LAST LESSONS #182 — LAST LESSONS — ENRICHMENT REPORT

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)

ENRICHMENT that is designed to enrich our missionaries each year was especially good this year. Besides the excellent speakers, the missionaries had a chance to tell of their work in the past year. It was amazing how many more schools were started by our partner denominations, how many more day students came into our Village schools, how many more graduates we had from RICE as well as secondary schools and even universities. What I am saying is that the work of Rafiki has really grown!

But it is not only the missionaries that are enriched at ENRICHMENT. We invite all he leaders of RBS groups and many of them came. They came and they were enriched too.

All this is to say that I hope you can come next year!

This is short because I too am being enriched.

LAST LESSONS #181 — LAST LESSONS — GATHERINGS

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30)

Don’t you love it when your family gathers for Christmas, or some family member’s birthday? Gatherings give us joy and help us to express love to one another.

Rafiki is planning a gathering next week. It’s called ENRICHMENT. We have this gathering every year and it’s when we bring all our missionaries to the Home Office to be “enriched” by good Bible teaching and fellowship with each other. We also invite RBS leaders. It will be happening on March 25 and 26. This year we will meet at New Hope Presbyterian Church because we no longer have space for so many people at the Home Office.

The speakers will be Dennis Johnson, Rick Philips, Isaiah Obare (from Kenya) and, of course, Karen Elliott. The teaching will definitely be RICH!

You may not be able to come this year, but maybe you can plan for next year. You would love this gathering!

LAST LESSONS #180 — LAST LESSONS — HISTORY

“Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3)

I had a wonderful experience last week. I was invited to participate in BSF’s Day of Prayer as they celebrate their 65^th anniversary. I attended through zoom. They graciously invited me to be a part of it because I was one of the Executive Directors of BSF. I served in that position from 1980 until 2000.

BSF did an excellent job of putting their history together, and although the Day of Prayer was done electronically, I hope they will write it down in book form.

Rafiki needs to put our history down in book form too—with pictures! We have a book written for my 90^th birthday and we have a video that we show to visitors to the Home Office. But I think that since next year (2025) will be our 40^th anniversary, a book needs to be written. There is a problem, however. I am the only person who has been Executive Director of Rafiki from the beginning and I do not want to write about myself. Karen Elliott, the present Executive Director could write it, but she definitely does not have the time. We are considering having different people write about the time they spent in Rafiki. We will let you know how God leads us.

What is really important is to document the past. What would we know about the United States if we did not have history books written? And, of course, what would we know of Jesus’ life if Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had not written their versions for us to read?

I love reading biographies. I just don’t want to write my own. What would you think of those who were involved with Rafiki from 1985 the to the present would write their own version of how they contributed to Rafiki?

Pray about this with me. 

LAST LESSONS #179 — LAST LESSONS — PROMISES 2

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:8)

Jesus says he is glorified when I bear fruit. But what does it mean to bear fruit? Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Spirit produces that kind of fruit in us. But I am promised that I too will bear fruit. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…” (John 15:16). So how do we bear fruit?

I have discovered that God enables us to bear fruit in different ways at different times in our lives. When I gave birth to my three daughters I bore fruit. As they grew, I saw them become lovely Christian women. That’s fruit. When I became the Executive Director of BSF, I saw many women put their faith in Jesus Christ. In Rafiki hundreds of orphans became Christians. Fruit! Praise God.

That was then and this is now! Now I want to know how to bear fruit in my eighty’s and ninety’s? I think about that. How do I bear fruit in an assisted living facility? I have not found a good way to bear fruit here, but God surprised me when a handful of young singles asked me to become their mentor. We meet for lunch every other week and we talk about what they want to talk about. Last week I gave them the book The Mission of God and You by Lori McDaniels because they were interested in my time as a missionary in Tanzania. I’m praying that most of these young people will go to Rafiki’s villages in Africa and bear fruit there.

If you think God may be calling you to bear fruit in Africa, check with Rafiki at www.rafikifoundation.org