Letter to Crossroad United Methodist Church

From: MEBSH Church at Tiburon

To: Crossroad Methodist Church, USA

Subject: Information and Thanks

May the Grace and the Peace of God be with all of you!  I am taking this opportunity to write you and to wish you Happy New year of 2009! May the Lord give you health, love, longevity, charity and wisdom and success in everything.

My dear brothers and sisters I want to take this advantage to let tell you how much I love you in the name of the Lord. You have shown us the love you have for us by leaving your country to travel many miles to come here and visit us in Haiti. You think about us often, you have helped us accomplish a lot of work; you have made plans for us, and the most important thing you keep us in your prayers. Here in Tiburon we are obliged to love and appreciate you. We pray for you everyday because you are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I would like to say thank you for all you have done for our church through the years. Thank you for all the support you sent after our community was struggling because of the four hurricanes last year. I want you to know that was a great blessing for all the district churches. Thank you for how you always care about us and have enthusiasm to help us. If there were a bigger word than thank you I would prefer to use it just to express my gratitude to you.

We would like to inform you that the Sanctuary project is going very well even though we still have more to do. I know your prayer is a great help to us. We are looking forward to having a good time with you in May if God's willing.

The spiritual activities of the Church have been going very well for the past two years. We have had 100 people accept Jesus as their Savior. We had five conferences and seven members’ convention for the district.

Please pray for our church that we will continue to grow in numbers and we promise you that we will always keep you in prayer and ask God to fill you with his blessing.

May God bless you and protect you!

Did she?

Amy made it to Haiti with all her luggage!  Let the adventure begin!

Amy is on the plane!

Amy Long, RMI's new missionary, is on the plane to Haiti today!

Pray for the Lord to calm her nerves, have good connections, safe travel and strength to make it through the long day.  She is a Florida girl, coming from CrossRoad United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, FL  (Tiburon's Sister Church).  She will be going through field orientation, language study then will be working in a variety of areas including communications and photojournalism for RMI.  Pray for her as she settles in and adjusts to life in Haiti!

announcing...

 

 

 

RMI is pleased to announce the

completion of our new

Orientation Training Materials!

RMI firmly believes that in order to have a “Forever Relationship”, you must have adequate preparation. It is crucial to a successful visit. This Orientation Training is one of RMI’s distinctive features.

Our aim is to prepare you well for this spiritual adventure. To be effective, and to avoid some of the common pitfalls of short-term ministry, you will need comprehensive cross-cultural training, professional guidance and support before and after your trip.

The Training Manual is the core of our Team Orientation. It is written and edited by RMI founders, Herb and Shirley Shoemaker, who have over 100 years of missionary experience between them. It is jam-packed with practical, pertinent and up-to-date information that you will find essential in your preparations for cross-cultural ministry to your Sister Church in Haiti.

We have gathered additional resources that will be included. They also have practical and pertinent information that you will find very useful in your Partnership. They dovetail beautifully with the Training Manual.

We believe the training that you will receive by using these materials will uniquely prepare you for what you will experience as you go.  There will be a substantial return on investment.

The new manual and other resources are now available and will be sent to you free of charge.  But, we would be grateful if you are able to help us cover the cost of these materials.  We have included the costs for your convenience.

There are 2 groups of materials…

1.  “One Time Resources” - Each church will receive the following resources 1 time… (Total Donation $138)

Pimsleur Creole Language Training Audio Course - $51

Go Prepared DVD short-term missions preparation series (can be used on any missions trip!) - $80

Foreign to Familiar Excellent, short study to help team members understand other cultures - 1 copy, $7

2.  “Pre-Trip Consumables” - Each church will receive the following “consumable” materials approximately 6 months prior to each trip. You will need to order these so we know how many to send. (Sample Total Donation for a 10 member team… $210)

Team Leader’s Manual – 1 for the Team Leader - $9

Team Training Manual – 1 for each Team Member - $13 each

Before You Pack Your Bag... Devotional – 1 for each team member - $7 each

We care deeply about making sure you are trained and prepared to go.  Therefore, these materials are required. Each and every team member is to go through the training, no matter how many times he or she has been to Haiti.

