The worst flooding in many many years...

We just received the following email from Rod Wray.  The pictures were taken by Tim Wray.  The Wrays are fellow missionaries working in Haiti that live on the mission center with our RMI missionaries.

"Poor Haiti is really suffering this year, having been hit by Hurricane Fay, Hurricane Gustav and now by Hurricane Hannah.   All three of these storms have deposited a lot of rain, but over the past 12 hours Hannah has dumped so much rain on Haiti that people in our area are saying that this is the worst flooding that they can ever remember. 

These pictures are all courtesy of Tim Wray.

These are the corn fields down below our house

This is the college where we just poured the new sports courts.  You can see the volleyball nets in the background

hundreds and maybe thousands of homes are completely flooded

The flash floods came so fast that some people are stranded

Most all the main roads are flooded

The flood waters are almost flowing over  the bridge.

People were stranded at the half finished cement block house on the right

Even churches were not exempt.

A group of crazy guys out exploring during the flooding..

Please continue to pray for us and the people of Haiti.   So many people around us have no food, no dry clothes or shelter, and no charcoal dry charcoal to cook with."

bye for now,

Love Rod, Deb and gang

Where's the Ark?

Here are some pictures that we took this morning as we floated around town. Someone told me that Noah passed by Cayes this morning but was afraid to stop.

La Ravine - River close to our house. Normally this is a gully about 35 - 40 feet deep.

Another shot of the same river.

The situation of flooded homes.

An area where a road/river and a river meet.

Carrfou Simon where you turn onto the main road to go to town.

One of the houses in the community of Simon near our homes.

The road through the community of Simon.

Please pray for us and the Haitian people as we ride out Hanna and prepare for Ike and Josephine out in the Atlantic. It looks like it will be a wet September.

Hindered by Hanna!

My phone rang at 3:30 AM this morning. As I groggily answered it, Rob's voice was on the other end stating that our flight had been cancelled due to Hanna hovering just north of Haiti. Rob and I were to be on a 8:50 AM plane to Haiti to be able to have some time with our missionaries and staff. We are in the process of working on some strategic planning and re-structuring for the field. So we are disappointed by this temporary setback time wise. We hope things will calm down weather wise enough that we can go back in a couple of weeks.

However, I do want to remind you to pray for our brothers and sister in Haiti. Even though there wasn't tremendous damage to homes, etc. there has been lots of damage to crops and livestock. Hurricances Fay, Gustave, and now Hanna have dumped a lot of rain over the southern pennisula these past 3 weeks causing much flooding. Due to the increased price of goods in Haiti, the crops they are raising take on new meaning for them for needed income. The loss at this time of crops that they were hoping to be able to harvest in October and November can be overwhelming for a family. It is this income they hope to pay for schooling for their kids, provide food, clothing, and other necessities for their family for the next several months. If they lose this, they are left with little hope of much provision for the next 4 or 5 months.

As Billy and Gary reported below, there is much damage to the roads. This will cause prices to rise even farther as it will be harder for trucks to get to and fro. It will also make it harder for us to get our teams to some of their sister churches! So pray for a quick response as Billy said from the government in getting the roads back into passable shape.

We are counting on your prayers!

Dan Shoemaker

An erased coastline

As Hurricane Gustav passed through Haiti, most of Recprocal Ministries Sister Churches seem to have been spared. There have been some reports of flooding and some livestock that has been killed. However I haven't heard anything of any deaths.

Gary McLaughlin took a trip out to Tiburon on Sunday with another missionary here on their motorcycles. Gary says that the trip was a very hard one because the road is simply gone in many places. The Haitians are very resilient when it comes to making things "sort of work". We don't know if the government will do anything to repair the roads before Crossroad United Methodist makes their trip in October, but if not we hope that the Haitian people can do something. I will keep posting updates as I receive them.This is one of the several rivers that we cross on the way to Tiburon.

This is a place where the mountain side has collapsed onto the road as a result of the heavy rains.

This is an area where the road collapsed. Notice to the right where the earth is eroded underneath the road. At this time it would be too dangerous to drive over this part of the road.

Floating in Cayes

This morning was interesting. When we went to bed last night Hurricane Hanna had been headed south southwest and was forecasted to turn back northwest. However this morning we woke to a downpour that wouldn't quit.
After spending a some time having coffee and trying to send a couple of emails when the Internet was up. I went out to give the ladies who work for us a ride. As I passed our offices I noticed one of our employees (Pastor Osmann) standing beside the road. I looked down the mountain to the valley below where he lives and saw that the river was out of it's banks and there was a lake where the valley used to be. I stopped to talked with him and he told me that his house was flooded and he had to evacuate his family to the MEBSH guest rooms that are located above our offices.

  
Continuing on to pick up our ladies I passed through the little community of Simon. All the roads were flooded.
Upon returning we stopped again in front of our offices and looked below at the valley/lake. We noticed about 10 people below trying to cross one of the flooded areas that had a rushing current. They all dived in hoping their momentum would carry them across. As we watched, all of them crossed successfully. However this brought to mind the fact that most of the people who die in Haiti as a result of tropical storms and hurricanes die from mudslides and trying to cross rivers. Please pray for the Haitian people during this time as they don't realize the danger in trying to cross these swollen rivers.

Waiting for Reports from Churches!

Good soggy morning,

After boarding up windows, stocking up on food and fuel, and preparing water jugs because Hurricane Gustav was bearing down on us, the hurricane turned north and went over the island about 40 miles east of us. I think I’ve heard that the southwest side of a hurricane is the mildest. I’m not sure where I heard that, but it sure proved true for Gustav. About 7:30 pm last night (Tuesday night) a gentle summer shower began. It kept up all night and this morning at 8:38 it is still raining. Not a hard driving rain, but just a gentle steady shower. I’ve read that in other parts of the country there have been mudslides and flooding. However, God spared us. Thank you for your prayers. I will be trying to get reports from the sister churches today and I will post them on the RMI blog spot when I do.

We have a couple of systems out in the Atlantic that have the potential to cause problems. A good website to view tropical activity is www.stormpulse.com.

We have heard that Baradere was hit hard by flooding, but we are still waiting for final reports for that and other districts. Please continue to check here for updates.

Please continue to pray for us and for the Haitian people.

Hope For Kidz - It's that time again!

September is upon us with kids groaning and parents giving a sigh of relief. School is gearing up for the Fall. Yes, even though they speak a different language and have their own unique culture, Haitian parents are the same as parents the world over. It is good to get the kids in school again and out from under our feet!

However, for many of those parents, that struggle that so many parents face has been relieved by our Hope For Kidz sponsors. Do you know what it is like when a huge financial burden is lifted from your shoulders by others? What a blessing! What a relief! What joy! Well, this is the type of reaction we get from the parents in Haiti as they learn that their child has been sponsored by a caring and loving brother or sister in Christ, here in the States.

The Hope For Kidz Coordinators in your church are working hard to see all the kids they have in hand get sponsored. What a way to impact kids, families, schools, churches, and indeed whole communities. As these kids get a Godly education, the long-term impact on their community can only be seen from a Heavenly perspective. Talk about a great return for a small investment in lives! Would you consider how you can help your Hope For Kidz coordinator spread this good news around? By sponsoring a child, and encouraging others to do so, you can not only impact a life, but a whole village.

Dan Shoemaker

Gustav Update...

Here is the latest from Billy Moses in Haiti...

