On March 8, our last in-sanctuary gathering, three new members joined our household of faith: Hank Kielb, Melissa Mckenzy-Shaw and Kamy Shaw. See their bios below.
A variety of reasons brings people to church, it is your warmth and genuine welcome that brings people back again and again.
Hank (Henry) Kielb
Hank writes: writes: “I am 64 years old and I am gay – I was born that way. My second career was as a Speech Pathologist for 15 years. I worked with patients until I became physically disabled in 2011. I last worked in El Paso but moved to Las Cruces in 2014 and I like it here.
Melissa Mckenzy-Shaw
Born and raised in Deming, NM. Melissa came to Las Cruces to attend NMSU and never left. She grew up on a farm raising dairy goats and at different times had cows, pigs, turkeys, ducks, and chickens. Melissa’s true love was horses, she started showing all around as a 7 year old and took off from there moving up the ranks, showing in quarter horse and NRHA approved shows. She supported herself in college as a horse trainer for local breeders.
Melissa played basketball in high school there she found her love of working on people to help them heal from injuries and pain from her time in the athletic training room. She studied Athletic Training in high school and a few years into college ending up with a degree in Kinesiology.
Melissa took a 18 year break from her pursuits to raise her 5 kids before coming back to her calling and becoming a Licensed Massage Therapist in 2018. She has her own practice in addition to teaching at Massage Therapy Training Institute. Melissa is a mother to 5 and lives with her true love, Kamy, 8 dogs and 4 cats.
Kamy Shaw
Kamy is a woman of many talents and skills. Born in El Paso to a long line of doctors and healers, she grew up there and in South America. She has spent much time living and travelling abroad for service work in midwifery and womens’ health. Kamy has a long list of titles and talents, to list a few: Mother, Grandmother, Spouse, Mama of 4 leggeds, Board Certified LMT, Educator, Midwife, herbalist, aromatherapist, Healer, and Spiritual Clergy. She often draws on her family’s Cheyenne, Lakota, and indigenous Latin American spiritual heritage and currently works for and manages Massage Therapy Training Institute (MTTI), a massage school and community Massage Clinic.
Kamy has a love for learning and is always pursuing continuing her education, and has a sincere love of studying the Bible. Kamy is a biological mother to twin boys and mother to many many other beautiful souls that she has helped to raise and nurture.
Kamy possesses a huge giving heart that loves to give service to those in need, she supports a nonprofit organ donation and runs her own non-profit to help those in need; especially women, children, domestic abuse victims, and LGBTQ. She loves attending service with her much loved spouse, Melissa.