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“It is my privilege to present you this plaque celebrating 30 years of partnership together with…” but I am getting ahead of myself. This story started 30 years ago when a team of 10 men from Harper Church, Port Orchard, WA went to Haiti to visit their new Sister Church in Les Irois. My wife, Debbie, and I, RMI’s only field missionaries at the time, received them and were with them that week.  And what a week it was.  After a great week of ministry together we went to Port-au-Prince to put them on their plane to head back to the US on a Sunday morning. We got to the airport and the American Airlines personnel started to check us in and take our luggage at the counter.  They received a phone call and suddenly thrust all the tickets and passports back into my hands, threw the luggage back out

“It is my privilege to present you this plaque celebrating 30 years of partnership together with…” but I am getting ahead of myself. This story started 30 years ago when a team of 10 men from Harper Church, Port Orchard, WA went to Haiti to visit their new Sister Church in Les Irois. My wife, Debbie, and I, RMI’s only field missionaries at the time, received them and were with them that week.  And what a week it was.  After a great week of ministry together we went to Port-au-Prince to put them on their plane to head back to the US on a Sunday morning. We got to the airport and the American Airlines personnel started to check us in and take our luggage at the counter.  They received a phone call and suddenly thrust all the tickets and passports back into my hands, threw the luggage back out

Church Leaders in Haiti are hungry – hungry for training and tools to do their jobs.  Especially those involved in children’s ministry.  These folks are all volunteers.  They are Christian leaders with a heart for ministering to the children of their church.  But often they don’t have specific training in that area.  They do their best and God uses their ministry in kids’ lives, but they are hungry for training that would better equip them. Recently Calvary Bible Fellowship of Sinking Spring, PA, addressed that need when they came to visit their C3 partner church in Vieux Bourg.  They held a two day children’s ministry training seminar at the Zanglais Ministry Center for 25 children’s ministry workers from their C3 church as well as all three of the satellite churches in that district. On the third day they held a children’s event at a local church where they put into

Church Leaders in Haiti are hungry – hungry for training and tools to do their jobs.  Especially those involved in children’s ministry.  These folks are all volunteers.  They are Christian leaders with a heart for ministering to the children of their church.  But often they don’t have specific training in that area.  They do their best and God uses their ministry in kids’ lives, but they are hungry for training that would better equip them. Recently Calvary Bible Fellowship of Sinking Spring, PA, addressed that need when they came to visit their C3 partner church in Vieux Bourg.  They held a two day children’s ministry training seminar at the Zanglais Ministry Center for 25 children’s ministry workers from their C3 church as well as all three of the satellite churches in that district. On the third day they held a children’s event at a local church where they put into

Marie Mirline Batistin was born in 1989. Her mother had two children, one boy and one girl. Marie lost two precious things in life soon after her birth: her father, who died when she was two months old, and her mother when she was two years old. God, in his mercy, touched the heart of her grandparents to take care of her. Marie Mirline became a member of a Christian family of seven children, four boys and three girls, including Marie. Marie took the last name after her grandfather (Batistin), who adopted her after her mother and father passed away. They did that to show how much that they loved her and cared about her. They fed her, dressed her, and treated her the same way they treated their own children. When the time came for Marie to go to school, they sent her. They were very surprised to see

Marie Mirline Batistin was born in 1989. Her mother had two children, one boy and one girl. Marie lost two precious things in life soon after her birth: her father, who died when she was two months old, and her mother when she was two years old. God, in his mercy, touched the heart of her grandparents to take care of her. Marie Mirline became a member of a Christian family of seven children, four boys and three girls, including Marie. Marie took the last name after her grandfather (Batistin), who adopted her after her mother and father passed away. They did that to show how much that they loved her and cared about her. They fed her, dressed her, and treated her the same way they treated their own children. When the time came for Marie to go to school, they sent her. They were very surprised to see

Raising support to go to the field is a challenging time for missionaries.  They must continue with their full-time jobs as well as travel, share their ministry, and work hard at cultivating contacts and supporters that will  be on their ministry team.  That in and of itself is often a full-time job.  It also involves a lot of prayer! Jim and April Starkey are in that phase of raising their support.  They have been working hard at contacting churches, Bible studies, family, friends and acquaintances.  It has been slow-going but their enthusiasm has not waned.  The boys, Isaac, Micaiah and Ezekiel, are equally excited and anticipating the move to Haiti.  Jim has already finished one online Creole learning language study and he speaks Creole only with their youngest, Ezekiel, who is quickly picking it up.  They are in need of additional contacts. Do you know of churches and/or Bible studies

