Excited about the start of school...and for how God continues to workthrough all our many "sometimes"!

 Monday September 16th, 2013 the new school year began!

We are all very excited!

Welcome To El Shaddai Learning Center

We are excited for the opportunity to serve, to grow through experience, through books, through loving each other, through being flexible and sometimes having to do things a LOT differently in Haiti. There are a lot of such sometimes. Sometimes school has to be started a week late because the air carrier bringing school books decided to service out your order to another carrier who won't fly to Haiti until the plane is full. Sometimes the President of Haiti announces that Haitian schools will be delayed for a whole extra month due to so many families not being able to afford the costs of tuition, books, and uniforms. Sometimes we wonder how we will manage these things for our children too. Sometimes Eric visits with so many families that cannot afford these basic things he comes home very tired and drained. Sometimes he works at the school from 6:30 am to 8:30 pm because sometimes it rains hard and he can't find a Haitian scooter to taxi him home. Sometimes we don't have Digicel minutes on our phones to call each other and can't find anyone selling minutes so I spend the evening wondering if my husband is still alive. I am really not ok with those sometimes. Sometimes the kids begin to worry too because they get that being out after dark by yourself without a vehicle isn't a super safe thing where we live. Sometimes we do things that are not super safe. Sometimes we do things I never ever thought we would do. Sometimes we don't even notice we do them anymore. Sometimes we don't post about the really awful things that happen. Sometimes we don't get over them. Sometimes we decide we have to choose some safer things. Sometimes this means that we are choosing for our kids to not get to go to school because we would risk their safety riding with some dude without a license on the back of a scooter that could take them anywhere but school. Sometimes I don't want to homeschool. Sometimes we miss having options. Sometimes we think that not having options is a blessing. Sometimes we get mad at that kind of "blessing" and sometimes we embrace it. Sometimes people we thought we could trust show us that we can't. Sometimes we don't feel like we can trust anyone. Sometimes this makes us feel very lonely. Sometimes we wonder if us being here matters at all. Sometimes we can't imagine being anywhere else.

Sometimes teachers don't want to show up for training. Sometimes teachers don't get that working for a Christian school means you can't separate your sinful private life from your public professional life. Sometimes commitments from teachers set to come from the states fall through. Sometimes. Always these times affect more than one person. Sometimes that is why daddy doesn't come home for dinner. Sometimes missionaries and Haitian friends work together to pick up the pieces and we get to see good come out of these sometimes. Sometimes we ask "why?" Always God reminds us that He is working all things, not just some things together for good. Sometimes we get to experience how He does that. Sometimes we just have to trust His purpose...because He promised...because we love Him...because He first loved us. Because we can't possibly doubt Him. Because He experienced every single agonizingly beautiful sometimes. Because He is not a far away God. He is there with us. We know this. We wish we could share all the times He has worked through our sometimes. But for this week...

We are excited about the school year beginning! We are excited about how God has worked to get us here and keep us here, to get the teachers here, to get the students here, to bring in teams that helped get the school ready, to help and encourage Gary and Carolyn Walker who run the school, to work alongside other teachers, directors, missionaries, and families. We are excited about answered prayers for our children getting a safer ride to school until the Lord provides a vehicle for our family. We are excited about seeing all the kids so excited! We know there will be a lot of "sometimes" ahead and we are excited to see how God will continue to work through each and every one!

Be excited with us!

Excited about the new library center!

Exited for new teachers!

Excited about being with school friends again!

Exited to get to school at the beginning of the year and pick out our spots!

Excited to learn!

 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

-Romans 8:28

September Newsletter

Gearing up for school at El Shaddai

When you have one of the best Christian and English schools for over 40,000 students in your area and only about 8 desks for each class you have to turn people away.  The last couple of weeks have been spent meeting and interviewing potential students and their families to see if our school is a good fit for their child.  Often we have to tell families who are excited about their child getting a great Christian education that we have to put them on a waiting list.  It is extremely difficult to see their desperate faces after sharing that news.

God opened the door several times to share the gospel this week with students and families. A man said he was a believer since birth.  It was a joy to ask him some more questions to find out he put his trust in Christ when he was 9 or 10 years old.  He is now more equipped to share his God story with others.  I always ask parents and students if I can pray for them in the interviews.  One student’s story was heartbreaking.  His dad died less than a year ago.  His mom and other brother went to the states and he is now living with an aunt near the school.  They were looking for financial help for him to attend school. We took time this week to pray with him and his aunt for God to provide the funds for him to attend school.

