LAST LESSONS #129 – LAST THINGS – PART 18 – STORIES – PART 2

 “For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.” Hebrews 6:10

I hope you will enjoy a couple of other stories of how and why people became involved with Rafiki.

• Paul and I decided, along with three other BSFers to sponsor a child in Rafiki in 2005. Her name is Alice Namubiru from Uganda. She was 3 years old when she entered Rafiki and is now in university. We are helping with her university expenses and thankful to the Lord that we are able to do this. When Rafiki was presented to us as an option for investing our money, the Lord moved our hearts to do so. We have not regretted it. It is a well-run organization that we trust and we loved hearing from Alice and her love for the Lord during her years in Rafiki.

We are now supporting, (with our son Daniel and his family), Charles, from Tanzania. (From Jean)

• I’m happy to tell about my involvement with Rafiki!

It all started when I heard Rosemary speak at the 2001 Ligonier conference. She spoke on how the Word of God had guided her life since she was a teenager, talked about BSF, & then mentioned the Rafiki ministry. Somehow, I got on their mailing list & I enjoyed the newsletters very much. When we moved to central Florida in 2014, I remembered that Rafiki had moved their headquarters to that area, & we found it even before we found our home! The next year I attended a mini missionary weekend, picked Zambia to pray for, & selected a girl there to sponsor. I began praying about going there someday. In 2016 “I happened” to sit beside Irene Dafoe at Rafiki Enrichment who was one of the fulltime missionaries in Zambia! I already had her prayer card & had been praying for her! I began volunteering at the Rafiki store in Mt Dora, became an area representative, started a prayer group for Rafiki, did a few church presentations about Rafiki, and kept praying about one day going to Zambia. That finally happened in 2018 for 2 weeks! What a blessing that was! Then in 2021, my husband passed away & in praying about what to do, Zambia came to mind. So in 2022, I spent 3 months there & now am back again for a month! What a wonderfully enriching and inspiring time it has been! I love every one of the youth who live here (majority are teenagers now!), and have been blessed getting to know them. I’ll be 77 this year so don’t think you’re too old to get involved in some way!!!! You will be blessed as well as be a blessing! (From Susan)

• Kent and I were called clearly but separately to Rafiki in the early days. After what I consider a direct call from God through Rosemary’s message at an Atlanta BSF regional leaders conference, I went to Tanzania to work at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center and to teach BSF. The experience was life changing in many ways. I became confident in who I am in Christ and that I could serve Him in a foreign country and not only survive but thrive. I subsequently served in Ghana then married my husband Kent and settled in the USA to serve God where he placed us. After 20 years in the US, Kent and I decided to return to Africa to serve with Rafiki Foundation who graciously placed us again in Tanzania where we had left our heart many years before. In the 20 years we had made a number of trips to Tanzania to help for 2 weeks up to a month at the Rafiki Village there. We were able to serve 6 years at the Rafiki Village in Tanzania from 2014-2020. We then served nearly a year in Uganda at the Rafiki Village. Kent and I look back at our lives as he is now 80 and I am 74 and we know that the happiest and most productive years of our lives were the years with Rafiki. We only wish we had started earlier but know that God is sovereign and in control. (From Peggy)

I hope you have enjoyed reading these stories as much as I have. I have many more that have been sent to me, but I want to write some blogs about other things next. Sorry I couldn’t get to your story if you wrote one.

The most important thing is that we read what God does in people’s hearts. None of us would do what we do if the Holy Spirit did not prompt us to do so. I am so grateful that the Spirit led me to do what I did and continue to do the little bit that I can as I age.

How about you? 

LAST LESSONS #128 – LAST THINGS – PART 17 – STORIES – PART 1

 “For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.” Hebrews 6:10

I am thrilled that some of you have responded to my request for you to share how you got into Rafiki and why. Below I have told (edited!) a couple of your stories. I hope to share more in forthcoming blogs.

• I first heard about Rafiki through BSF. I remember going to the Rafiki Exchange and purchasing my first Rafiki bag while Rafiki was still located on the BSF land. I still have that beautiful bag. My friend Norma and I began to pray about going on a short-term mission trip. By the time I decided to go to the training Rafiki had relocated to Florida. Meanwhile Norma’s life situation had changed so I went to training alone. Rafiki already had the land where headquarters is located today but were still a number of steps away from doing anything with it. It was intriguing to walk the land and hear the vision that God had placed on Rosemary’s heart. 

I did not go on my first short-term trip for a few more years. But I still remember getting on that plane heading to Liberia alone, yet realizing I was not alone. God was very present. It was a life changing journey. The missionaries, the children, and the country. You fall in love. They gave me opportunities to serve in many ways. I was blessed to go back on short-term mission trip to Liberia a few years later and also Ghana. I will always feel a special connection to these places.

