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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
Sunday, 5 April 2020
Tuesday, 24 March 2020
Shelby Family Corona Virus Update #1
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I know that everyone is having a level of threat for the virus and it is affecting the daily life of people all over the world. We are keeping in tune with the news internationally and locally as well as assessing the situation on the ground with the local people. It does make things uneasy for us, especially since we have three adult children in the Little Rock, Arkansas area. My dad has been in the hospital since Thanksgiving for a brain tumor removal that he has still not recovered from. He had pneumonia last week and had to be intubated again to help his breathing with a ventilator. He was then moved from ICU, because they needed to use the room for a COVID-19 patient. There are other virus patients already in the same hospital. My mom has been staying with him in the hospital. I have told her that she needs to be staying at home when she can.
There has been a new level of travel advisory from President Trump being raised to Level 4. The major points for this level of advisory’s remains:
1. Urges Americans not to travel Internationally.
2. Informs Americans to return if they can.
3. Allows emergency medical travel to be allowed over the next 72 hours.
4. Americans that cannot travel to stay where they are and to not cross international borders.
We don’t know how long this will be in place, and I am sure that it will be there as long as it takes to ‘flatten the curve.’
As far as Kenya is concerned, there are 16 Corona virus patients as of March 22, in Nairobi, which is an 8 hour drive for us. There have also been several hundred that have been tested, but they have been negative. Others that have shown symptoms have come down with malaria and are being treated for it.
On March 22, the Kenyan government has banned all international flights effective on March 25th. Again there is no news about how long this will be in effect.
Other good news is that malaria drugs that are being tested right now show promise of treating the coronavirus are readily available here without a prescription. We understand malaria here that many in the US have never experienced. Our whole family has had it and will have it for life, and even our children in the states have some of the medication.
Tonya has COPD and would be in the category of people that have existing respiratory disease that could cause COVID-19 to be high risk. But as other results of blood types has come out, there have been a lot less patients with Type O blood. Tonya has Type O blood.
We are continuing to monitor the situation globally and locally, and we feel that staying here is our best option to staying safe in this situation. We have been here in Kenya during very trying times of Election Violence, where 1,300 were killed based on tribal ethnicity, and many other riots on the streets. People are afraid here, but they are calm and easing about their daily lives with caution.
Another concern is that of our support to continue with the downturn of economic activity globally, and the churches changing the way that they are holding services. We are trusting that God will keep us safe and not needing to take any extreme action until absolutely necessary.
Thank you for your prayers as we continue to manage our lives and minister to the Kenyan people the best way possible.
God bless you,
Luke & Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya
I know that everyone is having a level of threat for the virus and it is affecting the daily life of people all over the world. We are keeping in tune with the news internationally and locally as well as assessing the situation on the ground with the local people. It does make things uneasy for us, especially since we have three adult children in the Little Rock, Arkansas area. My dad has been in the hospital since Thanksgiving for a brain tumor removal that he has still not recovered from. He had pneumonia last week and had to be intubated again to help his breathing with a ventilator. He was then moved from ICU, because they needed to use the room for a COVID-19 patient. There are other virus patients already in the same hospital. My mom has been staying with him in the hospital. I have told her that she needs to be staying at home when she can.
There has been a new level of travel advisory from President Trump being raised to Level 4. The major points for this level of advisory’s remains:
1. Urges Americans not to travel Internationally.
2. Informs Americans to return if they can.
3. Allows emergency medical travel to be allowed over the next 72 hours.
4. Americans that cannot travel to stay where they are and to not cross international borders.
We don’t know how long this will be in place, and I am sure that it will be there as long as it takes to ‘flatten the curve.’
As far as Kenya is concerned, there are 16 Corona virus patients as of March 22, in Nairobi, which is an 8 hour drive for us. There have also been several hundred that have been tested, but they have been negative. Others that have shown symptoms have come down with malaria and are being treated for it.
On March 22, the Kenyan government has banned all international flights effective on March 25th. Again there is no news about how long this will be in effect.
Other good news is that malaria drugs that are being tested right now show promise of treating the coronavirus are readily available here without a prescription. We understand malaria here that many in the US have never experienced. Our whole family has had it and will have it for life, and even our children in the states have some of the medication.
Tonya has COPD and would be in the category of people that have existing respiratory disease that could cause COVID-19 to be high risk. But as other results of blood types has come out, there have been a lot less patients with Type O blood. Tonya has Type O blood.
