God’s Work in Kenya: Tumaini Baptist Church Opening, Outreach Success, and Family Blessings

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Dear Prayer Partners and Friends,               May-July 2025

Greetings from Kenya! We hope this letter finds you well. We would like to begin by offering our sincere apologies for the delay in sending out this update. Many of you were expecting our letter in May, and we deeply regret the oversight. During this time, Tonya traveled to the U.S. to be with Abigail for the birth of our second grandchild, while I spent time in the Maasai area with limited internet access, which caused some delay in sending this out. We appreciate your patience and are excited to finally share what God has been doing in our lives and ministry!

Family Update – A New Blessing
We are overjoyed to announce the birth of our second grandbaby, Nathan Cepec, born on May 25th, just a few days after Tonya was able to travel to the U.S. to be with Abigail and her family. Nathan was born four weeks early and required oxygen for the first 12 hours. But we are thrilled to report that he is doing wonderfully now! Abigail is recovering well, and they are just waiting on Nathan’s passport before returning to Guyana. We are thankful for the Lord’s timing and guidance during this special time for our family.

Church Updates:
We are Excited  to report that a NEW CHURCH, Tumaini (Hope) Independent Baptist Church in Kipkirui, officially opened on May 4th, with over 80 in attendance. This event was made possible through the combined efforts of 6 local churches in the area. In the weeks leading up to the opening, we were able to finalize the land and property details with the local community and the government. We built the church building, and on the opening day, we dedicated both the land and the building. It has been such a blessing to see the men and church members we have trained step up to take ownership of this new work. We are excited about the future of Tumaini Baptist Church, and as we continue to work together as a team, we trust God to enable us to accomplish great things for His glory.

In Siaya, we are making progress on the building project. The county government approved our request to move the remaining structures from the previous site, and we have transported some of the materials to the new location. Our next step is to complete the church building. Once finished, we will set up rooms in the existing structure to house children in the orphanage. We also had a successful Youth Rally at the end of June with 40 in attendance!

In Ilkerin, we have completed the church building for Nkirukoto (Faith) Baptist Church. The process took longer than expected as we waited for the land to be officially processed, but the paperwork is now in place. The church members have been working hard to clear the land and get things ready for future projects. We have built a 20 x 40 ft. church and will begin the fencing soon. We are also excited to announce that we plan to open a branch of our Bible college in Ilkerin in January, with a focus on addressing literacy needs and using a simpler approach to teach the Word of God. There are so many open doors in this area, and we are eager to reach the Maasai people and beyond. We are planning a  Thanksgiving Service on August 24th to honor the community and its leaders for donating the land to Nkirukoto (Faith) Baptist Church. This will be an opportunity for us to thank God for His provision and for the local leaders who have partnered with us in the ministry. Please pray that this event will lead to greater community engagement and a deeper impact in the Maasai region.

In Narok, we have the opportunity to purchase the land where Berea Independent Baptist Church is located. The land has been leased for the past few years, but the owner has now offered to sell it to us for just $3,800. The church has already built on this land, so no further construction is needed, but we must cover the process fees with the government. We need to raise $4,500 to complete this purchase, which will secure the land for the church's future.

In Raganga, at Raganga Independent Baptist Church, we held a powerful crusade that included showing the Jesus Film and a week of door-to-door visitation. Five local churches came together to support the event, and 14 of our Bible college students participated in a full week of soul-winning. By God’s grace, 55 people made decisions to trust in Christ for their salvation throughout the week. Additionally, we hosted a Youth Rally, further encouraging the next generation in their walk with the Lord.

Thank You for Your Continued Support!
We are incredibly grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. Your partnership with us in spreading the Gospel is what makes all of this possible. We could not be here or accomplish all that God is doing without your faithful prayers and support. As we continue with the work here, we ask for your continued prayers, especially for the new churches and ministries we are starting, as well as for Tonya’s health and continued recovery. Thank you for being such an important part of God’s work in Kenya!

May God richly bless you as you continue to serve Him.

In Christ’s Service,

Luke & Tonya Shelby
Your Missionaries in Kenya

Prayer Requests:

• Tonya’s health
• Bible College
• Laborers for the harvest
• Leadership transition at Calvary Baptist Church in Uwasi
• Purchasing the land for Berea Independent Baptist Church ($4,500)
• Fencing at Nkirukoto (Faith) Baptist Church in Ilkerin and Tumaini (Hope) Baptist Church in Kipkirui ($1,000)

Please use the KENYA LEGACY FUND 

account #501 for these projects. 

Thank you!

Celebrating Milestones and Spreading Joy: Our Missionary Adventures in Kenya 🌍✨

Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends,                                                  January 2024

Happy New Year to all of you! We pray that God will fill this year with His goodness in your lives.

We are so thankful for all the incredible experiences that God has blessed us to be part of in 2023, especially the moments spent with our family during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holiday. Your support and prayers have been a source of strength for us.

