I have been working on this map for a little while. This is a map that contains the approximate location of RMI’s Sister Churches in Haiti as well as some other points of interest.
This map needs the collaboration of others for locations and pictures. Some locations are quite accurate, others are not. Some pictures have been added, but many more can be added.
You will want to click here to truly view the map and make edits. Have at it…
Rob
View RMI in Haiti in a larger map
RMI Family,
As part of a restructuring for the good of RMI and the Sister Church Program, the RMI Board of Directors is excited to announce that Billy and Debbie Moses will be moving up to the United States so that Billy can continue to serve with RMI as the US Sister Church Partnership Coordinator from here in the United States. Among other responsibilities with RMI, he will continue to remain your main point of contact related to your Sister Church Partnerships. Gary McLaughlin will continue to serve in Haiti as the Haiti Sister Church Partnership Coordinator. Please join with us in prayer as we continue to work out all the details with the Moses (timeline, raising of finances, home location, job descriptions, etc.).This is not a decision that has been easy. RMI has appreciated the ministry of the Moses in Haiti immensely. However, after much thought about the needs of RMI and examination of many variables, as well as considering what would be best for the Moses family, this decision has been made for the good of all involved. The Moses are excited about this new path the Lord is placing in front of them. Continue to pray for them as there are many decisions to be made as shared above that will impact them as a family.
(A note from Billy: All though we are sad to be leaving Haiti, Debbie and I are very excited about the new chapter that God is opening in our lives. Please continue to pray for us as the next couple of weeks will be very stressful and taxing as we tell the RMI Haiti staff goodbye, try to sell house hold items, pack, and travel back to and through the U.S. There are exciting times ahead as well as many challenges. Thanks for all your support in prayer, finances, and friendships. Please continue with that support. We are going on faith that God will provide funds for our move. One time gifts would be a huge help in this endeavor and we would appreciate your prayerful consideration in giving to this financial need. Should you be able to help, please send your gift to RMI designated, “Moses Move”. Thanks so much. Please feel free to contact us if you have any question, or comments.)
Rob Thompson
VP of Operations
Reciprocal Ministries International
Dan and Jules during Dan's June 2009 visit.
Pastor Steve Buerer of Schuylkill Valley Bible Chapel, Schuylkill, Penn. drove over 7 hours one way to visit Jules this week for a couple of days. He sent this update to us:
I arrived in Malden, MA in the early afternoon on Monday but Jules and Martha were not home. I finally made contact with them and learned that Jules had been taken to the emergency room that morning. I found him lying in the hallway of the emergency room in severe pain. For the past four days he has not been able to keep any food and has basically stopped eating. I believe that his situation is very serious.
They did a CAT scan of his abdomen and didn't find anything unusual. He was sent home with a prescription for pain and one for antibiotics. I finally got them back to their apartment at 8:30 PM. Jules was exhausted by then so I went to my motel. I'll go back this morning for a couple of hours and then leave for home around noon.
Jules desperately needs prayer and encouragement. We read scripture and prayed together, talked about old times, and laughed about some of our adventures (remember Jules and the donkey lady on the bridge?).
Both Jules and Martha are scared and alone. They have no Christian friends in the area and no church to minister to them. Please encourage the RMI family, especially the Sister Churches, to reach out to them with prayer, phone calls, letters, and visits when possible. This is a man who faithfully ministered to all of us for so many years. Now it's our turn to minister to him.
God Bless,
Steve
We appreciate Pastor Steve's thoughtfulness, helpfulness and ministry to Jules!! I talked with Pastor Steve and Jules after receiving Pastor Steve's email.
Jules needs 3 things:
1. Above all he needs your prayers. He faces so much right now and feels very alone. Pray that he will feel God's presence and comfort. Pray for the doctors that are treating him, that they will be able to help help deal with the many issues that he has (the chemo, pain, diarrhea, not eating, the cancer, his back, etc.). Pray that he will find fellow believers to visit and uplift him. Pray as he decides about when to return to Haiti. Pray about their financial situation. Pray for Martha's visa issue. They need an extension on it so she can stay with him. Pray that Martha can keep her job in Haiti.
2. He desperately needs your encouragement. As Pastor Steve said, "This is a man who faithfully ministered to all of us for so many years. Now it's our turn to minister to him." Cards are nice, but even more meaningful would be personal letters to him. First tell him who you are, when you went to Haiti (or met him) and what sister church you visited so he has a reference point. Express your appreciation to him for what he has done for you and what he means to you. Share scripture with him. Recall fun incidents and times you had together. Pray with him through the letter. He knows he is gravely ill, but don't pepper him with questions about his illness. Please don't share "cures" or special diets with him. It just wouldn't be helpful to him in his current circumstances.