"We have boarded up, tied things down, stocked our houses and are ready....but nothing is happening. It seems that maybe we have been spared at least here in our area. We are seeing reports of flooding but only from the Dominican Republic. We haven't heard anything about Haiti at all. The Weather Channel shows the storm to be right on top of us, but it is cloudy and calm outside, actually very nice weather. Stormpulse.com shows the eye to be 38 miles to the east of us moving NW at 7mph. So, who knows if we are going to get anything at all. We have had a few showers this afternoon, but only short ones and just enough rain to get things wet. There has been very little wind, not enough to really even mention it. So, we wait and pray that there has been little flooding and that we will be spared. We will blog as more develops but there just isn't much to tell you at this point.

Waiting for Gustav to pass!"

Hurricane Gustav Bearing Down on Haiti.

RMI Sister Church Partnership Coordinators, Pastors, Friends,

As you may have already heard, or have seen in the news, a major hurricane is bearing down on Haiti as I write. The Hurricane is projected to cross the southern peninsula of Haiti where our missionaries and our Sister Churches are. Please be in prayer for our RMI missionaries, our Sister Churches, as well as the Haitian people. As information becomes available, we will post updates here on this blog. Updates will either be posted by our office here in FL or directly from the Haiti field.

You can track the Hurricane at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml#GUSTAV

Building His Church,

Rob Thompson
VP of Operations
Reciprocal Ministries International

Tropical Storm Gustav coming to Haiti...

I just received this email from RMI Haiti Missionary Billy Moses...

"This is just a quick note to let y’all know that Tropical Depression #7 is now Tropical Storm Gustav. It has 60mph winds and is approximately

287 miles from us at 1pm. It is scheduled to be a hurricane around 7pm tonight. It shows to be off the coast of Les Cayes about 121 miles tomorrow morning at 7am with 75 mph winds. The track shows it passing over Haiti between Cayes & Port au Prince sometime in the late morning."

Rob

New Pastor in Aux Coteaux

From: MEBSH Church at Coteaux (HAITI)
To: Grace Lutheran Church (USA)
Subject: Information.


Dear Beloved,

I am very happy to write this letter to you and greet you as Brothers in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are things in your church? I hope that everything is going well for you and your family.

I would like to introduce myself and give you some information about my family. My name is Pastor Jean Tatho Romelus, I am the new Pastor of Coteaux Baptist Church. I am 40 years old and I've been a Pastor for 9 years. I have worked in two other churches. I have a license in Theology and Law. This means that I am a lawyer as well as a pastor. I am married to a beautiful Christian woman named Edmond Enalia. She is 38 years old and teaches cooking and art.

I thank God because he has given us Four (4) children:
Their names are:
Marie Serge Elisabeth Romelus is 12 years old and is in the seventh grade in primary school.
Jean Luc Robenson Romelus is 10 years old and is in the third grade in primary school.
Marc Taylor Jefferson Romelus is 4 years old and is in the second year of kindergarten.
Rhodes Esther Vwaldy Romelus is 2 years old.

Please to pray for me that I will be able to do the work that God entrusted to me. The Coteaux Church members have told me how you have helped them and worked with them well for many years. As the new Pastor I want to say thank you for everything you have done for Aux Coteaux Church. I am looking forward to developing a good relationship with you for the glory of God.

I would like to thank the staff of Reciprocal Ministries International here in Haiti for the way they have taken care of me and how they welcomed me when I first came in their office. I pray that during my ministry in Coteaux, our relationship will become stronger for the glory of God and the benefit of the community.

I hope that God will keep blessing you in your ministry. I love you all in the name of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Jean Tatho Romelus

Morency Letter

From: Morency Baptist Church, Haiti.
To: Sunrise Community Church, USA.
Subject: Thank you and Information.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus who is all powerful. He is our hope in good and bad times.

When you leave your country and come to see us here, you give us a lot of gifts, you build houses for us, you enable our kids here to go to school and most importantly you always keep us in prayer. We realize only the love of Jesus Christ can put us together to work as brothers and sisters for his glory. Thank you very much for everything you have done for us in Morency. We would especially like to thank you for the help you give our children with school every year. The parents and I are very grateful and pray for you every day.

Thank you very much for the letter you sent us. We really appreciate that you are thinking about us and love us. Your words are always a blessing for us in Morency. I just want to remind you that we love you and as a new Pastor I am looking forward to meeting you and spending a few days with you here in Morency next year if it is God’s will.

Please pray that God will provide our needs. We are praying for you and we love you in Christ.

May God richly bless you and your church!

Pastor Jean Robert Brunache

Tropical Storm Fay was kind to RMI!

Tropical Storm Fay made landfall much earlier and further south than had been predicted, putting Ft. Myers and Lehigh Acres where the RMI office, Dan Shoemaker's home and Rob Thompson's home is located on the "tame" left side of the storm. The same was true for Herb and Shirley Shoemaker's home in Naples. There was flooding (over 5" of rain!) and some fierce winds, but no damage to the office nor any of our homes. The wind did set off the office alarm. The police responded within about 5 minutes and found nothing amiss.

Hurricane Andrew, 14 years ago (August 24, 2002) is still fresh in our minds, so we are all very thankful for God's mercy and protection during TS Fay!

Here is a picture of Dan & Debbie's neighbor's yard just to give you an idea of the rainfall.

Tropical Update

Wow, what fun it is to be home. We have intermitten electricity, high cost of electricity (so no A/C during the day and only sometimes at night), high temps during the day, high humidity, and Tropical Storm Fay. Stll it's good to be home.

When we woke today, there was a little rain, and cloudy skies. We decided to take a quick trip into town to get the necessary ingredients for our Haiti Dominoes Pizza. (That is pizza that you make yourself) After about 15 minutes in town the bottom fell out. Suddenly all the little motorcycles, and people walking and much of the car traffic was gone. It has now been raining HARD for about 3 hours with no sign of letting up. In fact all the satellite services are gone as there is more cloud than signal. I had to wait until our internet came up before I could post this blog. How do you know you are in Haiti? When you are driving in a torrential rainstorm and you see a guy soaking wet, walking down the street with a turkey under his arm.

The weather channel says that we will have this for another 24 hours or so. We pray that there is not much flooding. However, when we were driving through the little village near our home, the road was already running like a small river. At least we are having a break in the heat.

Tiburon Update

From: Tiburon Baptist Church.
To: Crossroad United Methodist Church(USA).

Dear Collaborators,

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you doing in your activities? I hope that everything is going well for your church. In the name of the Deacons of our church here, we greet all of you in the name of the Lord and his son Jesus Christ.

First of all, I want to say thank you to God because he has given us an opportunity to work together as brothers in Christ. Here, in Tiburon everything is going very well so far. Our church here is working well even though we are facing a difficult time right now, but we bless the name of the Lord for the faithfulness of the Christians. Thank you very much for everything you've done for Tiburon church and what you are planning to do for us. I know that your presence is a blessing for our church and we believe that God will reward you for everything that Crossroad United Methodist does for Tiburon. Once again, thank you very much for your prayer.

Since you left us last year, the members of the church never stop working because they are looking forward to your return and the dedication of Tiburon's church to God while you are here in October 2008. We are working very hard to finish everything before you arrive. Even though we still have a lot to do, we are counting on God's promises and we believe we will be on time for the dedication. Please pray for us here as we lift you up before God while you prepare to come.

All the members in the church send their greeting and they are looking forward to having a good time with you again this year again. Please, pray for us here that God will watch over us and that we can all meet safely when your team comes in October.

May God bless you and send his blessings upon your church in the USA!

