Greetings from Kisii, Kenya.  God has been so good to us, and it is great to be in His service.  We want to thank you for your prayers for our safety in family and ministry.  It has been very busy here over the last two months, and we thank God for His protection over us.  The kids had a great week of Missionary Kid Camp during the first of August learning how to be conquerers and having rain gutter boat races.  Then I met with our pastors for a fellowship time, planning for graduation at the end of the year, and for some plans for 2012.  Then Tonya had her annual ladies meeting, where nearly 30 ladies, from all of our churches, came for teaching and training for ministry in their local churches.  

In September, Calvary Baptist Church in Sidundo, finished building their building on the 5-acre plot that was given to us by the community.  On September 18th, they met for the first time on the property for a service.  Local government leaders were present; and we had a prayer service, a ribbon cutting, and we entered the building to begin using the building and the property for God’s honor and glory in reaching souls for Christ.  There was a total of 290 in attendance, 18 adults and 23 youth were saved that day, and the spirit of God was all over the place.  It was a great blessing to all of us.  

BUILDING OUR FIRST ORPHANAGE

Beginning on September 14, we hosted the international CLAIM TEAM with BIMI, which was a group of 10 men and women volunteers who visit missionaries and help them with building projects under the leadership of Missionary Philip Smith.  They were with us for about two weeks, and they were a big help in getting this orphanage built.  They also helped us with doing a two day VBS, where there were 106 and 165 in attendance respectively.  The ladies also participated in the weekly ladies’ meeting and on visitation into some new homes.

We chose to build the first orphanage in Sidundo because of the availability of the plot, the influence of the church testimony in the community, and the great need to help the orphans in the church and in the community.  The living conditions in the area are very poor for even Kenya’s standards.  Most goods are sometimes 3 times as much as they are in nearby cities, if they are even available.  Many diseases are rampant, and it is very difficult for many families to get the medical treatment that they need; much less the well-being of the orphans are being overlooked.  There were four funerals in the village during the two weeks that we were there, and another child in the church died shortly after we left.

We had a great time of fellowship and a lot of hard work in the hot equatorial sun.  The Lord answered so many prayers in His own time and allowed us to finish the basic structures just in time before the team had to leave.  We thank them for the hard work that they did and for their dedication to us and the people here.  The team was only on the site for 11 days, and it is amazing to see all the work that was accomplished.  In addition the ladies planted about 400 trees around the edge of the entire property.

The orphanage was built to be a home for a capacity of 40 children, and we hope to have it finished and ready to bring the first kids in January 2012.  We did finish the majority of the work, but there is still a lot of detailed work that will need to be finished in order to open the orphanage in time.  We will need $2,000 to buy the rest of the materials for plastering the walls, finishing the roof, gables, and the floors, doors and windows, and to build two toilet/bath facilities.  

Thank you so much for your prayers and your ministry with us.

Luke and Tonya Shelby

Our last services today with the Team here @ Sidundo. Not sure of the total count, but I know there were 175 kids! 4 adults were saved also. 1 of them was a young man named Henry. Some of the Team has been witnessing to him since the 1st day, but he said he just wasn’t ready. Well today he finally took that step! He is now 1 of our brothers in Christ! It was amazing to see the change in his countenance afterward! Praise the Lord!

The 2 Team members who were sick are feeling much better. I believe everyone is mostly packed & ready for the trip to Nairobi tomorrow. They will be on the road by 7 AM, so please keep them in your prayers over the next few days as they make their way to their homes. The children & I & Miss Katie will head back to Kisii tomorrow too; after we go through the houses & make sure that everything is packed up.

We are looking forward to a great day of services tomorrow!! Please be in prayer for each person that will be teaching, preaching, or helping out in some way during Sunday school, church, & junior church.

We had our first night of VBS! Bro. Dan taught on Jonah & the whale, & Miss Stefanie taught about the 3 Hebrew children. We had 106 on our first night (the normal teacher said that we would only have around 60)!! Almost all of them said that they would bring a friend tomorrow night!

Sorry I forgot to say that the mid-week service went well also. Thank you for your prayers.

Please be in prayer with us about the meetings & work over the next few days. Tomorrow we will begin VBS, & Saturday we will show the Jesus Film again. Please pray that we are able to show the whole thing this time.

Tomorrow we will be having a ladies’ meeting @ the church where we are building the orphanage. Please pray as I teach these ladies what God has laid on my heart. I can’t wait to see what God has in store. It is still hard to believe that He allowed me to lead 22 young people to Him yesterday!! He is so good!

Wednesday will be mid-week service. Thursday & Friday will be a mini VBS time, Saturday we have plans to meet with all of the children who will be benefitting from this orphan home. We also wanted to let the CLAIM Team to be able to meet the children whom they will be helping. Please pray for these meetings & for all of the building that will continue being done throughout all these things.