A letter from your Sister Church

From: Port Salut Church.

To:  Abbeville Main Street UMC

My name is Jean Edert Pierre.  I am 45 years old.  I am the new Minister at Port Salut Baptist Church that you visited last summer. My wife’s name is Leonne Pierre, she is 45 years old too and she is a teacher. We have three boys: Renaud-Zicky, 12 years; Pherry, 11years old and Dinaud, 5 years.  Like my wife, I was born in a Christian family and our fathers were both Pastors in the same mission as well. I was ten years old when I took Jesus in my heart and since then I’ve been serving Him. I wanted to be a Doctor first and I started studies for that. But not a long time after I started, I heard a special message in my heart from the Lord telling me to heal souls for Him instead; and without contestation, I started my study in theology. Once graduated, I began my ministry.  That was in 1999.

I have a special ministry with the young people. We are praying for a spiritual and social expanding in the Port Salut church and we’d like you to pray with us about this. Our dream is to give assistance to our kids and give possibilities to our young Christians to help them avoid leaving the area to look for a trade or a job elsewhere. Leonne, my wife, is so active and has a special ministry with the ladies and the children’s association in our church. She wants to extend activities in the other churches connected to our pastoral district.

Thanks a lot for being our sister church. Let’s work together for the glory of the Lord. Like it is said in the book of Colossians 3:23, “let’s do everything we have to do not for men but the Lord.”

In the name of the whole congregation, we’re sending our love to each one of you.

May our Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you all!

Pastor:  Jean Edert Pierre and family

A letter from your Sister Church

From:  Cance Baptist Church

To:  Our Sister Church, Great Valley Presbyterian Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

May the Grace and the Peace of God be with you.

The Deacons of Cance Baptist Church congratulate you for the good work you did here in the church while Pastor Borel Geneste was here as Pastor of the church, and also they would like to take this opportunity to inform you that the church has a new Pastor.

My name is Pastor Maxilorme Moise, and my wife’s name is Nadine Herard Moise and she is a nurse. We have four boys and we live in the parsonage of the church with them.  My goal is to continue with the Ministry of the Lord in the Cance area.

The names of my boys are Max Herard Moise, Hendell Moise, Karl Eddy Moise and the youngest one is Lee Sebastien Moise. Please, we would like you to pray for me and my family so that God can guide us and help us to work better for his ministry.

We count on your collaboration and Cance Baptist Church is going to keep you in their prayers.

For the committee:

George Jean Stenio Laurejoie Marcelin

Maxelorme Moise Pastor.

A letter from your Sister Church

From: Picot Baptist Church

To: Trinity Bible Church

I am very happy to share with you some information about our family, church and activities. We are doing well here by the grace of the Lord. My wife who was very sick is doing better now, but she still needs your prayer. The church is working well too; the Christians always come to church to worship. We always have four services each week. Sunday morning we have the worship service, evangelism service on Sunday night, and prayer service on Tuesday night, and Bible study every Thursday.  We have a Caleb group which are the men in the church,.  They meet every Friday from 4 pm to 5 pm, and we also have the woman group that meet every Saturday morning from 8 am to 9:30 am, we have the youth group that meet every Sunday afternoon. We have one more choir in the church; it has 30 people and they meet every Saturday.

This year we did not have a good start with the school because we did face two big Hurricanes “Dean” and “Noel”.   The Christians lost their animals, their livestock and the rain damaged their houses.  Because of those problems they could not send their kids to school this year. We have only 269 students this year and last year we had 400 students.  That is a big difference.

This year we had three conventions for the members.  We had one in Picot, one in Laroche and the last one we had it in Les Rois. I want to inform you that my oldest daughter is going to get married on December 28^th, 2007 and she is going to marry a pastor’s son name Obed Jean Pierre. Now in our church, we are out of electricity because the company that used to provide energy in our area has some problems with their materials.  So our church has no electricity.  Please pray for us so that we can buy a generator for the church. And finally we had two members Desino and Mrs. Fleurimon that were paralyzed who died last month.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2008.

Pastor Calixte Dorval

A letter from your Sister Church

From:  Baradere Church.

To: Creekside Community Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Creekside Community Church,

May the grace and the peace of Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!

Today I am very happy today for having this chance to write you this letter. How are you doing?  The activities you have in your church, how is it going for you in Gainesville? I hope you had a good and safe trip back to the US. Even though you had a lot of rain when you were on your way back to Les Cayes, God did take care of you and allowed you to have a good trip. I want to inform you that we had two big Hurricanes in Haiti after you left; it was “Dean” and “Noel”. Even though it was raining we had good worship services where we had two more people accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We had good Sunday school every morning. We also have another brother in the church; he is here to help us with difference activities.

From October 19^th to November 6^th, the village of Baradere was flooded under water. We had many problems here, The Christians lost everything they had, we have 20 houses that were totally destroyed, and 30 in need of repair. We had a lady in the church who died due to the hurricanes. Please pray for the people in this town because now they are in need. We believe by prayer God can do miracles for the people in Baradere. We count on your prayers and we are going to do the same thing for you here.

In the name of all the Christians at Baradere Baptist Church, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year in 2008.

Pastor Leon Bonhomme  

A letter from your Sister Church

From       : Les Irois Baptist Church

To           : Harper EFC Church

Subject    : Greeting and Information

Dear Brothers and Sisters.

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am very happy today for the great opportunity that I have to write you and share with you some information about my church here in Les Irois. Before going further, I would like to ask you, how are you doing in your church? I hope you are doing great by the precious name of Jesus Christ. In the name of all the members of Les Irois’s Baptist church I would like to say thank you for the team that you sent here during the summer. It was a blessing for us here in the church, especially for all the people in Les Irois. I want you to keep that in mind that the Les Irois Baptist Church is praying for you every day so that God will bless you and take good care of your family.

Thank you very much for helping us last year with the kids, we are so happy to see how you are care about our kids here in les Irois. This year again we begin the school with 235 students and we still count on your prayer and your help for the year of 2008 and 2009. Also pray for the carnival retreat we will have in February where all of the youth will be in another place to worship, eat and play together.

