"Field Posts"

Recently I had the opportunity to visit a family right here in the Cayes area who were tragically/deeply affected by the earthquake.  The husband/father was killed, leaving behind mom and kids.  The family has moved here to Cayes.  They are currently living in a rented home (in the background of this pic), but are being evicted with no place to go.  Frederickson’s (sitting on my lap) mom can’t find any work.  Therefore, there is limited food, no school for the kids, painting a very hazy picture for their future.  What are their dreams? What hope to the have? I’m glad we are here in Haiti. Thanks to David Uttley for taking these pictures during the visit… Here is a picture of me handing out “Life of Christ” picture books to the children. Rob

RMI vigorously launched our campaign to provide housing to earthquake displaced families after the EQ of Jan 2010.  Just the other day, we completed our 50th home!  Praise the Lord!  On the Haiti side, RMI Missionary Gary McLaughlin has done a great job in facilitating this program, and Wilfred Fanfan, RMI Construction Boss, has done a great job leading our Haitian build team to make it all happen.  I have had the privilege of handing over the keys to just a couple of these families.  They had tears in their eyes and joy in their hearts.  It’s been a pleasure for me to see it all happen. Sadly, I constantly meet families, living even here in Cayes, who are still in a desperate situation due to a lack of stable housing.  The tent cities in PAP remain. Last week, right here in Cayes, I visited the home of a family of 7 who are living in a rented 64 sqft room, with only half a roof made of metal, the remainder a tarp.  No beds.  They all sleep...

We just unloaded another container of 19 tons of food!  Some of this food will be used for our Hope for Kidz Hot Lunch Program, and some used for general relief purposes.  We are ready in case a Hurricane comes through this season to help those in deepest need! It is exciting to get out to our churches and see some of the 1500+ students who are getting their daily Hot Lunch through Hope for Kidz .  For many of these children, it is likely their only meal for the day. 19 tons of food.  1254 boxes of food x 36 bags in a box x 6 meals per bag = 270,864 fortified meals for the hungry. Rob

To be generous, or stingy?  Recently a bunch of children were calling me a name I had never heard.  “Chiche!” they kept saying.  I had to go ask one of the RMI staff members what it meant.  It is a French word meaning “stingy”.  Wow, that hurt. It struck me deeply.  If I had known what they were saying, I would have tried to turn the conversation on them and share the free gift of the Gospel. People come to our house constantly asking for help.  They are deep in “need”.  Need must be defined as well, but that is for another post.  They are indeed in need.  Some have honest stories of hardship. No food.  No ability to send their kids to school.  Can’t afford medicine.  Can’t afford to see the doctor. No work. No roof over their head.  Some will make you cry. Some lie, manipulate, or exaggerate in order to try and squeeze something out of us.  Yet, they are in need too.  Many times we give. Sometimes we don...

Much of our focus is on ministering to the Haitian people.  Yet, it may be most exciting to me when I sense God is up to something big in the lives, hearts and minds of the American team members that visit Haiti.  Something special and unique happens when 2 cultures come together in relationship.  Dan Shoemaker, RMI President, labeled it correctly: the “Ministry of Presence”.  What happens during the “ministry of presence” is extraordinary.  Something dynamic, almost magical, happens when a Haitian brother and/or sister and an American brother and/or sister are simply present with one another.  Worshipping together, working together, serving together, eating together, praying together… Viola Irons, Principal within the Miami-Dade Public School System, member of Florida Bible Church , in Miramar, FL, and member of the recent team who visited their Sister Church in Maniche, Haiti, said, “I have grown more in this week than I ever have in my entire life ”....

Time.  It is a value I hold dear, yet a value that is fairly non-existent in other parts of the world.  Haiti is much more event/people/relationship oriented, rather than time oriented.  In conversation here in Haiti, we typical add “ish” to our time frames.  For example, a US Team Member asks, “What time will the church service start?”  My answer…  6:30ish.  The reality is it will start when people show up.  Critical mass is required. This morning, Janel. a young man maybe 18 years old, was coming to our house to work.  We are helping him.  He has nothing, no support structure, no family, no means… and so for a few days this week we are offering him some small jobs around our house for a little money.  He doesn’t come asking for handouts like so many others do.  He comes asking for work.  I appreciate his desire to work.  He asked yesterday what time he should come today.  I told him 9:30.  He showed up a...

Wow, it has been WAY too long since we’ve blogged.  The truth is, we’ve been so busy, there has been no time to blog!  June was full with 2 teams, Drew’s Kindergarten graduation and preparing to leave for 3 weeks to go to the States.  The first 3 weeks of July we were in the States.  Then, when we returned to Haiti, we hit the ground running.  You know when you get behind on something, it’s hard to catch up?  Well, that’s how I feel about blogging right now.  So much has happened these last 2 months.  I want to share it, but I don’t know where to begin! I think I’ll start with the team we had the last week of June from our home church in Florida, McGregor Baptist Church.  We were so excited to have this student team and excited for the opportunity to minister together as a family with them.  They were based here in the Cayes area for the first few days then we went out to the Retreat Center and did ministry locally there.  Our wee...

I have had a little fun recently taking pictures.  I love capturing the spirit of the people of Haiti.  Haiti is it’s people.  I love them. For the rest of the pictures, visit here .