A New Chapter

Perhaps many of you have noticed how dusty it has gotten around here. I have gone through many changes in life, begun new journeys, and learned a handful of lessons.
I am still in Ethiopia, now private tutoring in English. Over the past two years, I have nearly completed my bachelor's degree (I graduate in May!) and obtained a TESOL certification.
However, my dreams are (and gave always been) to pursue my passion in creative storytelling and becoming an author. I have recently embarked on what I hope to be a bigger and better chapter in my life that prefaces life as an author.
As I lay this blog to final rest, you can continue following me and my story by checking out my short story blog.
At Creativity Brewing, you can enjoy a freshly brewed tale that you can read in three minutes while you are having your morning cup of coffee or tea, whichever you fancy.

Thank you for joining me thus far and I hope to see you on the other side!

-Kevin Barrick 

Newsletter Subscription

I will be sending out my first quarterly newsletter by the end of July, updating on things that I have been involved in while back in the States for the summer, plus some visions for when I return.

If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe so you can be a part of my mailing list! :)


You should have seen a popup, however if you didn't, you can follow the link below, fill out a short form (Name and E-mail address), and you're on your way to being a part of my prayer and support team!

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Tapestries of their Lives : Looking at the Threads.

Meet Daniel. This is one of the children I tutor at Unforgotten Faces. He is going into Grade 7. He lives with his mom and two brothers, and he is the oldest of the boys. Problems at home, inconsistencies in life, and assumptions of those around him as left him to trudge through the sludge of being known as a trouble maker. I have seen through the guise and see him for who he truly is, or at least more than what he is known to be. He lacks a sense of self worth after having struggled under the label of a trouble maker. Many times he has succumbed to such mentality, other times he gives up on things like handwriting or even learning due to the weight of his assumed identity. He began losing his sense of hygiene recently before I left, coming to the organization with scabbed nose or fingers gained from bacteria found in rubbish around town.

But he is more than all that. He is a smart student. He has huge potential. And he has a big heart. He needs an opportunity. He needs love.

Your contribution to my ministry will enable me to return and minister to Daniel. He needs a mentor-figure to help guide him. He needs someone to show him love without any sense of blindness to his true identity. He needs someone to overlook the outward expressions caused by inward turmoil. He needs someone to reach out and comfort and aid.

When you invest, you will invest in the life of Daniel and other children like him. When you support me, you send me out to be a thread in his life to connect the chaos of his current life and hem in a new beauty. When you give, you invest in the repair of the rips and frays of their lives.


You can invest via PayPal : Donate here!

Thank you for your thoughts, your love, and your support!

So When Do You Go Back?

 Last week I surprised everyone by coming back a month early. While those closest to me hate to ask, those that casually know me always interject a "So when do you go back?" For those that hate that question, it's more of an undesired event: my departure. However, for me personally, I view it as something beautiful. Not necessarily excited. Not necessarily exciting, though it can be. Mostly just pure beauty.






For the past two years I have lived in Ethiopia. Part of that time I was doing more photo-journalistic work, taking photos to update one organization's sponsorship booklet as well as writing a short essay on their story. But the majority of my time spent in Ethiopia was spent setting roots as well as introducing myself to the way of teaching. I began spending time with my sponsor kid at the beginning and now have become part of the family, learning the language and culture, as well as just living life with them.

I also joined the Unforgotten Faces team as a volunteer. I started more as a general "walk-around" tutor, helping the kids with English and Mathematics. Once I got the language a little more under my belt, I began to take whole classes and tutor on English the topics they were studying in school. Just as I was getting ready to leave I began to teach my own curriculum using the materials I had on hand. I would take a small group at a time and teach either reading, early phonics, or basic grammar and conversational English.



