Dear Family & Friends,

Many of you know either Nora or me but not both of us. And you are aware that we married last year after several years of widowhood. As I write this, we have just celebrated our first anniversary and are still happier than either of us could have imagined. God has been good to us!

We each have a keen interest in foreign missions. I translated the Bible into a minority language in Indonesia, while Nora has used her neonatal nursing skills on short-term mission trips to Kenya and Romania. Now Nora would like to introduce me to the work she did in Kenya.

In 2003, GGCC established an orphanage and Christian school among the Suba people on Mfangano Island in Kenya’s part of Lake Victoria. The HIV/AIDS epidemic had hit Africa hard, wiping out approximately 50% of the adults on Mfangano Island, leaving hundreds of orphans.

Several from Calvary Church will be going to Kenya in July to help with the orphanage and Christian boarding school and to conduct remote medical clinics, VBS programs, and evangelistic outreach and to construct widows’ huts. A trip like this is hard work, expensive, and requires the local staff to arrange and organize our activities. So this is something we should only undertake if it is God’s will and bathed in prayer. It is not a vacation; we desire to be a blessing rather than a burden.

Please pray with us as we seek God’s will about this trip, that we will receive affirmation through commitments of prayer and financial assistance. Tax-deductible gifts designated to assist us may be directed to the link below. If, for some unforeseen reason, we are unable to make the trip, any funds collected on our behalf will be used for the ministry of the orphanage and school. You can contact either of us for more information. We intend to send at least one more letter to those who are interested and will pray, as well as a follow-up report.

Howard and Nora Turk Shelden