Praises and Prayer Request

Dear Family and Friends,

Our praises this week include keeping up with our heavy school schedule and allowing us another great weekend speaking in churches. We were at the Des Moines First Church on Saturday night and Sunday morning and what an exciting Sunday it was as they have nearly met their Faith Promise goal already. It's always a privilege to see God at work and I believe He is doing something new and bright there in the hearts of the Des Moines congregation. It was an exciting morning!

After eating a quick lunch with the folks in Des Moines, we headed down the road for Kansas City. We spoke at Central Church of the Nazarene, where we been worshiping each week for the last 20 months. What fun it was to be with our home crowd and their responsiveness and kindness overwhelmed us. We praise God that He allowed us to be a part of this mission and ministry minded congregation while here in Kansas City. Thanks, Centralites!

We will leave on Friday for Manchester, Shelley's home town in Iowa to leave off the kids while David and Shelley travel to Bettendorf, IA for a Faith Promise weekend. Joshua and Kayley have a few days off of school, so it will be a good break for them. The seminary classes continue to challenge us, but God has allowed us just enough time to complete the reading and writing required for each day.

I have a prayer request I'd like to share. My Dad, Dave Raus, (in the picture with Josh, Kayley, Brandon and Karly) has been very ill for the last 2 months. Would you pray for him as he was transfered from our home town hospital by ambulance today to the Iowa City hospitals. Some tests need to be completed to determine the next steps. He has been in extreme pain for weeks and I covet your prayers for him. Thanks!

May God bless you this week,

Shelley, David, Joshua and Kayley

Seminary Begins

Dear Family and Friends,

With the first week of seminary behind us, we are feeling a bit overwhelmed, but excited to be learning so much about missions. We are both taking Mission Strategy and Sociology of Mission. Shelley also has Mission Spirituality and Foundations of Missions, while David is taking a course on Genesis. In addition, we are still in World Mission training one afternoon a week. It is a lot of reading and we would appreciate your prayers as we try to study during our free hours each week.

We've enjoyed our missionary intern friends and wanted to share with you who we are spending time with day in and day out. So, you can see here a picture of the families in mission training this fall here in Kansas City. They are all such wonderful people and although we'll be in all parts of the world, these are friendships that will last.

We sure enjoyed our time in the Ankeny, IA and Trenton, MO churches this weekend. What wonderful people in both congregations. We've also been in touch with our LINKS district in Los Angeles. They have been a strong support as we're making many transitions. We're so glad to know people are praying for us. Thank you!

Well, David and I are off to the doctor to get our shots. The kids go this afternoon and Joshua is excited to miss one hour of school while Kayley would just rather stay in school to avoid the needle. Thankfully, they only need one shot each, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Until next week,
The Webbs

The First Blog

Dear Friends and Family,
This is our first attempt at "blogging" and it's a new world for us. We decided this is the best way we can manage to keep in touch with you all. Feel free to stop by weekly as we'll try to post the highlights from each week, especially as we arrive in Guatemala in January 2006.

We had a terrific service this afternoon with the Samoan Church in Independence, MO. What wonderful people, so loving and kind. Pastor Dan is in seminary classes with David and those two really enjoy each other. Thanks, Dan for inviting us to your worship service.

Last week we were in Cyclone country. That's Ames, IA for those of you who are not Iowa State University fans. It was the first time our kids had attended a college football game, and boy did they love it. (See the picture to prove it!) We also had a great worship service with the Ames Church of the Nazarene (COTN). And everyone was in a good mood with the win over Southern Illinois. I can only imagine the smiles after beating Iowa today! (Just had to rub it in to you Hawkeye fans, sorry!)

Seminary classes start this week, so the studying begins. We are each taking 10 credit hours, so we'll stay quite busy, especially since we'll be traveling most weekends to churches. God has been so good to us and we're excited to be serving Him and learning much along the way.

Until next time...
The Webbs

The Webb Family: Joshua, Shelley, David and Kayley