Furlough 2010

We want to let all of our friends, family, supporters, and prayer partners know that we will be returning to the USA in May 2010 for our regularly scheduled furlough. Our furlough will be approximately 7 months long, since we will be returning to Kenya in January 2011. Please pray for our family during this time, as we will throughout the entire time we are in the USA.

If we have already scheduled a meeting in your church, then we will contact you shortly after arriving in the USA, in order to make any final arrangements. We are looking forward to seeing each and every one of you!

If we have NOT scheduled a meeting with you or your church yet; please feel free to contact us by e-mail: mail@shelbysinkenya.org . Once you request a meeting, we will be able to tell when we are scheduled to be in your general area. We will try our best to work you into our schedule; but please keep in mind that we are only in the USA for 7 months, and we may have to schedule a visit to your church during our next furlough.

Please feel free to keep up to date with our family and ministries by watching or following the following links:

    Website: http://www.shelbysinkenya.org/

    Blog page: http://shelbysinkenya.org/WordPress/

    Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/TheShelbysinKenya

    Twitter: http://twitter.com/Shelbysinkenya

    Facebook: Tonya Kay Shelby

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

January – March 2010 Prayer Letter

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