Moving forward...

Yesterday at RMI, we had the opportunity to meet with Dale Janzen.  He is not only a design and marketing expert, but he is an "alumnus" of multiple trips to Haiti to visit his sister church through RMI.  When it comes to RMI, he just gets it.

We recently had the RMI logo redone by Rich Cerrina.  He did a great job.  Thanks Rich.  Now, it is time to take the next step.

Dale is co-founder of the degaje group, a design/marketing group based in the North West suburbs of Chicago (Bartlett). 

He flew down for a few days to chat and collaborate.  We talked at great length about the development of a whole scheme to communicate/promote RMI.  We talked about brochures, displays (see below), video, web, etc.  Pretty much everything you can think of when it comes to communicating RMI.  He is obviously very talented, experienced and aware of the issues.  Very cool. Very exciting indeed.

Display?  You know, one of those things that orgs use to put on a table to sort of draw you in?  There are all kinds of designs.  We need a redo!  Our's doesn't exactly "draw you in".  Not that long ago, I went to a missions conference at a college and got out my "display".  I sort of already knew it didn't really cut it, but it is all we had.  I didn't realize what I was up against!  A few tables down from me was a "display", that included a 50" flat widescreen TV, running this very cool/edgy/hip video that certainly drew people in and drew people away from all the other sub-par displays.  Now I am not saying we need to be wacky crazy edgy, but I am saying we can do better.  We may not have a plasma, but we sure can provide a reputable presentation.

I can't wait.

Rob

A Reciprocal Pat on the Back...

John Peterson, a member of Second Cape May Baptist, in Cape May NJ, writes...

"Just wanted to say hello and let you know that our work group from 2^nd Cape had a productive and enjoyable trip last week in Cayes, Haiti.  We got a lot done at the guest house and when we left the inverter and generator were once again fully operational and there were several new ceiling fans, outlets, toilet paper holders door knobs, screens etc.. It was truly a joy and a privilege to be able to serve in some small way in the ministry there."

He continued...

"I have been reading the web site and blogs and think that they are an excellent tool for information sharing.  Tell whoever is responsible to keep up the good work."

Thanks John, and a "Great Job" back at you and the rest of your team for the work you did at the Guest House in Haiti!

Rob

Baradere visit, wow...

This is an email we received from Gary McLaughlin in Haiti...

Good Morning,

Just a quick note to let you know that we were out of Baradères and now at the retreat center. It was a bit of a struggle but we made it with the help of God. It started raining sometime in the night and was raining hard from at least 3 am on. We left at 8:20 am with water about 1 to 2 feet on the road coming out of Baradères. It was still raining hard too. I wanted to get going before it was too high. We had to cross 2 high rivers that were running fast and hard but not too wide. We had to move large rocks from the road and build a wall on the downhill side of the road so we could get around bigger rocks that were too big to move. Wow Baby!! That was interesting. We prayed that God would help us to get past this spot before we started building. It took about 3 hours to get that situation taken care of but we all worked together to make it happen. There was singing, dancing and praises to God after we got all the vehicles through. I was told by the RMI staff that it was the first time we ever had to do what we did that morning. After the slide area and the road work we had a large truck on it's side but there was enough room on the side to get by with no problem. Praise God! We stopped by Bon Fin to drop off some things there and to pick up Jenn's new puppy. We heard that we had the road washed away at the bottom of the mountain where the dry (normally) river is with the market. We were told it was not a good situation and if we couldn't pass it we could come back and spend the night there. We decided to go take a look and if we could fix it we would. When we got there a ramp of dirt and road had already been made and so we crossed with no big problem. Just the normal yelling on the behalf of the Haitians that built the ramp. I think they wanted money to cross on their ramp. I let Jules handle that and got back in my truck and we all drove across. So, I just want to give you some information at this time to let you know we are in good shape here. It was a good trip. I think everything went pretty good. The weather here at the retreat center now is much better. The sun is out this morning and the day is looking good. Pray that the rains stop for a little while. Its been raining so hard.

Love You All,

In Christ,

Gary

Flooding hits Southern Haiti

It has been a week of storms and flooding in Southern Haiti.     Monday, Oct. 1, they experienced the most severe flooding with roads, homes and parts of downtown Cayes (Haiti's 3rd largest city) completely under water, however, the rains and thunder / lightening storms have continued all week.  As of today, Oct. 9, it has been raining for 9 straight days.  The mission center (located in the village of Simon, a suburb of Cayes) where RMI's missionaries live is located on 2 hilltops, so their homes were not flooded.  However, here are pictures of the village immediately surrounding the mission center.  That's 2 1/2 ft. of water in the local Christian high school yard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is downtown Cayes, Haiti.

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Harvest missionary kid Christie Wray for sharing these photos with us!

At this point, due to the flooding, we have heard reports of crop and livestock loss, as well as home, business and road damage.  We have not heard from any "outback" sister churches as to how this has affected them.  When we hear news, we will post it.

 

Debbie Shoemaker