We are continuing to monitor the situation globally and locally, and we feel that staying here is our best option to staying safe in this situation. We have been here in Kenya during very trying times of Election Violence, where 1,300 were killed based on tribal ethnicity, and many other riots on the streets. People are afraid here, but they are calm and easing about their daily lives with caution.
Another concern is that of our support to continue with the downturn of economic activity globally, and the churches changing the way that they are holding services. We are trusting that God will keep us safe and not needing to take any extreme action until absolutely necessary.
Thank you for your prayers as we continue to manage our lives and minister to the Kenyan people the best way possible.
God bless you,
Luke & Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya
Friday, 20 March 2020
Safely Back in Kenya & Urgent Prayer Requests
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Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends, January-March 2020
We arrived back in Kenya in January, and everything is going well here. We have been able to visit 5 of our churches so far, and it is a blessing to see that God is blessing each of them. One of them, Agape Baptist Church in the Jogoo area of Kisii, celebrated its 1st Anniversary. There were a few visitors, and 2 got saved! Pastor Andrew Maiko is doing a good job. Continue to pray for him and his family.
One of the first things that we needed to accomplish upon returning to the field was to find the best solution to Tonya’s coping with COPD here in Kenya. We have been able to determine the main things that affect her ability to breathe in enough oxygen and to regulate her heart rate when trying to compensate for the oxygen levels are the following: high elevation, dust, smoke, and dead air at the heat of the day. We have been living in Kisii for almost 20 years at the elevation of 6,500+ ft. The pressure at that level has shown to be a problem for her. So we have been researching towns with the lowest elevation in our region of Kenya; and Kisumu, a town on Lake Victoria, is located at 3,700 ft. above sea level and is also half way between our 2 main centers of ministry. The humidity is higher here, but that doesn’t seem to bother her. We have decided to get an apartment there which is in easy driving distance to any of our works. All of our ministries with churches, Bible College, and orphans will continue normally, because we start each process with national leadership in place to make sure that each church is indigenous in nature. This small move will also assist us in helping other missionaries, who are coming to Kenya in the near future, who will be working with us with the goal of starting works in towns around us. We are still researching the best way to get air conditioning in our apartment.
Other issues that need urgent prayer in the light of the recent coronavirus that has recently taken center stage in the media:
Tonya’s COPD places her in the high risk group.
Our travel to the States for Abigail and Robert’s Wedding on June 6.
Our travel here in the country while we finish moving into the apartment.
My Dad is still in the Hospital in Little Rock, now in CCU, and has been moved in and out of ICU to get those rooms ready for coronavirus patients.
Matthew Rose Family’s arrival has been delayed.
Kenya shutting down non-essential business in the midst of renewing our work permit.
$1,000 Still needed for Air Conditioning.
$5,000+ Still needed for Shipping
We are praying for you during this time of uncertainty, and we covet your prayers as well. May God bless you.
For Souls in Kenya,
Luke & Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya
Saturday, 16 November 2019
Faithful Men Who are Teaching Others...
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Dear Supporters and Friends, September- November 2019
The Lord has blessed in several meetings in Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma and Arkansas over the past few months reporting in at least 10 churches a month mostly on weekends.
We want to thank you for being faithful supporters to our family and ministry, and we also want to thank the Lord for the faithful men that He has given us. Your faithfulness has produced faithfulness in the lives of others, like these men who are carrying on the work of the Lord in Kenya. Because of this the churches, Bible College, and orphan care in Kenya are doing well in our absence. As we remember the people that God has put in our lives during this season of Thanksgiving, we are thankful for the faithful pastors that are carrying on the work in the ministries of the 28 churches that the Lord has allowed us to start.
Please pray for my dad, Richard, who will be undergoing a brain tumor surgery on November 27th. They believe that it is benign, but it needs to be removed because of the pressure on the brain stem.
We will be returning to Kenya on January 10th, and there are some needs that we are praying for in our return to Kenya by the end of this furlough.
For Souls in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby
Friday, 26 July 2019
All About Our Summer...
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Dear Supporters and Friends, June - July 2019
Thank your for your prayers for our family this summer. We were able to travel out west as a family and report to about 25 churches since May. Only a few of them were new churches, and we had 3 take us on for support in this short time. It was a blessing to see several of the churches who have supported us many of the twenty years that we have been in Kenya.
