Safely Back Home

It's funny how we ended up here. About a year ago, Rebecca and I talked about what the upcoming fall would hold. Jesse was still comfortable in the womb, and I was considering what type of employment I would try for. We considered getting a work visa for New Zealand, and had our application finished awaiting to hear if we got accepted in the following April. However, we also felt it on our hearts to volunteer with the time we had in between me finishing my masters and starting teachers college. It's only when we look back can we really see the way we have been led.

We got in contact with some mission organizations in the following months to come, and after a few phone calls, we had a good idea which type of culture and work we would be interested in. Rebecca had a passion for the spanish culture, and really leaned towards being south of the US. We also hoped for the opportunity to teach and use our skills. However, the organizations had needs in areas we did not feel thrilled about. But then, while visiting a church, Rebecca saw an announcment asking the congregation to pray for a members mission trip to Quito, Ecuador. After the service, we found out who the girl was, and asked who she was going to be helping. It just so happened that the missionaries (Fred and Arlene Jonkman) were in Canada for their daugheters wedding and were leaving quite soon. We jumped at the opportunity to meet them, and over coffee the following week cemented our plans to volunteer with their work. Only after our time in Ecuador could we appreciate that providential timing - the Jonkman's are incredibly busy and were between furlows, but just happened to be in Canada. Our plans were made, and, through generous donations from family and friends, we were able to raise funds for our trip.

In Ecuador we saw what the life of a missionary was like. Fred and Arlene became missionaries over 13 years ago after Fred felt called to study the bible and changed professions in his late 30's. Not only this, but he, his wife Arlene, and their 6 children left Canada to live in Florida, Costa Rica, and eventually Ecuador as they followed God's lead to serve the church in Quito. Ree and I were impressed that they were not hospitalized from exhaustion, as they appear to work around the clock, attending to multiple projects, people, and committees whenever they are called.

Fred and Arlene are very involved in the reformed church they attend, and care deeply about the people in the church. The church is made up of mostly first generation Christians, many who came from nominal Catholic backgrounds. Fred and Arlene help teach bible studies that are held before Sunday services, and Fred also serves as an elder in the Church. It is through the church that Rebecca had the opportunity to teach ESL, drawing in many children from the neighbourhood. Website

Fred is also invovled in the running of a reformed theology school in Quito. Under Miami International Seminary (MINTS), Fred was able to start CRETE (Centro Reformado Estudios Teologicos del Ecuador), which aims to give a reformed theological education to any who want it without requiring full time studies. The seminary has 1 day seminaries every 6 weeks or so, followed by weekly evening discussion and homework. And at only $20 a course, it allows for students to keep their jobs while getting a theological education. Website

Arlene is involved in Corparacion Mision San Lucas, which is an organization in poor communities of Quininde that gives underprivaledged children the opportunity to have nutritous meals, medical care, tutoring, and mentoring. We were able to visit this mission, and see first hand the amazing work that is going on, which Rebecca posted about here. Website

Finally, Fred and Arlene are both involved in providing reformed bible study materials directed towards the latin culture. They have published an old testament and new testament volume, which was translated and contectualized from English into Spanish. From time to time they travel to different latin countries to give workshops and explain the material.
Website

With all of these projects and responsibilities, they still speak from time to time at conferences on family, and are involved in councelling. And regardless if they are tired, they are still plesant and hospitable - needless to say, we learned a lot from them.

We are so thankful for the opportunity that we had to help serve under the Jonkman's. We've learned a ton, and hopefully were able to contribute to their mission in a noticable way. We would like to say thank you again to everyone who contributed to our trip in prayer, encouragment, and finances.The money left over will be put towards the new building project for the church. They are in need of more classrooms, and a space for the youth. (The church held a bazaar and a clothing sale to raise funds for this new building ) We are grateful for your generous donations that will enable this building project to proceed even sooner! We were blessed by the entire experience. We arrived in BC just before New Years to get ready for James' brother's wedding on January 7th.

Again, thank you for your continued support over the past 3 months.

Love,

The Harskamps

This is long overdue (considering English classes are now over), but in case you're interested, here's a rundown of a typical English class with Ree.

