To many people the picture that comes to mind when you say "hurricane relief" is a male youth with a hammer ripping out insulation and gutting houses. They think of the rough construction work that everyone wants to do. The perfect slide show that will be presented to their churches on the following Sunday mornings.

The Galveston area is a different situation. Many of the houses were not only completely destroyed but lost in the waves. If you don't have money then you don't have anything. So there are houses with some work to do yes, but many people are living in trailers on their property. They literally have nothing and are fighting with insurance companies that will only give them 11% of the net worth of their houses.

So where do you go from there? To all of you who need to know, yes we have found some "intense labor" jobs. But what Galveston needs is not hammers. It needs compassion and hands. It needs people to come and pick up debris, talk to the residents and hear their stories.

Many groups have grabbed these relationships and absolutely loved their week with us. One story that specifically touched my heart was for this little lady named July. She lost her home and store in the hurricane. She is now restarting her business but is illiterate. She has no way to read or organize, work on the computer or encourage her small business. A group discovered her, fell in love and served her all week. That is what they took away from their time. Not roofing stories, but a relationship!!! Wonderful.

So please pray for me as I have a few days off before starting my next group. I love you all very much and can't wait to hear from you.

Love, Emily Tissot

P.S. I wrestled (or helped catch an alligator)

  Hello everyone,

   Well, as life takes every unexpected turn I tend to follow along. This turn has lead me to Galveston Texas where myself and two other project leaders are facilitating groups in hurricane relief. This town is very cut off from most civilization. To give you an idea of how far out we are, we as leadership went to buy groceries the day before our groups arrived. What was estimated as an hour long trip became an entire day long event. It started in the two hour long ride to get to the public ferry. A thirty minute ferry ride, and traffic for a few hours to boot. The process was then repeated returning.

   The destruction on this small piece of land was unimaginable. This is an aerial shot after the hurricane hit. The locals are saying that a lot more houses and business got destroyed than was let on in the news. Many people are still struggling after a year to even move back onto the island because of the debris and destruction.
 

            This week we have had over 50 volunteers praying, building and tearing down for Jesus. They are incredible groups that have worked so hard. I am hoping to post more pictures and information at a later time. The work here is overwhelming, the mosquitoes are the size of my thumb and I had my first encounter with an armadillo last night!!!

emily

        As always the summer has begun with a bang! After flying a few hundred miles over the United States I landed in Matamoros, Mexico. For those of you who do not know, I have been hired by Adventures In Missions to project facilitate this summer. Currently, I am living in a little campo, or village, that hold AIM's permanent housing and mission facilities. It is a beautiful piece of property overlooking fields of okra. 
   
   The permanent staff here includes two families and one female member. They will be supervising the Facilitators as we work with Youth Leaders and Pastors scheduled to be here. The facility can hold over 200 people and is shared by AIM's Bible College, where local people come to study missions.

Please pray for us as we start receiving groups and working on projects. I would love prayer as I start facilitating groups. That God would give me a mind to understand all the logistics and compassion as I work with various groups of kids.

I love you all very much, and I promise my blogs will get more exciting as things start happening!

Love, emily

Hello World,

  I am back in The States! Yes, I have returned to the land of the brave and free…. Something like that. I arrived home on Thursday, 10:30 at night. My amazing parents were there to meet me and we got home around 2:00.

  It's been a few days and the reverse culture shock has not stopped. Big cars driving everywhere, shopping centers and super Wal-Mart's. Its absolutely terrifying. We as Americans have been so incredibly blessed and it is good to be reminded of that. I am so thankful for this country and how God has endowed us with the means to serve others and send His word to the unreached. As I spend this next month preparing to go out in His service once more, this time leading a mission through the Amazon, I am reminded of all the people that heard His call to send me to the DR a year ago and obeyed.

  Now at the end of a phenomenal year of growth, understanding and pursuing Gods best for those around me I need to come back and say Thank you! Thank you for believing in me, for seeing Gods plan and for joyously obeying.

  God prepared me in ministry and discipleship to go out and lead and disciple others. I am heeding to His calling and have been blessed beyond what I could ever imagine because of it.