I want to inform you that, we did face two big Hurricanes for the last two months, “Dean” and “Noel”. The Christians lost all their gardens, their animals, some of them lost their houses. We had 8 houses that were destroyed totally and 20 of them need to be repaired, especially the Pastor’s house in Mandou which was totally destroyed during the hurricanes.  As a big request, please pray for all the people because they are in needed now, they do need your prayer.

We are waiting for your coming next in 2008 for the Seminar and we hope that God will send his blessing upon you and allow you to have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2008.

May God bless you and protect you all!

Pastor Jean Sainpreval

A letter from your Sister Church

From:        Lievre Baptist Church

To:            Lakeline Church

Subject:    Information

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May the grace and the peace of God be with you all!  And we greet you in the precious name of Jesus Christ.

I am very happy today to inform you about our activities here in Lievre, and also talk to you about the school. This year we started the school with 200 students and they were very happy to be back in school because this is one of the best place the kids can be to prepare for their future. We are so grateful for the way you helped us last year and we want to let you know that your help was very important for us here.  We are going to pray God for you so that you can be able to help us again this year. May God bless you for that!

About the activities we had during the year, they were successful by the power of the Holy Ghost. We had a convention for the members at the Dolet Church; we also had another convention for our members of Lievre Baptist Church. We will also have some programs at the end of this year. We will have a meeting with all the ladies and we are going to have a week of service in the church just to celebrate the coming of the New Year.

As information, we did face two big hurricanes here in Haiti in the last two months. The Christians lost everything they had, like animals, gardens and houses; we have a side of the church that was destroyed too by the hurricanes.

I will pray God for your church so that He can send His blessing upon you. Also I have to take this advantage of this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

For the committee:  Pastor Philistin Dyedilem.

                              Deacon Michel

                              Director of the school:  Tony Bonifas   

A letter from your Sister Church

From     : Baraderes Baptist Church

    To         : Creekside Community Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May the Grace and the peace of God be with you! I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are very happy to write you this letter just to let you how we were happy to receive the team here in Baraderes. Before going further, I would like to say hello to Pastor Richard, Pastor Toby, and Pastor James and especially to all the members in Creekside Community Church in Florida. I send a lot of greeting from my church here in Baraderes and they say thank you for everything you did for them. Thank you again for the team that your church sent here in October to visit us. We feel blessed by them while they were here in different activities they did such as Dr. Clint and the animal clinic, the evangelism services, and especially the good work that Doctor John did here while he was in Baraderes. Thank you very much for the way your church is motivated to help our kids in the program, because I do realize without you it will be hard for them to attend school.

Thank you very much again for the sound system and new generator that you sent for us. We really appreciate everything that Creekside Church did for us. We do know that we don’t have anything to give you back but we want to let you know that you are in our thoughts and our prayers everyday.

Once again thank you very much for everything that you did for us. May God send his blessings upon each of you abundantly!

Pastor Leon Bonhomme

Rob and Becky's November Slice Available...

See it here.

More Southern Haiti Flooding Info

Dan is in Haiti and sent the following report:  "The palm trees are swaying in the tropical breeze but it's RAINING BUCKETS!  Again!  Southern Haiti has had almost steady rain for more than a month and a half.  Tropical Storm Noel contributed quite a bit of rain and there is more disturbed weather in the Caribbean coming this way.  All this rain has created incredible hardships on a people that are already struggling for their day to day existence.  Most crops have been lost - especially tough since the Les Cayes plain area is the "breadbasket" of Haiti.  Animals have been swept away.  Commerce in the outlaying areas has ground to a halt because supplies cannot be brought from the capital to Cayes and then trucks cannot get out to the areas they service.  Everything people own is soaking wet, water is inside their flimsy homes (some homes have actually been swept away or are covered in water), sickness is increasing and there is much hunger.  Pray for the people!"

Dan went in Wed. Oct. 31 to help prepare for a team from Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church (Chicago area) who were to go in today.  Their Sister Church, Astruc, is very remote.  It is in the mountains in the middle of the southern peninsula.  The Sister Church pastor sent word that the river they must cross to get there is completely impassable.  It's way over people's heads.  Also, the road leading to the river has been washed away in 3 places.   The trip to this church is usually pretty tough in dry conditions.  Rain turns the road to a muddy clay mixture that is truly difficult to get through. 

After consulting with Dan, the US team decided to cancel the trip.  It was clear that they wouldn't be able to get to the church.  We are all very disappointed needless to say, but it is a wise decision.  They have rescheduled their trip for January.  Things should be dried out by then!

Rob was to go in with the team too.  Of course, he is not going now, but may still go to Haiti next week to work on the bookkeeping system.  We'll keep you up to date on that once his plans are clear.

At this point, we have no word from any of the other sister churches.  They will work at that once things dry out and navigation is possible.

Here are some photos that Jenn Rogan (RMI missionary) took 2 weeks ago as they traveled back from a Sister Church.

This is a road!  They had to manually build a new section to get around the boulders!

Well, it WAS a road!

RMI staff checking to see if that part of the road was passable.

 

Jenn, Dan and some RMI staff took these pictures yesterday:

  

The river in Les Cayes, near the mission center, called La Ravine.

Notice the wet high water mark on the house!

  

A couple of missionary friends (not RMI) also sent information and photos.  Where one of them live, at the top of the mountains in the middle of Haiti's southern peninsula, they personally recorded over 19 inches of rain and 70 mph winds.  Here are the pictures they sent:

To go, or not to go, Pray for Haiti...

The flooding persists.  TS Noel has come and gone, but the rain has not.  I may or may not be going to Haiti today as planned.  A decision will be made in the next couple of hours.  So sad if I and the team from Chicago can't go!  Up to this point, the road to the village I would be visiting is impassable due to a raging river that we need to cross (there is no bridge. so the water levels must decrease, and the mud must dry out enough so that our 4 wheel drive vehicles can navigate across).

Here is a picture from 2 days ago with the kind of destruction that is so common due to the rains.  This is not the road I was to take, but it gives you an idea as to what the rains have done.  This is a very, and I mean very typical sight.

Rob

Moving forward...

Yesterday at RMI, we had the opportunity to meet with Dale Janzen.  He is not only a design and marketing expert, but he is an "alumnus" of multiple trips to Haiti to visit his sister church through RMI.  When it comes to RMI, he just gets it.

