Thanksgiving at the Beach

Hello Everyone!
We had a great trip to celebrate Thanksgiving – at the beach! Even though the closest beaches on the Pacific side are only 2.5 hours away, we have only managed to travel there one time in the year and a half that we’ve lived here. We promised the kids that another beach trip would happen this year, and we managed to keep that promise just in the nick of time.


We packed up on Thanksgiving morning and ate turkey sandwiches in the car on the way through the mountains. There is a place we like to stop which is located at one of the highest points and from there you can see the ocean and a beautiful view of the mountains.

We stayed at a hotel only a short walk from the beach. The beaches in Costa Rica are known for their strong waves and surf, so we enjoyed doing some body surfing and board surfing.
The kids took they new boards and enjoyed playing in the waves.

After returning from Thanksgiving, life returned to normal. The kids have finished the semester and will not return to school until January 14th. They are excited for a break from studying.

The Slingerland family will arrive tomorrow from Guatemala. They are the first family of the Regional Office to arrive. Kayley and Abby are best friends and we have learned they will be in the same class at school. This is a blessing and they will be a help to each other.

As we near Christmas, remember the reason for celebrating this holiday season. The gifts are fun, the lights are beautiful, but it is really all about Jesus and his birth – Emmanuel – God with us.

Enjoy the Christmas season with friends and family. We’ll be here in Costa Rica if anyone has a last second thought of visiting!



God bless,
Shelley, David, Joshua and Kayley

Nicaragua South Celebration

Hello Friends and Family,
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones. We spent 2 days on the Costa Rican beach, soaking in the sun! We will share more about that next week.

For this week I am going to post an article about the Centennial celebration the Nicaragua South district held a couple weeks ago. David attended the event and had a ball! Hope you enjoy it too!



Nicaragua South District Celebrates Centennial The Centennial Celebration for the Nicaragua South district, recently held in conjunction with the District Assembly, was a huge success with over 2,000 people participating in the celebration.



On November 22nd, the District sponsored a parade and march from the Central Park in Rivas to the Bible Institute in San Jose, a walk of 3 miles. Nearly every one of the 62 churches participated in this great event.







Old and young alike either walked or rode on floats, pickup trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, three-wheeled taxis or horses to celebrate the 100 years of the Church of the Nazarene worldwide Led by police escort, with horns honking and great enthusiasm, the crowd made its way to the Bible Institute.



A huge banner was hung across the main highway stating: Congratulations Nazarenes! 100 years of Preaching Biblical Holiness. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News.” Romans 10:15

A semi-truck was decorated in blue with the words “Holiness Unto the Lord” and “100 Years – Church of the Nazarene.” On the center of the float was a 5-foot high globe of the world, representing the work of the Church of the Nazarene worldwide in these 100 years.



Upon arrival at the Bible Institute, the crowd began worshiping the Lord in unison. A wonderful time of prayer was had for the youth of the Church, surrounded by the Pastors who pledge to train and support them in their Christian walk.

The keynote speaker was Rev. Ernesto Bello, the first Nicaraguan District Superintendent in Nicaragua who currently pastors in the state of New Jersey. His message spoke of the great history of the Church of the Nazarene in Nicaragua, the great potential for the message of holiness in this country and the importance of the youth in this movement.

One of the oldest living members of the Church of the Nazarene in Nicaragua was honored. Rev. Ricardo Peralta is now 85 years old and was one of the first Nazarene pastors in Nicaragua.

Not only was the South District celebrating the 100 years of the Church, but also their own great heritage, which began in 1943. The entire Church of the Nazarene in Nicaragua has its roots in the South District since the church grew outward from the area near Rivas called San Jorge. The Bible Institute is located in San Jorge along the banks of Lake Nicaragua and through the years many pastors have been trained in this Institute. Today in Nicaragua, there are more than 170 churches and approximately 15,000 members.



Rev. Gerardo Reyes, current District Superintendent, closed the service with a wonderful prayer dedicating to the Lord the future of the Church of the Nazarene. His leadership was evidenced by the great turn out at this event and the unity shown by all the churches in celebrating the 100th year birthday of the Church of the Nazarene.

