Easter in Latin America

Easter Morning 2008 just before church

Hello Everyone,

One week ago we celebrated Easter. It was a wonderful time of celebration with our local congregation who celebrated a Sunday morning breakfast of eggs, rice and beans, bread and coffee. Here is our Pastor enjoying her meal.



After church, the Easter bunny visited the kids and brought them each a basket with some goodies. They enjoyed the sweets and the small gifts.




Over the weekend, we spent a few hours with our Methodist missionary friends. The kids colored eggs and had egg/spoon races.




It was lots of fun for them to celebrate in such an American way. At home we had a few egg hunts in the house with sweets and coins inside the eggs to add to the excitement of the search.

It has been another week without David as he has been in Panama working with a Maximum Mission team from California. He checks in regularly and everything is going well for the team and the leaders. This is Sunday and Shelley will leave in an hour to pick up David at the airport. We are planning on a nice evening together as a family. David will leave again on Thursday for Nicaragua to attend some Maximum Missions there. The district of Central Nicaragua has the goal of planting 23 new cell groups/churches in the month of April. WOW!!!




We hope you had a blessed Easter with your friends and family. Until next week,

The Webb Family

Playa Chiquita and San Jose/Puerto Caimito

Hello All,
Last week we gave you an update on two of the Child Development Centers in Panama. This week we'll finish the tour by showing you Playa Chiquita (Little Beach) and San Jose in Playa Caimito.

The work in Playa Chiquita was started when some faithful Nazarene leaders learned that there were many people living in a trash dump near this beach.
The trash dump near the beach. Photo taken from school grounds with zoom lens.

This all began 4 years ago and thanks to the work of these passionate leaders in the church and the local government (who didn't realize there were people living in the dump until the leaders showed them), there is now a school, a church and a Child Development Center, and the people no longer need to live in the dump.


The new church/Child Development Center in Playa Chiquita.

The leaders chose to name this center "Luz de Esperanza" or "Light of Hope." God's light is shining in Playa Chiquita. In 2007, through Nazarene Compasionate Ministries donations, a water tank was built to hold and supply water to the center. While visiting the site, we spent much time taking photos of children who are not yet sponsored but who are attending the activities of the Child Development Center. This Center has 48 children sponsored already with more to follow soon.


One of the children of Playa Chiquita standing on the school grounds with a view of the new church and Child Development Center in the background.


A view of the beach/ocean from the school.

The Center has plans for a working farm to begin later this year. The community will work the land to produce crops to feed the families and to sell for profit as well as raise animals for milk, meat and to sell. Here is an example of a crop they will grow. This plant is called yuca and you eat the root of the plant after the plant reaches about 5 feet in height. It will great to watch this project move forward to assist the community.


Pulling up the yuca plants.

The San Jose Child Development Center is located near Puerto (Port) Caimito and to reach the community you must walk across two rickety bridges.
A view of the beach at Puerto Caimito.


One of the swinging wooden slat bridges.

It is quite isolated and not a safe place to live as it often floods and makes living conditions very difficult. Most people earn a living by fishing or collecting clams.


Two fishermen repairing their nets.

The Center is the only church in this part of the community and many of the children have an opportunity to hear the Word of God through this work.


The children of San Jose Puerto Caimito singing praise songs.

The day Shelley visited happened to fall on the celebration day of the first day of school. They children in the sponsorship program received new backpacks for the school year. We shared a meal of rice and beans and enjoyed visiting with the children. One little boy in particular, without shoes and with dirt head to toe, stood outside the center. We invited him in but he would not enter. When we ate, after much asking, he finally agreed to take a plate and ate it up in a minute. He was obviously very hungry. We learned later that his mother forbids him to enter a church and so he is too scared to enter but the Center tries to feed him when he shows up since it is likely his only nutrition of the day.


Two of the girls at San Jose who chose to wear their new backpacks while eating their rice! Too cute!

I am so impressed by the work of the leaders of the Child Development Centers in Panama. Please pray for them and their work with the children in their areas.

After two very long, hot days of traveling Shelley returned to cool San Jose very thankful for the opportunity to see the children whose names she sees in reports each month and to meet the leaders of the centers to thank them and encourage them.


A view from the air of a port along the Panama/Costa Rica Atlantic coast. Look at all those ships! Amazing!

When Shelley returned from her trip, David began his preparations to leave once again. He is now in Panama with an evangelism team from California. The team will be working in two communities not too far from all the Child Development Centers. Pray for their work this next week.

On a personal note, Kayley would like all to know that she decided to cut her long hair. Now her curls fall around her shoulders and she is soooo cute. (Of course, as her mother, I may be a bit prejudiced!)



May you have a blessed Easter! We will be celebrating with a special breakfast at the church of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) and eggs. We are looking forward to that!

God bless you all,
Shelley, David
Joshua and Kayley

La Pesa and Espave de Chame - Children's Centers

Hello Everyone!

Shelley finally had the opportunity to visit the Child Development Centers in Panama this week. It was a great trip and here are some highlights of the visits to La Pesa and Espave de Chame. (Next week we'll share some more about some other centers.)

Shelley flew from San Jose to Panama City on Monday afternoon and began touring the area on Tuesday. The view of the city from the plane was incredible!



On Tuesday, the District Superintendent, Shelley and a few other leaders traveled to La Pesa, and area located west of the capital. Like many rural locations in Central America, it was not possible to drive all the way. We had to park a distance from the community. The good news is that the small bridge you see here has just been completed so now you can walk on dry ground! It is hard to believe now that it is dry season, but in rainy season it is not possible to cross this river so the bridge is a BIG deal for this community.



