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