A Reminder: Life is Short

Dear Friends and Family,
We apologize for being a bit behind on our blogging. It has been busy with November being the month for the District Assemblies in all three countries (8 districts).


David attended the assembly in Nicaragua Southeast (you have to take a boat to reach the area- you can see Edwin and his son Pablo Martinez to the left) and Costa Rica North
and I (Shelley) went to the assembly in Costa Rica Central.














Last Photo: Dr. Nina Gunter, General Superintendent, Dr. Carlos Saenz, Regional Director, along with Mauren and Johnny Calvo, District Superintendent for Costa Rica North.


David had plans to attend the assembly in Nicaragua South, but after receiving word of a death in the family, all plans changed and he returned early.

We received a Skype message on Sunday afternoon that David’s sister’s (Tina) husband (Alan) died of a heart attack. He was only 54 and this has been quite a shock to everyone in the family.
David left Nicaragua on Monday afternoon and returned to San Jose in the evening. We washed and packed and rested a bit before leaving for the airport early on Tuesday morning.

He arrived in Des Moines at 6pm and traveled the hour south to his hometown in time to be there for some of the evening visitation. The town has only 2,000 people and 600 were there for this visitation.

David assisted in directing the service on Wednesday morning and is now spending time with his mom, sister and her three grown kids and families. Please pray for the Hill and Webb family as they deal with the very painful loss.

David will return on Saturday at 10pm and then leave again Sunday morning for meetings in Nicaragua North. Please pray for his safety and for strength to keep going. He will return once again on Tuesday and have a morning of meetings here in Costa Rica. We are looking forward to a few days of rest at the beach over the Thanksgiving holiday. It will be a blessing to get away as a family.

Thank you for your prayers. We really appreciate each one of you.
With love to all,
The Webb family

The last week of October, we had the privilege of working with a team of pastors from the Eastern Kentucky district. They brought down a set of Jesus Film equipment which will be used in the Costa Rica North district. This is a picture of the team with District Superintendent Johnny Calvo and Pastor Alvaro at the far right.

Both the Eastern Kentucky district and the Costa Rica North District (and the missionary hosts :) had been praying for good weather for this trip. Our “winter” (that is our rainy season) goes from the middle of May to the middle of November. The week before the team arrived there were red alerts for flooding in many parts of northern Costa Rica.

Although it rained liked crazy the day the team arrived, we thank God for His kind mercies as He gave us three consecutive days with little or no rain! We used those days to help replace old metal roofing in a local school in the community of Pueblo Nuevo (some of the families that live in Pueblo Nuevo have constructed make shift homes where the city garbage dump used to be). We also painted in a playground area in the community of Gicaro. Through these acts of compassion and door to door visits to invite people to the Jesus Film presentations, we encountered two very open and receptive communities. Before we left, the school director in Pueblo Nuevo told Pastor Alvaro that the church can come back to do Bible schools and other ministries. We were also blessed in Gicaro as some families have opened their doors to start new cell groups there. Praise the Lord!

And, most importantly, we thank the Lord for how He used the Jesus Film as we saw over 70 decisions for Christ from the three presentations. Pastor Alvaro and the Liberia church will follow up with these new believers. While we thank God for these new believers, we must also remember these local leaders in prayer as they will be doing the real work of meeting with and discipling these new Christians. One special story is for a nine year old named Iris. Many children in the community helped paint, including Iris painting at the top of the slide in the picture below. She was one of the many children that came forward to receive Christ, literally sobbing. It will be special to see what Jesus does through Iris...she is a special young lady.

This set of Jesus Film equipment is a great blessing for this district which covers the entire northern half of Costa Rica. Since this is their second set of equipment they can now have one set available for churches on each side of the district.

As always, it was special to see the relationships develop between our brothers and sisters in Liberia and our brothers from Kentucky. Here is a special picture of the church in Liberia with the US team.

Please pray for the MAC South area (the countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) as their 8 district assemblies will go from Nov. 8-20. Many important decisions for district leadership will be made during this time and we look forward to what God will do in 2009!

