McDaniel July 2026

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

July has been our crossover from busy season to slow season, now that our annual supply shipment has arrived in the forty-foot-long container we received this month. This supplies many of the needed resources for our schools and site that are not available within Malawi. For our family, this container also brought school curriculum for our kids, clothes for the next year, and even a new mattress! We thank God for all of you, your prayers, and your financial support, which make all these shipments and supplies available to us in Malawi and in all nine other Rafiki Villages.

In addition to this normal shipment, we also received two more containers full of donated Bibles from Crossway—36,000 of them! These are being distributed among other partner ministries around Malawi and throughout our church partners’ congregations and ministries. Several thousand of these have already made their way out of the Village and down to Lilongwe and Blantyre, where they will be distributed to pastors, Bible study leaders, and others who cannot access a Bible of their own with a faithful and clear translation of God’s Word. For our partners, most of these Bibles will be part of a larger distribution plan that includes Rafiki Bible Study leader trainings and discipleship programs that will equip them to use their Bibles for spiritual growth and ministry.

Unloading Bibles from the containers

Another exciting development here is that one of our day students, Aaron, has been selected to compete in the World Cup Spelling Bee in Shanghai this month! He placed first among all private primary school students across Malawi in the national spelling bee, which secured his place in the world finals, and he will be competing in the continental championship next spring. We are grateful to God for the opportunity this is for many to see the excellence of the students in Rafiki’s schools and we pray this will be an encouragement to our teachers and other students. We have several teachers who are still in their first year with us, and they seem to be adjusting well to the structure and high expectations of a Rafiki School. It is certainly a blessing to have a school that has benefited from several years of good leadership as we wait for God to provide a new missionary headmaster to continue leading us in carrying out Rafiki’s mission and vision through our classrooms.

Lastly, but far from least, we thank God for His providence in bringing the Hopkins family to be with us for a couple of weeks as short-term missionaries. A health crisis in another country meant they were redirected here, and it was a tremendous encouragement to us. Their experience in classical education provided many opportunities for building up our teachers and pointing out the many things they are doing well, and our children were given some great examples of godly young men and women. They jumped right in and got to work, like many of the short-term missionaries that serve in different Rafiki Villages, and have helped and encouraged us beyond our expectations. You never know what God may do, for you and for others, just by your willingness to “come and see” for even a couple of weeks. The work of God is varied and complex, but there is nothing more fulfilling than laboring in joy alongside your brothers and sisters in Christ in His vineyard. We ask that you continue to pray for us and our work, and especially for our funding as we reach out to more churches in the U.S.A., so that God would provide all that is needed for us to remain here in service to Him. Thank you and may God bless you with joy and peace in the work He has called you to do, whatever it is and wherever you may be.

Together with the Hopkins family

Learn more about Rafiki’s expanding opportunities.

Visit our newly designed website RafikiFoundation.org to learn how to:

Purchase the Rafiki Bible Study for small groups for your church or neighborhood
Serve as a missionary with Rafiki
Sponsor a child with the Rafiki Foundation to bring God’s Word and the best education in the world to some of the neediest children in the world in Africa.

Explore the Rafiki Foundation YouTube channel.

Visit (youtube.com/@RafikiFoundation) for videos from Rafiki children, teaching at our annual Enrichment conferences, and the teaching at our African classical Christian conferences.