Photo Update from RMI...

All of us have Mountain peaks and Valleys, but how do we handle them? A great message by Ron Cook (FL) as he shared with the people of Port Salute Haiti, who walked in the valley during the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

from Reciprocal Ministries International

Lights! Camera! Action!

In this digital era it is vital that we are able to tell RMI’s story with quality videos, promotional material and pictures.  We are finding that it is difficult to get the word out about RMI’s unique concept and programs without these things.

Using a professional studio means paying for a videographer and photographer (who sometimes have to rent their equipment) to make a week long trip to Haiti - which entails housing and feeding them, providing transportation and a translator - to get the needed shots and footage.  After the trip is over, the production typically takes 40 hours at $60 an hour!  You can see it’s not a cheap endeavor.  Since RMI has quite a wide variety of programs and ministries, we really need a number of videos.  While the week of shooting in Haiti can result in great footage for a variety of videos, the production costs run the same for each separate one.

Also, we need to keep our videos and photography fresh and up to date.  Our staff in Haiti have sent us with a basic supply of photographs, but it is not their primary focus.  They are stretched thin but have made great efforts to get us what we need.

God has given us a new missionary candidate, Dawn Shoemaker, to do just this for us.  One of her job descriptions will be to help us tell RMI’s story through videography and photography.  Having her there, going out with teams, being directly involved in the ministry will give her direct access to getting the shots AND getting material for fresh, up-to-date stories.  We will be able to get more for far less money by having her on the field.

This is the urgent challenge before us.

We need to raise $6,000 to buy the audio/video package that is capable of producing quality videos, sound and pictures as well as the computer and software that has editing capabilities.  This is an urgent need.  Even though Dawn is still raising her funds to get to the field, she was in Haiti last month beginning to get footage and shots for RMI.  She needs this equipment as soon as possible.

 

Dawn grew up in Haiti and has experienced God’s call to serve Him as a missionary ever since she was young.  She is a 3rd generation missionary (her parents are Dan and Debbie Shoemaker who served in Haiti for 25 years, and her grandparents on both sides were missionaries, each for 30+ years) - how often do you hear of a young person feeling that call on their lives?!  She is excited to be going back to the land of her birth and be vitally involved with what God is doing there in Haiti.  She is actively needing monthly support to get her there as soon as possible.

What would God have you do?  Can you help us with a special gift toward this special need for RMI’s audio/video package?  Would you consider becoming a part of Dawn’s support team?  This is a unique opportunity to be involved in the future of both RMI’s “digital footprint” as well as be instrumental in getting a new, passionate missionary to the field.

Give online at HERE.  Give to Dawn Shoemaker’s account and include a gift note stating “A/V package”.

Or, send a check using the enclosed return receipt, noting that it is for the audio/video package.

Dawn in action on her trip to Haiti last month.

Photo Update from RMI...

RMI is grieved beyond measure at the recent tragic loss of one of our missionary partners within the MEBSH community in Haiti. Janella Zimmerman, David Zimmerman's wife, Orrin and Cassia's mom, passed away from injuries sustained in a car accident while on vacation with her family in the Dominican Republic. Please join us in praying for the Zimmerman family, the HarvestCall family, and the entire Haiti missionary community.

from Reciprocal Ministries International

Life Transforming

When we use the phrase “Life Transforming”, we usually think of lives in Haiti being transformed…but lives of team members  are transformed as well.  This was brought home afresh as RMI’s President, Dan Shoemaker, and his wife attended 2 funerals (in 2 different churches and cities in Florida) in April.  Each of the people had been to Haiti many times over the last 20+ years.  Their families shared that God touched their hearts as a result of their involvement with their sister church in Haiti and RMI.  In one case, it changed the entire course of one man’s life resulting in he and his wife going to Italy as missionaries.  While they visited with folks before and after each of these services, they heard that same story many times.  They met folks who had gone when they were in college.  Now, as adults they are active in their church’s mission outreaches and take their own kids on mission trips.  Dan and Debbie heard that one young lady who went to Haiti as a college student went on to become a mid-wife, ministering to Bedouin tribes in Saharan Africa.  They were amazed as people introduced themselves and reminded them what year they visited – some of them in the 1980’s!  These folks recounted events of what happened to them as if it were yesterday.  Each of them expressed how their trip was a spiritual turning point in their lives and how God had worked as a result. 

One such transformed life from one of the above mentioned churches is Bartow McDonald.  He went as a college student.  There he met the Shoemaker family.  Here are pictures from that visit. 

(Yes, that’s the same Dawn Shoemaker who is now an RMI missionary appointee, raising her funds to return to Haiti soon.) 

His trips have had a profound affect on his life.

Bartow shares  “Little did I know how a week long trip with RMI almost 30 years ago would adjust the rudder and trajectory of my life for so many years to come.

It's no secret the lives often most transformed are those who travel from the states.  I'm no different.

Seeing and experiencing Jesus in a totally different culture provides glimpses of our mighty King at work, doing what no man or government could ever accomplish.  This is thrilling.  Yes, we follow Him here in Florida and see His hand before us, but there is something powerful, something all together wonderful about seeing Jesus operating beyond our language, customs and systems.

Our Haitian brothers and sisters also testify to the deep and wonderful joy found only in the transaction of deep trust between our hearts and Jesus.   Our Haitian brothers and sisters are all together inspiring.

And somehow the Kingdom often seems to be a bigger part of our Haitian brothers and sisters deepest desires. Their level of commitment and passion for Jesus redefines what ‘all in’ looks like.  Perhaps the blessing of no such thing as a 401k or Roth IRA.

I've also seen my desires change as I spend time in Haiti.  The things I want, plan for and pursue have changed.  And hopefully those look a lot more like Jesus than Bartow.”

His involvement with RMI continues today as he serves as an RMI Board member.  He’s pictured below with his wife, Laura.

Bartow took his whole family to Haiti on a Vision Trip in 2015.

Lives transformed – in the past, in the present, and in the future.  It’s truly exciting and humbling to know that God is using RMI in such an impactful way. 

Photo Update from RMI...

Happening right now in Les Cayes, Haiti. Moving food boxes so we can begin to stack more containers. This gives us more capacity to distribute food to the needy in southern Haiti!

from Reciprocal Ministries International