Much love in Christ our Lord,
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

More about Roseburg, OR Team

Hello Everyone,
Last week we shared a bit about the Roseburg Integrated Ministries Team and the church planting work they helped with in Tres Rios. After spending one day at a local school, the team spent another day in the community of Eulalia. The team and the local leaders split into groups to help with park clean up, trash pick up in the streets and children’s activities. It was a full day of ministry ending with the showing of the Jesus Film under a tent in the rain. It was a great day!


Josh and his best buddy Pablo enjoying the power of machetes. Be careful, boys!















Trash clean up and cutting grass with machetes - the Latin American way!









The Jesus Film in the rain with a great turnout!











The children watching the VBS program. (Kayley and her friend Maria on the left dressed up as clowns.)






The team also worked on the Regional Office Building on the seminary campus. They painted a huge outside wall two times, and painted the entire lower level of the building two times.

























Some folks helped to prepare a missionary home for painting by cutting and filling the cracks in the concrete walls.










We enjoyed a great tour day as well and I (Shelley) saw something I had not yet seen: a sloth! You can’t see his head in this photo, but he’s there!







It was a great time with the Roseburg team. We were impressed by their ability to be flexible and adapt to the Latin American way of life (sometimes it moves as slow as this sloth!) They not only blessed us, but blessed the district as they begin to work in the Tres Rios area. It is our prayer that this cell group will grow and become a healthy, vibrant church very soon.




In other news, David is traveling this week with a Jesus Film team from Eastern Kentucky. They will be planting a new church in the area of Liberia and will show the Jesus Film each night, so pray for no rain in the evenings! David will have a full report for us next week on the activities of the KY Team.

Thanks for your prayers! We love and appreciate you all.

God bless,
The Webb Family

Team from Roseburg, OR

Hello Dear Friends and Family,

We had a wonderful time recently with a team from Roseburg, Oregon. There is so much to tell that I will have to split the info into two or three segments, the first telling about their work in a local school in an area called Tres Rios.

(The team in front of Volcan Poas on a partly cloudy day.)
The team of 17 split into two groups: the construction/painting crew and the VBS crew. The painting crew’s job was to paint the entire outside wall of the school, which is about 100 feet long.

Some rain delayed the team, but finally they got the work completed. We thought we were in good shape until the afternoon when “the big one” hit…lots of heavy rain and wind, so much so that the paint completely ran into the street! (See photo at end of blog to see what I mean!)

It was disappointing to leave in the rain with the project undone, but the plans were already underway to complete the work later in the week.

It seems the painting crew found enough time to play soccer with kids! You can guess who won.


With the rainfall, we had to move indoors. The painting team turned their efforts to the old, rundown desks, which were in serious need of repair and recovering. All their sanding and covering efforts were a success and old tables were given new life. The teachers and students were thrilled.















In the middle of the day, our Pastor (Pastora Leyla) received word that our friend, Joseph, a 15 year old new believer with cancer, was nearing the end of his life. The family requested that Leyla and David come immediately to the home. It was a blessing for David and Leyla to pray with Joseph and his family before his passing. He died later that night. We were all saddened by the news, but rejoice that Joseph, who had such a heart for evangelism, was no longer suffering, but enjoying new life in heaven. We’ll not forget him, nor will his community. His witness during his short time living a Christian life (18 months) will be remembered for years to come. We look forward to the reunion in heaven.

Even with the sad news, the work continued. The VBS crew dressed up as clowns, held up the puppets and sang/danced for more than 175 children that day. This wasn't any easy thing for Ruth (pink clown outfit in photo 1 and blue T-shirt in photo 2) to do since she was close to Joseph, but she gave all she had as she led the kids in the songs and games.


Each group enjoyed the message of the VBS (how a school boy took the blame for his friend when blamed for breaking a window...sounds a little like Jesus taking the blame for us, right!?) The good news was shared and many children decided to follow Jesus that day.



The school wall did finally get painted, thanks to the local evangelism leaders and another Work and Witness team from Ohio.

Part of the team from Ohio spent one morning repainting the wall. This time the rain held off and the paint stuck. You can see the remnants of coat #1 - pink, nearly all washed away.