I have been involved as a level writer for the Rafiki Bible Study. What a treat to shrink these wonderful lessons and great doctrines down to the level of a preschooler. I learned so much and am humbled at the opportunity. Today I have the pleasure of leading a RBS. I highly recommend these studies; the women in my group love them. The lessons engage and challenge us weekly. “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." Proverbs 11:25

• Hi Rosemary, I am involved with Rafiki as a donor and as a customer of the Rafiki Exchange. I became involved with Rafiki because I care about children and was so impressed with the Villages that Rafiki built and offered for orphan children. I trusted Rafiki to spend my donations wisely and for the glory of God. I knew that Rafiki would honor what God commands in regards to caring for orphans and widows. Blessings.

• I have attended BSF for years and I heard about Rafiki through them. I joined a prayer group and still am in it after all these years. I have met three different missionaries and their families...David & Julie Pederson, Tom Maggio, and Scott & Andrea Nelson. I help support them and pray for them regularly as well as the widows and have purchased some of their products. I also help support a fellow in Malawi and a walk-in-student in Ghana.

I hope these stories encouraged you as they did me! More to follow!

LAST LESSONS #127 – LAST THINGS – PART 16 – WINDOWS

 “Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” Malachi 3:10

The robins have returned! I see at least 50 of them this morning as I look out my window. My chair and computer are next to a fair-sized window and it is such a blessing from heaven to see the robins when they migrate through Florida on their way north for the summer. Not far from my window I can also see my birdfeeder that attracts lots of birds that God gives me to enjoy. Cardinals, finches, warblers, woodpeckers, and way too many doves.

I am telling you this to encourage you to look out your windows! Put down your cellphone whether you are in your home or the car and look out the windows at the blessings God has poured down from heaven for your enjoyment.

People are also God’s blessings. If you are always checking your cellphone instead of talking with others face to face, you miss windows of opportunity to really get to know them. Eye contact and body language say much more about a person than a text message.

Malachi 3:10 says that the blessings will come to you when you give your tithes. I am a firm believer in tithing, and I do so, but God has blessed me far beyond my giving.

One special blessing I have been given is the privilege of writing a blog that Rafiki posts for me each week. I have been writing for more than two years now and I know that there are at least some who still read my LAST LESSONS. But after 127 blogs, I wonder if I still have anything to say. In praying about that this week, the thought came to me that you might like to tell others about your experience in Rafiki. If you like this idea, then please email me at: RMJ@rafikifoundation.org a short note (less than a page!) telling me two things:

1. How you are involved in Rafiki
2. Why you became involved in Rafiki

Here are ways you might be involved:

• Long-term missionary
• Short-term missionary
• Rafiki staff member
• Prayer group leader
• RBS leader or member
• Rafiki schoolteacher
• Curriculum writer
• Level writer
• Orphan or schoolchild sponsor
• Volunteer
• Donor
• Pray regularly for Rafiki

I know your experience would encourage others to get involved in Rafiki. It would definitely be one of God’s blessings to me and maybe open some windows for others.

LAST LESSONS #126 – LAST THINGS – PART 15 – INFLUENCE

 “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.’” 1 Corinthians 15:33

It is certainly true that those with whom I have kept company have influenced my life. Some have influenced me for bad and some for good. I am very grateful that God protected me the times I was in bad company, and I am also grateful for the times he placed me with people who influenced me for good.

We are judged by the company we keep. That is why Paul warned the Corinthians not to be deceived. He was well aware of how easily they could be influenced by bad company.

When I was young my parents were careful that their children (all six of us!) avoided the wrong crowd. It was easier in those days to warn children about friends when we did not have cell phones or the internet. But my parents made sure that we went to a good church where we would find Christian friends, that we had good friends at school, that we were not to date before we were 16, and that there was an early curfew for us. Furthermore, I remember the times I observed my mother on her knees praying—most probably for me.

How careful are you that your children “go with the right crowd?”

When I married, my husband influenced me for good. To this day I thank God for the strong and faithful husband that he gave me. You may not be so fortunate but it’s still important to make friends with good people. And BTW are you praying for the perfect spouse for your child?

I can’t remember when or who it was that told me that I should seek to make friends with those I could look up to and aspire to be like them. I have found that to be good advice. I can minister to those who look up to me, but I should seek out friends who lift me up, not drag me down.

That carries over into organizations too. When I was being trained in BSF by Wetherell Johnson she told me that it is best not to “partner” with other organizations because we have no control over the direction they might take later. She reminded me that we are known by the company we keep. When I was director of Rafiki I remembered that advice and was careful about partnering with other organizations. We could cooperate with others for a specific purpose but we did not form partnerships with them. 1 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” We as Christians must take that to heart, whether personally or organizationally. Bad company ruins good morals!

Today, I am concerned about partnerships that our country might form. But I won’t get into politics!