Over twenty pastors and leaders from some of our Sister Churches gathered in Cayes for two days
Here are a few pictures from the two day event.
(Above: Bientot Salomon, Pastor of Cherette Baptist Church who partners with Estero Baptist. Below: Pastors and Leaders watch the videos and discuss practical application strategies.)
Ministry around RMI is an action verb. If you wonder what goes on from day to day, in addition to preparing for, receiving and caring for teams, take a look at Gary McLaughlin’s Facebook page.
Feb. 24: “Saturday I put in 2 BioSand Water Filters, Monday 6 with to Haitian helpers and today going to do at least 3 more in the Picot area. Take a break at the water falls while in that area. :-) Marilyn is working on HFKz like always.”
[Left: Gary with one of the biosand recipients. Right: Another family with their biosand filter installed in their Homes for Haiti home.]
Feb. 23: “Tuesday we got 4 more water filters put in Haitian homes and yesterday, after working hours, I got another filter installed. First 45 almost finished and getting ready to bring out the next 30.”
March 2: “Yesterday Marie France and I delivered a refrigerator, 50 French Bibles and 50 Kreol Bibles to Astruc and then drove to Lievre to deliver 48 songbooks, 50 French Bibles and 50 Kreol Bibles. All gifts from their sister churches in the US. Today we are driving to Cherette to hand out clothes sent in by their sister church.”
[Left: Children modeling their new clothes from their Sister Church. Right: The Women’s Group modeling their new clothes!]
March 2: “Waiting for Our Savior's Lutheran from Lake Owego, Oregon to arrive at our guest house. Maybe around 3pm our time.”
A team from The Summit Church in Little Rock, Arkansas just left today and a team from Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Lake Oswego, Oregon is going in today. When they leave Trinity Bible Church, Lafayette, LA comes in and a week later The First Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church of Gastonia, NC is going in for their very first visit. In addition to this a family will be visiting the field for 2 weeks as they consider serving there with RMI.
Oh, and Dan will be in Merritt Island, FL, Chicago, Haiti and the Carolinas this month. Stay tuned for other happenings in RMI – we’re not quite ready to unveil them yet but you’ll like it! Yes, ministry is indeed an action verb here at RMI. There are no idle hands around here!
February is the month many churches have their missions conferences. RMI has 3 conferences they will be represented in here in Southwest Florida.
Feb 1 - 5 McGregor Baptist Church, Dan & Debbie Shoemaker’s and Kim Rose’s home church.
Feb. 19 - 26 Westminster Presbyterian Church, Amanda Biser’s home church. She’ll actually be speaking on Feb. 17 and 19.
Feb. 26 Estero United Methodist Church, a Sister Church.
Here’s a sneak peak at our re-designed display.
Pray for these churches and conferences as they challenge people to consider how God could use them. Pray also that these conferences gains us good exposure and possibly contacts of folks who might be interested in pursuing a career with RMI. We really need more feet on the ground!!
Several years ago, a team of leaders, movers and shakers arrived in Haiti for their first Sister Church visit with Reciprocal Ministries International and made some observations. Their Sister Church was making every effort possible to build and have a school. Yet, the Haitian church found that it was exceedingly difficult to do all that they dreamed with so few resources. They had made progress personally, but their dreams were still far off in the uncertain distant future. There were “rough beginnings”, but much was yet to be done. Along came their brothers and sisters at Estero United Methodist Church. Led by God, with heart, with compassion, with guts they sought out to raise the significant funding to make it all happen.
Pastor Bientot Salomon has written a letter of gratitude to the Estero UM Church. If you are a member of the Estero/Cherette eGroup, you can view this letter here. If you aren’t a member, send a blank email to estero-cherette-partnership-updates+subscribe@rminet.org to subscribe.
More pictures can be seen here.
Here is a video that Estero UMC put together early on in this process.
The Cherette Baptist Church has been busy! Pastor Bientot Salomon gave us this report of the activities of the church over the last couple months. Please continue to remember the Pastor, his family, and the members of the church in your prayers.
We held a revival May 7-15th. Many came to hear the word of God and nine people committed their lives to Christ. At the end of May we had a day dedicated to building up and encouraging families. It was a great day with all the families in the church. The activities of the church are going well and the members and groups are doing good work. In the school we had a campaign again a disease called filarious. We taught the children how to prevent themselves from getting sick. This month some of our kids took the official exam required to finish with 6th grade. We will also have some activities with the youth during the summer.
June 26 to July 1, we had a week of prayer in the church. During the month of June we also had a meeting for our Sunday school teachers and leaders.
We have started a fish project with some of our members in the church.
Please pray for the children over the summer break. Pray that the fish project will be successful and can grow and develop. Please pray that more people come to Christ and that the nine that came stay firm. Please pray for Pastor and his family, and pray for the situation of our country.
In addition to the new school roof and newly completed well project, there is lots of activity in Cherette thanks to continued loved and support of their Sister Church, Estero Methodist.
Work crews are working on building new walls creating four new classrooms.
And five new steel doors are being installed: One in each of the 4 new classrooms and one in the office for better security.
