Cite Lumiere Missionary Child Killed in Accident

Urgent prayers are needed for the Reinhard (Apostolic missionary family (NOT RMI missionaries) living at Cite Lumiere in Cayes (where we lived for 25 years).  The dad, Tim, 16 year old Sarah and 5 year old Gabriel were in a serious motorcycle accident on the way to church yesterday morning.  Another motorcycle pulled out in front of them, causing them to collide and wreck.  Details are sketchy but it seems that Tim has a concussion and was fairly battered up (the US hospital report was no broken bones, but lots of soft tissue damage).  Sarah has a badly hurt knee.  Gabriel suffered severe head trauma and a punctured lung.  They were taken to the mission hospital a short distance away where doctors worked on Gabriel for a couple of hours.  His injuries were too extensive and they were not able to save him.  He died yesterday morning.

The US embassy expedited the paperwork during the afternoon to take Gabriel back to the US with the family immediately and a local funeral home in Cayes was able to properly prepare him for transportation.  One of the missionary men made a simple wood coffin for Gabriel.  In the afternoon, a charter plane came and got the family in Cayes and took them to Port-au-Prince where they were evacuated by Missionary Flights International.  MFI took them to West Palm Beach where Tim and Sarah were taken to the hospital.  A sister of either Tim or Joan (not sure) met them there as well a friend to help them get to the hospital. 

This is quite a blow to the missionary body as you can imagine.  Pray for Tim & Joan and the 4 girls, Sarah, Bethany, Hannah & Faith.  RMI missionary, Gary McLaughlin, as well as the entire missionary body gathered around them and were right there with them at the mission hospital, helping them make decisions and arrangements, then helping them get on the plane in Cayes.  It was reported that a large crowd of Haitians from the local community gathered outside the hospital to show their love and concern for the family as well.

As of this morning, Tim has been released from the hospital and they are hoping Sarah will be released soon (They both may need operations on their knees at a later date.) so they can return to their home area of Peoria, IL today.

Blog Change...

We are changing the way we blog here at RMI.  You may  need to update your bookmarks and feeds to receive future posts.

For now on, this blog will not be used.

All posts will be posted at http://rminethaiti.bogspot.com

Rob

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

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 on our Haiti blog at http://rminethaiti.blogspot.com/. 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

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.

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!

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.

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

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. 

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.