Start with a song. Some sort of song that would emphasize the theme of the class. Such as "the family song"-- a class favourite involving chickadees, manatees, dogs and fleas, and a family of rabbits.
From there I would present the theme and vocabulary. Ppt., slides, pictures, handouts, whiteboards, oregami-- you name it. If it helped drive home the point, it was utilized. Presentation phase lasted 35-40 minutes. Then we'd break.
Two groups would be formed based on age (8 and under, 9 and up). They would file to their appropriate stations--Games or Pronunciation Practice. After 25 minutes, the groups would switch. Then we'd grab a snack, a drink and get pumped for the Bible story.
Each class was planned however I saw fit, with the intention of building on the previous concepts. The same was true for the Bible stories, and a huge priority in planning these lessons was to enable the kids to connect the dots of the O.T stories leading to Christ. The last class was the Christmas story, and the timing could not have been better.

Thursday marked the last day of ESL.
I'm sad for a few reasons.
1. I enjoyed these kids immensely.
2. My role as teacher has come to an end, and my routine will need to be reworked.
3. I love to teach, and now I'll have to find new pupils in some other country.
4. This means, we will soon be heading back to Canada.

It was such a privilege to teach these kids. It was our prayer in coming to Ecuador that we could both be blessed, and be a blessing to others. I believe God has answered that-- we have been blessed. God is an excellent Teacher, and clearly, He is not done teaching me.

1. I have discovered that I could handle teaching grade school after all. Among children, I have a place to channel my 'stay-at-home-mom' pent up energy, and this is a very good thing.

2. Although I prefer teaching literature, teaching a language holds exciting challenges, and the freedom to create my own curriculum is right up my alley.

3. My procrastination approach to lesson planning worked well here, and my ability to be flexible paid off. Class size could fluctuate between 25 and 2... so the game plan I adopted was to forget the plan. Perfect.

4. Children are children, regardless of the language they speak. If you play running charades, sing at the top of your lungs, provide snacks, and show a genuine passion for what you are teaching, they will love you :)

5. James is a good dad. Without him to keep his eyeballs on Jesse, teaching would have posed considerable challenges. But I knew this before I married him :)

6. Using flannel graphs to teach the story of the Bible is brilliant. I also love teaching children the Old and New T. An awesome opportunity.

7. I have learned that I may not be cut out to stay home all day. I am really going to miss these classes, these children, and this country.


Now it's my prayer that God would work in the hearts of these kids. It's been an amazing opportunity to have a hand in shaping their minds and prodding their hearts-- may God in His grace make them grow.


Overexcited to teach on the Tower of Babel. Maybe it's the Flannel Graph :)

Ricardo- keenest of keen students--showing off his homework. His peers are enamored. 
Pronunciation Practice Group. A job in itself getting these kids to actually practice their newly acquired English

Games Group Photo Op. 

Popular hangout spot in the church's one and only Avocado tree. 

Half Way

As the cliche first sentence of blogs go - "The time here is flying". Not too much has changed since the last update as far as details go. We're still working away on the ESL classes and the websites.

Two weeks of the ESL classes have now completed, and it's been very encouraging. The first day we had about 20 kids show up, with only 6 or 7 of them from the church and the remaining from the neighbourhood. That got us pretty pumped. Rebecca's been teaching up multiple storms (n > 1), and the kids have been really responsive. One of the church ladies even commented how Rebecca wasn't boring. I guess that means she's enthusiastic, but I'll double check with you. The format of the classes starts off with Ree teaching for about 45 minutes, with songs, whiteboard, and powerpoint included - what a deal! Following that, the kiddies break up into groups and go to different stations to practice what they've learned with games, pronunciation practice, and a bible story. The kids are coming back every week too, so I guess they must like it.

I've been continuing to do computer work, and I've been really enjoying it. As I dropped out of the art stream of academics at the young age of 12, it's refreshing to see that I can be creative given a mouse, computer, and inspiration from other websites. My grade 7 art teacher should feel redeemed that I at least have a good attitude now. Despite my enthusiasm, however, this week was a week of troubleshooting, with a whopping 100% of my completed websites crashing.

Outside of our projects, Rebecca has been keeping tabs of our extracurricular activities, which you can read up on at www.reejoys.blogspot.com.

As for things that you can keep with us in prayer:

That more kids would come out to ESL classes - the initial group of kids is fantastic, but we're expecting more kids to come as the classes move on, as we've heard of people inviting their neighbours.

Continue to pray for Gabby, a member of the congregation who is handicap and is at home on bed rest from the hospital. The family is very tired, and are not sure how Gabby will do at home.

Thanks for your continued support.

