Final days in USA/Back home to Costa Rica

Hello! 
So sorry it has been so long waiting for an update from the Webbs.  It has been a little crazier than we thought to adjust back to life in Costa Rica, but all is well now, with the kids back in school and Mom and Dad back to some sense of normalcy in their work.

First, let us update you on the last few days we spent in the USA.  We were in Chicago for our last services, so we enjoyed staying with David's brother, Steve, in Chicago.  The cousins had a great time together playing cards, watching movies and bowling. 

At the bowling alley.

We even had a special evening out eating at Maggiano's restaurant.  Wow!  That was some great Italian food.  I think I will save my pennies so we can treat the whole family next time.  These before and after photos tell the whole story - Yes, we ate way too much! 

 

We also got to spend time with both Grandmas while in Chicago.  Here is a photo from our final evening together with Shelley's Mom and Stepdad, Don.  We are still hoping to get Don on an airplane down to Costa Rica one of these days!

Leaving for school in the taxi (taxis here are always red!)

The kids have entered into school slowly but surely.  We arrived to classes a few days late, then the kids had camp (Joshua elected not to go but to work on college applications instead) and then finally, this week, classes are in full swing. Joshua's BB team is practicing already and it looks like a promising year with the good group of seniors who are on the team.

Josh with his new Football magazine, once of his bday gifts.

Joshua celebrated his 17th birthday yesterday, and probably his last one at home.  Boo-hoo!  We had a small missionary family get together last night with brownies, chocolate chip bars and ice cream.  Then we enjoyed watching old home videos of Joshua as a little guy.  (We had all our old VHC tapes converted to DVDs this summer, well except one that is missing since the company mistakenly gave us someone else's video of a 50th anniversary.  Happy Anniversary to the Rhoads', whoever you are!) Joshua sure was a cute little guy (now a cute big guy!). 

Last Sunday our church celebrated Mother's Day (it was officially August 15th) and Kayley and some of the dance group sang a song for all the mothers.  Very nice!

David is back to his traveling once again.  He has travels both to Panama and Nicaragua in the next couple weeks.  This will be his last trip to Nicaragua, so pray for him as he says goodbye to all his friends there.  We will be concentrating more in Costa Rica now, not with only Evangelism, but with all ministries as David is the newly appointed Country Coordinator for Costa Rica. 

A big thanks to all the churches who hosted us this summer.  We loved seeing you and hope to do it again in two years! 

The Webb Family

Touring the USA

 

Hello to All,

We are now on the home stretch of our deputation time in the USA.  We have spoken in about 38 services with one more to go as we head toward Chicago from West Virginia.  It has been wonderful to see so many friends in Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia.  Here is a quick review of the past few weeks.

Tennessee is our home church district, and it is always great to see our friends there.  We visited the district primary camp, Waverly, Woodlawn, Park Lane, Old Hickory, Joelton, Nashville First Church, Erin and Clarksville First Church.  We also had time to visit Trevecca Nazarene University.

Beautiful Camp Garner Creek

Four wheeling with Mr. Green.

Joshua's reserved parking at Trevecca.

Kayley enjoying the horse at the campgrounds.

 We enjoyed staying at Camp Garner Creek for a few days and then in Woodlawn, on the farm with our friends, Steve and JoAnn Green.  What fun! (especially the Reunion party and 4-wheelin').

Then we moved on to Ohio with a visit to Mount Vernon Nazarene University.  Joshua is considering a number of Nazarene Universities for his college years, and with the senior year upon us, a decision will need to be made in the spring.  Pray for Josh as he makes his future plans. 

We enjoyed visiting with our friends Jessica and Paul Dawes, who attend the New Life Nazarene Church. They took us out to supper and then for ice cream.  Truly some of the best ice cream at the best prices we have ever seen  The Dairy is a good reason to attend MVNU!

Awesome ice cream from The Dairy!

Paul and Jessica Dawes

Then we moved on to Summersville, WV for the District Missions convention.  Joshua presented his PowerPoint in front for the large crowd and was not even a bit nervous.  That kid has nerves of steel!

Joshua presenting at the Pierpont Church.

We took advantage of the day in Summersville to see the Summersville Dam and the longest arch bridge in the world over the New River Gorge.  The river runs North!  Amazing!

New River Gorge Bridge

Kayley at Summersville Lake

Then we moved north to Morgantown, the home of the University of West Virginia.  Our former Pastor, Casey Shorr, pastors the Pierpont Church who have brought a team down to Costa Rica for the last couple of years.  We enjoyed staying at their home, doing our laundry and using their Internet (essentials for deputation travel!)  We also got to see our friends in Mannington, who sent the Fabulous Five with the district team in March.  Shelley really enjoyed her reunion with those awesome ladies! 

