The Webb Page Newsletter

The Webb Page

Volume III, Number 5 December 2007

The months of October, November and December have been filled with many adventures for the Webb family.

Read on to learn more…

Travel to the Good Old USA
David represented Work and Witness for MAC South at two conventions. One meeting was in Ohio and the other in Oregon. He had a wonderful time and managed to sneak in a quick visit to Woodlawn, TN (our home church) and also to Iowa to visit his family. We are hoping his efforts will encourage even more teams to visit MAC South in the coming year or two.

Trainings and More Trainings

David continues his treks to various parts of Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to assist in training new church planters. He enjoys the time with the leaders and laypersons and is wonderful at building relationships with everyone. Here is a photo of some of the leaders in North Costa Rica after a Maximum Mission training session.

District Assemblies

The month of November was busy for the district leaders since it is the month for District Assemblies. We were unable to attend them all, but enjoyed the Costa Rica Central, CR North and the Nicaragua Southeast assemblies. It was a blessing to spend a little time with General Superintendent Nina Gunter and her husband Moody. Here they are along with our Regional Director, Dr. Carlos Saenz and the new Regional Communications Director, Rodrigo Rivera.

La Carbonera and Jinotega

Shelley recently enjoyed a trip to North Nicaragua to visit two of the six Child Development Centers in MAC South (the other four are in Panama Central). It was a blessing to be there for the Building Dedication of the new structure in La Carbonera. It serves as both the church and the center for children. There are more than 50 children sponsored already through the Child Sponsorship Program and more will be added soon to help meet some of the needs of the children.

North Nicaragua is simply beautiful with its valleys, mountains, and fields. There are rice fields along the road.

The Coco River, which flows between Somoto and La Carbonera, was lower than last month, but we still had a bit of a struggle getting across and finally had to be towed across by someone with 4WD. Thankfully, the people are kind and generous and lent a rope for the towing process. The vehicle in this photo has no problem passing through the river. Let’s just say, we didn’t fare so well!

It was a wonderful building dedication service, but the best part was meeting the children and spending time with them.

Jinotega, Nicaragua is known for its coffee production, so you can guess that it is elevated. It is the highest major city in Nicaragua with more than 100,000 people and once again the beauty is stunning.

But, overall, the people are the most impressive resource. The church leaders at Jinotega are wonderful and serve the children there with love and care. It was a special treat to meet both the leaders and the children.

Christmas 2007

We will be visiting family this year in the USA. What a blessing! We are well aware that not many missionaries get home for Christmas, so we are very appreciative of the opportunity. We are hoping and praying for good flights and good weather for travel as we will land in Chicago and will drive to Iowa the next day.

Looking Ahead

The year 2008 is already pretty much booked for the Webb family. The children return to school on the 16^th of January and then a team arrives on the 18^th. In February there is a team to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and in March another team to Panama City, Panama. We hope to breathe a little in April as it all picks up again in May for the summer months. Even though we feel unable to do all that needs to be done, we know God will make a way and help us each day. He has not yet let us down!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We will have to call this our official Christmas Card for this year as it is not likely we’ll find time to send out another. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas with your family surrounding you and the love of Christ warming your heart.

Gracias

We can’t thank you all enough for your generous support in prayer and finances this year. It has been a wonderful year serving in MAC South and we look forward to a great 2008 and pray your year will be filled with blessings from the Lord as you seek to follow Him in all you do.

God bless you,

The Webb Family

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Jinotega, Nicaragua

Dear Family and Friends,

We are nearing time for Christmas vacation. It is hard to believe that it has been almost one year that we've lived in Costa Rica. So much has happened that in some ways it seems like 10 years and in other ways it seems like yesterday that we arrived. We will fly out next Tuesday to Miami and then Chicago, hoping that the weather will allow for good travel days. Joshua has exams this week and Kayley mostly has parties! (Joshua doesn't think that is too fair!). All week there are only half days of school, so Josh doesn't have too much to complain about.



