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