Pray for Haiti

Haiti is still in turmoil. The causes are many and there are no quick or easy solutions. RMI has had to cancel several teams and our Haiti office has been closed for 10 days. Our missionaries and staff have been safe and have had good supplies of food and water. However, as things have escalated, Saturday morning the US embassy strongly encouraged all US citizens to leave the country as soon as possible. The safety of our missionaries is paramount as well as enabling them to carry out their ministries effectively. At this point, our ministry is paralyzed and the missionaries have been on lockdown in their homes for more than a week.

The decision was made Saturday to evacuate all RMI missionaries as soon as possible. This was accomplished yesterday when Missionary Flights International flew in a DC 3 to the Cayes airport and picked up our missionaries plus several other agencies' missionaries and flew them to the Port-au-Prince airport. [The road to the capital has been blocked by dozens of barricades.] All of them were able to get on commercial airlines to the US and are now safely home. This decision wasn't made lightly - but it was needed not only for the missionaries but to relieve our Haitian leadership from the responsibility of caring for them in a time of crisis.

We will remain in constant contact with our Haitian leadership to continue to assess the situation and, hopefully, the missionaries can head back and teams can resume soon.

Our hearts break for our Haitian brothers and sisters and this dear country. Their hardships are compounded by this crisis. Pray for peace and stability to return to Haiti quickly!

[Continue to follow our Facebook page to get the most up-to-date information.]

Val Marie Paper

In 2016, Valerie Woerner committed to tithe 10% of the sales from their company, Val Marie Paper, an internet company that designs and produces various kinds of personal prayer journals, to RMI to feed school children through the Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch Program. God has honored that commitment and in the last three years Val Marie Paper has been able to give over $82,000 to feed 760 school kids each school day as well as help with some school projects. Each journal that is purchased provides meals for 6 kids.

These meals will probably be the only meal they receive all day. Kids who are well nourished learn better. They are not preoccupied with being hungry. They are able to stay awake in class, concentrate on their lessons and thus are able to receive better grades. They are healthier and have more energy.  Being healthier also boosts their immune system resulting in less illnesses and better attendance in school. The meals are chicken flavored rice-based (a staple of a typical Haitian diet) and are packed with the vitamins, protein, and minerals needed for optimal nutrition. In short, having these meals are life changing!

Valerie is not shy about sharing her giving vision, stating, “It’s not worth having a business if giving isn’t built into it. It shouldn’t be something that is just focused on yourself. We should be able to use our resources and steward them the way God is calling us to. It’s our daily obedience to Him.”

Valerie and Tyler Woerner

She has built giving as a part of the DNA of her business. Valerie developed unique, quality prayer journals (www.valmariepaper.com) after she became pregnant with her first child. She realized that she’d only be able to get through it if she prayed quite a bit, but she couldn’t get her thoughts organized. At the time she owned a wedding invitation company and the printer, who printed the invitations, told her that he could print something for her to make it easier, but she’d have to order at least 50. By the time she got a design put together and all the pages the way she wanted and had her first prayer journal printed, it was 2 weeks before her daughter was born. She realized that it made sense that if she struggled with prayer then there were probably other people who struggled in the same way. She shared it with her previous clientele, brides, friends, and family and sold about 100. That first shipment was shipped out 2 weeks after her daughter was born. The orders for the prayer journals kept coming as more people found out about them. It was such a novel, unique idea at the time and people really responded to it. Val Marie Paper was born and has grown exponentially in the last 4 or so years.

She had been giving to a different charity each month but as the business grew, she felt like she could make a bigger impact by giving to a charity that she knew personally and trusted. That is when she turned to RMI, an organization that Valerie had intimate, long-term knowledge of and trusted. RMI is a ministry that had been a part of Valerie’s life since she was a little girl. Her church, Trinity Bible Church (Lafayette, LA), has been partnering with RMI for decades. Her family has sponsored lots of kids over the years and she and her husband, Tyler, have continued this in their own family.  Valerie’s mom, dad, and sister have all visited their Sister Church in Picot, Haiti on mission trips. You can read more about her giving commitment at www.valmariepaper.com/about/giving-fund. Valerie and Tyler hope to visit Haiti soon to see the Hot Lunch Program in action and meet their sponsored children.
What Valerie has done is so inspiring and challenging!

