It is My Privilege to Present to You

“It is my privilege to present you this plaque celebrating 30 years of partnership together with…” but I am getting ahead of myself. This story started 30 years ago when a team of 10 men from Harper Church, Port Orchard, WA went to Haiti to visit their new Sister Church in Les Irois. My wife, Debbie, and I, RMI’s only field missionaries at the time, received them and were with them that week.  And what a week it was.  After a great week of ministry together we went to Port-au-Prince to put them on their plane to head back to the US on a Sunday morning. We got to the airport and the American Airlines personnel started to check us in and take our luggage at the counter.  They received a phone call and suddenly thrust all the tickets and passports back into my hands, threw the luggage back out onto the floor and told us that the airport was closed.  In an instant they were all gone and the lobby emptied.  A coup d'état was happening just down the road at the Palace where the president was located and everything closed down. We were never in any danger (we ended watching things unfold on CNN at a hotel poolside!), but it took 3 days and what we considered a true miracle to get those 10 men on one of the first planes to fly out of Haiti to the US.

That was 30 years ago, when RMI was just a few staff and one missionary couple. September 9, 2018, 30 years later and going strong, Harper Church celebrated an amazing partnership and relationship with their Sister Church in Les Irois. What a joy it was to be able to be with them as we celebrated this partnership together. Along with myself, I had RMI’s Director of Field Operations, Benjamin Altema, and our Senior Partnership Facilitator, Perguens Hypolite, to help celebrate. From those few staff to over 45 national staff and 10 missionaries and ministry that encompasses 9000 kids being fed a hot meal every school day to churches being planted, 500 to 600 decisions for Christ through our partner churches, to goat projects and more, those 30 years have given us much to celebrate together. It truly was a privilege to hand Pastor John Edgecomb a celebatory plaque to commemorate the occasion.

In addition to this, we had the privilege of visiting one of our newer churches, Walloon Lake Community Church, in Walloon Lake, MI. There Benjamin preached at two services (His sermon can be seen HERE – start watching at about 21 minutes) and Perguens preached at East Jordan Community Church, a church plant of Walloon (his sermon can be viewed HERE – start watching at 25 minutes). It was great to be with them and to encourage their church as they prepare to send another team early next year.

Benjamin and Perguens got to try out jet skis for the first time. They loved it, except for that cold Michigan lake water! Not quite the Caribbean! The jet skis were like driving a 4 wheeler except on water.  I wasn’t sure I was going to get them back to land until they ran out of gas.  They even had the unique experience of making their own apple cider.

We also had a wonderful visit with retired RMI missionaries, Gary and Marilyn McLaughlin. It was awesome to see them and have some good fellowship together. They took us bowling, a first for Benjamin and Perguens. Of course I had to let them win a couple of games.

Along the way we spent an evening with our newest active Sister Church who had their first trip in June. Trinity Presbyterian Church, Seattle, WA is very excited about their new partnership with Chardonnières.  We finished our whirlwind 2 week trip with a visit with a 2 church partnership, Our Saviors Lutheran and Community of Faith, in Portland, OR which will celebrate 30 years in 2020. We promised to be there together with them for that celebration!

Partnerships that endure, that grow stronger year by year, that help resource ministry, and minister into the lives of so many is what RMI is all about. It is a privilege to see how God has developed RMI and its partners from one staff member and one missionary couple to the small growing army of nationals and missionaries that is seeing lives transformed in Haiti and throughout the US.

Thanks to all those who hosted and cared for us throughout our two week trip. Thank you Jeff and Julie Bradford, Gary and Marilyn McLaughlin, Dave and Kim Ness, Jim and Pat Shaw, and so many others that made our time with you very memorable. We love you guys!

~~ Dan Shoemaker

Church Leaders are Hungry

Church Leaders in Haiti are hungry – hungry for training and tools to do their jobs.  Especially those involved in children’s ministry.  These folks are all volunteers.  They are Christian leaders with a heart for ministering to the children of their church.  But often they don’t have specific training in that area.  They do their best and God uses their ministry in kids’ lives, but they are hungry for training that would better equip them.

Recently Calvary Bible Fellowship of Sinking Spring, PA, addressed that need when they came to visit their C3 partner church in Vieux Bourg.  They held a two day children’s ministry training seminar at the Zanglais Ministry Center for 25 children’s ministry workers from their C3 church as well as all three of the satellite churches in that district. On the third day they held a children’s event at a local church where they put into practice the things they’d learned and then met at Zanglais again for a debriefing time.

They covered quite a bit of ground.  The sessions included drama, games, classroom management, flannelgraph, puppets (they made their own sock puppets), music, and lesson planning. They had a great time of worship and were encouraged through the devotionals and message time.

RMI missionary, Lee Nunemaker, who was one of the translators shared, “Not only did they receive training, but they received all the tools and supplies to do what they were taught. Then they had the opportunity to put it into practice. They did a fantastic job.”

The seminar ended with the presentation of certificates – a visible sign that these workers had completed training and were better equipped and encouraged to literally “Go forth into the harvest”.