Plans for the Year

Hello Everyone!

First off, we want to say that our hearts have been heavy knowing what is happening in Haiti.  Our church has a large presence there with over 120.000 members and so we have been praying for them.  Many of the Nazarene churches have been destroyed and many killed and injured.  Please pray for them with us.   If you have been thinking about donating but just have not done it yet, we encourage you to do so.  A ministry that is doing lots to help is Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.  You may visit their website with updates at www.ncm.org.

The month of January has been filled with planning, planning and more planning.  David and Shelley will be working with 4 teams from the USA in the next 6 weeks and lots of planning goes into all of that. The first team will arrive on Sunday night (tomorrow) for a one week stay.  We are excited to see some some friends from the USA and to meet some new ones.  So next weekend, we hope to update you on our ministry week in Alajuelita and San Felipe, two communities in the south part of San Jose.  The teams for the next 6 weeks are from New Jersey, Texas, West Virginia, Iowa and Tennessee. 

 

Michelle with a Seminary student from Costa Rica North district.

Shelley has three students for language classes with CALL during January.  Michelle, from Ohio, spent the month here and just returned home yesterday.  She is a joy to be around and all of the Seminary students enjoyed her.  She got involved in many ways, from volunteering at a local preschool to teaching a balloon clinic for the missionaries.  (She is a pro at making balloon animals, etc...)

 

Michelle at the Coronado Preschool with the children. 

Stephen and Anne are here as well.  They are volunteers with the mission for one year and are learning Spanish quickly as they put it into practice each day.  They will continue studying with CALL off and on throughout the year. If you are thinking about studying Spanish abroad this year, we would love to have you join CALL.  Check it out at www.sendas.ws/english/CALL

Professor Gaby teaching Spanish to the CALL Students: Michelle, Anne and Stephen.

The Seminary had their annual January Intensive Courses, which just ended as well.  There is article about that online at www.sendas.ws, if you would like to read more. (Be sure you are on the English page and you will see the article titled Intensives under News at the bottom.)  This is the website that Shelley tries to keep up with!  She has learned lots about maintaining websites. 

Some of the January Intensive Students enjoying a break in the sun from their classes.

Joshua and Kayley are doing well with school.  They started back on the 12th and are now getting more involved in the school projects that come every year - like the science fair.  We are still in the idea searching phase, but soon enough, the projects will take shape.  Joshua is still playing BB and playing drums while Kayley enjoys doing crafts and painting when she has time. 

We are still hoping to start English as a Second Language Classes for the local community in this year, but no definite dates are yet set.  To prepare for this eventual reality, Shelley has begun to take courses in Teaching ESL through MidAmerica Nazarene University.  She is enjoying her 1st class and learning lots that will help her in the future. 

David traveled to Panama this week - first to David, Panama and then to Changuinola.  Both cities are on the west of Panama.  (Remember that Panama runs east to west, not north to south.)  Unfortunately, David ate some not so well-prepared food on the first night and became ill.  For two days he was sick, but finally on day three he began to recover.  Just in time to return home.  The joys of being a missionary!  But his trip was good otherwise and thankfully he did not travel alone this time so that he did not have to drive and do all the work himself. 

Well, we look forward to sharing with you about the teams that we will assist in the next few weeks.  We know God has great plans for them all and for the ministries they will work with while here.

God bless you all!  See you next time!
The Webb Family

Columbian Breakfast and more

Hello To Everyone!
We have had a great first week of January with a full week of work.  David is busy preparing for upcoming travels and trips while Shelley was busy with the new term of CALL (Spanish language Academy). 

Michelle, from Ohio, arrived on the 4th to begin studying Spanish for one month.  Two volunteers (Stephen and Ann) are attending the classes as well.  They are all advancing so quickly.  Shelley is very proud of how they are studying and learning.  The program keeps Shelley occupied making the arrangements with the professor, as well as food, lodging, ministry activities and daily needs for the student.  Here is Michelle, Anne and Stephen enjoying their class.

This month is also the month for Intensive classes at the Seminary, and although there are fewer students this year than last, there is still a good group here from Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.  It is fun to visit with the students and hear about their lives and ministries in their home countries.  These 4 girls are from the North District of Costa Rica. 

On January 2nd, the Webb family enjoyed a wonderful Columbian breakfast with our friends Alvaro and Monica.  Alvaro was a foreign exchange student in David's home when he was only 5 years old.  Alvaro is from Columbia, but works with the Columbian Embassy here in Costa Rica, so he lives only 40 minutes away.  Actually, this photo is from a few days earlier when we met at Friday's near their home.

The Columbian breakfast was wonderful, but the company was great too.  Fried eggs, arepas (a special kind of tortilla) and calentado (heated up rice and beans from the night before!).  Excellent!

We have really enjoyed getting to know Alvaro and Monica and we look forward to future visits.  They live in a beautiful condo with a pool, so the kids are ready to visit whenever we can!  Thanks, friends, for a great visit!

Thanks for your prayers for our family and ministries.  The kids start back to school on Tuesday, so we ask for your prayers for their progress this semester.  We are so blessed to live here, and we realize it even more after speaking with family in Iowa  -  cold, cold and more cold.  I took this photo the other day as I walked home from my office.  BEAUTIFUL! 

God bless you all,
Shelley, David and family

Christmas Vacation - 2009

Hello Everyone,
Last week I promised a blog with photos about our Christmas vacation with Shelley's brother, Stacey, and his family (Kristy, Karly and Brandon).  So here goes...

It started with a long drive from the airport - 2 hours long!  Yes, there was an accident on the pista and that really made for a long drive, but finally we made it to the Seminary.  We had a week to spend together, so we took in all the sights we could.

We took a long day trip to a canopy tour near the beach.  We left the city just early enough to enjoy the beach for about 2 hours before heading off to the canopy tour.  As you can see, the kids loved the beach!

The canopy tour included a ride up the mountain in a tram and then a 10 cable zip line to come down.  Lots of great views, including views of the ocean.

We also found time to visit the butterfly farm - yes, Costa Rica exports butterfly pupuas for exotic parks around the world.  We learned lots, but Brandon did most of the teaching since he just studied butterflies at school.

Poas Volcano was a beautiful sight!  Sometimes it is clouded in, but this time it was clear as a bell!  We hiked up to the lake as well.  What a great day!

La Paz Waterfall Gardens was another stop along the way.  Although this park is still recovering from the earthquake in January of 2009, much of the park was open.  We hiked down along 2 waterfalls....beautiful!!!

We had a wonderful time having visitors during Christmas.  It really kept our minds off of missing the rest of the family during the holidays.  So, who is coming next year???

We are excited for a great 2010.  Seminary classes (including CALL language school classes) begin tomorrow and with 3 teams in the next three months, we will stay very busy!

God bless you all.
Until next time...
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley