The Shelby Family in Kenya

Dear Supporters and Friends,                                                                                 May–June 2010

We want to thank you for your prayers for our family. We arrived safely, and we have been able to spend some time with our families. We have most of our schedule booked, and we are looking forward to seeing many of you while we are travelling.

We have made new prayer cards, our DVD presentation and copies, and display, so we are now prepared for our furlough travels. We will be getting new packets sent to all of our supporting churches, that we will not be visiting during this furlough, so please be looking for that package in the next few weeks.

God has blessed us with a 2000 GMC van from a good missionary, friend that we have known for several years. God blessed him with the van, and he passed it on to us. It is good and comfortable for everyone to travel; and we thank God for providing this for us, so we can travel as a family for most of the time that we are here.

The works in Kenya are doing well, and we have been able to be in better contact with them than in the past because of better technology there now in some areas. God has been blessing, the attendance is doing well, and people are continuing to be reached with the Gospel. At this point in our ministry God has blessed with 18 churches being started, since we began working in the Kisii area. And over 6,000 have come to know Christ, through all of the ministries, over the last 11 years of living and working in Kenya. We thank you for your prayers and support that has made all of this possible. God bless you!

Please pray that God would help us get into some churches for new support. We have lost support from 10 churches due to the economy situation and church closures; and so right now we only have 65% of our work support, and we need to raise the remaining 35% which amounts to $1,500 a month support. This support is set apart for work funds only to use in the following ways each month:

? South Nyanza Baptist College     $500

? Church Planting and building         $500

? Bible Study materials         $200

? Orphan care                 $300

                     $1,500

We have already had several meetings, and we have a calendar available on our website (www.shelbysinkenya.org), so that anyone who wants to keep up with our meetings and progress while we are on furlough is able to do so.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries.

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Hello to all of our family, friends, and supporters! We wanted to write everyone one more time before we leave Kenya and begin our furlough in the USA.

We are all doing very well. We made it safely to Nairobi, and we have been taking care of our last doctor and dentist appointments before heading out. We will be flying out tomorrow (Wednesday) night at around 11:30 PM (East African Time), and if all goes as scheduled; we will arrive in Little Rock, Arkansas around 7 PM (Central Standard Time) on May 6^th. We are getting excited about arriving in the USA! Kay-Leigh (our 5 year old) keeps asking, “How many more minutes?”

After a week of continual farewells with our Kenyan churches and friends, we are ready to take off for America. Please pray for our children, as they are finding it very difficult to leave home (Kenya) and all of their friends. We have dried more tears this week than in their whole lives, I think! They really are looking forward to seeing family and friends in the USA too, but the United States is not home for us; so please pray that our children will adjust to American life smoothly and enjoy their short time there. We truly praise the Lord for our children and their hearts for Kenya. We are very proud of them, and we are thankful for their desire to serve the Lord while they are young.

As all missionaries can tell you, the life of a missionary is often filled with good byes. And those good byes are probably one of the most difficult things we encounter. But our lives are also filled with many joyful reunions!! And we are looking forward to seeing so many of our family and friends soon! We will be traveling together as a family most of our furlough time. So, we will see many of you over the next 6 months.

Please keep the Shelby Family in your prayers as we begin our long safari to and through the USA.

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke, Tonya, Abigail, Breanne, Caleb, and Kay-Leigh Shelby

Dear Supporters and Friends,                                                    April 2010

We thank you for the opportunity to serve our Lord on your behalf in the country of Kenya. As we are preparing for furlough, we are preparing to contact everyone personally during the next six months. We will be getting on the plane in Nairobi, Kenya on May 5th and arriving in the USA on the 6th. Please pray that there will not be any disruptions in air travel; like what was experienced last week with volcanic ash.

This will be a short furlough, because some of the works that have been started this last term need close attention. Our schedule has filled up fast, and there are only a few weeks of open dates. Please pray for us as we will be traveling and raising work support for some projects that the Lord has opened up to our ministry.

It was a big desire of mine, working on the bus routes in Arkansas, to help the children of Kenya who are less fortunate. For a long time, I have been praying and asking God to help this door open to us in order to minister to orphans here; where there is very little assistance from the government to help them. We are trying to teach our churches to try to help where they can; but it is just so little, and the need is so great. We are praying that we could help these orphans with food, clothing, medicine, and schooling as well as spiritual and emotional development. We want to assist them on a monthly basis with basic needs at first. And then when the funds are available, we will help provide a place for them to stay; where they can grow up in a Christian environment. It is sad to say that orphans live as outcasts even when they are living with their as outcasts even when they are living with extended family (grandparents, aunts, or uncles).

