Last days in Hawaii

Well my time has come to an end in YWAM Kona, Hawaii...for now.

A couple weeks ago I made the decision to move back to Canada for a while. I am still committed to YWAM, Kona until March but I will be helping with some office work for the photogenX ministry via Canada. So this coming December, the 17th to be exact, I arrive in Toronto and will spend about a month at home with my family and friends processing the last couple years, working on photography and maybe taking the odd shift at Groundswell! I am really looking forward to this time to spend not only with those closest to me but also the Lord in seeking the next steps. I already have the idea that I will be moving to Toronto and working there but nothing specific yet. My desire is that God will continue to use me and my gifts wherever I am.

The last couple years has been such an incredible journey for me. It has been full of adventure, growth in leadership, learning the Bible, world view and photography, deeper relationship with the Lord, challenges of many kinds, friendships, lots of good byes and traveling the world that God has so wonderfully created. To experience culture with the people, get to know their traditions and ways of life, their food and beautiful country has been a priceless blessing. I pray that God will allow me to continue you this in the years to come. I also pray that God will continue to use my gifts in photography to capture beauty and pain and to raise up a voice that will reach the nations about what is happening in our world. We live in a time where there is almost no limit to where we can go or what we can see but we also live in a time of great pain, sin and ugliness. To see this pain and hear about these injustices deeply impacted me to level where I can never say I am finished. I hope to continue to connect and join with the photogenX ministry in their mission to put an end to these injustices and see transformation happen around the world. That people would not only have a revelation of the evil that is occurring but they would come to know of the loving and forgiving Father that we have. That would be see that we are called to administer justice or all kinds whether that be in our own home, our communities, our nations or around the world. We can all play apart, which is so beautiful.

Speaking of playing apart I want to thank you all for partnering with me in seeing that I continued working with YWAM. Whether you were able to give financially or praying for me, it made the biggest difference! Without either of these two things I would not have been able to carry on. Your friendship and belief in what I do has also been an amazing blessing. To know that you support what I do and who I work for. Thank you to the YWAM community that has been a great encouragement spiritually, in friendships, growth and starting to find my calling. Thank you to all those in YWAM who have stood with me the last couple years (Paul and Susi, Dawn and Peter, Deni, Anna, Carla, Simon).

I am so excited for this next season and can't wait to connect with many of you over the Christmas season. If you would like to get a hold of me you can contact me via email (kiwana5@gmail.com) or phone (705)435-4530. Or you can just drop by my house!

I have included a summary of the last two and half years through photos. I hope you enjoy!

Much love from Hawaii,

Aaron

Last two and a half years...in photos!

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

YWAM, Prince Edward Island



























YWAM, Kona, Hawaii
































Outreach, Cambodia



























Outreach Costa Rica and Panama







































Staffing Discipleship Training School













DTS Outreach, Columbia
































Staffing Round the World Track
































Greece
































Turkey
































Christmas in Bulgaria


























Egypt







































Jordan













Israel


























Ethiopia


























Spring Break, Ireland


























Amsterdam


























England
































Spain


























Morocco
































































Costa Rica

























Kona, Hawaii and beyond

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Another quarter just flew by as time seems to be in warp speed out in the Pacific. I know this year I was hoping around but believe it or not I am still here on the Big Island of Hawaii and I haven’t gone anywhere. As much as it is such a blessing to live on this tropical island I do miss traveling and seeing God’s world. I guess I am having a bit of “cabin fever” which I like to call “island fever”. Fact, Hawaii is 4105km from Los Angeles, which is another 5 ½ hours in a plane from my home in Toronto. So you can imagine how I feel sometimes being on the most isolated islands in the world. Ok, don't feel to bad for me.

On another note, the quarter ended with little time and much stress as we finished off the publication. If you don’t remember my team is designing a book that will raise awareness about various injustice issues around the world such as prostitution, aids, rape, poverty and trafficking. We also want this book to be an avenue for people to get connected with ministries that reach out to these issues and get involved, whether that is financially, prayerfully or physically. It was a crunch at the end but the final product is full of powerful and beautiful stories and photographs. I am really looking forward to sharing this book with you in the coming months!