To order, contact Debbie Shoemaker, RMI Director of Communications at 877-RMI-5439.

 

Another Jules Update!

I received the following update from Dan Shoemaker.

From Dan:

Friday Jules went and had the MRI done.  The Dr. also looked at the results of some blood tests and expressed some concern about some results and is having some blood work done again.  April 15 he sees a specialist and will get the results of the MRI. 

So it is just more waiting until then.  He keeps having quite the muscles spasms.  Pray for these to cease.

From Dan

By Billy Moses

Port a Piment 2009 visit

The town of Port a Piment, Haiti is blessed to have a sister church like Second Cape May Baptist from Marmora, New Jersey.

On March 7th, 2009 RMI pulled out of Les Cayes, Haiti with the Second Cape May team and headed for their sister church in Port a Piment. Our first stop was the beach in Port Salute for a quick coke and a chance for the new team members to get their first opportunity to stick their toes in a Haitian beach.

Upon arrival in Port a Piment we were greeted by the church brigade who marched through town announcing our arrival with the team following close behind. Many team members were touched by the greeting that their sister church gave them.

This was followed by a time of reacquainting with old friends and making new friends.

 

Sunday morning was a great time of worship and fellowship and the three hour service didn't seem like three hours.

Sunday evening was a time of sharing testimonies and showing a film called "The Solution".  This is a film about a man who starts having many problems in his life and goes to a witch doctor for solutions. After following the witch doctors advice, he loses his family. However his children are involved with a church and know Jesus. As a result of visiting their dad with a Christian friend the father comes to know Jesus. He then visits the witch doctor's residence and breaks the ceremonial bowl. The witch doctor tells him that he will not live through the night. The next morning, the man is fine and word comes that the witch doctor has died. The message of the movie is that Jesus is the solution.

 

Monday morning brought a trip to the satellite church of Dolian. We left Port a Piment and drove up a riverbed as far as we could and then began the climb up the mountain to Dolian.

At Dolian the U.S. team worked side by side with Haitian masons to build the walls of the church. There was even a missionary kid involved.

And everyone pitched in to help carry blocks.

Pastor Bry takes off his supervisor's hat!!!!

While some worked on the church, others worked with the children, teaching them songs and telling stories.

Debbie Moses got attached to a Haitian baby.

The people at Dolian were very excited and grateful for the progress made on their church.

The following day we made a trip up the riverbed to the church at Guilluame to see how they were getting along and what help is needed there.

Meanwhile back at the church the 2nd Cape May ladies had a tea time with the Port a Piment ladies. They had a time of fellowship and devotion. One of the ladies had her husband help her with the illustration of Jesus coming to get his bride the church.

The food was excellent and some of the team acted like pigs at meal time.

On the way out we had a reminder that the roads of Haiti are rough. They are very hard on a vehicle. Without planning and flexibility a team can get stranded on the road. It is a good reminder that without RMI there is no sister church. So remember to support RMI as well as your sister church.

One last thing to note is that even though Wendy Bry wasn't able to come along with Pastor Jim Bry, he reminded everyone that he missed her greatly by keep her memory close everywhere he went.

And I mean EVERYWHERE!

By Billy Moses

Concerning Jules

I received this update about Jules from Dan Shoemaker on March 18th:

Jules has seen a doctor. From what I could tell from the types of things the doctor had him do, they did a complete physical on him. He had to do some blood tests as well. Some things were not right with the blood tests so he has had to do them over again. They took 5 xrays. Next week he will see the DR. again and get the results of the xrays and the blood tests.

Then he will probably have an MRI done for the back issues. THEN he will have to get back with the specialist to determine what will be done. So it looks like he has several weeks yet to go before anything final is determined. He is still in a lot of pain but now he has some medicine to help with it.

Letter to Calvary Baptist

From:       The MEBSH Church at Dame-Marie

To    :       Calvary Baptist Church

Subject:   Greeting and Information.

The Administration and the congregation of Dame-Marie Baptist church greet all of you in the Precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are happy to write this letter to you just to thank you and to share some information about how our church here is doing and also to give you a response to your first letter.

