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”.

She Received a Foundation for Her Future

Marie Mirline Batistin was born in 1989. Her mother had two children, one boy and one girl. Marie lost two precious things in life soon after her birth: her father, who died when she was two months old, and her mother when she was two years old. God, in his mercy, touched the heart of her grandparents to take care of her. Marie Mirline became a member of a Christian family of seven children, four boys and three girls, including Marie.

Marie took the last name after her grandfather (Batistin), who adopted her after her mother and father passed away. They did that to show how much that they loved her and cared about her. They fed her, dressed her, and treated her the same way they treated their own children. When the time came for Marie to go to school, they sent her. They were very surprised to see how great she did in school. She was always happy when it came to going to school, studying and doing homework. She always had good scores. Knowing her love for school and the lack of means of her parents to take care of all the children, Pastor Termitus Milien (he was the pastor of the MEBSH church in Morency at that time) presented her story to RMI’s Hope for Kidz Program and she was fortunate enough to be selected. She was sponsored by Pastor Jim Halstead, who was the pastor of Sunrise Evangelical Free Church, C3 Partner to the Morency church, at the time.  He was able to meet her in person in the mid-1990’s. The picture was taken at that time.  He supported her for a number of years. 

After she finished with primary school in Morency, she moved to Les Cayes to continue with high school. Knowing the story of her mother and her father, she took good advantage of what her grandparents did for her. She also did great in high school. She finished high school but couldn’t go to college due to the lack of funds. After high school, her dream was to study business administration because she loves business, dealing with people, communication, and being self-employed. Fortunately, her dream of being self-employed came true. She is now running her own small business in Port-au-Prince. She has two children, one boy and one girl.

When Benson, RMI’s Hope for Kidz Supervisor found her recently, she shared, “I started by growing up without a mother and father which created a big hole in my life, but having God in my life filled the hole.  …thank you to everyone including my RMI sponsor for helping me have a better future.  If I did not know how to read and write it would be disastrous for my life.” 

Marie still has the picture of his family that Pastor Jim gave her in 1995 when they met.  She continues to pray for them to this day. 

She has things she didn’t expect to have – the knowledge and tools to run her own business and now a family of her own.

Hope for Kidz truly transforms the lives of the kids that are sponsored.

Missionary Candidate Updates

Raising support to go to the field is a challenging time for missionaries.  They must continue with their full-time jobs as well as travel, share their ministry, and work hard at cultivating contacts and supporters that will  be on their ministry team.  That in and of itself is often a full-time job.  It also involves a lot of prayer!

Jim and April Starkey are in that phase of raising their support.  They have been working hard at contacting churches, Bible studies, family, friends and acquaintances.  It has been slow-going but their enthusiasm has not waned.  The boys, Isaac, Micaiah and Ezekiel, are equally excited and anticipating the move to Haiti.  Jim has already finished one online Creole learning language study and he speaks Creole only with their youngest, Ezekiel, who is quickly picking it up. 

They are in need of additional contacts. Do you know of churches and/or Bible studies that would be open to hearing them share their ministry?  Would you be willing to become one of their ministry partners and take them on for either monthly support or by making a one-time gift to their ministry? 

They live in Ohio, but are willing to travel!  They can be found on Facebook (www.facebook.com/jim.starkey and www.facebook.com/aprilcstarkey) as well as their website, www.toHaitiwego.com.   You can also donate online at www.RMIbridge.org/financial-donations.
 
The recent departure of the Harvies and Suttons have left a void in our Haiti staff that the Starkeys’ skills and talents will fill.  They are urgently needed on the field as soon as possible.  Please pray with us and the Starkeys that their support will come in quickly.

God’s timing is not always our timing - but we are assured that all things work together for good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.  Thus we know that the delay in Jeff and Christina Speel’s departure for Haiti will work out for their good.  They were to leave in August but that date has been pushed back to the first week of January, 2019.