One more exciting piece of information is that my parents came to visit me for two weeks. It was my Mom’s 50^th birthday in September and also my parents 30^th anniversary this coming December. This time away was there way of celebrating these occasions as well as seeing what I do and where I live. We had such an adventure together as I took them to coffee shacks, hot springs, mountains, jungles, a black sand beach, snorkeling, a lava plume spurting into the ocean, natural steam vents and loads more. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out!

As for the future…I am continuing to staff here in Hawaii until the end of December. I have currently stepped away from the photogenX track program that I was previously staffing to give my self a break. I am still fully connected with the students and love them all very much. This next three months I am working in the photogenX office in the morning and working in an area called the ATV in the afternoon. The ATV (Appropriate Technology Village) is basically a garden area that tests different growing methods, toilet systems, wells, fish ponds and more and then brings them out to developing nations. All I want to say is that I love it!

In December I will be making a trip home to Canada for a couple weeks and then off to Hawaii again to do another school, the SOP (School of Photography). I actually applied last year and was accepted so have been preparing for this time for a while. I feel that God has called me to pursue excellence in my gifts, this being photography. Although I have a lot of experience having been able to travel and use photography in photogenX and various projects, I am doing this school to get the further training. I know that this school is an investment in my career as a photographer and missionary together. I hope to continue to use photography throughout my life to serve others.

Well, I send my love, Mahalo (thanks) and blessings from the jewels of the Pacific, yes that’s Hawaii.

Oh and also check out my website, I have new photos and you can now purchase on line!

www.aaronharcourt.com

Oh and, “Happy Thanksgiving Canada!”

Photos of Hawaii underneath! Please do not copy/save/paste photographs. Thank You.

Lam. 3:22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail!

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

The Big Island

(Above) Volcano Plume and a
friends tree house.
(Left) Evening light on some
local fruit (papaya and mango).
















Star Observatory on
Mauna Kea












Palm Tree Forest













Hawaiian Shrine on top
Mauna Kea












Puna District













Aaron at the Light House
lookout












Pololu Valley, North Kohala













Locals at a fresh water spring
(so cold)












Dad, Mom and me on
Mauna Kea












Hawaiian Gecko













Local Diner













Local man at Pololu Valley












PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Costa Rica and Home

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. I could say that my computer was broken for a month, and I went home for two weeks and I am extremely busy right now, and they would all be true but lame excuses. So despite working on my computer all day I thought I would just go for it and let you know how I am and where I am.

Well, I’m in Kona, Hawaii again. I am continuing to working with the photogenX ministry, specifically with the around the world track and in the office. So I’ll back up a little and catch you up to speed, oh and of course add some more photos. I left off leaving Morocco and touching down in San Jose, Costa Rica. To get a visual, think about where Mexico is and South America, Costa Rica is in between.

Our reason for being in Costa Rica was primarily study. We had the chance to look at Central American world view and the worlds impact on it’s people. Central America is a very diverse people and mix of history and religion. Not only are there the obvious Indigenous peoples and Spanish colonization, but there are also other European nations and Islam mixed in. I was surprised to hear about Islam’s influence in Central America but the more I learned and observed the more I understood.

Along with our studies came opportunities to serve the base and serve the community around us. The last week in Costa Rica was designed specifically to focus outwards in an area of your choice, well God’s choice. Some teams went to Panama, some to Cuba and others stayed in the area. After praying for a couple weeks I still did not have an area laid on my heart and God showed me that I should spend time with my leaders who were coming to visit after many months. It was a wonderful time to bond with them after so long, speak about the future and reflect on the past year of staffing a school. I also got to do some photography with Susi again in a slum area as well as at a day care centre. Although it wasn’t a very "deep" time, sometimes it just awesome being out there amongst the people, taking photos, hanging with friends and being creative with God in your work.