Exciting updates include our son-in-law, Robert Cepec, daughter, Abigail, and our first grandson moving to the field of Guyana this week to start their ministry.  Your prayers for them mean the world to us, and we appreciate you for the adding them to your missionary families for support.  

In December, I had privilege of returning to Kenya, reconnecting with our pastors, students, and church members. We celebrated the graduation of 29 studunts during the 4 graduation ceremonies, and we are excited for what the Lord has in store for 2024.  Already, 26 new students are starting classes this month, with more expected to join by the end of January.  

Several men from our ministry are moving into new areas to begin new ministries, and recent graduates are now stepping into leadership roles.  Please join us in praying for Edward, now ministering in his home area, and Samuel, who moved to the Maasai villages to help the church and the Bible Studies that have been started recently.

Heartfelt thanks for the generous Christmas gifts that we have received. God has faithfully met every need mentioned in our letters and prayers. We are grateful for additional churches commiting to support us and our ministries in Kenya.  Your contributions remind us of Paul’s words, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  God is abundantly good, surpassing our expectations!  Thank you so much for everything that you do for Him!

During our time in the USA, God has continued to work in Kenya with 1,843 souls accepting Christ and 207 baptized, according to reports from our pastors and their ministries.

Please lift up prayers for the planning and setup of the new Internship Program, aiming to guide USA Bible college students and those called to preach the Gospel in Africa.  Our desire and vision is to influence the next generation of laborers for the harvest fields in Africa.

Thank you sincerely for the love you have shown to our family during this furlough, and for your Christmas offerings.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

 

Fruitful Furlough Update and Prayer Needs - October to November 2023 🙏

 October - November 2023

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Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends,

We want to thank you for your prayers as we have been doing a lot of traveling, reporting to churches, and getting into new churches this furlough. Several more churches have voted to take us on for support, and we are praying that they will be able to start before the end of the year. Our daughter, Breanne, and her husband, Jeremy Martin, have arrived in the States for their first furlough after spending their first term in Mongolia. They need to raise more support for the ministries that they are getting started there. They are only here for a 7-month furlough, so please pray that they can visit churches and gain their needed support.

Many of the needs that we mentioned earlier have been met by the churches that we have been in the last couple of months. We thank the Lord for the generosity of the churches and individuals that is making all of this possible for our ministry in Kenya in the coming years.

Praise the Lord, these needs have been met: Oxygen Concentrator, Bibles for graduates, English Bibles, Songbooks, Shipping, Graduation expenses for December, Camping equipment for going into the villages, Ties, and Scarves for our Bible College Students.

Please pray for my two-week trip to Kenya in December, filled with visiting churches, holding 4 separate graduations, supplying training materials to start classes for 2024, and planning some of the new church plants that will take place next year.

Our ministry requires additional financial support to keep growing. We intend to establish a new area of training in our Bible College, focusing on young people who have recently graduated high school. Up until now, our main focus has been on working with families to establish churches in their home villages. As we move forward, we hope to expand our reach by training young people to spread the word of God to areas we have yet to reach. We pray that these young people will be instruments of God's work in new villages and towns.

One of our ministry goals has been to create an internship program that will provide training to the next generation of missionaries. During this furlough, we have had the opportunity to meet with young people in several churches and Bible Colleges who are interested in this type of internship. We are praying that this will help them serve the Lord and prepare themselves for a future in missionary work. If you're interested in learning more about this program, please let me know.

Please pray for these needs in Kenya:

• Return Airfare in February - $2,500

• Chairs for church in Narok 25@$4 each = $100

• Flooring resurface for BBC in Oltepesi - $100

• Solar power backup for our house - $800

• Swahili, Luo, and Maasai Bibles 100@$6 each = $600

Thank you very much for your love for the Lord and our family and your desire to serve the Lord.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Shelby Family Corona Virus Update #2

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We are now in the second Week of a government ban on church services. The police are going around in some areas and arresting and tear-gassing church goers who are not obeying the orders. We have told all of our churches to not hold services at church but to stay home.

We heard a report today that a couple of our churches went to church as early as 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. to have a short service before going back to their homes. I discouraged them from doing that again. But they are so eager to pray and meet together under the teaching of the Word of God.

Our Pastors and members are struggling with not being able to attend services. Something that they never thought could ever happen here in Kenya. But as each church is locally led by their national Pastor, they are finding ways to meet in their neighborhoods and villages.

Since we don’t have the ability for online services due to the lack of internet availability in their homes, they are making a strategy to be faithful to the fundamentals of church ministry and using this great opportunity for witnessing.

Each person that knows how to ‘rightly divide the word of truth’ (especially the 70+ pastors and graduates from our Bible college) and others have been given authority to share the Word of God with others that live around them and that cannot go to their churches either. Many neighbors are lost, and they are listening to the truth. They are meeting under trees, on porches, or anywhere in their compound where they can sit and share the Word of God.

There were a few who did not know what to do, but we have discussed with them how they can do something in their own home and still give God the glory.