This week I want to share about Jinotega and the Child Development Center there. The day started early, 4:3o or so and finally we left the small town of Somoto around 5:45am. It was a beautiful drive south and then east up into the mountains. About 4 1/2 hours later we could see the city of Jinotega. It has about 11o,000 people and is spread out in a large valley surrounded by mountains. This is the only area of Nicaragua that grows coffee, in fact coffee is a main source of income there.



The Church of the Nazarene there began reaching out to poor children in the community and since has developed into a thriving center for children. Since the city is large and the children come from all parts, they normally have activities on the weekends when the kids have enough time to walk or take a bus to the center and still arrive home before dark. There are 49 children sponsored in the program at this time, but many others participate as well.



We were there on a Sunday morning so during the normal worship time, the children held a special activity so we could get to know them. They sang songs and even performed a special Nicaraguan dance.



It was special for me to see the faces of the children. I know many of their names, but now I can see them in my mind and remember where they live. I thank God for the leaders Jinotega and La Carbonera who sacrifice to help the children. It was a great trip and I hope to travel that way again in the next year.

David is in Nicaragua this week, in the area of Puerto Cabezas. Remember that it was hit by the hurricane a few months ago. David and the other leaders are making plans for the Jesus Film Team that will be arriving in February. Pray that David arrives back to San Jose safely on Friday.

Well, this may be the final blog for this year as we will be traveling until the New Year. God bless you during this Christmas season. May Jesus be the center of your celebrating.

Love to all,
Shelley, David, Joshua and Kayley

La Carbonera

Wow! What a great week! OK, One thing at a time...

First, David traveled to Panama last week to make arrangements for a team going there in March. Unfortunately, he was there during Panamanian Independence Day (from Columbia) so because of the parades and festivities it was impossible to get to the locations they needed to visit. But they did what they could and it will all come together in God's time.

David returned on Thursday night just in time for Shelley to leave on Friday morning. I (Shelley) had a wonderful trip to North Nicaragua. I stayed in the town of Somoto which is less than 10 miles from La Carbonera, the location of one of two Child Development Centers in North Nicaragua. But getting there was an adventure. The pavement ended as we left Somoto and headed northeast. Ahead of us was a huge truck with a flatbed that held, oh I don't know, maybe 40 people all of whom were attending the Building Dedication of the Children's Center/Church in La Carbonera. (You can see it in the photo below). Following close behind was Denis the District Superintendent in his 4x4 truck and then Eliezel (MAC South Work and Witness Coordinator) and me (as well as a bunch of others in the bed of the truck).



Of course the roads were washed out and bumpy, but my biggest concern was the Coco River which separates Somoto from La Carbonera. During the rainy season it is often not passable, but with little rain lately we were hoping to cross without problems. Well, you can guess what happened as we got stuck halfway across and had to be pulled out. (Sorry no pictures of that, just of the guy behind us who got stuck as well, but you get the idea!)

After picking up more folks along the dirt road, we finally arrived at the new building. There are only two buildings in La Carbonera (besides simple homes) : The Primary school and the Child Development Center. So, it is very noticeable and quite a blessing to the community. On this day, the community and church were dedicating Phase One of the building. The next phase will include adding some classrooms all around the building. The building was packed with many children and adults from La Carbonera and neighboring communities.



It was a blessing for me to see the children and put faces with names. They are wonderful kids with many hardships but they are happy and all have big dreams for their futures. I am proud to have just a small part in helping them fulfill their dreams. If you are interested in sponsoring a child, there is always a need for more sponsors. The website is www.ncm.org.



The area surrounding Somoto is simply beautiful with its mountains, rivers and trees. In some ways it reminds me of Iowa (OK, not so much the mountains) since it is very rural and there are fields everywhere. They grow corn and beans (not soy beans like Iowa, other kinds) and there are people riding horses here and there.



There is another part to this adventure that I'll save for next week about our visit to the Center in Jinotega: coffee country.

