Home Assignment 2017

We are enjoying our time in the USA, but it is winding down and we will be back in Costa Rica in 10 days.  In the last post you can see a few of our stops along the way in Iowa, KS and MO, and here are a few more.

Pierpont Church in Morgantown, WV.  It was wonderful to reconnect with friends from year's past and meet some new ones too.  An added blessing was having our kids with us that day. 

Then onto Valparaiso, IN to see our friend Pastor Shawn.  He is a great guy, even if he likes Oklahoma (see the background poster).

 

Next, a big adventure in the Northern California district. We had never been to this area of California, so it was all new to us.  We learned our way around visiting all these churches:  Napa, Santa Rosa, Palo Alto, Pittsburg, Santa Cruz, Livermore Discovery, Fortuna, Willow Creek and Arcata.  We enjoyed each congregation and every area.  This trip was special too because of the partnership between the NorCal district and the Seminary (SENDAS) where we live and work.  This district has brought a number of teams and are supporting the Seminary in many ways. THANK YOU, NorCal.

Seeing the ocean views from Arcata and Santa Cruz, the grapes in Napa, and witnessing the tallest trees in the world were scenic highlights.

 

 

 Closer to San Francisco, a highlight was the Golden Gate bridge.  Beautiful and awesome!

 

 And Google, a product we use as much as you do, was a quick stop along the way.

 

If you have followed the news, you know about the wildfires in Northern California.  We visited these areas before the fires started, but we needed to pass through Santa Rosa to return to San Francisco before we flew to Chicago. The fires started the night before. It was heartbreaking to smell the smoke and see the orange color on the hill tops.  So sad that so many have lost their homes, their crops and some their lives.  Pray with us that the winds would die down so the fires could be contained. We hear the churches are serving as shelters for those who have lost their homes.

Fire on the ridge. This is where the highway closed.

Near the coast, with lots of smoke. The sun is trying to peek through the orange haze.

We have now returned to the midwest, visiting many churches in our LINKS district, Chicago Central. We still have a few churches to visit, but this is where we will be this week and next:

Eastridge, Bradley and College Church (all near Kankakee and Olivet).  Then Chicago Calvary, Living Water (Morris), Joliet Crystal Lawns, Sheldon, Kankakee (retired missionaries group), Westbrook and Gilman. 

It is fun to visit so many churches who have sent teams to Costa Rica. The Chicago Central district has been a HUGE help in the Costa Rica North district. Just last night we were at the Joliet Crystal Lawns Church.  Such a blessing to see these friends who have done so much to help the ministry in Costa Rica.

In 10 days, we will pack it up and travel home to Costa Rica. We are excited for upcoming events at SENDAS: the yearly Assembly, a theological conference (Llamados) and graduation are all within 4 days of our return. There will be lots to do, but we are glad to be a part of something so important as the preparing of pastors and leaders. 

Thanks to each of the more than 25 churches we have had the privilege to visit in the USA.  It is a blessing to partner with you!

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb

Hurricane and Earthquake Relief

Hello to all our friends and family.

While we are on home assignment in Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia, the relief work is beginning in many places of the USA and Mesoamerica Region.  There is not space here to update you on all the relief projects currently in process, but we will mention just a few places where the Church of the Nazarene is affected and working.  Please keep all these places, among others, in your prayers.

1    St. Martin/St. Marteen – This island's three Nazarene churches are either entirely destroyed of mostly destroyed.  75% of the congregations have lost their homes.

2    Puerto Rico – the relief and reconstruction work will take many months here.

3    Dominica – a view from the air shows mass destruction.  Fifteen lives lost, but the number will grow as they reach outlying areas.

4    Mexico – earthquake relief in Junchital continues with NCM working through 20-25 feeding centers, feeding 12,000 or more people 3 meals per day.  The Church of the Nazarene has been the main relief work in this area.  Doctors and psychologists have come to help with the many needs. 

