Photo Update from RMI...

Orientation tonight with our first team of the fall. Calvary Bible Fellowship, PA, on their way to Vieux Bourg. Can't wait to see what God is going to do. What's your favorite memory from orientation? #rmihaiti Photo Credit: Marc Fraser

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Photo Update from RMI...

Team coming on Friday... this means RMI Missionary Lee Nunemaker and the Church Partnership's team are HARD at work preparing. Thanks for ALL you do! #rmihaiti

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Photo Update from RMI...

We are grateful that the hurricane doesn't seem to be impacting southern Haiti but our hearts go out to folks in northern Haiti as well as the islands that have already been hit hard. RMI staff continue to prepare their homes and making plans as to whether or not to shelter in place or evacuate. RMI Board Meetings scheduled for Sept.15 has been canceled. If you need to contact RMI please do so at info@RMIbridge.org. We'd all appreciate your continued prayers for us as well as everyone in the path of Hurricane Irma.

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What Other Store Offers So Much?

Want to buy a goat, a case of food, water filters, solar lights or even field garden tools to help a needy family in Haiti?  How about ways to help in Hurricane Matthew rebuilding efforts including seeds for farmers to rebuild their crops?   Do you know where to find the new RMI team T-shirts?

All of this and much more is in the RMI store on our website.  You can find it HERE. 

You’ll also find a number of handmade Haitian bags, purses, accessory bags and dish towels from the Domestic Center in Cayes.  If you’ve been to Haiti with RMI you mostly likely have visited the Domestic Center to get a tour and shop at their store.  The quality is amazing.

The literature section has Creole children’s Bibles (perfect for Hope for Kidz sponsors to purchase for their sponsored child for a gift), Life of Jesus booklets as well as supplemental Creole language course books for team training.

In the store you will also find the opportunity to participate in a matching program to help build a Homes for Haiti home.

Explore the store; there’s a wealth of opportunities to “go shopping”.  Some items will be shipped to you directly while many other items will be purchased by you but delivered in Haiti.  What other store can offer that?

Photo Update from RMI...

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Photo Update from RMI...

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Photo Update from RMI...

Behind the scenes... It takes an army to do what we do. Thanks Josiah Nunemaker for all your IT work! #rmihaiti

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Photo Update from RMI...

Thank you Naga for your hard work keeping our vehicles running. #rmihaiti #team

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Photo Update from RMI...

Happening now.... RMI's Annual Pastor's meeting here at our Haiti Office where we listen and share lots of updates, encouragement, Hope for Kidz info, C3 Church Partnership info, and we eat together! #rmihaiti #partnership #collaboration

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Photo Update from RMI...

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Photo Update from RMI...

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Photo Update from RMI...

Haitian proverb for the week: Bourik chaje pa kanpe. Translation: A loaded donkey doesn’t stand still. Meaning: No rest for the busy. Pray for our Haiti field staff as they are coming back together from their summer travels in the US. The 3 RMI school teachers are setting up their school rooms and school starts very soon. The Thompsons and Nunemakers are back and are busy getting things ready for a full fall and winter schedule. The Suttons return next month in time for the first team of the season. Our appointees, Dawn Shoemaker and the Speel family, are busy and working hard to raise their support so they can get to the field as soon as possible. Pray for them, too! The RMI US staff are also busy running the day to day operations of RMI!

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Photo Update from RMI...

This week's Haitian proverb...Anpil men chay pa lou. Translation: Many hands make the load lighter. Meaning: Even though the job may be big and the workload heavy, people can do things more quickly and easily when they work together. If many people cooperate, work that would have otherwise been very heavy for one person becomes light to each participant.

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Brighten Someone’s Night

These portable solar-powered lanterns can be purchased through RMI

and delivered to your Sister Church in Haiti. 

$36 a pair - including delivery.

Electricity is scarce in Haiti and nonexistent in most Haitian homes. Children either cannot study at night or they use a candle fueled by kerosene, which is dangerous. Our portable lantern is a reliable lighting source for children to read and study. The lamp weighs only 4 ounces and collapses to one inch thin. It contains a solar charged lithium ion battery; making it a convenient and efficient lighting source - anywhere, anytime, any weather.

