Effects of the Rain

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.

Activities in Pestel- May/June 2011

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. 

Bibles and Song Books for Pestel

Pastor Sildreric Arisma came by our office yesterday to pick up a gift.  It was a box of French Bibles, Creole Bibles, and Song Books. It was a generous gift from his Sister Church, Sisters Community Church, in Sisters,  OR.
Pastor Sildreric was excited about the gift! 
Here he is with Pastor Jean after receiving the box. 
Thanks Sister Community Church for your continued love and support of RMI and  of your Sister Church in Pestel!