The idea of giving a percentage of sales or profits to support a particular charity is a growing phenomena and businesses are finding it’s a blessing on multiple fronts as it stretches your faith and expands your borders. Have you built charitable giving into the DNA of your company or business? How about consolidating your giving into one place so that you can make a bigger impact? RMI is a ministry that has boots on the ground that you know and trust.

Help us make a bigger impact in Southern Haiti.  What can your business do?

Creative Fundraising

Have you run out of ways to raise funds for your mission projects?  Looking for creative, unique, fun (and legal!) ways to raise those funds?  Take this example from a long-time member of a C3 partner church.  He shared on his Facebook page:

“Many of you know that I have been involved in a ministry in Haiti for the past 30+ years. My church has established a Sister Church relationship with a small church in southern Haiti. Two years ago Hurricane Matthew (a Category 5 storm) struck Haiti and caused catastrophic damage. It was followed two months later by another major storm which caused more flooding and damage. Several churches and schools in villages near our Sister Church were completely destroyed. To raise funds to help with the construction of these destroyed churches in Haiti, I decided to try to sell my postage stamp collection which was gathering dust in my office. I had collected stamps as a teenager and still had two of my albums containing thousands of stamps. In addition, I inherited 18 albums of stamps from my mother-in-law who was an avid collector. I learned that the best way to do this would be to join the local Stamp Club and put batches of stamps up for sale in the auctions that they hold twice a month. In order to do that I had to identify each stamp by its special number and provide its “Scott catalog value”.

Every stamp in the world has a number and these are published in a series of 10+ volumes representing every country of the world. These Scott catalogs are in my local Public Library to use and are updated each year along with the current value of each stamp which can change from time to time. It’s a lot of time-consuming work, but I have enjoyed renewing my interest in stamps. So far I have sold over $3,300 worth of stamps! In the process, I’ve come across some interesting stamps. For example, many countries including the U.S. issue stamps which commemorate other stamps. These are called “stamps on stamps”. One example is the 8-cent stamp issued in 1972 which pictures and commemorates the 5-cent 1847 Ben Franklin stamp, the very first U.S. stamp! I have another stamp from Hungary which is a stamp of a stamp of a stamp!

If any of you have a stamp album and would like to donate it to the cause, please let me know by sending a message. I’ll process the stamps and sell them and use the funds to help rebuild destroyed schools and churches in Haiti.”

What a labor of love!  We appreciate his heart for Haiti and his willingness to use his resources in a unique way to benefit the churches in Haiti.  His efforts have spurred some of his friends to donate their stamp collections to him for cataloging and selling. 

We’d love to share other creative ways to fundraise!  Let us know what you are doing – it may help others come up with their own ideas.

Ministry Impact Report 2018

The elderly gentleman dressed in his best clothes that morning.  He started walking early because he knew it’d take a while to get there.  Once he arrived, he made sure to get a good seat near the front.  They said that there was a group from the United States visiting the church that week and he really wanted to hear what they had to say.  He listened carefully to what the guest speaker shared.  He’d heard the pastor of the church say much the same thing, but that morning he felt God speaking to him, telling him that it was time to make the decision.  After the service he pressed his way forward to speak to the pastor.  Today was the day.  God was calling him to accept Christ as his Savior.  The visiting team from Bartlett, IL was thrilled to pray with him and to know that God had used their team to bring this man to salvation.  This kind of ministry is what we are so excited about.  RMI’s ministry makes a real impact in people’s lives. 

Here is our Ministry Impact Report for 2018.

