Back in April RMI missionary Becky Thompson mentioned to her mom that Cite Lumiere Christian School didn’t have a 1st grade teacher for the coming school year. Her youngest son, Braden, would be going into 1st grade and Becky would likely have to homeschool him due to the lack of a teacher.
Cite Lumiere Christian School (CLCS) is the English speaking K-12 school on Cite Lumiere, the mission center where the Thompsons, the Harvies, and many other missionary families live. RMI’s Haiti headquarters is also located there. The school has been in existence since the 1940’s. RMI’s president, Dan Shoemaker, who grew up there as a missionary kid, attended the school in the 1960’s and while he was a missionary there both of his kids attended CLCS. Becky is the CLCS Board Chairman.
Becky’s mom asked, “What about Courtney?” Courtney Westcott had pet sat for Becky’s mom and she knew that she was a certified teacher and had been teaching for a number of years as a substitute and long-term sub as well as working with an after school program. Courtney had been on 2 mission trips to Panama with her church. She really enjoyed Panama and after the trips she felt really open to missions but she didn’t see God open doors for her there.
Becky told her mom that if Courtney was interested to contact her. Within a month she was approved by the CLCS Board and 6 weeks later approved as an RMI short term missionary. Her funds came in quickly and she flew into Haiti with Becky and her family when they returned to Haiti last week.
School starts Sept. 1 and she’ll be teaching 1st grade. There is also a 3rd grade classroom, a combined 4th/6th grade classroom and a 7-12th grade classroom this year. So far there are 24 students – school hasn’t started yet so that number is a bit in flux.
Becky shared, “It's been such an answer to prayer, for me especially as I was going to have to stop my RMI responsibilities to homeschool. And the last minute timing can only point to how God worked in this situation.”
Courtney will be teaching at CLCS for this 2014-2015 school year. Pray for her as she adjusts to life in Haiti and teaches in a new situation. We are grateful that God knows about and cares for the “little” details in our lives. He has provided a teacher for Braden…and most likely several other 1st graders. This in turn allows Becky to continue on with her responsibilities as Haiti Hospitality Coordinator and Bookkeeper – both of which are essential to the smooth running of RMI’s Haiti operations.