I arrived back in San Jose at 10 am on Monday morning while David was boarding his plane for Guatemala. He'll be gone this week so I hoped to see him in the airport, but instead our buses passed on the runway. (Yes, they use buses to transport passengers to their planes.) So, our 3 minute phone conversation was all we could arrange.

Please continue praying for travel safety as David will return on Friday for only one day and leave once again, this time for Nicaragua and the hurricane-stricken area of Puerto Cabezas.

God bless you all this week!

The Webb Family

Lots to tell...

Hello Everyone!

This week has been full of traveling and adventures. We started off visiting the local church in Poas last Sunday morning. The church was absolutely full and no one sat together as there were only seats here and there. After the service we visited a nearby town called Sarchi which is known for making wood furniture. Rocking chairs, beds, and about everything you can think of. It is also the home of the largest oxcart in Costa Rica. The oxcart is the national symbol of Costa Rica and this one was BIG as you can see below.



After working for three days, we were ready for a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day with a Methodist missionary family here in Costa Rica. It was a wonderful day with too much food. We didn't even eat supper and hardly any lunch the next day. WOW!

On Friday we surprised the kids with a day at the amusement park. Parque de Diversiones is about 45 minutes away (well, an hour the way we went!) but after the long way around we finally arrived and had a great time. Here's proof of the fun...




On Saturday we attended a special Pastors and families event in Costa Rica North. It was especially fun for me (Shelley) to see all the children in the child sponsorship program after reading their names each month. Kayley and Joshua joined in the games, ate fruit and gained some candy from the pinata.



On Sunday David left early for Ciudad Quesada to lead a church planter training event. It was a great success with 5 new church planters trained. They will begin their new cell groups within the next month or so. It will wonderful to watch their groups grow and learn.



Things will be crazy between now and mid December when we leave for Christmas in the USA. David will be gone 15 days between now and then, yes, that's almost the entire time, except for the 4 days I (Shelley) will be gone to North Nicaragua. You can pray that we'll be safe and well in our travels and not too tired with all there is to do. In the meantime the kids have finals coming up so there is some extra studying going on around here.

Thanks for thinking of checking our blog! We love you all,
The Webb Family

District Assemblies

Hello All,
It has been a very busy two weeks here and so here is our official apology for the lack of blogging happening in the Webb household in Costa Rica. But finally, tonight I have found a few minutes to share what's happening here.

These last two weeks have been the annual district assemblies in the area of MAC South (Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama). There are 8 districts, so that means 8 assemblies. No, we did not attend all of them simply because of the cost of extensive travel, but we were privileged to have a part in three of the meetings: Costa Rica North, Costa Rica Central, and David attended the Nicaragua Southeast assembly. All the assemblies were great times of celebration of a year of God's blessings in each area.

Here in San Jose, we enjoyed a wonderful ordination service for three pastors in the area. Nina Gunter, General Superintendent, preached a great message that night and our friend and pastor here in San Jose, Leyla Ramirez, was one of three ordained.





Early Thursday morning the crew of 6 leaders left before sunlight to head north to the border with Nicaragua. From there, after crossing the border, they boarded a boat headed toward San Carlos.


Moody and Nina Gunter in front, Rod Rivera (Communications Director for the Region) and Dr. Carlos Saenz (Regional Director).

Finally arriving around 11am, the assembly was held with a room full of pastors and leaders. After only 3 hours of meetings, the group left for the border once again and finally arrived back to the seminary at 9pm. A long day, but a good day.

With the Assemblies behind us, we are now looking forward to a couple days off this week with the Thanksgiving holiday. We plan on spending Thursday with a some friends, missionaries with the Methodist church and seminary here in San Jose. So we'll enjoy plenty of turkey and fixings, I'm sure. And the Packers on TV, surely we'll keep busy cheering them on.

We are very thankful for a wonderful year here in Costa Rica. We are looking forward already to a great 2008 after a brief Christmas break in the USA.

God bless you all this Thanksgiving as you enjoy time with friends and family. There is much to be thankful for.

The Webb family

The Cell Phone Blues

Dear Family and Friends,

We have a story to share this week...

