I don't have a ton of time, but I wanted to update everyone on what is going on here in Haiti. First, thank you so much for your prayers, I can feel it. Second, I am having a blast even though it is very hard. The joy of the Lord is my strength and the Lord is moving.
We have been working in refugee like camps doing medical clinics. People are terrified to go back into their homes or any structure for that matter so they are migrating together and popping tents. This happens in in soccer stadiums, playgrounds, church courtyards, and even the medians of roads. It is a truly terrible sight. As we drove through different parts of Port-au-Prince seeing these huge concrete structures completely destroyed my heart sank thinking about the many dead people still buried in the rubble.
During our medical clinic we have seen at least 1500 people. This have been anything from amputations to post traumatic stress disorder. It is really sad, yet in the midst of it all the Lord is showing up and the people are so grateful to God to be alive. My team is doing well and we feel very much like we are partnering with Jesus in helping His people.
I am so tired and need to go to bed, but please continue to pray for us and know that we are so grateful~
January 29, 2010
January 19, 2010
Haiti Update
I wanted to keep you in the loop as much as possible without overwhelming you. It looks like I will fly out of KC on Sun and fly into Haiti Mon. I am waiting for this to be confirmed. We are getting us on the list from the Haitian side. We will be staying at the same location as CRI teams since it is safe and supplied. We will be working in a hospital called the 7th Day Adventist hospital in Diquini. It is organized, secure, staff with some Dr. and desperately needing medical help. We will also venture out, with military security, to help treat those in orphanages and schools that are without medical care. Then we will fly back on the 1st.
Tomorrow we go around noon to the medical warehouse to pack up supplies and then on Fri and Sat. I will have the rest of the team packing the supplies and meds that they will actually be carrying on the plane with them. I am just praying and feel free to join in, that nothing will be confiscated along the way. We have about $500,000 worth of medical supplies and medications with us that have been donated. This is a massive effort to say the least. A far cry from the team that I was taking over in March. :-)
I have been on the phone every minute it seems like. Either with people in Haiti, or airlines, or other team members trying to sort this all out. Mean while I am also lining up the next crew of nurses that will be leaving the first of Feb with one of our nurses. They are getting their passports updated and all the necc. things to be ready. Oh and I have a toddler. I am trying to get every min. I can in with Shiloh because I don't really get to see her on Thurs and Fri except for 10 min before she goes to bed because I work 12 hr shifts. So Saturday I will get to spend with Steven and Shiloh before I head out on Sun. To lie and say that I am not slightly overwhelmed would be dumb at this point. I mean who are we kidding? But growing up going on the missions field and then again in YWAM and now as the clinical missions director of One Heart Ministries, no one told me that it would be otherwise. I know that God is in it all and I trust His guidance and leadership.
Thank you to everyone who has gotten involved with donations, flight arrangements, medical supplies and the like. We would be a less effective with out your support.
Thanks!
Tomorrow we go around noon to the medical warehouse to pack up supplies and then on Fri and Sat. I will have the rest of the team packing the supplies and meds that they will actually be carrying on the plane with them. I am just praying and feel free to join in, that nothing will be confiscated along the way. We have about $500,000 worth of medical supplies and medications with us that have been donated. This is a massive effort to say the least. A far cry from the team that I was taking over in March. :-)
I have been on the phone every minute it seems like. Either with people in Haiti, or airlines, or other team members trying to sort this all out. Mean while I am also lining up the next crew of nurses that will be leaving the first of Feb with one of our nurses. They are getting their passports updated and all the necc. things to be ready. Oh and I have a toddler. I am trying to get every min. I can in with Shiloh because I don't really get to see her on Thurs and Fri except for 10 min before she goes to bed because I work 12 hr shifts. So Saturday I will get to spend with Steven and Shiloh before I head out on Sun. To lie and say that I am not slightly overwhelmed would be dumb at this point. I mean who are we kidding? But growing up going on the missions field and then again in YWAM and now as the clinical missions director of One Heart Ministries, no one told me that it would be otherwise. I know that God is in it all and I trust His guidance and leadership.
Thank you to everyone who has gotten involved with donations, flight arrangements, medical supplies and the like. We would be a less effective with out your support.
Thanks!
January 16, 2010
Here We Go....
Friends I have been in contact with our ground team in Haiti and what they have told me has truly made my stomach turn up side down. I wont share everything because I want you to continue to read this blog, but I will share a little with you. As you read this I hope that you will be moved to give and pray.