That beginning time in Ethiopia really gave me the opportunity to grow and find myself, or at least begin to discover my identity. I find myself more of a helper-type personality. I love to help people. As I've moved across the globe, my form of helping has changed drastically. I like to help people on an emotional, spiritual level. Helping people find peace and know themselves. However, due to a huge language barrier, that has been forced to come to a basic level of emotional help. The emotional support given in friendship or as someone who doesn't treat the person like everyone else does. As my language develops, so will my pathways to pursuing that part of who I am. At this time, my help has become more holistic, which I neither regret nor despise. I teach English. I tutor Math. In the process I might offer advice or show love or concern. But those things aren't my focal points right now. English in a developing country is a very marketable skill. If a child can learn English now while he or she is in school, then university will be that much easier and finding a good job will be almost endless. Then their lives in the future will fruitful. And I will, in that moment, have helped them at a level beyond merely holistic for their lives and perspectives will be changed.

         So when I go back at the end of the summer, I will pour my heart out all the more teaching those children English. I will create a teaching atmosphere in which they can learn. I will officially begin my life as an English Teacher to students of a different language. I will begin to mold the future of a handful of students as they learn English. And that is beautiful. Not that I am the tapestry, but rather I am a thread being woven into the tapestry of life. More precisely, I am a thread being woven into the tapestry of the life of each of my students. I am not the weaver, I am not the tapestry. But I can change the way the tapestry looks from here on out. Not drastically. But slightly. A change in hues. A shift in rotation. A break in color.



And you can bring me to the loom. You, too, can invest in the tapestries of life. I am volunteering with Unforgotten Faces. They do not pay me. I have no other job from which an income flows in. I am living off of the generosity of people like you. Therefore, while I may be a thread woven into their tapestries of life, I will eventually run out. But that is where you come in. By your gifts of love, by your thoughts, by your donations I can continue teaching.








If you want to help out, take a look at the "How You Can Help" tab. In there you can find a list of different things for which I am raising money. Concisely: plane ticket, healthcare, living. Check out, also, the "About" tab for more information not covered in this post. Additionally, I will continue to keep my "Child Highlight" tab open. I intended to use it more often. This time, I will highlight one of my students, showing how he/she has grown as a student or even as a person. It might not be frequent, but I will make a blog entry notifying when I update it, so keep an eye out!






Thank you for your help, support, and thoughts!

Kevin Barrick

kevinmbarrick@gmail.com

PayPal: https://paypal.me/KevinBarrick

Updates in Ethiopia

 At the time of writing this newsletter, I am just about halfway through the second phase of my language school. After I finish, I will begin more interpersonal ministry work. I am excited to be able to speak the language and make connections with the children to whom I am ministering—even if the conversation lingers on where their school is, what their grade is, how many classmates they have, and what their name is. In language school, I am building my abilities to story-tell. Daily, I am given a picture book that contains no words and told to describe it and tell the story of the images. I have to explain when a woman is robbed (even if by a monkey), when a boy helps a blind shimagele (older man) cross the street on the way to school, when a siratenia (worker) gets upset by having to carry 3-5 bundles of groceries at once without any help, or when a small woof (bird) finds a new hat but discovers his friend makes fun of it, only to steal it when the woof flies away in shame.

God has given me a skill with languages and I am picking up things pretty well. I look forward to fluency, but am grateful for the level in which I am now. True love is demonstrated by taking efforts to understand. I want my love to be realized by seeing my efforts to understand their hearts and lives through their language—even if I get stuck in the mud in the middle of the conversation.

I appreciate your donations and your prayers greatly. This time in language school will prove to be invaluable to my ministry in coming years. Thank you.

At our monthly Children's Program, we taught thankfulness and encouraged the children to take time that day to thank someone after class. The next day we followed up on the encouragement and found that a good few of them went out and thanked their families for various things.

For that, I'm thankful. ;)

God is amazing, isn't He? His love is indescribable. His Light overcomes the Darkness and His glory fills the earth night and day. Praise His holy name!