We thank the Lord for allowing us to see some of His wonderful creation as we traveled this summer, like the Grand Canyon, the Redwood Forest, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. We covered over 15,000 miles from sea to shining sea this summer, and we thank each of you who prayed for our traveling safety during this time. Needless to say, everyone was ready for a break in our travels and for us to get stopped and settled in Arkansas in preparation for the school year to start.
Abigail and Breanne are getting all their supplies and classrooms ready for their second year teaching in the preschool at our home church in Jacksonville, AR. Pray for them and for the Lord to continue to lead them in the next steps of their lives in the coming years.
Caleb is enrolled at Bethel Baptist College, and he has a job lined up for him to start at the beginning of August. The Lord has blessed, and we were able to find him a car. He is excited, but a little apprehensive about life on his own. He will be moving into the dorms next week. Please pray for him and let him know you are praying for him. His college address is: Bethel Baptist College, 8809 Mills Valley Road, Jacksonville, Arkansas 72076.
All of the money for Kay-Leigh’s Mission Trip came in, and she will be in Costa Rica from July 23-30. Please pray for her and our teens as they serve during this Mission Trip. Caleb will be able to go on a Mission Trip in January, but the college is still fine tuning the details of that trip.
We will be helping in our home church’s Bible college, Bethel Baptist College, during a transition of new leadership. Tonya will be helping in the office and in the kitchen. I will be teaching a class and helping in different areas while we are still in the USA until January, at which time we will be returning to Kenya. We will be scheduling meetings at our supporting churches on the weekends between now and January. If you have any young people looking for a small college, please call our home church, Bible Baptist Church, at 501-982-8826 for more information. The Registration deadline for the Fall Semester is August 7th.
May the Lord bless, and thank you for your prayers for our family and ministries in Kenya.
For Souls in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby
Friday, 7 June 2019
April-May 2019 Prayer Letter
For a Printable Version (PDF), Click HERE!
Dear Supporters and Friends, April - May 2019
We want to thank all of you who faithfully pray for your missionaries, because we know that God is in control and is our Faithful Guide in all that we do for Him. The Lord has guided us in many ways, and we are thankful that we followed Him to Kenya more than 20 years ago. In April, we celebrated 20 years on the field, and it is amazing to see what the Lord has done through those years. Thank you for your prayers. (2 Thess. 5:25)
We have started our furlough, and we will be in the States until January 2020. It has been good to catch up in person with our family, especially with Breanne and Abigail who have finished college and are now teaching in our home church’s Christian Academy. God has been good to them and taken care of them. Thank you for praying for them.
We are also thankful that Tonya was able to get an oxygen machine before we left Kenya to come on furlough. She is using it to sleep at night to help with her COPD. It has really helped her to have more energy during the day. She has been able to have a few appointments already and many of her levels are improving. Thank you for your prayers for her.
Please Pray for the family of Pastor Denis Moranga, he died last week due to complications with his pancreas and small intestines. He was very faithful in Faith Baptist Church in the village of Gesabakwa, and he was planning to start a new church also. Please pray for his wife and three young boys. The funeral will be this week, and his fellow pastors will be in charge of all of the services. Please pray for people in his village to be saved.
God allowed us to start our 28th church on the opposite side of Kisii Town. Agape Baptist Church was started on February 17th after 6-9 months of Soul-winning and preaching in the area. Over 100 people have come to know Christ in the process of starting the church. Please pray for Pastor Andrew Maiko and his family. He is continuing to see people saved and has already had his first baptism. More than 32 people have been saved in our ministries in the last month.
Please pray for Caleb, he will be graduating from high school this week, and he will be starting Bible College in the fall. Kay-Leigh will be able to go on her first mission’s trip to Costa Rica at the end of July, and she is so excited about this opportunity. She needs to raise $1,000 to go on the trip. We have some set aside for her trip, but she still needs to raise around $500 for this trip. If you would like to help, it would be a great blessing to her.
God bless you for reading this letter, and praying for our family and ministry. (2 Thess. 3:1)
For souls in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby
Your Missionaries in Kenya
Dear Supporters and Friends, April - May 2019
We want to thank all of you who faithfully pray for your missionaries, because we know that God is in control and is our Faithful Guide in all that we do for Him. The Lord has guided us in many ways, and we are thankful that we followed Him to Kenya more than 20 years ago. In April, we celebrated 20 years on the field, and it is amazing to see what the Lord has done through those years. Thank you for your prayers. (2 Thess. 5:25)
We have started our furlough, and we will be in the States until January 2020. It has been good to catch up in person with our family, especially with Breanne and Abigail who have finished college and are now teaching in our home church’s Christian Academy. God has been good to them and taken care of them. Thank you for praying for them.