As they arrived in Port-au-Prince the landscape was that of rubble and dead bodies. James told me to imagine all the trash that is normally piled inthe streets and then imagine that it is dead bodies. Not only is it dead bodies, but limbs and such. From the CNN and other footage that I have scene it is hard to tell who are living and dead because a lot of the injured are just lying in the streets waiting to die. James' uncle is safe, but his house collapsed on him and he suffered a broken arm, head laceration, and lots of cuts. Our nurse Jen was able to patch him up some. There is no water, no food, no sanitation, and no power. People are bleeding and dying everywhere. You can hear people still screaming in the wreckage of the buildings. It is truly the worst thing I have ever heard of.
We do not dispair as those who have no hope. We have a GREAT God, who is all powerful and who loves the Haitian people. Was God in the earthquake? That is a question for God and one that I am not asking right now. He is in control and nothing is out of His power. I trust His leadership. He has a greater plan for Haiti and I have known that from the first time 5yrs ago that I first was there. This is the begining of that plan in my opinion. Not that God wanted suffering and despair, but that a nation who crave darkness would see a great light.
I am now reading myself to leave for Haiti around the 24th of this month with my first team. I will be taking in medical professionals and medical supplies. We will be treating all those that we can and getting them relief as we can. Please give if you can at www.ohmhaiti.org I cannot stress this enough. It is vital for us to continue to get supplies and medications, as well as water and food.
I covet you prayers at this point even more that money. I need your prayers for me personally as I am corrdinating things and getting my team together, all while still working two jobs that are about 44 hrs a week. I will have to leave my family for 7 days and be in the most stressful situation of my life. Please pray for me. Pray for Haiti.
Blessings
As they arrived in Port-au-Prince the landscape was that of rubble and dead bodies. James told me to imagine all the trash that is normally piled inthe streets and then imagine that it is dead bodies. Not only is it dead bodies, but limbs and such. From the CNN and other footage that I have scene it is hard to tell who are living and dead because a lot of the injured are just lying in the streets waiting to die. James' uncle is safe, but his house collapsed on him and he suffered a broken arm, head laceration, and lots of cuts. Our nurse Jen was able to patch him up some. There is no water, no food, no sanitation, and no power. People are bleeding and dying everywhere. You can hear people still screaming in the wreckage of the buildings. It is truly the worst thing I have ever heard of.
We do not dispair as those who have no hope. We have a GREAT God, who is all powerful and who loves the Haitian people. Was God in the earthquake? That is a question for God and one that I am not asking right now. He is in control and nothing is out of His power. I trust His leadership. He has a greater plan for Haiti and I have known that from the first time 5yrs ago that I first was there. This is the begining of that plan in my opinion. Not that God wanted suffering and despair, but that a nation who crave darkness would see a great light.
I am now reading myself to leave for Haiti around the 24th of this month with my first team. I will be taking in medical professionals and medical supplies. We will be treating all those that we can and getting them relief as we can. Please give if you can at www.ohmhaiti.org I cannot stress this enough. It is vital for us to continue to get supplies and medications, as well as water and food.
I covet you prayers at this point even more that money. I need your prayers for me personally as I am corrdinating things and getting my team together, all while still working two jobs that are about 44 hrs a week. I will have to leave my family for 7 days and be in the most stressful situation of my life. Please pray for me. Pray for Haiti.
Blessings
Haiti Update 2
Well here we are and I will try to be brief. CRI is unable to take anyone that has not taken their training. So therefore that leaves a gap for those medical professionals that wanted to go. Plus they have choosen to go to a different part of Port-au-prince then we normally work in and so this morning as far as I know, James has gone on to look his family and assess the need for help in that area. This is the area that we always work in. I should hear back again from James and Jen on what, where, when, and how.
I have about 7 nurses and a doctor that I am in contact with about going soon. We are gathering supplies and getting in contact with people. As soon as I hear from James and Jen I will know how to prepare more and when we will leave. So if you are a medical professional and want to help contact me. If you are wanting to give to Haiti in a specific way then contact me. We are going to be helping in a very specific location and then as we can with the resources that we have we will begin to move out more. Please pray for saftey and for financial resources to come in.
Blessings
I have about 7 nurses and a doctor that I am in contact with about going soon. We are gathering supplies and getting in contact with people. As soon as I hear from James and Jen I will know how to prepare more and when we will leave. So if you are a medical professional and want to help contact me. If you are wanting to give to Haiti in a specific way then contact me. We are going to be helping in a very specific location and then as we can with the resources that we have we will begin to move out more. Please pray for saftey and for financial resources to come in.
