Helloooo from Maisha!!! My name is Alecia…I’m with the group from Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City. We arrived safely in Kisumu on Sunday. During our drive in we were greeted by HUNDREDS of children running toward us. It was the best greeting anyone could ever dream of!
We had a beautiful time touring the facilities and seeing just how much God has done in the last five years. I know the Lord will continue to do more. The women and children prepared for weeks for our arrival and they performed songs, dance and poetry for us. They are very smart and talented. They made us feel so welcome by including us in their performances. It was so much fun…they would sing and call out one of our names and pull us up to sing and dance with them.
The next day a group of us visited three different people in the slums that are living with HIV/AIDS. It was a great time to reach out and love on these people who have been shunned by friends and family due to their illness. It was important to share with them the love of Christ and to let them know that they have not been rejected by Him. I was so humbled to be invited into their home and listen to their stories. To lay hands on them and pray for them, to hug them and let them know there are people that care for them and will continue to lift them up in prayer. They have NOT been forgotten. There was one gentleman in particular that wasn’t doing very well at all. He didn’t have the strength to sit up, couldn’t eat and had lost a great deal of weight. It was a privilege to pray with him and share God’s truth. Praise God, he received Christ last week as his savior.
Please keep the ones I’ve mentioned in your prayers, and the many more we didn’t even meet, that are facing such hardships. It’s incredibly hard to live with this disease anywhere, especially here. They are neglected by family and it’s hard for them to keep work due to their illness, in turn, making it near impossible for them to afford their medications and even their rent.
July 17, 2012
Today had to be the most amazing day ever. Tricia, Callie & I got to spend our morning and afternoon in the kitchen with this beautiful woman, Suleiman. She has the most beautiful spirit. She is funny, sweet, VERY smart and a new believer as of five days ago. We had the privilege of cooking lunch for the rest of our team with her. She’s an incredible cook. What I enjoyed most about our time together was getting to talk and hear her story.
She recently received Christ five days ago. She has never read a Bible and Tricia started telling her the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. She was amazed by the story…Callie then told her the story of Zacchaeus. She started putting two and two together. She said one time she saw a movie out in the field and there was a man carrying a heavy cross, she asked if that was the same man. We said yes then Tricia, who is an incredible story teller by the way, told the story of Jesus’ birth and how he died on the cross for us. It was quite the emotional moment and she just couldn’t believe Jesus would do that for us. There were lots of tears…she ran over and hugged Tricia and we all just cried. We then sang some worship songs together while we cooked. It was incredible. What an honor to serve with her.
July 18, 2012
Today was a packed day….but GREAT! As you know, Maisha not only ministers to Orphans, but widows and widowers as well. I worked with a couple of women gathering information from the men and women that want to start their own businesses. It was a nice time but very busy as we had over 100 people show up. My part of the job was to take each person’s photo. I used that as an opportunity to speak truth into their lives. To tell them they are loved by God and to offer words of encouragement. I didn’t have a lot of time but it was sweet.
Today was day two of soccer camp…the kids run through drills with the coaches and scrimmages.
Each day a different coach shares their testimony. Bea shared that Meg’s testimony was really simple and something the kids could relate to. Bea was prompted by the Lord to translate the testimony in their language to make sure they really understood what was shared. Every night after our team dinner we go around the table and share our highs & lows from the day. Today, Austin shared that his high for the day was when the kids from soccer camp raised their hands to receive Christ! As if that wasn’t amazing enough…Bea shared that it was 59 of them!!! Praise the LAMB!!!
Another team went out into the village for home visits again today. As hard as the home visits are, they are also a huge blessing…God really uses those moments to reach out to those who are sick & hurting. During our high-low’s tonight we found out that two people received Christ during the home visits as well!! God is doing amazing things here at Maisha…please keep the prayers going up…it’s working!