Bible Teaching

​G.B. and Ruth

Shelburne

Mission Work

4307 55th St
Lubbock, Texas 79413-4621.
713-614-8210
WhatsApp +17136148210
bshelb@shelburnes.com
December, 2025

We are thankful to be in contact with you once more. Ruth and I hope you will have enjoyed a happy and blessed Christmas and that the new year will be a good one for you. Time rushes by. I can hardly believe that God willing I will turn 90 in February and Ruth will turn 89 on the 27th of this month. I just don’t feel that old!  We often thank God that we are still able to live in our own home here in Lubbock (our 13th year). 

I am still in fair health for my age and glad I can take care of Ruth who has many health issues and uses a walker. We are thankful that her cancer checkups continue to be good. She fell and broke a hip early this year. Doctors discovered that she had a bad heart valve that caused mini-blackouts and resulting falls. By God’s grace she survived a hip replacement and she had a non-invasive heart valve replacement soon after. She has not fallen since then and her memory has improved. For years she has had severe back pain and we are exploring the possibility of some nerve blocks to relieve that. We both had covid year before last but have avoided it and flu since then, thank God.

Our children are very supportive and we love them dearly. Ian and Danetta are in Abilene, Texas and are teachers. David is here in Lubbock and busy with ministry. Kent and Anne-Marie live near Denver and have a thriving business plus leading international tours. Kent has melanoma which has spread but is responding well to treatment.

God has been so good to me. I still oversee the free distance learning program for South Houston Bible Institute (shbi.org) with its 40+ courses and serve on boards for SHBI and for Namikango Mission in Malawi where we lived in 1961-1980 (Namikango.org). I have been able to stay connected with many Malawians, especially now more of them have cell phones. I publish a digital quarterly magazine for church leaders in Malawi and elsewhere. With my remaining time I do a little yard work and have been working on two or three books I asked God to let me finish. The first one, now done, is a second edition of a book of devotionals which I first published in 2009 and by which many people have say they have been helped. It is called Open Our Eyes and is available on amazon.com in print or as an ebook. I tell Ruth that staying busy is what keeps me sane. The draft of the second book, You Can Change (based on the popular SHBI course Christian Growth Course/The Transformed Life), is finished and after formatting should be available at Amazon early in 2026. After that, if God allows, I want to write the story of our lives including a lot about our life in Malawi. Ruth and I had a small home business (typing and office work) for many years.  We closed it at the end of 2024.

Ruth’s health limits her activities but she enjoys reading, TV and talking with her grandchildren and other family members by phone. We now have 11 grandchildren (two of whom have been working overseas) and 5 great-grandchildren plus one on the way. Ruth and I also enjoy our devotional time together, praying and reading the daily selection in the One Year Bible. I believe the reading and prayer have done more for our marriage than anything else. We have a date every Thursday to go out and eat. Every month or two we drive down into Yellow House Canyon and look at scenery and wildlife. David and his lady friend Patty come over each Sunday evening for supper and videos. 

After her heart valve surgery Ruth went through a very helpful program called cardiac rehab, where her progress was monitored and she went three days a week for exercise. She finished that program but she has joined a wellness group who use the same exercise machines, and I take Ruth there up to three times a week. I think the exercise has helped her become more stable and avoid falls.
Ruth’s oldest brother, Truman Hayes, passed away Oct. 30 after an extended stay in hospital. He was 93 years old. He was one of the best people we have ever known, with many years in church leadership and a good career in farming. Ruth’s younger brother died back in 2000. Her two sisters are still living. I lost my sister in 2007 but my 3 brothers are still with us.

A special event in October this year was a reunion of the large Hayes family (Ruth’s paternal kin). Ruth and I had attended some of their prior reunions 50 or 60 years ago but before this year they were 23 years without one.

Earlier this year we had some remodeling of our home done to make it more usable for people our age. Later in the year a slow drain leak led to mold in bathroom walls and necessitated a lot of dismantling and treatment. It will be January before we get the bathrooms fully restored.

Please pray for Malawi, Africa and our people there. Most people live by farming and the last three years have been lean years because of drought, destructive storms, and inflation that prices fertilizer and other needs out of reach. There will be much hunger the next four months until harvest.

Let’s remember that when Jesus came into the world so long ago, angels sang about peace on earth. It is Jesus’ teaching, more than anything else, that changes us humans from hurters to helpers. May we pray for peace on earth and may we all live a life that contributes to that peace and all that is good.
With love,
B. and Ruth