5    Mexico – the earthquake relief in the Mexico City area is still in progress as the local churches mobilize to help people in crisis.

Here are a few photos from Junchital, Mexico from our friends Stephen and Anne Sickel who are working with NCM to bring aid to those who most need it. Pray for stamina and wisdom for the leaders who are guiding the work in all these areas.

Relief workers receiving instructions.

As all of this goes on in the world, our home assignment has begun. We have been in the USA for a couple of weeks, first to visit family for a few days of vacation and then to begin speaking in churches.  Going to the ISU game with family was a highlight!   

Us with family behind, waiting for the game to start.

And then viewing another ISU game with family was another fun moment, especially with the energy of these kiddos added to the mix (our great nephews and nieces).

We had a great time in Burlington, Iowa and were so impressed with the First Church’s three-acre plot of land that they use to plant sweet corn. The produce is sold and all the funds go to help missions work around the world. 

Then onto Garnett, KS where we enjoyed seeing the team that visited Costa Rica last August to work in Heredia at two churches.

Missouri was next on the list: Columbia/Fulton and Eldon/Jefferson City were our two stops.  All four churches were represented, and we enjoyed reconnecting with the W&W team members from January.  The Eldon Church was in the middle of their pie making work.  They make more than 5,000 pies in a two-week period to sell for missions projects.  It was fun to be a small part of the apple pie process.

David helped by coring the apples!

Now we have made our way to Ohio and are excited to meet up with our kids today. Then we will make our way to the Pierpont Church in Morgantown, West Virginia.  We are excited to see all our friends there on Sunday.

For the next few weeks we will travel to Indiana, Chicago, Northern California (by plane!) and then spend one week with the Chicago Central district.  The time will fly by and we will be back in Costa Rica by the end of the month.

Thanks for your prayers as we are traveling the USA.  We hope to see you along the way!

David and Shelley Webb

August Update from Costa Rica

Can you believe it is August already? This year is flying by.  We are so glad to have had a part in 12 Work and Witness teams already this year.  I think this is a record for us.  We can remember one year working with 8 or 9, but 12 takes the cake!  And there are two more to go this year: one this month and one in November.  Whew...I think we are going to make it!

A big and special thanks to the volunteers who have made it possible:  Ted and Lori Bruce (MO District), Bruce and Linda Wilson (South Florida) and Peggy Strange from Missouri who just led her first team (she took the photo above). 

Between teams, we recently traveled to Iowa. We really enjoy speaking at NMI District Conventions. It is always a great experience to share with local missions leaders.  In July, we attended the Iowa District NMI Convention. We spoke in the morning and then held two workshops in the afternoons about a W&W trip to Costa Rica for 2018.  We expected to have a few people attend each workshop, but God surprised us with 55 people in the first one and another 35 in the second. Already we have more than 40 people signed up to participate so we got out our calendars to add a third trip to next year’s calendar.  Three Iowa teams next year!  Gonna be another great year for Costa Rica.

Speaking at the Ames, IA Church of the Nazarene

The construction project is the District Center for the North District located in Muelle.  This project has a great start, thanks to the North district churches who take turns working each weekend. 

Chicago Central Team taking a break from digging.

The first ever W&W team for this project arrived from Chicago Central district in late July.  They were led by a volunteer missionary, Peggy Strange (Bruce and Brian Wilson's sister),  along with her family. We are so blessed to have such great volunteers working to continue the work in Costa Rica. 

 
Two teams arrived in July to finish up the construction at the Quebrada Grande Church.  Here is a link to a great article with photos all about these two teams from Southern Florida.  Just click here: https://sfnazarene.org/big-miracle-costa-rica/

Bruce and Linda Wilson led these two teams, and we provided some logistical support since there were three teams in country at the same time.  

The two Work and Witness teams at the Dedication Service at the new Sanctuary in Quebrada Grande.