C3 Partnerships
RMI Haitian Staff facilitated 32 team trips
482 water filters were distributed improving the health of  those families and their neighbors
424 goats were distributed to provide sources of income for those families
350 solar lights
7 churches built
2 homes built
86 church and school benches built
584 Bibles and songbooks given out
3 motorcycles for pastors delivered
533 people came to Haiti through teams, internships and others visits
3 new C3 partnerships were begun (giving us a total of 34 active partnerships)

Hope for Kidz & School Education
2,651 children are now sponsored through Hope for Kidz
7,587 children received a daily hot lunch
3 Hot Lunch Program storage rooms built
10 each of school filing cabinets and blackboards given and installed
9 children received emergency medical assistance
23 teacher’s desks and chairs given out
7 school rooms built
16,886 children’s health were improved through the Hope for Kidz De-worming Program

Haiti Operations Team
Processed 12 food containers (which is 14,760 boxes of food - each one of which were handled at least 3 times, or 3,188,160 meals)
1 new Haitian employee
Reconstruction done on 9 churches
Maintained 12 vehicles and 15 motorcycles to keep the ministry up and running
Acquired 2 “new-to-us” vehicles to augment our aging fleet

RMI USA
1 new missionary, Dawn Shoemaker, arrived on the field
1 appointee family, Jim and April Starkey, are continuing to raise their support, hoping to go in 2019
The Speel family reached their “go-to-Haiti” minimum funds raised, for which we praise the Lord.  They are stopping off at the International Office in Ft. Myers to work for a year to allow time for Jeff’s back to heal. 

We are so thankful for the special men and women of God that work faithfully every day.  Some work behind the scenes, some of them are more visible, but they all work hard and with joy.  The RMI Haiti office is always a busy, buzzing hive of activity with people coming and going - there are always multiple kinds of ministry happening!  And you help make it possible with your financial and prayer support.  Thank you!  The Lord’s work is being done because of you.

Ready or Not

Ready or not, 2019 is coming.  Most car side mirrors have a warning printed on the mirror that says “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”.  And at this time of year, it can be said that 2019 is closer than it appears.

This is the time of year that many people are considering where they want to make their end-of-year donations.

Please consider RMI as you think of your where to make your gifts.  Your generous donations will impact southern Haiti by helping with such things as:

* Evangelism

* Child Education

* Feeding Programs

* Water Filters

* Goats

* Church Planting

* National Staff Salaries

Each of these are significant needs that could use your help.  With RMI, you can have the assurance that your gift will be used the way you intended and that it will go directly to those in need.

All donations are tax deductible.  Don’t wait until the last day to act!  It is easy – just go HERE, or call 239-368-8390.

#GivingTuesday

Giving Tuesday is tomorrow!

What? Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving.

Why? Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.

Who? RMI has a wide variety of giving opportunities…our Christmas campaign includes beds for widows, goats, bicycles, soccer balls, boxes of food and classroom supplies. RMI is also urgently needing gifts for Haiti field staff salaries. RMI operations needs funding to keep the many ministries going and the Starkey family, who are desperately needed on the field immediately, are raising their funds to go as soon as possible.

When you give through RMI you are guaranteed that your gift will be used as you intended it – financial accountability.

When you give through RMI you can know that your gift will have a direct impact on lives in Haiti – transforming lives.

When? Giving Tuesday is tomorrow….but the needs are ongoing. The holidays and end-of-the-year is the perfect time to take advantage of the specials that we have available and to take care of your year-end tax-deductible contributions.

How? It’s easy, go to www.RMIbridge.org/financial-donations. Or call the RMI office at 239-368-8390.

Let’s Pray

More than a trite saying…”let’s pray” is a refrain that is heard often around RMI.  That’s because we have an unshakeable belief in the power of prayer.  We bathe most of what we do in prayer.  We pray together and individually in the US office for our ministry, for one another, for our missionaries and appointees, and for our supporters.  The Haiti field staff also prays together in their daily devotional meetings and are intentional in leading teams in prayer before they leave on their trip to their C3 partner churches, before work projects, medical clinics, youth, men, women, and children’s meetings, open air services and any other activity that the teams are undertaking.  There’s prayer at the end of their visit and prayer during the debriefing the last night before they leave. 

Prayers before a team hits the road to go to their Sister Church.

Prayers before starting a youth meeting.

Prayers by the deacons for the team members.

