Kenya Mission Trip
JAMBO (Hello)!
Can you believe it is April already? I am excited to invite you to join me and my family as I prepare for my upcoming Mission Trip this summer to Kenya! Before we embark on this journey I want to share with you how my Mission Trip to Kenya in 2021 has impacted my life and why I feel called to go back.
Last year I was blessed to travel to Kenya because of you! First, I want to thank many of you for your prayers and financial support that made this trip possible for me. Knowing each of you were embarking on my mission journey with me encouraged me along the way. I am so grateful for the prayers and the support I received from so many. While on my mission trip I fell in love with the Kenyans, the culture, their courage, their strength, and their faith. It took me some time to process everything I experienced in Kenya. I am not sure I fully processed everything until we came home from our second mission trip as a family to the Dominican Republic. Most of you know, my passion is to humbly serve the way Jesus served, and these mission trips offered an opportunity for me and my family to do this in 2021. I have been selected to join the 2022, Summit Church Kenya Team. I am excited to have each of you join me again on this journey.
Now I would like to share with all of you a snapshot of my 2021, mission trip to Kenya.
While in Kenya, our team visited the MOHI Pangani Center, within the Mathare Valley. As we approached the center, we were all overwhelmed by the smells, sights and sounds of Urban Nairobi, Kenya. The bus that had been full of chatter, got quiet once we started navigating the narrow streets that would take us to the Pangani Center. The Pangani center was the frist MOHI center, that opened in September of 2000 with only 50 children. Currently the center has 1,085 students and teaches pre-primary through 8th grade.
When we arrived at the Pangani Center we were greeted by students singing, dancing welcoming us and offering us a single rose. These kiddos were not in school, it was Saturday! They were excited to be at school to sing, dance and welcome us . It was beautiful. They are talented!
https://mohiafrica.org/communities/pangani/ https://mohiafrica.org/about/empower/
MOHI had arranged for our sponsored kiddos to join us for lunch at the center. I got to meet both our sponsored kiddos for the first time, Sarah(18), we have been sponsoring her for over eight years. Alex(19) joined me at the Kiwandani Center in Nairobi, Kenya, we have been sponsoring him also for eight years. The impact of child sponsorship is more significant than we can imagine, than I truly understood, until these moments. Meeting them, praying with them, and having an opportunity to share a meal with them was priceless. Hearing their stories and how much our family sponsorship has meant to them and their families was more valuable than any material gift or object $38 could purchase. It is impossible to express truly all the emotions I felt when I met Alex and Sarah and how incredible it was to spend lunch with “our” kids. It is natural to love our biological kiddos, but when face to face with these two, my heart leaped with pride for all they have become, are to become, and have overcome. My eyes begin to sweat when remembering these moments and I can’t wait to see them again. If you have more questions about MOHI or child sponsorship, please visit MOHI’s site at https://mohiafrica.org/sponsor/ . You two could impact a child and their family!
The Kenyan people are very friendly, generous, warm, welcoming, they value family and community. We can learn so much from them. This photo was taken in the Mathare Valley, which is a collection of slums in Nairobi, Kenya. People live in 6ftx8ft or 10ftx10ft. shanties made of old tin and mud. There are no beds, no electricity, and no running water. People sleep on pieces of cardboard on dirt floors. There are public toilets shared by up to 100 people and residents, who have to pay to use them. Many who cannot afford to pay to use them, must use the alleys and ditches. It was a shock to see how they live in such dangerous conditions. There is nothing comparable in the United States. Regardless of the conditions, the Kenyan children are so full of joy and their smiles melt all while playing in human feces.
Welcome to Ndovoini
The school has created an opportunity for vulnerable children to access quality education, spiritual nourishment and health services. Our center also offers employment opportunities to church/community members which has raised the community’s economic status.
Through our micro-finance and skills training program, families have been empowered and this has reduced dependency syndrome.
We attended church services with the boys at the school.
Welcome to Joska
Joska school is located along Kangundo road, Machakos county, approximately 20 miles from Nairobi. It serves a community of approximately 70,000 people. The school was started on September 3, 2007 allowing more room for other children who were on a waiting list to join MOHI program.
Being a boarding school, the girls in the center experience a safer, more controlled learning environment, allowing for increased spiritual care away from negative influences from the slum. Vulnerable children from the surrounding community are also recruited into the program. The center provides quality christian education to the vulnerable girls while offering more opportunities for their futures.
The girls have a garden where they grow some of their own food.
Serving in Nairobi
Founded May 2009
Initial # of Students: 63
Current Students: 1,070
Grades: Pre-Primary – Grade 8
MOHI Staff: 67
In Nairobi, serving at the Kiamiko center. Our hearts, physical ability and flexibility were all stretched. It is beautiful to watch what God does when people he calls serve!
