Hello! 

We want to apologize for not staying in contact with everyone through the past few months.  We have a very busy schedule; and then between power outages and computer software updates that had made our website program inaccessible, it has kept us from making updates as needed!  We are very sorry.

We do ask that you continue to be patient with us.  We are trying to make some changes to our websites, but not all of kinks have been easy to work out!  Since I am a self-taught website designer, I often have to do things the long way until I figure out the shortcuts!  But we are working on the problems, and hopefully we will get things all sorted out soon.

Our family is all doing good.  We had a good time during the holiday season, and we pray that you enjoyed the time with your family and friends as well.  We are ALWAYS amazed when we look back over the past year and see what the Lord has done in our lives and ministry.  God has been good to all of us, but then that is NOT a surprise!!  We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for us this year.  We pray that you, your family, your church, and your ministry all have a wonderful year!

Thank you for your patience,
Tonya

My Favorite Place (By Breanne)

A hill in the outskirts of Kisii presents a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside. The name of this hill is Mount Manga. From there you would first see each house surrounded by its own field; these houses are close together and each detail is distinctly recognized. But as you gaze farther and farther out, you do not see each house with its field, but the fields all begin to blend together into a large patchwork quilt. If the haze is not too dense; from this vantage point, it is possible to see Lake Victoria! Now if you would look slightly to your left, there are two smaller hills (that are contained within the valley) can be seen. First one, then the other behind it; between these hills lie the downtown section of Kisii. This breathtaking view is my favorite place in all of Kisii!

Kisii (By Breanne)

In the highlands of Kenya lays a busy town nestled between two hills. On the slope of one hill stands a two-story, colonial, stone house like sentinel guarding the marketplace below. At a second story window peers a bystander, watching the action occurring along the heavily used paved road. This highway is always teeming with traffic, not only automobile traffic, but also pedestrians and motorbikes. The traffic here is not any kind of traffic you will be familiar with in America, this traffic is native to Kenya and Kenya only (well maybe in other African countries too!). This traffic is push and shove, accidents are common, and the people just walk across the road as if it were empty! If an accident does occur, the road has no shoulders to pull off onto. The shoulder (a narrow, steep dirt path), when there happens to be one, is used as a sidewalk and a place to sell wares. Watching from above could keep a bystander occupied for absolutely hours!!

Riding in a Matatu (By Breanne)

Matatus are the main transportation vehicles in kenya, a matatu is really a compact 14 passenger van. If you want to go for a ride, first they tell you to climb over the seats until you get to a back window seat. Here in Kenya, in order to take less trips they cram people in until no more can fit (up to 35 and sometimes more if there are children!). Finally, there is no more room, but the pressure on all sides of you makes breathing almost impossible. You look around trying to find a way out, and you notice that everyone else is holding something in their lap. Some are carrying children, others have fresh produce, and some are holding chickens! The smells begin to overwhelm you, and you realize that you are by a window; you manage to get it open with some difficulty. As the window slides open, you notice that you are driving through the main Kisii Market with its cows, goats, rotten vegetables, stagnate mud puddles, and fried fish out in the hot sun. The smells seem to hit you all at once, you are tempted to shut the window, but you decide against it. You begin to feel nauseated as your driver swerves recklessly in and out of traffic. The noise inside the matatu spikes as children scream, terrified. Though it may seem to be too much for you to take our form of transport ion; the people here do it all the time!!

The Perfect Brother (By Abigail)

We need a good relationship with someone who we consider as being the person we would want to follow in our Christian life. Someone, you could choose to be around a lot, almost as if he were a close sibling. For example, we take on the character traits of the one we hang around the most, and the one we pay the most attention to. We should choose someone we will like and agree with, but we also want someone who will definitely influence our walk in faith positively. We should first look at ourselves to see who we are as a Christian, and who we influence. We should then consider who we want to strive to become. There are three categories from which we can choose from whom to follow: the most popular Christian, the most thrilling Christian, and the most humble Christian.There is the most popular one. The one who knows what it takes to be an influencing example of Christ, but he lets popularity get in the way. He desperately tries to be a Christian who tells others about Jesus, but professes he is a Child of God with arrogance and a tinge of pride. Instead of emphasizing that Jesus is the One who saved him, he goes on to say that he is the one that can now get to heaven by what he himself did (accepting Christ as his personal Savior). This idea changes the meaning of Salvation, and it gives the anticipating sinner a wrong impression of the Gospel. But only a few can spot his downfall; they follow in his steps, regardless of what he says. Here we have an opportunity to see the end result, and we find out that this is the type of person we do not want to be influenced by.Another choice widely available would be the most thrilling Christian. One who has great speaking ability and can give his audience emotion and retells dramatic accounts of the Scriptures. He uses this ability to reach out to the lost. But too often we see that he is consistently forcing Christianity "down their throat." He points out the sins that others do, and he does not let anyone forget what they did wrong. The problem is that he does not point out his own sins to everyone as he does to others. Something else is that he does not even mention a hope for those who do wrong. People decide to reject everything he says, because of his pounding, grating attitude. Remember that the Bible says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with that judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." In other words, we should leave the judging part to God, and we should keep track of what we do wrong and not "worry" about the wrong things of others. We find out through this Christian that by what we say can turn others away from the Gospel.Our last example is the most humble Christian. This person often waits patiently to be noticed; He does not openly proclaim He is present. Only when we listen cautiously can we hear His still small voice. In most instances, He gets our attention by circumstances or hard times in life; but even then the majority of people never notice Him. Only When we look closely can we see the lives He turns around, the sick He heals, and those faithful witnesses He blesses. Then, only when we decide to trust in His grace, we realize that He had been knocking on the door to our heart the whole time - patiently. Here we see that Jesus Christ is the one we should follow.Jesus left behind the best example of the Christian walk, better than anyone else would be able to be. Though other Christians may seem to be pretty good examples, there is always something that will bog them down. We may not know exactly how to act in a particular situation or what to say at a given time; but if we ground ourselves in the Scriptures, we will be influenced incredibly. We now know who we should choose, but we should consider if we are a good example for those around us or not. Are we the proud Christian, or the misleading Christian? Or are we truly striving to be a picture of who Savior is, the Perfect Brother?Written by: Abigail Shelby