March 9, 2013 - Update/Kenyan Elections

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Dear Praying Friends and Family,

We are doing well, and we want to say thank you to all who have been praying for our family and for the country of Kenya during the election process. This morning, Saturday, March 9th, at around 2:30 AM the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) finished tallying the results for the Kenyan Presidential Elections which took place on Monday, March 4th. It has been a very peaceful process so far. There has been celebrations taking place in various places around the country throughout the night, and it appears that all celebrations have been peaceful. The official announcement for the next President took place at 2:30 PM from the IEBC Commissioner. They announced that Uhuru Kenyatta to be the fourth President of Kenya.

Now we will wait to see what the opposition's response will be. The Kenyan people want a peaceful aftermath, but they are waiting to see how the opposition leader is going to react. Please pray that he will step up, accept the IEBC results, and continue to promote peace across the country. He received over 5 million votes during the election, and these 5 million people are awaiting his reaction.

The new President, Uhuru Kenyatta, also faces some challenges ahead. He has been indicted by the International Criminal Courts (ICC) with crimes against humanity from the elections in 2007. He and his running mate both claim innocence to these charges, but they will be required to face the ICC later this year. Because of these charges, the USA, UK, and other nations warned that there would be consequences to Kenya if Uhuru Kenyatta was elected President of Kenya. Exactly what those consequences will be is still unknown, and at this time we are not sure what affect they will have, if any, upon our family or other missionary families living and working in Kenya.

Thank you again for your prayers for our family and the country of Kenya during this time.

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby
Your Missionaries in Kenya
Numbers 6:24