The Fabulous Five from Mannington

Now we are preparing to head home to Costa Rica in one more week.  There is lots of packing and repacking on the agenda along with seeing the Grandmas one more time before flying out. 

Thanks to you all for a great summer of mission services in eight districts (seven states).  We hope our paths cross again in the near future when we see you in Costa Rica!  God bless you all!

The Webb Family

NYC - Youth Event 2011

Chelsea, the beautiful bride with her handsome Father, Steve (David's brother).

 Hello Family and Friends,

Kayley and Joshua with their cousins Tessa and Jake.

Well, the deputation trek continues with recent visits to Iowa (family wedding included!) and the Ames Church, then Chicago, then Louisville, and now Tennessee.  It has been a great summer for us all, but we’re getting ready to transition back to life in Costa Rica.  We have 3 weeks left before we head south to Central America once again. 

In the middle of our deputation experience, Joshua and Shelley got the privilege of attending Nazarene Youth Conference in Louisville, KY.  This is a once every four year event with awesome music, speakers, workshops and concerts.  Since this is Joshua’s year to attend and since the Missionary Kid Group was in need of a sponsor, Shelley got to tag along as well.  So it was a first for both of the Webbs. 

The group of 29 MKs was amazing with kids from all over the world.  They formed a cohesive group quickly even though many of them had never met before the event.

These highlight photos say more than words can express about the 6 days at NYC 2011.  

Group games to get to know each other.

The Bundles of hope project provided 65,000 baby items for the Louisivlle community.  

6,300 teens in the new arena.

The Toby Mac Concert was awesome and Joshua got to be on the floor, up close to the action.

Driving go-carts on the longest track in the world with Norm Henry. FUN!

The last few days we have enjoyed staying at the TN Campgrounds.  We worked with the primary children’s camp and then visited the Waverly, TN church.  The kids got to swim one afternoon, we skipped stones in the creek and Kayley enjoyed petting the horse. 

Now we have moved north to Clarksville, TN where we spoke at our home church of Woodlawn Community in the AM and at Park Lane Church in the PM.  Just one more week in TN and we are off to Ohio, then West Virginia and then back to Chicago for our last few days in the USA.  

Thanks for your prayers for our summer travels and thanks to each one of you who has prayed and supported us financially.  We appreciate YOU!

The Webb Family

Home Assignment - First Few Weeks

Kayley at the display table at the Osawatamie Church.

Hello Everyone!

We have really enjoyed our first month of home assignment in the United States.  We arrive to Chicago on May 29^th and began the adventure in Chicago.  David’s brother, Steve, lives there, so we had great accommodations and way too much great food for the first few days.   Our first deputation service was at the Lombard Church, and we really enjoyed meeting new friends there.

The Farm in Iowa

After a few days in Chicago, we headed to Iowa where we stayed with Shelley’s Mom in Manchester.  While in the area, we visited the Cedar Rapids Oakland Church of the Nazarene, then the Iowa City Hispanic Church and later in the week we had a blast with the Grinnell youth group and the Ottumwa Hispanic congregation. 

We also enjoyed seeing Shelley’s two brothers and their families, as well as her stepmom, Donna, whom they had not seen for a number of years.  It was a little sad to say goodbye to the farm where Shelley spent much time in year’s past, but she is glad it is being sold to a farm family who love the land and the house. 

Virginia Webb (David's Mom) playing the organ at church.

Then we headed to Leon, Iowa, where David’s Mom lives in Southern Iowa.  She turned 80 this year and stays very active with her 25 piano students, two Bible studies and organ playing at church.  We spoke in the Des Moines Eastside Nazarene church and the Leon Bible Church before heading to the Kansas City district.

David and Kayley at the Des Moines Eastside church service.

Visiting Kansas City is a little like going home for us since we lived there and attended the Lenexa Central Church for two years.  We enjoyed seeing our friends from Central (some of them were in Nicaragua with us for New Years Day) and Shelley loved hanging out with the children’s group.  Then we visited Tongonaxie, Osawatamie, College Church Sunday School Classes (3 of those!), Olathe Christ Community and Olathe Westside Nazarene Church.  What a joy to see so many of our LINKS churches! 

David speaking to the Sojourners Sunday School Class.

