Saying Goodbye to 2012

Tomorrow, January 1st, we will load up ourselves and our stuff and move to our new home in St. Marc, Haiti. We are really ready and excited to get there! But we are already missing the people and places we will leave 3+ hours behind. Today we have said more goodbyes and are enjoying our last day in the cool mountain air in Fermathe, Haiti with our family. We ask for prayer for continued financial provisions as we settle into our new home (which is yet to be furnished and as the kids keep whining "will be very hot"), and for the new adjustments that await. We especially ask for prayer for our children as this will be a big transition for them. They have been somewhat spoiled as the Lord has blessed us with playgrounds and plenty of play space everywhere we have lived in Haiti. Our new home will not have a yard nor does the school where our children will be attending starting January 7th. Our boys will now be experiencing full immersion as they will be the only blan (white/foreigner) at their new school. We are thankful for our time at Quisqueya Christian School and at the Baptist Mission which has given us a wonderful transition our first year and 1/2 in Haiti and has helped prepare our family for this next adventure. Pray for Eric as he leads our family and for his new leadership role as principal at El Shaddai Learning Center. We have a lot of work and sweat waiting for us in the days to come! But today as we say goodbye to 2012 we are resting in his faithfulness, dwelling on his promises, remembering our many blessings, and looking forward to bearing good news in 2013!

Elisabeth, Elita Marguerite, Ethan, and Evan arrived home to Eric and Esmée in Haiti on Christmas Eve. We told the kids who had just returned not to expect a big Christmas because they already had 15 Christmases in the states! But somehow all these presents appeared the next morning as kids slept in late (except Esmée who was actually expecting some presents)! Ethan woke up and said, "I thought you said we were just having a little Christmas! That doesn't look little to me!" This made his very tired parents very happy to hear such thankfulness!
Thankful hearts = happy hearts!

Thankful for these 4 wonderful blessings!
We had a wonderful Christmas!
Thank you to all our friends and family that sent gifts back from the states!

And a huge thank you to Trey and Chelsea Salter who graciously shared their lovely home with us this past month while they were stateside and we were waiting to be able to move into our rental house.  This was a very special Christmas wish and an answered prayer for provision. Little did they know that Elisabeth had prayed all year that we would be able to spend this Christmas in the mountains. Travels and transitions added to this prayer that our family would be able to spend Christmas together. We are in awe of how God chose to answer the desires of our hearts!

We will miss this beautiful place and the treasured friends we have made on this mountain! 

We will miss playing here, climbing and swinging from the trees, running through green grass, and breathing fresh cool moutain air.

We will miss playhouses and the many hours we spent playing with friends here. 

Most used saying of the year...and probably the past 6 years...

"Where in the world is Evan???"

We will miss this loquat tree and the yummy fruit we devoured from it. 

We will miss this view and having a great place to ride bikes.
Here is Esmée with her new bike which she received as a consolation prize since she did not get to go to the states with her siblings. She hopes our new neighborhood has a place to ride too!

We were blessed to share Christmas dinner with dear friends!
Imensky is a big brother to our boys. We are so proud of Imensky and know God has big plans for his life. Imensky's parents were both killed in the January 2010 earthquake and we first met him at the orphanage where our girls used to live. Imensky unexpectedly came to us last summer and through a series of difficult events we helped him find a new home after living with our family for 6 weeks. He has worked very hard and has been accepted to a good English school starting in January that will help prepare him for a bright future. We are thankful to the family that has cared for and loved Imensky with us and are so blessed to watch him grow spiritually, emotionally, socially and academically to be all God desires for him to be! It was very special for us to spend time at Christmas together! 

We got to share our American Christmas dinner with these sweet ones as well!
Please pray for continued progress for their adoptions!

You won't find leftovers here! 

We will miss Anderson and Figaro, two special guys that Eric spent time discipling this past year. 