Kiwandani Center in Kilifi County.
We said “see you later” to Nairobi and headed to Kilifi, where we had the awesome opportunity to open the Kiwandani Center. None of these children were sponsored and most of them had not had an opportunity to attend school.
It felt worlds apart when we left the slums of urban Nairobi and landed in the coast of Kenya. The terrain was very different from our stay in Nairobi.
We were the first team to visit Kiwandani Center. Pastor Bryan Smith even helped handout uniforms to the students with Mary Kamau. We conducted VBS for their students and the main focus was on trusting God. We all were reminded the importance of trusting God during this trip. The Kenyan woman have incredible faith!
This was alot of the kiddos first time at school or seeing mzungu’s (white people). We all had a great time with the kiddos, singing, dancing, teaching lessons, crafts, and playing games.
Serving in the slums in Nairobi was very different from serving in Kiwandani, in Kilifi County. The communities despite suffering some of the same hardships looked drastically different. Nairobi grey and dull, while Kiwandani was colorful and vibrant. We had to remind ourselves that despite the beauty the people were suffering the same way those in Nairobi were. It is amazing how beauty can distract us so easily. The school runs from kindergarten to grade four and currently has approximately 233 enrolled students and 15 staff members who are equipped and ready to serve.
Sponsor a Child at Kiwandani
For more information, please contact the Phoenix Missions of Hope International office at 1-844-568-6644 and they are happy to assist you with the rest! For more information about Missions of Hope, please visit their website at www.mohiafrica.org. You can also email sponsorship@mohiafrica.org for help as well. MOHI has an app that you can download. Thank you and God bless!”
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions. I want to thank you in advance! God Bless you and your family! May God continue to bless you!
For $38/month, or roughly $1.25 a day, you can make a direct and profound difference in a child’s life. Your sponsorship ensures that your sponsored child receives an excellent Christian education, nutritious food, medical care, and the opportunity to hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.
Total Enrolled: 233 students
Total Unsponsored: 206 students.
After serving in Kilifi, we headed back to Nairobi to start our 48 hour journey home. When we got home many people asked if our mission trip was life changing. What I determined was that anything can be life changing or not. It is choice to allow what we have experience to change our every day life. So, yes! My experience in Kenya was life changing. I left a piece of my heart in Kenya! I made many new friendships that are priceless.
Thank you for following my journey! What I pray you will get from my following my journey is a clear understanding why missions is important, how you can be a part of the impact even when you aren’t able to go and why child sponsorship is so important!
As a part of the 2022, Kenya Team… I am headed back June 30 – July 10, 2022.
To make this trip possible we, I need a team of ministry partners, a group of people just like you who will be praying for me and if able and willing to give to make this trip possible. As you can imagine, raising the necessary funds for this trip will be one of my greatest steps of faith as I prepare for this trip. The cost of the trip will be $3100, which covers airfare, lodging, meals, and transportation.
I want to thank everyone who has already sponsored me. We have raised $2,300, and we only have 25% left which is $800. Once there, we will joyfully provide the sweat equity to further God’s kingdom. Would you prayerfully consider joining my team of supporters by financially partnering with me as I prepare for this trip? Please be in prayer for the amount God places on your heart to give if you can.
DONATIONS NEEDED: We need for the mission trip are skittles for the craft, bubbles, jolly ranchers, any hard candy and clear baggies to make candy bags with bible verses on them to hand out at the end of the day.
Finally, and more importantly, I am asking you to join me in prayer. Please pray for my health, the health of our team, safety for us while in the Kenyan communities we will serve, travel mercies, protection for my family and that each of us would be an example of God’s love. Please pray Ephesians 6:10-18, over us all.
I am excited to share with you this experience. Thank you for your prayers as I go out to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Thank you for considering partnering with us to spread the Good News, the message of God’s love to the people of Kenya.
PS…. All gifts are tax-deductible, and checks should be made out to “Summit Christian Church” (https://www.summitnv.org/global).
You can also contribute online at:
Just follow these steps: https://app.securegive.com/summitnv/main/donate/category
- Click the “Donate” button
- On the next page next to the “mission-trip-Kenya” line, put in the dollar amount you wish to contribute.
- Click “One-Time” at the bottom of the page
- Important! After signing in or creating a profile, and selecting a payment method, please type my name in the “Add a message” field. (Dawn Avilla)
- Click “Submit” and you are done.
Thank you so very much for partnering with me to spread the Good News, the message of God’s love to the Kenyan people.
JTXadventures 
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