Webb family Year in Review: 2010

Dear Family and Friends,
We decided to show you all the blessings of this year, instead of writing about them. Our course, we couldn't include every blessing from the year, but many of the highlights are in this video.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas. We are so thankful for Emmanuel, God with us, who left his home in heaven to show us how to live with Him now and forever. Happy Birthday, Jesus!

We will celebrate the holiday in San Jose, but we will leave soon after for Nicaragua to work with a team for a couple of weeks. Pray for safety in travel and in work for this team of 27 people.

God bless you all! Until next year...
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb

Big Events

Hello to All,

Two exciting and big events happened in the last couple of weeks.  The first being the 40th Anniversary/Graduation Celebration at the Seminary.  Shelley worked in planning this event which included an evening chapel service/graduation and a dinner.  One hundred and fifty people attended the dinner!  Wow!  What a night!

This year I have had the blessing of having a student assistant with me in the office.  Mercedez has been a life saver this year, helping with Communications and whatever else I need.  She will finish her master's degree in the Spring and return to Guatemala and I am already sad about that!

The other big event was the arrival of some of the Hill clan from Iowa for the Thanksgiving holiday. David's sister, Tina, and her son, Ryan and his family joined us.  We love to go to the beach at Thanksgiving, basically because no one else is there! 

We had the beach to ourselves and it was wonderful.  But first, before the beach, we had a HUGE Thanksgiving meal with 15 people in attendance.  The Armstrong family (missionaries here with us), Alvaro and Monica (long time Columbian friends of the Webb family who live in San Jose) as well as the 9 Webbs/Hills.  Great food and great fun!

We had wonderful weather the entire time and it only rained when we were driving somewhere.  Amazing!  Here we are on a tour of Manuel Antonio National Park.  Do you like sloths?  They are the ugliest things that God made (that's Shelley's opinion!). 

We also attended church on Sunday in San Pedro de Poas, one of our favorite churches to visit.  It is an outside sanctuary and we were there on the day of the ground breaking for a new building that has been a dream of the church for years now.  Want to bring down a team to work in the construction of the multipurpose building???  We can help you with that!!!  Here is the group, along with Roberto Hodgson, Coordinator of Hispanic Ministries in USA/Canada, all eating ice cream.  Yummy!

Oh, and then we got to visit the World's Largest Oxcart (the national symbol of Costa Rica), which I liken to seeing the largest ball of twine in Kansas.  VERY EXCITING!

 

David is with a team this week near Jaco, Costa Rica, with a group from Texas who are doing evangelism ministry.  We look forward to his return next week when I am sure he will have lots to write about to keep you all updated. 

Oh, I forgot to mention the wonderful tour day I had with Dr. Douglas Hardy (from the Seminary in KC) and Glynda Wesley (from Global Mission Headquarters).  We had the absolutely WORST day for tour, but they made it a blast anyway.  I show you this photo to prove just what a rotten day it was for viewing Volcan Poas....yep, it is right behind them...somewhere!  Thanks guys, for a fun day!


We want to say a special HELLO to our new LINKS district in Kansas City.  We have enjoyed getting to know many of you and look forward to seeing you next year in June. 

God bless you all.  Until next time,

Shelley, David, Joshua and Kayley

Update on the MKs

Hello Everyone!

This week I just want to post a little bit about the kids.  Joshua and Kayley are now a fourth of the way through the school year and are anxiously looking forward to Thanksgiving break.  Yes, the school we attend, since it runs on a USA schedule, does honor the holiday of Thanksgiving.  TDay has become our family vacation time since it is not a holiday here and there is no one but us at the beach.  AWESOME!

They are also very excited since Cousin Ryan and his family (David's nephew), along with Aunt Tina (David's sister) will be visiting for the holiday.  It will be good to have a break, but especially sweet with family to share it with.

Joshua continues to be involved in the praise team at church, playing drums most Sundays.  His skills are improving as he gets more opportunity to play.  Basketball practice starts this week.  ICS is offering BB as a spring sport this year.  Joshua is starting to think more about college since he is in 11th grade this year.  He is seriously considering some different Nazarene Universities throughout the country, including Mount Vernon, Point Loma, MidAmerica and Olivet.  Joshua enjoys the church youth group and you can see below he got surprise with a cold bath the other day!  He is good sport!