Raising support to go to the field is a challenging time for missionaries.  They must continue with their full-time jobs as well as travel, share their ministry, and work hard at cultivating contacts and supporters that will  be on their ministry team.  That in and of itself is often a full-time job.  It also involves a lot of prayer! Jim and April Starkey are in that phase of raising their support.  They have been working hard at contacting churches, Bible studies, family, friends and acquaintances.  It has been slow-going but their enthusiasm has not waned.  The boys, Isaac, Micaiah and Ezekiel, are equally excited and anticipating the move to Haiti.  Jim has already finished one online Creole learning language study and he speaks Creole only with their youngest, Ezekiel, who is quickly picking it up.  They are in need of additional contacts. Do you know of churches and/or Bible studies

“On our trip in February 2016, the team from The Bayou Church visited our Sister Church in Petit-Trou, Haiti. During home visits, we split up into three groups, and one group was able to deliver a food box to a woman who had lost her home to a fire that year. We wrote down her name “Sally Ma” because that’s what it sounded like to us. At that time she had been living under an A-framed tarp. On that trip, after talking with Pastor Solvat, we assessed that the biggest needs of the church were to finish building the parsonage and to rebuild a home for Sally Ma (Salimene, Selèmen or Selìmen – we have gotten different spellings each time we go). Our church raised $30,000 that June to rebuild the parsonage (each year our church does a “Big Give” now called the “Make a Difference” fund and that year,

“On our trip in February 2016, the team from The Bayou Church visited our Sister Church in Petit-Trou, Haiti. During home visits, we split up into three groups, and one group was able to deliver a food box to a woman who had lost her home to a fire that year. We wrote down her name “Sally Ma” because that’s what it sounded like to us. At that time she had been living under an A-framed tarp. On that trip, after talking with Pastor Solvat, we assessed that the biggest needs of the church were to finish building the parsonage and to rebuild a home for Sally Ma (Salimene, Selèmen or Selìmen – we have gotten different spellings each time we go). Our church raised $30,000 that June to rebuild the parsonage (each year our church does a “Big Give” now called the “Make a Difference” fund and that year,

Joel and Laura Sutton arrived on the field in September of 2014.  Joel was an invaluable help in many areas.  He pretty much did any maintenance that needed done, not only on RMI facilities, but often on missionary homes as needed as well. He spent a lot of time at Zanglais with projects such as the desalinization unit.  He also was a driver for many of our teams and was either the missionary host or additional RMI staff on teams.  He even used his experience in tree removal after Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  He worked tirelessly opening the roads around their village and on the mission center as well as taking trees off homes in many areas.  His willingness to help in any way has been so appreciated.  Laura’s role of facilitating all the teams and their details was an integral part of RMI’s ministry.  She helped them in coordinating

Joel and Laura Sutton arrived on the field in September of 2014.  Joel was an invaluable help in many areas.  He pretty much did any maintenance that needed done, not only on RMI facilities, but often on missionary homes as needed as well. He spent a lot of time at Zanglais with projects such as the desalinization unit.  He also was a driver for many of our teams and was either the missionary host or additional RMI staff on teams.  He even used his experience in tree removal after Hurricane Matthew in 2016.  He worked tirelessly opening the roads around their village and on the mission center as well as taking trees off homes in many areas.  His willingness to help in any way has been so appreciated.  Laura’s role of facilitating all the teams and their details was an integral part of RMI’s ministry.  She helped them in coordinating

Even though her family protested, Madame Emil took off her voodoo amulet and trusted Christ as her savior.  She was 8 months pregnant at the time and her family insisted that this decision and the taking off of her amulet would result in harm to her unborn baby.  But she was firm in her decision.  It was a moving time for the team from Nebraska who had come to her home with their Haitian C3 pastor and an RMI translator to share the Gospel with the family.  The angels rejoiced when she joined the family of God.  The pastor made a point to follow up with her to support her in this life transforming decision.  The local Haitian church did the same thing as they took her in. Recently the RMI staff heard that the baby had been born, so they made a visit and brought a box of food