Webb Page Newsletter - April 2007

The Webb Page

Volume III, Number 2 April 2007

The months of February and March have been filled with new learning opportunities for the Webb family.

Read on to learn more…

Training in Evangelism and Youth Ministry

We have been learning much during these months about our new roles. David’s two positions as Coordinator of Evangelism and NYI (Youth) and Shelley’s supporting roles have become more defined. David will be training evangelism leaders in the three countries of this area, Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as facilitating the use of the Jesus Film and Maximum Mission (3-5 day work projects in communities to support the community and evangelize). Shelley will be keeping David organized with all the necessary administrative work. We have now met all 8 District Superintendents, have been a part of two church plant trainings, have traveled to all three countries and are becoming more accustomed to life in this part of the world.

David illustrating how to use the EvangeCube.

Tennessee Work and Witness Team

A highlight for the month of March was the arrival of the Work and Witness team from Tennessee. Two churches made up this team: Trevecca Community in Nashville and our home church from Woodlawn. It was fun to see our old friends and make some new ones. The team worked on a building project on the seminary grounds. Below you can see the team hard at work.

Being “caked”

Just before the Tennessee team arrived, David celebrated his birthday. It was a quiet celebration with a meal out as a family, but the real fun came from the local construction workers who have gotten to know David in the last couple of months. They decided to surprise him with a traditional Costa Rican birthday celebration. It is called “being caked.” When the idea was first mentioned to me, Shelley, I thought it was a nice idea to make a cake for David, but I soon realized it was something altogether different.

The men bought lots of eggs and flour and in a moment of surprise they covered David with raw eggs and then the flour, for the special sticky mess that can only be described as “batter.” Of course, David took it all in stride and said something like, “the yolk’s on me!”

Welcome to Costa Rica.

Holy Week

This week, the week before Easter, is a crazy time here as most businesses shut down and take the week off. Everyone likes to travel, especially to the beach, so the city is pretty quiet. One place that is not quiet however, is the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We needed to travel out of the country to renew our visas and so we took advantage of the children being out of school to plan a work trip to Managua, Nicaragua. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, but crossing the border was difficult since there were sooooo many people waiting in line. It took us four hours with assistance to make it through and to arrive in Managua took a very long thirteen hours.

We were happy to arrive and the kids were thrilled we had a pool. As you can see, they took full advantage of the heat and water while David attended meetings for two days.

Future Events

This Thursday the Tennessee District Pastors Team arrives. We are in charge of the team and are excited about the ministry that will occur while they are here. We’ll work for two days in the area of Rossister where there is already a cell group of 15 people. The group will help with community projects like cleaning and painting as well as assist with afternoon children’s groups and show the Jesus Film in the evening. In addition, this team will be doing construction work on the building project here on the seminary grounds. This team is special also since once again it is our home district in Tennessee so we already know many of the workers.

David will travel to Nicaragua once again at the end of the month and then we’ll tag team in May taking turns traveling to Panama.

Giving Thanks

Yes, we know it is Easter and not thanksgiving, but we want to give thanks to God for his great help during this time of transition. We are feeling more and more at home here. The kids are doing well in school and are looking forward to summer break already. David and Shelley are becoming accustomed to their roles in the office and are beginning to see progress in their ministries.

Being Easter, however, we also want to give Praise to God for his unending love. His sacrifice in our place is more than we can repay, but unbelievably, God chose to die for us and pay the price for our sin. What an amazing sacrifice!

God bless you all as you celebrate Easter!

Serving Christ Together,

The Webb Family

Shelley and David near Granada, on an island in Lake Nicaragua.