Moving Day in Haiti

Thursday was moving day for the Joel and Laura Sutton.  Cite Lumiere (near Cayes) is where RMI's Haiti office and facilities are located and is also where our missionaries live.  But housing there is maxed out (many other missionaries live there as well).  So RMI  has rented a building in the local village of Simon, which is about 2-3 minutes from RMI's center of operations.  The building provides 2 apartments, 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs.  The Suttons are in the upstairs apartment. 

We're thankful for the teams, missionaries and RMI staff members who pitched in to tile, paint and help finish the inside so it would be ready for them.  The pictures tell the tale of moving - there were many hands helping. 

Did you notice what the back of their RMI shirts say? "Serving with Passion"  That's what our staff do!

Joel and Laura are enjoying being in the middle of a teeming Haitian village.  They get to hear the regular rhythm of life… as Joel put it, “there is a cacophony of sounds including, but not limited to, dogs, roosters, goats, donkeys, pigeons, motorcycles, people calling out their wares for sale, pounding, chopping, digging, children laughing, crying, and/or singing, but they are all the sounds of life in Haiti and right now I wouldn't trade places with anyone.”  Laura added, “The HUGE Simon Baptist church is up on the hill above us. The village almost sits in an amphitheater. We hear all of the music from there - funerals, children's programs, lively hymns! The last two mornings have been a joy to watch people walking back and forth to market, to church, and to school or work. We are blessed!”

They are hooked up to city power and have an invertor system hooked up that will store power when city power is on then give them power when city power goes off.  They are finishing up the unpacking, setting things up, and decorating this week.  It won’t take long to get settled in.  …and on July 20 they’ll be welcoming the Lee Nunemaker family.  The Nunemakers will live in the house that the Suttons just left (it was also previously the RMI Guesthouse and Office – it has served many purposes).  It’s good to have these kinds of growing pains!

RMI Office Grows

The RMI International Office recently experienced some (good) growing pains.  With the adding of 2 new staff members (John and Joanne Miner, April 13, 2015), one very pressing issue was apparent…where were we going to put them?  Our office in Lehigh Acres, FL is a modest place and has been adequate up until now.  For various reasons the option of moving wouldn’t work for us.  After receiving the blessing of our landlord, we decided to make changes to our current office.  Essentially we played musical offices, moving people around to make better use of the space we had and to provide better collaboration between departments.  The front area was then divided into 2 separate office spaces.  But the most significant change was turning the garage into a conference room and integrating it into the main part of the office.

We did most of the work ourselves and are thankful that RMI’s VP, Kim Rose, has had quite a bit of experience in building and renovation.  The pictures really tell the story!

The finished product is amazing.  Not only do we have a great conference room, but a nice finished hallway, a second bathroom and were able to still maintain a storage room and loft.



You can find more pictures HERE.  If you are ever by the southwest Florida area, please stop by for a visit!  We are always ready to celebrate and honor our friends.

No Turning Back

The container has been packed and the tickets have been bought – there’s no turning back! 

When they loaded the container with their belongings at the end of May, their commitment to serve in Haiti became even more real.  Lee and Tina Nunemaker (all 4 boys and Tina’s parents too) brought their household goods to RMI’s office in Ft. Myers, FL where they assisted in the loading of the container.  It was hot, sweaty work.  First they unloaded their rental truck then transferred it all to the container.  In addition to their things, supplies and equipment for RMI missionaries and ministries were loaded as well as items that had been sent by several C3 Partners.  It was like putting a giant puzzle together…one that took 2.5 days to do!

Everything made it on there, including the 28 tires, 5 pallets of prepackaged and boxed food aid, 3 4 wheelers and 2 motorcycles. It felt good to close the doors, seal it and send it on its way to Cayes via the Port of Miami and the port at Port-au-Prince. You can see more of the packing pictures HERE. 

Pray for its safe journey on the ship, through customs, and over land to RMI’s Haiti facilities.  It should arrive before the Nunemakers. 

They have bought their tickets to Haiti for July 20!  It’s exciting to get them on their way.  Pray for the provision of the rest of their funds. They’d also appreciate your prayers for their final speaking engagements and visits with family and friends.  Leaving is always hard, but they are anxious to get on with this next step in their lives.