The church consists of two buildings: the sanctuary and a small school building. It is located in rolling, lush green hills. Beautiful!



This Child Development Center has a preschool for the poorest children in the community and also a weekly program to assist in education, nutrition and spiritual development of school aged children. At this moment there are 38 children sponsored by good people like you who send a little each month to help these children. Here are some of the preschool children during the first week of classes. The school year is March-November.



Here are a few of the older boys who have been attending the church and the Child Development Center for two years.



After spending some time meeting with the leaders at La Pesa, we traveled on to Espave de Chame which is located further west of the Panama City. This community is located on a busy highway.

This Child Development Center has a new church building to meet in, thanks to the assistance of a Work and Witness Team from the Mid-Atlantic District. With a roof over their heads, the children can learn in a better environment. Here are a few of the children from Espave during prayer time in their new building.



The people of Espave earn a meager living by making "carbon" or coal. It is not a rock type of coal. The process involves transporting wood to the site, burning it for many days (I can't imagine that type of work in the Panama heat!) and then sacking the burnt wood chips for sale.


One sack sells for about $3.00.

This is not much when you consider the expense of transporting the wood and the labor involved in burning it. The other main occupation is clam collecting since this community is located in walking distance to the Pacific coast.

This Center also provides assistance in education, nutrition and spiritual growth to the children. Here the children are waiting for a hot meal.



Currently there are 32 children sponsored through Child Sponsorship in Espave de Chame and more are added each month. The leader of the Center reviews the schoolwork of the children and assists those who are in need. This little girl got a 5 - the top score in Panama schools and she wanted to show off her good grade.



I am very proud of the leaders of each center, who by the way, are all female pastors. They are so good with the kids and completely dedicated to their work. They do a lot with a little and never give up.

So it was a good week here in MAC South. After returning at the end of the week, we had a surprise flood in our storage building and spent most of today (Saturday) sorting through wet books and papers deciding what we could save. But God helped us in that the most important things, like Bibles, were off the floor and were dry. And, we really need to clean out that storage area anyway and now we have no other option!

You can pray for David as he will be taking a team from California to Panama from the 20th - 30th of March. We'll miss him on Easter Sunday, but know he's doing good church planting work there.

God bless your Holy Week!

The Webb Family
P.S. If you would like to sponsor a child from one of the Child Development Centers, you can find photos and information about children who are waiting for sponsors at www.ncm.org.

Panama Bound

Hi everyone,

David just returned from a trip to Panama this past Monday. It was a great trip as he visited both of the districts there. He first crossed the border on the frontier closest to Changuinola where we have four churches. Changuinola is filled with banana plantations. Most of these bananas are sold and shipped by Chiquita. There is constant work as bananas are produced every 13 weeks.

Part of the banana plantations close to Changuinola

Although there is much growth here, there is still great financial need. Two new cell groups were planted last September through Maxima Mission projects. One new cell group was formed the same week that a team led by Pastor Javier built 3 bus stops to provide shade and protection from rain. This cell group now has 40 to 45 people in weekly attendance. Another cell group was planted by Brother Justo. When they planted this cell group, they coordinated this with the construction of 13 latrines in the community. Here is a picture of Brother Justo with one of the new latrines they built.

Brother Justo is currently having 15-18 people in weekly meetings. There are about 450 people that live in this community of great need as this community does not even have electricity. However, people have responded to the love of Christ these local leaders and their churches have shown.

Where there is a will, there is a way. In order to build up funds for compassionate ministries in their district, the district has begun to sell chickens. Here is the special housing they recently built for the chickens here.

David then drove to the community of El Flor by the city of David (what a great name for a city!) which is a beautiful drive through mountains on the west side of Panama. He spent two days with the district superintendent Ulises Espinosa and his wife Itzel. He was very appreciative of the great hospitality and great food.

Ulises is now making plans for his church to plant two new churches this year. We visited two different sites. One site is called Santa Rosa and his goal is to plant a church among the indigenous families there.

Ulises and Itzel with members of a family in Santa Rosa

David then spent the following two days in the other district which has four churches in the province of Chiriquí. Over fifty people from the area of Panama City took a six hour trip by bus to participate and spend a special day of compassion in one of the churches there. It was a day filled with much joy for the children as they participated in Bible schools, songs and all kinds of fun. The church then distributed Operation Christmas Child presents to all the children.

Christmas in March!

The churches from Panama City also brought donated clothes for the community and offered lunch and supper. The evening culminated with a great message on John 3:16 by the district superintendent Felipe Flores. Praise the Lord as 8 people came forward to receive Christ.

Pastora Candelaria sometimes is a real clown!

The donated clothing drew a lot of interest

After attending church Sunday in Barrio San Jose in David, David then visited a future Maxima Mission site in the community of Garibaldi where the district and Pastor Eduardo hope to plant a new mission this year.

Pastor Eduardo in front of a home in Garibaldi

Praise the Lord, David’s trip home went well Monday March 3 so he could celebrate his birthday with the family. We thank the Lord for all he is allowing us to do and the health He is giving us. Please pray for our Panamanian leaders and the US team from Sutter Creek, CA that David will accompany to Panama in 2 weeks. Pray for the community of La Chorrera where they will be planting a new church.

We continue to ask for prayers for our leaders who so long “to go and to make disciples.” In addition to Ulises and Felipe, also pray for our leaders in the Nicaragua Central district as they are seeking to plant 24 new churches in the next six weeks. We are so thankful and humbled for the chance to work with the great leaders here. Praise God, the kingdom is growing!

God bless you,
David, Shelley, Josh and Kayley