In late April, Jeff began to struggle with back issues.  He had back surgeries in 2010 and 2011 and has been good since then; however, issues began to flare up in April with two herniated discs, and worsened going into May.  In mid-May, he experienced disc fragmentation.  On top of this, he got a serious infection (cellulitis), and was hospitalized for nine days.  This was operated on June 1st.  Between surgery and antibiotics, the infection has now been resolved.  In an effort to avoid a third surgery on his back, he received two spinal epidural steroid injections that have helped tremendously to get swelling down.  He is currently under the care of a physical therapist to get his back in better shape in order to get the doctor’s clearance to go to Haiti.

God is still moving them toward Haiti.  Jeff’s physical issues are healing, his back is getting stronger, their home in New Jersey sold and they have moved in with Christina’s family in Speculator, NY. 

Jeff shared, “God is so clearly at work, and we know so many of you are praying!  Doctors are very happy with my progress, and we hope to serve in Haiti whenever I get the green light to do so.  Until then, we’re excited for all the many things RMI has us involved with stateside.  We will start language school online here in the States so that we get a good grasp on the Creole language.  We’ll also be studying from some assigned texts that will better equip us for the field.  We’ll continue to dialogue and meet various individuals/churches, sharing our hearts for Haiti and talking more about the ministry of RMI.”

Life Transforming Relationship

“On our trip in February 2016, the team from The Bayou Church visited our Sister Church in Petit-Trou, Haiti. During home visits, we split up into three groups, and one group was able to deliver a food box to a woman who had lost her home to a fire that year. We wrote down her name "Sally Ma" because that's what it sounded like to us. At that time she had been living under an A-framed tarp.

On that trip, after talking with Pastor Solvat, we assessed that the biggest needs of the church were to finish building the parsonage and to rebuild a home for Sally Ma (Salimene, Selèmen or Selìmen - we have gotten different spellings each time we go). Our church raised $30,000 that June to rebuild the parsonage (each year our church does a "Big Give" now called the "Make a Difference" fund and that year, Haiti was one of the 5 recipients of that fund). After the parsonage rebuild was under way, we started raising money for Sally Ma's home. This time we reached out to the community and friends on Facebook, set up tables in our church foyer. [The picture is a card that showed her tent house.  The card was passed out at church, to our friends, family and co-workers as well as shared on Facebook.]

On our trip in April 2017, she had moved from her property to her daughter's property and had rebuilt a makeshift house using one standing cement wall, cement slab, tarps and tree branches. Another small group from our team went to visit her and pray with her.

It took us from January to October to raise the money to rebuild her home. When our team arrived in Feb 2018, they had already cleared the land. This time our entire team went out to pray over the land where her home would be built.

When our family visited in June 2018 the house was almost complete. She was not well when we saw her in June, but I am so grateful that I was able to hold her hand and pray with her one more time. She called me "cheri" [dearest] and smiled when I introduced her to my kids who had worked so hard making videos, working the table at church, and taking pictures for me to put on Facebook, putting together their birthday and Christmas money to add to her fund - they were a huge part of the fundraising.  Three weeks after our family visited, she passed away from uterine cancer.”

~ Casey Hilty, The Bayou Church, Lafayette, Louisiana

The Hilty family was able to visit the home when they were there in June.  Casey shared that raising these funds for this widow and her family had a tremendous impact on their church’s lives and on their family’s lives.  Their kids were very involved in contributing to the raising of those funds.  “Sally Ma’s” family also were impacted as they experienced the love and care of The Bayou Church for them and their mother. 

It was truly a life transforming relationship.

A Season for Goodbyes

Joel and Laura Sutton arrived on the field in September of 2014.  Joel was an invaluable help in many areas.  He pretty much did any maintenance that needed done, not only on RMI facilities, but often on missionary homes as needed as well. He spent a lot of time at Zanglais with projects such as the desalinization unit.  He also was a driver for many of our teams and was either the missionary host or additional RMI staff on teams.  He even used his experience in tree removal after Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  He worked tirelessly opening the roads around their village and on the mission center as well as taking trees off homes in many areas.  His willingness to help in any way has been so appreciated. 