We recently had the RMI logo redone by Rich Cerrina.  He did a great job.  Thanks Rich.  Now, it is time to take the next step.

Dale is co-founder of the degaje group, a design/marketing group based in the North West suburbs of Chicago (Bartlett). 

He flew down for a few days to chat and collaborate.  We talked at great length about the development of a whole scheme to communicate/promote RMI.  We talked about brochures, displays (see below), video, web, etc.  Pretty much everything you can think of when it comes to communicating RMI.  He is obviously very talented, experienced and aware of the issues.  Very cool. Very exciting indeed.

Display?  You know, one of those things that orgs use to put on a table to sort of draw you in?  There are all kinds of designs.  We need a redo!  Our's doesn't exactly "draw you in".  Not that long ago, I went to a missions conference at a college and got out my "display".  I sort of already knew it didn't really cut it, but it is all we had.  I didn't realize what I was up against!  A few tables down from me was a "display", that included a 50" flat widescreen TV, running this very cool/edgy/hip video that certainly drew people in and drew people away from all the other sub-par displays.  Now I am not saying we need to be wacky crazy edgy, but I am saying we can do better.  We may not have a plasma, but we sure can provide a reputable presentation.

I can't wait.

Rob

A Reciprocal Pat on the Back...

John Peterson, a member of Second Cape May Baptist, in Cape May NJ, writes...

"Just wanted to say hello and let you know that our work group from 2^nd Cape had a productive and enjoyable trip last week in Cayes, Haiti.  We got a lot done at the guest house and when we left the inverter and generator were once again fully operational and there were several new ceiling fans, outlets, toilet paper holders door knobs, screens etc.. It was truly a joy and a privilege to be able to serve in some small way in the ministry there."

He continued...

"I have been reading the web site and blogs and think that they are an excellent tool for information sharing.  Tell whoever is responsible to keep up the good work."

Thanks John, and a "Great Job" back at you and the rest of your team for the work you did at the Guest House in Haiti!

Rob

Baradere visit, wow...

Good Morning,

Just a quick note to let you know that we were out of Baradères and now at the retreat center. It was a bit of a struggle but we made it with the help of God. It started raining sometime in the night and was raining hard from at least 3 am on. We left at 8:20 am with water about 1 to 2 feet on the road coming out of Baradères. It was still raining hard too. I wanted to get going before it was too high. We had to cross 2 high rivers that were running fast and hard but not too wide. We had to move large rocks from the road and build a wall on the downhill side of the road so we could get around bigger rocks that were too big to move. Wow Baby!! That was interesting. We prayed that God would help us to get past this spot before we started building. It took about 3 hours to get that situation taken care of but we all worked together to make it happen. There was singing, dancing and praises to God after we got all the vehicles through. I was told by the RMI staff that it was the first time we ever had to do what we did that morning. After the slide area and the road work we had a large truck on it's side but there was enough room on the side to get by with no problem. Praise God! We stopped by Bon Fin to drop off some things there and to pick up Jenn's new puppy. We heard that we had the road washed away at the bottom of the mountain where the dry (normally) river is with the market. We were told it was not a good situation and if we couldn't pass it we could come back and spend the night there. We decided to go take a look and if we could fix it we would. When we got there a ramp of dirt and road had already been made and so we crossed with no big problem. Just the normal yelling on the behalf of the Haitians that built the ramp. I think they wanted money to cross on their ramp. I let Jules handle that and got back in my truck and we all drove across. So, I just want to give you some information at this time to let you know we are in good shape here. It was a good trip. I think everything went pretty good. The weather here at the retreat center now is much better. The sun is out this morning and the day is looking good. Pray that the rains stop for a little while. Its been raining so hard.

Love You All,

In Christ,

Gary

Flooding hits Southern Haiti

It has been a week of storms and flooding in Southern Haiti.     Monday, Oct. 1, they experienced the most severe flooding with roads, homes and parts of downtown Cayes (Haiti's 3rd largest city) completely under water, however, the rains and thunder / lightening storms have continued all week.  As of today, Oct. 9, it has been raining for 9 straight days.  The mission center (located in the village of Simon, a suburb of Cayes) where RMI's missionaries live is located on 2 hilltops, so their homes were not flooded.  However, here are pictures of the village immediately surrounding the mission center.  That's 2 1/2 ft. of water in the local Christian high school yard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is downtown Cayes, Haiti.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Harvest missionary kid Christie Wray for sharing these photos with us!

At this point, due to the flooding, we have heard reports of crop and livestock loss, as well as home, business and road damage.  We have not heard from any "outback" sister churches as to how this has affected them.  When we hear news, we will post it.

 

Debbie Shoemaker

Flooding hits Southern Haiti

It has been a week of storms and flooding in Southern Haiti.     Monday, Oct. 1, they experienced the most severe flooding with roads, homes and parts of downtown Cayes (Haiti's 3rd largest city) completely under water, however, the rains and thunder / lightening storms have continued all week.  As of today, Oct. 9, it has been raining for 9 straight days.  The mission center (located in the village of Simon, a suburb of Cayes) where RMI's missionaries live is located on 2 hilltops, so their homes were not flooded.  However, here are pictures of the village immediately surrounding the mission center.  That's 2 1/2 ft. of water in the local Christian high school yard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is downtown Cayes, Haiti.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Harvest missionary kid Christie Wray for sharing these photos with us!

At this point, due to the flooding, we have heard reports of crop and livestock loss, as well as home, business and road damage.  We have not heard from any "outback" sister churches as to how this has affected them.  When we hear news, we will post it.

 

Debbie Shoemaker

Letter from Picot to Trinity Bible

September 14^th, 2007

From       : Picot Baptist Church.

To           : Brothers and Sisters in Louisiana.

My friends, brothers and sisters in Louisiana Church, the committee in Picot Baptist Church greet you in the precious name and savior Jesus Christ. My name is Pastor Calixte Dorval who wants to talk to you in the name of my church and in the name of all the districts. It been a long time I did not write you. Now here I am to share with some information about church. Those information are not only for my church but for the district since you left last February.

