Heart Connections Made and Funds Raised

Sometimes making an impact can start with the youngest ones around us. That’s exactly what happened with the elementary students at Southwest Florida Christian Academy (SFCA) a ministry of McGregor Baptist Church (MBC) in Ft. Myers, FL.  [McGregor Baptist is one of the newest C3 partner churches.]  Each year SFCA organizes a 5-day emphasis on Christian Missions around the world. 

In February 2019, SFCA selected the Christian school at Cote-de-Fer Baptist Church (CDF) (McGregor's C3 partner church) in Haiti for this year's missions partner. During the week-long daily missions chapel, the SFCA elementary students learned about the school and nearly 300 students at CDF and how they are part of the Sister Church partnership.

Daily missions chapel with a life-size replica of
 a Haitian school room.

The SFCA students recognized the physical and spiritual needs of the same age students in Haiti.  Students learned that the students at CDF have a Hot Lunch Program available through sponsorships.  While this is a great blessing, students are required to bring their own bowl and spoon for lunch.  Having a dedicated bowl and a spoon is more of a luxury item, as most use what they can, such as a lid to a container or part of a pencil box as a bowl.  In recognizing this and other physical needs, the SFCA students and their families collected funds to purchase stainless steel bowls and spoons for each student at CDF. 

SFCA student helps prepare a packet of food just like the
kids at the Cote de Fer school get for lunch every day.

The SFCA students had a special chance to connect with the students in a fun and interactive way.  Through the help of RMI and Feed My Starving Children, SFCA provided a package of the nutritious MannaPack™ meals that are part of the Hot Lunch  Program that RMI offers.  Students and their families were encouraged to prepare these yummy rice packets at home and include it as part of a family meal.  Families and students were able to continue the conversation about the students in Haiti during meals and family devotion times.  Parents posted on social media the excitement of the students to eat the same meal as the students in Haiti.  One mother commented that her son wanted to have some of the rice included in his lunch so he could have rice for lunch just like the other boys and girls when they have lunch.  This was a special and tangible way to make a heart connection.

In addition to the bowls and spoons, enough funds were raised to purchase chalkboards for each classroom, school supply kits, water filters, and some additional food boxes. In fact, the SFCA students raised over $6,000 to help the students at CDF with educational and physical needs. It was clear that God had provided the means to help meet these needs. At the same time, SFCA students were able to share and demonstrate the love of God for the students and staff at the CDF school. The students in Haiti know that God has not forgotten them.

The Gospel message is for everyone. This includes addressing both physical and spiritual needs to those around us. SFCA students were challenged to “dive in” and share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ and to be part of missions wherever they are. SFCA strives to equip its students' as godly leaders and engage cultures around the world. These students showed that no matter the age, sharing the hope of Jesus Christ can impact an impact for eternity.

The bowls and spoons arrive in Cote de Fer 

Providing Hope

Do you have one of these in your hands?  If not, you are missing a blessing!  This is a profile of a child in RMI’s Hope for Kidz Child Sponsorship Program.  “Providing Hope Today for Haiti’s Tomorrow” is not just a cute slogan for Hope for Kidz.  It is the very foundation for the program. Through sponsorship, needy children are able to get a quality education that will utterly transform their lives.  To grow into successful adulthood, they need to be able to read, write, do math, and understand the world around them.  To do this from a Christian context makes the potential for success even greater.

Our classrooms in Haiti are filled with students dreaming of their future—hopes of being a doctor, teacher, nurse, mechanic, chef, business leader, lawyer, and entrepreneurs.  They will be Haiti’s next leaders.  A quality education opens the doors to these kinds of opportunities - the kinds of opportunities that can transform a nation from the inside out.

By investing in a child’s education through Hope for Kidz, you’re helping provide a Christ-centered foundation and supporting their hopes and dreams to change their country.

Your sponsorship provides:

• Christian education
• Annual de-worming and prevention education
• School supplies, uniform and shoes
• Access to an emergency medical fund
• Hot Lunch Program (in some areas)
• Chance to write to their sponsor
• Chance to meet sponsor if the sponsor goes to Haiti on an RMI team

For only $32 a month (or $384 a year), you can sponsor a child.  To facilitate this, you can go to          www.RMIbridge.org or call RMI directly.  Monthly recurring donations can be set up or donations can be received over the phone. 

If you are already a sponsor, this is the time to renew your sponsorship.  Continue that relationship you have with your child!

Thank you!!

On behalf of your brothers and sisters in Haiti, we want to thank you for your prayers for them these past weeks as they have gone through some turbulent times.  We are also thankful that so many of you were able to help provide cases of food to those who are in need during these days.  Your concern and love for your C3 Partner churches, your sponsored children and the Haitian people, in general, has been amazing and heartwarming.   

We are happy to say that at present, the roads are open, and things are returning to normal.  Teams are coming and going.  The RMI staff are busy with their usual activities of making school visits, taking kids pictures, receiving and caring for the teams, delivering the food, and much more.  We are excited to see things moving and ministry happening.

Please continue to pray for Haiti and your Sister Church for continued peace and quiet for the country.  This is critical, not just for RMI, but for all the various organizations working in Haiti to be able to bring help and hope to the country.  

Thanks again for your prayers, love, and care. 

Haiti Update: Food is Deperately Needed, Missionaries Return and Teams Resume

Food aid is desperately needed now in Haiti!   People are hungry and you can help!  Haiti has been in the news quite a bit the last several weeks.  There have been demonstrations and unrest all over the country.  The people are tired of the rampant corruption that led to a severe shortage of fuel as well as a meteoric rise in the cost of basic food and staples.  They want a change in the government and relief in the cost of living.  The result was that everything in the country ground to a halt ... no vehicles on the roads, and stores, businesses and schools closed.  The country was in lockdown for several weeks.  People were afraid and unable to leave their homes to take their goods to market and to shop for food for their families.

The result of this lockdown is that there is a desperate need for food aid.  Simply put, they are hungry.  This is a humanitarian crisis that you can actively help alleviate.     The need is NOW.

A $20 donation would send a case of food (each one contains 216 fortified and nutritious meals) to a needy family.  That’s enough for a hot meal a day for a family of 6 for a month!  Please don’t delay.  Take advantage of this tangible help in a very real crisis.  This $20 a box sale price runs through March 31, 2019.

You can give boxes to a needy family, or specify your Sister Church or your sponsored Hope for Kidz child’s family.

Thankfully, things are calming down and getting back to normal.  Our RMI missionaries, who left 2 weeks ago out of precaution, have returned and the RMI Haiti office is back up and running.  The roads are clear and there should not be any problems getting the food where it needs to go.
Go online to www.rmibridge.org and click on the “Donate Now” button and follow the prompts.

Additional Update:  Missionaries Have Returned and Teams are Resuming

Our normal team schedule will resume on March 15.

Several teams had to be canceled in February and early March due to the political unrest, but with the return of calm, we feel confident in resuming our team schedule beginning with the March 15 teams.  Be assured that safety is our main consideration for our teams.  

If you are on a team scheduled for March 15 or after, plan on coming and keep in touch with your team leader to get the latest update.  As always, you are welcome to call the RMI office at 239-368-8390 to speak with our staff for an update.

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?

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.

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.

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.