Month: December 2015

We are so thankful for each of you that helped us accomplish incredible things in Haiti this year! We have one more week for giving in 2015! We ask that you would prayerfully consider sending a year end donation to help us get closer to meeting our budgeted goals for this year. Any amount helps us reach our personal budget and ministry goals. Thank you to all of our friends, family, and supporting churches that have faithfully supported us through prayer and financial support this year!

Our biggest personal upcoming financial need is the $8,000 yearly rent due on our Haiti Hospitality House. This is due in April. It is difficult to save up this amount when we are not able to meet our minimum budget. We currently are now meeting 68% of our personal family budget to live and serve in Haiti. We are very encouraged as God has brought us many new partners this year! God has always provided what we need and we are blessed to continue to serve with the resources with which we have been entrusted. Thanks again to our ministry partnership team! If you would like to join us in giving as 2015 comes to an end we would love to share our hearts for ministry and answer any questions you may have.

http://reamteaminternational.org/donate/

Please read about the ministries you help support by supporting us! You can also listen as our Executive Director of Heart of God Haiti shares in depth about our ministries HERE as well!

The following are ministries we are privileged to work with directly in Haiti. We have included the financial ministry goals that we need to help meet in the upcoming year. If you would like to give toward any of these specific needs you may do so through our mission Heart of God Haiti and write what you are giving towards in the notes/memo section.

(Montrouis International Fellowship)

 

Church building – $2000/year

Gas for generator -$20/month

Maintenance Paint – $500

Total = $2,740/year

El Shaddai Learning Center School

We would like to put an enclosure (safety net) over an open second story to create a playground area (23ft x 36ft x 20ft) as currently the kids have no other space to play at the school.

Total for net is $1,000 + 150 shipping to Haiti ($1,150)

School sponsorships for local Haitian students from poor families ($80 per month/per student to attend ESLC Christian English school)

Kofael (women’s micro loan ministry)

Kofael House Rent (partial/50% shared responsibility)- $3000/year (due Oct. 2016)

Snacks/drinks for monthly meetings and special events – $250/year

New Office Computer – $250

Printer Ink – $125

Medical Insurance for ladies (50%) – $375/month to help an estimated 75 women in the next year (20 currently enrolled and paying the other 50%)

Part-time Salary for a new KOFAEL group Haitian Director-$150/month

*Kofael loans have already been raised for a new group of 25 women! We are just praying for a godly, trustworthy Haitian director in the new area in order to begin!

Total = $15,925/year

*To read more about this program and/or donate directly to KOFAEL (also tax deductible through Heart of God) just click HERE.

Heart of God Haiti Children’s Center in Godet

Our mission’s center is located in the rural mountains of Haiti which is a 5-6 hour round trip drive from our home in St. Marc.

Transportation and lodging for us to commute part time and oversee/accomplish our mission’s current needs for the children and workers (a responsibility we share with our housemates/ministry partners so we often take turns traveling). – $300/month.

Other needs and info. regarding the children’s center can also be found at: https://heartofgodhaiti.org

Total for our personal travel expenses to work on goals in the best interest of the staff and children on a consistent basis this next year = $3,600/year

New Ministries Currently in Progress

Training Haitian Pastor’s/Planting House Churches

Literacy Program Supplies- $150/year

ESL Classes

New Area Kofael Group (need $150/mo. for new Haitian director)

School Sponsorships (helping Haitian families keep kids in school)

Haitian Schools – $40 – $175 per yr./student (future sponsors needed)

We love connecting sponsors personally with kids and families that we know as we watch their lives and understand their needs first hand. This is a great privilege and joy to see how God brings people together across the world to meet the needs of others and answer prayers in many different ways.

Thank you for caring! Thank you for helping us serve! Thank you for making a difference and giving hope to Haitian families!

Exciting Upcoming Travels/Summer Ministry Opportunity!