One thing you remember when visiting churches is that people really do pray for missionaries.   That is such a blessing to know, and we realize that it has kept us safe on the field many times when dangers were lurking and we didn’t even know it.  One couple, whom we don’t really know all that well, but who pray faithfully for us, are Larry and Dorothy from College Church.   We first met them in 2005 when we visited their Sunday School class before leaving for Guatemala.  They announced in class that they have faithfully prayed for us, by name, everyday since our meeting in 2005.  What a great blessing for us!  Thank you, prayer warriors!

Larry and Dorothy, our prayer warriors.

While in KC, we spent on evening out at Theatre in the Park.  Kayley has been asking for awhile now to go to a theatre (play), but we hadn’t found anything in San Jose that we thought she would enjoy.  We were thrilled that the community theatre (the largest theatre in the park in the nation!) was performing The Sound of Music.  Kayley adored every minute of the performance and we sat right up front on our blanket to not miss a thing. 

Kayley had a bird's eye view of Maria in the play.

I am writing this blog while on the plane to Denver, en route to San Diego.  We are delighted to spend some time with our friends at Las Flores Church in Carlsbad, California.  They have brought teams to Costa Rica in the past and we are excited to see them all once again – including the new babies born in the last two years! 

We are looking forward to a family wedding in Ames, Iowa on July 2^nd and a visit to the Ames Church in July 3^rd, and shortly after a awesome week at NYC (National Youth Congress) which is a once every four year event that Joshua and Shelley will attend this year.  Pray that Shelley will have the energy to keep up with the group of 30 mission kids (Let’s not even think about the 7000 total youth in attendance!). 

We hope to see you this summer!  God bless you!

The Webb Family

Recent happenings

Hi Everyone,

Clowning around with the WV team

We are now in the US and starting the bi annual deputation journey which will take us from San Diego to West Virginia.  We look forward to seeing friends, family and making new friends at each church that we have the privilege of sharing with.   We are now in the great city of Manchester, Iowa after having 2 services in Cedar Rapids yesterday am and an afternoon service in the Iowa City Hispanic Church of the Nazarene (and yes, they were very kind to their Cyclone brethren:). 

This is a little embarrassing (ok maybe a lot embarrassing) but I realize that I have not done a very good job helping Shelley with the blog over the last couple of months--especially as I reflect all that God has been doing where we serve. Here are some highlights over the past 2 1/2 months.

On March 17, another great team arrived from the US.  They were from Pierpont Church of the Nazarene in Morgantown, WV.  Our former pastor, Casey Shorr and his wife Rhonda, were on this team.  This team worked in 4 different communities where we are planting new works and received invitations to minister in 3 public schools thru VBSs and crafts. 

All in all over 1,000 primary age children heard the gospel---praise God.  One of the crafts that is always big is the salvation bracelets.  This craft allows us to present the plan of salvation using different colored beads.  This team blessed us in many ways including the donation of many clown outfits which we are distributing to other church planters in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

Our son Joshua and daughter Kayley have been a blessing in many ways.  One Saturday in April, Josh decided that he would accompany me to the city of Liberia in northern Costa Rica for evangelism trainings.  This was a labor of love as it was a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive each way from San Jose.  The pastor of the church is Pastor Alvaro.  He is serving as a church planter and has been involved with the opening of 16 new cell groups in the Guanacaste area since the end of 2009.  These new groups almost total 300 people in attendance--praise the Lord.  Here is a picture of Pastor Alvaro and a map that shows some of these new works.  There is a possibility that 2 or 3 of these new missions will be organized churches soon. The blue thumbtacks represent some of the 16 new missions that have started. 

I took a 10 day trip to Nicaragua which covered the last week of April and part of the first week of May.  I met with leaders in 3 of the 4 districts and Nicaragua.  Through this time, I participated in evangelism workshops, translated for Pastor Greg McNichols who did special workshops for the pastors in the Nicaragua North district, worked with local leaders on the development of 3 new missional zones (these are areas where we are having a special focus in church planting thru the use of the Jesus Film and local church planters), and made a special trip to Puerto Cabezas on the northeast coast of Nicaragua.  Puerto Cabezas is the home of an indigenous people called the Miskitu (and yes, praise God, we have the Jesus Film in the Miskitu language).  Here are a few pictures from there.

Getting water from the well for morning bucket shower--very refreshing

Enjoying a snack while waiting to cross a bridge in NE Nicaragua

May was a blur as we tried to finish up several ministry tasks in preparation for our time in deputation for the US.  During this time we had special regional evangelism meetings, had evangelism trainings for church planters in Costa Rica, visited missional zone church planters in Costa Rica and visited a missional zone church planter in Panama.  We praise God as we have seen over 90 new cell groups planted in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama over the last 17 months in 9 missional zone projects in the 3 countries.  To God be the glory, great things He has done.