Every country is different. Every place has its pros and cons. Life in Costa Rica is beautiful with the tropical rain forests, mountains and beaches, but there are a few drawbacks as well.

In the good 'ole USA and in most developed countries, having a cell phone is as easy as saving the money to buy it, purchasing the perfect plan for your needs and before walking out of the store, you are set to go. You can begin texting as you leave the building. Simple, right?

Not so simple here. Here people wait on average six months on the waiting list with the government to get a line. And of course, you can only get on the list if you are a resident of Costa Rica (we're still working on that...another long process for another blog). Then you must buy a phone and this little tiny card called a SIM card (never heard of that 'til I got here; it must be inside all phones, I don't know!).

So we arrive here and find that the Evangelism Ministry has this wonderful cell phone that can be used both in Costa Rica and Panama. What a blessing.



When David is gone I can reach him if there is an emergency, right? Not so fast. The beautiful phone (it really is neat with a camera and all) is missing an essential piece of equipment...the SIM card. Where did it go? I have no idea. Apparently it was lost in the moving process, maybe even flushed or burned...Not sure how it met it's untimely death, but the fact remains, it's gone to Cell phone chip heaven. Which unfortunately leaves David without a functioning phone. But good news, the SIM chip is cheap...only about $1.25. No big deal, right?

That was in January. Since then we have learned that only the person whose name is listed as the owner of the line can purchase the SIM card. Unfortunately we learned that just after the owner left the country for good. Ugh. So, this nice individual named Eric Buell formatted an official letter giving permission for our friend Ana Betsy to buy the cheap little chip. Eric signed it and somehow we managed to get our hands on the original. But another glitch. After driving to the local grocery store Mas Por Menos (More for Less- Yeah, right!), the phone company didn't like the signature on the letter, as it differed a bit from the copy of the passport signature. So, back to the letter writing. A few months later we receive letter #2, this time with a signature perfectly matching the passport. They couldn't possibly deny us our tiny chip, now. Oh, but there's more...

After another trip to Mas Por Menos, we were a bit irritated but not totally surprised when they now required an attorney to verify the signature. Ana Betsy kindly pointed out to the nice man who kept saying "No" that maybe he did not realize that it would cost 4 times the amount of the chip to have the signature verified, but to no avail. He simply did not care, not that we expected him to.

But finally, after more trips to Mas Por Menos than I care to mention, we received the tiny little chip that fits perfectly in the tiny little slot under the battery. (I won't go into how still then the phone didn't work and Ana Betsy had to call the company who had somehow forgot to activate the chip!) Finally David made his first call on the phone, calling me from upstairs while I was down. Yes, I could hear him through the phone and from upstairs, but it worked. He's pleased. I'm glad it's over. And the kids love to play with the camera. All is well.



David at his desk listening intently to someone's Spanish.

So that's our story for this week. The end of an 11 month saga has come. Praise the Lord!

In other news:
Joshua has been sick with a throat infection and a virus. We're thankful for a good medical clinic nearby where Joshua received care on Sunday morning. He was to have braces put on this Friday, but after missing 3 days of school already, we've postponed that appointment to January. We're hoping he can attend school tomorrow and get caught up in his classes.

Thanks for your prayers. God bless your week!

The Webbs

Spelling Bee and Seminary Graduation

Hello Everyone,
It has been a cool week weather wise here in San Jose. It feels like an Iowa fall which is making us a bit homesick for a good college football game. Our ESPN does not show any of those games, but they sure like soccer. Actually, we are getting more used to watching soccer and enjoy a good goal. We have been able to watch bits and pieces of the World Series and once in a while a Monday night NFL game which has become a weekly tradition for Dad and Joshua to catch a least a few minutes of whatever game is showing that night.

This week Kayley was chosen for the 4th grade spelling bee. This is an honor as only 3 kids are chosen from each class. Kayley did not win, but performed well under the pressure of many eyes. She is now encouraged to read even more to learn more words so she can do even better next year.