We were very happy to receive your letter and know that the team that was here with us had a safe trip back home to their families. I want to let you know that your presence at Dame-Marie last year made a spiritual, economic, and social impact on each of us. It was a blessing for me personally to have you here and spend time with you even though I was sick. We are very happy to hear about your church and the progress you are doing for the kingdom of God. I want to encourage you to keep doing well in His work. I am sure that your work will not be in vain.

Here at Dame-Marie everything is going well day after day as we progress for the Lord. The church meets every week for our different services. We have a strong Sunday school and a lot of people that had left the church in the past have now returned.

The ladies in our church organized a conference for 8 days in December and it was a great success for the town. We had many people come to Christ and now they attend Dame-Marie Church.

The school is doing well also. We had some kids that were sick but praise the Lord they are better now and they have returned to school.

The district churches are doing much better now. I have almost visited all of the district churches this year. Some of the churches in the district I visited had a lot of damage. Please pray for them. It is my goal to see all of them get repaired.

We have a new committee in our church that are doing a great job. Their job is outreach so more people will come back to church. Every Sunday we have more and more people coming to be with us. From January to today we had about 100 people that came to know Christ. Please pray for those people so that they will stay in the presence of the Lord and grow in their faith.

I am preparing to have a conference for the Easter season. The church choir will have a big Spiritual concert, the ladies group will visit Dezòmo church which is one of our district churches.

We spend a lot of money to buy gasoline for our services. I would like to share a project for you to add to your list. We would like to buy a solar panel, batteries and inverter just to provide energy to the church.

We always pray for Calvary Baptist Church and especially for little Joshua and his family. 

May the Lord who has all the power to provide all your needs and bless you all.

In Christ,

Pastor Saint Julien Hyppolite

The Mule

Several years ago Great Valley Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania wanted to purchase a mule for their sister church in Cance, Haiti. They purchased the mule and it was given to the Satellite church of Forgé.

Several years later during a sister church visit, the new pastor at the Forgé church requested a mule. After much confusion we learned that the previous pastor at Forgé had taken the mule with him when he left.

Recently Great Valley decided to buy the Forgé church another mule with the understanding that it is the church's mule and that the pastor can use it. This mule was purchased last week and a very happy pastor rode off into the sunset! However, the mule has no name.

 

Mr. Bourik No-Name

Update on Jules

(info from Dan Shoemaker)

As you know he has had major back problems since late summer. Early this year he was treated in Haiti by a chiropractor on one of our teams, but with little success. He went out with that team but had to return early as he had no relief. He pursued some help in Port a Prince without much success either. He is now in New York with family trying to get to the bottom of the issue and get it treated.

He went to the emergency room and saw a Dr. there. X-rays were taken and the Dr. felt that there were some severe issues with some disks in his lower back. An appointment with an Orthopedic specialist has been made for March 11. Jules will probably have to have an MRI done. There is a good chance he will have to have back surgery to fuse some disks, etc. from what he says.

He is in just about constant pain. He can hardly walk to the bathroom, etc. He has some medicine for pain, but they only do so much. Please pray for him.

If you ave any questions, you can call me at 972-499-4158

Billy

TWO PRAYER NEEDS

Pastor Jean Chery

Pastor Jean is our MEBSH pastor and liaison with the MEBSH churches and leadership. Many of you know him as the figurehead out at the churches that "runs" the show.

Lately he hasn't been going out with the sister church teams as his wife is sick. We have been told that she has stomach pains and severe headaches. As a result she hasn't been eating much and doesn't sleep well.

Pastor Jean's father's death in December and now his wife's illness has put a tremendous strain on Pastor Jean. Please pray for his wife's recovery and for his peace from God.

Meverd Orame

Meverd is a mechanic and driver for RMI. He has a great attitude and is always available to help with whatever is wrong. In fact we refer to him as Mr. Wonderful. Meverd has a new baby, and wife at home as well as chicken pox. Please pray that he will be healed and his wife and baby don't get sick.

 

Billy

One RMI team member wants to get the word out about HFKz.

