November - December 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Supporters and Friends, Nov./Dec. 2015 Merry Christmas from the Shelby Family. This time of the year has become special for all of us; especially this year, because of having the opportunity to see all of our family while we are on furlough. We pray that you would also have a Merry Christmas with your family during this holiday season. We thank the Lord for His goodness to us on the road and in meetings where we have seen His hand at work in the lives of individuals. He helped us raise the money that was needed for Abigail and Breanne to make a missions trip to Dominican Republic in January. Please continue to pray for them as they keep up with school, work, and church schedules. We have also received special offerings for our orphan program ($1,500), vehicle fund ($2,100), and building fund ($1,000). There are several other churches that have promised to be a part of these special needs before we go back to the field. God has also blessed in getting meetings in nearly 40 new churches that want to be part of our ministry and several of them have already taken us on for support. Please pray that God will bless as we present the ministry in these new churches and pray that God will save souls and call laborers into His Work. Tonya and I were able to visit Kenya in November for 2 weeks for our Bible College graduation. We went soul winning with them and had 16 precious souls saved in one day! THE HARVEST IS SO RIPE!!! Thirteen men and women graduated from the 3-year course. We had over 500 in attendance, and It was a great day! Thank you for your prayers and support for our family. Luke and Tonya Shelby

August - September 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Supporters and Friends, August - September 2015

Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministry in Kenya while we are on furlough. Thank you for praying for our traveling mercies. I am writing this letter on my flight to California where I will be in 11 churches over the next 3 weeks. At the end of the month we will be in a Mission’s Conference back in Arkansas before returning to visit Kenya for 2 1/2 weeks starting November 3rd. Please pray for us during that time.

Please continue to pray for Tonya’s health, since there have been a few meetings which she was not strong enough to be able to travel to due to the continuing issues with her blood deficiencies of iron, folate, and B-12. This has also caused problems for her in catching several viruses and having a relapse with malaria this past week, which is all due to her low or compromised immune system. Please pray with us that her doctors will have wisdom in helping her find the best treatment options possible while we are on furlough this year.

Please pray for Pastor George Okoth, who is overseeing our church in Rongo. He was attacked and beaten by thugs who broke into his house, which is on the church’s compound. They beat him pretty badly, and he had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. Please pray for his full recovery and safety.

Three of our orphans (Japheth, Sherin, and Vivian) lost their grandmother (their closest guardian) this past month. As far as we know, she was not saved, but she was witnessed to and heard the Gospel several times. Please pray for the precious souls in Kenya who are dying without Christ! We will need to do more to help these three children, but we are not are exactly sure what will be decided by their distant relatives. Please keep them in your prayers.

We have been able to get in touch with most of our supporting churches, and we have scheduled meetings with a majority of you already. Unfortunately, we will not be able to visit all of you, so we are in the process of contacting each of you. If we are unable to visit you during this furlough, we will be sending you our 2015 DVD Presentation and updated Prayer Cards in the mail. We want to thank you so much for your ministry in our lives and in the lives of these People in Kenya. God bless each of you!

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

June-July 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Prayer Supporters, June-July 2015

Thank you for your prayers for our family as we have started our furlough. We spent a month in our home church in Arkansas and with my parents, and then we traveled to East Tennessee to be with Tonya's parents the month of June, while also having meetings in their area. The Lord allowed us to travel up the east coast and through parts of Canada to visit our supporting churches and some new ones in July. Along the way we were able to see Washington D.C., New York City, and many other places. We have had a wonderful summer, and are so thankful that we were able to spend so much quality time as a family before the girls begin college. We also thank the Lord for His protection on the road, as we have already travelled over 8,000 miles since May.

We will be back in Arkansas by August 1st, to get Abigail and Breanne settled in at Bethel Baptist College, which is a ministry of our home church in Arkansas. Caleb and Kay-Leigh will be attending the Christian Academy there for this school year while we are in the USA.

Any mail can be sent to Abigail Shelby and Breanne Shelby to:
C/O Bethel Baptist College
8809 Mills Valley Road
Jacksonville, Arkansas 72076

We are excited about what the Lord has helped us to accomplish in preaching the Gospel and establishing churches in Kenya. Thousands have been saved, 26 churches have been started, and several men and women have been trained through our 3-year Bible College.

Some special needs that we will be trying to raise offerings for this year while we are on furlough are:
Personal Support: $600 monthly for Abigail and Breanne as they start College.
Ministry Support: $1,000 monthly for ministries in Kenya. Church Planting, College, and Orphan Ministries.
Vehicle Fund: $25,000

We will also have church, college, and orphan building projects that we will present once we get the details finalized. We would like to present these needs in your church when we come if possible. We are requesting that each church would pray about what you can do and try to have a special offering for one or more of these projects in the next year while we are here on furlough.

Thank you so much for your love and care for our family. God bless you.

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby

April 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Praying Friends, April 2015

Thank you for your prayers for our family as we are beginning our furlough. We thank you for your commitment to us and the ministry in Kenya. It is amazing to see the things that God has allowed us to be a part of over this last term. We are excited about the future of these ministries that we have been able to begin and the impact that they will continue to make in Kenya in the souls of men, women, youth, and children.