We are also thankful that Tonya was able to get an oxygen machine before we left Kenya to come on furlough. She is using it to sleep at night to help with her COPD. It has really helped her to have more energy during the day. She has been able to have a few appointments already and many of her levels are improving. Thank you for your prayers for her.
Please Pray for the family of Pastor Denis Moranga, he died last week due to complications with his pancreas and small intestines. He was very faithful in Faith Baptist Church in the village of Gesabakwa, and he was planning to start a new church also. Please pray for his wife and three young boys. The funeral will be this week, and his fellow pastors will be in charge of all of the services. Please pray for people in his village to be saved.
God allowed us to start our 28th church on the opposite side of Kisii Town. Agape Baptist Church was started on February 17th after 6-9 months of Soul-winning and preaching in the area. Over 100 people have come to know Christ in the process of starting the church. Please pray for Pastor Andrew Maiko and his family. He is continuing to see people saved and has already had his first baptism. More than 32 people have been saved in our ministries in the last month.
Please pray for Caleb, he will be graduating from high school this week, and he will be starting Bible College in the fall. Kay-Leigh will be able to go on her first mission’s trip to Costa Rica at the end of July, and she is so excited about this opportunity. She needs to raise $1,000 to go on the trip. We have some set aside for her trip, but she still needs to raise around $500 for this trip. If you would like to help, it would be a great blessing to her.
God bless you for reading this letter, and praying for our family and ministry. (2 Thess. 3:1)
For souls in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby
Your Missionaries in Kenya
Thursday, 31 January 2019
December 2018-January 2019 Prayer Letter
PDF (Printable) Version - HERE
Dear Supporters and Prayer Partners, December 2018 - January 2019
We pray that your New Year is off to a great start! We want to let you know that will be going on furlough from April 2019 to January 2020. We will only be scheduling meetings with those that have requested a meeting along with a few churches nearby them, which we have not had an opportunity to visit during our past furloughs. If you still have not contacted us, please do (mail@shelbysinkenya.org). We will be traveling west with the whole family for the month of June visiting churches along the way. Caleb will attend Camp BIMI this summer, and he and Kay-Leigh plan to go on a missions trip to Costa Rica in July. Then they will settle into school in August for the fall semester.
The main purpose of this furlough is for our son Caleb to graduate from high school and to get settled in Bible College. We will also have more testing for Tonya concerning the difficulties associated with her COPD diagnosis and the irregular heartbeat that have developed into serious conditions this term. We have already ordered an oxygen machine for her, and we are still waiting for it to arrive in Kenya. We thank you very much to those who have prayed for her and for those who have helped us raise the $3,000 needed by word of mouth to buy the portable oxygen concentrator. Over $5,000 has come in for this need, and the excess will pay off her medical bills which have accumulated over the past few months. Thank you so much, and God bless you.
South Nyanza Baptist College has begun for the new year with five new students. Four Students graduated from our 3 year Diploma course, and seven pastors graduated from our 5 year Degree Program course. We are continually blessed with the men that God has given us in the ministry here, and they are doing a great job in each of their churches.
One of these men, Andrew, my assistant pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town, will be starting a New church on the opposite side of Kisii Town. We have had several saved there over the last 6-9 months of soul-winning and Bible Studies in homes of those who have gotten saved. We just had an evangelistic meeting for three days at this location, and 48 souls came to know Christ as their personal Savior. We will be having a sending service for him and his family on February 10th, and Agape Baptist Church will have its first service on February 17th. Our church is excited about this step of sending one of our own out to plant a church. Please pray for him and his family.
Please continue to be in prayer for Miss Erica Bohman who praying about coming to work with us next year, and the Rose family who will be coming to work with us for a short time before starting a ministry a couple hours away. We are excited about the laborers that the Lord is sending our direction to help reach Kenya for Christ. If your church is looking to take on new missionaries for support this year, we highly recommend this young lady and family. Feel free to contact us if you would like to get in contact with them.
For Souls in Kenya,
Luke & Tonya Shelby
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