Some projected costs for this ministry are:

? Monthly Care Package -($15 per child per month.)

? Daily orphanage care ($30 per child per month.)

? Building costs to build a house on the property of a church already in existence.

Please help us care for these orphans and others, through the work of the churches that have already been established. We will begin this ministry when we return to Kenya in January 2011.

April has been very busy, and we have visited some of our churches. We also had a leadership conference where 56 pastors and leaders from 9 churches came to Kisii. It was a good time for us to fellowship with them and to say good-bye for a while. We also celebrated the 3rd Anniversary for Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii. There were 206 in attendance and several visitors.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries.

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

(The wall around our house and our gate!)

Tuesday morning, shortly after 8 AM, we heard a mob of people shouting and making lots of noise. When we looked outside, we were VERY surprised to see riot police just a few feet from our gate! The Piki Piki (motorcycle) Taxi Association (one of the main modes of public transportation in our town) was protesting the fact that the police have cracked down on them and have started arresting them. The police have good reason, since the majority of the drivers have never even applied for a driver’s license and their motorcycles are not usually licensed or insured either! Anyway, a lot of the drivers got together and put their motorcycles across the roads all over town so that NO traffic could go through. Our house is on the main bypass into town; so where do they decide to put their largest barricade? Right outside our gate!! All of the noise that we heard was actually all of the drivers trying to get away before the police stopped their vehicle and got out. The people you can see in the background had all picked up stones and long sticks, preparing themselves for battle. The police arrested every single person who was holding anything in their hands. There was not enough room in their vehicle, so they had them marching down the road with armed policemen. The whole episode only lasted about 45 minutes, but it was a very tense time for all of us. Our children had been riding their bikes in our driveway (where the gate is!), when we first heard anything. We got everyone inside and locked the doors! I took the pictures from our bedroom window. We praise the Lord for His MIGHTY hand of protection for our family! It during times like these, that we truly know that we have God’s faithful people praying for us. Thank you for YOUR prayers! When God lays someone on your heart, please do not hesitate to pray for them; this experience is just one example of how God answers all of our prayers and yours too!

Dear Supporters and Friends,

God has been very good to us, and He has opened many doors for our ministry this year. We thank you for your prayers and support for our family, which has made all of these ministries possible. We have been able to update our ministry website to help inform you of God’s work in our area. Please take a look and pray for the people, churches, and other ministries that you see pictures of, and thank God for opening these doors. (www.shelbysinkenya.org). Some of these ministries we would like to share with you now.

God enabled us to have over 60 teenagers, from seven of our churches take part in Youth Camp in December. We taught on living a holy life and being separated from the things of the world. At the end of the week, more that 40 of them stood and signed a “Vow of Purity” to keep until they get married. This is a big step for most of them, because of the lack of parental guidance. Teen pregnancy leads to many abortions every year, and to many of the diseases that we face in Kenya.

God put us in contact with a Christian named, George, from Nairobi. He moved to his home area where there were not any Baptist Churches within a 2 hour drive from his house. We met him and others from his area, and they started a Preaching Point in February 2009. They rented a room, which had once been used as a movie house; and they were averaging between 50-60 by the end of the year. Many have been saved because of the result of George’s faith to have a Baptist Church in his village. We visited with them and held a meeting in December to prepare the people to start the church. Then last week on March 7, 2010, Calvary Baptist Church of Sidundo Village, had its first service as a church with 162 in attendance. We also had the first baptism of 42 precious souls, who had been saved through the course of the year, and who have continued to be grounded in the teaching of the Word of God. Because of George’s influence in the community, they have now given a 5-acre plot to the church to build their church building. Praise the Lord. This is the 13th church that God has given us the opportunity to be a part of starting. To God be the glory!

We have scheduled our furlough, to begin in May of this year, and we will return to Kenya in January 2011. We are only able to take a short furlough due to many of our ministries that need close attention at this time. We have been able to schedule meetings with many churches already, but there are a few remaining churches that we have not been able to get a hold of from here. We will be raising more work support to help us meet the demands of our ministries that God has opened to us. If your church does not already support us, and would like us to stop by or send our Ministry DVD, please contact us through our email, website, or facebook page (mentioned on the website).

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries.

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Dear Supporters and Friends,                                                                                Sept. – Nov. 2009

We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas in the coming weeks and a good time of fellowship with family and friends. We are all doing well here in Kenya with the family, work of the ministry, and Bible College. It has been very busy for the last few months since we wrote a letter, so I will try to cover all of the highlights.

Vehicle

We were able to purchase the vehicle, that we mentioned in the last letter; and the full $6,000 was raised in the few months that we had to contact our supporting churches by phone and e-mail. Thank you very much; it is much more comfortable for making long trips as a family, and for Tonya to use when I am out visiting the other churches and having meetings. May God bless you so much. We have been on a few trips with it and it is exactly what we needed. Kay-Leigh has not gotten car sick, and she has not even had to have her motion sickness medicine. Thank you very much!

Ministry Activities

We were able to start a Bible Study in the village of Gingo, with some who were saved in the Bible Baptist Church of Rapedhi. We have supplied them with lessons, tracts, and John and Romans; and we held a meeting there and 26 souls were saved (even though a drunk man came to disrupt the meeting). Finally, the drunk man was calmed down and he listened to the end of the service. We have plans for another meeting this month in the village of Sidundo, which is 3 hours away. These Bible Studies will be formed into churches in the next six months or so.

We have finished another year of South Nyanza Baptist College, and the student’s reports of personal soul-winning in their villages reached 309 salvations so far this year. We have also finished Youth camp for the year, this past week, with 8 getting saved and over 40 youth taking a vow of purity and abstinence. Please continue to pray for our youth, because they are our next generation of Pastors and teachers.

Bible Baptist Church in Rongo is continuing to grow. And we are working with them to reorganize the church after a lot of the problems that nearly destroyed our work there. Pray also for Bible Baptist Church in Ibanchore Village as they are raising funds (locally) for building a temporary structure.

We are also gearing up to open the new year at the orphanage of Alaro Village with a total of 10 orphans, so we are asking God to provide for their food, shelter and schooling. The cost of feeding the orphans is $5 per month, per child. We only have room for 10 children right now. The children also need uniforms and books to be provided. The orphanage has a school attached to it with over 80 students, and we are trying to raise support for the school as well. If you are interested in helping, in some way, please let us know. Please look at our website (www.shelbysinkenya.org), for more information and pictures, as they are updated, about our ministries and family.

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries.

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Dear Praying Friends,

Since this is the best way of personal communication and since our phone lines are not always dependable calling the states, I am writing this message by email for urgency.

We are trying to buy a better vehicle. We have been using a 10 passenger van for the last 5 years as our family vehicle.  It has been through some engine changes and a front end wreck last year.  The engine is running fine, but it is really a rattle trap. We will continue to use it to go out and visit our churches and for all ministry work. 

It has been too big for Tonya to drive; and it is not comfortable for the kids either, because of the diesel fumes (Kay-Leigh has the biggest problems).  We did not realize the problem that it had until the kids wanted to take baby rabbits on a two-hour trip and they all died.

We have found another vehicle that has been well taken care of, and it has been used by another missionary who is retiring from the field after 20 years.  We have seen and driven the vehicle, and Tonya is very comfortable with it.  He is asking $6,000 for it by October (by the time that they are leaving).  It is a 7-seater Pajero, and it has only been owned by 3 foreigners (that means a lot).

I know that the economy is not having a very good time; It is the same way here, but possibly worse.  That is why we have tried to find a good deal before we mentioned it to churches and friends.  If we could have 12 churches, who could give $500 to this need, then it would be taken care of.

If you can help us with this need, please let us know by e-mail (click here to send us a message) so that we can confirm the sell or tell missionary that we cannot buy it. 

Please forgive us for the urgency of this letter, but we have a deadline of October 15; we can then give them a check before they leave Kenya.

Money can be sent to our home church, BBC Jacksonville or BIMI with a note for “vehicle.”

May God bless you very much,

Luke and Tonya Shelby and Family

Missionaries in Kenya

Dear Supporters and Friends,                                                                                July/August 2009

Thank you for your prayers, cards, and notes to our family over the last two months. We celebrated our 14th Anniversary; and our two oldest daughters, Abigail and Breanne, had birthdays. Abigail is now a teenager, and she is turning into a young lady. Breanne is now 12, and we thank God for both them. They are teaching from time to time in the children’s church and Vacation Bible Schools. It is hard to believe that this year is our 10th year living in Kenya, and that the girls were only one and two years old when we arrived in Kenya.