Baby Evangeline...one of our biggest blessings of 2012!
Evangeline was born the last weekend of September we were moving out of our house. The good news of her birth was a reminder that even during our hardest times that life is a precious gift!

Evangeline and her mother Genise lived with us in October and November after they were robbed at gunpoint in their home. Genise's husband Enoch entrusted them to us while he was looking for a safer place for his family to live. It was so special to have them with us during Evangeline's first months of life.  Please pray for protection and continued provision for this sweet family we love dearly! 

We helped choose the name Evangeline which means "bearer of good news". We pray that her generation will grow up and bear the good news that we celebrate at Christmas and share throughout the year!

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:17-21

Jesus says shortly after, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent". Luke 4:43

Thank you Father for sending your Son Jesus to give us the good news of the gospel, to show us how to live it out, and to give us the hope of glory! Thank you for the opportunity to leave our comfort zone, friends and family once again to journey to a new town and share the good news...because that is why we are sent! Haiti is such a vivid picture of the creation you intended and how sin has ruined it. As bad news swirls all around us, help us not to forget that this is a time of the Lord's favor and grace! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

May we be bearers of good news in 2013!

The Latest News

“The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.” -N.L. Zinzendorf

Our home is Haiti and God is opening the door for the gospel to be proclaimed from the city to the villages.  I want to tell you about a lady named Medina.  I went to meet with the people that we are going to work with in Saint-Marc and then traveled to the far northern part of Haiti near Cap Haitian.  We have another ministry that Elisabeth helped start in Port au Prince and this area (about 8 hours away) and I went to go see it and try to be an encouragement to the women.  While staying at an orphanage I met the sweetest little lady named Medina, who is a nanny at the orphanage.  One night the director, Medina and I were talking.  Medina believed that if she keeps the Sabbath along with other laws then she is going to heaven.   This was Saturday night and she was not keeping the Sabbath.  I asked her, “What do you think God is saying about you going to heaven today?”  She said sheepishly, “I will not go.”  I went on to show her passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about why the Sabbath was instituted, where Paul says one day is not more important than another and shares the reason for the law.  Her eyes began to be opened to the truth of the gospel.  I showed her a couple more verses that talked about a gift that is not earned by what she could do, or I could do, but only because of what Jesus has already done, is doing and will do. Medina, my then merely religious sixty-five year old friend, became my new sister in Christ as she understood and believed the gospel for the first time.  The next night I came in late and Medina and the director were sharing the gospel with another member of their staff.  Thank you Lord for the opportunity to disciple someone and not even know it.  Sometimes things are caught more than taught.  It is a blessing to be in this country.  However, as many of you know it is a country that is head deep in slavery.  Sadly the religious community is not exempt from this horror. Many have been taught and are teaching a salvation by works.  This is nothing less than the worst kind of slavery in a seemingly hopeless country where corruption and degradation of human life prevail.  Thank you for your partnership to allow us to be here sharing the free gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is definitely times like these that make the tough times of wondering how my family is going to eat, or how we are going to get to the market worth it. 

We hoped after our first year here we were going to be able to come home and raise much needed support.  That trip has still not happened.  Some of you have supported us and you have given at a time where we were desperate from our perspective.  I wish at those times you could experience the joy and worship of what it is to go to the market and know that your family is going to eat.  I remember many times, at least for me, it was a burden to go to the grocery store in the US…I didn’t want to drive there and wait in line.  It is now a blessing to travel inconveniently with a group of strangers packed into the back of a truck sitting on benches and most of us smelling less than desirable to get to our destination. Then to have the privilege and the ability to purchase groceries because we do not take them for granted now.  Thank you for your partnership that is now truly worship and thanksgiving to God for your generosity that enables to be able to shop for groceries and serve in Haiti.