  If you would like to talk to me about my next mission in The Amazon, Peru or would be interested n joining in with me on Gods great adventure my email is

 e-tissot@hotmail.com

Oh and i was baptized in the Caribean Ocean on my last day in the DR!

God bless and Thank you!

emily 

look BUT don't touch

 We hear this in museums and art galleries. Pretty women in heels and suit jackets walking around wagging fingers at naughty patrons.

But when did these women enter our churches? Who let them in?

The body of Christ (aka the church) has taken this attitude to a new level. I am going to specifically speak about the Dominican Church, and this is just my opinion not fact.

 Here the actually building is respected much more than the body of Christ. Children are appropriately scrubbed and shamed before entering through the doors. Preparing them for long boring services and hard pews. Beautiful things are passed in front of them. Offering plates, Bibles and colorful paper pamphlets. But the attitude is look and don't touch.

I can't help but think of what would have happened if Jesus had had this attitude with us. The woman with hemorrhaging would not have been healed, lepers not cleaned and the blind would never have seen.  

I said it today…

A beautiful little boy that just wanted to hold a picture. "Look but don't touch! Your hands are dirty. Clothes are soaked with mud. DON'T TOUCH!!!" It was just a picture. And then I saw it. My Savior walking through a crowd of Dominicans holding out his perfect clean hand and saying "Come to me, you can touch me!" I envisioned Jesus getting a nose full of mud and laughing as he swooped up this little boy for a game. I will never say it again as long as I live. Always seek, Always touch!

Much love,

emily 

Home

  I didn't ever know if this foreign country with all its quirks and communication barriers could ever be a home to me. I mean would I ever feel like I belonged? Would I ever communicate freely and be able to laugh and joke with the people around me? This has always been a huge fear of mine and now what is really funny is that in the last month I am here I know that this is home.

  A very wise man once told me that, "Where ever God intends you to be is home. He can and will make it home for you." I have been lucky enough to get to call the Dominican Republic home for this past year and when I leave I know that I will not leave saying goodbye, but I will see you soon.

 I wonder where my next home is going to be? It's an adventure when you roll with God..

These are some special people that have made this country very much a home for me.

The pull of cool water on a hot day draws all sorts of people to the beach. Yesterday the team went to celebrate Miguel's Birthday! Arriving early we accidentally sneaked up on three older Dominican women alone on the beach being relational, giggling, laughing and splashing. As I got closer I noticed three colorful garments lying in the sand, realizing that these beautiful women were topless Ronnie and Miguel went to the car to wait.

 As these women headed to shore, a little embarrassed, one fell over in the sand which caused the other two to follow in hysterics. My first thought, (I am a sinner), "look at the beached whales." Totally mean and critical, but it got me thinking.

If women were created as a beautiful counterpart to Adam, how are we now so ashamed of the beauty in which God created us?

Originally translated, woman in Genesis 2:18 is ezer. Definition- sustainer beside him.

The last thing created, woman was the beauty (man wasn't cutting it). Relational, gentle and a tool of reproduction woman was a huge blessing to Adam. So when did the blessing end? At the Apple?

 I don't intend to solve this problem in one blog. I just want to talk about how the Dominican culture has taken "the beauty" and changed it into something dirty. Walking down the streets of San Juan women are publicly criticized or praised for outward appearances. To the very detail of hips in certain pants, men and women alike will appraise the body. Even 'art' is about the sexuality of women. Never their gentleness or Godly nature. In response Dominican women have protected themselves by hiding or fighting. Hiding usually ends them in abusive relationships, security in number of children or in the back pews of a church. Fighting ends in abusive mothers and neglected children.

 Some women will resort to the church to solve there desire for being needed. That is why many churches services, meetings and events are being lead by 25 and older single women. They are standing up to lead the church and I don't know that this in the long run will be good.

 Please don't mistake this blog as a battle cry to women. What we need here is prayer and love. Pray specifically that these women would learn that they are loved adored and cared for. God can break this stronghold. I would ask that you beg that of Him with me.

Much love, emily

 For those of us that have not seen A Bugs Life, you are missing out and this blog may just confuse you a little bit. So get in your car, go to a movie rental and pick it up so you know what I am talking about. Make sure to bring someone 5 years old or younger with you so that you do not look ridiculous. (That is what I do when I want to play in McDonalds Playplace.)