SHORT-TERM MISSIONS &
DISASTER RESPONSE

[From June 27 to July 1, 2022, 13 volunteers from five reformed churches including OPC, PCA, URC and Canadian Reformed served in Quebec City with Rev. Ben Westerveld teaching ESL to children.]

What a week! Sixty kids enjoying English conversation and learning about the story of Noah. In response to my questions – Who gave us the rainbow? Who sent the flood? Who saved Noah in the ark? Who give us a new earth of righteousness? – all the kids chanted, “God!” When I stated, “The Lord God is…”, all the kids responded, “faithful!” When I added, “He keeps his…” they all completed the sentence “promises!” While rainbow colors were every-where, the best of all was hearing the kids sing, Great is Thy Faithfulness! It brought tears to many eyes.

Parents of two boys – the older one being 12 years old and often the harder age to get actively involved in camp activities – wrote to me yesterday: “Thank you for all the organization and running the camp. My children sing, "Great is thy Faithfulness" every day. What good memories. Thank you and God bless you.” And while the missionary team has left Quebec City, the testimony of our presence continues. Yesterday, as I left the local public library, two children ran out after me calling, “Pastor Bernard!” They were kids from the Bible camp. The younger boy gave me a big hug. (I was embarrassed to have forgotten his name.) Please pray that the seed planted by the Word faithfully taught and with loving deeds would take root in the lives of each children and their families.

Double RAINBOWS

Sunday afternoon a light rain passed over our house. A few minutes later, our son Kaelan called out, “There is a rainbow!” What a nice way to end our English for Kids Bible Camp about Noah and the rainbow. When we went outside to look, there were in fact two rainbows! There is story behind the two rainbows. During our second summer in Quebec City, I was quite discouraged. Learning French was going very slow. Learning about the resistance of the Quebec people to the Church and the Gospel made me realize that evangelism would be even slower. The hearts are very hard. Discouraged, I went outside just as a storm had passed by. As the sun began to shine, I saw in the sky above Quebec City not one, but two rainbows! Reminded of God’s faithfulness to his promises, even his promises to preserve for himself a people from every nation, I committed myself to serve the mission in Quebec. Twenty-two years later, the double rainbows over Quebec City encourage me once again to pursue this mission. Thanks for interceding for me, for our family and for God’s people in Quebec!