How were your activities doing over there in Louisiana? Your family, for us over here in Haiti we are doing well with Jesus Christ. My families and I are doing well and they are doing well in school too. Anne Netty my oldest daughter she just graduate to college, she took science administration. Sthephenson my son, he is in second years in college where he studying Agro forestry, Recameline, she is in a nursing school and Sandia my youngest daughter, she is in Rheto grades in secondary school. Gracieuse my wife’s sister went to Port-au-Prince to study economy. And also Anne Netty was engage with young man and she will get married on December 29^th, 2007. My wife always sick, she always has a pain in her knee, I did visit many doctors with her but I can not find a better solution. For myself, Last May I was in Florida especially in Fort Lauderdale. I was invited there by different pastors who did ask me to preach for them.

Everything is working well in Picot’s church. Our activities are working well, the Christians always come to church for worship, we always meet for Sunday school, we have service Sunday night, prayer service Tuesday night and bible study on Thursday night. Every Wednesday morning from 5am to 6am the ladies in the church always meet for a prayer service. We always have meeting with the deacons and the members meeting every month. Also I would like to inform about one of the Lady in the church who died. She was Mrs. Medes Mother. We did not have a good year of school because there are many parents who did not have their kids sponsored by compassion and they can not pay the tuition. We have some teachers who left us and go to teach in other school for more money. This year we had 51 kids who took the official exam 31 of them pass the exam. We count on God for this year to provide us more funds for the school so that we can have a better year.

We had three conventions for the members in the district where we met with a large amount of people to praise God. We will have another one in December in Mahotière Church. I want to inform you that Pastor la Fleur who was the pastor there is not there because MEBSH transfer him to the Childcare office, now the new pastor is Samson Louis. About the evening service we always have difficulty because we have a problem of electricity there, we do need a generator. Now I have problem in my eye and I already have an appointment with doctor for operation, please pray for me. We had some work we would like to do at the end of this year like finish with platform (pulpit) of the church and some work we would like to do at the church.

Our prayer request are: Pray for Anne Netty as I told you earlier she is going to get married on December, pray for us because we need a Sound System and Generator for the church. Pray for my wife because she is not doing well, prays for all the parents so that they can find money to pay for their children.

Thank you for the money you sent for the district and we want to let you know that we did receive it.

Pastor Calixte Dorval and the deacons of Picot’s Church.

Letter from Morency to Sunrise

                                                                                                  September 10^th, 2006

From         :  Pastor Jean Robert Brunache

To             :  Reciprocal Ministries International.

Object       :  Greeting and Presentation.

Dear brothers and Sisters in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

       May the grace and the peace of God be with you? I would like to inform you that, I am the one who did replace Pastor Daniel Elliassaint since august the 28^th  in Morency Baptist church. I am very happy with the work that you did in Morency while Pastor Daniel was there as your sister church.

Then, I am very happy to continue with the Ministry that God ask me to do. I already visit the Christians of the church, also I had meeting with the members, I had a bible study and prayer service.

Those are the members’ name of my family:

Jemima Brunache                        : 20 years

Roberto Brunache                       : 17 years

Roberta Brunache                       : 15 years

Nephtalie Brunache                    : 11 years

Rood-kelly-Ernst Brunache        : 3 years.

My wife’s name is Ternecia louisaint

Roselore Pierrelouis she leaves with my family

Pastor jean Robert Brunache your collaborator

      We pray for you everyday so that God can use you as he wants to do his work.

May god bless you abundantly?

                    Pastor Jean Robert Brunache

Rain Rain go away...

We have been dealing with a deluge of rain, making travel difficult.  Pray for the rains to subside.

A picture is worth...

"Words once dominated Western culture, but now images are changing everything from our theology and preaching to the way our brains process information."  Shane Hipps, Leadership Summer 2007

"Visualcy?" (credit Andy Crouch)  There are all kinds of pitfalls here I am sure, but I am quite intrigued.  So, here is my sermon for the day...

Rob

Exciting News

Dear Family, Friends & Supporters,

We want to share with you an exciting opportunity!  RMI leadership wants us, as the Haiti Field Director, to have the best resources to better serve the US churches, national church leaders and the RMI missionaries, and to this end, they have requested that we come off the field for 3 months in 2007 and a college semester in 2008 returning to Haiti in late spring.  The goal is to get professional training to provide us with additional tools to enhance our leadership skills.  The RMI leadership is designing a program for our professional and personal enrichment which will include personal mentoring, a series of seminars including spiritual transformation, leadership development, lay counseling training and formal Bible and theology education courses.

We are working with the RMI leadership to put in place a good plan of action to cover the successful operation of the field in our absence.  We have good national and missionary staff that can step into the gap and feel confident that our responsibilities will be able to be fulfilled while we take this hiatus.

There are many details being worked out at this writing. At this point, it looks like we’ll be leaving Haiti on October 3^rd, 2007 to begin this training.  The girls will be coming with us, of course, bringing their school work with them.  It will mean some travel for us, much study, hard work, and a lot of faith.  It’s a new adventure - one that we are very excited about and feel ready for.  It is a huge step of faith as well.  We will need your continued financial support more than ever during these months.  The seminars and Bible college training are costly as well as there will be travel and living expenses to cover.  Equally, we earnestly desire your prayers for us!  We want to make the most of this opportunity.  Pray that the Lord would bring the myriad of details into place, that He would give us peace of mind and clarity of thought as we prepare to leave.

 

Here is our schedule as we see it now:

October 3, 2007 ~ Depart Haiti headed to Florida

October 4, 2007 ~ Leave Florida and head for Texas

October 8, 2007 ~ Arrive in Texas – Savana & McKenna will be staying with family until the end of October. This will give us an opportunity to get the first two weeks of training done and get settled into being “students” again.