His address is:
Jules Gedna
150 Sammett St
Malden MA 02148
You can also call him. Remember that he tires quickly, so keep it to a minimum. The guidelines listed above are the same for a phone call. He really doesn't want to talk about his illness. He would enjoy both - phone calls and letters.
His phone is: 321-217-4165
If you are thinking of going to visit him, be prepared to be helpful (driving them wherever they need to go, picking up food or medicine, etc.), to be upbeat and encouraging and to stay at a local hotel. The townhouse where they are staying is very small! Be sensitive to his level of fatigue. He's so polite, he won't come out and say that he needs to rest. Please call me before you go so I can give you additional advice and counsel.
Pastor Steve was able to make contact with former MEBSH President Chavannes Juene who has relatives in the Boston area. His wife, Madame Chavannes, has arranged for a Haitian pastor to visit and they are working to help Haitian believers contact Jules and Martha (the folks where he is staying are Christians). 
He does have Haitian friends come by from time to time. We are thankful that this source of encouragement is in process so their local Haitian network can help uphold them! They need it so much.
3. They need financial help. Even though the hospital is covering his medical treatments, there are many, many expenses that they are incurring that they need help with.
For financial gifts: Make your check out to RMI and include a note designating it for the RMI emergency fund, for Jules Gedna. Do not send him checks directly as it is very difficult for him to get them cashed. RMI is waiving any administration fees for this account at this time. All funds will go toward his expenses and will be forwarded to the family.
Feel free to share this with team members - anyone who may know Jules. We need to flood him with appreciation letters! Let him know that he is loved and cared for.
Thank you for your participation with Jules. We are thankful that he has all of you as friends.
A report from Dan Shoemaker on his trip to visit Jules the third week of June.
Jules is doing “ok” but is still very weak. He can at least get up and walk around very slowly, very gingerly, and in some pain. He has lost a lot of weight and is quite weak. He is on very strong medication for the pain he still has with his back and the cancer so mentally he can’t concentrate on things for long periods of time.
He would love to hear from you from time to time. Feel free to call him as well as send him notes of encouragement, that you are praying for him, etc.. He can read English fairly well or have others translate them for him if needed.
His cell phone is: 321-217-4165.
His address for letters and cards is: Jules Gedna
150 Sammett St
Malden MA 02148
For financial gifts: Send to RMI, with a note designated for RMI emergency fund. Do not send him checks directly as it is very difficult for him to get them cashed. There are many needs that the family has at this time and any donations for them will be greatly appreciated. RMI is waiving any admin fees for this account at this time. All funds will go toward his expenses and will be forwarded to the family. Thanks in advance for your help for them.
Resume of my understanding of his medical condition:
He has Myeloma, blood cell cancer. He has had it for some time evidently. His issues with his back from last summer on were brought on because of the cancer beginning to impact his bones, but it was not recognized as this at that time. Because he has not had full physicals as they would do them here in the States, this was not caught until he came to the States in February. During Feb and March, he underwent many blood tests, x-rays, and cat scans. It was determined that the extreme pain in his back was caused by 2 vertebrae having fractured due to his bones becoming brittle and weak due to the cancer. They wanted to get a biopsy done and start treatment for the cancer asap. However, due to his extreme pain, and nobody available to get him to the hospital he missed a month or more of possible treatment. He was finally admitted to a hospital due to his pain and inability to care for himself in late April or early May. By that time, he had cracked a rib and several more vertebrae. They were finally able to operate on his back and “glued” everything together. He was also started on Chemotherapy. He has improved quite a bit since that time already. He is able to get up and walk around a little. He can very gingerly climb steps, etc., but still under a lot of pain and verrrry slowly.
The Chemo is controlling the cancer. After some time however, the cancer will adapt to the chemo and it will stop being very effective. Then a decision will have to be made about a bone marrow transplant or new meds that now can take the place of the transplant. Both options are VERY, VERY expensive. Right now it seems the hospital is covering the cost of the chemo, but it won’t cover anything else. His chemo has helped quite a bit. He has the hope of continuing to see progress in his health for the next several months. However, it tends to give false hope as it is only a stopgap measure as he is in the last stages of this cancer. So unless God truly does a miracle, the long term outlook is not good for Jules.
Here is a link about this type of cancer: http://rarediseases.about.com/od/multiplemyeloma/a/multiplemyeloma.htm
His situation:
He is staying at a friends apartment. The woman is rarely home so it works out well. It is very very small. His and Martha’s bedroom, very small, is on the second story as is the bathroom. Martha sleeps on an air mattress so that she can sleep as Jules moves around a lot as he is not able to get comfortable on the bed very easily. She has to be there for him all the time as he cannot do much on his own.
My trip to visit him:
I arrived in Boston Thursday night. I went and visited with Jules later that evening. As I arrived there, I had hoped to surprise him but he had suspected something was going on. However, he was truly overjoyed to see me as I him. He had tears flowing down his face. It was great to see him and Martha his wife. I spent about an hour with them and then went back to the hotel as it was late. Pastor Guy Glass from Calvary Church of Pemberton had driven up (6+ hours) to accompany me to visit Jules.