Pastor: Roland Lundy
Deacon: Corila Romelus.
Deacon: Daniel Cherisme.
Deacon: Ernest Berlus.
Deacon: Carilus Beaucejour.

Tiburon Update

From: Tiburon Baptist Church.
To: Crossroad United Methodist Church(USA).

Dear Collaborators,

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you doing in your activities? I hope that everything is going well for your church. In the name of the Deacons of our church here, we greet all of you in the name of the Lord and his son Jesus Christ.

First of all, I want to say thank you to God because he has given us an opportunity to work together as brothers in Christ. Here, in Tiburon everything is going very well so far. Our church here is working well even though we are facing a difficult time right now, but we bless the name of the Lord for the faithfulness of the Christians. Thank you very much for everything you've done for Tiburon church and what you are planning to do for us. I know that your presence is a blessing for our church and we believe that God will reward you for everything that Crossroad United Methodist does for Tiburon. Once again, thank you very much for your prayer.

Since you left us last year, the members of the church never stop working because they are looking forward to your return and the dedication of Tiburon's church to God while you are here in October 2008. We are working very hard to finish everything before you arrive. Even though we still have a lot to do, we are counting on God's promises and we believe we will be on time for the dedication. Please pray for us here as we lift you up before God while you prepare to come.

All the members in the church send their greeting and they are looking forward to having a good time with you again this year again. Please, pray for us here that God will watch over us and that we can all meet safely when your team comes in October.

May God bless you and send his blessings upon your church in the USA!

Pastor: Roland Lundy
Deacon: Corila Romelus.
Deacon: Daniel Cherisme.
Deacon: Ernest Berlus.
Deacon: Carilus Beaucejour.

The Leadership Summit

August 7 and 8 I had the opportunity to attend the Willow Creek Association "The Leadership Summit" they produce every year. It is beamed via satellite into more than 100 locations in the US. What a great opportunity to be immersed in awesome teaching. As speaker after speaker shared from their hearts about leaders and spiritual as well as practical principles of leadership, I was challenged and re-vitalized.

It was a great time of input into my life personally and as a leader. I have some good input that will help me as an RMI leader. I was also able to make some good contacts for possible future sister churches.

But mostly I appreciated the emphasis from all the speakers on the need as leaders for spiritual holiness, freshness, and devotion to Christ. No matter the ministry, organization, or company, the first order of business is your own personal pursuit of holiness. Funny how that sounds so biblical! However, in the pursuit of providing good leadership it is so easy to forget the foundation.

I needed to hear those words. I was challenged in my own faith to verify my continual pursuit of Christ. How close am I to my Lord? How sold out am I for Him? Can I say as one speaker said, "Bring it on God! Whatever you want, I am yours".

How about you? Are you pursuing God? What is your first order of business? Can you say to God, "Bring it on God! "?

Dan Shoemaker

Update: the cast if off, the boot is on!

Jenn's x-rays were reviewed by Dr. Bill (the US doctor who is the director of the clinic) and he was able to determine that there were no broken bones as was thought. She does has a torn ligament. The cast was taken off today and she is now in a boot. She'll have to wear it for a while until her foot is healed.

She shares that she is so happy to be able to bath normally now, not to mention drive more easily!

Update: the cast is off, the boot is on

Jenn's xrays were reviewed by Dr. Bill (the US doctor who is the director of the clinic) and he was able to determine that there were no broken bones as was thought.  She does has a torn ligament.  The cast was taken off today and she is now in a boot.  She'll have to wear it for a while until her foot is healed.

She shares that she is so happy to be able to bath normally now, not to mention drive more easily!

Mailboat's in: Picot to Trinity

From: MEBSH Church at Picot, Haiti.
To: Trinity Bible Church, USA


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Christians in Picot Church greet all of you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is my first letter to write you since you left us here after your last visit in Haiti. In the name of the communities of the church, in the name of the members, in the name of youth, the kids, and the ladies in the church we greet all of you again.

We say thanks to God for the good time he allowed us to have together during your last visit. We were very happy to see all of you during your visit. My family is doing very well and I want to let you know that my first daughter who was married last December is now pregnant. The students are in vacation now and we are going to have the Vacation Bible School with all them. God blessed us this year because we had a good rainy season and the farmers planted gardens to take of their families. As you know life is very difficult here in Haiti but God has an special way to take care of His children.

All the members in Picot church say thank you for the generator, the sound system and the money for helping the families in the church. We shared with 91 families and 27 other people that were very much in need. They were very happy to receive the support and they are praying for you all the time and asking God to bless your church.

Our activities are going very well for the district. We always have service every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. All the groups are working very well and they want you please to pray for them so that God can give them strength to do his work until he comes to take them with him to Heaven. We had a convention for the members where 335 members participated. We had some nice worship service and some good speakers that were there to share the spiritual food with us.

I am working on four new rooms on the parsonage. Please pray for us that God will provide. This year again we had two ceremonies of graduation. One is for the Kindergarten and the other one is for the young ladies that were in the sowing school (Center). Every year we had Vacation Bible School with Kids, so this year again from July 7th to July 13th we are going to have VBS for all the kids in the district. Please pray for us so that we can have a good time with kids.

Please pray also for Elliassaint family because Brother Tiyel was an old deacon in the church but unfortunately he died.

Finally, I want you please to pray for all the Christians in Picot Church and once again thank you for everything you have done for Picot church.

May God bless your church abundantly!

For the committee:

Pastort Calixte Dorval
Brother Amos Dorvil
Brother Andre vessano
Brother Esleve Nadin

Chambellan to Crossroads

From: M.E.B.S.H. Church at Chambellan
To : Crossroad Bible Church (Texas).


Dear Brothers and Sisters.

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you doing my dear beloved? I hope that everything is going very well for you and your church.

The reason I write this letter to you is thanks you for your help and your support for Chambellan church. Praise the Lord my family is doing very well but we are very sad to hear that you cannot come here to visit us this year. Your visit is very important for us because when you come here; it's a blessing for all the Christians here in Chambellan Church.

Our activities are going very well here. We had a very good conference service during the Easter season. Many Christians from all the churches in the district came to worship and praise God with us. We always have a Bible study here in our church with the Kids and they are always so interested to learn the word of God. We pray all the time for our sister church in Texas and I believe that God will watch over you. Thank you for all the financial help that you sent this year so that our kids can go school. We are very grateful for that.

Please, pray for the families in the church because they are facing difficult problems this year with food being very expensive it is hard to feed their children. A lot of them are very sick and many have already died. Please pray that God will lead our government with the destiny of this country.

May God richly bless your church and your family!


Pastor Jean Benoit

A Letter to Creekside

From: M.E.B.S.H. Church at Baradere
To : Creekside Community Church.

Dear Brothers and Sisters.

It is a great joy for me to write you and greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you doing in your church? I hope that everything is going well for you by the grace of his son Jesus Christ.

Here in Baradere, we are doing very well. Our spiritual activities are going very well. We always have nice services every week. We have Sunday school, the worship service, a Tuesday night service and a Bible study every Thursday. In the first week of July we are going to have a big convention for the whole district and we are going to have a community sale at the church. Praise the Lord the church is growing in numbers because we had 3 persons that accepted Jesus as their savior and 3 affiliations as well as two couples that are going to get married.

Thank you very much for your help and your support to our kids here in Baradere. Thank you for helping them with school again this year. This year we sent 107 students to the officials' exams this year and we believe that God will help them pass the test. Please, pray for them so that we can have a good result. Thank you again for your help for the parsonage. We are working so hard to finish it before your next visit, because we want to receive all of you in the same house. I mean the team and the RMI staff.