Laura’s role of facilitating all the teams and their details was an integral part of RMI’s ministry.  She helped them in coordinating their flights, their projects and ministries, and a million details to make the 40 teams we had last year run smoothly.  With her extensive nursing background, she taught several health seminars.  She helped host many a team out in the country.  She also helped nurse the various illnesses or injuries of staff or team members.  Her smile and help in keeping things organized is already being sorely missed. 

Their 4 year term has come to a close and they are returning to their home area of Gainesville, FL.  Joel plans on working with International Friendship again, a ministry for international students/families at UF.  He also may do some work at the elementary school with disabled children.  Laura hopes to be involved in women’s and children’s ministries at their home church and with individuals and community agencies needing help with nursing care.  They plan on spending time with their kids and grandkids, too.  We are sorry to see them go but wish them the best in their new endeavors.

Janae Stork taught at the missionary children’s school on the mission center.  She taught Bible, social studies, grammar, writing, and literature. She was there for 3 school years but only 1 with RMI.

She returned to her home area in Illinois, but won’t be there long since she will be marrying a gentleman that she met on an RMI workteam from New Jersey.  We’ll miss her but wish her the best in the future. 

Courtney Westcott also taught at the missionary children’s school on the mission center.  She taught 3 years, 1 year each in first, third and fourth grades and every subject except French and P.E.

She met most of the teams and had lunch with them. She also volunteered for the missionary body by sorting mail for the past two school years.  Courtney will be missed and we wish her the best in the future.

From Voodoo to Christ: A Life Transformed

Even though her family protested, Madame Emil took off her voodoo amulet and trusted Christ as her savior.  She was 8 months pregnant at the time and her family insisted that this decision and the taking off of her amulet would result in harm to her unborn baby.  But she was firm in her decision.  It was a moving time for the team from Nebraska who had come to her home with their Haitian C3 pastor and an RMI translator to share the Gospel with the family.  The angels rejoiced when she joined the family of God.  The pastor made a point to follow up with her to support her in this life transforming decision.  The local Haitian church did the same thing as they took her in.

Recently the RMI staff heard that the baby had been born, so they made a visit and brought a box of food aid as a gift to help the family. 

They were able to meet the 3 day old baby girl.  Madame Emil shared that it was the smoothest labor she has had yet (she has 3 other young children). She said she really felt the Lord’s protection and faithfulness through it all.  What a beautiful testimony! 

The local pastor went with the RMI staff and shared the Gospel again with her father.  He wasn’t ready to make that decision, but the seed has been planted.  And the pastor and church will make sure it is watered!

This is the kind of vital, life transformative ministry that RMI has been involved in for the last 30 years. 

What a privilege it is to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this family’s lives.  Pray with us for the father’s salvation.

Touching Lives for Generations to Come

Longtime C3 church, Creekside Community Church (Gainesville, FL) has felt burdened to build up basic educational opportunities in their C3 church, Baraderes, and its district churches for quite awhile.  Many of the district churches are very remote, from small gatherings on nearby islands to the mountains above Baraderes.  In order to do that they needed to strengthen and resource those churches.  Before a school building could be built, they had to build proper church buildings.  So this is what they have done.  Over the past several years they’ve built 3 church buildings and have committed to building a 4th one.  They’ve also built 1 school, committed to building another one and added one room onto a school to store the food for the Hot Lunch Program.   All of this has been done using local labor and under the supervision of RMI’s construction crew.  Way to go Creekside!

These efforts will reverberate not only throughout the region but down through generations to come.

Baraderes Church...the school is on the first floor and the sanctuary is on the second floor.

Riviere Salee Church, funded by the youth of Creekside.

Pederin Church praying with the Creekside team.

Grand Boucan Church’s current meeting place.  This will be the next church to be built.

HFK Child Sponsorship Spotlight: Nedchaida

Meet Nedchaida, a sweet, 7-year-old girl who lives in the Anse a Veau area.  She is in the second grade and receives a school sponsorship through our Hope for Kidz Child Sponsorship Program.