Kayley has grown lots this year, and although she is still petite, she has gotten lots taller.  She has had her braces on now for 6 months and just this week the orthodontist added bands.  OUCH!  But she is a trooper with a high pain tolerance - thankfully!  She loves her art and craft class at school and more than anything enjoys spending time with friends.  She is as social as her Daddy and finds it hard to do homework when everyone else is playing!  She enjoys the youth group and her friends at church and just recently joined the dance group that do actions to the worship songs at church.  Here she is having fun with the youth group, being thrown into the air from a blanket. 

Well, that is the update for now.  David has traveled much of November and will have lots to tell about all the yearly assemblies in the districts when he returns.  Also, be praying for this Saturday, as the Seminary celebrates both graduation and their 40th anniversary with a service and evening meal.  We'll share more about that event in the next couple of weeks.

God bless you all,

The Webb Family

October Travels

Hello Dear Friends,

This month has been a little different for the Webbs since Shelley has been traveling more than normal.  First, David and Shelley attended a Discipleship Conference in Miami.  It was a quick trip with only a few minutes of freedom for a WalMart visit.  (Let’s see how many essentials can be thrown in the cart in less than one hour!). 

The Conference was bilingual, but really it was more in Spanish than in English.  We kept wondering if we were really in the USA since we hardly spoke English the whole time.  We took in lots of great information, which we hope to share soon with the leaders in the south part of Latin America. 

Our missionary friends the Sickels helped to take care of the kids while we were away for the 4 days.  Joshua and Kayley always love when Stephen and Anne visit.  Is it possible they are just more fun than their old parents?  Very possible!

Then Shelley took another trip, this time to Guatemala for a Ladies Retreat for leaders from all the countries from Mexico through Panama.  Every country was represented and it was neat to see everyone’s traditional dress.  Each country is so very proud of their traditions and culture. In the photo you can see a Mexican lady in her typical dress...BEAUTIFUL!  And the video shows highlights of many of the countries and their typical dresses. 

Shelley got to see Guatemala again, after leaving there in 2006.  Some things have changed, but Antigua, the town where the language school is located has not changed a bit.  Shelley was pleased to see her former teacher, Ana, and her new baby.  That was a special treat.  It was nice to get away for a few days, but returning home is always the best! 

David has kept busy with the work in Nicaragua, as well as with the church planters in Costa Rica and Panama.  As Shelley types, he is returning from a 4-day trip to Nicaragua to visit the chapel factory and the site for a new church that a team from Lenexa, KS will assist in constructing just after Christmas.  Looking forward to seeing our friends from Central COTN soon.

Shelley is preparing for the 40^th Anniversary of the Seminary and the special celebration service and dinner that will be held on November 20^th.  Shelley is helping to put together an historical video, highlighting the changes through the years from 1969 to present day.  The review of hundreds of photos and lots of research has gone into the making of this video.  We sure hope it turns out great! 

The kids have had a good first quarter of school and Joshua took the ACT exam this morning.  We are blessed that the only place to take it in Costa Rica is located about 15 minutes from our home.  Josh and Kayley are looking forward to Thanksgiving when some relatives are expected for a visit.  Beach, here we come!!!

We recently went out to eat at an outside pizza place with the Slingerland family.  These four (Joshua, Kayley, Hannah and Abby) are great friends and wonderful MKs.  As you can see, a good time is being had by all!

We are thankful for God’s blessings this month. God has really been teaching us the need for more and more prayer.  Shelley lead the chapel service at the Seminary last week and we spent some serious time in prayer at various prayer stations around the building, praying for different countries such as China, Pakistan, Haiti, Mali, among others.  It was a blessed time of learning about other cultures and interceding for needs. 

We want to thank you for your prayers.  We know you are praying because the Lord is blessing us so much in these busy days.  Thanks to all of you!!!

The Webb Family

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

September Happenings in Nicaragua

Hi Family and Friends,

Greetings from the great countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.  Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts.  Many blessings took place the final two weeks of September for David as he was able to make two trips to Nicaragua and then work with church planters for three days in Costa Rica to finish the month of September.

