“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?
Thank you, Rosemary, for posting these stories. They are indeed testimony to what God does with those whose hearts are His. I, too, am grateful for the Holy Spirit's leading me to do something in my own church and community. His work is amazing, as is He.
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