Pray for our family as we landed in Little Rock on April 21 to a rainy chilly climate. Everyone is still trying to recuperate from the trip, plus dealing with cold and flu symptoms since coming arriving. We are busy getting doctor appointments for everyone, and spending time with family through the first month. We will be in the States for one year and already we have nearly 50 churches booked for meetings that are scheduled into 2016. We will definitely need to raise more support for our Orphan Ministry, and we will have other church, college, and orphanage building projects that we will need to raise funds for. These details and plans are being worked out and organized and we will mention them in detail at a later date.

We will also need to raise our personal level of support as well because both of our older girls Abigail and Breanne will begin College in August. We will have their contact information for those who would like to encourage them with letters when we make the final arrangements. I know that they covet your prayers during this time in their lives, with so many changes that they will face that will be different than what they are used to. Pray for Breanne, our second oldest will be graduating on May 15 at Jacksonville Christian Academy at our home church's school.

We have other expenses that we have this month for setting things up here in Kenya for us to be gone for the year and also for getting our vehicle ready for travel in the States. We have had transmission, tires, A/C, and some small things done already on the van that we will be using, it has already cost $2,800. So we need to raise this money, because we have not paid for it yet.

We already have our tickets in hand and we will be living in a house on our home church's property that has been arranged.

We have already been contacted by many of about scheduling meetings for May 2015-May 2016, and our calendar is filling up quickly. If you have not yet contacted us by email, please do so: mail@shelbysinkenya.org. Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries!

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya

Safari Time...

The main attraction for Africa is, without a doubt, the animal life.  There is hardly anything more exciting than to be riding through the Maasai Mara, with camera posed for the next fantastic shot.  The chance to scan the horizon and be the first one to spot a lion in the distance is exhilarating.  One day we saw 17 lions from 3 different prides; there were many cubs; they were so adorable!  Another time we came across an elephant with a baby born just a few hours before; we got close enough to get some pictures.   But she thought we were too close, so she CHARGED!  We were definitely more careful after that!  There is just something amazing about seeing God’s magnificent creatures in their own natural environment—where He put them.  With the beauty, the awesomeness, and the purity of the savanna, how can anyone believe that there isn’t a God?

Written by: Breanne S.

Off to Market...

It is easy to get cheated in the local, open market especially when considered as the outsider.  The price of a mango or handful of herbs or bucket of potatoes soars high whenever we near the tender’s booth.  Bartering is something I have learned to do over the years.  It is easier is some places than others, but the system still stands as the way to buy and sell.  The price is always begun much higher than the item is worth.  My bartering price would start out with being lower than I would expect to pay.  Thus the prices ping pong back and forth until the price is agreed upon somewhere between the two prices.  The market is usually noisy, with tenders shouting out their prices, with crowds of customers swarming around from stall to stall and row to row, and with the blaring advertising on loud speakers.  When walking through the market, it is just a loud roar with all of the sounds blending into one.  As the sun beats down on the open market, their aroma fills the air with the sweetness of the pineapples and the bitterness of the onions, as well as the stench of garbage and animal refuse from the day before.  Shopping in the market here is quite an experience!

Written by: Abigail S.  

Lizards...

It is amazing the many different kinds of lizards I have seen around and in the places where we have lived.  I have seen so many different lizards that I cannot count them.  The one that I know lives inside the houses I have lived in is called the Gecko. The Gecko can sometimes be frightening if it falls onto you when you open the curtains, and it can sometimes be funny as it darts out from behind a picture, runs across the wall, and behind another picture.  What allows the Gecko to do this is the tiny suction cups on the bottom of its feet.  Some Geckos are almost black, but others are almost a whitish-tan color although the majority of them are in the middle with a certain pattern.

Another lizard that I love to play with is the Chameleon. The Chameleon is a fascinating reptile when it changes its color to camouflage itself and blend into its surroundings.  Some Chameleons can be mean if you anger them, but most of them only hiss or puff out the little flap of skin that is under their head.  I have seen only two different kinds of Chameleons, the Side-striped Chameleon and the Montane Side-striped Chameleon.  The Side-striped Chameleon color is of a light brown to a dark brown almost black.  It also has the ability of changing its color to where it has a diamond pattern on its back and sides.  The other Chameleon the Montane Side-striped Chameleon has a totally different coloration.  It has instead green, light blue, white, orange spots, and black spots.  If you were painting this kind Chameleon the green would be the background on the Chameleon; then you would paint the white as a stripe right below the ridge of the Chameleon’s back.  The light blue you would paint very lightly as a stripe under the white stripe, and finally the orange and black you would paint in very small spots here and there.  As you can probably tell I really like lizards!

Written by: Caleb S.                    

Going to a Village...

One of the most exciting places to go is to a village “in the middle of nowhere.”  There are so many things to do.  Usually we use the winding paths through the fields; sometimes there are steep hills, and streams to cross.  When we get to our destination, the adults go inside to fellowship, but we get to wonder around their homestead.  We love watching tiny chicks that are kept under a basket for protection from hawks and cats, and petting baby animals.  We have fun playing games with the kids, climbing trees after avocadoes or mangoes, and exploring everything.  Sometimes we go on walks with some of the other children; they take us through back ways, show us the river they fetch water from, and show us their work on the farm.  One time, we helped shuck maize.  Villages are away from the hustle-bustle of city life.

Written by: Breanne S.