There were many visitors to the seminary campus this week with a weekend retreat, education leaders' meetings and graduation all rolled into one long weekend. We participated mainly by making trips to the airport to help pick up folks. The graduation ceremony was great with representation from 9 countries including Brazil, Peru and Cuba. Many of the grads could not attend because of visa issues, but we enjoyed meeting those who were there and clapped for those who could not make it.



Our next door neighbors are the rectors of the seminary. They are Ruben and Monica Fernandez who both have doctorates and teach and administer SENDAS. They are wonderful neighbors and we enjoy them when they are around. Here they are being congratulated on another year of great work educating students throughout South and Central America.



We hope your week is a great. We are glad to hear the fires have died down in California and our friends in Carlsbad are safe and well.

Until next week,
The Webb Family

ICS - International Christian School

Hello Everyone,
This week we'd like to tell you a bit about the school that Joshua and Kayley attend. It is called ICS which stands for International Christian School. It was started as a missionary kid school but has since developed into an English language school attended mostly by Costa Rican kids. It goes from Pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade.

The school is about a 10 minute very bumpy, pot-holey ride with some of the prettiest scenery you can imagine. One hill is so steep, I many times must shift down to 1st gear to make it up. (I'm sure that grade of slope would be illegal in the USA!)


Do you see those potholes? Let's just say, you weave yourself down the road!

The school has 5 main buildings. One for primary, one for a chapel and lunch room, one for administration, one for secondary and the last for a beautiful new gymnasium. (Joshua is hoping for a basketball team later this fall). The primary and secondary buildings have three wings each attached by outside walkways. There are 3 soccer fields of which Joshua is famous for finding the muddiest, dirtiest hole to fall in during his lunchtime tackle American Football game.



The kids are pleased to have a short week of school this week. They did not have classes on Monday because of Dia de la Raza (Cultural Day) and tomorrow (Friday) is parent-teacher conference day so no classes once again. Three day week....could it get any better? Well, maybe so since Kayley has a friend overnight tonight and Joshua is off visiting his new Russian friend Mike, shown in the picture below.


Tey, Mike and Joshua in front of the secondary wing.




Kayley and Jasmine ready for a sleepover.

Last weekend, David led training sessions in the North part of Costa Rica, an area not far from a pretty and active volcano called Arenal. Shelley, meanwhile, attended the Costa Rica Central NMI (missions) convention, much like what Nazarene churches celebrate each year in the states with some official voting along with reports of what has happened during the year. Unfortunately, neither Webb family member managed to remember to take photos, so we're nothing to show you for our efforts. But, it was all good!

This next week will be busy with lots of meetings here on campus. There is a retreat for Pastors and wives as well as seminary graduation. It will be fun to see many leaders here from the three countries.

Our schedule for 2008 is booking up already, but if you are interested in taking a missions trip to our area, please let us know as soon as possible. Already we have teams booked for January, February, March, May, July and two in August! We'd love to see you! Email us at dwebb@nazmac.org or swebb@nazmac.org.

God bless you all!
The Webbs
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Weekend Activities

Hello Everyone!

Well, it has been a an uneventful week with our normal routine of office work, phone calls and plans for the future, so there is nothing too exciting to report this time around. The kids are in school and will receive their first report cards later this week, so they are preparing for some tests and projects.

Kayley and Joshua have both enjoyed our "adopted" dog, Tawny who has handed down to us from the Rice family who in June left the field and are now in Oklahoma. Tawny is a quiet, patient dog who sleeps on average 18 hours a day, so she is not too much trouble, except for the hair that is everywhere! She puts up with Kayley pulling on her and dressing her up so Kayley loves her.


In other news, on Sunday, David led a workshop to prepare a new church plant for their upcoming Maximum Mission, an event to reach out to the community and raise awareness of the Church of the Nazarene in the area. It started with an afternoon church service and afterwards a two hour training time.