You can view the whole album on RMI’s Picasa Online Picture Album, here.
Still to come?
Cement blackboards will be installed in each room, teachers desks and chairs and student benches will be built and the sidewalk and porch area out front of the school will be completed as well as the floors in the four new classrooms!
In addition to the new school roof and newly completed well project, there is lots of activity in Cherette thanks to continued loved and support of their Sister Church, Estero Methodist.
Work crews are working on building new walls creating four new classrooms.
And five new steel doors are being installed: One in each of the 4 new classrooms and one in the office for better security.
Still to come?
Cement blackboards will be installed in each room, teachers desks and chairs and student benches will be built and the sidewalk and porch area out front of the school will be completed as well as the floors in the four new classrooms!
Here are some pictures from a visit to Cherette. This is one of the locations which is currently receiving meals as part of the Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch Program.
The School Director, Alfred Osly, standing in the food preparation area.
One of the ladies preparing the food.
Students and teachers from the kindergarten class stand with their bowls of food.
Some of the older students wait to wash out their bowls after finishing their meal.
Pastor Beintot sent this message to share, “With all my heart and on behalf of all the people who live in this community I thank you so much for the food that you give the students. We think of you often and we pray for you as well. All of the children send their thanks and are also praying for you.”
You can see these and all of the pics from this visit in the RMI Picasa Web Album.
Through the Hope for Kidz Sponsorship program all of our Sister Churches are making a difference in a real and tangible way. On behalf of all the schools who are receiving food as part of the Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch Program thank you for your continued commitment to RMI, to the Sister Church Program, to the Hope for Kidz program,and to the children of Haiti.
A well has been dug in Cherette. It will give them fresh, clean water in abundant supply. And its thanks to a generous gift from their Sister Church, Estero UMC in Estero, Florida.
Building a well in Haiti is a lot like building a well in the US.
You need a well drilling rig
a space big enough to situate the truck
lots of man power
and electricity.
Here’s what digging a well looks like in Cherette, Haiti.
And here is what it looks like when it’s finished.
More pics from the project can be viewed on RMI’s Picasa Web Album, here.
Estero Friends and Family,
We hope this message finds you blessed and encouraged!
We are really excited to let you know about something special that happened at your Sister Church since your last visit to Cherette. The school has a roof! Through the gift of another mission organization who partners with MEBSH to provide roofs for MEBSH churches and schools, the school roof has been paid for and installed!
On a recent trip to deliver food to the school, the guys snapped some photos of the new roof.
Even though their partnership is only 2 years old and they’ve only made 2 visits to their Sister Church, Cherette, Estero United Methodist of Estero, FL, “gets it”. They understand what the partnership is all about. Pastor David Harris shares that the partnership is getting to know each other, overcoming their natural differences, relationships deepen in their worshipping, witnessing and in their working together, ministering to one another and ministering together into the community. “This ultimately results in the spiritual enrichment of ALL to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Their video (hot off the press) is a great testimony and example of this partnership, what it means to them and the effect that it’s had on the church.
RMI intern, Dawn Shoemaker, has posted 2 new blog entries. You can find her blog here.
Some excerpts: “Wow what an amazing week. I went out with a team to a town called Cherette. It's a little north of Les Cayes. It wasn't a long drive but it sure gave my heart a leap when we drove through the very crowded streets of the small market. The trucks barely made it through. When we arrived at the church we were greeted with a huge group of kids singing with the pastor, his wife, and church members. They welcomed us with such gratitude, love, and happiness. I can't even express the overwhelming feeling I had to be already loved by people who had no idea who I was.”
"Sunday was so much fun. There was clapping, joyous singing, and love all around. The Haitians sing so beautifully. Just one night and morning and I could already see God in the peoples’ eyes and hearts. We had a service that night also. It was so much fun. We sang and danced! Out of the whole trip the singing and dancing, praising the Lord was my favorite.”
She spent her first week out in the country with a Sister Church team from Estero, FL. This week she is in Cayes helping Marilyn McLaughlin with the Hope For Kidz Program.
Pray for the wife of Samuel Moise, one of RMI’s national staff. Last week she was in a motorcycle accident and broke her leg above the knee. Since there was no orthopedic doctor in Cayes, she was transported in an ambulance all the way to Port-au-Prince. She is in a hospital there awaiting an operation. Thankfully the company she works for is taking care of most of the expenses. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and patience & strength for Sam & his wife, Isman.
We visited Cherette Church on Saturday, April 24. Here are some pictures.
Rob
Dan and I are at our daughter’s college (Trinity College of Florida) missionary conference. We set up our booth yesterday a.m. and were prepared when classes were dismissed. Dawn walked by our booth with a group of her friends. When she got to the end of the table, I was standing there and she gave me a big hug. One of her classmates gave a gasp, her hand flew to her mouth and she said, “Dawn you can’t go around hugging the missionaries!” Dawn turned around and “She’s my mom!”. Her friend’s eyes flew open wide and the look of chagrin on her face was priceless. Everyone around had a great laugh about it. She knew Dawn was an MK, missionary kid, so she figured that due to that Dawn felt a real affinity toward missionaries and was going around hugging the missionaries. She didn’t know we were her parents. It really was hilarious!
