Rickey & Angela Freeman & Their Three Sons
Rickey and Angela Freeman were approved as Baptist Bible Fellowship Missionaries to Argentina in May 1995. Rickey is a 1993 graduate of the Pastors Course of Baptist Bible College, Springfield, Missouri. Angela is a 1992 graduate of the Missions Course of Baptist Bible College. Rickey and Angela served their internship at Bible Baptist Temple in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Angela is the daughter of BBFI Missionaries, Richard and Lynda Todd. They have three sons, Brandon, Jordan, & Caleb.
RICKEY’S SALVATION AND CALLING
Salvation
Through the influence of my step-father, I began attending church (Open Door Baptist Church, Harrison, AR) when I was 11 years old. After about a year, I began to ask questions about salvation. On a Wednesday night after church, I asked my step-father to show me how to get saved. That night, November 11, 1983, I accepted the Lord as my personal Savior.
Calling
Having surrendered to full-time service when I was fourteen in a youth camp, I began searching for God’s specific will for my life, whether it was becoming a pastor or missionary. After college (Baptist Bible College, Springfield MO), my wife and I had the opportunity to go to Argentina for three months to work with my in-laws (veteran missionaries serving in Argentina). Having seen the spiritual need first hand, I came back with a burden for the country and for the people. Nine months later, on Oct. 23, 1994, during the missions conference at Bible Baptist Temple, I surrendered my life to be a missionary to Argentina.
ANGELA’S SALVATION AND CALLING
Salvation
Like many preachers’ kids who hear the Gospel all their lives, I made a profession of faith at a young age. Even though I knew that salvation was by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, I was basing my salvation on the fact that my parents were missionaries and surely God wouldn’t send me to Hell. It wasn’t until I was thirteen that reality hit me. I began to have doubts of my salvation. Finally, on May 21, 1981, I accepted Christ as my Savior.
Calling
Since I was born on the mission field, for as long as I can remember I’ve heard my parents pray for more workers and have seen the need first hand. After I got saved, I knew the Lord was dealing with me about full time service, but I thought if I made a lifetime commitment that young that I would regret it later. Finally, when I was fourteen, I surrendered my life to be a missionary. I entered Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO in 1987 and started praying and working toward that goal.
A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF OUR MINISTRY (PURPOSE)
What we are doing in our ministry is the same as what we have been doing since we started the work
here. We continue trying to win the lost through evangelism and most importantly we continue to teach and preach with the goal of getting our people grounded in the Word of God. We work extremely hard with all ages but especially the children and youth. Thankfully we have a good group of young people.
The main core of young people are the ones we won to the Lord as children and continue to be faithful
throughout these years. We are focused on getting them trained and grounded in the Word of God. This is so important not only for them but also for our church. They are the future of our work and the future of Argentina. We are praying that the Lord will raise up mighty soldiers for Him in our young people. This is one of our main ministries. Our ultimate goal is for one day our work to be an autonomous and self governing local Baptist church.
As with any ministry we are involved in many other important ministries. Youth camp is a vital part of
our ministry to the young people. Every year we are involved in organizing, teaching, preaching, and
conducting three weeks of youth camps. We also have Sunday School classes, special children’s meetings for days like Children’s Day / Friend Day etc… plus Vacation Bible Schools, Missions Conferences, youth activities (each Saturday), monthly men’s meetings, monthly women’s meetings, quarterly married couples meetings and visitation with the whole church. Also we, along with other missionaries and national pastors, continue to help train future workers in our Bible Seminary.
FUTURE PLANS FOR OUR MINISTRY
My goal and desire has always been and continues to be that of training an Argentine to eventually take over the work so we can continue to plant more churches here in Argentina. It is our desire to continue planting Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches in our county seat of Moreno. Our city alone has 520,000 people. When we started seeking the Lords leadership to where he would have us start a church we were drawn to this city because of the potential to start many churches in the same city without every rubbing shoulders with one another.
With that said, who knows how long it will take to turn over the Independent Bible Baptist Church to a
national. In the 25 years of ministering and working in Argentina, I have observed and learned that it is
extremely difficult to find a truly devoted Christian who is sold out to God and will stick to the stuff and
course so they can be trained to be a pastor someday. On top of that we are finding it very difficult to
reach the men of Argentina. As I mentioned we do have a good group of young people therefore we are praying that the Lord will call many of them into the ministry and someday one of them take over the work. We are working towards that goal and pray the Lord will help us accomplish it sooner than later. Unfortunately this process does not happen too often nor quickly in Argentina. As I mentioned, my prayer and desire and ministry plan is to turn the work over someday to a national but at the same time I am willing to use the “mother church” option. That being one of starting other works here in our city while at the same time continue to pastor this work. My PLAN and prayer is that the Lord will direct someone our way that will have the call of God on their life so they can be trained and equipped to become pastor of our first work, in turn we can work our way out of a job and go do it somewhere else. Until that day, our plan is to stay the course until the Lord calls us home to glory or calls us to another place.
Letter Update:
Hello Everyone
Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are you ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
These verses have come so true in our lives this past month. As we reported in our last letter, our plans were to travel to the states at the end of May for our son, Caleb’s, wedding. Our plans were to arrive shortly before the wedding and then spend two weeks with family and friends before we headed back to Argentina. Thankfully, we arrived just fine and happy to report that the wedding went well and what a joy it was to see Caleb and Cynthia Freeman make the life long commitment of becoming husband and wife.
Unfortunately, shortly after arriving to the states, I started having some major pain and had to go to urgent care where I was informed that I needed hernia surgery. On June 5th, I had a two hour surgery where they fixed two hernias that I did not know that I had. Because of the recovery time needed I was advised to delay our return trip to Argentina for three weeks. So, rather than return to Argentina, as we had planned, we extended our return date in order for me to recover.
Meanwhile, as I was recovering, Angela was struggling with some health issues as well. Because she has had different health problems over the past year, bronchitis / back issues / tendonitis, we figured her issues were related to that. It came to a point where she could not tolerate the pain and discomfort so we went to urgent care to get some answers. Shortly after arriving she was immediately sent to the emergency room and we were told that she must be admitted into the hospital for observation over night. After what seemed like a thousand tests, she went in for an angiogram the next morning (June 14th) where they found that her widow maker artery was 99% blocked!!!! Thankfully the doctor was able to unblock the artery and put in a stent. he informed us that she had had a mild heart attack and was in his words “lucky” she had come in when she did or she would have had a major heart attack.
Of course we know it was by God’s grace, not luck, that we were in the right place at the right time. If she would have traveled back on the flight the doctor said it could have been fatal and if we would have been in Argentina and would have tried to get the care she needed it would have most likely been a long drawn out process looking at her back/lungs etc…before they would have looked at her heart which could have been too late. We’re thankful the Lord changed our plans and she was able to get the care needed Thankfully, after a few days in the hospital, she was released and started the road to recovery. Now both Angela and I are in the recuperation process. We are so thankful that we have our boys close as they have been a great help in this stage of our lives as well as Cherry Baptist Church of Springfield, MO. who have showered us with love, prayers, and meals.
Because Angela’s cardiologist ordered her to attend heart rehab for a month we have had to extend our return date to Argentina once again. NONE OF THIS WAS IN OUR PLANS but the know the Lord has a purpose for all this and we are trusting in HIS PLANS. We covet your prayers for our recuperation as well as wisdom in these trying times that we did not expect. Please pray as well for the Lord to provide for the extra expenses we have had due to our health issues.
THE MINISTRY IN ARGENTINA
We are thankful to report that the ministry in Argentina continues in our absence. The men of the church are doing a great job teaching, preaching, and ministering for our Lord in Saviour. Thankfully we are able to keep in touch daily with everyone and they are united and serving all together.
Thank you so much for your investment in us and the ministry in Argentia.
If you would like to stay updated with the Freeman family or feel led to give to help them on their journey, you can give your donations to Hickory Ridge Baptist Church. You can also stay connected with the Freeman family through their Facebook Page. Click the button below.