Blessings
January 13, 2010
Haiti Relief
As most of you know there was a devastating 7.0 earthquake that literally flattened most of Por-Au-Prince Haiti on Tues. Our ministry (One Heart Ministries http://ohmhaiti.org/) is trying to reach friends and family, but we have not had much luck.
I have spent most of today running around to different contacts and warehouses getting supplies ready for CRI teams( crisis response international www.criout.org) that will be deploying tomorrow to Haiti. My friend James Adams is going with them to Port-au-Prince, then once he gets them to their destination he will then go and look for his family. After he finds them and they are safe he will rejoin the CRI team and then return home to his family. Once he is back here in the KC we will re-group and see where OHM stands in providing aid. However the CRI team will stay there, assess the situation, and then send word back to their headquarters to deploy the second wave of people that will take supplies and such. They are expecting to send out the second wave this coming Tues. I will be coordinating with the headquarters located here in KC to get supplies and funds to the team there on the ground. Today was such a day and we were able to get some much needed supplies and we also equipped this first assessment team with first aid equipment and personal meds. Tuesdays team will take potions of the other medical supplies and so on. I am trying to get some medications donated to the organization as well out of Tulsa.
One of the biggest needs will be clean water and food. There are no filtration systems in Port-au-Prince as it is and now that lines are down it will be nearly impossible to get any clean water. I have been calling pastors and friends today and urging them to have their congregations to take up offerings this Sunday to provide that needed financial side that CRI can purchase clean water and filters. Please consider giving at their web site www.criout.org or at http://ohmhaiti.org
At this point I am praying as to whether I should go to Haiti with CRI in the coming weeks to aid in medical care of the wounded and displaced. I am scheduled to take a medical team into the country March 5-11th, but I will have to see what the assessment team sends back to us and what my team members are thinking.One of my team members feels that she is to go now and has filled out and application with CRI already. Steven and I have talked and agree on me going, I am just waiting to see when. Finances will also be an issues as I will need to purchase a ticket to get there. If you want to give towards me going just email me and I will keep you updated. If you want to go please go to www.criout.org and fill out their application online. I am going to be talking with them often and will possibly be taking a team in for them.
Thank you for your prayers and please consider giving to either of these ministries that are both connected with IHOP-KC to give not only aid to the suffering of Haiti, but the true living water that they will never thirst again.
I have spent most of today running around to different contacts and warehouses getting supplies ready for CRI teams( crisis response international www.criout.org) that will be deploying tomorrow to Haiti. My friend James Adams is going with them to Port-au-Prince, then once he gets them to their destination he will then go and look for his family. After he finds them and they are safe he will rejoin the CRI team and then return home to his family. Once he is back here in the KC we will re-group and see where OHM stands in providing aid. However the CRI team will stay there, assess the situation, and then send word back to their headquarters to deploy the second wave of people that will take supplies and such. They are expecting to send out the second wave this coming Tues. I will be coordinating with the headquarters located here in KC to get supplies and funds to the team there on the ground. Today was such a day and we were able to get some much needed supplies and we also equipped this first assessment team with first aid equipment and personal meds. Tuesdays team will take potions of the other medical supplies and so on. I am trying to get some medications donated to the organization as well out of Tulsa.
One of the biggest needs will be clean water and food. There are no filtration systems in Port-au-Prince as it is and now that lines are down it will be nearly impossible to get any clean water. I have been calling pastors and friends today and urging them to have their congregations to take up offerings this Sunday to provide that needed financial side that CRI can purchase clean water and filters. Please consider giving at their web site www.criout.org or at http://ohmhaiti.org
At this point I am praying as to whether I should go to Haiti with CRI in the coming weeks to aid in medical care of the wounded and displaced. I am scheduled to take a medical team into the country March 5-11th, but I will have to see what the assessment team sends back to us and what my team members are thinking.One of my team members feels that she is to go now and has filled out and application with CRI already. Steven and I have talked and agree on me going, I am just waiting to see when. Finances will also be an issues as I will need to purchase a ticket to get there. If you want to give towards me going just email me and I will keep you updated. If you want to go please go to www.criout.org and fill out their application online. I am going to be talking with them often and will possibly be taking a team in for them.
Thank you for your prayers and please consider giving to either of these ministries that are both connected with IHOP-KC to give not only aid to the suffering of Haiti, but the true living water that they will never thirst again.
