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She began planning her Idaho (where Andrew is from) wedding from Haiti, including us here in Ft. Myers. She did a great job of keeping it all straight. She stopped here for a while before she continued to Idaho for the wedding. Andrew joined her here - once she was stateside, he wanted to be with her! It was a whirlwind time of dress fittings in Tampa and buying silk flowers from a Tampa silk flower warehouse. (Talk about overwhelming! So. Many. Flowers!) Pre-marital counseling and so many other details were taken care of.
Andrew formally joined RMI and went through RMI missionary orientation during that time as well. What an extraordinary blessing to have them working together with us in Haiti!
After their honeymoon, they started right into deputation, visiting Dawn’s supporters and churches from Seattle to Chicago, Tampa, and Ft. Myers. Good thing Andrew is a missionary kid and used to that kind of lifestyle.
We hosted a Florida reception for Andrew and Dawn in August. Dawn’s friends, family, supporters, and missionary colleagues from all over the South were able to get together to celebrate them since none of them could make it to Idaho (Idaho IS a long way from Florida!). They shared their unique love story as well as information on their ministry. Dawn will continue in her ministry as she was before. Andrew will be working in various capacities with the Haitian staff in addition to finishing his doctoral thesis in special education (Liberty University).
In September they continued to mix visiting supporters (sometimes via Zoom), with doctor visits, purchasing, and packing. God provided for their needs [they had to raise additional support due to going back to the field as a married couple] and they returned to Haiti on October 13. They have been happy to finally establish their household (as opposed to living out of a suitcase!) and get into ministry. It’s a challenging time due to the political instability in the capital, making getting supplies and fuel difficult. They are living in Cayes, which is 100+ miles away from the issues. They are safe, but still take precautions and follow the advice of their field leaders. Unfortunately, RMI has had to cancel receiving teams until the end of March...necessitating some adjustments to their ministry, but they are staying very busy and excited to be a part of what God is doing there.
...we were able to visit family in South Carolina a couple of times. We are thankful that one sister (Carrie) has a nice guestroom situation and lets us stay as long as we want/need to. It’s fun being together. Since we live so far apart, we cram as much visiting and fun (shopping!) in as possible. Our mom is 83. Brandi lives with her and is her caretaker. She is very grateful that she can live at home at this stage in her life. She has quite a few health issues but is doing ok overall.
Dan’s parents are still living in Naples and despite some health challenges are doing well. We usually have lunch with them on Sunday afternoons.
...Devon and Kristen kept on living life in Ft. Lauderdale. Devon is excelling at his job as a project manager at a high-end home-building company in the area. His job takes him to homes they are building for interesting clientele (the star of the Rambo and Rocky movies) and $50 million dollar homes for billionaires. (“Dad, I installed a 200” TV in a home today!”) Most of the homes are on the ocean. But one was on the other side of the road so they had to build a tunnel under the road for the client to get to his guesthouse and to the beach. Part of his job is acting as property manager for customers. We sometimes get phone calls from him while he’s driving a client’s Ferrari. He has to drive the client’s 5 cars every other week to keep them in shape. His most important job, though, is being a great dad to his 2 girls. Here he is face painting the girls for a special occasion. He looks things like that up on YouTube and just does them! It’s awesome.
Kristen works part-time at Starbucks and full-time as Riley and Everly’s mom. She is creative and includes the girls in her many fun activities. We really admire her dedication to them and how she keeps the household going. She’s studying to get her teaching certificate so she can be a teacher at the Christian school where the girls attend. It will be a huge help to them.
Riley turned 5 in January and Everly turned 3 in October. Riley continues to enjoy gymnastics. We were able to attend one of her meets and were amazed at her skill level. She takes it very seriously. In December, she and her team went to the state championship meet where she took 6th in state overall for her age level and 3rd in bars!
...Debbie did NOT have any surgeries on her feet, or anywhere else for that matter. She still has balance issues due to the various conditions she has with her feet and legs. This was also the year that she lost a significant amount of weight, resulting in an updated wardrobe!
...Dan did NOT have any heart issues or lasting effects from his heart attack last year. In addition to his duties as president of RMI, he also started an online Master’s in Organizational Leadership (from our alma mater, Columbia International University). He’s done quite well in the courses (two professors have told him that he should go on to get his doctorate!) and feels that it will enhance his leadership of RMI. He finishes in March of 2022.
...We decided to bite the bullet and renovate the hall bathroom (it was long overdue!). And like many renovations, it crept into the kitchen (countertops and paint). It was a process that tested our patience, especially when we had to do dishes in the shower. Thankfully that situation was short-lived and the results were phenomenal! Things like this always leave one wondering why we didn’t do it sooner.
...A 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit southern Haiti on August 14 - stronger than the 2010 Port-au-Prince quake. The epicenter was 10 miles from RMI’s headquarters in Cayes. It was a shock to see such destruction right where we used to live and RMI still ministers. Thousands of homes, businesses, churches, schools, factories, and much more were heavily damaged or destroyed. Over 2200 lives were lost.
Our staff were safe and our depot, conference room, and office survived (the office will need some major repairs), but the Zanglais Ministry Center was heavily damaged and will need to be torn down and rebuilt. RMI became the center for receiving and dispersing the enormous amount of physical aid that arrived - we ended up partnering with 29+ organizations (Samaritan’s Purse, Doctors without
Borders, local civic officials, and other ministries). The days and weeks after August 14 were long and tough, but our staff worked tirelessly to get as much relief aid to as many people as possible. Our missionaries were out of the country on furlough but were relieved to hear that their homes didn’t suffer any damage.
Every one of our Sister Churches suffered major damage. Many schools were flattened completely. It was God’s grace that it happened on a Saturday morning when most people were gone to the market or were outside, schools weren’t in session and church services weren’t taking place. This kept the loss of life down. It will take years to rebuild. Pray for southern Haiti as they try to recover and for RMI as we respond to the great need there.
Pray for us as we serve the Lord this coming year. Only the Lord knows what is in store for us in 2022. We’re sure there’ll be more challenges that we know nothing about yet. But we’re also sure that God is in control and will carry us through.
With love,
Dan and Debbie Shoemaker
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