John and Sharon Harvey
Founders of ASELSI Ministries
In January of 1993, John, Sharon and their 17 year old daughter, Joy, left the States in response to a childhood call when they each professed to the Lord, "Here I am, send me!" They traveled to Antigua, Guatemala and learned Spanish in a language school for six weeks. For the next three years, they worked with other missionaries in the country as the Lord prepared them to undertake the apostolic ministry of ASELSI. John began teaching Bible courses to the rural pastors who had no opportunity to study. Sharon began providing medical care and health teachings to those in need.
In January, 1998 they left the relative "comfort" of the capital area and moved out into the Western Highland area where life was still suffering from the effects of the 36 year civil war that had ended in December, 1996. John had been teaching small groups of pastors in this area for several years and they felt it was time to live closer to the people who had such great needs in education and health care. The town of Chichicastenango (about 12,000 population at that time) seemed to be the best choice. They were the only North American missionaries in Chichicastenango at that time. The local pastors from that area later told them that they thought the Harvey's would be there for no more than 6 months and then would pack up and go back to the capital! They both immersed themselves in serving the Mayan Quiché Indians and felt like they were right where God would have them.
John's influence and Bible School Extensions continued to grow and within a short period of time staff members were added from the local people. Families with sick children began to knock on the Harvey's gate seeking help and soon Sharon saw the need to find a place to hold clinics. A new duplex was just a block away and the Harvey's rented it. It served as the clinic and office/classroom/team housing for a number of years. Living 3 hours from the capital city over rough, winding roads was sometimes difficult but John and Sharon knew they were right where God wanted them!
Over the last 15 years in Chichicastenango, the Harvey's have seen the Lord's hand in provision, favor and the wonderful opportunity to present God's word and truth to thousands of Mayan Quiché Indians through the Bible Education and clinic programs. They have hosted hundreds of people through Short-Term Mission teams and have seen these people reach out to the Guatemalans and have their own lives changed by doing so.
The ASELSI team has grown to include 17 full-time national workers, 12 part-time national clinic workers and Bible Teachers, 2 volunteer Guatemalan doctors who work with us once a month, 11 national regional coordinators over IBEX, 6 missionary couples plus families and 3 single missionaries. ASELSI now has Bible Extensions in Guatemala, southern Mexico, Ecuador, Texas, and Venezuela.
John and Sharon have been married for over 43 years. They have 3 married children - John, Jr. and Brenda (Portland, OR), Jeffrey and Luiza (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Joy and David Fuentes (Portland, OR). They have 9 wonderful grandchildren. The thing that gives them the most joy is that all of their family loves the Lord!