Nedchaida lives out in the country, not in Anse a Veau town proper.  It takes her 45 minutes to walk to school each day (one way).  She usually meets up with other school-mates on the way.  There are 45 children in her 2nd grade class.  Her coursework includes Haitian history and geography, math,  Bible, reading/writing/spelling in Creole,  and French.  Except for her Creole reading books, the books for most subjects are in French (the official educational language of Haiti)  but the students are taught by the teacher in Creole so that they understand.  She is learning to read in Creole from a book called "Reading with a Happy Heart."  Her class is currently learning addition.  She is very involved in the children's group at her church, where they learn Bible verses and sing songs. When I asked her her favorite song to sing, she sang "Father Abraham" for me!  She was very shy during most of our conversation, but when we were done I watched her skipping down the stairs and down the street next to her mother. That made me smile!

Nedchaida is the youngest of 5 children.  Her mother has a very kind smile and expressed how grateful she is for the sponsorship her daughter receives.  When I asked her mother what she did for work, she said she has a garden and  has a "little business" which is pretty typical.  Likely just selling whatever produce grows in their garden or little snacks.  Nedchaida's dad is currently living in the capital, Port au Prince.  It sounds like he has skills as a mason and works when there is a job available.  She helps her mom washing dishes each day.  She loves to play hide and seek and jump rope and she especially loves to play hopscotch!  When I asked her what her favorite meal is her eyes lit up and said "mayi moulen ak sòs pwa!" which is polenta (a cooked corn meal dish) and bean sauce.  Her enthusiastic reply gave her mother a laugh!

I really enjoyed getting to know this little girl and her mother and to see the difference a sponsorship makes in her life.   If you sponsor a child through our Hope for Kidz Program, thank you!  You are making a difference in that child's life and in the life of her family!

Our C3 Partner churches are working hard to secure school sponsorships for children for the 2018-19 school year.  If you would like more information on how to sponsor a child, contact your church's HFK Coordinator or go here.

RMI Turns 30 Years Old

Yep, that’s right.  RMI is 30 years old.  God has done amazing things in and through RMI and our C3 Partnership Program these past 30 years.  Our foundational program, C3 Partnerships, was a vision that started as a seed in the hearts of Herb and Shirley Shoemaker and Dan and Debbie Shoemaker and finally became Reciprocal Ministries International (RMI) in April 1988.  Herb and Shirley ran the stateside administration and Dan and Debbie, along with a handful of Haitian staff, ran the Haiti side.  From that simple beginning of desiring to see the US Church and Haitian Church experience the unity of the Holy Spirit and minister to one another reciprocally, God has raised up RMI as one of the largest missions working in South Haiti with 35 ongoing partnerships, some that are 30 plus years old.  What an amazing tribute to our Lord as we see His faithfulness demonstrated in so many ways over these past 30 years.

RMI’s vision of a church to church partnership has been way ahead of its time.  Today, it is one of the catch phrases that many missions toss around, but RMI leads the way as we continue to develop our C3 Partnership program.  We now have 35 partnerships (with a goal of 100) that are engaged in many different ministries and projects with their partner church and community.  Our emphasis on engaging these partnerships through our 5 point Impact Strategy is enabling our churches to minister through evangelism, discipleship, social compassion, and community development.  This model has provided them with a holistic ministry strategy through which RMI is constantly developing new ways through which our partners can minister into one another’s lives.

Over these past 30 years, God has blessed RMI with incredible staff.  From our staff at our Zanglais Ministry Center that have been with us from the beginning to our latest hires this year, God has proven faithful to provide just who we needed at that time.  We continue to see God’s blessing as we have seen our staff almost triple in the last 10 years to over 45 full-time national staff.  We are excited to see our Haitian staff leading many of our ministries and programs.  RMI has been a role model since its inception in the way it has treated its staff and pushed them into leadership roles.  Rob Thompson, our Haiti Field Director, Benjamin Altema, our Director of Field Operations, and Benson Joseph, our Hope For Kidz Haiti Field Supervisor, continue that tradition as they train and raise up leaders.

