We now have a portable air conditioner!
Ok, ok. In the sweltering summer heat you have to keep your cool and your sense of humor! RMI missionary, Rob Thompson, transports a very large portable air conditioner upstairs at a church to cool things down for a team. Service with a smile!
Can’t see it? Guess you have to look at it for a moment and put it together with the shadow on the building. See it now?
We are real fans of our our hardworking, outstanding missionaries!
I have had the privilege of handing over the keys to just a couple of these families. They had tears in their eyes and joy in their hearts. It’s been a pleasure for me to see it all happen.
Sadly, I constantly meet families, living even here in Cayes, who are still in a desperate situation due to a lack of stable housing. The tent cities in PAP remain.
Last week, right here in Cayes, I visited the home of a family of 7 who are living in a rented 64 sqft room, with only half a roof made of metal, the remainder a tarp. No beds. They all sleep together on a blanket on the ground. They lost their home in PAP in the EQ. No relief in sight. Typical story.
I met another family of 4 who lost their husband and father in the earthquake. They are living in a rented home. They have no income, and the Mom clearly can’t afford to send their 3 beautiful children to school. I was told the Homeowner is evicting them soon and they don’t know where they will go.
Story after story. They are hard to hear. May God listen to the cries of the masses here in Haiti. I am glad I get the honor of being on the front line of God’s response.
50 Homes for 50 families. Praise the Lord.
Rob
It is exciting to get out to our churches and see some of the 1500+ students who are getting their daily Hot Lunch through Hope for Kidz. For many of these children, it is likely their only meal for the day.
19 tons of food. 1254 boxes of food x 36 bags in a box x 6 meals per bag = 270,864 fortified meals for the hungry.
Rob
Recently, I had the privilege of watching “reciprocal” being fleshed out. Nothing contrived. Nothing forced. A simple reflection of a reciprocal church partnership. Each time our American Churches come to visit their partner church in Haiti, we facilitate a “Deacon’s Meeting”. This is always a special time of collaboration, mutual sharing, future planning, listening, rejoicing, and praying together. It was a special moment as the American Church surrounded and laid hands on the leadership of their Haitian Sister Church and then to turn around and have the Haitian Church Leaders surround and lay hands on their American brothers and sisters. It was special.
Viola Irons, Principal within the Miami-Dade Public School System, member of Florida Bible Church, in Miramar, FL, and member of the recent team who visited their Sister Church in Maniche, Haiti, said, “I have grown more in this week than I ever have in my entire life”. [She gave me permission to share this]. This isn’t the first time I have heard this. I am sure it won’t be the last. I love what we do both for the Haitian Church, and also for the American Church.
Rob
Eleven year old Emma Rice is selling her paintings. Not for herself, but to raise money to support kids through RMI’s Hope for Kidz. Her parents have helped her set up a non-profit organization to handle the funds and set up a website, emmazinggrace.org.
Both of her parents had been to Haiti on mission trips (her mom, Wendy, went as a college student with her church, Creekside Community Church, whose Sister Church is Baraderes). The Lord touched her heart when she heard that Haitian children could not go to school. Then the earthquake hit Haiti, making life in Haiti even harder. It drove her to find a way to raise funds to support kids. You have to hear her tell the story in her own words! She was interviewed by GraceFM in south Florida on the morning of August 4, 2011.
What a challenge to us adults! If this soft spoken young lady can do this, what can, or rather, what should we be doing?
All we can say is “You GO girl!” It’ll be fun to see what God does!
With the new road being constructed, a short drive had the team in Picot. The youth group had prepared a special song to receive the team which they sang in Creole and English. Along with the song each team and RMI staff member received a hand decorated note welcoming them to Picot.
The week was busy and included many of the usual activities such as the Deacon’s Meeting and Ladies Tea (pictured below).