Next week, more about the Maximum Mission and the Roseburg Team. But for now, a few prayer requests:

1. Please pray for all the missionaries from the Regional Office who are sorting, packing, selling and preparing to move to San Jose in January. This is a huge transition for everyone involved.

2. Pray for David and the next team, a Jesus Film Team from Kentucky. They arrive on the 22nd and will work in North Costa Rica near Liberia.

3. Pray for the kids as they continue studying at ICS (International Christian School). We received their first report cards and they are doing well. We are proud parents!

Lastly, Shelley enjoyed a great Birthday traveling around Costa Rica with the Roseburg Team. The beauty of Costa Rica continues to amaze us. A week later, she was completely surprised by a Birthday party at a friends house. What fun!

Thanks to everyone! We miss you all and pray for you.

The Webb Family

David and Mike By Lake Nicaragua

Greetings in the Name of Christ our King,

David recently returned from Nicaragua after doing workshops with Pastor Mike Dennis who is a former missionary and the pastor of Canton First Church of the Nazarene. Through the generosity of Pastor Mike and his church, Pastor Mike gave a week of his busy schedule to travel to three of the four districts of Nicaragua with David during September 21-27.

Pastor Mike did training in the mornings in how to prepare sermons and in the afternoon David gave workshops on church planting. They did four days of trainings in the cities of Rivas, Managua, Boaco and Estelí with an overall attendance of over 170 people. They praised God as 54 people signed up to plant new cell groups with the hope that each new cell group will become a new mission. Mike did an excellent job and although his voice started to give out on our last day, God gave him enough to make it through the week. David was so appreciative for the opportunity to know Mike and to travel with him all week.

The District Superintendent of Nicaragua Central with 9 new cell group planters

This was also special as Mike is a former pastor of the Woodlawn Church of the Nazarene in Woodlawn, TN where we have our membership. Yeah Woodlawn!

We are so thankful to all who prayed for this event. God blessed in so many ways. Since we were not able to fly out to the South east district of Nicaragua (the airport was closed--but thats
another story), we improvised by doing workshops in the city of Boaco (about an hour east of Managua). This city is known as La Ciudad de Dos Pisos (the City of Two Floors) because it is all hills (our church is on the second floor!). We only have two churches in this area, but one of these has over 300 members. With less than one weeks notice, we had over 20 people in attendance at the workshop in Boaco and of these 20, 14 signed up to start new cell groups.

The view of Boaco from the church

We give thanks to God for how he arranged this time. Through private donations, each new cell group leader receives Bibles, discipleship materials and evangecubes for this new work.
140 manuals were given to various churches that want to replicate the training on sermon preparation. God is continually raising up new pastors and leaders!

Please pray for God’s continued blessing on these new cell groups and that His kingdom will be expanded through these hard working folks. Thanks so much for all your prayers as God continues to bless us with traveling mercies, language, and, most of all, for sending workers into His harvest field.

Love in Christ,

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Costa Rican Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been a catch up week here in Costa Rica for Shelley, but for David it has been a traveling week. David has been working with a former missionary, Mike Dennis, to give workshops in three districts of Nicaragua. Next week I am sure he will have an update for us.

We have many visitors to the seminary this week. First of all, there is a work and witness team here from South Carolina. They are working very hard (and quickly I might add) to help complete the Regional Office building. The missionaries from Guatemala will be moving here in January, so time is running out to finish up the work. They have been laying tile,



and putting up dry wall as well as painting the surrounding buildings, both inside and out, to make the missionary homes move in ready.



This team has been cooking for themselves instead of having food catered, so the most popular people on the team are their cooks!


There are also many visitors here for educational meetings taking place at the seminary. It has been fun to meet new friends and see some old ones as well.

If you have visited here before, you will notice some definite improvements to the Regional Office building. The front lot got tiled this week and the beautiful rock covered walls were completed. It is starting to come together and will really look like a finished product once the doors and windows are all in. We just lack a few on the main floor.


The kids are doing well this week, even though Kayley has had her fair share of homework. Her teacher took this picture during science class.