Lantern Features: Safe & reliable Waterproof & shatterproof Solar-charged battery Great for reading Offers security lighting You can make brighten someone’s night by donating HERE.

Photo Update from RMI...

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New, Revised Manuals and Team T-shirts!

We’re excited to announce that the new, revised Team Training Manuals and Team Leader’s Manuals have arrived! 

It went through extensive revising, editing, and condensing.  A blank journal to make keeping a record of your trip much easier was added at the end.

The manuals are plastic coil bound, making it much more user friendly…it is easy to lay flat or fold over to study, read and take notes in.  They are much more compact as well.

The Leader’s Manual is now a stand alone unit – it doesn’t contain a Team Manual as it did in the past.  A team leader needs to make sure he orders both for himself.

Other Exciting News…

The Team Leader’s Manual, the Team Training Manuals and the companion devotionals are all now included in a team’s in-country MED (Ministry Enablement Donation) fee.  You do not have to pay for them separately.

Because of these changes we are asking teams to order new leader’s manuals for each team leader.  New team manuals should also be ordered for  every single person on your team even if they’ve been on a previous team. You should order 1 Team Training Manual and 1 devotional for each person as well as 1 Team Leader’s Manual for each leader.  For example, if you have 10 people on your team (including you as a team leader), you should order 10 manuals, 10 devotionals and 1 leader’s manual.  Make sure you order them as soon as possible since it takes time to ship them to you.

Please discard the previous manuals you have used since they are no longer in use. 

RMI firmly believes that in order to have a successful, life transforming short term trip to Haiti, the team must have comprehensive preparation beforehand.  These manuals and devotionals, as well as the supplemental one-time materials (the Pimsleur Creole language course, the Creole-English dictionary and the Creole-English phrasebook, all 3 of which are purchased separately and should stay as the property of your church for subsequent teams to use) are the resources that you need in order to go through this preparation and orientation time.

More Exciting News…

Team T-shirts are now available! 

And 1 T-shirt per person is now a part of a team’s in-country MED fee!

Ordering for these shirts should be done through the team leader.  The form can be found HERE.

Additional T-shirts can be bought in our store on the RMI website, www.RMIbridge.org (there’s a store button on the home page).

The green is great for group identity in an airport.  The gray is a light gray and just as nice.

We know you’ll enjoy the new manuals…and this is the first time RMI has provided team T-shirts!  It’s also the first time these things are included in a team’s in-country MED fee.  All good changes that will enhance your trip experience! 

Photo Update from RMI...

This morning Rob Thompson shared, "Singing and Praying with the RMI team this morning. We made it through together by God's grace." So happy to see them back home!

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Photo Update from RMI...

The Thompsons made it home!

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Photo Update from RMI...

News Flash! The Thompson family is returning to Haiti today!! God has done great things in their lives and we're so thankful that they are now going home. Earlier this morning Rob wrote, "Haiti here we come! Kids woke up doing the 'today we see Jersey (our dog) dance!' After 14 months, we are thrilled to be going home!"

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Photo Update from RMI...

Haitian proverb of the week: Di m kisa our renmen, ma di ou ki moun ou ye. Translation: Tell me what you love, and I’ll tell you who you are. Meaning: What you are interested in says a lot about who you are.

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Photo Update from RMI...