In addition to these regular activities the team was invited to participate in the dedication service for the church at one of Picot’s satellite churches in Les Rois. The Sunday afternoon program was attended by members and Pastors from all of the churches in the Picot District and was broadcast live on Radio Lumiere all throughout the south of Haiti. The team sat on stage as honored guests and Mark greeted the church on the behalf of the whole team and he shared a short message of encouragement.
Mark speaking at the Dedication Service.
Throughout the rest of the week the group visited each of the satellite churches in the district and participated in a short service at some of the locations and spent time touring the parsonage, church and school at the other locations.
Back at the church in Picot a mural was being painted on the side of the parsonage. It was designed and brought to fruition by one of the team members, Shannon.
During the week as time and weather permitted she directed the placement and implementation of the design and team members, RMI Staff, and some of the church members assisted in the painting and at the end of the week a beautiful mural was left behind as a reminder of the love that the Trinity Bible Church has for their Sister Church in Picot, Haiti.
The finished product!
It was a great week that left both the team and the church in Picot encouraged by one another’s presence and service and reminded of God’s great love for his church and all of His people!
All the pictures from the week can be seen on RMI’s Online Album.
For the members of the church in Anse d'Hainault, the summer is just as busy as any other time of year! Pastor Daniel Elliassaint gave us this report on the recent and upcoming activities of the church. Keep them in your prayers as they continue to build God’s kingdom and equip and encourage the church!
We are going to have a regional convention July 29-30, 2011. We are going to
host more than 2000 Christians in our area. The verse from which the theme of the convention is taken is found in Revelation 22:12 which reads, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done”.
Here are a few other activities which took place this month:
July 3-10 Vacation Bible School
July 9 A seminar for the district’s leadership including pastors and deacons. The
theme of the seminar was “How to Lead the Church”.
We are so thankful for the faithfulness of the members of our church who are always willing to do the Lord’s work and support the work of the church.
Please help us in praying for the spiritual life of the church. We have many unmarried couples who are living together. We pray that God would work in their lives so that they would see God’s desire in the matter and make a decision to be obedient to God’s call. Pray for the economic situation of the church that God would meet our needs. Pease also pray for an evangelistic service we will have, that the lost will come to know Jesus.
Gary took a trip out to Tiburon not too long ago to make a delivery. He took a plow and a crate of crocs.
A local ministry received a large donation of crocs so they were handing them out to other ministries in this area to distribute. Gary took some out to Tiburon when he went to deliver the plow. Here is Pastor Lundy with the delivery of shoes!
And here he is with the plow.
The plow is a gift from Crossroad Church, Tiburon’s Sister Church from Jacksonville, FL (Also Amy’s home church!). Crossroad already donated a team of oxen and now the Tiburon church will be able to more efficiently plow their fields!
Crossroad is coming the end of next week to visit their Sister Church in Tiburon. They will be doing a youth conference. Last year over 300 youth attended! Keep them in your prayers as they are making final preparations, as they travel and then as the conference is taking place!
God is at work in Lievre and the church is on fire for the Lord! Pastor Onore Toussaint gave us this report of the recent and upcoming activities in the Church. A Regional Conference is starting today so be sure to keep them in your prayers as they meet together.
In the month of June we had a conference for all the churches in our district. Then the last week in June we had a seminar for the men in the church.
As of May we we didn’t have the money to pay the salary for our teachers but we are thankful to God that he provided money for us to be able to do so. Last month the students in sixth and ninth grade finished with their official exams which allow them to be promoted to the next level of education. At the beginning of July we had a picnic for our students to celebrate the end of the school year. We are grateful to God and to our Sister Church for the help that they provide our students. It is a great blessing to us and we say thank you.
This month, we are having a regional conference, July 15-17th. Before the regional conference, all the pastors and deacons in the region had a seminar, as did all the regional directors and superintendents.
We are very excited to see how motived the church is and how dedicated they are to work for the Lord. Please pray that the church will continue to grow and that a great move of God would continue to be at work in the church.