I wish that everything will be fine for you. Please, pray for us as we will do the same for you too. Pray specially for the ladies here because they are going to have a great party and after that they will close the party with an open air service.

I send my greeting to everyone in your church especially Pastor Richard, Brother Toby, Brother Tom, Brother Wes, Doctor John and everyone else. We love you and we pray for you all the time.


Pastor Leon Bonhomme.

Jenn has broken her foot!

Haiti missionary, Jenn Rogan, fell on her motorcycle yesterday afternoon.  She injured her right foot just a bit.  She knew her foot hurt, but it wasn’t until later that it started swelling.  They put ice on it throughout the evening.  This morning she went to the clinic for x-rays and it showed a small fracture in a small bone just below her ankle, in her foot.  She is in a cast and finding it very frustrating to be on crutches.  She’s unable to drive anything (motorcycle or car).  Dr. Bill, the director of the clinic (who comes in once a month for a week), is coming tomorrow, so she is going to ask him to look at the x-ray and see if he’ll approve of her being in a boot instead of a full cast.

Pray for her patience during this time.  She has a lot on her plate, plus the summer heat is stifling as usual – not the time to have to have a heavy cast.

Outback was Outstanding!

Our first team after returning to Haiti has come and gone. It was "Outstanding", as the team leader would say. We had a wonderful time out in Les Irois Haiti.

This team was what Harper E Free Church called a "rogue team", because it was planned outside of their regular sister church visits. The team members consisted of 5 married couples and the main project was a marriage seminar. Other events were done like a HFK's meeting, a youth meeting and a Ladies Tea.

We also walked 2 miles up the mountain to visit a satellite church in Jorge, but the main focus of the trip was the marriage seminar. When Billy and I visited Harper church in Washington state back in March of this year, we were not sure how this kind of seminar would go in Haiti as we had not handled this kind of project before. We have done leadership seminars, youth seminars, ladies seminars, but the marriage seminar was new for us. We were concerned about many different things but our main concern was that the teaching be fruitful and with the cultural differences, we just didn't know if that was possible. We were also a little concerned as to what it might "stir up" in the marriages of the leadership at Les Irois church and the surrounding satellite churches. We didn't know if they would be open with us or receive the teaching well. There was some concern that they wouldn't openly share their struggles especially with their spouses sitting in the same room with them. Well, God knew what He was doing when he put this team together. It was an amazing time. Pastor John Edgecomb, of Harper E Free Church did an outstanding job of putting together material for the marriage seminar. Billy and I worked together to tweek it to meet the culture here. Benjamin (our head translator) was instrumental in translating the material where it could be understood culturally and yet not lose any of the value in it. And God showed up! Doesn't He always! Sometimes I wonder why we doubt HIM! If we just take the steps He will direct our paths and that is what this team did. We worked together to make sure that all bases were covered as best as they could be and then we prayed and turned it over to Father God.

The first day of the seminar went very well. Pastor John gave his teaching and then we broke up into small groups. We wanted to separate the men and women and see if they would open up to us about some of their struggles. Our team of Americans began by sharing some of the struggles they have in their marriages hoping to set the example. I just about fell off my chair when these Haitian men & women started opening up. They shared their struggles and were very open about wanting to work to find solutions. I was just amazed at how God worked in them. They were open to trying to work on their own behavior instead of trying to change their husbands or wives. What was even more amazing that first day was that the men's group talked longer than the women's group. They say that women have 10,000 words per day and men only have 2,500, well that was not the case during this particular session.
On the 2nd day of the seminar, the direction we were going was changed by a question that was asked by one of the Haitian pastors. Pastor John Edgecomb felt led to "go with it", so as a team that is what we did. The question was, "what do you do when one of you feel called to ministry and the other one does not?". Pastor John looked at Billy and I and asked us if we would be willing to share our testimony about how we were called into full time ministry. We shared with the whole group how we struggled with one being called and the other not and how God changed my heart after a season of prayer. Amazingly, one of the other couples on the US team had a similar testimony with a very different outcome, one that took them out of full time ministry in the church. They shared their testimony right after ours. Both testimonies being shared back to back like that gave the Leadership two great examples of how God works differently in our lives and what He might be calling one couple to do, might not be what His desire is for the other couple. These examples are just a couple of the ways that God worked in the lives of these people during this seminar. The church at Les Irois is excited to take this teaching to the leadership and others in their church congregations.
At the end of the 2nd day of seminars, every couple present, Americans and Haitians renewed our wedding vows. We started with Pastor John Edgecomb leading the renewing of vows between the Pastor of the Les Irois Church and then he in turn lead Pastor John and his wife Cyndee in the renewing of their vows. After they were done, then the rest of us couples did a group renewing of our vows with the American pastor saying them in English and the Haitian pastor saying them in Creole. I don't believe the Haitians had ever seen anything like this before, at least not at this particular church. It was awesome to see and everyone celebrated with wedding cake after the last kiss. I have to say that our staff were tickled at Billy and I renewing our vows. They whooped and hollered and were teasing us about our kiss.

As a special bonus for the Haitian church, the US church came with 10 beautiful wedding dresses for the church to loan to couples when they get married. This is very important to the Haitian people. They want to be dressed beautifully for this most important day!

The team had a couple of days to decompress both at Zanglais at the Retreat Center and here at the Mission Center before leaving early Friday morning. Our family got up together and accompanied them to the airport. Yes all 4 of us got up at 5am. There were lots of tears as we said our goodbyes and the Harper team got on the plane. They have since arrived home safely and are sharing the stories of how their trip went with family and friends.
Pastor John Edgecomb shared with Billy and I how special it was for us to be a part of the team and even told us that they considered the rogue team 2008 to be 6 couples not 5, as it had originally started out. It touched our hearts to get so connected to not only our American team but also the Haitian people in Les Irois. This was a great homecoming for us and an Outstanding trip.

Debbie Moses

A New Arrival!

Braden Montgomery Thompson was born Monday, July 21, at 8:15 a.m. He was 9 lbs. 15 oz. and 21 inches long. The proud parents, Rob and Becky Thompson, are doing well.

Braden's brother and sister, Drew and Tessa, were happy to meet him!

Welcome Home! The Moses Family is Back in Haiti

As of Friday, July 18, 2008 the Haiti gang's back together! Yes, the Moses have returned to Haiti. I know Gary and Marilyn McLaughlin and Jenn Rogan as well as the entire Haitian staff are glad to have them back. They had a warm reception as several RMI staff met them at the airport. They had a steady stream of people the whole weekend of people, nationals, staff and missionaries welcoming them back. There were hugs, kisses and tears of joy at their return. They are busy unpacking, cleaning house, settling in, and getting caught up.

This coming Friday, July 25, Billy and Debbie are going out with Gary, Jenn and the rest of the staff to Les Irois to work with a team from Harper Evangelical Free Church from Port Orchard, Washington. Gary will be leading the team with Billy, Debbie, and Jenn there to assist with the ministry of the team. They are doing a marriage seminar for the church. I know it will be a great time of ministry together.

The Moses will be taking a couple of weeks afterward to finish getting their feet under them and then will begin to get back into the saddle so to speak. We are excited about having everyone back together again.

Look for a more detailed update on their personal blog: http://www.mosesinhaiti.blogspot.com/.

Dan Shoemaker

Mixed Emotions

This past Thursday Deb and I went over to Ft. Lauderdale to spend the evening with Billy and Debbie Moses and their family (RMI missionaries in Haiti) and then put them on the plane on Friday A.M. as they headed back to Haiti. What a change for us. For 25 years it was our family that was heading back to Haiti. Now we are the ones waving goodbye as the last one passes through security.