October 10, 2007 ~ Billy & Debbie leave Texas and drive to Atlanta, Georgia

October 14-28, 2007 ~ First two weeks of training

October 28 ~ Savana & McKenna fly to Atlanta to join Billy & Deb

October 30 – Nov. 16 ~ Next 3 weeks of training

November 17 - 25 ~ Thanksgiving break we will be with friends in Cape May, New Jersey

November 26 – Dec. 14 ~ Last 3 weeks of training in Georgia

Dec. 18 - ? ~ Travel to Dallas, Texas for Christmas with family

January ? ~ Begin classes at Columbia International University (CIU) in Columbia, South Carolina

Late May ~ Return to Haiti

A note from the RMI Vice President of International Development:

It is respectfully requested that inquiries concerning other communication with Billy and Debbie regarding their response, progress or frustration level be limited to their immediate supervisor and the RMI President. They need to remain isolated from all outside distractions from family (except children), friends, and fellow workers, superiors in mission and church as much as possible for maximum impact to be accomplished. This is especially true from October 14 through December 18, 2007. All must recognize that participants will be fully engaged from morning until night with classes, meetings and home assignments that require full concentration. The week of October 14-20, it is critical that no contacts should transpire from any source or originate from them to the outside unless it is brief regarding their children. They should plan in advance not to be producing blogs,  be responding to email, sending email or receiving incoming calls about work on the field or about anything else, unless from the President of RMI from October 14 through October 29. From October 30-December 18, extremely limited communication to or from Billy and Debbie must be observed.  We do not believe this to be necessary during the semester planned at CIU. They will be able to breathe from November 17 through November 25 for Thanksgiving break and later for a Christmas break. Some assignments will need to be accomplished over these holidays.

This legalistic sounding statement is full of love even though it appears to be written by a hard nosed lawyer sitting on nails. I apologize for legalistic language but believe this is such an important venture for Billy and Debbie and an expensive investment that every care must be taken to assure their success.

Coreano Newsletter available...

Enrique and Chrissie Coreano just sent out their most recent e-newsletter.  If you want to join their mailing list, visit their website at www.coreanofamily.com.

Rob

A final note on our weekend in Columbia, SC...We were also able to visit the Coreano's home church while they were at CIU, North Trenholm Baptist Church.  Dan was able to say a few words and a final prayer for both of their Sunday a.m. services as well as was generously given the whole Sunday School class time to share at the Coreano's Young Couples Sunday School class.  This was followed by a great Mexican meal at a restaurant with most of the folk from NTBC that recently went to Guatemala.  NTBC is a new sister church and they just had their first visit in June!  They shared their experiences, what impressed them the most as well as their photos and some funny stories.  We really enjoyed spending time with them.

Ministry Trip to CIU

Dan and I are back in the office after a 6 day ministry trip.  We attended homecoming at Columbia International University (our alma mater, class of 1980) in Columbia, South Carolina.  It was a fun weekend.  This year they hosted a reunion of the school's singing group, True Life Company, that represented CIU in the 1970's.  Dan sang and played trumpet for TLC for 2 years while he was a student.  True Life Company members sang and provided the worship for all the different meetings and venues that took place this weekend.   It was great as we re-connected with classmates and friends, most of whom we hadn't seen for more than 20 years.  Frank and Kay Fry, RMI's VP of International Development, were there as well.  Frank was TLC's producer in the early 1970's and Kay played violin.  Here, they are chatting with CIU president, Dr. Bill Jones.  We were able to share with quite a few people about RMI and its ministries.  We also made some significant contacts that will help us within the administration of RMI, possibly in the area of providing counseling for missionary staff. 

 

We were surprised to meet 2 CIU alumni from our own area, Ft. Myers!  We plan on getting together in the near future and see how we can enhance each other's ministries.  If nothing else, we will enjoy the fellowship of fellow CIU folks.

 

On a personal note, we were able to spend time with Deb's mom while we were there since that is where we stayed.  We also had a brief time with Deb's sister, Marti and her husband, Frank Bedell (CIU's Director of Development).

 

Dawn is doing well.  She is a junior at Evangelical Christian School in Ft. Myers.  She is having a blast playing varsity volleyball for ECS.  The team is a state championship team and are doing very well.  As a 2A school, they are beating many 5A schools in the area!  Her position is middle blocker (for those of you who are volleyball savvy) and at 5'11", she has a good vertical jump on her that helps her do a fairly good job!

 

Devon is living and working in Dallas.  Dan saw him recently and was able to spend some time with him.  He's doing well and we are proud of him being able to maintain a good Christian witness in his work environment. 

 

Oh, also, be looking for the link to our new personal blog!  We hope to have it up and running soon.  I know, I know, we should have done it quite a while ago, but we are old dogs learning all these new tricks!

Guatemala Pictures: Part 2

   If you didn't see the first post, scroll down!  You can also see all the pictures at www.robandbecky.com/family/pictures.htm (you will need to scroll down to find the Guatemala pictures).

 

Carrie and Susan setting up the army cots in the church.

Julie helped me organize the pharmacy the first day.  The drugs were organized on 2 army cots.  We had more than what you see, I just only put out a few bottles of each thing.

Chrissy, RMI missionary and a nurse, and Carol at the first station of medical clinic doing triage: Checking vital signs and getting the patients chief complaint.

Dr's Susan and Trevor seeing patients.

We made sure to pray or present the gospel to each patient that came thru before they got their medications.  Here Julie and RMI missionary, Brandon, are sharing.

  Here's me counseling a patient on how to take their medications.  I had a Spanish translator, Alexis, but the pastor of our sister church, Javier, was often translating the Spanish into Mam.  many of the people are illiterate, so we had pictures to remind them how to take their medications.  It was important to make sure they understood before they left.

   

Carrie Jumped right in the kitchen as helped some of the ladies prepare meals.  Julia is on the left and Delphina on the right.

All the babies are carried like this on backs!  The ladies just go about their work.  Older siblings often carried their younger siblings like this on their backs as well.

 

There is going to have to be a Part 3!

Becky

Guatemala Pictures: Part 1

I have been busy since I got back from my trip to Guatemala!  Sorry I haven't posted pictures sooner!  You can see all the pictures I took here www.robandbecky.com/family/pictures.htm and go to the Guatemala album.  Here are a few from the first few days of the trip:

Below is a view from the roof balcony of the RMI guesthouse in Xela, about a 5 hours drive from Guatemala City. 

We were relieved to get to such a comfortable place after such a long day of travel.

Saturday we spent at the RMI guesthouse reorganizing our supplies for the trip out to the aldea (village) the next day.  In the afternoon we went to the market in Xela to get some last minute supplies.  We also went to purchase a new skirt and top as a gift for our sister church pastors wife. 

