love you. Mwen renmen ou.
I am walking in faith that the funds will manifest as I follow God's call. I am asking my friends and family to cover me and this project in prayer and love. I also ask you to prayerfully consider assisting in the following ways: 1) make a one time contribution or regular deposit into my UTWKK mission account 2) invite me to make an inspiring mission presentation to your church and/or civic organization 3) come on a mission trip to help us with the massive home repairs and the start up of Our House of Hope ministry. It is going to be an exciting year! I can't wait to see what God has planned as we serve as his hands and feet with the beautiful Haitian people. I love you. Mwen renmen ou.
1 comment:
Good morning how are you?
My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Haiti? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Haiti in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
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