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!

An exciting announcement!

 

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.

There are 2 groups of materials…

1.  “One Time Resources” - Each church will receive the following resources 1 time.

Pimsleur Creole Language Training Audio Course

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

Foreign to Familiar Excellent, short study to help team members understand other cultures

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.

Team Leader’s Manual – 1 for the Team Leader

Team Training Manual – 1 for each Team Member

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

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.

 [Yes, this is the big project that I've been working on!  I am so excited that it is finished.  It's a fantastic thing for RMI!!]

It hasn't been writer's block

I (Debbie) haven't had writer's block.  I feel prey to the tyranny of the urgent - so much going on that I couldn't see straight.  What's happened since Dan's birthday?  Well....volleyball, lots and lots of volleyball.  Tournaments in Orlando, Tampa and locally here in Ft. Myers.  Volleyball practices.  Work, lots of working.  Dan has been on ministry trips to Chicago (lots of snow!), New Jersey (cold, but no snow) and Ft. Lauderdale (definitely no snow).

I had a birthday.  I got just what I asked for...supper with family and friends at Lozano's Mexican restaurant (the world's best Mexican restaurant which just open right around the corner from our house!!) and a chocolate genache cake from Publix.  It all softened the blow of getting older.  Thanks to everyone that came to help me celebrate!!

Dan and I celebrated our 26th anniversary.  We didn't do much celebrating since he flew to New Jersey that day.  Story of our lives!  After all these years, I still think my hubby is "super delicious"  (you have to see the T-mobile phone commercial).

I finished a major project at work, but I'll leave that for another entry.  It's taken a lot of time and energy; it's been an all-consuming project, so I'm happy to get it done and move on to other urgent projects.

Dawn is considering colleges.  She wants to major in agricultural missions.  Several options are open to her, but the significant lack of finances is severely hindering the process.  She's been sent one letter of intent (to play volleyball) but again....we have no money!  Please pray for her as we all try to seek God's guidance and figure out out the money end. 

We're trying to survive tough economic times, like most of everyone is.  Our support is down considerably.  God knows our situation and since He is sovereign, we know we are in good hands and are trusting in Him for his provision.

Spring break is almost over. Dawn has spent a lot of time at the beach even though she is currently in an orthopedic boot and on crutches.  She rolled her ankle severely a month ago in a tournament.  Two weeks later she rolled it in practice.  The next day the orthopedic specialist said that the X-rays didn't show a clear fracture, but there was one area that wasn't real clear.  He put her in a boot and on crutches for 2 weeks.  She is to stay off of it and then we'll have another appt. to see how it looks.  And yes, she's been to the beach with it...very carefully.  She's tried to not let it slow her down.  She went to cheer her team on yesterday at a tournament and will have to do the same thing at this coming weekend's tournament.  We'll give an update once it's available.

Easter service was very nice today - very different from our Easters in Haiti.  All the missionaries would meet on a missionary's cement roof for a sunrise service.  The sunrise was always beautiful there in the tropics.  After the service we would all head to another missionary's home, a German gal, where the kids would search out the eggs she'd hidden, then enjoy a breakfast together.  By the time it was all finished, it was time to head to the Haitian church services.

Devon came in last night about the same time Dawn arrived back from the tournament, so they were both with us to attend the Easter service here with us.  We had a great meal of "fall off the bone" ribs (that I made!) and my special recipe of scalloped potatoes and little trees (that's what my kids called broccoli when they were little).  It was great to have everyone together for a meal!

The RMI Board meetings are at the end of this month (April) so that means reports, budgets and such are being prepared.

Dawn graduates in May!!  Wow.  Hard to believe that our baby is ready to graduate from high school.  Again - we'll be updating that subject in the near future.

Look for the next update, featuring the finished work project!