We are finishing plans to move to Saint-Marc before the new school semester begins in January.  I will be the principal of a Christian school there called El Shaddai. It has a little over 150 students and I will work with the national teachers and help train them. I will also be a small group leader for some of the high school guys.  The school requires that all foreign staff raise 100% of their funds to minister at the school.  Saint-Marc is located approximately 60 miles north of Port au Prince.  There are almost 300,000 people who live there.  80,000 of which are school aged children. Only about half of them have access to attend school.   We are looking forward to this opportunity to equip and love on the staff to glorify God in all they do. 

We will continue our ministry with pastors as God continues to open doors to train them.  We will continue to preach in different churches.  We will also continue our ministry to women.  As I mentioned earlier Elisabeth helped start a ministry for women called KOFAEL.  You will want to check out how you can be involved and help out with this ministry.  It is in two parts of the country now and you can read more about it by going to www.empoweringwomeninhaiti.blogspot.com.

Will you continue or begin to partner with us here in Haiti for the glory of God?  Any amount is helpful.  Please see the enclosed form.  You can send your support by check or you can donate online.  Thank you for your obedience to the Lord and helping us make Haiti our home. 

Please send in the card so we can get a good handle on who wants updates and who desires to pray for us.  We send out prayer notes to our praying friends via email and you can sign up on our blog for updates to automatically be emailed to you as well. Please write down your email on the enclosed card and send it to RCE-International who handles our tax deductible donations and helps us communicate with those who are praying with us and for us. Thank you for whatever the Lord lays on your heart to do to help us serve in Haiti.  Please let us hear from you and share what God is doing in your life and how we can pray with and for you. 

Here are a few of our specific needs for our rental house and living expenses

Inverter  $1000-$1500 (more for solar powered)

Batteries (8 for $155 each)

Refrigerator

Beds (two sets of bunk beds and two double or queen size) beds/mattresses

Vehicle $10,000 – $25,000 (used & reliable for at least 6 people, 4x4 and diesel)

Motorcycle (to make a quick run for needs)

$2500/month Minimum for basic needs (rent, local bills, food)

Until the whole world hears,

The Ream Family

ericream@hotmail.com 

www.reamteaminternational.blogspot.com 
(Haiti family ministry blog)

www.chosenandmuchloved.blogspot.com 
(Haiti adoption update blog)

www.empoweringwomeninhaiti.blogspot.com 
(KOFAEL women ministry in Haiti)

http://www.touchhaitiministries.org/El-Shaddai-Learning-Center (School we work with in Haiti)

“…We make it our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord.” -2 Corinthians 5:9

Look up at the birds and down at the manger

I arrived stateside with our Elita Marguerite to join the boys in Illinois on November 20th. Since that day we have driven through six states finally landing in Texas. We have so enjoyed seeing dear friends and family all along the way and are longing to visit and hug more dear ones this week. We are so thankful for how Elita is adjusting to her first time to the states and know that this is a great mercy with all this travel. I have an appointment to check on her proof of citizenship paperwork tomorrow and Lord willing will have more information so that we can book our flights back to Haiti next week. We are really missing Eric and Esmée and they are missing us. I am really missing Haiti too. It has been a great trip but there are things that are really hard. I will talk about one or two of those things now. I'm hoping that our dear friends and family we are trying to make an effort to see (because we have really missed you too) will know how they can pray for us and support us because we really need it right now. 

Today we were returning from yet another road trip and stopped off at a gas station. We have discovered these GIANT gas stations called Bucee's that have planted themselves in our giant state in the past year and 1/2 we have been in Haiti. So today I was standing in this giant store just standing and waiting for gas to be pumped and for kids to figure out that this was not in fact a playground when a little overpriced wall hanging caught my eye. It held a verse that I have held on to so often in the past year and 1/2 when I have had to remind myself to look up at the sky and remember that God sees.

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" 

-Matthew 6:26

And I held back many tears. That verse always gets me. 