There is a beauty in the calling of God's voice. Whatever it is that we are called to do, we can embrace it with full heart. Whether it is working with prostitutes in the Red Light District or whether it is being a lawyer; whether it is working with street kids or working with Elementary schools doing Bible classes; whether it is teaching at a school or a university or being a private tutor. We can embrace God's call for our heart with every bit of it. Not because of indebted duty or because we are bound to the whim of God, but because, from our birth, we have been divinely guided and prepared to devote our hearts to the purpose of God. If God calls us to education now, we will have had been prepared throughout our lives. Perhaps not with an early grasp of teaching skills, but perhaps with a seed of passion. Interests, passions, events, circumstances, trials, and excitements were all used to prepare you to be able to devote your entire heart to God's calling.

All the while, I do not believe God has any specific will for each and every person to the point that if you do not follow it you are living in sin and breaking fellowship with Him. I do, nonetheless, believe that God has a will for everyone in a general sense and turning away from that will of God would result in sin and the breaking of fellowship with God. That will is two-fold: Love God and love others. If you do not love God and love others then you are sinning. With that in mind, whatever you do that flows from that is automatically God's will. If you are working in a community center and loving God and loving others, then you are doing God's will for your life. If you are a doctor and loving God and loving others, then you are in accordance to God's will. God's will is not a mystery; it is plain and simple. The only tricky part is following God's will in the avenue in which He has prepared you for your entire life.

Thus, while you may be teaching a Bible class at an Elementary school with a heart full of love, you may not be doing the task God prepared you for. Is it a sin, then, for you to be teaching that class? Absolutely not. You are loving God and others. Are you a perfect match for it, possibly not. You may have a good bit of your heart in your work, but it may be that not all of it is there; and therefore you grow more weary and lose passion as time goes on. You can stay where you are and be in good communion with God, but you might not be balanced in your heart with your task. Some of your abilities or passions may not be utilized or may be over-utilized.

It is with that in mind that I share with you my plans for the next 6-12 months. My heart and passion is for neglected children. Up to this point, that took the form in various children's ministries where my heart would find attachment to the broken ones or the ones looked down upon. Those that adults would label trouble makers or those ostracized by other children.

When I committed my heart to coming to Ethiopia, I knew I had no definite plans for the entire two years. It was a completely new field in which to follow God. There were no Elementary schools in which I could lead Bible Clubs. When I came here in 2012, I taught at an academy. That was my only “old” area, therefore I chose to rejoin that organization (Blessing the Children International) and teach at their academy. I knew when I chose to rejoin them that I would be doing side things—primarily teaching Sunday School at my church in Debre Zeyit.

My heart still throbs for those that are neglected. I envision, now, working with street children at some point in the future. At this point, that is still at least a year away. But I want to begin the steps toward that. Therefore, I have decided to work with BCI for these next 6 months, during which I will learn the lay of the land and dabble with various organizations in Debre Zeyit or Addis Ababa. I will see what it is like ministering to the children of Debre Zeyit on a personal level and not on a teacher level. I will find out what it takes to gain their trust and learn how others have broken their trust in the past. I will be a light of God's love for them, even if it is just in struggling to convey simple thoughts in their own language so to come to the point of understanding their hearts.

For the next 6 months I will be living off of the funds I raised before coming to Ethiopia. However, after that I will be living off of reserves. I am budgeting between $400-$500 a month beginning around June 2015. That will cover my personal living costs as well as ministry costs. Once I finish the 6 months with BCI, I will begin to take my next step to working with the street children. I will then partner with an existing ministry that works with street children. I will learn how they operate and gain insights. My plan is to find multiple ministries and, throughout the following year, inter-work with those ministries. At the end of that, in the Summer of 2016, I will return to the States and see where my heart and God lead me.

Until then, I will pour my heart out to the children of Debre Zeyit and perhaps also Addis Ababa. I will build bonds with them and reveal to them the love and light of Jesus Christ. Specific actions are unknown, but I do plan on helping a ministry called Unforgotten Faces by being a mentor to the children. I will also eventually (after the 6 month mark) work on beginning a street Bible Club near one of the churches that I will be working with. But those details will come as it gets closer and more solid.

I ask that you pray for me as I embrace God's calling and give Him my heart. I don't know where this all will take me or how it will shape me, but I really just want to give my heart to restoring the hope of these children and allowing them to see the Light that the Darkness of this age tries to hide.