As we drove away from the airport afterwards, Deb and I talked about the mixed emotions this caused within us. On one hand, we remembered all the good times we had in Haiti, all the friends we (still) have there, and the ministry we were always going back to. On the other hand, we certainly did not miss the hectic last days of shopping, packing suitcases down to the last ounce, trying to get all the last minute details done, always wishing you had another day (or 2 or 3) and getting very little sleep if any before heading off to the airport early in the morning knowing you had a looong day ahead. Being able to fly from to Port to Cayes eases some of the burden, but for the most part we would have to get to Port and then drive 6 hours over rough roads to get home. Whew!

However, we agreed that we are glad those days are behind us. We have a new home and know that we are in God's will where we are. But we sure empathize with the Moses' as they headed back and are now getting settled into life in Haiti. (They did have a very good trip back, with everything going as smoothly as it can with American Airlines and in Haiti!)

It was good to see them and send them off with a hug.

Dan

Help us with shipping

We have had some problems with identifying some of the shipments that have come in for the sister churches. When you send a package to your sister church be sure to mark on the box the name of your sister church. i.e. "Chambellan", "Tiburon", "Les Irois", etc.

If you are ordering from a company that will ship directly to MFI or Agape then include the church's name on the 2nd address line. If there is no 2nd address line then include it after mine or Gary's name. For example:

Billy Moses (Aux Coteaux) 18102
100 Airport Ave.
Venice, FL. 34285

This will insure that the items you are shipping to your sister church will indeed arrive there.

Thanks,
Billy

Welcome Home! The Moses Family is Back in Haiti!

As of Friday, July 18, 2008 the Haiti gang's back together! Yes, the Moses have returned to Haiti. I know Gary and Marilyn McLaughlin and Jenn Rogan as well as the entire Haitian staff are glad to have them back. They had a warm reception as several RMI staff met them at the airport. They had a steady stream of people the whole weekend of people, nationals, staff and missionaries welcoming them back. There were hugs, kisses and tears of joy at their return. They are busy unpacking, cleaning house, settling in, and getting caught up.

This coming Friday, July 25, Billy and Debbie are going out with Gary, Jenn and the rest of the staff to Les Irois to work with a team from Harper Evangelical Free Church from Port Orchard, Washington. Gary will be leading the team with Billy, Debbie, and Jenn there to assist with the ministry of the team. They are doing a marriage seminar for the church. I know it will be a great time of ministry together.

The Moses will be taking a couple of weeks afterward to finish getting their feet under them and then will begin to get back into the saddle so to speak. We are excited about having everyone back together again.

Look for a more detailed update on their personal blog: http://www.mosesinhaiti.blogspot.com/.

Dan Shoemaker

Moses Family Returns to Haiti!

Check it out!  July 18 Billy, Debbie, Savana and McKenna Moses will return to their home in Haiti.  We'll get a more detailed report on what they have been doing and where they have gone in the past 8 months in a later blog.  The short version is that they traveled quite a bit, including Texas, Seattle, New Jersey, Georgia and South Carolina and points in between.  They also went through some intensive seminars and Bible college (Columbia International University) courses.

Pray for them as they go through the final stages of packing and getting ready.   They are very excited to be getting back to their own beds after living out of suitcases for such a long time.  Check out their blog at www.mosesinhaiti.blogspot.com.

Hawthorne Summit

Hidden away in a small central Florida town named Hawthorne, RMI missionaries Billy & Debbie Moses, Gary & Marilyn McLaughlin and Jenn Rogan met RMI staff Herb & Shirley Shoemaker, Dan, Debbie and Dawn Shoemaker and Rob Thompson on Saturday, June 21 to Tuesday, June 24. One of RMI's Board members, Billy Byrd, owns a small camp that he has renovated and made available to us for this 4 day meeting. Dawn and Debbie cooked for the crowd for 4 days as they met together. It was a great time of catching up with one another and then doing extensive, strategic planning for the future for the Haiti field.

It was a great place to relax, fellowship, get away from the every day routine and spend time together. God did bless our time and we are excited about what He has for us all in the future.

When Dawn wasn't in the cookhouse, she was on the dock. Herb and Shirley pitched in during some free time, with Shirley catching the most! The last evening we had enough catfish for everyone to have a bite! She was a real trooper and fed us well.

It was a wonderful place to have an RMI Summit!!

Gary sent these pictures. A special thanks to Billy Byrd for the great place to have these meetings!

RMI June Board Meetings

June 12 and 13 the RMI Board met here in Ft. Myers, FL. We had folks coming from NC, IL, and FL, coming for this session.

These meetings are very important in the life of RMI as the Board provides direction, vision, and over-sight for the Mission's activities, staff, and future. They review and approve our policies, our operations budget, new programs and projects, and generally keep an eye on things.

Another area of oversight is working with the staff on our vision and future aspirations. They help us set goals and priorities as we work toward the future. We have a good Board that has become quite active in the ministry. They have been great encouragements to Rob and I as we are moving RMI forward. They also provide good mentoring and sounding boards for us as we discuss new plans and projects with them.

As usual, many items were discussed, reviewed, and voted into play. Continue to pray for our Board members as they lead RMI that the Lord will be filling them with His Spirit for wisdom, understanding, and unity together.

Thank the Lord with us for a great time of fellowship and the good decisions that were made.

Preaching in Creole!

Several weeks ago I had the privilege of preaching at the First Haitian Baptist Church of Fort Myers, FL. It is the 3rd time I have preached there. It is a lot of fun. You feel like you are right there somewhere out in the country at a good Haitian church...only with AC! YES!

It is great to be able to share with the Haitian people here in the area. They are always surprised at my Creole and knowledge of the language, idioms, and sayings. But it is also good to be able to encourage and challenge them in their faith. Being so far from home they truly do cling to their faith. They need to be reminded that God cares for them, but also that God desires them to grow in their knowledge and understanding of Him as well.

Dawn says that "Dad preaches much better in Creole. He gets much more animated!" I guess that is a good compliment! They do preach with animation in Haiti. Lots of fun.

By Faith Memories!

By Faith Fellowship (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) came to work with the RMI Missionaries and encourage them in the middle of June. They sealed the roof on the back two rooms of the guest house and painted there and at the McLaughlin's home. They also helped the McLaughlins and Jenn Rogan with their trip to the RMI "Hawthorne Summit" in central Florida by providing them with a place to stay two nights and a vehicle to drive there and back. God did great things through them and we RMI Missionaries in Haiti are very thankfully for their visit and fellowship.  - Gary

Dan was able to join the By Faith team for a few days in Haiti.  He was able to encourage the RMI staff by touching base with them and meeting with them.  He made this quick trip with RMI Board Member Billy Byrd (who is a member of By Faith Fellowship).  His shoulder surgery was the day after he got back to the states!  (and yes, the Hawthorne Summit was 2 days later!  A wild and crazy schedule, but God helped us hold it all together.) - Debbie Shoemaker

Trinity Bible Church / Picot Memories!

Gary has sent in these pictorial memories of Trinity Bible's recent visit to their Sister Church at Picot.  Looks like it was a great visit on both sides!

Quick visit to Cance.