And what can we say about the way the Lord has provided the right missionaries right when they were needed?  Today as we look at the 2 families, 1 couple, and 4 single gals on the field, with 2 more families raising funds, we can only thank the Lord for His wonderful provision from where we started with just one couple on the field.

RMI’s second major program, the Hope for Kidz Child Sponsorship Program (HFKz) began in 1996 with a handful of kids and has been growing ever since.  HFKz Director, Barbara Rose, oversees the sponsorship of 2400 kids, a de-worming program impacting 17,000 kids, guiding our “Schools of Excellence” program for our Haitian partner schools, a hot meal program that feeds 8500 kids a day in 21 schools, and a large staff overseeing these programs both in Haiti and the US.

The 2010 earthquake prompted RMI to expand its vision.  In response to the great needs that resulted from that disaster and following hurricanes and floods, programs such as Homes for Haiti where we have provided 123 transitional homes, Water for Health where we have provided over a thousand water filters for families, and Food for Health where we have provided close to 4 million meals last year alone, came into being to help address those needs.  As a result of Hurricane Matthew (2016), Goats 4 Haiti was started and has provided 1500+ goats to date.

We are very grateful to God for the many, many ways He is using RMI to transform lives.  And we are very grateful for all the many supporters and friends of RMI.  Without everyone’s support we would not be where we are today.  We have much to share about where RMI has been and where we are going for the years ahead.  Thank you.  We can’t wait to see what God does and how He’ll grow RMI in the next 30 years.  Celebrate with us!

One Life Story–A Result of Child Sponsorship

Nadège Lavaud grew up in a coastal town as far west as you can get in Haiti’s southern peninsula.  Opportunities were limited and her family’s resources were few.  As poor subsistence fishermen, they could not send Nadège  to school.  The church they attended had a C3 Partnership with a church in New Jersey and the national pastor, knowing Nadège’s family’s limited capabilities, put her name on the Hope for Kidz list of children in need of support.  Someone from that church in the US faithfully supported her and the education she received changed her life.

After graduating from school, Nadège moved away from her small, remote town to attend teacher training school.  After finishing that program, she returned to her hometown and taught kindergarten there for 4 years.  Then she moved to Haiti’s capital to attend nursing school.  Last year, the director of the school called her.  The kindergarten program was in disarray.  Would she consider returning?  She accepted the challenge, returned to her hometown and proceeded to organize the program.

Today, under her direction, the kindergarten is well organized and Nadège is thriving in her role as a teacher.  She is happy to be making a difference in the same school and program that offered her so much hope as a young girl.

This is just one of many life transforming effects of the Hope for Kidz child sponsorship program.  The Hope for Kidz program is providing HOPE today for many kids like Nadège.  Through sponsorship, they can have a future.

** Don’t Miss Out on the Blessing! **

It’s truly a blessing to be a Hope for Kidz sponsor!  Don’t miss out on that blessing.  If you are already a sponsor, now is the time to renew your sponsorship.  If you are not a sponsor, there are kids on a waiting list needing that hope that sponsorship provides.  The cost is $384 a year or $32 a month for 12 months.  Go to RMI’s website, www.RMIbridge.org to learn more and to set up your sponsorship online.

** Don’t Miss Out on the Blessings! **

It’s truly a blessing to be a Hope for Kidz sponsor!  Don’t miss out on that blessing.  If you are already a sponsor, now is the time renew your sponsorship.  If you are not a sponsor, there are kids on a waiting list needing that hope that sponsorship provides.  The cost is $384 a year or $32 a month for 12 months.  Go to RMI’s website, www.RMIbridge.org to learn more and to set up your sponsorship online.

One of the beauties of the Hope for Kidz Program is that if a sponsors goes with their church to visit their Haitian C3 partner church, they are able to  meet their sponsored child (ren).  These meetings are special to both the sponsor and the child.  Sponsors can see firsthand what and who their money is going for and the kind of help it is.  Here are a few recent such meetings.