Pastor Jean Predelma Dor sent this message to Hollywood Community Church to let you know what’s going on in the life of your Sister Church in Corail, Haiti. Keep Corail in your prayers as they continue to minister to their community and grow in their faith.
In June we had a prayer conference, an open air evangelistic service and VBS for all the children in the district. The school year was successful and we celebrated with a day of recreation and activity for the children.
In July we are going to have an evangelistic concert in the church. We are also going to be doing a bible study on Matthew and on the family. It is a Billy Graham and Franklin Graham program we will be using. We are planning on having a party for the children in the church to celebrate their accomplishments but we are still working on a way to be able to fund the party. You can help us by praying for this request.
We are currently building a new church building and we hope to have it completed by next summer as it is our goal to do the dedication in July of 2012, God willing. We have already put the roof on the church but there are still many things that need to be finished. In addition to the construction needs, we also have the need for a sound system. Please keep these things in your prayers as we are trusting God to meet our needs.
Rainy season in Haiti is a mixed blessing. Its always hot and dusty and the earth is parched so when the rain comes its celebrated. But at the same time the majority of the Haitian people depend on gardens and livestock for their sustenance and many of Haiti’s roads are unpaved and with lack of proper drainage systems throughout the country, too much rain and gardens are lost, livestock drowns, roads become impassible and flooding occurs. Waterborne illness it is also often spread through the rivers as they rise. At the beginning of June it rained nonstop for more than a week. While Haiti needed the rain the inundation of water did cause some damage. Here is what we currently know from our Sister Churches:
Pestel:
Crop loss, building damage and loss, and the spread of waterborne illness which has led to some deaths in the area(while it has some symptoms which are similar it doesn’t appear to be Cholera).
Fond D’Heron:
Livestock and crop loss
Corail:
Crop loss
Lievre:
Livestock loss (6 cows, 2 mules, 5 goats, 3 horses, 18 donkeys, 12 sheep and several chickens.)
Baradere:
Livestock and crop loss and one human causality
Les Anglais:
Crop loss (peas)
Please keep these churches and all of our Sister Churches in your prayers. There has been a good bit of rain over the last few days but has been mostly falling at night. The days have been breezy and slightly overcast with even hints of sunshine. While the weather right now is quite lovely, hurricane season is upon us which often brings with it days of rain, heavy winds and the damage that follows. Please pray that God’s hand of protection over Haiti in the coming days and weeks.
God is at work in the Morency Church in Haiti! The church is growing and many things are happening! Keep the church in your prayers as God continues to work in its midst. Here is the most recent report from Pastor Robert Brunache about what’s been going on in Morency.
The church is going very well; we have Sunday school, visitation, Bible studies, member meetings, evangelization services, and prayer services every week. Last month the school had a party for the teachers and a graduation for the kindergarteners to celebrate the end of the school year. We are going to have the regional annual convention in the Morency Church and members and pastors from the five churches within the district will all participate. The convention will take place July 29-31.
Recently because of the ocean which is directly behind the church, water has been coming closer to the church property and has begun eroding the wall behind the church and the gate of the parsonage is broken. However, the church itself has begun to grow and develop and there are new members and many groups that are functioning within the church.
Please pray that the Lord will protect our country from hurricanes and flooding as it is a problem that can directly effect us here in Morency. Pray that more people come to Christ and that the church would continue to grow. Please also remember to pray for the upcoming convention that everything will go well.
Pastor Maxilorme Moise gave us this report of the activities going on in the Cance Church. Please remember to keep the recent convert in your prayers as he gets established in his faith and becomes a part of the church family.
On May 14, we had an activity for all the kids in the school as well as some children who came from another church district. We then had 40 days of church wide prayer meetings, starting May 17. During those meetings, almost 600 people attended every night, one person received Christ during one of the services and the whole event was concluded with a picnic for the whole church and everyone had a great time fellowship together.