Hi Brian and All,

     Greetings from Haiti. All is well here as your time to visit approaches. In four weeks you all will be doing what Marilyn and I did this morning, speaking at the Cance Baptist Church. It was a nice service. Pastor Jean Cherey preached a short message today and we were finished by 11:30 AM. When you are there it will last a bit longer I'm sure. The singing was good. We only had two groups sing. First, in one of the pictures, is a young ladies group, and then later the womens group sang. Get your song or songs ready. Always nice to have you sing a song or two if you're up to it.

     I received a message from Jeff (Agape) that he was shipping a pallet to Port-a-Prince yesterday. I saw a picture of the items and I saw sound equipment on it. I will be working with a man in Port to get these items through customs and hopefully have them here in a couple weeks.

Gary

Attention Harper Evangelical Free Church: A new letter from your Sister Church!

Dear Brothers and Sisters.

    I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you doing in your activities? I hope that everything is doing very well for your families and your congregation. In the name of Les Irois Church and in my name personally, I am very happy to write you this letter and I hope that everything is going well with you all. Here, in Les Irois we are doing very well by the grace of the Lord. The church is praying for you everyday and I wish you can do the same for us too over here in Haiti.

      All of our activities are working well here, each month we have new people that accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Please pray for us because we will have a big convention from July 17th to July 20th in our church here, where we are going to receive 29 other churches that are going to be around here to participate. It will be a big Convention and we do need about $10,000 H to make it happen. Please, we ask you for your prayers. One week after we are going to receive your team from the US we will have a Couples Seminar. We have more than 50 couples that are taking part. That will be a great blessing for all of us here in Les Irois.

     Finally, we want you please to pray for our projects that we would like to do: The first one is the outhouse, the second one the school that we would like to finish and the third one is the parsonage at Mandou. We say thank you for your support again this year that helped our kids go to school. Thank you for the sound system that you sent for us but we still need the wires for them. I send my blessing to all the Pastors, Deacons and the Members in Harper Evangelical Free Church.

     May God in His power cover each of you with his Love and His peace!

Your Brother in Christ,

Pastor Jean Sainpreval

Attention Village Church of Bartlett: A new letter from your Sister Church

Dear brothers and sisters.

We are very happy to write this letter to you just to give you some information about our church here in Ducis and also we want to take this advantage to wish you a happy new year of 2008. We are very happy for the good communion that God our Father established among us and allowed us to live as brothers and sisters for the glory of His ministry. This is by the same love He left behind His kingdom and come on the earth to die for us. That’s really a great love, isn’t it?

We say thank you to God the way He did take care of us for the year of 2007, even though we had insecurity problem in our country but God took care of each family in our church. For those reasons, from December 16^th to December 31^st of 2007 we had a nice prayer service in our church in Ducis where all the members in the church met together to praise Him and thanks Him for his mercy. We had different speakers who preached from the book of Exodus 33:13.

Our purpose for this new year is to have more people baptized, teach more people the words of God and create a new strategy where all the family in the church can know the power of God better and seek more people for His kingdom.

This year again we want start working with our plan we had long time ago that is called “AWANA”, we already sit with the responsible people and  they approved it, I hope next time when I write I will give you more explanations about it.

We are praying for you everyday and we hope that you are going to do the same thing for us.

Once again I want to wish you all a happy new year of 2008 and may God send His blessing upon your church.

Your brother,

Pastor Anthony Moise

Attention Sunrise Community Church: A new letter from your Sister Church!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

May the Grace and Peace of God be with you all the time!

The members of Morancy Baptist Church greet you in the precious name of Jesus Christ. We love you with all our hearts and we always keep you in our prayers. We have our prayer service every Tuesday night and we always pray and ask God to protect your families and your church.

I am very happy for the chance I have to write you this letter. The goal of my letter is to say thank you for your good help to us. I do realize how Haiti is very difficult now, where the people are facing an economic crisis, so without your help it will be very hard for the parents to pay school for their children. I heard from news even your country knows some difficult problems now but Praise the Lord because you are still helping our kids go to school. In my own name as the Pastor of the church and in the name of all the parents we say thank you very much. We believe that God in his grace will cover you with his blessing and watch over you and your families everyday.

We are going to pray for you and we want to share with you some projects we wish to realize. We want you please to pray for them so that God can provide us money to make them happen. The first project is a sound system that we need for the church. The second project has to do with the church and the third project is for the parsonage which needs some work too. Please, pray for those three projects so that we can realize them in coming years.

In our church, we have a worship service every Sunday, Evangelism service on Sunday night, Prayer service every Tuesday night and Bible study every Thursday night. Also we have a members service once a month and finally we have a group of people that are responsible for going out and praying with the sick people.

It was a pleasure for me to write you and I want to hear from my brothers and sisters from Sunrise Community Church pretty soon.

May God bless you all!

Pastor Jean Robert Brunache

Notice to Calvary Baptist Church: A new letter from your Sister Church!

Dear Pastor Glass,

I always have a big joy each time I have a chance to write as the Pastor of our sister church. Please receive the greeting of our God who gives peace to you and to the congregation of Calvary Baptist Church. Also receive the greeting from all the members in Dame-Marie Baptist Church. I wish that everything is working well for all the members in Calvary Baptist Church. This year we have 35 members from Dame-Marie Baptist that were planning to go to annual convention that the MEBSH’s mission has here in Cite Lumiere, Cayes. Unfortunately, we had a political problem where all the Haitians over Haiti were demonstrating against the Haitian government. By that problem the MEBSH Board committee decided to cancel the convention for this year.

Praise the Lord, Dame-Marie church is working very well. We have a choir in the church that has more than 50 people, they were prepared to sing at the convention but they could not. Since December 2007 we started the Sunday school at 6 AM and the worship service at 7 AM. Please pray for Haiti and the whole country because now we have a lot of problems and we believe that only God can provide a good stability to Haiti. All the members of Dame-Marie are praying for you and for your church so that God can take good care of you and help you in your preparation to come here this year again, we are praying for your coming.

Finally, I want to thank you for your support and the money you sent for the kids here in Dame-Marie this year. All the parents here charge me to say thanks and they are praying for you daily. Please pray for me and my family and I will do the same for you too.

Pastor Evelt Mentor

A Ray of Sunshine

In the midst of difficult times comes a ray of sunshine for our staff in Haiti. The long awaited truck arrived on the mission center Tuesday, May 20!

It is a 2003 Ford F 250, 4WD. It was bought in Dallas, TX through funds raised for it. To get to Haiti from Dallas, it came across country to Orlando, Orlando to Ft. Myers, Ft. Myers to Miami, Miami to Port-au-Prince (via ship - and this leg took 2 months!), then Port to Cayes. It will carry 6 people and quite a bit of cargo. What a great help to the team there to have a reliable vehicle! The teams will enjoy better transportation accommodations and safety on the Haitian roads.

Thanks to all of you who gave toward this and prayed faithfully for it!

Food riots in Haiti - Here are some of the causes.

'Crime' and Ethanol
Unintended Consequences

May 7, 2008

Biofuels are one of the major reasons you and I are paying more for groceries these days. For most of us, it is just an inconvenience. For many around the world, however, it is a catastrophe. Last week, United Nations Special Investigator Jean Ziegler called the use of biofuels, such as ethanol, a "crime against a great part of humanity."

In the past, global food crises were sparked by natural disasters and bad harvests. What makes this food crisis a crime against humanity is: We caused it. And like many man-made problems, this one can be traced to our false worldview.

Here in the United States, egg prices are up 35 percent; milk up 23 percent; and bread up 16. For most Americans, who on average spend 10 percent of their income on food, these increases squeeze our budgets.

