My oldest daughter, Anya,  is turning 17 in June…That is huge!   She will have the opportunity to celebrate her birthday in Nairobi, Kenya!

How stinkin’ cool is that!!

She is going on a mission trip with a team of amazing people from our church, Crosspoint Community Church. When I was in college I went on a mission trip to Europe with our Choir.   It was very cool!   About a year into my marriage, I was able to go on a mission trip with my husband. We went to Russia, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, with an amazing ministry run by Jim Gilbert.  It was awesome, life changing.  Tom did mission trips to Haiti, all through high school, with a group called New Directions, as well as trips while he was in college.

As life as gone on and I have had my 6 children, my mission days have been on hold.   I want to go back out,  it just isn’t my season.

It is Anya’s time!

You can follow her journey here: Anyanairobihopenow

I am so very excited for her!!! She is going with an amazing team led by Rhonda Hewett, (you can link to her blog) has the opportunity to work with an amazing ministry run by Garry and Brenda Kean.   She and the others will be working at the Kibera Slums and other places.

Here are some pictures that Rhonda has sent me over the years.

Here is a letter that Anya has written as she is looking for support for her trip.  If you’d like to help financially you can send a check to the address at the bottom of the letter.  If you would like to help in prayer, that would be awesome, and definitely needed and appreciated.    You can follow Anya’s blog, or Rhonda’s blog and keep up to date, now and this summer.  Also they are both on twitter, @anya36 and @rhonree, you can follow their journey while they are on their trip, in real time…The blessing of technology, I love twitter!!

The letter:

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope you all have had a wonderful 2011 so far! I have some exciting news. On June 3rd I am leaving on a plane to go to Nairobi, Kenya for a mission trip. I’ll be gone through the 15th. Thirteen people and I are going to be serving the men, women and children of the local slums around Nairobi (including the Kibera Slum of the movie, The Constant Gardener). We will be working with Brenda and Garry Kean and their church New Song Nairobi and Jacaranda, their sewing ministry. It is going to be a heart-wrenching, powerful, wonderful journey, and I cannot wait!

This trip is going to be my first trip out of the country so I am a little bit nervous, but very excited! We are leaving on Friday morning to fly to Chicago, from there to London and then finally to Kenya! We will be there until Wednesday the fifteenth, which means I will get to spend my 17th birthday there! Four of the people going are some of my best friends ever, three of which have never been to Nairobi either, so we shall get to experience it together. We are all very excited.

Brenda and Garry Kean are the founders of New Song Nairobi, and Jacaranda Sewing Ministries. They have been living in Nairobi for several years now and have been working with the people of the slums since they moved there. The Jacaranda sewing ministry is a group of women from the slums making and sewing many different things like purses, dolls, bags, suitcases and aprons. They then sell these items outside of Africa in places like the United States to raise money. This money keeps these people off of the street. A lot of these items will be brought back with us to sell and make money for them, if you are interested in buying something, let me know when I get back!

While our team is there, we are going to be serving many people in different ways. We will be visiting several different slums around Nairobi, talking to and praying with many different people. We are going to be working with kids in VBS and maybe even a sports camp as well. Our goal is to show these kids that they are loved not just by us, but by God as well. We will also be visiting the Jacaranda sewing ministry and teaching the women some different techniques and ways to paint their crafts. One particular thing I am excited about is the privilege of getting to help lead worship for some different people there. Needless to say, we are going to be busy.

There are two things I need help with. The first is funding. For the trip altogether, I need have $3,000 by the end of March. This is a huge amount of money for a 16 year old to raise! If you can help in any way, any amount of money would make a difference. If not, you can help me with my other need, which is prayer. $3,000 is a big goal, and I could use all the prayer I can get, both financially and for the ministry while I’m there. The checks are tax deductible, and are made out to Crosspoint Community Church, with Anya Harden in the memo, and are sent to Rhonda Hewett (our team leader) at:

Rhonda Hewett
301 Mill Run Circle
Nashville, TN 37221

Thank you so much!
Love,
Anya