However, I not only ask you to pray, but I ask you to give. It's very easy to throw a prayer in the air just after reading this. I know, for I am guilty of doing just that. For my prayer warriors: I am very grateful to you. The constant, fervent prayer of righteous ones avails very much against the darkness that surrounds my life and God's work. If you pray for me regularly, then you are very much thanked. Please know it.

But whether you pray for me or not, please consider donating to my ministry. Even if it is just $5/month. I really mean that. And, though as not to bore you, here is what that $5 translates into:

First, $5 is *100ETB( Ethiopian Birr, which will be denoted with an asterisk). *100 can buy 10 one-liter bottles of water; 50 packages of cookies for Children Programs; 10 bags of milk; a meal for a family of 4 twice; two and a half plates of breakfast for a mentored child; 14 school notebooks; 25 two-way trips to the area of my ministering; approx. two days worth of travel to and from Addis Ababa; just barely less than the cost of registering a child for school at a government school.

Five dollars.

I understand that you might have school, a family, your own ministry, or other financial burdens. I get that. But five dollars really isn't that much for you, I'd imagine. But it is a lot to me. Won't you consider giving at least that much? Won't you consider going without that latte for just one day and giving that money to God's work here in Ethiopia? It really isn't offensive if you give a little. It really isn't insignificant. It really isn't bothersome. It is rather a beautiful sight to see that you decided to give, even if a little, to the work of Light.

So pray. Consider giving. Pursue love. Join in the fight against Darkness.

|Kevin Barrick|

Paypal: imagoin2heaven@yahoo.com

Address: 919 S. Battleground Ave. Kings Mountain, NC 28086

Warfare is Right Here

The concept of Christians being in a constant battle is either disregarded or misunderstood as an exaggeration of the Church. Either life is life and we must live through it while maintaining some moral uprightness; or life is a struggle to live uprightly and we give a nod to being in “The Lord's Army” and battling against the Devil who wants us to sin.

But the Christian life is more than both of those ideas. Yes there is an Enemy to our God and Saviour. Yes there are daily struggles to remain pure and spotless children of God. Yes we know there are human enemies trying to stop us from doing what is right. But how often do we look beyond the physical and peer into the spiritual? How often do we consider the seemingly random and outrageous thoughts which pop into our minds (to lust or to doubt or to hate) as more than mere temptations but as specific, targeted attacks against us to get us to destroy our view of God or our love for God or our devotion to God? How often do we see the conflicts or misunderstandings between the people we are ministering with as the same targeted attacks? How often do we see the roadblocks or delays or dead-ends as attacks on our mind in Christ?

We are in a daily fight for our lives. Satan and his demons desire to erase God from the world. The Bible records that Satan has lost the battle at the end of it all, but he is still active now. Therefore, Satan knows he will not conquer God in the end, but he still works to conquer the hearts and lives of the people of earth before the final destruction of himself. He wishes to keep mankind in darkness and to turn Christians from the light into the darkness.

According to that goal, Satan and his devils daily work against God. They whisper words of fear, hatred, pride, or deceit. They flash images of lust, anger, animosity or inadequacy. They encourage ideas of loneliness, inability, ignorance, or turning back. They fight with full barracks, full quivers, loaded guns, ongoing ferocity. They taunt with thoughts you are inadequate to serve God. They haunt with regret and fears of the past. They flirt with selfishness and self-indulgence.

Whenever you decide to follow God and to live for Him, then you will be assaulted in the spiritual world, sometimes with attacks entering the physical world. There is no exception. Christ understood that and told his disciples that He would give them power to do His commands. He also explained He was sending other Gospel Bearers as lambs among wolves. Paul explains that we need to be clear-minded and focused and mentally aroused to the world around us both spiritually and physically because Satan—our foe, our nemesis, our stumbler, our tempter, our accuser, our adversary—is out there. Satan is a lion—fierce, angry, dangerous, hungry—and wants to devour us. He doesn't simply want to kill our hopes or our ministry. He doesn't want to just stop us from following God. He wants to destroy us. He wants to get us to the point where we decide to turn away from God indefinitely and he will use whatever method can get us to that point.

