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