El Shaddai Learning Center had a team from Florida come and serve with them here in Haiti.  A team of American teachers shared many helpful ideas with our Haitian teachers during a busy 3 day training seminar.  Our teachers walked away with some great info and a heart to change some things about themselves and how they treat and react to their students.  We are looking forward to a great year now scheduled to start September 16th!  We appreciate your prayers as we have students who still need to put their faith in a Savior and many who need to grow in their love for Him and others.

Kofael Happenings

We made a family trip to see the ladies of Kofael the 3^rd weekend in August. It was a sweet time of fellowship. One of our elderly ladies had just returned from her husband of 25 years funeral earlier that morning. She has been caring for him in his sickness the past few years while struggling to take care of her family. It was a blessing to be able to surround her in prayer. The sound of Haitian women praying is one of the sweetest sounds we have ever heard. Our friend who had just left her husband’s gravesite asked if she could pray for us in return. She who the world would call “the least of these” prayed for provision for our family to have a vehicle so that we could come to visit them more often. It was a humbling and precious time.

Elisabeth made another trip the next weekend for the monthly Kofael meeting. This was a special meeting because we had raised money to be able to purchase school supplies for each woman to help send her children and/or grandchildren to school. This meeting we were giving the supplies purchased from one of the women in the program which also brought added blessing to her family through this large sale. The cost of school in Haiti is one of the greatest hardships for Haitian families. School was once again announced delayed by the government until October due to so many families not having the funds to begin. Thousands of children are placed in orphanages simply because their parents cannot afford school and other basic necessities. Many of the women in the Kofael program came to one of the Kofael leadership looking for help to find an orphanage to place their children. Providing school supplies is one small thing we can do to help keep families together. The women were very excited to each get a packet of supplies. Thank you to those who contributed to their excitement and helped meet this important need.

Frantz and Julienne, our Haitian leadership team journeyed back to St. Marc with Elisabeth so that we could spend the next day discussing upcoming important milestones for Kofael. There are currently forty-one women in the Port au Prince program. Nine finished paying loans in August, five of those are ready for their final loan. Fourteen more will finish paying loans this next month. Three will finish in November. Fifteen more have finished their first loans and are currently waiting for their second loans. We are currently not able to take any more women into the program and are praying for provision of $5,850 to be able to grant some of the next loans to the women. As the women pay back their loans we are able to roll over the money into the next loans. But having to front the initial loan money for so many is a difficulty. God has faithfully always provided and the women have been faithful in paying back each loan. Kofael needs fourteen ladies sponsored for their second loan of $150 each and fifteen ladies sponsored for the 3^rd loan of $250 each (totaling the $5,850). If you are led to sponsor a one time Kofael microloan in the amount of $150 or $250, please contact us to let us know. Please pray with us as we trust Him for this amount!

Link with information to donate to Kofael: http://empoweringwomeninhaiti.blogspot.com/p/donate.html

Kofael members at the last meeting happily receiving school supplies for their children

Family Life

 We were blessed with eighty-two consecutive days of visitors since June! We are still trying to catch our breath a bit and enjoy some much needed family time in the midst of gearing up for school and Kofael happenings. We enjoyed a visit from two boys we are close to and help sponsor for school and their mother staying with us for a few days last week. We also made the decision to add another addition to our household this past month. Roselie is a dear friend we have known for the past 2 years. She has to be the best cook, housecleaner, and hair braider around! Roselie badly needed a job and we badly needed help in the midst of so many guests, so many Haiti house issues, ministry and summer homeschooling. Roselie was living with her aunt in Port au Prince so having her come to work with us so far away meant having her move in with us. She is sharing a room with Genise and little Evangeline who also share our daily lives. We can hardly believe Evangeline will turn one on September 28^th and has always been with us. She definitely keeps us all on our toes now that she is so mobile! Her busy mother also welcomed the company and additional help from Roselie. Now we don’t know what we ever did without her! Our household now has us six Reams, Roselie, Genise, Evangeline, Dalencourt “Daly” and Brownie (nicknamed “Houdini”), our two adopted Haitian mutt dogs….along with whomever else decides to knock on our door! We are a pretty rowdy and blessed bunch! Our biggest personal family prayer request right now is for the provision of a vehicle because getting this bunch out of the house without one is a very difficult task!

 Link to donate to vehicle fund: http://hgim.donorpages.com/MissionsReamEVehicle/ream/

 We are also praying for new partners to pray and financially come along us so that we may continue to live and serve in Haiti. Our current regular pledged support is meeting only 20% of our minimum budgeted needs.

 Link with information on how to donate towards one time or monthly giving for our family: http://reamteaminternational.org/donate/

By God’s grace through a few generous one time donations over the past few months He has sustained us. We continue to trust in His faithful provision and be encouraged by the prayers of the saints. Please don’t hesitate to let us know how our family can pray for you as well!

By God's Faithful Grace,

The Ream Team