January 12, 2010
Pray For Haiti
Today just after 4pm a 7.0 earthquake hit the nation near the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As many of you know I have been going to Port-au-Prince, Haiti for the last couple of years working with an orphanage and churches there. I have spoke with friends that say that the pastor that runs the orphanage is alright minus an eye injury and that the children are OK at the orphanage in town. One of their walls collapsed and a worker was injured though. As far as the rest of our friends and contacts there I have no idea how they are doing. James Adams, a friend and the director of One Heart Ministries which I go to Haiti with, is still trying to reach his family that all live with in miles of the epicenter of the quake. There were several strong after shocks all rating above 5.0 that occurred after the quake and a tsunami watch was put into effect for that Carri bean area.
Haiti is very mountainous and people build their houses along the hillsides cramming them in where there is an inch of room. There are no building codes so most of the time the houses are thrown together with what is available. Most structures are made of concrete and re-bar with little other structural support. Below is a recent picture of the earthquakes destruction. Many of our friends live in houses 1/2 as nice as this one.
James' mother is the one in blue. Also his aunts
Here are some of the workers at the orphanage in Port-Au-Prince
Pastor Edward's wife
Haiti is very mountainous and people build their houses along the hillsides cramming them in where there is an inch of room. There are no building codes so most of the time the houses are thrown together with what is available. Most structures are made of concrete and re-bar with little other structural support. Below is a recent picture of the earthquakes destruction. Many of our friends live in houses 1/2 as nice as this one.
Reports were coming in of rubble all in the streets which will limit any rescue and aid that might be transported. Hospitals also sustained damage which will leave little resources to treat the wounded properly. Haiti has always suffered from governmental instability which has crippled the country and made it virtually impossible to organize. Couple that with already starving people and food shortages and then sprinkle a huge earthquake on top and you are looking at a catastrophe of enormous proportion. I can tell you from first hand experience,that on a good day in Haiti it is hard to get around and get what you need. Haiti needs God more than ever right now. We will not know the extent of the damage until morning as there is no power right now and it is pitch dark in that nation. God come and shine your light into that nation and have mercy on it's people!!
Please pray for Haiti!!!! Pray for these people as they are friends and family.
Pastor Pierre and his workers at the orphanage
KiKi
Ronald
Pastor Abano and his family
Pastor Edward and his wife who had a stroke two years ago.
James Adam's entire family who live miles from the epicenter of the quake.
There is an orphanage on the mountain side that has 8 children. I cannot remember the name just off hand.
The staff at OMS
Pastor Edward's wife
January 8, 2010
I Haven't Forgotten You
I know it has been a little while since I posted, but I am having a hard time catching up to life. I started a post on looking back at 2009, but never finished it after we attended the memorial service of a dear friend and amazing man. It was a very emotional day and I have been reflecting on it ever since. I find myself pondering this excellent man's life and wishing to be more like him. In the midst of all life we find the little things really do matter the most. How we love Jesus when no one else is looking and how we pour out love on those we hold dearest. What people think when we are gone is nice, but it is how we live that fuels those affections. How we challenge, how we love, and how we serve. This man's life reflected each of these in the most excellent of ways. He cherished and loved his family well and it showed in their mourning and in their joy.They honored him with such devotion that you left that place knowing more about him because of their love. It was inspiring. I can say that every time I was with him I walked away wanting more of what he had. Even in his death I still wanted more. His spirit and vision will live on in those he lavished it on. He will surely be missed.
In an effort to update you on our life I will try to get to the point and hit the highlights. I will fill in the details later. So here we go....
Christmas was mostly spent with Steven's family, plus throw in a little stop at a friends house and my parents for breakfast that pretty much sums it up. Shiloh was showered with love and toys, way more that she needed. I mean the toys not the love. We came back to KC just in time for more snow, and then more cold weather. Yeah! Once back in KC there was no slow entry, I went straight to work the day that we got in and I feel like I haven't stopped. I still work at the children's home Mon-Wed 3-11pm, but now I also work at a hospital in surgery on thurs and fri. from 7a-7p. Let me tell you it isn't a cake job. I work my tail off.
