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!
provision147
February 10, 2018 @ 4:00 pm
Dear Karen,
We will be with you in Spirit as you travel once again to Liberia! You are so faithful in the Father’s ministry of love, mercy and sacrifice. You will be upheld in fervent prayer and Father will be faithful to lead, guide and protect you and your people throughout your journey there and back. May you be energized at every level to be a blessing to all you come into contact with, and may you be sustained for every good work!
Blessings as you go in His might,
Tim
Caleb & Monika
February 11, 2018 @ 5:11 pm
So glad that the Lord has given you precious opportunities to help those in need. You are an angel in human form. The three steps forward and one step back has not damped your resolve to pursue the vision God has placed in your heart for the people of Liberia.
May the Lord’s RIGHTEOUSNESS continue to shine on you and all those you come in contact with.
Karen Barkman
February 12, 2018 @ 10:17 am
Thanks for the encouraging words Caleb & Monika! I do love the people of Liberia!!
Karen Barkman
February 12, 2018 @ 10:27 am
Thanks Tim!
I take to heart every word…believing for the ” energized at every level to be a blessing to all you come into contact with, and may you be sustained for every good work” Yes Yes Lord! Tim, I can still see you playing the flute as we walked from that remote village church in Thinker Village…. I could just FEEEEEEEL the peace of God everywhere!! Thanks for your friendship and inspiration all these many years!!! I’m still using that loaded MP3 player you gifted me with, it’s coming with me again!! What a gift!! Thank you Brother!!!