Below is just one picture of the colorful market.

Julie and I had to get a picture taken with the vegetables at market-- look at that head of cauliflower!  Huge! 

All the vegetables in the regions were monstrous! (And all sold in the open air market or off the side of the road)  The large produce is due to the volcanic soil prevalent in the region.

On our way to the Aldea we stopped at a lookout by the side of the road and snapped a group picture!  This over looks Comitancillo and was about 30 minutes from out sister church.

 

Check out this chicken bus! 

The roads from Xela to our sister church in Chipel were steep and mostly dirt roads.

 

We've arrived at our sister church!  The van can't drive the road that leads to the church, so we walk there, about a 1/2 mile?.  A group from the church-- lots of kids-- meets us at the bottom of the road and walks up with us.

A picture of our sister church.  So much ministry happened in that building that week!

Need I say more?

I'll send another batch in the next few days of the rest of the trip!

Becky

Pray for Dan, Debbie, Frank and Kay...

They will be attending homecoming ceremonies at their Alma Mater, Columbia International University (formerly Columbia Bible College) in Columbia, SC.  While enjoying the festivities and catching up with old friends, they will be representing and sharing all about RMI.  They left today, Sept. 9 and return home Sept 17.

Rob

New Receipt..

If you have donated very recently, you may be one of the first to see our newly designed receipt.  We are very excited about all the upgrades and changes around here recently!  If you haven't donated, then I guess you will miss out on seeing the receipt!  Now there is motivation for giving (wink wink)!

Rob

Sweat and Tears...

Kingdom work.  It is why we are here. 

When kingdom work gets tough, my first response is to internalize, stomp my foot and get frustrated.  It is easy for me to forget that we are constantly being refined (as long as we are walking with him).  It is so easy for things to get out of perspective.  Refiner's Fire.  You know the song.  My heart's one desire?  Yes or No.  In the midst of it all, I am being refined to be a purer more able servant.  It is easy to get discouraged.  We are here to see Jesus glorified and his kingdom further established, not ourselves or our own.

God is at work friends.  Are you involved in kingdom work?

Rob

Hurricane Felix in Guatemala?

Here is a quote form our missionary in Guatemala...

"Well, don't worry too much as Felix has been down graded to a tropical depression.  We have received advisories from the US embassy that we should expect heavy rainfall.  So far, it is a beautiful sunny day today.  So, we will wait and see.  The rain is expected to start here sometime tonight through Thursday. 

Thanks for the prayers and we will let you know what else happens.

God Bless,

Chrissie"

Rob

McGregor Baptist Home Safely from Guatemala...

Our team from McGregor Baptist Church visiting their church in Chipel, Guatemala has arrived back home safely.  Here is an excerpt from an email we received...  One of the team members said "God truly blessed us in so many ways as we grew in our love for our Sister Church Members who served us so preciously!"

Praise the Lord.

Rob

Hurricane Dean

As I understand it, the church members at Port a Piment came through the hurricane with no loss of life. They had several gardens that were completely distroyed and there were a few animals that were killed. There were quite a few houses that received damage too.

This is just a quick update on the church at Port a Piment.

Pastor Yvon Vertue

I have gotten some info on the new pastor for the Port a Piment Church.

His name is a Pastor Yvon Vertue. Pastor Vertue is married with 3 children. They have 1 boy and 2 girls. His wife's name is Benita Vertue.

Pastor Vertue studied in Borlosse School in Port-au-Prince and has been working for MEBSH as a pastor for 19 years. He has pastored 5 churches. The last church he pastored was in Bonn Finn where there is a big hospital.

Pastor Vertue sends his greetings and wants you to know that he is eager to work with RMI and the 2nd Cape May Baptist Church in the siter church relationship.

Pastor Letter

I just received this letter from Pastor Daniel Eliassaint. This is his farewell letter as he has left the church to serve in another area of Haiti. As soon as I can, I will post an introductory letter from the new pastor at Morancy.

August 14th, 2007


From : Pastor Daniel Eliassaint.
To : RMI’s Director and Staff.


Dear brothers.

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The reason I write this letter to you is to inform you that I am not serving as Pastor of the Morency church at all because the Committees of MEBLH sent me to another church in Anse-dhainault. I will leave Morency at the end of August.

I would like to say thank you to all the RMI staff for the good work they did in Morency while I was there as Pastor. A special thank to the Director of RMI Mr. Billy Moses for his work and the way he took care of me as Director of RMI. I hope that God will protect you in the work that he gives you to do.

I will pray for you and I hope you’ll do the same for me.

May the Lord who has all the power send his blessing upon you?

Pastor Daniel Eliassaint

Lievre Baptist Church

I received this letter from the Baptist Church in Lievre. Please share it with those interested in your sister church program in Haiti.

Lièvre Baptist Church.

August14th, 2007.

From: Lievre Baptist Church.
To : Lakeline Church.

Dear brothers and sisters.

I greet you in the name of our savior Jesus Christ. I‘m very happy to write you today just to share with some important things about our church.

Our church is working well with the blessings of God. As spiritual activity, we have a service in the church every Tuesday morning. We always have bible study every Thursday night. Each month, we have a meeting with all the pastors in the district and a meeting with all the members every month.

This month we will have revival in the church from August 9th – 12th. We had evangelism from house to house where we talked to 100 people and they accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. We would like to ask you to pray for those people so that they stay in the gospel of Christ. We will have a day of service for the youth in the entire district and finally we will have a convention for entire membership on August 24th.

We would like to say thank you for the support you gave the school so that they will have a good year. We had about 80% of students pass the exam this year. We ask you to please pray for the school as we will open it on September 10th.

Once again we greet you and say thank you for everything you do for us in Lièvre Baptist Church. We want to let you know that you are always in our thought and our prayers.

May God bless you and your family?

For the committee: Pastor Pierre Philistin Dieu dilème.
Michel Moreau.
Luckner Lapierre.

Dame Marie Church letter

This is a letter I received from Pastor Mentor and the church members at the Dame Maire Baptist Church. Please share it with your members that are interested.

From: The Baptist Church at Dame-Marie

August7th, 2007

To: Rev. Guy Glass and all the members that were here with us in Dame-Marie last July.

