Hall of Blessings: Adult Mission Story for May 23, 2026

By Gina Wahlen

A new multipurpose hall promises to be a big blessing to a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school for deaf children in Kenya. But the hall, which was constructed with the help of your offerings, also proved to be a big blessing as it was going up.

The construction foreman said he had never seen a project quite like it. No accidents or injuries were reported during the three months that it took to build the building. No one stole construction materials. No one showed up at work drunk.

The foreman said it was like God’s protective hand covered the construction site from beginning to end.

The new multipurpose hall is at Mwata Adventist School for Deaf Children, which is located in the town of Kisii, about 185 miles (300 km) west of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The school received part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering, also known as the Quarterly Mission Project Offering, in first quarter 2023. The funds went to construct the multipurpose hall with a modern kitchen and dining area. Previously, food was cooked over an open fire in a makeshift kitchen built of iron sheeting, and the children ate in an open field. The funds also helped open a new dormitory for boys and girls. The school has 73 students, including 43 girls and 29 boys. The children are from 4 to 18 years old.

Construction work began on the kitchen and dining hall in late 2024 under the supervision of a foreman named Elijah. He is 36 years old and a Seventh-day Adventist.

Every morning, Elijah prayed with the 30 to 40 construction workers who showed up to work on the site that day. Most of the workers came from the local community and were not Adventists.

“Dear God,” he prayed. “Help us as we go to work this morning. Give us energy, and give us good health. Protect us as we work.”

He said God answered those prayers.

“Sometimes, a construction worker falls from an upper floor, or someone gets hit by falling debris,” he said. “None of that happened here.”

Elijah also said construction sites often are troubled by theft. People steal cement or iron sheets at night or even in broad daylight while construction is going on.

“But here, we didn’t have any such cases,” he said.

Another common problem involves payments, he said. Construction companies sometimes do not get paid on time and, then, cannot buy building materials and pay their workers.

But at the school, the payments were always on time.

The construction workers appeared to enjoy their work. Elijah said the pay was good in comparison to similar projects in the area, and the workers appreciated having the Sabbath off. Other construction sites require them to work seven days a week.

So many construction workers showed up at the school each day that Elijah had to choose who to hire.

On the first day of work at the project, several construction workers showed up drunk. But he told them, “You can’t work here if you’re drunk.” The same people returned the next day, but they were sober.

Elijah overheard workers encouraging one another to stay sober. If one of them expressed a desire to drink after work, others would say, “Don’t do it. You can’t work here if you’re drunk.”

As the weeks passed, Elijah saw that the construction workers were staying sober day after day because they wanted to work. One after another told him, “I’m trying my best not to drink, but it’s difficult.”

Elijah said he hoped that many of the workers would make a decision never to drink again.

“We pray that the influence of our work will cause them to change their minds about drinking altogether,” he said.

Elijah said he was pleased with the project and the big blessing that it has had and will have on many people.

“It has had a big impact on both the school and the community,” he said.

The generosity of church members like you in 2023 paved the way for the events depicted in this week’s mission story. This is your money at work, spreading Jesus’ love not only to the children at Mwata Adventist School for Deaf Children but also to the construction workers who helped raise the kitchen and dining hall. One of the mission projects for this quarter is another school in Kenya. This quarter’s offering will help fund a construction project at Merisho Advent Community Nursery School near Nairobi so the children can have new classrooms. Thank you for giving to this project.