But for the "great part of humanity" Ziegler talks about, it is a lot worse. In countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh, people can spend 70 percent of their income on food; so even modest increases in food prices can impair their ability to feed their families. And price increases for the staples they depend on have not been modest: Wheat prices have doubled and corn prices quadrupled in the last year.

Rising food prices are causing social instability. According to the World Food Program, "33 countries in Asia and Africa face political instability as the urban poor struggle to feed their families"—which is why the president and Congress are talking now about increasing aid to these countries.

While the rise in food-staple prices has many causes, as Ziegler noted, one of them is definitely man-made: the use of cropland and food-staples to produce bio-fuels such as ethanol. He called "transforming hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons" of foodstuffs into fuel "absolutely catastrophic for the hungry people."

Look at it this way: It takes 510 pounds of corn to make 13 gallons of ethanol—that amount could "feed a child in Zambia or Mexico for a year," while it fuels your car only for a week!

Ziegler is not alone; the IMF (International Monetary Fund) has raised grave concerns, and Secretary of State Rice recently spoke of the "unintended consequence from the alternative fuels' effort."

What is maddening about this is that the biofuel effort is fueled by politicians handing out massive subsidies to the farm belt and pandering to glassy-eyed environmentalists. Every presidential hopeful who participated in the Iowa caucuses had to sing the praises of ethanol. That is why John McCain stayed away, because he opposes the subsidies.

Now, I am all for farmers making money on their crops. They deserve it. But no politician with a shred of integrity can deny that it is more important to feed a child in Zambia for a year than to feed your car for a week. And—as if I need to remind you—this is an election year, so ask your candidates where they stand on this tragic political folly. And call your members of Congress to tell them how you feel.

A properly informed worldview is the key here. Two non-Christian worldviews have merged to bring about this crisis: one that sees maintaining political power as an end in itself, and one that sees the environment as our chief concern, even at the expense of humans.

We Christians insist on the proper use of government: that is, to restrain evil and promote justice. And we believe in proper environmental stewardship. But we insist that people, especially the poor, must come first.

Chuck Colson.

theSlice from Rob and Becky is available.

We just emailed the latest version of theSlice to our support team. If you did not receive that email, check it out here.

If you did not receive the email, but would like to, let us know!

Rob

Heading to Haiti

I am looking forward to going to Haiti this Saturday. I am going in with the Trinity Bible Church team. Due to a late arrival we will be driving from Port a Prince to Cayes. This will be the first time we have done this in quite a while! Should be fun!

Please pray for me as I go. I having been struggling with a problem with my sciatic nerve in my left leg. The last couple of days it has down well, but pray that it does not act up while in Haiti. I also have torn my shoulder rotator cuff muscles. This causes some real pain when I make certain movements that aren't always predictable. So pray for good health and especially good sleep!

You might have heard that Haiti has had lots of rioting and unrest due to the high cost of living. That was very true. But things have returned to normal. Pray that it will stay that way!

I will be back April 24th. Thanks for your prayers!

Dan

The cost of life in Haiti

Haiti has been going through quite a bit of unrest this past week. The people are protesting the high cost of living there. Prices have doubled and tripled in the last several months. This is causing quite a hardship for so many in that poor country! There have been many protests across the country that have shut the country down for the past several days.

The RMI staff are fine. Cayes has had quite a bit of unrest during these days as well. However, there is much hope that things will be back to normal in the next several days.

Pray for peace and for the government to act to help stabilize the situation, not only from the unrest, but to help ease the pain of the people. Pray for continued safety for our staff. Thanks.

Dan

Pray for Haiti

Haiti has been going through quite a bit of unrest this past week. The people are protesting the high cost of living there. Prices have doubled and tripled in the last several months. This is causing quite a hardship for so many in that poor country! There have been many protests across the country that have shut the country down for the past several days.

The RMI staff are fine. Cayes has had quite a bit of unrest during these days as well. However, there is much hope that things will be back to normal in the next several days.

Pray for peace and for the government to act to help stabilize the situation, not only from the unrest, but to help ease the pain of the people. Pray for continued safety for our staff. Thanks.

Dan

Anse-A-Veau Trip March 2008 Slideshow

Memories of your trip to Anse-A-Veau.  It's exciting to see the impact you have on your brothers and sisters' lives!

 

 

Thanks, Gary, for the pictures.

A Letter from your Sister Church

From: The Aux Coteaux Church

To: Grace Lutheran Church

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

I greet you in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How are you and your church doing? I hope that you and your activities are doing well by the power of the Holy Ghost. I want to ask you how the Pastor is doing in your church, especially Sister Suzy. We are praying for her all the time and ask God to heal her.

We are doing very well here in Aux Coteaux by the grace of God. We had a nice Easter time in our church. Also we had a week of conference in the Church where we invited many other churches to come worship with us; it was amazing to worship together. We want to say thank you for all your support to our church especially for the money you sent last February to support our youth to attend the Carnival retreat in Gonaive. We had about 250 people that participated with 5 churches in the district. Thank you again for your help for kids this year, I am praying for God to watch over you and take good care of each of you in your church.

Finally, I want to thank you for the way you help us with the construction of the new parsonage here in Coteaux, so even though we still have a lot do, we believe God will provide us money to finish with all the work pretty soon.

May God bless you and your church abundantly.

Your brother in Christ,

Pastor Ceverdieu Louis Jean

Upside Down Plans

The Haitians have a proverb that says, “Man proposes, but God disposes”.  Man makes his plans but God works His Will regardless of man’s plans.  We see this in the Bible through so many examples:  Abraham was doing quite well where he was, then God told him to go to a land that he didn't even know of yet; Joseph wasn’t planning on being sold as a slave, or thrown into prison, but God had other plans for him; David was content to be a shepherd, but God had other plans; Mary was looking forward to being the wife of a simple carpenter living a normal life, but God had other plans; Paul was happy persecuting Christians, yet God had other plans for him.  God often takes our plans, and turns them upside down for His purposes and good pleasure.  Sometimes it takes years to finally see the results or reasons, but we know and rest in the fact that He is working out His plans for His good.

This is what it seems that God is doing in Guatemala.  RMI has had great plans for the Guatemala field.  We had anticipated good things happening there.  But for reasons that truly only God knows, at this time, RMI has had to shut down our Guatemala operations.  We lost several sister churches that desired to be more involved with occasional projects rather than in-depth relationships.  The Coreano’s have resigned as they felt lead back to the U.S. for inner city ministry.  Other possibilities that we have had in the past were no longer available to continue the ministry.  After exhausting all of our options, RMI came to the conclusion that we would have to withdraw from the Guatemala field at this time. 

I can say that this has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make.  RMI has invested so much there.  Our hearts have been melded with the Mayan believers.  They have so many needs, and struggles that the Sister Church Partnerships were beginning to address. The Coreanos have invested so much of their time and effort.  The ministry was starting to flourish.  Much had been provided through a lot of effort and struggle.  And yet, God…….disposed.  Why, we don’t know at this time, but God does.  And God is sovereign, He is Good all the time!  His purposes are being accomplished.  His ways are not our ways.  RMI has had to accept this and continue to trust God to lead us and move us into the paths He would have us trod. 

RMI’s vision is to continue to see our Haiti field flourish and develop.  There is so much RMI can do to continue to encourage the churches and Christians there.  However, we are also continuing to explore new options for growth into other countries as the doors open.  Pray for the RMI Administration and the Board as we continue to seek God’s direction for the future!  Man proposes but God disposes! 

 

Dan Shoemaker, President

The Windy City!