Dear Pastor Glass.

All the members of The Dame-Marie Baptist Church, and all the deacons, the women groups, the staff of the teachers of the school of Dame-Marie joined together with me and my family to greet all of you in the precious name of our savior Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope that your trip back home to the State went well without any difficulty. I hope that all the members that were here with team in Dame-Marie returned to their families safely and with lot of joy. The days that we passed together here are still fresh in my mind. From all the community of Dame-Marie for good time of blessing we say thank you to God for that. I bless the name of the Lord because he gave you a sincere love and let you come here in Haiti for the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks again to God who put in the heart of the members of Calvary Baptist to work in partnership with Dame-Marie church in Haiti as two sister churches. Keep praying for one another.

All the community of Dame-Marie Baptist church meet together to say thank you for all the gifts you brought for the church. The cookies that you left for the ladies have been received with a lot joy. The gifts that you gave to the widows were excellent and we will never forget that. Thank you for the sound system you gave for the church. We continue to pray for you and your church so that God will allow you accomplish the big project that you have of installing an elevator. As you know all the money, gold, and diamonds are God’s. I’m sure God is able to make this happen in His time.

My wife and I, and all the members of Dame-Marie Baptist Church are very happy to continue working with you in the relationship that God between both churches for the glory of the Lord. The deacons and the members are in prayer for the big project we have in front of us. I hope that God will provide money so we can begin building the new parsonage.

From August 19th to 26th we will have a week of evangelism in the community of Dame-Marie. We hope to win many souls for Jesus Christ. Finally I would like to ask you to say hello to your wife for me. I am looking forward to meeting her some day.

I send a greeting to all the brothers and sisters that were here with us last July. Dear Pastor Glass I charge you to greet for me all my brothers and sisters that I have met this year in Dame-Marie. At the end, I would like to ask you to pray for RMI board in Haiti especially, Director Billy Moses, Jules Gedna and Pastor Jean Chery so that they work together in love and patient for the glory of God. We hope that brother Daniel Shoemaker will continue to work under the power of God for the promotion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ everywhere RMI is working around the world. I also pray for you so that you can improve your Creole better day by day.
I leave you with the peace of God.

Sincerely,

Pastor Evelt Mentor.

Cance Church Letter

This is a letter that I received from Pastor Borel. Please share it with those interested in your church.

Cance Baptist Church.

July 28th, 2007.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Great Valley Presbyterian Church.

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I write this letter to inform you about our church here in Cance. I would like to know how everything is going for you in the states.

Here in Cance everything is doing well spiritually and socially so far. Last July we received a large amount of Missionaries from Port-au-Prince. They came here for a week of service. They did an evangelism service, they prayed with all the sick people and finally they had a prayer service. For our project, we had a large part of the wall done too.

My family and I are doing very well with the presence of the Lord. I would like to let you know that I am no longer the pastor of Cance Baptist Church. Yes, my work in Cance church is over. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers and I will pray for you too so that we can be together in the eternity with God.

May God bless you?

Pastor Joseph Borel Gènestè.

Les Anglais Professional School

I received the following note from the committee for the professional school at Les Anglais. If you would like to help them out with the school, my suggestion is that you give to a professional school general fund in the same way that you give funds to the church general fund or the school general fund. We could set up this same type of fund for the high school also. I know they have asked for support of the highschool also. Please see the note below.

CDPDA/MEBSH.

CENTER OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF LES ANGLAIS THAT WORK WITH MEBSH

Last February 2007, all the pastors of the district of Les Anglais worked with Marc Dieussuel Jean Pierre Pastor of les Anglais Baptist Church The formed a committee for the Professional School of les Anglais. These committees are responsible to help the school work better in the community. The school has 1 year since it start working.


Here are the committee members:
1- Marc dieusseul Jean Pierre : President Les Anglais Baptist church.
2- Mr. Robert Telisca : President Les Anglais Baptist Church.
3- Ms. Esperance Dieusseul : V-President Chardinniere Baptist Chur ch. 4- Rev Jacques L Pascal : Secretary Chardoniere Baptist Church.
5- Rev Esbert Francois : 2cd Secretary Colse Baptist Church.
6- Rev Germeil Wilfrid : Treasurer Boco Baptist Church.
7- Rev Genais Desir : Member Bousquette Baptist Church.
8- Rev Berice Roberto : Member Berault Baptist Church.
9- Mr. Etolus Belgarde : Member Boco Baptist Church.
10- Mr. Mondesir Badieu. : Member Colse Baptist Church.
11- Mr. Beauzil Julio : Member Les Anglais’s Baptist Church.
12- Michel Emmanuel : Member Bousqettte Baptist Church.
13- Alcindor Dieufête : Director Les Anglais Baptist Church.


On April5th, 2007, the committee of the school met with the director Mr. Alcindor Dieufête for the first time to hear how the school is going so far. According to the director they had 16 students in the school. It was the Mason section. Each student has to pay $100 H for the entry fees and $40 H per month.

This year, we wish to add to more sections to the school. They will be Carpentry and Iron work that includes welding work. We gave out many applications in the community for those who are interested in going to school. So we hope we will have enough students to open the new sections. As you can understand the amount I received from the students isn’t enough to buy materials and pay teachers. So the committee of the School is counting on your prayers that God will help.

We will have 7 teachers for those 3 sections. We don’t know where we are going to find the money to start the school in September, but we would to open it anyway.

Thank you very much for your kind consideration.

New Letter from The Church at Tiburon

The following is a letter we recieved from the Church Committee at Tiburon.

From : Tiburon Baptist Church July1st, 2007
To : Crossroad United Methodist



Dear collaborators,

We greet you all in the precious name Jesus Christ. How are the pastors and all the members of your church doing?

We are doing fine here with Jesus Christ our Savior. The church activities are working well including the groups and the members of the church. In the school everything is working well because all the students passed the final exam. We end the year with a relaxing day where we met with all the students on a beach. We played together, we ate together, and we talked to them about the word of God. It was very excited for all the kids to be there. We want to take this opportunity to say thanks for all your help in order provide education in Haiti.