I keep hearing people talk about our economy and how rotten things are and how bad things are gonna get and how few jobs and little money there is in America. And I'm standing in the brand new Bucee's thinking "SERIOUSLY???" for like the 500th time in the past 20 days. I've said "looks pretty good to me" once or twice when I hear a comment about how poor or poorly run America is and my response is met with "Oh well you are just comparing America to Haiti!" Maybe I am. Or maybe I'm comparing it to just about anywhere else in the world that doesn't have 20 teenagers in red Bucee Beaver shirts greeting me at the sliding glass doors of the over stocked gas station upon my arrival. Maybe it gets to me the most when I hear the sleepy voice of my teenage daughter lying next to me  say, "You know that restaurant we went to that we could eat as much as we want...you know the one that waste a lot of food? I wish we could pick one of those up and fly it to Haiti and let all the street kids come in. Then there wouldn't be anything left to throw out at the end of the night. I really don't like that they waste so much here."

I know despite America's wealth and waste that there are people here (just like in Haiti) that are adversely affected by selfish government leaders, economy, natural disasters, health and family issues, and simply that most of the time life just doesn't go the way we want it to.I know there are people suffering everywhere. I do not believe that most people can comprehend the kind of suffering we have encountered in Haiti nor how hard it is for me to wrap my brain around these contrast. I would not go so far as to say we are suffering. God has always provided for us in one way or another. Usually He does not provide within the timing nor circumstances that we want Him to but we have learned to just look up at the birds during these times. We have had a constant stream of "these times" the past year and 1/2. There have been times when we literally do not know how we will feed our family. God has always provided. We trust in faith that He will continue to do so one way or another.

Last night I watched the Nativity movie with the kids. I was reminded once again of the humble circumstances our Savior was born into on this Earth He came to save. He lived a humble, sacrificial life and died a horrible death to show me how much I am worth to Him. We only pray we will be worthy of our calling and become more like Him when times are tough. We know according to Scripture that times have to get tough in order for our dear Savior to come back for us. Therefore we welcome these times as we long for His appearing. No matter what country we are in, no matter how rich or poor, we are constantly reminded that we are not yet home. 

We long for our home in glory but until then we are trying to make it here too. We consider it nothing short of a miracle that we have made it through the past year and 1/2 on the very little financial support that we are thankful has come in. Sometimes a dear friend or sometimes a stranger has sent us the money we needed at the very last minute. We don't know where we would be without those who have been faithful and obedient in giving, caring, asking, and praying. Thank you. You know who you are.

My daughter keeps saying, "Mom, you have SO many friends!" everywhere we go. I know we have SO many friends from sea to shining sea. I know that we have many many true friends. But sometimes I don't know if our friends know how bad we are struggling. So we are ready to be very honest with you. We are struggling. We are struggling bad (financially speaking). Please support us. $5 would actually really help. 

We will post more details about our ministry in Haiti and how you can support us very soon. Would you begin to pray about supporting us financially on a one time or regular basis? If anyone has questions about the past year and 1/2 in Haiti, our future there, or anything else that pertains to our crazy lives please don't hesitate to ask. We would love for you to ask even if we have a hard time explaining and our lives don't make sense! You don't know how encouraging it is to hear you ask anyways! Asking lets us know you care! I know we are often hard to follow and sometimes we don't communicate as well as we'd like. So please just ask! Please pray for some encouragement for Eric as he bears the heaviest weight in providing for our family. We are thankful for the Lord's timing in this trip because the provision of 4 members of our family staying with family in the states has once again been God's sovereign plan in feeding all of us the past month. Thank you family and friends that have housed and fed us well (and spoiled our kids rotten with early Christmas presents that I now have to figure out how I'm going to get to Haiti)! You will never know how much this has meant to us during this time. 

Our tendency when we are broke is to try to fix it. We quietly panic, strategize our storing, reaping and gathering plan, pray and panic some more. But all too often we can't fix ourselves or our circumstances. This isn't a bad thing even we are badly struggling. This is when we are reminded to look up at the birds and down at the manger. This is why we needed a Savior and why He gave us the Body of Christ.