Leaving for Liberia in a week!!!

I am off to Liberia in a week with two lovely people from Steinbach, Manitoba!!

This will be a first for both!   Could I ask you to pray for us as we go?  Prayer makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!  If you would like to be part of our prayer network would you please email me back.  In return, you will get our prayers too.  We will be gone for 3 weeks.  This is my 11th trip since 2003!!!

We are going in with boxes of medications again.  I stepped out in faith and ordered two – 50 pound Humanitarian Medical Kits from Health Partners International of Canada.  How can we not bring medications when there are thousands too poor to afford simple things like pain medication, antibiotics, etc.  The kits cost $ 625 each and we get thousands of dollars worth of “valuable” meds!  Thank God for the Dr. Couple in Duncan, BC who so generously donated for one kit.  If anyone would like to contribute to this cause, we would  appreciate it SO MUSH!  This is a great investment.  You literally save lives!

We will have a very FULL itinerary on this trip.  As always we will spend time visiting our 4 Children’s Homes, and our single mothers.  We will spend time with our widows and visit some of their homes.  On this trip we are meeting with a Co-op of Farmers 2 Farmers to see how we can network together to benefit them with our Organic Agriculture Training and assist in Micro Financing.  There are always ways to improve.  I love the progress we are making towards sustainability.  It’s slow but it’s steady.  Three steps forward one step back.  It’s improving!

Kevin Wiebe, our Liberia daughter Felecia’s husband is coming with us.  It will be such a blessing for Felecia’s family to meet him and for us, to have a man along to help us with our HEAVY baggage.  Usually the women I take on our teams say ” The hardest part of our journey is the luggage!!”  I agree! Kevin comes with many skills.  He is a professional mechanic and carpenter.  A great handyman!

Our third team member is another very talented person.  I will include her in the trip report after we get back home.  This was her request and I respect that.  It will be great to have a very skilled Miss Photographer and assistant to me, along on this journey!  This was a huge answer to prayer!

Today is a sad day for me and so many in Liberia.  It’s the funeral of my very dear Liberian Daughter … Precious Freeman.   I really cannot imagine Liberia without her.  She was one of my angels!!  Every trip she would be one of the first to greet me at my door.  She always came with gifts … but the greatest gift to me was PRECIOUS herself!

I am starting a trust fund for Maxwell who has just started his second semester of Nursing at Mother Patern.  Max is a sharp student and I know he will succeed.  He has what it takes.  Mama has raised him well.  When Precious got sick last March, and many of you prayed her through, Max stopped school to be with her.  It was the noble thing to do.  Maxwell and Precious were so, so close.  I met Precious and Maxwell in Ghana in 2008 and have walked with them since. For more on that remarkable story click here  Refugee Mother and Son Find Hope.  I will never forget that incredible night as long as I live!

Robert is a younger boy, who Precious has raised.  We started him to school late, but nevertheless he has skipped grades and today he is in Gr. 7, doing so well!  Robert you will make your Mama proud!!

Precious Freeman you will have a place in my heart forever!!

Precious Freeman .. my dear Liberian daughter, how can I possibly put into words, all that you have been to me?
We have walked together from the day I met you at the Holiday Feeling Hotel in 2008. I will never forget that night when you came to my room for prayer. Heaven came down, and you met Jesus! I still remember your face!! You literally glowed!!
We both felt God’s Presence so strong, we were both in awe.
I leave for Liberia in a week, and I cannot imagine Liberia without you. You were “always” there to welcome me. So, so, so many times you would have just the right words, to inspire me to keep on going, especially on the hard days.
I can still hear you say as you did so many times ” Mom, you are one in a million” I have often said, God gives me angels, and I know He gave me.. you.
Tonight as I write this Liberia is waking up, to get ready for your funeral. This is a very hard day for all of us. A very hard day!
I wish I could be there to put my arms around Maxwell and Robert, and assure them that Heaven knows and it’s gonna be okay.
Please know, that we will all join together to take good care of your boys. They will make it because you taught them how to be strong and how to lean on Jesus in the hard times. You showed them the way and how to be brave.
Precious you died a Victor! A Champion! I love it that God chose the church, to be the place where He called you home. It’s the place you loved to be. We all knew that!
Today you are walking with Jesus on those beautiful streets of glory! I can only imagine, your face now!!!
I love you Precious… today and forever… and one day ..we will meet again!