More than 25 groups have already shared with me, by the end of the day on Sunday, that they held meetings in small groups of 5-8 people. Many have not received my message yet, and we will be getting in contact with them through this week. We had a group of men at our house yesterday, and a group of ladies today met with Tonya for a Bible study. The 5 men that I met with on Saturday had meetings in their homes today. In the last two weeks at least 5 have been saved in these meetings that are cropping up all across our region of Kenya.

Thank the Lord for these Christians who are adapting to what is going on around them to continue with their burden for the ministry of sharing the Word of God.

As we get opportunity, we will share those stories with you and send pictures.

Thank you for your prayers and support for our family and ministry in Kenya.

Luke & Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya

November 2017 - January 2018 Update

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Thank you for your prayers for the country of Kenya and our family during these past few months.  We are writing to you today with a quick update since we have been delayed in getting a regular Prayer Letter sent out to everyone. We do apologize for being late on our normal communication with you, your family, and your church.  This is not a regular Prayer Letter, but more of a personal update until we can get our Prayer Letter completed and ready for both regular mail service and email.

For those of you who follow our family and ministry closely on social media, then you know that there have been some unstable conditions within Kenya (especially in the region where a majority of our churches are located).  Even though the political situation has been unstable, the work of the Lord has continued.  Of course when politics are unstable, then the basic services of electricity, internet, water, and food supplies are also affected; making each daily task either more difficult to accomplish or sometimes even impossible to get accomplish.  Since August (when the original elections took place), we have only had electricity for about 2 weeks per month, water 1-2 days per month, and internet only part of the 2 weeks that we have had electricity!  As far as food...sugar, maize meal (corn meal), dairy products, and many other items have either been rationed or non-exisistent in our area up until this month.  But we thank the Lord for His protection and for His provision for our family!

Since October, we have had a re-run of the Kenyan Presidential elections; with the opposition once again losing and continuing to demand to be put into positions of power.  They have boycotted various services across the country (one being the major cellular network in our area, of which they destroyed many cell towers causing communication issues), continued to hold public demonstrations whenever they feel like it (causing road closures in many areas).  Thankfully, these things are getting better now!  But it seems that they are better just in time for the opposition to cause more trouble.  The opposition party plans to swear in their own leader as President of the People's Republic of Kenya on Tuesday, the 30th of this month.  This ceremony is supposed to take place about 1 1/2 hours from us, and we are already seeing an influx of military and extra police officers in our area.  Prior to this ceremony, the opposition party plans to hold a major rally right here in Kisii Town on Sunday!  We are praying that things stay safe for us and all of our church family here.  We would appreciate your prayers as well.

During the months of October and November, our regular weeks of Bible College classes and Pastoral Classes had to continually be shifted around in order to allow all of our students traveling safety.  All of this shifting around of schedules can cause things to pile up rather quickly!

In November, Tonya was in the USA for her regular medical tests.  During this visit, she was officially diagnosed with Lupus.  Her doctors are working with her and allowing us to try natural options first.  They are giving her six months to try diet, supplementation with as many natural options as we can find for her.  If her blood work is not better at the six month mark (April), then they will insist on traditional medication and treatment plans.  Rest is very important, but the past few months have not been very conductive for the rest needed.  So, we ask for your prayers for her health.

December started off with College Days at our Calvary Baptist Church branch of our Bible College.  We had over 50 students and prospective students in attendance for a week of preaching, fellowship, and fun!  The second week of December is always a fun week here; as we had an amazing week of Youth Camp at Calvary BC in Kisii Town. Our theme was Fear Factor...Fear not, Only BELIEVE!  We had 92 teens in attendance, and 9 were saved!  We also had 10 young people commit to joining our Bible College for 2018!  Exciting things are happening among our youth, and we praise the Lord for the work He is doing here.  Then finishing up our first semester of homeschool for Caleb and Kay-Leigh right before Christmas.  We enjoyed a couple of days of rest, time with family, and church family over the holidays.  We were able to close the year with a Western Kenya Pastors' Fellowship at our church in Rongo (Bible Baptist Church of Rongo) on December 28-31st.  And a wonderful in the Lord's house at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town on Sunday the 31st.  We had a wonderful day with our church family with dinner on the grounds, fellowship, games, preaching, singing, testimonies and more as we stayed all night to usher in the New Year together as a church family.  We had 75 in attendance at midnight!  And started our New Year off right with one baptized at our sunrise service on the 1st!  God is so good!

And in January...is January really almost over already?!?  My, oh, my!  How fast the time is going by.  The first week of January we were out in the village of Sidundo with our church and orphan home there.  We enjoyed our fellowship with this church family, and are excited about the goals of this ministry for 2018.   January has also been a time of sorrow for our ministry, as we have seen 3 precious people go on to be with the Lord in Heaven.  Three people from 3 different churches; but even in this, we are thankful that we will see them again one day when we meet in heaven.  One funeral is taking place today; please pray for souls to be saved.  We ask that you pray specifically for a young lady in our church in Kisii Town, who lost her husband suddenly, and now has 2 boys to raise on her own.  Please keep these three families in your prayers.  