Joshua played in his first high school BB game this week and played about 8-10 minutes of the game (pretty good for a freshman!). Josh’s team lost by 1 point, but they played well and just need to work a little harder on those freethrows! There is another game tonight, so we’ll see what happens!

We are busy preparing for a Maximum Mission Team that arrives on October 1st. The team will work in an area called Dos Rios, located about ½ hour outside the city. We’re looking forward to meeting our new friends from Roseburg, Oregon.

Later in the month, another team from the USA arrives. The East Kentucky Team will be working in North Costa Rica, helping to plant new cell groups in the area surrounding Liberia.
Thanks for all your prayers during this busy month of October. Hasta Luego.
Until Next Week,
Shelley and Family

The WebbPage Newsletter September 08

The Webb Page
Volume IV, Number 2
September 2008

The months of May – August have been busy ones
for the Webb family.
Read on to learn more…


Missionary Retreat

In the end of April the Webb family enjoyed a missionary retreat for all the missionaries of the MAC Region.


We met in El Salvador and had a wonderful time of fellowship with everyone. The adults were in meetings during the morning but we all enjoyed free time by the pools in the afternoon.




Kayley enjoying her 10th birthday in El Salvador.

Teams and More Teams

In May we hosted a team to Costa Rica Central from the state of West Virginia. It was a special treat for us since the Pastor of the Pierpont Church is our former pastor, Casey Shorr. It was a blessing to spend time with both Casey and his wife Rhonda, as well as meet some new friends from their church. They accomplished much ministry while here, including becoming experts at the VBS in Spanish.


The Pierpont Team in front of a volcanic lake near Poas.

In July we hosted the largest team we have ever worked with, the teen group from Monroe, Michigan, a team of 44 people.


They worked very hard both at VBS programs and at physical labor and we had the opportunity to work in two districts – Costa Rica Central and Costa Rica North. This team blessed both districts.



In August, we were especially busy with two teams. The first team hails from Carlsbad, CA and they worked hard to assist in planting a church in Venado, an area in NW Costa Rica close to the beach. Also, the team worked in San Pedro de Poas where the largest church of the Nazarene is located in Costa Rica. The team mixed concrete along with other outside work, that is when it wasn’t raining!



Lastly, this team worked for one long day in San Jose, doing service projects and VBSs in two local schools.


The Carlsbad Team waiting for church to begin in San Pedro.

The second August team calls Yakima, WA home. This team of 17 brought a set of Jesus Film equipment for the Nicaragua South district and assisted in planting a church on the island of Ometepe. This island is located in Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The team also worked on the District Education Center and became experts in plumbing (Nicaraguan style) by the end of the week.


The team standing behind, the local leaders in front.

We are still searching for the sound system for the JF equipment. Every other bag arrived, but the sound system did not. We are praying it will be located and sent on down to Managua.

FAMILY TIME
In June, we had a great time with David’s sister Tina, and her son and daughter in law, Ryan and Danielle. We filled the 5 days with views of volcanoes, mountains and waterfalls and thoroughly enjoyed the high-flying zip line. It was a ball and we were sad to see the vacation end.



In July, Shelley and the kids flew to Chicago. They kids enjoyed time with their grandmas in Iowa while Shelley learned a lot at the VIVA Conference for international workers helping marginalized children. The two weeks went by quickly, but we were pleased to see some family this year.



FUTURE EVENTS
September 22nd – 27th Training meetings in all 4 Nicaraguan districts

October 1-8 Team from Oregon works in CR Central District

October 22-28 Team from Eastern KY District works in CR North.

November – All the District Assemblies for MAC South (Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica) will take place.


FAMILY NEWS
The kids are doing well in school and have adjusted nicely to their new teachers and grades: Joshua is in 9th grade and Kayley is in 5th.

Joshua made the High School BB team and is excited to play with the juniors and seniors this year.

OUR THANKS
We want to thank our LINKS district in Tennessee for welcoming us in as LINKS missionaries. We look forward to hearing from more of you in the future and seeing you all in June of 2009.

God bless you all and thank you so much for your prayers during these busy months. God is doing great things and we are privileged to
be a part of what He is doing here in MAC South.

Until Next Time,



The Webb Family
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley