Photo Update from RMI...

The team of LifeHouse Church (Hagerstown, MD) members are off to spend 5 days in Port Salute, serving and being served, along with the believers there. It's Reciprocal. One Church. One body. One Lord. #oneanother #rmihaiti

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Photo Update from RMI...

La Mano of Hope team from Lifehouse Church has hit the ground in Haiti! We're excited! #rmihaiti

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RMI’s Pilot Agricultural Project is Off to a Good Start

The first training seminar has been held in RMI’s pilot agricultural project.  Our goal is to work collaboratively with the national C3 partner churches and its leaders to introduce farmers to agricultural education and insights in farming their land.  They are going to work in conjunction with the pastor, deacons and community leaders to teach sustainable/renewable agricultural practices on each site where farmers can learn and apply their newly obtained skills to better improve their crop quality and quantity.  They will begin with a group of farmers who in turn will apply the newly acquired skills and knowledge to their own fields.  The national church will be responsible for the land acquisition and maintaining the fields.  The US C3 Partner church will help by resourcing portions of the project.

After testing the soil and examining which crops will thrive in that particular area, they will teach and model the basics of irrigation, prevention of soil erosion, conservation and preservation, composting, crop rotation, crop storage, pest prevention and pesticide usage.  They want to introduce farmers to wise marketing practices and use of supply/demand to boost earnings and basic money management.  Another goal is to build a nursery with plants that will benefit both the farmers as well as provide the opportunity for extra income.

Tomato, green pepper, eggplant, onion, leek, and carrot seeds have been bought for the first plantings.  The farmers involved in the project also received the necessary tools to get them started.  God has already supplied trained agronomists among our own staff.  They will do the weekly training and demonstrations.  The local pastor is so excited about this project that he is planning to put an agriculture course into the curriculum of the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes in the church’s school.  He wants them to learn to do things the correct way!  This project has quite a bit of potential -- pray with us that it will be successful and the participants will be motivated to put into practice the new things they learn.

Hope for Kidz: It's Picture Time!

Did you know that the Hope for Kidz team here in Haiti is already working hard preparing for the 2018-19 school year? Yes, you read that right: 2018-19 is not a typo! Just last week the team started traveling to various schools to begin taking pictures of every child available to be sponsored for the next school year. The first round of picture taking will continue 4 days a week and last through the end of November.

Why start early for the next school year? While some school locations are close by, many others require hours of travel. Many of you know from experience the kinds of roads we travel to get to your sister church. It’s exhausting work just getting there! One of the main reasons to start early is that it takes time to enter each sponsored student’s new photo as well as update all the student information in our database. We currently have about 3,200 kids in the program, so this takes a lot of time. Taking photos in the fall also gives us an opportunity to check in on each sponsored child and make sure they are attending class. In a few months, the team will head out again for round two of photos, to get students missed the first time around or add new students as US churches request them.

Our HFKz Haiti staff is well prepared as they travel to each school. The travel bin is stocked with all the paperwork necessary to take photos of the right kids for that week, including names, ID numbers and grade levels of each sponsored child, last year’s photos for comparison, and new applications for the US churches that are ready to take on new sponsorships. Once they arrive at the school, they line up the sponsored kids in each grade level and get to work. The team works hard to get the kids to smile or laugh, but it’s not always an easy task! These kids see the opportunity to be sponsored for school as a very serious endeavor.

I think the best part of picture taking time is gifting each sponsored child with their photo from last year! For many of them, it is the only photo they will have of themselves. You can tell by the way they receive and look at the photo that it’s a gift they treasure. As the kids lined up for photos, it struck me that just this simple task of taking pictures brings hope to each child; hope for their future and knowledge that there are others who love and care about them and their education.

If you sponsor a child through RMI’s Hope for Kidz Program, thank you! You are truly changing a child’s life!

Photo Update from RMI...

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Photo Update from RMI...

After a "Hurricane Irma hiatus", we're glad to get back to our Haitian proverb posts. Today's Haitian proverb: Avan ou monte bwa, gade si ou ka desann li. Translation: Before you climb a tree, look to see if you can climb down. Meaning: Make sure you know what you’re getting into. Our American proverb, "Look before you leap" has much the same meaning.

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Photo Update from RMI...

Anpil men chay pa lou. (Many hands make light work.) Calvary Bible Fellowship (PA) serving alongside Vieux Bourg and Mouillage Fouquet churches in Haiti one more day this week.

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Photo Update from RMI...