The church is in the town of Alajuela, just north of the airport, and this particular part of the town, Santa Rita, was declared by La Nacion, the most prominent Costa Rican newspaper, as the most dangerous section of Costa Rica. There are lots of drugs and other problems that come along with that, but the new Pastor, Pastor Marco, feels led to plant the church in this neighborhood to make a difference in the people's lives. It is difficult work, but he has courage and strength to carry on. You can pray for him as he recently lost his job because of being a pastor, so he is looking for other work. He is not worried, even though he has a wife and baby to care for. He is a testimony of trusting in the Lord for all things.


The man with the smile is Pastor Marco, along with others in the new church.

David had a wonderful time in the United States in September and attended conferences in Ohio and Oregon as well as visits to Tennessee and Iowa. We were glad to have him home after that nearly two week trip. (Sorry, no pictures as the camera is left behind somewhere!)

Well, that's all for this week. We hope and pray you are well.
God bless,
The Webb Family

Webb Page Newsletter September 07

The Webb Page

September 2007

The months of July, August and September have been filled many adventures for the Webb family.

Read on to learn more…

Teams and More Teams

We were privileged to work with two different work and witness teams during these three months. The first was a group from Carlsbad, California who worked very hard in children’s ministries and in construction of the new MAC Area Leadership building. They are already planning a youth trip for August of 2008. We can’t wait!

The second was a group from Michigan that worked in the north part of Nicaragua on a new church building in La Carbonera. David enjoyed his time with this team and in addition much headway was made on the new structure.

Children from La Carbonera helping with the construction.

The other team during this period was a Jesus Film team that brought equipment and helped with showings in Panama. David had a great time getting to know those on the team and looks forward to seeing some of them this coming weekend in Portland at the Work and Witness conference.

Time with Family

We did manage to sneak in a few days of rest in the midst of all the activities. In July, David’s mom and sister from Iowa made a visit to Costa Rica. We had a great time exploring La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which we highly recommend to everyone visiting here. And of course we saw the amazing Poas volcano. It is not everyday you can look down into a volcano!

David’s mom, Virginia, then David and his sister Tina.

In August, we took a few days off to spend at the beach. We had promised the kids a beach trip before school started and we nearly ran out of time, but finally we found 3 days in a row to get away. The beach was great and even though we got some sunburns, it was great fun to ride the waves and walk on the beach.

Trouble in Paradise

In September, Hurricane Felix decided to make his name known in Central America. David was visiting the area of Puerto Cabezas to prepare for a Jesus Film team that will visit in February 2008 when Felix decided to make landfall. It was quite an experience for him as he had not been in the center of a hurricane before, but God protected David and the other leaders from harm. The devastation is vast from this storm and people there will be rebuilding for a long time.

A photo of the devastation from the airplane

Back to Class
The kids returned to school after summer break and are now back in the routine of things. Kayley danced in the Costa Rican Independence Day Celebration and Joshua is considering going out for basketball later this fall. They have both enjoyed the school more this semester probably because they are more accustomed to it and know more kids. We’re thankful.

Kayley’s class dressed up for the event. Kayley is on the far left near the back.

Upcoming Events
Well, David is in the states now for Work and Witness conventions in Ohio and Portland as well as a quick trip to Tennessee to preach at our home church. After that trip there are plans to visit different places within Costa Rica to do some Evangelism Training. Then another trip to Southeast Nicaragua to minister there. In November each district will have their conventions. Not sure if we’ll make it to them all, but at least to some of them.

Shelley would like to visit the north part of Nicaragua in early December to visit the two Child Development Centers there, but those plans are still in process.

Deputation Services 2009

Yes, I know 2009 seems a long way off, but already we are booking dates for services in June, July and August of 2009. If you are interested in having the Webb Family visit your church or district, you can contact us directly at swebb@nazmac.org or dwebb@nacmac.org. Dates are filling fast and June is already nearly full, so let us know so we don’t miss your area in 2009.

This has been a good three months of ministry. We especially thank you for your prayers for David while in Puerto Cabezas. We were sure glad to see him arrive home from that trip!

God bless you all,

The Webb Family