Dafoe Oct 2018

“Train yourself for godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7).

Dear friends and family,

Greetings! I hope this letter finds you well and content in the joy of the Lord. I also hope you are happy to hear from me! I praise God for His faithfulness and His answering of your prayers for me. He has given me health, endurance, perseverance, strength, and surprises me with many other blessings besides!

Since I wrote you last, I had the joy of spending a week with my children and grandchildren, visiting, laughing, eating, and playing together. The cousins had a blast getting to know one another and grandma relished watching it all! 

When I returned to Zambia at the end of July, I felt the full force of the responsibility given me as the Village Administrator. If you go to the Rafiki website, www.rafikifoundation.org, and look at ways you might serve with Rafiki; you may notice Village Administrator. This is the description you will find: “The Village Administrator wears many hats. They oversee the entire operation of a Rafiki Village (50 employees, 5 missionaries, 250 students in school and 25 college students); plus establish and maintain relationships with government and church leaders.” In Zambia, we have sixty-five employees plus eighteen “piece” workers, three missionaries, 215 students, and sixty college students!

Since my work also continues as the administrator of the ChildCare Program, I am pleased to have a wonderful national assistant who has taken on more responsibility. I praise God, too, for my Village Administrator assistant/plant manager James; he has been an amazing help. The mission of Rafiki is “Training Africans to Transform Africa for Christ.” So, we not only train/teach the little ones, the orphans and vulnerable children, the young college students, but also the nationals who staff this Village! 
 

Pollyne, one of my assistants

It is a great privilege to lead eighteen to twenty-five men and women daily in the Rafiki Bible Study for staff devotions. Wow! What a great way to start the day! I wish you could hear us sing the hymns together. I love how they know how to use their voices to harmonize and without any instruments except their vocal chords.

With several photos, I hope you can get a glimpse of all God is doing through His Word at Work in Zambia. We have happy, carefree, kindergartners, serious grade ten students learning computer, and the first graduating class of our teachers college, Rafiki Institute of Classical Education (RICE).

Mapalo, Theresa, and community student 

Shadreck and Patience

Please pray with me that all the lives God is training at Rafiki Village Zambia will be willing to be used for His glory in transforming Africa for Christ.

Thank you for your support of me and also for your desire to see God’s Kingdom flourish! 

God bless you and much love