Our Bible College got off to a wonderful start this month with almost 50 enrolled for this year!  This week Luke, Caleb, and several men from a few of our churches worked on the building site at Bible Baptist Church in Rongo.  This project has taken a long time to get off the ground, but it is exciting to see this church growing and working together!  Monday (29th) begins Pastoral Classes for the new year, and we have 16 enrolled in these classes!

We appreciate your love, prayers, encouragement, and support; we could not be here without YOU!  Thank you! 

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby
(Written from the perspective of a missionary wife.)

Setting up a house in Siaya - part 2

Some pics of our upcountry home! Everyone has pitched in to help get it cleaned (it was VERY filthy!) & furniture put together & in place. We still have some things to work on (kitchen cabinets, pump for the well, etc.), but it's coming together nicely. Power has been off a LOT, & city water has only been on for a few hours 1 day this week, so getting things clean has been a challenging to say the least.

We want to thank everyone for your prayers as we have gotten settled in.

Setting up a house in Siaya!

We made it to Siaya today. We were a day later than planned due to my health, but we made it! We drove both vehicles fully loaded down (& up⬆️), in order to setup a 2nd house close to one of our village churches, Bible College branch, & our orphanage. We will begin spending part of each month here in Siaya & the other part in Kisii town (5 1/2 hours away). The house needs a LOT of cleaning! And that will begin tomorrow. It is cheaper for us to rent a house than pay for rooms at a guesthouse each time, so we are thankful for the house he Lord provided! There are mango trees galore, grave trees, banana trees, papaya trees, & avocado trees too! When we first saw the house we were like, well... it needs some work (a lot actually--there was no indoor plumbing--time!). But when we saw all the fruit trees, all we could think about was the blessing that food would be to the orphanage!!

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

January-March 2015 Prayer Letter

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Dear Praying Friends, January-March 2015

We want to thank you for your good response in scheduling meetings for our return to the States for our upcoming furlough. Please pray for us during this furlough as we will need to raise more family support, since our two oldest daughters will begin Bible College in the fall and ministry support for our Church Planting, Bible College, and Orphan ministries that are all continuing to grow as God opens more doors for us to minister.

We had a great day for the Dedication of our Church Building at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town. We had 253 in attendance with 46 first time adult visitors, and Missionary Joel Weaver preached for us that day. We invited everyone who had helped bring materials, who had given monetary donations, and those who worked along side us to build this building over the past year. We have many open doors and opportunities for follow-up for soul-winning in the coming weeks. I know that God has a big plan for this church to reach Kisii Town (which has a population of over 200,000) and the surrounding villages in this part of Kenya. It is a blessing to see people saved at our church nearly every week through its different ministries. God has truly blessed us, and we have seen over 50 precious souls accept Christ in this building since we started using it in November 2014. We praise the Lord for His goodness!

Please pray for our Bible College as the classes will continue, while we are on furlough, under the leadership of five of our Kenyan Pastors. Tonya and I will be traveling back to Kenya in November 2015, for the next graduation for the 13 students who are finishing the 3-year course. Several of these graduates are from the church here in Kisii Town; we are excited about the many possibilities of this class, and the outreach that will be possible in starting more churches around Kisii Town through these faithful men and women.

Please pray for the following villages: Nyamiobo, Siruti, Nyangera and Muhkobola. Bible studies have been started through the ministries of some of our churches and College students in each of these villages. Pray that they will be faithful, and that God will raise up churches in these villages that have had no Gospel witness up to now.   
 
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

Furlough Planning for May 2015!!

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We want to let all of our friends, family, supporters, and prayer partners know that we will be returning to the USA in May 2015 for our regularly scheduled furlough. Our furlough will be approximately 1 year long, and we will be returning to Kenya in May 2016. Please pray for our family during this time, as we will be getting our 2 oldest girls settled in Bible College and traveling thousands of miles while 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 you when we are scheduled to be in your general area. We will try our best to work your church into our schedule.
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://www.shelbysinkenya.org/Our%20Blogs/LettersUpdates/
    Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/TheShelbysinKenya
    Twitter: http://twitter.com/Shelbysinkenya
    Facebook: LukeandTonya Shelby
Thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries!
Serving Him in Kenya,
Luke & Tonya Shelby
Your Missionaries in Kenya

January-February 2014 Prayer Letter

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Dear Prayer Supporters,

Happy New Year from the Shelby Family. We have had a very busy ending to 2013 and the starting of 2014. God has blessed in many ways, and we are excited about His work for this New Year.

Abigail is finishing her last semester of 12th grade, and she will going back to the USA to graduate with our home church’s school graduation in May. She will be traveling with Tonya, as Tonya will be taking care of her six month doctor’s appointments for her blood levels.

In December, we held our annual youth camp in Kisii Town at our main church. We had over 100 youth and counselors that attended with the theme of “The Army of the Lord.” There were many first timers this time, and there were 22 precious young people who got saved. It was very crowded, but it was very successful!