World Water Day, March 22

The statistics related to the worldwide lack of clean water is both staggering and sobering.

• 100 million families are stuck in a cycle of poverty and disease because they don’t have access to safe water.
• More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war.
• Water-borne diseases kill more children under the age of five than malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS – combined.
• In developing countries, as much as 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.
• Women and girls spend up to 6 hours every day walking to get water for their families.
• 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related diseases.
• Time spent gathering water around the world translates to $24 billion in lost economic benefits each year, furthering the cycle of poverty.

What can YOU do? 

Even though you are “one” person, you can indeed make a difference.  RMI has immediate access to 100 filters that are available for sponsorship at $75 per filter. This specific filter is a ready to use filter that can provide up to 540 gallons of clean water a day!  We have “boots on the ground”, ready to install these filters. 

YOU can make a difference in one family’s lives with just one filter.  That’s less time spent walking to and from a water source to retrieve water.  That’s less illness, both minor and major, in the family and increased good health for everyone.  It means less school missed for the kids and more productivity for the adults.

Join us in showing the love of Christ in this practical and hands-on way.  RMI has set up a special water filter fundraising effort to get these 100 filters into the homes of needy families.  You will find it HERE.

Our Haitian Staff Needs YOUR Help!

Would you please consider a monthly gift to directly help our Haitian Staff?

Our desire is to give our staff a raise, as well as add a few more team members.  We can't do this without help. Can you help!

We need to raise an additional $4500/monthly.  We're just getting started, but so far, we've raised just over 8%.  We have a ways to go.

Maybe you've been here and have appreciated our Haitian staff?  They are the backbone of our ministry.

Can you help?  Click below to donate monthly, or with a special gift.  Choose "Haitian Staff".

Benjamin Altema: A Promotion to be Celebrated!

Benjamin Altema
Director of Field Operations

We are proud to share with RMI's followers and supporters that Benjamin Altema has been promoted from Field Administrator in Haiti, to the position of Director of Field Operations. Benjamin will directly report to Rob Thompson, Field Director, and the rest of the team (missionaries and Haitian staff) will now report directly to Benjamin.

Benjamin came to work with RMI as an administrative assistant in 2006 and his gifts of leadership and administration were evident in a very short time. Anyone who knows Benjamin and has worked with him over the years, knows that he is a Godly man of integrity and leadership. He has been a blessing to our American missionaries, Haitian staff, and our team members who have had opportunity to work with him over the last twelve years.

Benjamin has been married to his beautiful wife, Lucette, for seven years and they have four handsome sons; Jason and Jaden are six years old, Alan is five years old, and Ezechias is two years old.

Benjamin is thankful to be working in the environment of a great team here at RMI. He says, "My team makes me look good." He has stated that his position with RMI gives him "opportunity to influence the people I'm working with, and to transform more lives and build God's Kingdom through them."

We would ask you to keep Benjamin and his family in prayer as he transitions to this new position of leadership on the RMI team.  

Two Stories of God at Work in Haiti

RMI’s ministry is labor intensive.  Quite a bit goes into working in the field for the Lord.  The seed is planted.  It is faithfully watered.  And then comes the harvest.  [See the parable of the sower in Matthew 13.]  This principle was clearly seen and experienced by 2 different teams and one C3 partner church as God used each one of them in a different part of the process.  Early last year a team from Walloon Lake, MI went to visit their C3 partner church but were unable to reach the church due to political issues in the area.  So the RMI team took them to the Cote de Fer area.  While there, they delivered food to needy families, sharing the gospel at each home. 