RMI's growth spurt in continuing! We’d like to introduce you to Jeff and Christina Speel. They live in Absecon, New Jersey where they have served at Beacon Evangelical Free Church in Galloway, NJ since 2010. They love pouring themselves into the lives of teen and college students as Director of Student Ministries. In addition to caring for their two children, Elle (4 years old) and Hutz (1-year-old), Christina helps out in various ministries of the church. They have both been to Haiti for short-term trips, but cannot wait for the opportunity to return and serve full-time in whatever capacity is needed. Jeff and Christina are official RMI appointees and currently raising support to go to Haiti full-time. Their arrival date depends on when they are able to get all of their monthly support needs (besides salary, this includes health and medi-vac insurance, taxes, social security, a Board mandated 401k and a modest business account) as well as their one-time needs (household set-up costs, shipping their goods, their flights, visa costs, transportation needs, and many other expenses). Pray for them as they begin their support raising. They are needed in Haiti as soon as possible. If you would like to be a part of their ministry, you can do this online at http://ift.tt/2gFklbP. You can contact them at jeff.speel@rmibridge.org or christina.speel@rmibridge.org to arrange for them to speak at your church or small group.

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RMI’s Growth Spurt is Continuing

We’d like to introduce you to Jeff and Christina Speel.  They live in Absecon, New Jersey where they have served at Beacon Evangelical Free Church in Galloway, NJ since 2010.  They love pouring themselves into the lives of teen and college students as Director of Student Ministries.

In addition to caring for their two children, Elle (4 years old) and Hutz (1-year-old), Christina helps out in various ministries of the church.  They have both been to Haiti for short-term trips, but cannot wait for the opportunity to return and serve full-time in whatever capacity is needed.

Jeff and Christina are official RMI appointees and currently raising support to go to Haiti full-time.  Their arrival date depends on when they are able to get all of their monthly support needs (besides salary, this includes health and medi-vac insurance, taxes, social security, a Board mandated 401k and a modest business account among other things) as well as their one-time needs (household set-up costs, shipping their goods, their flights, visa costs, transportation needs, and many other expenses).

Pray for them as they begin their support raising.  They are needed in Haiti as soon as possible.  If you would like to be a part of their ministry, you can do this online at HERE  You can contact them at jeff.speel@rmibridge.org or christina.speel@rmibridge.org to arrange for them to speak at your church or small group.

Photo Update from RMI...

A Haitian proverb for the week: Avan ou monte bwa, gade si ou ka desann li. Translation: Before you climb a tree, look to see if you can climb down. Meaning: Make sure you know what you’re getting into. A wise word for all of us!

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Pillowcase Dresses–a Project Idea for Ladies

Pillowcase dresses - A fun and easy idea to get gals of all ages in your church involved in doing something for your C3 partner church! They are simple and don't take an experienced seamstress to create. Here are some samples of pillowcase dresses that were recently made for little girls in Haiti. It's easy to find patterns online (search "pillowcase dress pattern" in either Pinterest or in your internet search bar). You can collect pillowcases (preferably pretty designs and/or bright colors) in standard and king sizes, obtain fabric pieces for the ruffles, print the instructions and you're good to go. Make some samples for folks to see. Prepackage them in Ziploc bags, and have ladies sign up to take them home to make or perhaps have an old fashioned sewing bee to make the dresses as a group.

The dresses are intended for young girls, approximately 3-8 years old. Contact the RMI field at partnerships.haiti@rmibridge.org to find out how many little girls they estimate there are in the church so you have an idea of how many you would need. Always add 15 or 20 more to the number just in case you need extras.

They would need to taken down to your C3 partner the next time you visit them - so plan ahead...and be creative! (They can be mailed to your C3 partner church, too. Contact the Haiti field to find out the best way to go about this and the costs involved.)

We'd love to see pictures of your creations.

The RMI Family is Growing!

We are excited to introduce you to the newest additions to our RMI family…

Joslynn Stakes - 2017-18 School Teacher

Joslynn is serving with RMI for the 2017-2018 school year where she will teach 6th-7th grades at Cite Lumiere Christian School. She taught 5th-12th grade Health and PE for 5 years at Highland Baptist Christian School in Louisiana, her native state. She has visited her sister church Petit Trou through RMI four times.  It was during these trips that God laid it on her heart to serve in Haiti as a teacher.

