theSlice from Rob and Becky is available.

We just emailed the latest version of theSlice to our support team. If you did not receive that email, check it out here.

If you did not receive the email, but would like to, let us know!

Rob

Heading to Haiti

I am looking forward to going to Haiti this Saturday. I am going in with the Trinity Bible Church team. Due to a late arrival we will be driving from Port a Prince to Cayes. This will be the first time we have done this in quite a while! Should be fun!

Please pray for me as I go. I having been struggling with a problem with my sciatic nerve in my left leg. The last couple of days it has down well, but pray that it does not act up while in Haiti. I also have torn my shoulder rotator cuff muscles. This causes some real pain when I make certain movements that aren't always predictable. So pray for good health and especially good sleep!

You might have heard that Haiti has had lots of rioting and unrest due to the high cost of living. That was very true. But things have returned to normal. Pray that it will stay that way!

I will be back April 24th. Thanks for your prayers!

Dan

The cost of life in Haiti

Haiti has been going through quite a bit of unrest this past week. The people are protesting the high cost of living there. Prices have doubled and tripled in the last several months. This is causing quite a hardship for so many in that poor country! There have been many protests across the country that have shut the country down for the past several days.

The RMI staff are fine. Cayes has had quite a bit of unrest during these days as well. However, there is much hope that things will be back to normal in the next several days.

Pray for peace and for the government to act to help stabilize the situation, not only from the unrest, but to help ease the pain of the people. Pray for continued safety for our staff. Thanks.

Dan

Pray for Haiti

Haiti has been going through quite a bit of unrest this past week. The people are protesting the high cost of living there. Prices have doubled and tripled in the last several months. This is causing quite a hardship for so many in that poor country! There have been many protests across the country that have shut the country down for the past several days.

The RMI staff are fine. Cayes has had quite a bit of unrest during these days as well. However, there is much hope that things will be back to normal in the next several days.

Pray for peace and for the government to act to help stabilize the situation, not only from the unrest, but to help ease the pain of the people. Pray for continued safety for our staff. Thanks.

Dan

Anse-A-Veau Trip March 2008 Slideshow

Memories of your trip to Anse-A-Veau.  It's exciting to see the impact you have on your brothers and sisters' lives!

 

 

Thanks, Gary, for the pictures.

A Letter from your Sister Church

From: The Aux Coteaux Church

To: Grace Lutheran Church

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you and your church doing? I hope that you and your activities are doing well by the power of the Holy Ghost. I want to ask you how the Pastor is doing in your church, especially Sister Suzy. We are praying for her all the time and ask God to heal her.

We are doing very well here in Aux Coteaux by the grace of God. We had a nice Easter time in our church. Also we had a week of conference in the Church where we invited many other churches to come worship with us; it was amazing to worship together. We want to say thank you for all your support to our church especially for the money you sent last February to support our youth to attend the Carnival retreat in Gonaive. We had about 250 people that participated with 5 churches in the district. Thank you again for your help for kids this year, I am praying for God to watch over you and take good care of each of you in your church.

Finally, I want to thank you for the way you help us with the construction of the new parsonage here in Coteaux, so even though we still have a lot do, we believe God will provide us money to finish with all the work pretty soon.

May God bless you and your church abundantly.

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Ceverdieu Louis Jean

Upside Down Plans

The Haitians have a proverb that says, “Man proposes, but God disposes”.  Man makes his plans but God works His Will regardless of man’s plans.  We see this in the Bible through so many examples:  Abraham was doing quite well where he was, then God told him to go to a land that he didn't even know of yet; Joseph wasn’t planning on being sold as a slave, or thrown into prison, but God had other plans for him; David was content to be a shepherd, but God had other plans; Mary was looking forward to being the wife of a simple carpenter living a normal life, but God had other plans; Paul was happy persecuting Christians, yet God had other plans for him.  God often takes our plans, and turns them upside down for His purposes and good pleasure.  Sometimes it takes years to finally see the results or reasons, but we know and rest in the fact that He is working out His plans for His good.

This is what it seems that God is doing in Guatemala.  RMI has had great plans for the Guatemala field.  We had anticipated good things happening there.  But for reasons that truly only God knows, at this time, RMI has had to shut down our Guatemala operations.  We lost several sister churches that desired to be more involved with occasional projects rather than in-depth relationships.  The Coreano’s have resigned as they felt lead back to the U.S. for inner city ministry.  Other possibilities that we have had in the past were no longer available to continue the ministry.  After exhausting all of our options, RMI came to the conclusion that we would have to withdraw from the Guatemala field at this time. 

I can say that this has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make.  RMI has invested so much there.  Our hearts have been melded with the Mayan believers.  They have so many needs, and struggles that the Sister Church Partnerships were beginning to address. The Coreanos have invested so much of their time and effort.  The ministry was starting to flourish.  Much had been provided through a lot of effort and struggle.  And yet, God…….disposed.  Why, we don’t know at this time, but God does.  And God is sovereign, He is Good all the time!  His purposes are being accomplished.  His ways are not our ways.  RMI has had to accept this and continue to trust God to lead us and move us into the paths He would have us trod. 

RMI’s vision is to continue to see our Haiti field flourish and develop.  There is so much RMI can do to continue to encourage the churches and Christians there.  However, we are also continuing to explore new options for growth into other countries as the doors open.  Pray for the RMI Administration and the Board as we continue to seek God’s direction for the future!  Man proposes but God disposes! 

 

Dan Shoemaker, President