Jambo from Kenya! My name is Rachel Delp and I came to Maisha this summer as part of a team of fourteen from Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, OK. I was also a part of the first team from our church that came in 2012. How things have changed! God’s goodness and faithfulness have covered us in every aspect of this trip, and He only continues to open my eyes to see them as I spend more time here.
The last time I was here, there was a community center, a half-constructed medical clinic, a half-constructed garage, make-shift extra classrooms for the Maisha Academy, the newly begun Shambas (gardens) of Maisha, and the old, one room kitchen. We walked around the grounds when we first arrived last Saturday and I was in tears! The clinic and garage were completed long ago and the clinic is almost fully operational! They are in the middle of finishing flushing toilets, there is a large brick fence around the property, they have broken ground for the Maisha Academy building, the shambas are 3 times as big as they were, and last but certainly not least: the kitchen. The new kitchen and dining hall are connected to the community center, doubling its size, and have changed the entire feeding project for the children it feeds and the widows who cook in it. There are also 2 new classrooms upstairs for the Academy students. No wonder they call it Paradise!
Walking around and seeing such wonders where there was previously nothing was the most affirming experience for me. It is so apparent how the Lord’s favor has fallen upon this place! Lives are being changed, hearts transformed, and Jesus is getting all the glory!!! I have complete faith that these are just the first of the incredible things that are to come from the ministry at Maisha. The Holy Spirit is alive and working here, and God goes before and behind every team that comes through.
And that is just the start of Jesus revealing his goodness and heart for his people here! We are so excited to be launching something called the Gospel Project on Friday morning. It is a curriculum for the kids that will take them through the entire Bible and show how it is one narrative, with Jesus at the center. They will be able to see how every story points to the gospel and what Christ did for us on the cross. We are training some of the leaders here in how to teach the lessons each week and by Friday they will do the first lesson all on their own. I know we are going to see incredible things from this, and all I can do is wait patiently for God to bring out fruit from the consistent preaching of his word.
More than anything, the Holy Spirit has given me a heart of praise. Jesus is powerful. He is beautiful, wonderful, and mighty. He has authority over all things and “in Him all things hold together.” He cares about our hearts; what we think and feel. He makes glorious plans for us for our good, and keeps us for himself. He is worthy of our affections and praise! He has drawn me so near to himself and all I can say is “Bwana asifiwe”: “Praise the Lord!”
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
At the end of my journey here two years ago, I committed to sponsoring a beautiful little girl named Millicent, who was just a tiny 5-year-old when I met her. Seeing her for the first time was like recovering a treasure that has been misplaced, sleeping in my own bed after a long trip, or getting that one letter in the mail you’ve been waiting for. It is joy made complete. This is her and I two years ago, and today.