Janae Stork - 2017-18 School Teacher

Janae has been living in Les Cayes since March 2015 and spends her summers with her family in Illinois. She plans to move up to high school with her students at Cite Lumiere Christian School (CLCS) this coming 2017-18 school year. She has previously taught language arts in 2nd and 7th grades in 2015-16 school year. Janae also taught 5th and 6th grade language arts for half of the school year while being the main 8th grade teacher during the 2016-17 school year at CLCS.  She is looking forward to spending time in the Sister Church communities as her school schedule allows and joining teams on weekends when they are near the Les Cayes area.

They join another RMI teacher…

Courtney Westcott - 2017-18 School Teacher

Courtney is a native of New Jersey, and has previously served in Les Cayes, Haiti during the 2014-15 school year where she taught First Grade at the Cite Lumiere Christian School.  She is looking forward to returning to Haiti for the 2017-18 school year where she will teach her former students as they transition to Third Grade.  Courtney also accompanies teams out to their Sister Churches when possible.

Josylnn succinctly explains the importance of school teachers in the lives of missionaries.  She shared, “On my first visit to Haiti where I learned of Cite Lumiere Christian School and its importance to RMI, I thought of Aaron holding up Moses’ arms during a battle and how he was critical to the victory even though he was a background player.”  It’s a great analogy.  These gals’ ministries directly affect the Rob Thompson and Lee Nunemaker families as well as several other missionary families.

They are currently raising their support and are asking for your prayers as they need their funds to come in quickly since they need to be in Haiti to start classes at the end of August!  You can donate to their support HERE.

Photo Update from RMI...

from Reciprocal Ministries International

Photo Update from RMI...

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Child Sponsorship Makes a Difference

One of the most effective ways to make a difference in a child’s life...to be able to truly transform their lives, is sponsoring them through RMI’s Hope for Kidz Child Sponsorship Program.  It seems so simple yet has such a profound effect on his or her life!  It’s something that you can do without leaving home - you don’t have to go to Haiti to do it.  You can do it as an individual, as a family project, a project at your work place, a church, a Sunday School class, a home school group, a school class project, or even as a civic organization (like Kiwanis or Rotary Club) project.  You can support one child...or 2 or 3 or even more!  There’s no limit.

Yes, a sponsorship CAN make a difference in a child’s life!  Here is one example of a young girl who began to be sponsored several years ago.  It’s not a scientific study, of course, but it shows that, over the years, she made a dramatic improvement!  It’s such an encouragement to know that this is a result of her being able to attend school thanks to her sponsor.

Now is the time to renew your sponsorship for this coming fall school year.  Don’t delay!  Go to www.RMIbridge.org/child-sponsorship to renew.

If you don’t yet support a child, now is the time to get started!  Go to www.RMIbridge/child-sponsorship to get started.

Photo Update from RMI...

Our missionaries Rob and Becky Thompson and family packed food for Haiti last night at Feed My Starving Children in Chicago with a group of supporters. Thank you everyone!

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Photo Update from RMI...

Church service in Pemel

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Photo Update from RMI...

Open air service in Cance.

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Photo Update from RMI...

Children in the communities surrounding Picot received goats from their sister church, Trinity Bible Church (LA) today. One goat provides tremendously for a needy family in Haiti.

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Photo Update from RMI...

Trinity Bible Church (LA) and Picot churches are reaching out and ministering to other churches in the Picot district today.

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Welcome to the RMI Family

We are excited to welcome 3 new C3 Partners to the RMI family.  Each one have already sent teams and been involved in life-changing ministry.  Here are the US churches and their C3 Partners.

Lifehouse Church of Townsend, Delaware is now partnering with Aux Coteaux Baptist Church (they are currently enlarging the sanctuary, thus the temporary structure in the photo).

McGregor Baptist Church of Ft. Myers, FL is now partnering with Cote de Fe Baptist Church.

Wellspring Church of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey is now partnering with Boyer Baptist Church.

Welcome aboard Lifehouse, McGregor and Wellspring!  We look forward to many years of service together and many lives in both churches transformed.

Photo Update from RMI...

The Zanglais Ministry Center was buzzing with activity this morning with Teens For Christ youth team (NE/KS) and Trinity Bible Church (LA) as they prepared for their week of ministry.

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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.

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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.