WHEN THE LORD BUILDS THE HOUSE:
We spent the afternoon today with Nancy Odwaro at the Solid Rock Widows Center. What has been happening there is so exciting. The construction of the building started 3 years ago but construction came to a halt due to lack of funds. But God did not forget his promise to these wonderful women. They are calling 2014 “The Year of Miracles” because a whole series of unexpected miracles have taken place in the last two months. I called Nancy just before the new year and felt moved to send the money to put on the roof. Then a woman Nancy had not seen for 15 years suddenly called Nancy and told her that she was a part of a new ministry and that they were going to come and dig a deep well on the property. They came the very next day and did the job. Then we showed up with 3 new sewing machines for the widows to use to start a business and to train women to sew. Then we invited Nancy to Nairobi to tour a very successful sewing ministry that started with three refugees and a handful of material. God used this to give her a whole new vision. Just after that, a prayer partner of Nancy’s showed up in the middle of the night with a contractor and measured all the lower widows for glass (she came back a week later with all the glass for the ground floor. After that the nurses from Northwest college came and we did a medical camp. After the camp one of the nurses felt led to donate $500 for concrete to plaster the lower walls. We put another $700 with it and the entire first is now beautifully plastered. We were on the site today and they were installing all the little panes of glass on the ground floor. Nancy and her widow’s board are just blown away. They have cried out to God and He has shown up.
I believe that God is asking us to partner with the 500 widows this ministry to finish this building. The most pressing need is for cement. It will take about 500 bags to finish the building and I hope by God’s grace to be a part of securing this need.
When this facility is finished it will be fully self supporting. Their business enterprises will include:
· A first class guest house with 12 rooms
· A cozy clean café
· A sewing business
· A gift shop
· And a water station to sell cheap water to the neighborhood
All the proceeds will be channeled into microfinance for widows and programs to improve their lives.
We had such a great time dreaming together with Nancy. After that we headed for Kakamega to connect with our dear friends there. Tomorrow we visit the new well, the Shikusa Boys Detention Center and the School for the Deaf. What a day that will be.
Blessings to all back home
Richard