This is a picture from the youth camp that took place with more than 180 youth from the Nicaragua Central district.  David enjoyed the chance to connect with many of the youth leaders and pastors that attended this event as well as doing an evangelism workshop with the youth. 

At the end of the youth camp, the youth of the district did a compassionate ministry project to clean a local park including repairing a basketball hoop and painting the logo for the youth ministries on one of the backboards.  Here is a photo of some of the group celebrating a job well done. 

After the youth camp, David visited some local churches and reviewed possible sites for a team coming from Central Church in Lenexa, Kansas.  Please pray for this team and this trip as Central will be coming the end of December to help with a construction project for the church in La Paz Centro. 

We now have a chapel factory in Nicaragua and here is a picture of one of the projects David visited in El Timal in this trip.  I will be sharing more about this very new blessing in upcoming blogs.

David then traveled to the southern part of Nicaragua where he visited some of the newer churches and had the opportunity to share at another youth event.  Here is a photo of one of the newest organized churches in the Nicaragua South in the community of Zaragoza.  They currently worship in an unfinished house (one of many projects for the chapel factory:)

After returning from this trip, David took a quick two day trip to San Carlos, Nicaragua.  Here is a picture of the local leaders David met with.  This is a more remote area in the southeast part of Nicaragua.  Many of the restaurants look like this with a small kitchen and outside seating.  The price is very modest as we ate plates of chicken, rice, beans and salad with a fruit drink for about $2 a person.  David then returned to help with trainings at the seminary with church planters from Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. 

We again thank the Lord for the opportunity to serve Him here with leaders with a great love for the Lord.  Thanks for your prayers, please keep praying that we share the gospel in boldness with a sensitivity to God's leadership in all that we do.

Much love in Christ our great King,
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Joshua's B-day/Anniversary Trip

Hello Everyone!

It has been a busy few weeks here with the beginning of the school year and with David's new position working as Coordinator of Ministries for Nicaragua.  All the changes are good ones, but change is still change and requires some adjustments!

Joshua celebrated his 16th birthday with a special meal out at TGIFridays (yes, we have one here!).  He ate the biggest hamburger we had ever seen - about 9 inches tall!  Yes, he ate it all!  We also had a special birthday morning coffee cake, which tasted great, even after the candles melted inside! 

The kids are enjoying the school year so far.  Joshua is playing volleyball (basketball is in the spring this year) with the school team.  He has never played volleyball competitively before, so there is lots to learn.  Kayley is enjoying her art class and already has made the cutest sign to hang on her door. 

Both kids attended the Switchfoot concert last night and absolutely LOVED it!  Switchfoot is a Christian band and it is not everyday we have a Christian Rock concert in English in Costa Rica.  So we made the effort to get tickets, and it was well worth it for the kids.  Joshua was kind enough to let Kayley sit on his shoulders for most of the concert so she could have the best view possible.  Great and fun experience for them!

David and Shelley celebrated their 20th Wedding Anniversary in July, but with busy schedules were unable to get away.  So, at the beginning of September, they enjoyed an overnight visit to a beach hotel.  Long walks on the beach, lots of sunshine, reading books and searching for shells were all welcome and relaxing activities.  The kids were at a school camp, so the time was right for a get-away. 

Shelley is busy with her normal work as well as a special project of making the plan for a video highlighting the 40 years of the Seminary.  A celebration will be held just before Thanksgiving, but making a video takes lots of time and effort, so we are starting early and hoping for a great final presentation.  It has been quite a research effort, looking for old photos and information from 1968-69 when the dream for a Seminary began here and the land (a banana and coffee farm) was purchased. 

David is traveling lots to Nicaragua and leaves on Monday for a one week trip to 3 of the 4 districts.  He returns a week later, has one day in Costa Rica and leaves again for a 3 day trip.  He will return from that trip, be home for 2 days and then leave once again for meetings in the North of Nicaragua.  When he returns from that trip, we are going to a Discipleship Conference in Miami, Florida for a long weekend.  So, it is looking like a whirlwind rest of September, but October should settle down a bit.  Pray for safe travel, by plane and car, for David.




Thanks for your prayers and support.  We really appreciate all of you! 
God bless,
The Webb Family

God's blessing in Panama

Greetings to family and to friends. 