On one particular visit they shared the food aid and the message of salvation with a young man who had just lost his leg as a result of being shot by the police.  [First picture]  This young gangster and his family listened as the seed was planted.  Afterwards, he and his friends were quick to say that they weren’t interested in accepting Christ.  After the team left, the pastor and the congregation ministered to him, and faithfully watered the seed.  In October, the Cote de Fer church received the first visit from their new official US C3 partner church from Ft. Myers, FL.  This Florida team spent time in yard to yard evangelism. The national pastor took them to see this same young man and his family.   [Second picture]  After sharing the gospel, he made the decision to accept the Lord!  Pray for Markenson as he cuts ties with the gang and grows in his faith in the Lord.  There’s no question that it is worth the effort!

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In January 2017, a team from Lifehouse Church (Delaware) wanted to come to Haiti and simply serve God in whatever way they could.  RMI missionary, Lee Nunemaker was with them during their week in-country.  He shared that they visited the home of a young man, who was faithful in his service to God, and his family.  They gave them a box of food.  After talking with him for a while they realized that his father, Saint Clair (nicknamed “Ti Mayi” - little corn), in the green shirt,  was not a believer.  In fact, he was very involved in practicing voodoo.  He told them that he feels it is his responsibility to pay back his debts to the evil spirits on behalf of his family.  They shared the Truth with him, prayed for him, and left.  It broke his son’s heart that he knew his father would not spend eternity with him, if something would happen to his dad. 

Then in May or June of 2017, Lee had some vegetable seeds donated in his name that he needed to distribute. Perguens and Lee felt the need to take the seeds to this family.  They showed up, unannounced with a bag of seeds in hand.  Once again, they shared the message of the Gospel with him.  Then they went to see his fields where the seeds would be planted.  This is where God comes in. . . They noticed the field was already plowed.  When they inquired as to why, they said they plowed the fields, but didn’t have money to plant them.  When asked how much of the field the seeds would plant, they opened the bag, and after consideration, they said it would be perfect to do the entire field.  The other amazing thing is that when the guys were loading the seeds, they felt they should give him all the same seed instead of mixing it up.  And they felt like they should add an extra scoop.  God was working. . . .   They reminded them that this is the God that his son serves.  He knows your needs and provides for those needs in advance!  Again, they prayed for him.  But this time, he said he felt God tugging at his heart. 

This January, the team that came down to serve God in 2017, Lifehouse Church, who had become an official C3 Partner church was at their Sister Church for their first official team visit.  While they were there Perguens informed them that Ti Mayi, in the orange shirt,  willingly went to the special services the church had over the Christmas season.   As of today. . . we are told that he has been attending the church regularly for the last month or so!  Still not a believer, still has not accepted Christ, but God is at work!!  Please pray with us for his salvation.

Cross-Cultural Friendships

When you look at this picture, what do you see?  We see the joy of friendship.  It’s the pure delight and joy of 2 friends who haven’t seen each other for a year.  They do not speak the same language; they live over 2,100 miles, as the crow flies, apart – in fact, they don’t even live on the same continent and aren’t from the same culture.  Yet they have been friends for 4 years.

Melanie is from Loomis, Nebraska and Madame Maxell is from Policard, Haiti.  They when Melanie’s church went to visit her Sister Church for the first time and put on a skit for the women’s group.  Each team member from the US church danced with one lady from the Haitian church and she happened to be paired up with Madame Maxell.  They’ve been friends ever since. 

Melanie shared, “I have been down to Haiti four times, three times to my Sister Church. I met her the first time we were down. Then her husband’s last name was Berendt. And last year when we were there she told me that he had passed away. This time when we went I found out she has been remarried.”  Upholding each other and praying for each other throughout these kinds of life’s ups and downs is a part of the types of relationships that are developed as a result of being in a C3 Partnership.

They are experiencing the oneness of the body of Christ.  The expression “brothers and sisters in Christ” really comes alive in the C3 Partnership Program.  This is what it is all about.  Developing relationships that endure through the years, relationships that weather storms, that bears one another’s burdens and prays faithfully for one another truly helps us exhibit Christlikeness.

If you are interested in life-changing relationships, consider an ongoing cross-cultural partnership with a church in Haiti.  Please contact us at info@rmibridge.org. 