We had a Watch-night Service at the church here in Kisii Town, to bring in the New Year. The service started at 7p.m. and was over at 7 a.m. We had a New Year's sunrise service and baptized 7 to get 2014 off to a wonderful start! This church has also reached their $3,000 mark for beginning the construction of a new 350-400 seat auditorium. We are expecting to start building in the next two weeks (mid-February). Also this year, Calvary Baptist Church (Kisii) voted to support three national missionaries to surrounding countries in East Africa: Tanzania, Burundi, and the Congo. This support is in addition to the other Kenyan projects that they already support! It is a great joy to see the way the Lord is blessing this church.

In our last letter, we made mention that one of our Graduates (Bro. George) was helping us in rebuilding the church in Rongo, after the pastor passed away in August. He is doing a very good job, and since September we have seen nearly 50 souls saved on visitation and in services. In January, we were able to baptize 6. Please pray that God will continue to bless the work in Rongo.

Since the New Year began, we have opened classes for South Nyanza Baptist College with 12 new students in Kisii, and a few more sitting in on classes in our extension branch in Sidundo. It is exciting to see these new faces mixing with the old, and to see their eagerness to learn the Word of God.

We have also started a Bible Study in the village of Gingo, where I am able to go for two days each a month. We had almost 20 adults for the two days! We have known people in this village for the last few years, but there has been a great language barrier. So as I am learning the Luo language and using lessons that have been translated into their language. I am being assisted by other Luo preachers who have the opportunity to go with me.

There are two other churches in the process of getting started in Gesabakwa and Nyamiobo, both Kisii villages about 45 minutes from Kisii town. And in Sidundo, we are starting to visit in surrounding village centers and markets to see where the Lord will open the doors for new churches to be started there as well. In Sidundo, we also had 9 adults saved, and 11 baptized the first weekend of February.

Thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry,

March 5, 2013 - Update/Kenyan Elections

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. Yesterday, Monday, March 4th, the Kenyan people turned out in very large numbers to cast their votes. There were some some places where there was some violence (Mombasa/Coast Province, Northeastern Province, and in the town of Kisumu), there were over 20 people hospitalized after being trampled, and 15 people were killed (police officers and some of their attackers). But our area of Kisii has remained peaceful and very quiet.

The vote counting began last night (March 4th) around 5 PM, and is still continuing today. The government has said that they will announce the new President today, but they are unable to give an estimated time. They have had some difficulties with their electronic equipment for sending the counts to the main tallying center in Nairobi, and so there are only about 30% of the polling stations which have been reported. So it looks like we still have a ways to go!

In 2007, it was the actual announcement of the President that sparked the violence, so please continue to make this a matter of prayer. The candidate that lost during the 2007 elections and caused much of the violence, is currently losing again. So please be in much prayer.

If you you would like more frequent updates, please feel free to follow us on Facebook (please let us know your name and which church you are from when making a friend request), Twitter, or at either of our Blogs: Ministry - Prayer Letters and Updates or Family - Shelby Summaries.

Thank you in advance 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

February 28, 2013 - Update/Prayer Request

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

We are doing well, and we are preparing for the upcoming Kenyan Presidential Elections. We are writing to you all to ask you to pray with us about these upcoming elections on Monday, March 4th. We are praying for a peaceful election process and for things to remain peaceful after the new President is sworn into office. Please pray with us concerning this matter.

During the last elections here in Kenya in 2007, we saw widespread violence for nearly 3 months after the elections. And there are still many villages that have not fully recovered from that time, which was 5 years ago. During the last elections, the Kisii area was peaceful; but all roads leading into and out of Kisii were closed off for a full 3 months. No supplies like food and fuel were able to get through during that time. We were also without water, electricity, phone and internet service for a large part of that time as well!

We have prepared for the same this time around, and we have made sure that we have sufficient supplies just in case there is widespread violence again. But we are asking for all of you to pray with us for the country of Kenya and its people during this time. And we will try to get updates to you as we are able to. We have already been trying for three days to get e-mail to go out; so we know that the government is already closing off some communication.

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

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

February 28, 2013 - Update/Prayer Request

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Dear Praying Friends and Family,

We are doing well, and we are preparing for the upcoming Kenyan Presidential Elections. We are writing to you all to ask you to pray with us about these upcoming elections on Monday, March 4th. We are praying for a peaceful election process and for things to remain peaceful after the new President is sworn into office. Please pray with us concerning this matter.

During the last elections here in Kenya in 2007, we saw widespread violence for nearly 3 months after the elections. And there are still many villages that have not fully recovered from that time, which was 5 years ago. During the last elections, the Kisii area was peaceful; but all roads leading into and out of Kisii were closed off for a full 3 months. No supplies like food and fuel were able to get through during that time. We were also without water, electricity, phone and internet service for a large part of that time as well!