At the end of the week the teams came back and we had a time of debrief, not only for the past weeks adventure but also for the school. It was great to spend time processing what we had seen, experienced and learned from the past year of travel, study and outreach. Like I haven’t done it a million times before, I once again packed my bags at the end of the week and headed for home…real home.

Canada was such a blessing. Every time I go home I thank God for what a wonderful, beautiful and peaceful nation I live in. However we could be passionate about something other than hockey and maple syrup for a change. I don’t want to go into detail about my time at home but I want to say it was great! I was able to visit many friends and family members, my home church and camping night, spend some great time with my immediate family and even have a BBQ for one hundred people. Thanks to Dad and Mom and everyone else who helped bring the event together. And yes that does include those who brought pie and beer. The apple rhubarb was especially tasty! During the two weeks I even had time to fly out to Prince Edward Island (PEI for Canadians) and visit some good friends. Thanks Bill and Rinda for housing me and digging clams with me!

All in all it was a refreshing time for me. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to work on photos but wait….I finally have a website up and running. And yes photos are for sale, but I have to get that part of the website operating still. I have most of my travel section up and in the next couple weeks should have some of Canada, PEI and of course Hawaii. Go to www.aaronharcourt.com to check it out!

So I am here in Kona, Hawaii again. Each day I hope that this awful vog will clear. For those who haven’t heard there is a large plume in the south part of the island that creates a fog looking stuff (vog = volcanic fog) which dims the sun, kills plants and isn’t that great for breathing either. Anyways, I am staffing the school still and the making of our publication is slowly coming together! I am stoked to see what comes out over the next couple months and be sure I will keep you posted. For another impacting project that our ministry is taking part of and some may have see the booklet called, Hakani when I was home. Check out www.hakani.org. This is serious stuff that’s happening!

Well I want to leave you with some prayer requests.

1) Finances
2) Continued growth in my relationship with the Lord
3) Direction for this January
4) Further healing in my life
5) Growth as a leader
6) Ways that I can get involved within our community

Thank you everyone for your continued interest, prayer and financial help for the last couple years. You are all a blessing to my heart and would love to hear from you anytime. kiwana5@gmail.com

Donations:

Cheques/Cash:

Aaron Harcourt
156 Victoria St. W.
Alliston, ON.
L9R 1L7
Canada

Peace,

Aaron Harcourt

Morocco

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Aaron, Anna, John

Costa del Sol y N. Africa

Hey everyone,

it’s Aaron again, the one who you can never keep up with and the one who you don’t ever fully understand what he’s doing. Well, most of the time I can’t even understand what I’m doing!

Just to catch you up to speed, I’m in San Jose, Costa Rica in Central America. In the last week I have traveled twenty four hours from the middle of Morocco to Spain, spent four days in Malaga, took a seven hour bus from Malaga to Madrid, ran across the Madrid underground, spent eight hours in the airport, flew nine hours across the Atlantic Ocean, got an x-ray for drugs in Bogota, Columbia, spent twenty more hours in an airport and lastly took my final one and a half hour flight to arrive in San Jose. Worryingly this is becoming more and more normal for me.

After a week spent in England visiting a friend I flew down to Malaga, Spain to meet up with my team. Spain was an amazing time for me and my group. We stayed in a beautiful old villa, owned by a YWAM base that was so refreshing after months of hostels, apartments, and squishy rooms. We as a team had an incredible time of teaching and bonding with each other. It was also a time of reflection of the last eight months and growing in our relationship with God. We had a chance to share with each other our burdens, lives, hurts and joys. We spent three days praying, on our faces, worshipping and the Lord ministering to us. I believe it was a blessing and significant moment for us as a team to really bond and know each other before we head back to Kona.

Having our teaching on Islamic worldview, we put our knowledge into practice, split into small teams and traveled to North Africa. Surprisingly it only takes a couple hours by bus and ferry before you land yourself in Tangier, Morocco, the place that part of the Borne Ultimatum was filmed. Fortunately and unfortunately we didn’t hang around and headed straight down to a city called Marrakech, twelve hours by train. What an incredible city! Even though it is “infested” with tourist, us being some of them, it still holds onto its old Moroccan roots and traditions. There were kilometers of markets, strewn with died leather, spice shops and jewelry, wonderful foods, including tajine, dried fruit stands and fresh orange juice, monkey’s, henna painters and snake charmers…it was quite an experience!.