So where were we....Oh yes, so Steven went to police academy orientation and man he got an ear full. Yesterday was his first official day and today was what they refer to as "hell day". Imagine police officers yelling at you as you do push up after push up, after push up, telling you to just quit and go home. Well it didn't stop there. It was three hours of grinding PT and 5 students quit. Steven said there were about three times that he thought about quitting. I would have kicked his butt all the way back had he quit. He came home with severe carpet burns on his knees and as sore as if he had a wreck yesterday. I sent him to bed with 800 mg of Ibuprofen and 60mg of muscle relaxer. He should sleep fine tonight. :0)
Shiloh is doing well. She has been going to our friends house during our working hours and she seems to really like it. If we could afford it we would take her there all the time. However in true "God fashion" I have a praise report. God has provided for us to have someone live with us to take care of Shiloh in exchange for free rent. Her name is Talia and I will introduce her to you at another time when I can do her justice. I think that it will be so wonderful and I am so thankful that I don't have to drag my little lamb out in the cold at 6am anymore. Talia will watch her while I am at work until Steven gets home. It is the most perfect situation I can think of.
I cannot really think of much else other than I am so grateful! I am so grateful that I have a roof over my head and I am warm when so many are not. I am thankful that though 44hours is long and I feel every minute of it, I know that I have a jobs that will get us through this next season. I am so thankful!! Steven and I are in such a season of transition and I feel that in starting this New Year transitioning to what God has in store for us is a new beginning. The hill is steep that we must climb and the hours are long and tiresome, but the outcome is glorious and I can't wait.
Blessings
In an effort to update you on our life I will try to get to the point and hit the highlights. I will fill in the details later. So here we go....
Christmas was mostly spent with Steven's family, plus throw in a little stop at a friends house and my parents for breakfast that pretty much sums it up. Shiloh was showered with love and toys, way more that she needed. I mean the toys not the love. We came back to KC just in time for more snow, and then more cold weather. Yeah! Once back in KC there was no slow entry, I went straight to work the day that we got in and I feel like I haven't stopped. I still work at the children's home Mon-Wed 3-11pm, but now I also work at a hospital in surgery on thurs and fri. from 7a-7p. Let me tell you it isn't a cake job. I work my tail off.
So where were we....Oh yes, so Steven went to police academy orientation and man he got an ear full. Yesterday was his first official day and today was what they refer to as "hell day". Imagine police officers yelling at you as you do push up after push up, after push up, telling you to just quit and go home. Well it didn't stop there. It was three hours of grinding PT and 5 students quit. Steven said there were about three times that he thought about quitting. I would have kicked his butt all the way back had he quit. He came home with severe carpet burns on his knees and as sore as if he had a wreck yesterday. I sent him to bed with 800 mg of Ibuprofen and 60mg of muscle relaxer. He should sleep fine tonight. :0)
Shiloh is doing well. She has been going to our friends house during our working hours and she seems to really like it. If we could afford it we would take her there all the time. However in true "God fashion" I have a praise report. God has provided for us to have someone live with us to take care of Shiloh in exchange for free rent. Her name is Talia and I will introduce her to you at another time when I can do her justice. I think that it will be so wonderful and I am so thankful that I don't have to drag my little lamb out in the cold at 6am anymore. Talia will watch her while I am at work until Steven gets home. It is the most perfect situation I can think of.
I cannot really think of much else other than I am so grateful! I am so grateful that I have a roof over my head and I am warm when so many are not. I am thankful that though 44hours is long and I feel every minute of it, I know that I have a jobs that will get us through this next season. I am so thankful!! Steven and I are in such a season of transition and I feel that in starting this New Year transitioning to what God has in store for us is a new beginning. The hill is steep that we must climb and the hours are long and tiresome, but the outcome is glorious and I can't wait.
Blessings
December 15, 2009
A Fun Video update
I thought that I would show you a video of some of Shiloh's latest "tricks". She learned to say her name this past week and it is very cute as you will see. It sounds more like "shiwo" but none the less she knows that it is her name. She is trying to talk so much lately and on one hand I want to help her to communicate, but on the other it means that my little baby is waving goodbye and my little girl is saying "hellwo". Tonight as we were playing I told her to say "Hi dollie" she said "hellwo dowi" It was precious. She is going to be a very verbal 2 yr old I can already see this. She is learning the sounds of animals and is trying to pick them out when I hold up her flash cards. Her latest trick is gymnastics on our couch. She will try to climb up, which she is very close to accomplishing, and then run back and forth. It all culminates with her usually jumping off at me. Not a trick for he unsupervised moments. She waves good bye very well, but at the end of the video I asked her to say good bye and I thin that she thought I was going bye bye and that didn't settle well.
Here she is folks The Amazing Shiloh Cooper!!!!!!!!!
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