Love,

The Harskamps

Three Weeks In

It’s hard to believe that over three weeks have passed since we’ve landed here in Ecuador. This past week a pastor from Costa Rica (originally from Minnesota) has been staying with the Jonkman’s to help teach a course at the seminary campuses as well as preach at the Jonkman’s church. One night when we were talking about their lives as missionaries, Nick (the pastor) said that after a little while, missions becomes just like a normal job, and can become mundane at times, just like it can when in North America. While we haven’t felt like that (and probably won’t in only a three month stay), I’ve felt that “normal work” vibe pushing in through the excitement. The novelty of Spanish being spoken around you all the time has worn off as the mental sweat of listening intently trying to pick up words occurs in our brains. While Rebecca can pick up far more than I can, she is still trying to keep up with all the new vocab by having a written list of words she doesn't know for later research and practice. We both find we’re mentally tired after hearing a full day of Spanish, though the most intense day is Sunday where it’s all around you.

Some of the local scenery/doing dumbbell curls with Jesse

Our projects have been going well. The ESL classes through the church start up on Tuesday, and last week saw us lesson planning and tweaking. While one of the goals of the class it to improve the participants English (especially pronunciation), the main goal is for locals around the church to be brought in. The lessons will incorporate bible stories, and hopefully some lives can be changed with the Gospel. A back up plan is to just have Jesse sit outside the main door the church and draw foot traffic in with his blue eyes – people can’t get enough of them.

The web design is going well, with 1 ½ of 4 websites currently built. While a good portion content still needs to be tweaked, and the bugs with Internet Explorer irradicated, the San Lucas Mission website is practically done. For a better idea of what the mission is about, visit www.misionsanlucas.org, or better yet, keep visiting it as its content is fleshed out. It’s an impressive ministry which we will have the opportunity to visit later this month.

And, although our work here is going well, we were able to squeak in some tourist time this past week. Holidays in Ecuador work a little different than back home. In the months coming up to a national holiday (such as the one this past week), the citizens don’t know exactly how much time they’ll get off. They know for sure they’ll get 2 days (or whatever the stat holidays are), but the president here usually ups the ante as he sees fit, and true to his nature, last week from Tuesday to Saturday was official holidays. The Jonkman’s took advantage of this, resting from their busy schedules, and took Rebecca, Nick, Jesse, and myself to see a few of Ecuador’s gems. We were able to see a couple craters from ancient volcanic eruptions, an indigenous market, and squeezed in a football game. Overall, some very cool experiences.

Hanging with the locals...

As we hope to do with all these updates, here are a few items we ask you to keep in your prayers over the next week:

That the launch of the ESL course would go smoothly, and continue to draw in members of the community over the next two months.

That the websites would draw more attention from the locals in the upcoming months/years to the ministries (Mision San Lucas and the Reformed Seminary), so that these ministries can continue to grow and touch more lives.

That healing would come to Gabby, a handicap daughter of a seminary professor, who has been in the hospital for the last three weeks with intestine problems. This family is very dear to the Jonkman’s, and they would covet your prayers.

Thank you for your love and support,

The Harskamps

Underway

Things are going quickly.

Rebecca and I are both underway with our projects, and the time is racing. Rebecca started by helping design a logo for one of the child sponsor missions that the Jonkman's are involved in. While she was working on that, I was revising some old forms for the same mission to streamline the paperwork, so that the workers can spend more time with the chi

ldren and less time with data entr

y.

The progression of the logo...

Rebecca has also been planning the first few ESL lessons for the classes that she will be leading. The schedule is for a start in early November, with two classes a week at the church, focusing on improving pronunciation.

I've also been assigned to help build three websites, and I'm sure each mission will get a full blog in the future. The first site will be for the San Lucas Mission. This project is focused on improving the living conditions for children living in a poor area approximately four hours from Quito. Because of the prevalence of broken families, these children are often relied upon by their families to work and bring in an income. Expenses in Ecuador aren't too much lower than what we're used to in Canada, and considering minimum wage here is $240 a month, there is little opportunity for children in poorer areas to have proper nutrition and education. That's where San Lucas Mission comes in, where individuals can sponsor children to have nutritious meals, medical care, and increased emphasis on education. Rebecca and I will be visiting this ministry in late November to see first hand the influence this program is having in the community.

In other news, Jesse is sleeping through the night, Ecuador is beautiful, and we're thoroughly enjoying being here.

We would also ask you to pray for us:

Pray that our health would return to us - Rebecca and I were both feeling ill due to the different food here.

Pray that the ESL classes would draw in unchurched people from the neighbourhood - we've sent out flyers to advertise, and now we need to trust that God will bring in people who need to hear the Gospel

Pray for the workers helping with the San Lucas Mission - there are very tough family situations and heart breaking stories with the children involved in this ministry, and the workers are the hands and feet of Christ to these families. Pray for strength for them, that they may bring hope to the hopeless.