At the beginning of June we started working with the different construction projects we have here in the church. The Christians collaborated to help us with all the work. They carried sand, rocks, gravel and water. They have been very motivated to do their part in the work. We already finished laying the blocks, except for the very the front side of the church. We would like you to keep us in your prayer so that we can finish with all the work before you come in November.

I have left the front of the church because it is a really big project that will cost lot money. We have a technician who wants to start working on the electric project in the church. Once again we ask you to pray that God will supply the means to finish this project.

The Christians of Tiburon Baptist Church are praying for you everyday. They are looking forward to seeing you again. Also I would like to let you know that you are in the heart of our church. Thank you very much for all your help and your favor.
We send a lot of greeting to all the pastors, all the members, all the groups, and finally to all the kids of Cross Road Bible Church.


For the committee: Pastor Oland Lundy.
Deacon Ernest Berlus.
Deacon Ednol Moise.
Deacon Corila Romelus.
Deacon Daniel Cherisme
Deacon Ceromme Denize
Deacon Carilus Beaucejour.
Deacon Celeste Clairjou.

New Letter from The Church at Aux Coteaux

This is a new letter from Pastor LuisJean at Aux Coteaux.

From : Coteaux’s Baptist Church.
To : Grace Lutheran.
Subject : Information and News.



May the peace and grace of God be with you? You can’t understand how my heart is sad today while I’m writing you this letter because I heard from director Billy Moses that sister Suzie has cancer. I also heard from Billy that the team has canceling this year because they don’t have enough people to come. I did a lot preparation to have you here, but unfortunately you can not come this year.

After, the sickness of Sister Suzie, how is it going for the rest of the members of Grace Lutheran? I know it is hard for you because a team is considered as a whole body and if one of them sick, I know that the whole body is suffers too, we find this in the book of Roman chapter 12.

Here in Coteaux Baptist Church we doing fine, except my wife, as she was at Port-au-Prince for 25 days just to see a doctor. Praise the Lord she is doing fine now that she is back from Port-au-Prince. We have has many activities in the church for the last two years. We have had many weddings and a new deacon committee who has work hard with me in the church for the glory of God. Also, we want to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your help, especially for those of you who contributed to The Hope for Kids program.

This year we will two revivals in the church and a regional convention where we will have 30 churches that meet together in Coteaux Baptist Church to praise the Lord. Please pray God will supply the means to fix our generator. At the end of July we will have a week of revival in the church, and at the same time we will have an evangelism time for the community of Coteaux. The week of July 23rd we will have the summer school for all the kids in the church. About the pastor’s house everything is working fine, we already have the cement roof done.

Even though you are not here this year I know our relationship is still firm and I will keep praying for you so that God can continue to send his blessing upon your church.

Sincerely,
Pastor Louisjean Cevedieu

New Letter from The Church at Port a Piment

The following is a letter I received from Pastor Leon at Port a Piment. As he is leaving MEBLH and Haiti I have requested a letter of introduction from the new pastor. Once I receive this letter, I will post it here.

From : Port-a-Piment Baptist Church July 7th, 2007
To : Second May Cape Baptist Church
Subject : Information

.

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

We greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for the debt you helped us pay. Paying this dept has been a great joy for us.

How are things for your church? We hope that everything is working fine for you. When we received the letter from you that told about all the different activities you have accomplished in your church we realized that it is important to keep praying for your church.

In Port-a-Piment we have had different kinds of activities too. We had a member convention, a reflection day with the youth, and we just finished Summer School for the kids. About 179 kids received a certificate and many of them received a gift from us. This month, we will have a regional convention too. This convention will happen at The Coteaux Baptist Church. I ask you to pray for me because at the end of this month I will leave for United State and I won’t back to Haiti anymore.

Once again, I would like to say thank you for all the help you gave me personally and the help given to the Port a Piment Church. I would like to share a verse with you found in the book of Philippians 3:16. “Nevertheless, to the degree that has already been attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind”.

Sincerely,
Pastor Leon Lacouture.

New Letter from The Church at Morancy

Here is a letter that I have received from the MEBLH pastor in Morancy.

The MEBLH Church at Morency June 24th, 2007


We are very happy to write you these few lines just to greet you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

How are your activities doing? I hope that everything is going well for your church.
In our church here in Morency, we are doing good by the power of the Lord. Also we are preparing for the annual revival and the summer school we have here each year.

We bless the name of God for the relationship he has put between The MEBLH Church at Morency and Sunrise Community Church. Also we would like to say thank you for everything you have done to make our church growing in a positive way. We are praying that God will change the hearts of people who do not want to follow him. Please keep us in your prayer.

We love you very much and may the Lord send hid blessing upon you and your church.

Pastor Daniel Elliassaint

Aux Coteaux Parsonage

The Aux Coteaux Parsonage project is coming along nicely. They have continued to work to make it available to your team and to the pastor's family. I have included 2 pictures of the parsonage. There is much to still be done with plastering, finishing the floors, and putting in windows and doors. Thanks to the Grace Lutheran Church for enabling your family in Christ to continue with their project.

Another New Truck?

Praise God for His answered prayers. We have struggled for many years with vehicles that have constantly needed mechanical attention. A great deal of our financial resources have been expended to keep these vehicles running. God provided the funds for a new Toyota that has recently arrived. He has also provided the funds for a new Ford that we trust will arrive in the near future.

Bill Moses is one of our supporters in Texas as well as my father. He has been in the wholesale used car business for many years. He put out the word that we needed a new Ford 4-door, 4 wheel drive, diesel vehicle to several people that he does business. Last night, July 25th, 2007 I received a call from Dad telling me about a Ford truck fitting the description of what we are needing here. After several conversations with Dan Shoemaker, who was driving in the Carolina's as mountains and loosing cell signals we decided that this was the truck for us. It will take some time to get it to Haiti, and then some more time to get it past the Haitian Customs song and dance, BUT IT IS COMING.

Many years ago Deb Shoemaker related serving in Haiti to being on a lonesome prairie with no one to help with the ministry here in Haiti. Then one day a wagon appeared on the horizon and along with it appeared hope. I feel as if a new wagon has appeared on the horizon in the form of this new Ford pickup. Please pray that it arrives in a timely manner for the much needed help of handling teams.

Again, praise God for his provision!