by Dorothy Dulo

At the beginning of the year I asked God to show me the things I could give up in 2017 to love others extravagantly. Throughout the year I tried to be open to notice the things God was bringing to my attention. Showing love extravagantly is hard. Jesus gave us this example – He lay aside his life to Love us to the point of death. He brought eternal value to our lives.

What a privilege to be part of continuing His work – bringing value to people’s lives.

What do we hold valuable that we can share with someone? Our time, money, clothing, electronics, and the list goes on and on. We can choose to keep feeding our appetite for ‘things’ and live with a mindset of always wanting more for ourselves. This makes us see the world with the eyes of scarcity. But we can also choose to demonstrate love by sharing that which we value. The world needs our extravagant love daily.

Many of you have shown extravagant love this year by sharing what you value with Rafiki and the communities we serve in Kenya. You have shared your time as a volunteer, traveled to Kenya, given your resources, prayed, and much more. Your love has been seen. The communities we serve in Western Kenya have seen your love. You have been part of many stories and milestones. We thank you. We wish you a blessed Holiday season filled with love, joy and peace with friends and family. We love you all and look forward to showing love together again in 2018.

A Note from Dorothy & Roger

Since January I (Roger) have been teaching Rafiki’s new class of women. Every day I get to hear about their troubles — abusive spouses, lack of food for their family, illness and deaths in the family, and much more. These women are very brave to step out of their cultural norm and look for a way to improve their lives.

Jesus modeled the way.

He had everything but gave it all up so we could experience life in abundance. He gave this life to all tribes and all nations, all mankind, including these women in my class. We need to confront social injustice, disease and other evils of our lifetime. But the most important is to confront spiritual poverty – the right to experience life in abundance and eternally through Jesus.

Every day as we walk and work in Alendu village, Rachuonyo District of Kenya, we have a higher calling – the opportunity to address both physical and spiritual poverty.

We have the opportunity to demonstrate Jesus’ love to everyone we encounter. To a grandmother with 11 orphans to care for; to a young woman abused by her spouse daily; and to the child down the street without a meal. They are all precious in his eyes.

What a privilege and a challenge! God’s grace has been sufficient daily. We are grateful for each one of you who is partnering in this mission. Together we can end physical and spiritual poverty to one child and one family at a time.