We have prepared for the same this time around, and we have made sure that we have sufficient supplies just in case there is widespread violence again. But we are asking for all of you to pray with us for the country of Kenya and its people during this time. And we will try to get updates to you as we are able to. We have already been trying for three days to get e-mail to go out; so we know that the government is already closing off some communication.

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

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

A Wonderful Sunday!

Another wonderful day at church today! It has been a VERY long day, but we are VERY excited to see the way our people are just soaking up God's Word & the teaching & preaching on how to have a godly Christian home.

Luke preached about the choices we make as husbands & wives that will affect our families either to the good or bad, & that it is important to take responsibility for those choices. We also had 2 visitors & 1 saved today.

Then we had our monthly ladies meeting, and like good Baptists we ate & then I started teaching about God's plan for every wife, & what the wife's responsibilities are. I had been teaching for about an hour when I said "okay we need to stop here for today, & we will have to continue another day." And every lady there said "oh, no, mama. You just keep going we want & need to hear what you are saying." So, I continued almost another hour!! By the time we stopped and all questions had been answered, we only had about 30 minutes before our evening service was supposed to start.

Almost all of the ladies stayed around to continue talking, fixing each others hair, painting each others fingernails & toenails, & talking about other things that they could do that might please their husbands. They were really excited!

Then it was time for the evening service. For the months of February & March we are doing an intense focus on the Christian home. And last week we started a series of lessons & a 40 Day Love Journey. It was amazing to see some changes in some of our couples already, after only 1 week.

After all of that, we got home at about 7 PM. Just in time to get the computer booted up, Internet on for a Skype call with our home church (Bible Baptist Church in Jacksonville, AR) for a short time during their Missions' Conference. It was great being able to take part with them in their service today.

Then supper some here, clean up, & now it's 9 PM, and I think I have used up the last of my energy typing this post!!

Good night. May God bless all of you with a wonderful day like ours!

October 2012 Prayer Letter

Dear Supporters and Friends, October 2012

We want to thank you for your prayers and support for our family, and our ministries that God is continuing to bless. Over the last few months it has been very busy, and it has been difficult to get a letter out. Electricity and internet have also been a problem in trying to get a letter out. I know that it has worried some about the lateness of our letter; so we have tried to give you a few of the highlights, and we will fill in on other details later. I know that this is a long letter, but please pray for God’s continued guidance in these areas of our ministry as well as for our family.

Orphan Ministry Update:
We are now feeding over 40 children on a daily basis in two of our village churches (Kuresoi and Sidundo); and at the Orphan Home Project in Sidundo, the buildings now have windows, doors, and locks on one dorm building and the kitchen/dining room.  In May, we also discovered that there was already a well dug on the property more than 20 or 30 years ago.  So we re-dug it; and the water supply is enough for the college classes and even for the orphans, once we are ready to start housing them on the property.  Our plan is to start with 10 boys and to work through the things that will be needed to take care of them.  We will be meeting shortly with the guardians of these boys, whom we think would be the most needy, to prepare for the boys beginning in January.  Please pray that the necessary funds will come in on a monthly basis to care for this ministry.

Current orphan support: At this time, less than $100 per month is coming in specifically for the orphan ministry.   We are currently using close to $350 on a monthly basis for just our feeding program.  We have received a few large offerings throughout the year that has enabled us to continue working on the project buildings in Sidundo a little each month, as we continue to help the children in our feeding program.  Our plan, for housing ten boys, will need more funding by January.   Please try to help on a monthly basis, as we try to move forward in the goal helping these precious children in our village churches.  We are praying that the Lord will enable us to visit each of these 40 children individually in the coming weeks, in order to give them a Christmas package filled with food and many other needed items.

Bible College, Graduation, & New Students for 2013:
We are finishing up the 2012 year of classes, and we will be having 5 graduates, who finish the three-year course, this year.  Graduation will be on December 1st.  There are already 10 new students signed up to begin classes in January 2013, and we have several more appointments to interview others as well. Classes have continued to go well throughout the year in Sidundo and in Kisii.  We thank God for the faithful pastors who are helping to teach and train others.  There are several churches also who have not had students in our college this year; and before classes start in January, I will be meeting with them to encourage them in training up men and ladies to serve the Lord.

Calvary Baptist Sidundo:
Continue to pray for Calvary Baptist Church in Sidundo as they still do not have a pastor.  We are working with about 5 men who are called to preach, and they are doing very well in different areas. They are alternating the teaching in Sunday school, Bible Study, and the Preaching services.  Visitation is going well as the twelve students divide themselves 3 by 3; and the average attendance is running between 80-90, and several are being saved nearly every week.

A Busy August:
August was a full month for us. We had a week of VBS at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town. And our Fifth Annual Ladies’ Conference was the last full week of the month. We had 38 ladies this year, and they came to Kisii from 8 of our churches for a week of refreshment and encouragement.  Our ladies from Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii did a lot of the teaching for this meeting, and it was a blessing to see their growth and willingness to teach others. It was a wonderful week! Please pray for Tonya as she continues to minister to the ladies in all of our churches, and pray for the Lord to continue to give us faithful ladies that are willing to serve Him in their own local churches and communities.

