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Shayne and Tari Russell
Missionaries with The Master's Mission
since 1991
Russell's mission station in Maasai
Mara, Kenya
under development
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May 2008
The Russell Report
UPDATE
This week’s news from the Russell's at Base Camp in Masai Mara, Kenya
An Interesting Week
This has been an interesting week, to say the least. We arrived back home on
Tuesday night from our short trip to Nairobi. The 300 mile return trip was
uneventful other than the endless bumps, potholes, jarring from having to go
on-off-on-off the side of the road to swerve around any irregularities in
which one could avoid, all the time dodging cows, goats, zebras, antelopes,
people on bicycles, and pedestrians on foot. On the return leg, we were able
to play the part of a Good Samaritan in the middle of the Rift Valley, as we
towed a vehicle from nowhere to somewhere (the small town of Suswa). The
owner/driver was quite appreciative but I lost a 10,000 lb. ratchet strap in
the process of towing him when he didn’t keep the line taut and drove over
it. Such is life.
In
the remainder of the week, we were able to jump right back in to the work of
trying to get the trusses up on our mission house. Or should I say, we tried
to jump back into that particular work. It seemed like every time we got
some momentum, a meeting needed to be called, or an unexpected visitor came
knocking, or a minor crisis happened. To name a few, our diesel generator
decided to take the week off, we had a physical altercation between two
employees that took several meetings to resolve; we had another employee
that was burning trash and accidentally received 1st
and 2nd
degree burns on her arm and face, we also received a visit from a
representative of the Ministry of Water telling us that we would have to
permit our mission well and also pay a yearly usage fee for the water that
we draw from our own well. I won’t go on lest you think I am just
emotionally down and am just being negative. Actually, by God’s grace we
have handled this week quite well.
One of the benefits of believing in the sovereignty of
 God
is that even in the midst of turmoil one can
decide to not be stressed and just trust Him. He is
quite trustworthy.
Mission House Construction Notes
It
is amazing the amount of work that can be
accomplished in a week, notwithstanding all the
unexpected events mentioned above. The last part
of
the ring beam is poured and the goal of having our mission house completely
dried-in is approaching polepole
(Swahili: slowly, slowly).
As
of the close of work today, the 25’ x 1.5’ web truss is welded and waiting
for a concrete beam to be poured to support it. This will give us a little
more headroom in the loft for our guests and visiting groups from churches,
universities, medical associations, etc. Our goal is to have all the steel
up and welded by our departure next Sunday for our annual TMM Kenya Field
Conference. Please pray.
May 10, 2008
 April
26, 2008
1
�
An Orange Slice
What’s a slice of orange worth? Probably not much to you and me, but to a
Masai child it is quite the treat. The Masai diet is normally vitamin C
deficient, but since the election violence that took place in the first of
this year and the resultant lack of tourism, their basic daily diet is worse
and their vitamin C intake is almost nonexistent.
This exhibited itself this past month when a small baby was brought to our
gate. The skin behind both ears had cracked open and a substance was oozing
out. Yuck!! Tari has doctored many Masai children in our 13 year tenure here
in the Mara, but this sight was a new one for her. She assumed that the
wounds were nothing more than symptoms of a lack of vitamin C in the baby’s
diet. After treating the wounds, Tari instructed the mom to return to our
house every day for more medicine, a children’s vitamin for the baby, a
glass of juice for both mom and baby, and some insight as to where the mom
could get some naturally grown fruit in our area.
For that reason, when children come up to our compound to read, play, or
whatever…we give them a treat; and it is not candy, but whatever fruit
happens to be ripe from our fruit trees, even if it’s just a slice of
orange.
Happy Mother’s Day
May God make this a blessed Mother’s Day to you and may you experience Him
in a more real way as you enjoy time with your family and count His
wonderful blessings.