The blog below was originally posted by JD Griffis of New Church Georgetown, Texas. His blog can be found at: http://500milesofhope.blogspot.com/2009/02/introduction-and-background.html

Hello, and welcome to my blog... Thank you for taking the time to read some of my posts, and please make sure and visit the Hope For Kidz website (also linked below)... The kids need your help!!!
The starting point for understanding what this blog is all about is my involvement the last few years with the people of Haiti. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, and the third poorest nation in the world. Despite that, the people there are a wonderful and friendly people. In particular, the children of Haiti have an amazing energy, and will capture you with their smiles and laughter. I have participated in annual trips there going back to 2005, and have grown to love the country and its people.
The second half of the equation is my passion (i.e. obsession) for endurance sports. I have been doing marathons and triathlons for a number of years, and each year I seem to escalate the level of insanity... There is a benefit to being healthy, both physically and mentally, but overall these pursuits can become a fairly selfish thing.
So, in an effort to balance my more selfish pursuit of marathons and triathlons with the less selfish goal of helping the people of Haiti, I am dedicating my racing this year to raise awareness and funds for a wonderful program that provides an invaluable service for the Haitian children.
The program is called "Hope For Kidz", and it provides desperately needed education for the children in Haiti. That is really the main source of hope for Haiti; their children simply must become educated in order to break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness. There is no free public education system there, and most families cannot afford to send their children to even the most minimally priced schools that are available. It is not uncommon to see children in their teens who have not gone beyond a first or second grade education. However, for only $200/year; Hope For Kidz provides a child with a full year of elementary education, all school books, two uniforms, a pair of shoes (often their only pair), medical checkups where available... and HOPE!
You can directly sponsor a child, or you can contribute funds to the program to help with the school facilities, supplies, teachers, training, etc. By the way, if you can't sponsor a child by yourself, consider teaming up with other family members, co-workers, church groups, etc. Every little bit helps!
I'm calling this campaign "500 Miles Of Hope". The 500 miles represents the over 500 miles of swimming, biking, and running that I will be doing in my racing events this year (see below for details). Keep in mind, that is just 500 miles for the actual races... In order to be able to accomplish that goal, I am estimating that I will log approximately 5000 miles or more in training. Not that such foolishness should be rewarded :) ... but hopefully it can at least serve a useful service and bring attention to some kids that really and truly need your help!
As I move forward through this year's journey, I'll be keeping this blog current with information about my races and training, as well as thoughts and updates on Haiti. So, make sure and bookmark the blog and check back once in a while, maybe even throw in an encouraging word once in a while :) By the way, no need to tell me how crazy I am... where do you think the "pocolocoman" moniker came from???
Please see this website to read more about the HFK program and to make donations:
RMI Hope For Kidz Website Link

Jules Gedna

Many of you who come to Haiti know Jules Gedna as the guy who sits behind the sound board at our various services at Haitian churches and the guy who makes sure the Haitian staff do what they are supposed to. You also know him as the guy with the great big heart willing to do anything for anyone. However, you probably don't know that before you team arrives, Jules is our "go to guy" for just about everything from plane tickets and Passport / VISA issues to help with scheduling all aspects of your visit. That makes him very valuable.

At this time Jules is not doing too well. He has some intense pain in his lower back. We had a chiropractor here with a team from central Florida who looked at Jules and said he has a bulging disk in his lower back. Now I'm not sure if I have described that diagnoses to the level a doctor would understand, but the reality is, IT HURTS!!!!

We have worked with Jules, his brother and his son in the States to get him an appointment with a specialist in Boston. He is scheduled to fly out of Haiti on Wednesday February 13th bound for New York where he will be met by family. He will then continue his journey to Boston. This means that many of you will not get to see Jules on you trip this spring. Please pray for Jules and his doctor as he begins treatment. Also please pray for RMI Haiti as we try to dégajé (make do) without Jules.

Billy

Construction Project at Moses’ Home

Our teams are going to love this, especially when it rains!

Watch in HD (requires a fast connection)

To watch in higher quality, click play below, then hover over the bottom right corner, and choose HQ (for High Quality).

Rob

One church goes beyond funding hurricane relief!

Several of the U.S. sister churches came to the aid of their Haitian counterparts after the onslaught of 4 hurricanes that hit Haiti in the fall of 2008.

Les Anglais' U.S. sister church is Our Saviors Lutheran Church. OSLC answered the call and sent in funds to their sister church. However they also did something else.