Prayers before an open air service.

Prayers by wives and families that are back home for their men doing a construction project at their Sister Church.

 

Goodbye prayers and praise as a team leaves their C3 partner church.

There’s a lot accomplished as a result of prayer! 

Give From the Heart this Christmas

We are pleased to invite you to share the Christmas Spirit with your Haitian brothers and sisters by sending gifts of love.  Here are some special opportunities:

Gift List
Soccer Balls - $35 each
Goats - $120 each       
Bicycles - $149 each       
Single bed for widow/disabled - $199 each
Classroom Writing Kit (*Chalk, pens, pencils) - $85 each
Classroom Chalk Board - $140 each
Teacher Desk & Chair - $270
Carton of Food - $30 each [see below for special pricing]

Ordering is simple—you can order online by visiting our website: www.RMIBridge.org and click on the Christmas Gift box. You can also place your order by mail or telephone. Toll free 877-764-5439 or 239-368-8390.

Thanksgiving Food Special Continues

The Thanksgiving special pricing is still valid.  We are offering a holiday special of our Food for Health cases of nutritious food.  Each case contains 216 meals – enough to feed a family of 6 for a month!

For 1-10 cases, the cost is $30 a case.
For 11-50 cases, the cost is $25 a case.
For 51+ cases, the cost is $20 a case.

To order online go to www.RMIbridge.org.  Or mail a check payable to RMI to 5475 Lee St., Suite 301, Lehigh Acres, FL  33971.  You may also call the RMI office to place your order at 877-764-5439.  This offer is valid through 12/31/18.

Asher’s Internship

When Asher Stillman went to Haiti with his church, Bethany Baptist Church, Myakka, FL, in 2017, he left with a burden to return to serve the Lord and help the RMI staff in any way he could.  He graduated from high school as a homeschooler and has already completed two years of college credits.  (He participated as a dual enrollment student while in HS.)  He comes from a large family of 10 and they are all very active in their church.  His parents encourage all of their kids to take some time after graduation and before moving on with life to serve the Lord in something like this internship.  He wanted to take some time to get away and be alone with God before having too much responsibility, making it hard to have this time to serve.  He is handy and loves to get his hands dirty as well as be involved in ministry, so he helped in installing a new bathroom for the RMI conference room, painting, food distribution, miscellaneous jobs around the office and depot, even troubleshooting the ice machine.  He assisted RMI missionary, Joslynn Stakes, teach physical education at the missionary children’s school on Thursdays and Fridays.  He will be leaving to serve in the Marines in January where he hopes to train as a firefighter.

His reaction to his month long internship? “I love it!  It’s an awesome experience getting to work alongside the Haitians and learn the language and culture while serving the Lord and doing his work.”

We have really appreciated his willingness to help and dig into every job he has been given, his can-do attitude, and his love for the Lord.  He’s been a real asset and joy to have!

If you, or someone you know, are interested in an internship with RMI, contact the RMI office at info@rmibridge.org.   We would love to give you an opportunity to serve the Lord!

What are you thankful for?

The rush is on to decorate as early as possible for fall and Thanksgiving.  Pumpkin spiced creations have appeared as coffee, cookies, candles, air fresheners, and many other items.  Sometimes the push to get in the mood of the season actually ends up clouding the reason – a time of giving thanks.  So…what are you thankful for?  Family?  A job?  Friends?  Eternal life?  A comfortable home?  Food on the table?

It’s the last one that gives us pause because so many people in Haiti do not have enough food to put on the table to feed their families.  That’s why, at this time of year, we are offering a holiday special of our Food for Health cases of nutritious food.  Each case contains 216 meals – enough to feed a family of 6 for a month!

For 1-10 cases, the cost is $30 a case.
For 11-50 cases, the cost is $25 a case.
For 51+ cases, the cost is $20 a case.

Order online HERE.

To order, mail a check payable to RMI to 5475 Lee St., Suite 301, Lehigh Acres, FL  33971.  You may also call the RMI office to place your order at 877-764-5439.

This offer is valid through 12/31/18.

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.