Shayne and Tari
The Russell Report
UPDATE
This week’s news from Shayne and Tari Russels in Masai Mara,
Kenya
Roofing R’ US
This last week of April and first week of May in many ways
was a blur. Tari, the work crew, and myself have been pulling out all the
stops as we push hard to get the roof on our mission house before we leave
on the 19 th
of May to attend the annual TMM Kenya Field
Conference in Mombasa. On the closing night of the Conference we will be fly
back to the U.S. to attend our daughter, Carli’s graduation from Basic and
A.I.T. Training in the Army. The first truss is up (it is one that will have
a stone wall built around it) and the others are welded and waiting to be
placed in position next week. In between cutting, grinding, and welding, we
have also managed to get 7.5 tons of sand from the river and about 5 tons of
gravel. Whew!
What a week.
Quick Trip to Nairobi
This Sunday after church, Tari and I will be driving to
Nairobi to replenish our supplies and to purchase more materials for the
house roof. Nairobi is only 150 miles by road but due to the conditions of
the same it can be a grueling 5 hour drive. No rest stops. No quick exits
from the off ramp to get a cup of coffee or a bathroom break. Question:
where does one go when one has to go? Answer: that’s why God made wide
bushes!
While in town we will be buying groceries to fill a few
holes in our cabinets, but not too much. Kenya has an equivalent of Wal-Mart
but on a minor scale. It is called Nakumatt and several of their locations
are actually open 24 hours. The main reason for our trip is to purchase the
last of the building supplies we need to finish the roof and dry the house
in. This includes water piping and fittings, electrical conduit and wire,
tin sheeting (that comes in rolls of 100 meters by 1 meter and will be used
as the underlayment of the cement tiles), paint, car parts, etc. Lord
willing, it will be a two-day shopping spree and then we will wheel our way
back home on Tuesday evening.
Welcome to the Team
We would both like to take this opportunity to welcome our
newest supporting church to our Mission Team… Pastor Wayne Martin, Missions
Committee Members, and dear folks at Grace Bible Church in Bellville, Texas.
Thank you so much for your vision of helping us in reaching the Masai with
the Gospel.
May God bless ya’ll. Note: I’m a Texan by birth so I can
legitimately say “ya’ll!
Sunday Series
It feels good to be back in the pulpit again. I always love
our time in the U.S. But, as a missionary the opportunities to really preach
and teach God’s Word are minimal because most Sundays are used as venues to
give reports or to encourage the church folk about Missions. Both of those
are important and definitely have their merit, but there is just something
about getting into God’s Word verse by verse.
Since our time here will be short, and I don’t want to start
something that I can’t finish, I have taken the opportunity to preach out of
Ezekiel 18. This Sunday, will be our third Sunday in the text and I find
myself enjoying it more and more. My only prayer is that the congregation is
enjoying it as much as I am.
Shayne
April 2008 The Russell
Report
UPDATE
This week’s news
from the Russell's in Masai Mara, Kenya
Kansas Mechanic Lends a
Helping Hand
“Ask and you
shall receive.” This great biblical principle has once again proven itself
to be true. In 2007, we placed an advertisement in one of our The Russell
Report newsletters for a mechanic to come to Kenya and try to resurrect our
old Ford pickup truck. Our request was answered by two possible candidates,
one from Florida and the other from Kansas. Joe Brazzle (pictured left) from
Westview Community Church in Manhattan, Kansas was the individual that the
Lord chose to come out to Kenya and help us.
The term “help”
would be a gargantuan understatement when one considers all the work that
Joe accomplished in his one week with us. Although a death certificate was
given to the Ford F-250 truck (the engine is shot), Joe was able to get the
Toyota Landcruiser back in shape (tuning the engine, adjusting valves,
installing new gauges, found the leak in the brake lines, etc), stopped the
oil leak on our Honda generator, tighten down all the bolts on our Chevy
pickup, and the list goes on.
Thanks Joe for
all your hard work and for your new friendship. And, thanks Heather and
Westview for encouraging Joe to make this trip.
Joe the Mechanic
Steel is Delivered
There is a
poster that hangs in the tool room just above my toolbox. It says, “Some men
share their feelings, others build steel reinforced concrete walls around
them.” I like that poster!
I like working
with steel. I like working with wood too, but the good thing about steel is
if you cut it too short you can always weld it back together. It is hard to
do that with a board.
The steel for
the trusses and roof structure of our mission house was delivered this week.