We didn’t waste time however and found a guide who would take us to the desert. Things fell together quickly and we were off early the next morning. Driving through the Atlas mountains was a breathtaking experience but it was not our main goal so we moved on through long plains, steep gorges, dry desert and twelve hours later finally made it to a town on the foot hills of the Sahara called, M’hamed. We had a wonderful night with cultural music (even though I wouldn’t consider them talented), Moroccan food and chatting with our hosts.

The next morning we took camels to a Kasbah a couple hours away, meet some people and visited with a family. After lunch we took off by four wheel drive into the desert where the paved road literally stops and dry, rocky ground begins. It was a rough two hours across deep ruts, carved out by many others desert hungry tourists. Stopping at an oasis outfitted with beer and snacks (LOL) was an odd experience but we finally made it to the towering sand dunes. Presumably, the three of us climbed the tallest dune in Morocco, three hundred meters high and left a gift for the rest of the guests, footprints all the way up. After a long dehydrating afternoon we stepped back into camp for a wonderful dinner and met some great people. I had the chance to chat with out guide, Hussein about his faith but he wasn’t that interested, a bit of a desert hippie.

Well after a twelve hour journey back to Marrakech, a day trip to the windy city and twenty fours hours back to Spain, we met up with the rest of our group for a nice debrief of the last week. Spain and Morocco was such a diverse time for me personally. I had a time of deep brokenness, extreme relaxation, bonding with the team, a birthday celebration, intense travel, wild Moroccan life, meeting other back packers, desert dwelling in sand dunes and dry camel hair tents, Mediterranean fisherman, more travel and finally making it to Costa Rica. God has done brilliant things in the last month and answered several prayers.

If you remember, please continue to pray for my team. Two of our international students, both from Korea, did not make it to Costa Rica due to visa problems coming through the United States. Pray that they will be able to return safely to Korea and get student visas as soon as possible to meet us back in Kona for the rest of the program. Pray that God will use our team to speak into the lives of those around use, including our team and the locals that we meet. Please also pray for a peace as I go back to Kona and preparation as I go back home for a couple weeks to visit family and friends. Thank you for continuing to partner with me throughout this program. It has been a wonderful year full of adventure, growth, hardship, joy, fulfillment and much more.

Amsterdam

I can tell you at this point I am so tired of packing my bag, learning the next hello and thank you in the local language and working in my next springy bed, but the adventure of seeing the world, experiencing a new culture and sharing God’s love for others continues to burn in my heart.

Amsterdam was an interesting place on many levels. It is a city of such history and beauty but also one of sin and addiction. For those who don’t know and that is probably few, Amsterdam is one of Europe’s hubs for legal prostitution and drug use. Coffee Shops, which stand on nearly every corner, host a place for people to come and smoke weed and drink. The city is also a major industry for fashion, creating a sense of materialism and image. It is however also a city with such awesome creativity from music to art to the fashion industry, a gift that God longs to use.

My experience in Amsterdam was hard as I faced some depression, lack of motivation and pasty white skin again but my team and I were given with some really special moments during our time. I got together with a friend from my town (potato town for those of you who know) and invited a couple people from my school. We had a mean curry and got presented with an idea of helping with a magazine for young people. The goal for the magazine is to be relevant and creative but not Christianese and we were asked if we would like to be a part of the creative side using photography. I am feeling that this will be an incredible opportunity for our school to start using their photographs.

