Missionary Life

Hello Friends and Family,

The Slingerlands at church being bid farewell.

Everyone's life has changes, but perhaps the missionary life has even a few more than the normal Joe.  This week, another missionary family, the Slingerlands, moved on, first to home assignment and soon after to Panama.  This is becoming the norm with the MAR Regional Office being relocated to Panama. 

We enjoyed a special time of goodbyes with them at our local church and of course we had sending off prayer and much waving as the van pulled out the green porton one last time.  We are grateful that we will see these friends in the fall at meetings and work related activities.

We are excited about some of the changes coming our way though, with new missionaries arriving to Costa Rica to serve.  The Tooley family arrived in March, the Honeas in April and the Sickels renewed their contract and arrived in Costa Rica in late March.  Also, Allison (she is from Iowa so she's got to be alright!) arrived to help with the Tooley children and is taking Spanish classes as well.


Right now, the CALL language program has more classes than ever before with 4 groups taking classes each week.  In celebration of the great group of students here studying currently, we all enjoyed a fun-filled, beautiful tour day to Poas and La Paz.  Here are some of the photos from Poas volcano and La Paz.

Allison with her toucan friend.

The coolest photo of a frog I have ever taken.

CALL students enjoying the spray of the waterfall.

The Tooley family (lacking Paulina who they are adopting soon).

Shelley and Kayley at the Volcanic Lake.

The Tooley's with their teacher Gaby, receiving completion certificates for Level Intermediate I.  Way to go!

Bub Honea with his new friend at La Paz.

Allison Rohloff, Kayley and Allison Tooley.

It was a beautiful day at the Volcano and for the first time, I (Shelley) heard the volcano erupting and then extra puffs of white sulfury smelling smoke came out of the volcano.  There was no eruption of lava, but it was still cool nonetheless. 

In less exciting news (well, it depends who you ask), WalMart has officially arrived to Costa Rica.  Actually, WalMart already owned a number of chain stores here, but now the one previously called Hipermas has traded in its whale sign for the WalMart look.  Yes, it really does look more like a WalMart inside, but the prices remain Costa Rican.  Bummer!

In family news, we are all packing our bags for 10 weeks of travel in the USA.  Kayley is sad to be missing her dance team each week at church.  Last week they did actions to the songs in their new outfits and were as cute as could be. (Kayley is in the front on the far right). 

 Also, for her birthday Kayley took two friends roller skating.  They were all learning, but did a great job and by the end of the time were circling like pros. 

Kayley and Abby Slingerland

Kayley, Abby and Allison

School ended today, the finals are over and summer is just beginning.  Pray for us as we travel from church to church this summer to share what God is doing here in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama.  We have a full schedule for the summer and look forward to seeing you very soon.  Hasta luego...

The Webb family

BIrthday Girl, Science Fair and Friends Coming and Going

Hello Friends and Family,

This week was Kayley's 13th birthday!  Yes, we now have TWO teens in the house.  Thankfully, they are two great teens who generally do not cause too much trouble! 

Kayley started her bday morning with a special treat of Toaster Strudels.  She loves those and does not get them often here in Costa Rica.  She also got individual pudding treats for her school lunches this week.  This may not sound exciting to you, but let me tell you, she was excited!

That evening we had a cake and ice cream party for Kayley.  An unplanned balloon fight ensued, which I think Joshua started!  Great fun for all. 

Kayley also had her science fair this week.  She has been working for months on this project and it turned out really good!  Nice work, Kayley!

Last week some new missionary volunteers arrived to the Seminary.  Please meet Bub and Rickie Honea, who will be helping with work and witness teams as they learn Spanish. 

Here they are in their first week of classes with Professor Zeidy.  Hang in there, guys!  You'll get it!

Lastly, we had to say goodbye to our good friend, Eliezel Soto.  He has worked with W&W teams for about 4 years and now is returning to his home country of the Dominican Republic.  We'll miss sharing pizza dinners with him!

David just got back from a long trip to Nicaragua.  I am sure he will post something later this week, but he will not have any photos...the camera disappeared on day 2 of this trip.  Bummer!  

It won't be long now (3 weeks) and we'll be heading for the USA for home assignment.  We have a busy summer planned with services in Chicago, Iowa, California, Kansas City, Louisville, KY, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia.  It will go by quickly!  We hope to see you along the way.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we have new emails.  Many of you may already know, but with the combining of the Caribbean and MAC Regions, we are now called the Mesoamerica Region.  So, the emails are swebb@mesoamericaregion.org and dwebb@mesoamericaregion.org.  Send a message or connect on facebook if you would like to catch up with us.  

Have a blessed day,
The Webb family