Satan is not a a whimsical, abstract idea. He is powerful and has many tools at his advantage. He uses people to progress his agenda, he uses demons, and he uses our flesh. He will send people to hurt us emotionally or physically. He will oppress us with doubts and fears and anxieties. He will tempt us with lust and pride and greed. He doesn't really care what he destroys you with—he just wants to render you useless. ((Side note: While sin has its consequences, you are never useless to God. He is active in the business of restoring people and healing their hearts and repairing lives. The only way you are useless to God is if you believe you are and thus hold back your heart and life from Him. But if you surrender yourself to Him He will use you.))

So be thoughtful as you go through your day. When you interact with people or do your ministry or drive to work, how is Satan attacking you? Easy things are the following: Thoughts of bitterness or anger. Thoughts of lust or worry. Thoughts of pride. But sometimes they come unexpectedly and you assume it is just life or just the facts. You walk into work to find out a rumor has been spread about your character. A guy nearly drives you off the road. A misunderstanding between your colleague prevents progress in your ministry. You realize there are way too many people for you to share the Light of Christ with. You realize you are too dependent to fully dive into following God and you doubt you can do it by yourself or that Christ would be with you. You get a tangle in your official paperwork that blind-sides you. Your spouse or kids drive you up the wall with tiny, consecutive moments of chaos or drama.

The thing you need to do is to identify them as they come. Realize that if the thoughts suggests that you doubt God's word or to stop following Him, then it isn't from God. If the thought is to further the kingdom, spread the love of God, share the Light of Christ, then it is from God. You can pretty easily determine most of the voices and their speakers. Therefore, when you hear the voice of Darkness whisper for you to take steps away from God, then identify it as a personal attack against you. And when you identify it, abide by the following: Submit yourself to God. Know His say in the matter and give yourself over to His leading. Then resist the urge to turn from God. Resist the attack. Don't let the demons oppress you. You have authority granted by Jesus Christ to dispel demons. The Cross and Resurrection of Christ grants you to live free from sin. Therefore, under the power of King Jesus, resist the devils. When you submit to God and resist the attacks, Satan will flee. He will run away.

Today, live in constant awareness that you are in a battle against your Enemy. Live knowing you are being attacked at every turn. Begin identifying those attacks and commit yourself to following God and resisting the urges to doubt or fear or be angry. Actively pursue God and dwell in His presence and power and love so that you can embrace the love of Christ that restores you and empowers you to love Him.

Finally, an Update!

So, a month in and I have yet to actually post an update of living in Ethiopia. I unfortunately am on a public computer, so I will not be able to post any photos, but I should "soon" enough. Yet, unfortunately for you, this isn't much of an update. As I am on a public computer and don't have full mind to update adequately.

I haven't updated anything mainly because I am still in the transition phase--which I should be out of come next week. I begin language school next week, though I attempted to begin it early this week (didn't happen). So, now I wait. I am excited to learn the language and be able to communicate a little better. I obviously won't be close to fluent, but I will be able to get around a little better.

During my month transition, I have been doing a lot of reading and a lot of thinking. Hence the two prior (and one eventual) posts dealing more with thought than Ethiopian updates. However, these were important things I have learned, and the following post might be the most important of the three. (But you have to wait in suspense until I can get on WiFi to post it--I didn't bring a flash drive.)

I begin my work with BCI after language school and am anxious to see all my kiddoes that I left last time. I look forward to learning what I will from the experience and to see what God has in store for me after those 6 months. I don't know the future unknown, but I trust in the God who is Eternal.


As for my travels to Addis--crazy and a lot of people.

As for my interaction with my new family-- randomly teaching Spanish and learning Amharic.

As for my help in Sunday School-- we have begun a lesson series on the Life of Christ.

I hope to update more thoroughly when events come.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your thoughts.