Another amazing opportunity that we had as a school was to give flowers to the prostitutes in the red light district. We bought white flowers and attached small notes of encouragement on them, speaking of their beauty and the love that God has for them, we wanted it to be simple. I was really nervous as I expected to be rejected but I was faced with a very different response. The first woman to receive my flower took it with a huge smile and thank you! Each window I knocked at the woman behind the glass gladly took the flower and placed it in any vase available. One woman, quite young, took her flower and smelled it. A couple minutes later after returning to the same area she was still standing in the window smelling the flower. Now, daisies don’t even have a smell but the women took it as if she was a little girl picking flowers from the garden. It was beautiful! Many asked why we were giving them away and we simply said that we wanted them to know that they were loved. It was a special night for our group and we were all greatly blessed by the way the Holy Spirit was ministering to those women.

Despite our challenges in Amsterdam, God did some great things! After a short travel week in the UK, I am in Malaga, Spain studying Islam and Muslim culture. I will tell you more but until then I will let you know that I am really enjoying my time here. God is doing some radical things in our team, bringing us together, debriefing, healing, etc. We will also be going to Morocco for a week to do ministry and photography. Pray that God would use our team in the little time we have there.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Bicycles of Amsterdam

Dam Square













Country Castle













Traditional Amsterdam House













Night Photography



























Carnival in Dam Square













Red Light District

Giving Flowers

The Horn of Africa

Six weeks have blown by and you probably know little of what’s happened. I ended my last blog by telling you that our team was off to Ethiopia.

It was not what I expected and I blame World Vision for this, as they always portray the Horn of Africa as dry, dusty, mud huts and bloated bellied children. Although I am sure this exists, we were met with a very different Ethiopia, forest, green rolling hills and beautiful people. Yes the poverty and pain was still there but there wasn’t much than that!

Our first week we dove into a time of spiritual awakening, getting back to intimacy with God. A man named Andy Bird came and the Lord used his teaching to bring refreshing to us as a team. Worship, intercession, fellowship, prayer and hanging out with Jesus, it was all there.

Moving on to our second week, we had a wonderful couple from South Africa come and teach on African worldview and photojournalism. It was a fantastic week in beginning to understand the African culture, a beautiful and vibrant people! They have a word in Africa, “Ubuntu” which means; well it’s hard to put one definition to it. Its family, care, togetherness, selflessness, love, community, unity and it’s Christ like. I want more of Ubuntu in my life and culture.

Our last week in Ethiopia, we incorporated our teaching in African worldview and photography to create a photography story on an issue or topic existing in Ethiopia. I planned to work with street children but was faced with many different issues throughout the week, including vomiting my guts out the day before I flew to Amsterdam. During the week I had the opportunity to speak with men at the bar, feed seven hundred homeless at the feeding centre, interview women from the villages and talk with teens living on the street. Here are two of the stories that really touched me.

On one of our first days in the outreach week I met some women coming down the hills with large bundles of wood on their backs. They told me that they have to walk up to twenty five kilometers, from their homes to the city, and back to the village for night fall. After carrying these heavy loads all day and risking their lives coming down the mountain roads, they only get 10 Birr, which is the equivalent to about one dollar a day. One women has been doing this job for thirty years and is now sixty, another was fifteen. The saying that most of the world lives on a dollar a day is very true for these women.

On another day me and a student were walking to the feeding centre and were asked for money by a teen. We stopped and chatted with him for a bit and got to visit his friends and home. His home was actually a grassy medium shared by about ten others, including a teen family with a child. We interviewed several of them and got their photos. One boy named Kiflom, left his mothers house because she is very sick and doesn’t have money to support the family, his father already died. He came to Addis to make money but is now living on the streets with others in similar situations. He can longer go to school because he needs money for school supplies and a uniform. All the money that he gets is spent on food for himself and his friends. I asked one boy why one of the girls couldn’t get a job to make money to go to school, these are his words, “She is not pure, she is living on the streets”.

In this time I really questioned how I could help these people. Will money fix their problems? I believe it will help some of their problems but not fix them. What they need more than this, and is a common hunger in all of Africa, is Christ. We were taught during our week in African worldview that more than a trillion dollars has been poured into Africa over the last one hundred years (that’s $1,000,000,000). How much has changed? Africa is still the poorest continent on this planet.