Tonya’s Medical Furlough & Update:
We want to thank every church and individual family that has been praying for Tonya’s health throughout this year. And we want to say thank you to each and every one of you who have helped with the expenses of her medical furlough. Tonya is currently in the USA receiving medical care due to some drastic drops in her blood levels. The doctors have been keeping a close eye on her blood for the past year; and after her last labs, they determined that she must return to the USA for further testing and treatment. After returning to the USA, the doctors have ruled out the need for a full transfusion, but have diagnosed her with an extreme B-12 and Folate deficiency. We have learned that these deficiencies are actually more dangerous than the Iron deficiency that we have been watching over the past few years. She is improving slowly, and she is scheduled to return to Kenya on November 26th. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers.

Luke’s Malaria/ Typhoid Update:
I know that we wrote about this, and many have seen the news on Facebook; and we thank you for your prayers.  For those who have not heard anything, I had a bout with malaria starting in June, then again in July where after several courses of treatment; I started feeling better.  It took two weeks to get some relief, I lost a lot of weight, and for several days I did not even know what was going on.  That was the worst part of it.  Then I was sick again in August, I took another round of treatment for about a week.  Then again in September with a bit different symptoms of being a bit sluggish during the day and severe chills every evening for about two hours and uncontrollable shaking again for about a week.  I was then advised by some of our Kenyan friends to get checked for Typhoid as well as malaria.  After being checked by a doctor, we were told that I had both malaria and typhoid; so I took the medicine for both, and I am feeling quite a bit better. The symptoms have not come back yet this month (October). We thank you so much for your prayers during this time. We praise the Lord for His healing and protection.
 
For Souls in Kenya,
 
Luke & Tonya Shelby

October 2012 Prayer Letter

Dear Supporters and Friends, October 2012

We want to thank you for your prayers and support for our family, and our ministries that God is continuing to bless. Over the last few months it has been very busy, and it has been difficult to get a letter out. Electricity and internet have also been a problem in trying to get a letter out. I know that it has worried some about the lateness of our letter; so we have tried to give you a few of the highlights, and we will fill in on other details later. I know that this is a long letter, but please pray for God’s continued guidance in these areas of our ministry as well as for our family.

Orphan Ministry Update:
We are now feeding over 40 children on a daily basis in two of our village churches (Kuresoi and Sidundo); and at the Orphan Home Project in Sidundo, the buildings now have windows, doors, and locks on one dorm building and the kitchen/dining room.  In May, we also discovered that there was already a well dug on the property more than 20 or 30 years ago.  So we re-dug it; and the water supply is enough for the college classes and even for the orphans, once we are ready to start housing them on the property.  Our plan is to start with 10 boys and to work through the things that will be needed to take care of them.  We will be meeting shortly with the guardians of these boys, whom we think would be the most needy, to prepare for the boys beginning in January.  Please pray that the necessary funds will come in on a monthly basis to care for this ministry.

Current orphan support: At this time, less than $100 per month is coming in specifically for the orphan ministry.   We are currently using close to $350 on a monthly basis for just our feeding program.  We have received a few large offerings throughout the year that has enabled us to continue working on the project buildings in Sidundo a little each month, as we continue to help the children in our feeding program.  Our plan, for housing ten boys, will need more funding by January.   Please try to help on a monthly basis, as we try to move forward in the goal helping these precious children in our village churches.  We are praying that the Lord will enable us to visit each of these 40 children individually in the coming weeks, in order to give them a Christmas package filled with food and many other needed items.

Bible College, Graduation, & New Students for 2013:
We are finishing up the 2012 year of classes, and we will be having 5 graduates, who finish the three-year course, this year.  Graduation will be on December 1st.  There are already 10 new students signed up to begin classes in January 2013, and we have several more appointments to interview others as well. Classes have continued to go well throughout the year in Sidundo and in Kisii.  We thank God for the faithful pastors who are helping to teach and train others.  There are several churches also who have not had students in our college this year; and before classes start in January, I will be meeting with them to encourage them in training up men and ladies to serve the Lord.

Calvary Baptist Sidundo:
Continue to pray for Calvary Baptist Church in Sidundo as they still do not have a pastor.  We are working with about 5 men who are called to preach, and they are doing very well in different areas. They are alternating the teaching in Sunday school, Bible Study, and the Preaching services.  Visitation is going well as the twelve students divide themselves 3 by 3; and the average attendance is running between 80-90, and several are being saved nearly every week.

A Busy August:
August was a full month for us. We had a week of VBS at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town. And our Fifth Annual Ladies’ Conference was the last full week of the month. We had 38 ladies this year, and they came to Kisii from 8 of our churches for a week of refreshment and encouragement.  Our ladies from Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii did a lot of the teaching for this meeting, and it was a blessing to see their growth and willingness to teach others. It was a wonderful week! Please pray for Tonya as she continues to minister to the ladies in all of our churches, and pray for the Lord to continue to give us faithful ladies that are willing to serve Him in their own local churches and communities.