Friday morning Pastor Guy and I took him and Martha to the hospital for his chemo treatment. It was the first time for them at this hospital so it was good that I was there to be able to translate for him and help fill out papers, etc. After that, which took us from 8:30 to about 1:30, we went back to the small apartment they are staying in.
Jules was quite wore out, so we left to go back to the hotel so they could rest some, etc. Then we picked up a couple of buckets of chicken from KFC (one of Jules favorite) and took back to the house. We were glad we did as it was packed with different friends from the area visiting Jules when we got there. It didn’t’ take long for the chicken to disappear! We had a good time hanging with them until late evening.
Saturday we went to the house later in the morning so Jules could rest some. After a while there, Pastor Guy had to head back home. I went out with Martha to get some good Haitian food at a nearby Haitian restaurant as well as some other things for them. I had a good chance to talk to her about many issues they need to be considering as a family. Then back to the house, where Martha left with another friend to pick up her sister and husband that came in on a bus from NJ to visit for a couple of days. At that time I had a good opportunity to talk to Jules about the “new” ministry that God has given him now, a ministry of encouragement to those around him. We talked about the hope we have in Christ, etc and how he needs to be an example of that hope. He seemed encouraged by our discussion together. Then the others came back and we had a great time the rest of the afternoon and evening reminiscing about old times, especially all the jokes we played on each other. It was great! Martha made a big bowl of “Goat in sauce” and rice. OH Yeah! Awesome. I left about 10:00. Every evening as we left we would have a time of prayer together. It was very special.
Over all the trip was a great time of encouragement to Jules and I believe his family. I was very glad to be there and have that time with him.
I (Rob) got a pie in my face. Becky and I (actually, not us, but 13 HFK kids) were the recipients of McGregor’s (our church) VBS offering this past week. There was a “Pie in the Face” contest between the girls and boys. Everyone told me all week that every year the girls win. They were right.
The cool part is that the $3433 that was donated will give 13 kids in Haiti an education this coming school year! That is awesome. Our kids here giving an education to the kids down there.
Each of the 13 kids will be provided with their school tuition, school entrance fee, school books, school uniform, pair of shoes, development of a Hot Lunch Program, a Christian education, and best of all…Hope! How cool.
To our readers, if you would like to sponsor a child for $250 for this coming school year, let us know. I have many more children you can choose from.
For more information on HFK, visit www.rminet.org/hfk
Here is the video of the pie…
Rob
Yes, it's been a busy week at RMI!! The latest edition of RMI's theBridge is in the mail, too. It is jam-packed with news items, useful information and touching stories. Please take time to read it - you'll find that it will be time well spent.
You can also find it at http://www.rminet.org/portal/publications.htm. If you are not on RMI's mailing list and wish to get theBridge to keep informed on the Sister Church Program, get ideas for your Sister Church Partnership and learn about the latest happenings in RMI, please call the RMI office toll-free at 877-RMI-5439.
Debbie
After much work, blood, sweat, tears, and the work of many volunteers, the Hope for Kidz packets for the upcoming 2009-2010 school year are now in the mail.
We are excited about the new look of the materials. We also think you'll be pleased at the new information that is enclosed with each child's packet.
Marilyn McLaughlin and her team in Haiti did a fantastic job of getting the pictures and all the needed info. Rob did a great job of re-designing the new look and all the information that now comes with the packets. There are 3,000 kids up for sponsorship! What a great opportunity to change a child's life forever. Let's pull together to see that each child gets sponsored!
And a special thank you to all of the Hope for Kidz Coordinators. We appreciate your efforts to get the word out and finding these kidz sponsors!
Debbie
From: MEBXH Church at Cherette
To: Estero UMC
Subject: Thank you
My dear beloved,
May the grace and the peace of God be with you all! It is a privilege for me to greet you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Your faces and your love are still shining in our faces and in the minds of all the kids, young people, men and women in Cherette. Our time together stays as memory for our church and the whole community.
We glorify the name of God for putting us together in one spirit through his son Jesus Christ How can I continue without saying thank you for your big sacrifices to come here and for all the projects you did for us. I would like to say thank you for the benches, the electrical project and for the different meetings with the groups in the church. Thank you again for the great sermon that your Pastor \shared with us and thank you for the film that the RMI staff from Cayes helped us to see. That movie was a blessing and comfort for all of us. Thank you for all the gifts that your church sent for us. Right after you left God sent his blessing to the community with some rain to water the soil. I want you to know that your Sister Church here in Cherette will always be praying for you.
We believe that God will send his blessings to each of you and your families and your church Estero United Methodist.
In Christ,
Pastor Jean Bientôt Salomon.
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