Today, Calvary Bible Fellowship (PA) is learning to tie rebar in preparation for the concrete to be poured at the Mouillage Fouquet church.

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Photo Update from RMI...

The RMI International Office is open! As you know, Hurricane Irma came ashore in Southwest Florida in Naples before veering eastward. This took it directly over Lehigh Acres, where the RMI International Office is located. Due to its size and path, we knew well in advance and were able to prepare for Irma's arrival. We're thankful that the office building held firm and stayed intact but the office did sustain some damage from water that got into one area. That carpet will need to be replaced as will some of the drywall and baseboards. The area and roads around the office were flooded and we lost water, power, and internet. The water receded after 3 days and the power, water and internet were restored last Friday. The office is now open and operating as normal.

The RMI staff are all safe. Many of the staff homes were surrounded by flood waters but none had water come inside. All lost power and water service for several days. As of this past weekend, all but one home have had water and power restored. Every single staff home has sustained some damage, including trees down, landscaping shredded, screens ripped out, roof and gutter damage, fences down and a whole host of other issues. There is quite a bit of cleanup to care for in putting our homes and communities back in order.

If you would like to help with Hurricane Irma Recovery and want to be assured of the help actually getting to those that need it, please consider donating through RMI. There are thousands of people in the Ft. Myers and Lehigh Acres area that are dealing with the flooding and partial or complete loss of their homes. As a part of our community, RMI is wanting to help out with some of those needs. Would you consider helping RMI help those around us? Donate HERE.

[This is looking down Lee Street. RMI is located about halfway down the block on the left. This was taken 3 days after the hurricane.]

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Photo Update from RMI...

Ministry takes on many forms today. One group from Calvary Bible Fellowship (PA) is helping to build a church for the people of Mouillage Fouquet.

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Photo Update from RMI...

The Word of God is powerful in any language! Thank you, Pastor Wayne and Calvary Bible Fellowship (Sinking Spring, PA), for sharing with Vieux Bourg Church this morning.

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Photo Update from RMI...

Calvary Bible Fellowship from Sinking Spring, PA started their morning by loading and delivering goats to their sister church, Vieux Bourg.

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Photo Update from RMI...

Orientation tonight with our first team of the fall. Calvary Bible Fellowship, PA, on their way to Vieux Bourg. Can't wait to see what God is going to do. What's your favorite memory from orientation? #rmihaiti Photo Credit: Marc Fraser

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Photo Update from RMI...

Team coming on Friday... this means RMI Missionary Lee Nunemaker and the Church Partnership's team are HARD at work preparing. Thanks for ALL you do! #rmihaiti

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Photo Update from RMI...

We are grateful that the hurricane doesn't seem to be impacting southern Haiti but our hearts go out to folks in northern Haiti as well as the islands that have already been hit hard. RMI staff continue to prepare their homes and making plans as to whether or not to shelter in place or evacuate. RMI Board Meetings scheduled for Sept.15 has been canceled. If you need to contact RMI please do so at info@RMIbridge.org. We'd all appreciate your continued prayers for us as well as everyone in the path of Hurricane Irma.

from Reciprocal Ministries International

What Other Store Offers So Much?

Want to buy a goat, a case of food, water filters, solar lights or even field garden tools to help a needy family in Haiti?  How about ways to help in Hurricane Matthew rebuilding efforts including seeds for farmers to rebuild their crops?   Do you know where to find the new RMI team T-shirts?

All of this and much more is in the RMI store on our website.  You can find it HERE. 

You’ll also find a number of handmade Haitian bags, purses, accessory bags and dish towels from the Domestic Center in Cayes.  If you’ve been to Haiti with RMI you mostly likely have visited the Domestic Center to get a tour and shop at their store.  The quality is amazing.

The literature section has Creole children’s Bibles (perfect for Hope for Kidz sponsors to purchase for their sponsored child for a gift), Life of Jesus booklets as well as supplemental Creole language course books for team training.

In the store you will also find the opportunity to participate in a matching program to help build a Homes for Haiti home.

Explore the store; there’s a wealth of opportunities to “go shopping”.  Some items will be shipped to you directly while many other items will be purchased by you but delivered in Haiti.  What other store can offer that?

Photo Update from RMI...

from Reciprocal Ministries International

Photo Update from RMI...

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Photo Update from RMI...

Behind the scenes... It takes an army to do what we do. Thanks Josiah Nunemaker for all your IT work! #rmihaiti

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Photo Update from RMI...

Thank you Naga for your hard work keeping our vehicles running. #rmihaiti #team

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