Heart of God Israel Ministry (June 4 – June 16)

Eric will be a hosting a group for the tour and leading an extension mission trip. If you would like to join us the cost is $4,600/person (partnering with Heart of God Israel and World of the Bible Ministries – 10 day tour with Dr. Randall Price and 2 day extension trip with Heart of God’s ministry to drug addicts and prostitutes). You can join the World of the Bible tour (plug for Dad who leads this awesome tour-and this will be his 100th trip to Israel!) without joining the Heart of God Israel team as well. Here is the link to view the info and itinerary for just the tour. http://www.worldofthebible.com/IsraelTours.htm

If you are interested in the Heart of God Israel extended mission trip led by Eric just ask for details! You will be shocked, encouraged and challenged to pray for Israel and for the freedom of many who are in bondage.

We know our crazy lives are hard to keep up with but thank you for trying! We always want to know how we can pray and serve your family as well! Our family and friends mean the world to us! Please keep in touch in 2016!

Happy New Year with Love from The Ream Team!

The week before last we watched our children share the gospel with their friends and classmates in Haiti and rejoiced with them as some of their friends are beginning to understand the gift of salvation better. One trusted in Jesus Christ alone to save her!

This past week we have been watching our four children make their Christmas gift giving choices after arriving stateside in the land of too many options and after repeatedly promising that this year we would not be helping them purchase their gifts. As a result they are learning that spending their own hard earned money on thoughtful gifts for others is not as easy as they thought (especially when they see how many things the stores have to offer that they could spend on themselves instead). We have heard statements like, “What if they don’t even like it?”, “What if I don’t get anything as nice in return?” Basically, “What’s in it for me?” We felt it necessary to sit down as a family and introduce a movie that would explain why we’ve been calling our children “Scrooges” this past week and search our hearts as to why we are often tempted to hold back when we have been given so much.

The classic movie based on Dickens book, A Christmas Carol, takes Ebenezer Scrooge through his life lived in the past, the present and future. This unique opportunity gave Scrooge a look from the outside in and revolutionized his life and actions from that day forward. His attitude toward giving changed drastically after seeing how his stinginess not only affected his personal life but others as well.

How much are we willing to give? As we give gifts to our loved ones this Christmas let us think about the ultimate gift, the gift of Jesus, that has been given to us. Are we stingy Scrooges with this gift? Do we primarily share Jesus only when we feel secure in our relationships because we don’t want to harm the relationship? Or do we only share with people whom we have no relationship with because we feel it can’t do any harm? Are we more concerned with how sharing and investing in another will affect us or how it will affect another person if we don’t share? Where do you stand? If you know the Messiah are you holding back from sharing him with those who might not know him? You can start now. Don’t wait for a Scrooge like experience to shake you. If you don’t know Jesus Christ personally, there is no better time than today to find out what he has done, is doing, and will do for you if you place your trust in him!

We can learn from Scrooge in many humbling aspects of our lives. Take a moment and reflect on your past. Do you remember the moment you knew you were separated from God and without hope in this world? Do you remember the moment that someone shared the good news of Jesus Christ with you and the immediate hope and confidence that resonated in your heart? Through your trust in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection on your behalf you now have forgiveness of sin, have received the Holy Spirit and have an eternal home in the presence of Jesus Christ1

Reflect on your present. How are your friends and family, coworkers, neighbors and the world impacted by your life? Are you living and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with this world? We have a perfect opportunity to share the hope that is within us and offer the best present in the world – Jesus Christ and him crucified, resurrected and coming again!

The gospel future would significantly impact our present if we had a glimpse of the faces we love in their future eternal homes (heaven or hell). Pray today that God will give you an opportunity to share the hope within you with someone who is without hope in this present world. As we reflect on the first Christmas past, how that has changed our present lives and has given us hope for the future, may it revolutionize our life and actions from this day forward.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

-Isaiah 9:6-7

Thank you for partnering with us and praying with us as we pray for you also to have more opportunities to share the best gift of all-JESUS! Merry Christmas!

*In case you didn’t know the Ream Team is currently traveling stateside in IL, and TX, for the holidays. We are excited to see family and friends, speak at one of our partnering churches and get ready for Elisabeth’s sister’s wedding January 10th! We return to Haiti January 13th!