More updates coming soon.

Love,

The Harskamps

Arrived and Adjusting

We have safely arrived in Quito, landing a little past midnight on Friday after about an hour delay with our flight from Huston. The Jonkman's have been extremely hospitable to us, making us feel at home right away in their house. I (James) have been feeling a little under the weather, firstly with a headache due to the altitude, and finally culminating into a 15 hour trek in bed which saw me hot, chilled, sweating, and most of all sleeping. This morning? Feeling great. An important thing too, as church starts at 9:30 and goes until around 1, unless there's elder and deacon nominations - then it goes to about 1:30. The church starts with an hour bible study, followed by fellowship, and finishing with a worship service. The ladies kiss you on the cheek, the men firmly shake your hand, and everyone is extremely welcoming. Rebecca has done quite well with communicating with the congregation, while I've mastered the nod-smile, followed by "no habla Espanol", brutally pronounced. Some of the people speak English, and they've been gracious enough to talk to me. I've already been recruited to join the 9 am - 3 pm worship practice on Saturday because somebody sniffed out my guitar talent.

Arelene and Rebecca walking through the neighbourhood

Our first day here (Friday) was pretty relaxed. Jesse was a bit squirrely, and I had some pretty bad headaches due to the high altitude. Fred took us through parts of Quito on our way to play some basketball at the seminary. The city is beautiful, and just like John Denver said, it's in the mountains. The roads curve with the rolling landscape, and the drivers seems to follow the gravity. As our short drive revealed, there is no right of way or official lanes that the locals abide by. However, with Fred at the helm, we felt safe, despite being able to reach out the window and touch a car next to us for most of the drive.

First South American bath time

We arrived at the basketball court, and found a mix of church people and seminary students dressed in the finest athletic gear. Not intending to play (the altitude would be too much for me, right?), I was dressed in a slick pair of khakis, beautifully accented by a pair of black dress shoes. Needless to say, I was probably the best dressed MVP that day. Kidding aside, playing was a lot of fun, and a good way to get acquainted with some of the church.

Almost watching daddy play basketball

The Jonkman's have booked our first two days to just relax and adjust, which we appreciate. When we start with our projects, we promise to give more exciting updates.

Love,

James, Rebecca, and Jesse

Mission Trip Information

This October, our family will be joining Fred and Arlene Jonkman in their missionary work in Quito, Ecuador. The Jonkman’s are from the Grace Free Reformed Church in Brantford, and have been a part of Ecuador Missions for the past thirteen years.

This opportunity arose unexpectedly, but has certainly been an answer to prayer. After a job opportunity for James fell through, we began to prayerfully consider what our plans might be for the fall.  Within weeks our attention was drawn to Ecuador, and it was at a nearby church in Brantford (a church we happened to be visiting) that we became acquainted with the Jonkman’s and their mission. We were able to meet with them to discuss their work and if we might be able to assist them in their mission. It was an exciting meeting, calling to mind Ephesians 2:10, which says we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”.

In Ecuador, we hope to use the gifts that God has given us to strengthen the Church. Although Rebecca’s primary mission will be looking after our son Jesse, she will also be teaching an ESL course and helping Arlene with her involvement in the women’s ministry for the local members of their church in Quito. James will be helping with some web work for their mission, helping with small construction projects, as well as assisting Fred with his teaching at the Reformed Study Centre.  

We covet your prayers during this time. We ask you to pray for the transition of our family into a new culture, that Rebecca will be able to continue to care for Jesse while taking on additional responsibilities, and that we may humbly use our gifts to serve the people and Church in Ecuador. There is also a financial element of the trip, where the cost of living in Quito will be $1500 dollars a month in addition to flights. Our desire is to stay and assist the Jonkmans until the end of December. If you feel the Lord leading you to give, you can make cheques payable to "Vision 2020 Canada", writing “James and Rebecca Harskamp” on the comment line. All donations will be tax deductible. Donations may be given to us to pass on, or mailed directly to the New City Church donation office:

Vision 2020 Canada
c/o Arlene VandeKamp
45 Goodridge Drive, St. Albert, AB
T8N 2A9.

We thank you for support in Christ, in whom we seek to serve. If you would like to contact us while we are down south, you may reach us by email (jharska21@gmail.com) or by Skype (username: james.harskamp).

In Christ,

James, Rebecca and Jesse

Update: We've booked our flights and will be leaving for Ecuador on October 13, and returning to Vancouver on December 29 in time for James' brother's wedding.