Tonya’s Medical Furlough & Update:
We want to thank every church and individual family that has been praying for Tonya’s health throughout this year. And we want to say thank you to each and every one of you who have helped with the expenses of her medical furlough. Tonya is currently in the USA receiving medical care due to some drastic drops in her blood levels. The doctors have been keeping a close eye on her blood for the past year; and after her last labs, they determined that she must return to the USA for further testing and treatment. After returning to the USA, the doctors have ruled out the need for a full transfusion, but have diagnosed her with an extreme B-12 and Folate deficiency. We have learned that these deficiencies are actually more dangerous than the Iron deficiency that we have been watching over the past few years. She is improving slowly, and she is scheduled to return to Kenya on November 26th. Please continue to keep our family in your prayers.

Luke’s Malaria/ Typhoid Update:
I know that we wrote about this, and many have seen the news on Facebook; and we thank you for your prayers.  For those who have not heard anything, I had a bout with malaria starting in June, then again in July where after several courses of treatment; I started feeling better.  It took two weeks to get some relief, I lost a lot of weight, and for several days I did not even know what was going on.  That was the worst part of it.  Then I was sick again in August, I took another round of treatment for about a week.  Then again in September with a bit different symptoms of being a bit sluggish during the day and severe chills every evening for about two hours and uncontrollable shaking again for about a week.  I was then advised by some of our Kenyan friends to get checked for Typhoid as well as malaria.  After being checked by a doctor, we were told that I had both malaria and typhoid; so I took the medicine for both, and I am feeling quite a bit better. The symptoms have not come back yet this month (October). We thank you so much for your prayers during this time. We praise the Lord for His healing and protection.
 
For Souls in Kenya,
 
Luke & Tonya Shelby

The Nile Monitor

This is similar to the critter that we found on our church property in Sidundo. A Nile Monitor Lizard at least 6-7 feet long. Not sure exactly because it is still there. Some of the students went after it with a machete and cut two feet of its tail off (so now I guess it would only be 4-5 feet long).



There are others that have been seen burrowing down under some of the ten or so termite mounds on our 5-acre property. They hatch their eggs in the termite mounds, and then the babies can eat the termites as soon as they hatch. And yes, our kids have already asked if they can keep one (a baby)!!

The Nile Monitor

This is similar to the critter that we found on our church property in Sidundo. A Nile Monitor Lizard at least 6-7 feet long. Not sure exactly because it is still there. Some of the students went after it with a machete and cut two feet of its tail off (so now I guess it would only be 4-5 feet long).


There are others that have been seen burrowing down under some of the ten or so termite mounds on our 5-acre property. They hatch their eggs in the termite mounds, and then the babies can eat the termites as soon as they hatch. And yes, our kids have already asked if they can keep one (a baby)!!

Medical Furlough for Tonya

Dear Praying Friends & Family,

Please keep our family in your prayers, especially Tonya.

We are writing to let you know about Tonya's need for a medical Furlough.  We had talked about her health trouble early this year, February or March, I believe.  The prices of tickets were very high at the time that we wanted to plan a trip (June-July), due to the Olympic games in London.  We were then told about trying a gluten free diet to see if that would help.  So her doctor agreed that it would not hurt to try that if the cost was too much to travel in July.  But he said that if we did not see a change for the better she would need to return to the USA for treatment (that treatment being either a full transfusion or multiple iron and vitamin infusions over the course of 8 weeks).  She gets her blood checked almost monthly.  And she has been on the gluten free diet since March.  Her blood work was holding steady or only dropping a tenth of a point here and there.  So we thought that she was doing alright.  But the past few weeks she has noticed a definite change in how she feels, and she has started passing out frequently.  And then we got her last blood work results back the first of last week.  Her iron levels have dropped a full 3 points, her red blood cells are also pretty low this time (which shows that her body is now using up the stored iron in the red cells).  After talking with her doctor, he says that it is very important to get treatment as soon as possible.  The infusions are not possible here, and the transfusion really isn't either due Tonya's somewhat rare blood type.  So we have a ticket reserved for her for the dates of 25th September - 27th November.  She will be flying directly into Little Rock, AR, which is where her doctor (a hematologist) is.  The kids and I will try holding down the home front while she is away.

We normally do not send email requests like this; but the plane ticket alone is $1,700 (that is round-trip from Kisumu, Kenya to Little Rock, AR), and that does not take into consideration the cost of living in the USA for at least 8 weeks.  If anyone feels led to help with this medical trip, then we thank you in advance.  Please feel free to send messages of encouragement to Tonya at mail@shelbysinkenya.org.  And if the Lord leads to help financially, please mark your check clearly with a note for "Tonya Shelby's Medical Furlough" & send to: BIMI, P.O. Box 9215, Chattanooga, TN 37412;  or you can send it to our Home Church: Bible Baptist Church, 3301 North First Street, Jacksonville, AR  72976. 

Thank you for your prayers during this time.

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya