Ladies’ Retreat

It is time for the annual Ladies' Retreat in Nairobi! Please pray for Tonya and our ladies (10 altogether) from Calvary BC, as they travel to the retreat. They will be leaving at 7 AM tomorrow (Saturday, 30^th), and they will have about a 9 hour trip. They will be returning to Kisii on Tuesday. Please pray for their safety as they travel back and forth, that our van will not have any mechanical problems while they are gone, and that they will have a wonderful time studying God's Word and fellowshipping with other Independent Baptist ladies from around the country.

All of our ladies are so excited to have this opportunity. Only four of them have ever been to Nairobi before, so this will truly be a big "Safari" (journey) for the others!

Thank you for your prayers,

Luke

Answered Prayer!

Isn't it wonderful when God answers our prayers! In our last blog "A Busy Weekend," we had made mention of several things to pray for; and we just wanted to give you an update on our people.

Both Winnie Maiko & daughter-Ann, and Cecilia Paul & son-Luka are doing wonderful! Winnie and her baby have been able to return to church services and all other meetings. Cecilia and her family live very far from town (about a 3 to 3 ½ hour walk), so she has not been able to make the trip yet. But her and the baby are doing well and gaining strength each day. We also asked you to pray for Caroline and her baby (the baby was born at the beginning of her 7^th month); and we are so happy to tell you that God has miraculously answered prayers for these two. The baby is still in ICU, but she is gaining weight and does not seem to have any other health problems other than the low birth weight. The doctor has said that Caroline and her baby girl will be able to go home in about 2 weeks if the baby continues to improve at the same rate that she is now. Praise the Lord! And thank you so much for praying.

Bro. Tom Maronga, our Youth Leader at Calvary Baptist Church, is now home and doing better; but the doctors have said that his recovery will be slow. He ended up being in the hospital 2 weeks, and was diagnosed with "Brucellosis" (a disease that comes from infected livestock, unpasteurized milk, poorly cooked meat, etc. And it seems to be quite common here in Kenya.). He ran a fever of over 104 degrees for 10 days; and the disease has affected his lungs, liver, kidneys, and heart. He will be on medication and other treatment for about 3 months, but we Praise the Lord that he is at home and doing very well at this time. We do ask that you continue to keep him and his family in your prayers.

Our Youth Day Service (May 10^th), went very well! The youth did a wonderful job, and we are all looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do through these young people.

It is wonderful to see God answer our prayers, but we are always excited to see the Lord answer the prayers of our people. We KNOW that He will answer, but the nationals seem to have the mindset that God only answers the missionary's prayers. So, we have been doing some in depth teaching on prayer; and praying with the FAITH and BELIEF that God WILL answer THEIR prayers as well. I would like to share with you one of our lady's requests and God's answer to her request.

Our Ladies' Group has been planning a trip to Nairobi, because there is a large Ladies' Retreat (Sponsored by another Baptist missionary) there each year. We wanted to go last year, but it was too short of a notice to come up with the funds. This year I was able to let them know in advance, so that they would have time to prepare for the trip. We will be gone for 4 days (May 30^th – June 2^nd), and the cost is ksh. 1,000/= ($13.50) per lady. This is just the cost of the Retreat; I will drive them in our van so that they will not have to pay bus fare on top of that. But just the ksh. 1,000/= seemed impossible to them when I first told them. So, I told them to just pray about it and to ask God to show them how and where they could get the money. All of these ladies have worked extra hard in their shamba (gardens) and selling their fruits and vegetables at the local market. One of our ladies is a seamstress, and she usually has enough work to keep her busy about 2 days each week. But since she prayed and asked God to help her get this extra money, she has worked from early to late each day for 5 – 6 days a week! She had her money in just 2 weeks. She was so excited; and when she told our other ladies, they got excited to see if God would answer their prayer as well. One of them, named Martha, asked each of us to pray with her that God would let the rains hold off for a few days; so that she could harvest her beans. She said that if she could harvest them; she would be able to sell them and get her money in full. You have to realize that she asked us this in the middle of our "Rainy Season" (it starts raining EVERY DAY at 2 – 2:30 PM, and then rains the rest of the day and most of the night as well!). She asked us to pray on Wednesday, May 6^th; and there were about 12 other ladies there that day. We all committed to pray with her concerning this need. Saturday, May 9^th, was our monthly Ladies' Meeting. When she arrived she was literally bubbling over with joy! She had spent the whole morning harvesting her beans, and she would be able to take them to market on Monday! Yes, God answered her prayer, it did not rain one drop from Wednesday all the way through Saturday afternoon. The clouds would build up, it would look like a terrible down pour was about to start, the wind would gust, and the clouds moved right over without spilling a drop! You should have seen the faces of our ladies (there were 17 of us); you would have thought that they each had just been given a full pot of gold! They were truly amazed and what God had done for one of THEM! We have 10 Ladies who have been able to pay their fees in full, and we still have 2 weeks until it is DUE!! They now know that we serve a MIGHTY GOD, and NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE with HIM!

Thank you again for your prayers on our behalf and on behalf of our people. I hope that this as much of a blessing to you, as it was to all of us!

May God bless each of you,

Tonya

A Busy Weekend!

Hello to all of you! We pray that this "post" finds you and your family doing well.

We had a VERY busy weekend, but it was wonderful to see the Lord working in the lives of our people here in Kisii Town.

Saturday began with:

1. "Children's Workers" meeting at 9 AM.
2. Visitation at 10 AM to 12 PM.
3. 11 AM our family went to make a "Home Visit" to a mother and new baby (we got back to town around 4:30 PM). A "Home Visit" is when we go to the home of a mother and new baby to welcome the baby. The tradition here is that a mother and baby do not leave home until the baby is 3 to 4 weeks old, so we go at this time to welcome them both back to church. Usually the mother and baby are able to come to church the next Sunday, depending on their health and distance from town.
4. Calvary BC Ladies also made a "Home Visit" to another mother from 12 to 3 PM. It was wonderful to see 12 ladies come out to visit this mother. They took up an offering (ksh. 1,300/= which is about $17) among themselves, and then used that money to buy items for the baby and mother. It is always a blessing to see our people reaching out to meet the needs of others! This has been a long time in coming for some of these ladies (people of the Kisii Tribe are known for their greed, selfishness, and hard-heartedness).
5. Youth basketball (boys) practice & youth choir (girls) practice was from 3 to 6 PM.
6. Then we were able to pick up a few groceries and head home to fix supper and prepare for Sunday services.

Please pray for these mothers and their babies: Winnie Maiko & daughter-Ann, Cecilia Paul & son-Luka. The statistics for our region in Kenya state that only 1 of every 10 children born will reach the age of 5! So, these babies really need your prayers. We had another lady in our church, named Caroline, who just had her baby on Saturday; Caroline was only 7 months along in her pregnancy, so she and the baby are both in the ICU at this time. Luke was able to get in to see her at the hospital since he is her Pastor, but the doctors are very concerned about the baby's health (weighs about 2 lbs.). Please pray for Caroline & her baby also.

Sunday we began with:

1. Men's prayer meeting at 9:30 AM. (We also found out at this time that our Youth Leader - Bro. Tom Maronga - was admitted to the hospital overnight. He has severe pneumonia, and is currently still in the hospital. Please remember him in your prayers too.)
2. Sunday school classes at 10 AM.
3. Morning Worship at 11 AM to 1 PM.
4. Quick lunch.
5. Youth (ages 13-19) Meeting from 2 PM to 5:30m PM. (We had prayer, a devotion, juice, choir practice, then indoor and outdoor games for all of the youth.) We had 30 youth come out for this meeting. Our youth class has been steadily growing over the past couple of months, and we thank the Lord for allowing us to minister to this next generation of leaders. Please pray that these young people will see the need to witness to their friends, and that they will have a burden to serve the Lord in ALL areas of their lives.

After playing basketball, football, and table games we were all quite worn out. But we had a wonderful time with these young people. The Youth Class will be taking care of the services (song leading, praying, ushering, singing all the special music, Bible reading, giving their testimonies) this next Sunday. So, please be in prayer with them about this Sunday's (10th) Services. Some of them are VERY nervous!

We really appreciate all of your prayers for our family and for our various outreach ministries. Thank you so much! May God richly bless you this week.

~The Shelby Family~