Then on June 3rd we had our annual conference which was broadcast throughout Haiti on Radio Lumiere.
We continue with construction at the church and would ask that you continue to pray for us in that work.
The church is healthy and growing thanks to God. We recently had several people go through the candidacy class for baptism and all of the groups within the church are doing lots of good work. The church committee is working well with the pastor collaborating together in God’s work.
Please pray for Pastor Clobert Fravien, one of the pastors in the district, who spent about three weeks in the hospital up at Bon Finne (which is about an hour from Cayes). He was just released yesterday and is now resting at home. Please also remember Pastor Maxilorme , his wife Nadine and their four children: Max Herard, Hendell, Karl Eddy and Lee.
Please remember that you, our Sister Church, are also always in our prayers.
The church at La Colline has been through a lot and also have a lot they are looking to do over the summer. Here is the latest report from Pastor Destin Dorval.
The last Sunday in May is the day we celebrate Mother’s Day in Haiti. This year we took the occasion to serve food to people in the community and over 500 people were served a meal. In June we had an open-air service and five people came to Christ.
The women in the district had meetings in June. They met at the churches in Labat, Labady, Mapou, and Bel-Air.
During the storm that passed through Haiti the beginning of June a member from Labat church fell and fractured his shoulder, the toilet in Labady collapsed as did the church building in Bel-Air. Please keep this individual and these churches in your thoughts and prayers as they recover and make a plan to rebuild.
We are going to have a summer camp for kids in July. There is an organization who is putting on the camp and as part of the program the children will receive two meals a day.
We would like to be able to participate in a program by Billy Graham where we study Matthew. There can be ten participants who are taught the word of God and encouraged to come to church each Sunday so that the church can continue to grow. We would like to do this program and ask you to join in prayer that God would make this a possibility.
We would also ask that you please pray that God gives us a great time at camp with the kids and that they will grow in their relationship with Christ.
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.
Pastor Bonel Gerard gave us this update regarding the recent activities in the Les Anglais Church. Please continue to lift them up in prayer as they are also praying for you, their Sister Church.
In May we had an evangelization outreach from May 26-29. We also had a conference for the families in the church titled “Family Harmony”. There were three speakers and Sunday we had a party. Also in May we spent a day with all the youth in the Les Anglais district at the Chardoniere Church. There were many of the youth who were baptized during this event. In June we had a convention with all the churches within the district. The convention was held in Boco, another church in the district. Later in the month, we had a conference along with a small party for the children. The children have all recently finished with their final exams for the year and summer has begun.
We have many activities and groups within the church; Sunday School, the Youth Group, the Children’s Group, the Ladies Group, the Choir, a Prayer Group and many others. We are thankful to God for all of these and that the church is doing well.
We would like to develop a plan for doing community evangelization. In order to make this happen we have some things we need such as a sound system and microphones. We ask that you join us in prayer that God would make these things a reality.
Please pray for the children in the school as they have just finished their exams; pray that they would remain in good health and that they would be protected from Cholera. Pray that God would protect Haiti from hurricanes and other storms and that He would give us a stable and healthy government.
We are praying for you and we are looking forward to your visit next year.
Things have been busy in Pestel as the Church has building up its body through conferences and seminars about Christian Living and Leadership development. Pray for the Pestel Church as they continue to serve God with all their gifts and talents. Here is what Pastor Sildreric Arisma shared about the recent activities in the Church.
In May we had two conferences with the ladies of the church; one was on how to live with their husbands according to the Bible and the other was an evangelistic outreach service. We also had a seminar to give our leaders a better idea on how to do a good job leading the different groups in the Church such as Sunday school, the youth and the ladies groups. In school, we taught our children how they can honor and pray for the individuals who are sponsoring them in the Hope for Kidz Program.