Ethiopia was an incredible time for our team. We learned a lot, experienced a lot, did a lot. Like every nation I have been to, I hope to return. I am currently in Amsterdam after a week break in Ireland and continuing on with the Humanities and Science course, looking at European worldview. If you are interested in supporting my finacially you can click on the Paypal link, sign up for a Paypal account (quick and easy) and donate using credit card.

Thanks again for reading and viewing.

Aaron Harcourt

Ethiopia

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Mango












Coffee


























Feeding Centre













Markato (Market)









































Village













Women Carrying Wood
25 Kilometres/Day
10 Birr = 1 Dollar
15 yrs. old
























Thirty Years of Labor
Sixty Years Old

Kiflom
Living on the streets of Addis Ababa
Father Died, Mother Ill
No Job, No Money, No School
17 yrs. old






There will always be hope!

Egypt 2

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON


Sufi Dancing















































City Life













Mosque

One month in the Holy Land

Across the Sinai and into the Promised Land.

It was fascinating to see the land change from dry rocks and sand into a land of oasis, green fields and forest. After a long six hours through intense boarder crossing we arrived in the Holy City, Jerusalem. During one of our Biblical Studies week we learned that in Biblical times, no matter which direction you were coming from Jerusalem was up, signifying the Holiness of the city.

I was shocked as we arrived in our little Palm Hostel, right in the heart of the Muslim community. Although the area was so different in many ways to the Jewish side of town, I took the time as a blessing. It was a blessing to live with these people, so broken and hurt from their past and future, yet carrying on with life. The division between the Jewish and Muslim is particularly intense as the city is divided into sections. Not only is the old city of Jerusalem divided into Jewish, Muslim, Armenian and Christian but the entire city itself. For an Arab person to cross into the Jewish area they have to carry identity papers. Those without get hassled and sent away from entering. I feel very uninformed to talk about such an intense and historic problem…the clash of two civilizations.

Our time in Jerusalem consisted of finishing the Biblical course and a field trip throughout Israel to visit the places that Jesus walked. It was a great finish to our course as we studied Old Testament Early and Late History as well as having a week on The Heart of an Artist. This was especially an impacting week as I desire so much to use the arts for God’s glory but I am finding it challenging to figure out how I can do that effectively. Although I am using photography my area of interest is in many different mediums. The week on the arts was so inspiring and allowed me to get to my creative roots again. I was able to ask myself what was holding me back and what I needed to do to allow the Lord to use my gift to its full potential. At the end of the week I was asked by our speaker to come and visit one of his ministries in Norway this spring. If time allows and God calls I am hoping to make a short visit to see what God is doing in other areas of YWAM in the arts movement.

For the field trip week the students split into small teams and headed to different areas of the country. They had an amazing time but it came with challenges as one team had much other their equipment stolen and another was greatly discriminated against for being American. In the end God taught them a lot and allowed them to bond together and trust him to forgive those who had wronged them during this time. They all came back with incredible stories of God’s blessing and answered prayers. Personally this week was great and more restful. The staff stayed back due to finances but it was well needed as things have been so busy with travel, preparations, teaching, discipling and everything else that goes along with leading twenty two young people around the world. My father was also able to come and visit and that was an incredible blessing. My team absolutely loved his fun and inviting character and he even had the chance to do communion with our speaker and also speak into many lives. I think he will have many visitors to Alliston in the coming years. Thanks for being available to come Dad and for spending time with me!

Sorry about the length…I will try to write more often so the updates aren’t so long. Blessings to everyone and don’t forget to drop me a message when you get the chance. I have also included some pictures. Oh and just so that you can keep up with me I am currently in Cairo, Egypt. We’ll have been here for another two weeks and this Friday we, as a team fly down to Ethiopia for a month to begin our study on African Worldview…I’m stoked!!

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS. THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON.

Dead Sea

After Bomb Suspicion

Wailing Wall

Rabbi Speaks

Dome of the Rock

The Wall ~ Palestine

Church

Dad and Me