If you are already a part of a C3 Partnership, could you share the program and your experiences with your friends and family?  There are so many churches who are desirous of hands-on ministry that will effect real change, but they don’t know where to go for it.  We need your help in getting the word out about RMI’s unique ministry.  We can equip you with materials and information to do that.  Contact us at info@rmibridge.org or call RMI at 239-368-8390.

Our staff are also happy to come talk to your church leaders or your contact from another church!

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of one of our C3 Partner church pastors.  Yesterday, Jan. 17, 2018, Corail pastor Jean Claude Audoul was riding his motorcycle in Les Cayes, near the mission center, when a a bicyclist turned into his path.  He was able to swerve to miss him, however, he was thrown from his motorcycle into the path of an oncoming vehicle, and was struck and killed.  He leaves behind his wife and five children.  [The family picture was taken in 2012.]

He had served in the Corail church for approximately 6 years.  He had a dynamic ministry and was well liked by his congregation as well as respected in the community.  This comes as a terrible shock to his family and the congregation.

The RMI staff will be making a visit to the Corail church and Pastor Audoul’s wife and children this week.

Pray for his wife and family as they grieve and begin to live life without him.  Pray for the church as they grieve and seek to fill the void he has left in the leadership of the church. 

Pictured at left with Pastor Audoul is Daniel Whiteman, the C3 Coordinator for Corail’s US C3 church partner, Hollywood Community Church, Hollywood, FL.

Dan shared, “We have lost a good friend, but know that he was greeted in heaven with the words, ‘Well done my good and faithful servant!’”

Record Breaking Ministry Impact Report

It has been a record breaking year for RMI.  Through your support and financial partnership with us we have been able to have a significant and life transforming impact in Southern Haiti.

The following is just a sample of what has been going on this past year.

C3 Partnerships
RMI Haitian Staff facilitated 40 team trips - the highest number of teams in one year ever
Our Haitian Partner churches and RMI teams registered over 520 salvations
Many hurricane damaged roofs were either repaired or replaced.  This includes churches, schools, parsonages and homes.

163 water filters were distributed improving the health of  those families and their neighbors
963 goats were distributed to provide sources of income for those families
3 new C3 partnerships and 2 new associate partnerships were begun

Hope for Kidz & School Education
2,366 children are now sponsored through Hope for Kidz
5,700 children received a daily hot lunch
16,796 children’s health were improved through the Hope for Kidz de-worming program

Haiti Operations Team
Processed 15 food containers - - that is 310 tons of food (which is 18,260 boxes of food - each one of which were handled at least 3 times - or 3,944,160 meals)
6 new Haitian employees were hired covering areas such as partnership facilitator, Hope for Kidz, mechanics and guard duty
Maintained 12 vehicles and 7 motorcycles to keep the ministry up and running
Acquired 4 “new-to-us” vehicles to augment our aging fleet

RMI USA
5 new missionaries: Joslynn Stakes and Janae Stork are teachers at the missionary children’s school and have been there since late August; Dawn Shoemaker will be going in March; Jeff and Christina Speel are on target to go in September; and Jim and April Starkey are just starting to raise their support, hoping to go in 2019.

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Who are RMI’s “boots on the ground”?  Who is on the front lines, carrying out all these ministries?  These folks.  They are leaders, translators, guards, cooks, do cleaning and laundry, mechanics, chauffeurs, data entry, teachers, “go-fers”, IT specialists, gardners, agronomists, veterinarian techs, menu planners, purchasers, and photographers.  They are multi-taskers and multi-talented servants of God.

In December, RMI held an appreciation fun day for the entire staff.  It was full of festivities and included a great dinner – that they didn’t have to cook or serve themselves.  RMI president, Dan Shoemaker, RMI Board member, John Peterson, and RMI US employee, John Miner were able to be there to share with the staff and affirm each of them in their service to our Lord and to RMI.  They are the ones actually making ministry happen for their own people.  The day included a giant game of Jenga and multiple drawings for gifts that the US staff brought with them.  You can see all of the pictures from that day HERE.