Tubing of various sizes…2” x 3”, 2” x 2”, 1”x 2”; angle iron, too. All
together, nearly 300 pieces of fun waiting to happen. This Monday, April 28th,
the work begins… measuring, cutting, welding, and then the placing of long
steel trusses nine feet off the ground by hand.
Pray for me as I
try to figure out how it all goes together. Pray for all of us when you
think about it.
Shayne Russell
July 2007 Jambo
to our Friends:
Greetings from the
Masai Mara. Tari and I hope that you are having a wonderful summer there in
the U.S. We are thoroughly enjoying our winter as the daytime temperatures
have been in the 80's only. Nights have been fairly cool also, as they hover
in the low- to-mid 50's. Great sleeping weather.
Other than the
weather, things have been really busy here in this part of the bush of
Africa. We are both doing well. We have had some health issues but God has
been faithful. We have also had a lot of visitors over the last month. This
is normal for us this time of year. The wildebeest migration from the
Serengeti has started and the park and surrounding areas are filled with a
million plus animals that have come across the Mara river. It is always a
beautiful sight.
Some of the guests
that camp in our compound are doctors. Recently, DRs.
Nate and Kim Smith and
family spent five days with us. Nate is an Infectious Disease specialist
overseeing Aids treatment here in Kenya. Kim is an OBGYN at Kijabe Medical
Center. Both are good friends and God used them to introduce us to their
sending church which now supports us monthly. While here, Nate asked about
our current and future projects and our needs. The attachment to this email
is the result of that conversation. Nate posts a periodic weblink to the
University of Maryland and a local TV station that is monitoring his work.
Please pray for his work and for ours.
The Masai Learning
Center will be open Monday-Saturday, providing after-school instruction for
our local primary school students, have an in-house library and media
center, as well as a place to house our Adult Literacy Training. Computer
training is in the plans too. Since the Learning Center will be built on
church property and overseen by the church leadership, it will also fill a
tremendous need that we have for Sunday School space.
Our Sunday Morning
study in 1 Corinthians is slowly nearing its completion. This past
Sunday, I taught from chapter 15 verse 23, concerning the resurrection and
rapture of believers at Christ's coming. And that our resurrection is
inseparably attached to Christ's. If he didn't rise then we won't either. If
you would like to see that verse in Swahili, here it is:
"Lakini kilia mmoja
pahali pake; limbuko ni Kristo; baadaye walio wake Kristo, atakapokuja."
Those in the church responded well and even gathered under the "Tree of God"
afterward to discuss the return of Christ. It was a good day. Let me take
this opportunity to say thanks for all your prayers and support.
This ministry is ours
together. God bless you.
Shayne and Tari
Russell
July 2005
Greetings from the Maasai Mara in Kenya
The month of July has come quickly
and is now almost half over. This is a busy month in the Mara as the
wildebeest migration from the Serengeti should start any day now. As
we look out of the park from our house site we will see literally
thousands of wildebeests and zebras that have come to consume the tall
grass that the rains have brought. We have a wonderful Creator
The construction on the house is
continuing well as we have nearly completed the sub-floor structures.
This will give us two
storage rooms underneath our front porch and will save us a ton of
work having to fill that entire area that is caused by building on a
hill. Lord willing, by the end of this month we will begin to dig for
the step footings for the main house level. We had hoped to have the
entire slab done by now but this is Africa. Our backhoe has been out
of order for the last two weeks as we get new parts from Kenya’s
capital, Nairobi. Likewise, our International Tractor, which got a
huge puncture last time we used it to haul
gravel.
The Church at Sekenani is
continuing well as we are actively involved in its teaching ministry.
Tari teaches the children’s Sunday School and Shayne preaches the
morning service and the afternoon Youth Meeting. In the Sunday School
hour, Tari is teaching through the book of Acts while using her
flannel board. The kids love watching the stories develop with the
scenes in the background. In the A.M Service we are currently studying
the last few verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 10, where Paul discusses
the parameters of our liberty in Jesus Christ. The youth meetings are
somewhat less formal and involve a short Bible study and then
playtime. Last week we discussed and acted out the story
of the Prodigal Son. In attendance were our two Maasai warrior friends
from Tanzania that went “walk about” and ended up at our little
village. Please pray for the salvation of Sokonne and Zaruni.