I am finally back in balmy Florida! Sunshine, 80 degrees, low humidity.....Ahhhh! I think I am still thawing out though! Being down here, you do forget how cold it can get "up there"! But even if the weather was cold, the fellowship was very warm! My time with the folks at Arlington Heights E. Free Church and Village Church of Bartlett couldn't have gone any better. Both missions conferences were a blessing to me. The many different speakers were interesting and challenging. I was able to make some good contacts for RMI for the future. There were several good contacts for potential new sister churches. There were also a couple of invites to conferences where there will be opportunities to share the Sister Church Program with many new churches.

I also presented (for the first time) our new RMI Impact Partners program encouraging those who have been impacted by RMI and their Sister Church to become more involved with RMI financially through pledged giving. So far there has been good response. Pray for many more to get involved with us through this initiative.

Thanks Dave and Kirk for all you did to make my time with your churches a great blessing! Love you guys!

Dan is in Chicago

My flight is late, more than 2 hours late! As I sit here in the Ft. Myers airport, I look at it more as "2 less hours of 25 degree weather!" Man, my Florida blood is going to freeze in that kind of weather! Somehow I don't think my Columbia shorts and sport shirt are NOT going to be the thing to wear.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to being with all of my friends and partners in ministry at Arlington Heights E. Free Church and Village Church of Bartlett of the Chicago area. They are having their missions conferences one week after another so I will be in that area from March 7th to the 18th. Having just been to Haiti with the Arlington Team, we will have much to reminisce about.

At both churches, Arlington - March 7 to 12, and Village Church of Bartlett - March 12 to 18, I will be meeting with all of the Haiti team alumni. Those are always very encouraging times as we share how the Sister Church experiences, those "God Moments" have shaped our lives. I will also be sharing about how God is moving in RMI these days. We are excited about what lies ahead! Please join us if possible. Check with Dave Wardle (AHEFC) or Kirk V. (VCOB) for the dates, place, and time.

I will also be sharing a new program called, RMI Impact Partners. I am looking for those who have been impacted by RMI's ministry into their lives and experienced "God moments" while they were on their trip. As a result they want to be a part of enabling RMI to continue to impact lives in significant ways. (Would you consider becoming one of these partners with us?)

Pray for the opportunity to encourage one another and for continuing to see the Sister Church Partnerships advanced. Pray also for God's moving in folks' hearts for a desire to become "Impact Partners" with us, so together we can impact the world for Christ. This is our heart's desire!

Dan

A successful visit to their Sister Church: A Slideshow

Second Cape May Baptist Church had a great time at their Sister Church in Port-a-Piment, Haiti.  Here is a montage of photos taken by members of the team and RMI missionary Gary McLaughlin.  Sit back and enjoy!

Port-a-Piment Trip Feb. 2008 Slideshow

This is a compilation sent to us from Gary McLaughlin. Thanks to all those who took the pictures and to Gary for taking the time to get them all downloaded!  Sit back and enjoy the memories.

 

Second Cape May Baptist Returns Home from Haiti today...

Today, Second Cape May Baptist from Cape May, NJ travels from Les Cayes, Haiti to Port au Prince, Haiti to Philadelphia, PA.  Would you pray for them as they travel?  I have heard it went very well.  Pictures coming soon!

Rob

Haiti Creole Resource...

The following resource was suggested by Pastor Guy Glass from Calvary Baptist Church in Pemberton, NJ.

The following web site has some free downloadable tools, and some very affordable more robust options for learning Haitian Creole.  Check it out.  If you do, please let us know what you think!

Rob

Learn Haitian Creole

A glimpse into the Shoe's Soul

Many folks have asked us to include information on how our family is doing.  You can now get a little insight into the Shoe's Soul by going to www.theshoessoul.blogspot.com.  You can catch up on what is happening in our personal lives since we've moved to the states (and there's a lot!).  You may be amazed, you will laugh and hopefully be spurred to pray for us on our life journey as we continue to serve the Lord through RMI.  To whet your appetite, here are a few pictures:

Dan and I, the re-invented U.S. version!

Devon, 20, and Duke the Walmart shopping dog!

Dawn, 17, and a State Volleyball Championship!

A glimpse into the Shoe's Soul

Many folks have asked us to include information on how our family is doing.  You can now get a little insight into the Shoe's Soul by going to www.theshoessoul.blogspot.com.  You can catch up on what is happening in our personal lives since we've moved to the states (and there's a lot!).  You may be amazed, you will laugh and hopefully be spurred to pray for us on our life journey as we continue to serve the Lord through RMI.  To whet your appetite, here are a few pictures:

Dan and I, the re-invented U.S. version!

Devon, 20, and Duke the Walmart shopping dog!

Dawn, 17, and a State Volleyball Championship!

A recent visit to Abricot

Our trip to Abricot on January 10: We took pictures for Hope for Kids and looked at possible projects for New Church to consider for future visits. Last year the students had to walk about 5 miles to have their pictures take but this year we have a new road into Abricot. It's a beautiful part of Haiti and one is able to see the beauty even better on this road. But the true beauty is in Haiti's people. They are always happy to see us as we are them. Here is a slideshow for you!  Gary McLaughlin

A letter from your Sister Church

From: Abricot Church

To: New Church

I am very happy today for the great opportunity I have to write you this letter. How are you and your church activities doing over there? I hope you are doing great in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. The reason I write this letter to you is to wish you all in New Church a Happy New Year of 2008.

Here in Abricot Baptist Church, we had a good year of 2007.  God took care of us here.  The only  problem we had last year was when we were preparing for your coming but unfortunately the team was cancel, after that everything was fine for us here in Haiti.  About the school everything is fine, we have more kids in the school this year but we don’t have enough class room.  This year, again, 20 kids are going to attend the official exams, I want you to pray for them, please.

Thank you very much for the generator that you sent for us. It is very helpful for us because we use it every evening when we have service. We started this year with a nice prayer service in the church where we had many people accept Jesus as their Savior.

Finally, we want to say thank you for the support you give to our kids here in Abricot. Thank you for helping our kids go to school. We really appreciate that and we are praying for you everyday and asking God to fill you with his blessing. All the church members and the deacons send their greeting to all of you.

May God bless you all in your church!

Pastor Yves Renous Mathurin

A letter from your sister church

From: Anse–a-Veau Baptist Church

To: Linwood Church

I greet you all in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.  May the grace and the peace of God be with you in this New Year.  I wish you all a Happy New Year of 2008.

Here in Anse-a-Veau, we are doing very well thanks to God.  We praise the Lord we had a good year of 2007 spiritually, only some of our people in our church were facing the Hurricane problems. Thank you the help you sent for those with hurricane damage problems.  They really needed that help.  Our church is working very well here. We had a nice prayer service on the night of December 31^st where all the Christians met together for a worship and prayer service. We were happy to meet together; we heard a lot of testimonies from the members and after we all had a good time of discussion together and we drank coffee at the end.

In the name of all the kids and the parents who are sponsored we say thank you for the money you sent this year again for the kids.  The parents were very happy to see their kids going to school and have their school paid for.  That’s a blessing for them. The kids and their parents are praying for you daily and asking God to bless you. Thank you for the motorcycle battery you sent for me.  I appreciate that. We are praying for your coming again this year and we are looking forward to meeting you all.

I send my greeting to all of you in Linwood Church especially to Pastor Rick and his family, to the deacons, the youth, Sister Betty, Brother Art and his wife, Sister Barbara, Brother Tom, Brother Tommy and to all the members.

Pastor Dieusseul Malbranche