David leading the prayer time at the Dedication Service for the Quebrada Grande Church.

Two of our favorite people:  Rev. Johnny Calvo and Bruce Wilson.

At SENDAS, the second course for NTC Manchester was held by video conference.  This is a way to continue to provide great educational opportunities for the SENDAS professors and other leaders.  The course was held in Mexico, linked by video conference to Guatemala and Costa Rica. 

In family news, Kayley has enjoyed her summer at MVNU.  She worked as an RA, in the campus Post Office and has translated materials into English.  She recently attended the Rendezvous event in Canada (a Nazarene church event for Missionary Kids of college age).  She had a great experience! 

Joshua continues his work with Park Bank in the Columbus, OH area.  He and his roommates are looking for a new house to rent so a move is in the works. We are praying they will find just the right place, at the right price at the right time.

We are hoping to have both kids with us in early to mid-December to celebrate the holiday a little early.

Our home assignment time is approaching.  We have a full schedule with services in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, West Virginia, Illinois and California.  We hope to see you along the way!

We have another W&W team arriving on tomorrow (Saturday) from California to help SENDAS complete the Orchid building.  Painting are tiling are the main jobs.  It will be a great week of work alongside good friends.

Thanks for your prayers. 

David and Shelley Webb

General Assembly and Two Great W&W Teams

We hosted a superb group from Bakersfield, CA who worked with the North district at two locations. 

San Ramon is a city where we have wanted to plant a church for many years, and it is finally happening.  Pastor Alex is an experienced church planter, and he has begun the work in San Ramon while he pastors his own church in Barrio San Jose in Alajuela.  

The team spent two days in San Ramon painting a children’s basketball court and doing face painting, making animal balloons and conversing in the central park. The cell group of about 10 people in San Ramon was encouraged with the work and the outreach.  

This same team worked at the Barrio San Jose Church building two offices.  This is a real blessing to the pastor who did not have an office of his own before.  The team also worked in a local public school and their testimony was so wonderful that the director asked them to stay another week!

Then the General Assembly and Conventions took place in Indianapolis, USA. This event has nearly 20,000 in attendance so there is lots of preparation that goes into running a booth at this event.  Publications and materials are developed, the designs for the booth are made, and this year we held a SENDAS Gathering event for the very first time.  Everything went really well.

 The highlight for us was seeing our family for two days.  Joshua and Kayley drove to Indianapolis from Columbus, OH and Shelley’s Mom and Stepdad arrived from Iowa.  It was fun to visit together and enjoy the services and meals. 

Before the event ended, we returned to Costa Rica to prepare for the next team.  The Eagle Church of the Nazarene team from Idaho worked at the Los Angeles Church and surprised everyone by the amount of work that got done in one week.  Two concrete floors were poured (no cement truck involved!) and a block wall was built.  But beyond that, the team of five families (half kids and teens) helped the local church with their Vacation Bible School.  What a blessing to work with the children and to hold two sports activities at a local basketball court. The biggest blessing was to see some new families attend the Sunday morning service from the outreach at the court.  God is good!

We feel so blessed to have successfully led (with help from volunteers) 8 teams already this year.  There are still a few to go, but already the work accomplished alongside the local churches is phenomenal.  We hope to have the dedication of the Los Angeles building as soon as the month of August.  That will be quite a celebration!

We are in Iowa as I write this to speak at the Iowa NMI Convention and the Ames Church.  More on that next month.

Upcoming events:

1. Preparing for the July teams to Quebrada Grande and Muelle CR North District Center project.

2.  Getting ready for the NorCal Team for SENDAS.

3.  Trying to keep up with the daily work at SENDAS and the two districts. 

4.  Preparing for Home Assignment in September and October 2017.

We appreciate your prayers for Joshua and Kayley.  We are thankful they are both doing well in Ohio, but we do miss them.

David and Shelley

Your missionaries, happily serving in Costa Rica