Friday, August 26, 2011

A portable air conditioner

We now have a portable air conditioner!

Portable air conditioner cropped

Ok, ok. In the sweltering summer heat you have to keep your cool and your sense of humor! RMI missionary, Rob Thompson, transports a very large portable air conditioner upstairs at a church to cool things down for a team. Service with a smile!

Can’t see it? Guess you have to look at it for a moment and put it together with the shadow on the building. See it now?

We are real fans of our our hardworking, outstanding missionaries!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Home #50 is Complete. Much More to be Done.

RMI vigorously launched our campaign to provide housing to earthquake displaced families after the EQ of Jan 2010. Just the other day, we completed our 50th home! Praise the Lord! On the Haiti side, RMI Missionary Gary McLaughlin has done a great job in facilitating this program, and Wilfred Fanfan, RMI Construction Boss, has done a great job leading our Haitian build team to make it all happen.

I have had the privilege of handing over the keys to just a couple of these families. They had tears in their eyes and joy in their hearts. It’s been a pleasure for me to see it all happen.

Sadly, I constantly meet families, living even here in Cayes, who are still in a desperate situation due to a lack of stable housing. The tent cities in PAP remain.

Last week, right here in Cayes, I visited the home of a family of 7 who are living in a rented 64 sqft room, with only half a roof made of metal, the remainder a tarp. No beds. They all sleep together on a blanket on the ground. They lost their home in PAP in the EQ. No relief in sight. Typical story.

I met another family of 4 who lost their husband and father in the earthquake. They are living in a rented home. They have no income, and the Mom clearly can’t afford to send their 3 beautiful children to school. I was told the Homeowner is evicting them soon and they don’t know where they will go.

Story after story. They are hard to hear. May God listen to the cries of the masses here in Haiti. I am glad I get the honor of being on the front line of God’s response.

50 Homes for 50 families. Praise the Lord.

Rob

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Another 270,864 Fortified Meals Unloaded!

Boy with FoodWe just unloaded another container of 19 tons of food! Some of this food will be used for our Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch Program, and some used for general relief purposes. We are ready in case a Hurricane comes through this season to help those in deepest need!

It is exciting to get out to our churches and see some of the 1500+ students who are getting their daily Hot Lunch through Hope for Kidz. For many of these children, it is likely their only meal for the day.

19 tons of food. 1254 boxes of food x 36 bags in a box x 6 meals per bag = 270,864 fortified meals for the hungry.

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Rob

It’s Reciprocal…

Recently, I had the privilege of watching “reciprocal” being fleshed out. Nothing contrived. Nothing forced. A simple reflection of a reciprocal church partnership. Each time our American Churches come to visit their partner church in Haiti, we facilitate a “Deacon’s Meeting”. This is always a special time of collaboration, mutual sharing, future planning, listening, rejoicing, and praying together. It was a special moment as the American Church surrounded and laid hands on the leadership of their Haitian Sister Church and then to turn around and have the Haitian Church Leaders surround and lay hands on their American brothers and sisters. It was special.

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

RMI’s Sister Church Partnerships are Changing Lives…

Much of our focus is on ministering to the Haitian people. Yet, it may be most exciting to me when I sense God is up to something big in the lives, hearts and minds of the American team members that visit Haiti. Something special and unique happens when 2 cultures come together in relationship. Dan Shoemaker, RMI President, labeled it correctly: the “Ministry of Presence”. What happens during the “ministry of presence” is extraordinary. Something dynamic, almost magical, happens when a Haitian brother and/or sister and an American brother and/or sister are simply present with one another. Worshipping together, working together, serving together, eating together, praying together…

Viola Irons, Principal within the Miami-Dade Public School System, member of Florida Bible Church, in Miramar, FL, and member of the recent team who visited their Sister Church in Maniche, Haiti, said, “I have grown more in this week than I ever have in my entire life”. [She gave me permission to share this]. This isn’t the first time I have heard this. I am sure it won’t be the last. I love what we do both for the Haitian Church, and also for the American Church.

Rob

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Emma started a non-profit and she’s 11 years old!

Eleven year old Emma Rice is selling her paintings. Not for herself, but to raise money to support kids through RMI’s Hope for Kidz. Her parents have helped her set up a non-profit organization to handle the funds and set up a website, emmazinggrace.org.

Both of her parents had been to Haiti on mission trips (her mom, Wendy, went as a college student with her church, Creekside Community Church, whose Sister Church is Baraderes). The Lord touched her heart when she heard that Haitian children could not go to school. Then the earthquake hit Haiti, making life in Haiti even harder. It drove her to find a way to raise funds to support kids. You have to hear her tell the story in her own words! She was interviewed by GraceFM in south Florida on the morning of August 4, 2011.

What a challenge to us adults! If this soft spoken young lady can do this, what can, or rather, what should we be doing?

Emma with one of her paintings

From the Emmazing Grace collection

All we can say is “You GO girl!” It’ll be fun to see what God does!