OSLC also sent in funds with instructions for RMI to purchase rice, beans, and oil to be distributed in the Les Anglais area. So after purchasing these food staples, our staff loaded up 2 of our trucks and headed out to distribute some food.

They arrived in Les Anglais and gave half of the food to the church  to be distributed by Pastor Dieusseul.

There is another little community that is the poorest of the poor that has been brought to the U.S. sister church's attention by Etienne Francois who is an agronomist in the area and works closely with Our Savior's. For several years now this area referred to as "The beach community" has been toured by the U.S. church.

This year as they did last year, OSLC designated that the rest of the food be distributed to this community. There was much joy and excitement when the RMI trucks and staff pulled up to distribute food. The following pictures don't do justice to their excitement but it is all we have to offer.

Special thanks go out to Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon for their tender and generous hearts and spirits!

These are just a few of the people who have benefited from this program.

There were no Americans to be seen during all of this as we felt this was a special time for Haitians to reach out and help other Haitians even though funded by Americans.

Thanks so much to OSLC for your generosity as well as to all the U.S. sister churches that have helped their Haitian brothers and sisters!

New Look for the New Year

With each new year that rolls around, everyone makes resolutions to loose weight, get healthy, spend more time with those we love, etc. etc. etc.

Before I reveal our new look here I would like to describe an old problem that we hope will be solved with the "new look".

On Thursday night most teams that come to visit their sister church here in Haiti, spend that last night at the Moses' house enjoying an "all you can eat" shrimp dinner. Many nights we enjoy the warm Caribbean climate with a time of outdoor fellowship. However there have been many nights when a team of about 10 people along with the local missionary family have to crowd into our living room to eat because of rain. Having around 16 or 17 people crowded into a 16 by 16 foot room to eat kind of loses some of the Caribbean charm.

We have a plan on how to remedy this situation and thanks to a generous donation by a Texas church we were able to do the first phase of our plan.

Interesting! What are those poles in the Moses' front yard?

Look at those crossbeams! Is it possible that?...let's just wait and see!

Oh my....yes, they are covering the front of the yard. But, some pavement would be even nicer.

The new look for 2009 is a shaded protect eating area outside. Come rain or shine our teams will enjoy their last night in Haiti with the outdoor ambiance of the warm Caribbean. Y'all come on down and see us!!!!

Message from the president

This message was sent to me from Dan Shoemaker and is a solution to the drinking water problems that face Haiti and many other third world countries.

Dear SCP Coordinators,

An opportunity has arisen that I want to share with you.  Many of you have shared your concern for your Haitian brothers and sisters and the situation with their drinking water.  They often drink water that has not been purified thus causing them to have various gastrointestinal diseases, etc. that impact their life and the lives of their children.  This is the main cause of deaths in children in Haiti.

I have sought a good solution for many years.  This past year I have been in touch with a company that produces a product they call LifeStraws.  They have several products but what has most interested me is a product called the Family Life Straw.  It is a simple apparatus that filters water, enough for family use.   It looks very easy to use and filters a lot of water pretty quickly.

This is a product that I would like to try with our Sister Churches.  I feel this is quite possibly the answer I have been looking for to offer as the way to provide safe drinking water for our brethren there in Haiti. 

Here is the website address:  http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw-f-claims.htm     Please look at this as soon as possible. 

PROBLEM:   We have to purchase them in units of 500.  The cost to order them is $25.00 each.  This does NOT include customs, delivery, etc.  I am estimating the actual cost will be around $35 each.

I would like to have 4 churches commit to 100 units each. I do have one church already that has committed to 100 units.  This would cost $3500 or $35 each unit.    They are shipped to Haiti, then we have to pay to get them out of customs (not sure what that will cost) and then deliver them with some training to the churches.  At this point I don’t think it will cost more than this per unit.  Since this will be the first time we have done this, some of the costs are unknown.   

WOULD YOU COMMITT TO 100 UNITS FOR YOUR CHURCH? The first 4 churches to commit, get them!   I want to place an order this month if possible.  Please let me know if this would be possible for you.  Email me or call me on my cell at 239-222-9793.  Thanks.

Building Forever Relationships together,

Dan Shoemaker