July

We have had a busy summer break visiting with a few churches as a family, because during the school year it is difficult in the middle of the week for Tonya and the kids to see the different ministries going on. We also shared some of the time with Shauna Brockman, who is a teacher in Knoxville, TN. We did a VBS at the orphanage project in Alaro village with 100 and 160 in attendance for the two days respectively. There were over 50 who got saved, and 8 of them were parents who brought their children. We are still praying that God would open the doors to be able to start a church in this village.

We also had the opportunity to go to one of the Deaf schools in our area, and Shauna was able to teach about salvation. She taught around 200 children, and I know she was a blessing to each person she met. We also spent one afternoon at the ladies’ prison, she gave her testimony, I preached, and 23 got saved. There are now about 30 in the ladies’ prison doing Bible Study courses. In the men’s prison there were 64 saved, and several were added to the Bible Study program. Please pray for these ministries as they continue.

August

We held our 2nd Annual Ladies camp for all of our churches. It is held each year at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii, and this is Tonya’s special outreach to all the ladies. We had 22 ladies from 4 different churches this year, and everyone is already looking forward to next year’s camp. Please continue to pray for Tonya and her various Ladies’ ministries. Pray that God will give her the wisdom needed to teach the pastor’s wives and other ladies in our churches, so that we will be able to see a generation of strong Godly women in Kenya.

Other Prayer Requests and Needs

Vehicle—$6,000 (We have been praying for over a year, for a dependable family vehicle.) Now we have found a vehicle that is available from a missionary who is leaving the field in October. He is selling his 4-wheel drive Pajero for $6,000. It has been very well taken care of, and this is a very good offer. If you can assist us in meeting this need, please note it on your check for “Vehicle” and it will be a great blessing to our family. Thank you very much for your offering.

Photocopier—$1,200

For souls in Kisii,

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Dear Prayer Supporters,                                April—June 2009

Hello from Kisii, Kenya. This year, God has continued to give us renewed strength and opened opportunities for us to serve Him, and we thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries. Please visit us at our website www.shelbysinkenya.org to see a full view of our ministries as well as our schedule of events. Please subscribe to our blog post for more frequent updates. God bless you.

Alaro Orphanage Project

Please pray for a new orphanage project that we are starting to develop. We are still trying to get the legalities in place for the property and the government regulations. About two acres have been donated with another five acres that are available if the need for the project will require more land. At this point there are 12 orphans and a school with about 70 students. We are working with a Baptist Church in Germany and a national of the area who is trying to get the project off the ground. The project is an hour’s drive from Kisii; and we have started a Bible Study in this village, to teach basic Bible Doctrines with the desire to start a church.

Prison Ministry

Our prison ministry is continuing well, and there have been 157 saved in the last two months. More than 25 have become part of our correspondence Bible Study Program, with several already finishing. This is a panoramic view of over 500 inmates that we get to preach to every other week. There are 10 students and pastors who are taking part in this ministry.

Co-Labourers

We will be having some visitors this summer to assist in the work with us. Please pray that God will show them His will for their lives. Shauna is a single teacher who will be with us for a month, and she will assist us in Vacation Bible Schools, the orphanage, and other youth ministries. Also please pray for Kenneth and Kristy Ralph as they are finishing up their deputation. They should be arriving in September to assist us in the ministry. Please pray that they get the support that they need this summer to wrap up their deputation soon.

Other Prayer Requests and Needs

Land in Kisii—$4,000 remaining        Photocopier—$1,500                New Vehicle

Calvary Baptist Church            South Nyanza Baptist College            National Pastors

For souls in Kisii,

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Dear Praying Friends,

Many of you will remember that we asked you to pray for Bro. Tom Maronga (our Youth Pastor at Calvary BC, Kisii) about a month ago. He seemed to do better and was at home for the past 3 weeks. Late last night his family rushed him to the hospital here in Kisii Town, but there was not anything the doctors could do. He went home to be with the Lord at about 5 AM today (6-12-09).

So, we are asking you to please lift up his wife and family in your prayers. His wife’s name is Rose; they have 4 children, and have been caring for some orphans as well. Please pray that they will be able to see the Lord working in their lives even in the middle of such tragedy. Please pray that the Lord will give us and our church family here, the wisdom and right words to say, in order to help this precious family through this difficult time in their lives. Please pray also that some of Bro. Tom’s extended family might come to know the Lord as their Savior.

Thank you for your prayers for this family,

Luke & Tonya Shelby