The week of June 19-26, we organized a conference of adoration and thanksgiving to the Lord for a good school year in 2010-2011. We would also like to send our gratefulness to the sponsors of our kids.
We had a day of recreation and activities with the kids June 16 and 17. Then on June 24-25, we had a meeting about our Summer Bible Study for the church.
We also had a meeting for the deacons as well as a meeting for the members in the church who want to be baptized and also for those couples who are preparing to get married.
This summer we will have two conventions in the church in preparation for the opening of the secondary school next year.
We would ask you to pray for these things: We want the members of our church to have good testimonies to show Jesus to the world and that people who don’t yet know Jesus would come to Christ. We would also like to have be able to have some revival services this summer so that people can grow in the Lord and in their service for Him.
In April Creekside Baptist Church visited their Sister Church in Baradere, Haiti. The team was greeted at the edge of town by a small brigade of children and some of the adult church members and deacons. They marched the team through town to the Pastor’s house where they were greeted with a “Welcome to Baradere” poster and a song by the ladies of the church. It was a great start to a great visit.
The visit was bittersweet as it would be the last visit with Leon Bonhomme as the Pastor at Baradere as he and his wife will be transferring to another location in August of this year. Despite the sentiment of losing a dear friend in Pastor Bonhomme, the visit was a great time of fellowship between Creekside Community Church and the Baptist Church in Baradere. In addition to many of the normal activities such as an evangelistic service, Ladies Tea and the Deacon’s Meeting the team was able to spend a good bit time out in the community visiting and praying with some of the church widows and shut-ins, visiting the homes of their sponsored children and also the school to observe the CRS feeding program in action. In addition to the community visits the group also took an hour’s journey by boat out into open ocean to eventually reach the destination of Gran Boukan, one of the Baradere Satellite locations where they had a short service and a craft for the church members in attendance.
At the end of the week, back in Cayes, the team was able to spend a little time with the new Pastor and his wife who will be serving at Baradere starting in August.
Pastor Bonhomme and Renee just after the team’s arrival in Baradere.
Lee visiting the home of his sponsored child.
Joel hangin’ with some of the local youth
Laura and Joel with one of the Pharmacy Staff at the Hospital at Bonne Fin. The team donated some medical supplies to the hospital.
It was a great week for both the US team and the Sister Church and in all the activities and events throughout the week it was a great time of building up the church, reaching out to the lost and encouraging one another in Christ.
Too see more pictures from the week check out RMI’s Online Picasa Web Album.
RMI held it’s first webinar on June 16, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. 
RMI’s **NEW** Starfish Strategy for Sister Church Partnership and its 5 Points of Strategic Impact was introduced and explained.
Other topics discussed included:
• Homes for Haiti Progress Report
• Hope for Kidz Update
• Food for Haiti Pre-Positioning Disaster Relief Need
• Upcoming 2011 Global Leadership Summit in Cayes, Haiti
• Life of Christ Picture Booklets
• Support Funding for Haitian RMI Staff
Each of these topics were discussed as it relates to the Starfish Strategy. We will be using the Starfish Strategy as the framework to evaluate each Sister Church Partnership in order to provide well developed, well-rounded holistic ministry to the Haitian Community that Sister Churches partner with. Additionally, we introduced the 2012 Sister Church Partnership Conference in February of next year in Fort Myers, Florida.
No need to worry if you missed this important webinar. You can catch up and listen to it HERE. To access and download the power point for the webinar go HERE.
Feel free to download the webinar and use it to catch up on what is going on in RMI and how it will affect your Sister Church relationship. It is something for your missions committee needs to hear so they understand the Starfish Strategy and how it will have a strategic impact on Haiti. Share it at a gathering of Haiti alumni or maybe even with another church in your area.
We are excited about this new tool! Not only does it give great updates, it’s live and interactive. People were able to send in questions during the webinar that could be answered right then. We hope to utilize this tool more in the future to better communicate with our volunteers, coordinators, teams, and churches.