Thank you for your prayer and
financial support. It literally keeps us on the field and active in
the work that God has called us to do here in Maasai land. Your
sacrificial giving reminds us often of the proverb that says, “where
God calls…God supplies”.
God bless you all,
Shayne and
Tari Russell
Reaching the
Maasai with the Messiah |
To Our Family, Supporters,
and Friends:
Greetings from Nairobi. We are all fine here
and enjoying the warmth of a Kenya summer. How is your weather there? This
past weekend, we had the blessing of having our daughters with us. It was
midterm at their school and we all needed a break from being apart. It was
kind of a low‑key weekend but we had a good time. Carli is winding down her
senior year and is looking forward to her graduation in July. At 19 years
old, I know that she is ready to be out of school for a while. Caylin was
chose to be "server" at the Junior/Senior Banquet this Friday night. It is a
great honor at RVA and she is looking forward to being there. Carli has her
formal gown ready to go and Tari "highlighted" her hair while together this
weekend. She will be beautiful and we will be there to capture it on film.
While in Nairobi
this week, I am working again on the truck exemption. I have been on the
phone the last two days trying to get an appointment with the Assistant
Minister of Finance. Yesterday he returned my call and I was able to give
him a preliminary idea of our problem concerning the truck. The result of
that conversation was that I was able to schedule an appointment with his
Personal Assistant for this morning. At that meeting, I discussed the need
for Kenya to recognize the needs of career missionaries and to grant them an
additional vehicle exemption every eight years. That meeting passed as well
as could be expected and he instructed me to call him back on Monday and
that he would have an answer. Please pray for God to move the hearts of
those involved in this decision. As Proverbs 19:21 reminds us, "There are
many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel‑that will
stand."
Tomorrow, we
will head to town to shop for our return trip to the Mara. We hope to be out
there for a solid month this time and will be glad if it happens that way.
That will enable us to catch up on the work there and possibly even get
ahead a little. It will also enable us to save some money. Nairobi gets
expensive after a while.
Our little
congregation at Sekenani is doing well. This past Sunday we had another man,
Jackson, profess Christ as Lord and Savior. Praise the Lord. He has been
interacting with us since our arrival in '95 and has attended church
occasionally but has always been a person in the periphery. Now, he is a
brother. We also baptized James Lesaloi two weeks ago, which was a big
victory for our church and for him with his walk in Christ. According to his
testimony, after having converted to Christ the only church he knew was the
Catholic church. He was subsequently baptized as a Catholic and rejected the
idea of having to be re‑baptized according to Scripture. We have been
working with James on this issue since our arrival in '95. Last Sunday, he
admitted before the congregation that it was "spiritual pride" that had kept
him from doing what he knew to be right. Those who humble themselves will be
exalted.
Our study in the
book of 1 Corinthians continues to bless as we bring Chapter One to a close.
The people in the church have responded well to its teaching and look
forward to the Sunday Morning study. We have found that it takes a little
time but once a church is fed a steady diet of the exposition of Scripture
that nothing else suffices. God's word continues to prove itself to be
sufficient in the instruction of the lives of believers and also in the
ability to save the lost as Jackson would now testify. Praise God.
We covet your
prayers as we try to bring this term to a close in the next few months. In
April, Carli and Caylin will be coming home for vacation from school. This
will be Carli's last time there before her graduation and departure from
Kenya. In June, we have our Annual Missions Conference, and in we also have
a work team coming out from Houston, Texas. In the midst of that, we will be
trying to finish the construction on our shop as funds allow. Our goal is to
at least have it dried in by the time of our departure so that we can store
things inside during our six‑month furlough.
God bless you
for your support of this ministry. Tari and I look forward to seeing you on
your side of the world in a few months.
Shayne Russell
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Field Address:
P.O.
Box 21028
Nairobi 00505
Kenya, East Africa
Phone: 011
254 (50) -23041
Cell: 011 254
(737) 432756
srussell@mastersmission.org
Home Church:
Little Snowbird Baptist Church |
| Anniversary: |
07/07 |
| Birthdays: |
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| Shayne |
09/24 |
| Tari |
07/29 |
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