We continue to praise God for truly His mercies are new every day.  Things have gone pretty fast this summer, but here are some of the updates from the past two months.

From June 23 to June 30, David had the privilege of working with a great group from Olathe Westside Church from Olathe, KS.  They brought down a set of Jesus Film equipment and funds to help with a new mission in Rio Alejandro, Panama.  This is a very depressed area near Colón (unemployment is over 40%) with a great spiritual need as well.  

                                     Church planter Guillermo helping us with the VBS at the school

God opened one door after another.  We were able to do VBS’s in a local public school where the church planter, Brother Guillermo, teaches.  We also did VBS’s in the community, painted and cleaned the park area, and had 2 presentations with the brand new Jesus Film equipment.   

                                               Cleaning, painting and clowning with the kids

Through the presentations, we saw over 60 people come to Christ, praise God!  Through it all, the Olathe Westside team ministered side by side our Panamanian brothers and sisters and were a very bright light in an area oppressed by much darkness.  

                                           The Olathe Westside Team---Thanks for your hard work!

Following this trip, David arrived in Costa Rica to work with a group of 8 church planters that are working in missional zones of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. This time was followed by a two different trips in July to Nicaragua to meet with other missional zone planters, do an evangelism workshop at a youth camp and to meet with our district leaders there.

David then headed back to Panama with another great US team from Marysville, WA.  We worked close to the city of David (gotta love that nameJ) in the community of Algarrobos.  The Marysville team also brought a set of Jesus Film equipment for the new missional zone here.   

Church planter Carlos talking to the students with the Marysville team

We again, praise the Lord, received an open door at the local elementary school where we painted, made new concrete ramps for disabled students, and cleaned.  We also did VBS’s, did crafts and received a warm welcome from teachers and students alike.  This may be the warmest reception yet for a school David has worked with as the teachers decided they wanted to provide lunch for the team on Friday and had a community farewell service for the group Saturday evening where the director of the school spoke.  

 

We give God much praise as we saw over 40 people make decisions for Christ after two Jesus Film presentations.   For some cool videos of this trip, you can check out this link to youtube where the Marysville church put together 3 different videos on this trip.
Check it out at:
www.youtube.com/user/MarysvilleNaz (once on youtube, click See All--they did one video on ministry, one on the work project and one on the tourism activities)

The Marysville Church doing a special song on Sunday


 Kids at the school showing their new bracelets from one of our craft times which teach about salvation with colored beads--black for sin, red for Christ's blood, white for purity, green for growth in Christ, and yellow for the gold in the streets of heaven.



Although every trip with a US team has been special, David had an extra special blessing as Joshua was able to accompany him on both of his Panama trips.

Joshua did a great job and actually translated his first sermon (from English to Spanish--this is a lot of pressure:) on this trip.  This was a great blessing as the Marysville team brought 2 pastors so we divided the team so the pastors could preach simultaneously at two new cell groups that started in July.  Joshua and Kayley are both real blessings and great missionaries.  

Much love in our Lord Jesus Christ--el Rey de Reyes (The King of Kings)

Back to School

Hello Family and Friends,

Well, it is that time of year when notebooks are bought, backpacks are filled and pencils are sharpened!  Yes, school started this week at ICS (International Christian School) in San Jose.  The kids have had such a fun summer that it was a little hard to think about going back, but reluctantly they boarded their taxi ride on Wednesday morning.  (We have changed companies and our friend that has a taxi is now shuttling the kids to and from school each day.)

Kayley is in 7th and Joshua is in 11th grade this year.  Last year was quite a change for Kayley with 6th grade being located in the High School wing, but this year has been a breeze as she already knows where everything is located.  Both kids have some new teachers and are getting accustomed to the new classes, but otherwise all is well.

The Slingerland kids also go to ICS, so the four of them ride together each day.  So far, so good!

David had a big summer with teams and he really enjoyed having Joshua accompany him on two trips to Panama.  David will fill you in on both of those trips sometime very soon, right David?

The other news is that David has accepted a new position with the mission as Coordinator of Ministries in Nicaragua.  So, instead of focusing on 3 countries in one ministry area (Evangelism), he is working with all ministries for Nicaragua.  This change of position started on August 1st.  Pray for David as he serves the leaders in the four districts of Nicaragua.