As the students were milling around, perusing the booths, the school’s 4 Haitians found our booth. One of them picked up the Creole hymnal that we have out and found her favorite hymn. She started singing and the others joined in. They stood there and sang all the verses. A crowd formed and listened to the impromptu concert in a foreign language. It was cool. Each one of them have made an effort to find us from time to time during the day to say hi and talk about Haiti.
Yesterday, the first day of the conference, also found me having an interesting conversation with the Child Evangelism Fellowship missionary at his booth. He is what I call a ripple effect. He quit the military to become a missionary because of the ministry and influence of my dad who was a CEF missionary to the US military in Germany. When he got to the US for CEF’s training institute, my dad was one of his teachers. One can never tell how far out your ministry will ripple! It brought tears to my eyes. I wish my dad knew how far his ripples have reached! (My dad died of ALS in 2002.)
Today has been a good day of interaction with the students at our booth, at meals and in chapel. It’s been fun to meet Dawn’s friends, too, and to see her going through “the college experience”. Tonight Dan will have 7 minutes to share with the student body.
Tomorrow we will have a 45 minute workshop (one of several offered). The conference ends at lunch time.
One more update: Rob is in Haiti this week, Sept. 21 – 25, 2009. He is working on RMI’s finances there and taking care of other administrative details. Pray that the electricity stays on and the internet is stable so that he and the missionary staff will be able to accomplish all that needs to be done during this time. Pray for Becky as she is home alone with the kids.
The RMI office finally has power! It was turned on at 6 p.m. Friday. We started the work with in the 20th century….there was power, but no internet and no phones. Dan had to work all day on that. After a frustrating day, he was finally able to resolve it and bring us into the 21st century. Wow. We are very thankful that we can get down to business now.
Debbie sent out 4 orders of orientation materials today! Teams are preparing for their upcoming visit to their Sister Churches. We are really excited about the updated Orientation Training that we now have available. Our goal is to make sure that a team member is well prepared when they arrive and ready to minister and be ministered to.
Dan and Debbie had a great time in Ft. Lauderdale. The team there did a fantastic job of sharing their how their visit with their Sister Church impacted their lives. They had a great video and photo collection, shared a Creole song and testimonies. The pastor worked his message around the team, challenging the church to get out of their comfort zone (as each person on the team had done) and minister locally and globally. We were there for all 3 services and had 2 meals with the team. Dan had gone to Haiti with this team, so it was good to re-connect with them and see how their trip had impacted their lives.
From the Moses' blog:
Yes, we have closed! Hooray! Yipee! Yes! and any other words that you can think of to describe our joy.
After 8 long weeks we finally closed last Wednesday August 26th. We were in Texas during the first part of June and put together a contract to close on June 28th. The Moses family returned to Haiti and packed all of our things and headed to Port-au-Prince. In Port we boarded a DC-3 to Ft. Pierce, FL with our 3 dogs and 2 cats. We spent the night in Ft. Pierce and woke up the next morning to life in America. We loaded up all of our belongs and animals with the help of Rob Thompson and Dan Shoemaker into a 16 foot Penske Truck and headed to Texas. This was on a Friday morning. By Saturday evening we were in Texas. Welcome home to the Lone Star State! We were tired, but very excited to be with family and to be moving into our new home on the following Tuesday.
Oh but wait! The mortgage company and the US department of agriculture got involved. We had worked out our loan through the USDA because they were offering a $0 down program aimed at developing rural areas. This is a great deal except for one thing. Everybody in America it seems, that is purchasing a home is doing it through USDA. As a result, every day we would ask…today? And every day we would get the response, “no, maybe tomorrow”.
Finally everything was approved and we were able to close last Wednesday. We were so excited, we started moving in that night and slept there. By 10am the next morning, our storage room was empty and most of our stuff was at least in the garage.
We are very grateful to God and are enjoying setting up our new home. The animals are beginning to settle down and feel like they are home too.
Now if we can only figure out where to put everything!!!!
Rob and Becky had a great time in Haiti. They were able to accomplish quite a bit, experience a lot and came back glowing with excitement about their impending move there.
Here is the beginning of their blog entry when they got back:
For those who are interested, here is an overview of what we did… "
You'll find the rest of the entry, a day by day account of their adventure, at Rob and Becky's blog. We share their joy and excitement!
Rob and Becky Thompson go to Haiti tomorrow, Tuesday, August 18 for 6 days. They are praying that Tropical Storm Ana will not be an issue. It will be in the vicinity but so far, will looks like it will be north of Port-au-Prince and the Cayes area, thus enabling them to reach the mission center. A good site to use to follow hurricanes and other tropical systems is, http://www.stormpulse.com/. It provides good graphics, projected paths, timelines, etc.
Pray for Rob and Becky. Their time there is limited and they have a lot to accomplish during their stay. Pray that the 3 kids do well with their host families.
