Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Year End Update


Happy New Year! We pray this year has been as exciting for you as it has been for us. We have so many things to be thankful for as we reflect on what He has done through Empowering Haitian Moms ministry. December was the anniversary of Stacie moving to Haiti & our 1 year anniversary for the feeding program. That’s where we want to start with praising God in our year end letter!
I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations I will sing praises to your name. 2 Samuel 22:50
Dec 24, 2012 was the day the Lord led us to begin a feeding program in Bo Lise, a small hilltop in Montrouis. The goal was to help the 3 moms & 15 children that we had been helping since 2011 and had school sponsorships for. Everyone knows it is harder to learn anything on an empty stomach & since the children didn’t have a lunch break at school we knew most of them were not eating much more than a pack of crackers until dinner time. With that in mind the Lord prompted us to serve lunch 3 days a week to help the children’s minds grow as well as their bodies. Being servants of Jesus we know that “man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” Matthew 4:4, so we saw this kind of poverty as the open door to the gospel, to help them grow more in love with Christ, the Savior. This year on Christmas day we fed 150 people the “Freedom Food” which is pumpkin soup. When the Haitian people were enslaved they were not allowed to eat pumpkin so it fit that we should celebrate the birth of the One who set us free with a meal that represented freedom.

Commit your deeds to Yahweh, and your plans shall succeed. Proverbs 16:3

1st Community Toilet!
God knows the plans we make for our own lives but we are here to tell you His ways are better & His thoughts are higher! While we thought it was just a way to help our 3 moms & serve food to 15 kids, God had HIS way on that hilltop. Recapping 2013, we are OVERWHELMED with His goodness and want to inform you that every day on that hill God places an average of 150 people who are being filled with His Word & receiving nutrients to their physical bodies as well. That’s 150 lives impacted & an average of 1,800 meals a MONTH because of supporters like you.  
Every family received 5 gallons of clean water
In addition, God has done so much more in Haiti this year such as; 17 children were healed of parasites, babies were born healthy to moms who are continually being educated about post & prenatal care & reminded that God has the utmost confidence in them to raise HIS children. Teams came to teach, encourage & strengthen while relationships formed around the families in Bo Lise and our school sponsorship tripled in numbers. We began an English class, rented transition homes, improved homes with roofs, toilets and bunk beds but most importantly because Jesus being our #1 focus, we began investing in the woman with job training, skills and micro loans that allow them to become self-sufficient, depending on God as the provider and no one else!

Fritznel and Stacie were married in April surrounded by friends and family from both Haiti & America & are still awaiting Fritznel’s residency approval. A few board members came to Haiti this year while the others are making their plans for visiting in 2014 with many more projects, teams & medical clinics forming. If you’d like to know more about these trips please email us at empoweringhaitianmoms@gmail.com and we’ll let you know how to get involved and come be a part of the exciting adventure.
Thank you so much!
We just want to take this time to thank every person who supported Empowering Haitian Moms this year. Every thought and prayer counted and we can testify to God hearing and answering! We are ending the year 2013 by celebrating the birth of new chapters in EHM and especially the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
In His Love,
Fritznel & Stacie Ulysse