Thanks for your prayers! We really appreciate each one of you.

God bless you,

The Webb Family

VBS at El Alto Church

Hello Everyone!

Last week was a busy one for Kayley with our local church holding a Vacation Bible School program from Sunday - Sunday. Kayley and her friend Ammi were in charge of the music. The program had songs, but the songs had no actions, so Kayley and Ammi invented their own and led the music class each day. Way to go Kayley!

I tried to load a video but without success. So here are a couple of photos of Kayley leading the music.

Joshua has kept busy with his normal activities - playing BB each Monday night at the school, shooting hoops here on campus, reading the few new books he has, and reluctantly preparing for the ACT exam. There are practice tests online, so he has been reviewing and taking those tests, part by part, to be ready for ACT in October.  There is only one place in Costa Rica to take the ACT, but thankfully it is not too far away from where we live.

The Slingerland family just returned from their home assignment, so those 4 have been inseparable this week.  They are the best of friends.

David and Joshua will work with a team next week in the city of David, Panama so the Webb girls will be left home alone for a week.  It will be quiet but will allow for extra Mom and Daughter time.

School will start in mid-August, so the kids are already dreading the day after enjoying such a long, nice summer. 

David and Shelley have kept very busy with their work schedules, but we did enjoy taking a few days off to have David's Mom and Sister visit us here in San Jose.  It was fun to just relax with family.  We got to see Alvaro and his wife Monica who are from Columbia.  Alvaro was a foreign exchange student in David's home when he was only 5 years old and it has been many years since David's Mom has seen him.  What a blessing!


Enjoy the rest of the Summer!
God bless you all,

Shelley, David, Joshua and Kayley

CALL Summer Intensives

Hello!

This summer has really flown by for the Webbs.  The kids have enjoyed their time away from classes but have managed to keep busy with various activities.  Kayley has been babysitting regularly as well as helping with VBS at church.  Joshua had an exciting trip to Panama with David and a team from Kansas.  Watch the next blog for an update about that! 

 

Shelley has spent the last month with the CALL students.  CALL stands for Christian Academy of Language and Learning, and its mission is to provide and safe and fun environment for learning Spanish.  We have two great professors from Costa Rica who teach the students for three hours each day.  This time we had six students studying for the summer session.   Here are a few photo highlights...

There were four students in the Beginners class with Professor Gaby.  She does a great job of connecting with the students.

This is Professor Zeidy and her two students James and Chad.  They seem to having fun!

Everyone enjoyed the Butterfly Farm.  It is a neat place to visit just outside of San Jose.  Costa Rica exports coccoons to all parts of the world for butterfly exhibitions at parks like Cypress Gardens.

Kayley was pleased to spend time with two new friends his summer - Kady and Thomas were lots of fun.  They are loving their iced coffee drinks at Cafe Britt.  Yum Yum!

One week the Evangelism leaders/Church planters were at the seminary for classes, so each mealtime was spent practicing Spanish (English for the church planters) and learning more about each other.

The group took a number of field trip and tours.  They went to the National Musesum, Inbio Park and San Pedro de Poas for an outside church service.  Others were adventurous and went to the beach or Arenal volcano.  This photo is from a trip to Cartago and the famous Basicila there.  We also visited the Lankester Gardens which is known for orchids.  Beautiful!

Each week a missionary speaker shared their testimony and a little about their missionary assignment.  It was great to hear from Ruben Fernandez, the Seminary president (see the photo above) about his heritage and the work of the SENDAS.

It has been a great month for the CALL students.  They have learned so much and come so far in such a short time.  It is wonderful to watch them gain confidence and to begin to hear the words - in Spanish - come out of their mouths.  They are such a wonderful group of people who will use their new words in ministry in the USA.  

If you would like to study with CALL, just let Shelley know (swebb@nazmac.org) and we will make it happen!  The next intensive session is in January 2011.  

Be praying for David as he is on a week long trip to Nicaragua.  He is visiting two districts making plans for upcoming teams and meeting with leaders.  

We are thankful for good health during this last month and for success in ministry projects.  We are excited for what is coming ahead with the new school year beginning in August and lots of projects for the fall.  

God bless you all,

THE WEBB FAMILY