Guatemalan Air

Joshua and Kayley in our yard just before leaving for church on Sunday.

Dear Family and Friends,
Another beautiful week here in Guatemala with temperatures in the 70s each day. We have enjoyed the weather, but have learned the hard way that the air is not as clean as it looks. Joshua has struggled with allergy related respiration problems and has been put on an inhaler. His coughing has lessened, but is still prevalent. He missed two days of school last week and will miss two this week as well. It is our hope that the cough will be gone by the end of the week. Kayley has caught a cold as well, but she seems to be doing better than Joshua. We’re glad for good doctors here. The first doctor we saw practiced in the U.S. for a number of years and speaks English fluently. The other is our new friend Erica who is from Mexico. She is a medical doctor and is in Guatemala for training to be a missionary with the church in compassionate and medical missions. She is wonderful and we’re thankful for her expertise and help with the kids.

We decided to get cable TV here since the price is fair and we believe it will help us learn Spanish. We can get some shows in English and we put the Spanish on closed caption so we can learn more words. It’s difficult to listen to shows all in Spanish as we still feel lost with all that, but hope in a couple more months much more will make sense. We laughed as we watched Scooby Doo in Spanish.

We attended a different church this week that is located across town. The music was loud and full of energy and lasted for quite some time. The entire service was over two hours long, but we enjoyed it all. Shelley went with Kayley to children’s church and Kayley would not let her leave her sight. The kids were served a red kool aid type drink and a tortilla with red sauce. Kayley loved it. We plan on attending there again this week as it is good practice for us to drive there. It is on the way out of town for our trip to Puerto Barrios, which is located on the east coast of Guatemala. We are traveling there in two weeks to meet Shelley’s mom for her one day stop over on her cruise ship. It will be fun to visit if only for one day.

David and Shelley continue their studies in Antigua. We are focused on verbs, verbs and more verbs. We’ve realized you can’t say much without them! Of course, most everything we say is still in present tense as neither of us can think fast enough to bring to mind the correct form in past tense. Yes, we sound ridiculous, but that’s how you learn!

We hope your week is going well. We appreciate your prayers for the kids this week as their bodies get used to the Guatemalan air.


This is a view from the front seat of our car as we entered Antigua for language school.

Love,
The Webbs

Hello Everyone,

We continue to be amazed at the wonder of God's creation here in Guatemala. We daily view mountains, volcanos, trees and sometimes clear blue skies. Even the clouds are beautiful here. The weather has been beautiful with temperatues in the 70s. Some people here complained last week with colder temperatures in the morning and evening, and some even wore their mittens and scarves. It makes us laugh considering we were in the frigid northeast Iowa temperatures before boarding our plane for Guatemala.

On Sunday we experienced our first earthquake! We were in Sunday School (yes, in the tomato tent) when the ground beneath us shook for a good 7 seconds. Even the Guatemalans thought it was a strong one and discussed whether it was a 5 or a 6 and where the epicenter might be located. That was a first for us!

Another first is that both David and I have passed our first Spanish language tests for our school. We've completed level A and are working now on level B. God is helping us each day, but I still pray for the gift of tongues. How great it would be to just know it instantly so we could be useful even now. I guess God has some lessons for us in learning Spanish the long, hard way. We'll be patient and persistent and endure.

Tomorrow we will make our first trip to the doctor. Joshua has a bad cough and perhaps a sinus infection. He spent this afternoon in the nurse's office resting and he is nearly ready for bed and it's only 6:30 pm. The doctor that the missionaries use here practiced in the states for a number of years, so we're glad he's both well trained and speaks some English. Pray for him as his coughing continues.

One more first: Shelley had her first haircut in Guatemala, and the results were far shorter than she imagined. She could blame it on the language barrier, but since similar things have occured in the U.S., she's unsure of who to be mad at.

All in all, it is another good week here. We thank you for your contined prayers as we adjust to the culture and language. Dios le bendiga.

The Webbs

Friends and Family,
We had a good Sunday here in Guatemala. We attended for the second week a local Nazarene church. The church meets in a tomato tent, so it's a new experience for us. The congregation has purchased land and is in the process of building a new church, but for now the tomato tent will do. Today was a beautiful day with temperatures in the low 70s. We got a little rain last night and yesterday morning we witnessed the hugest rainbow we have ever seen. It stretched from east to west. The country is beautiful and we'll be sharing more pictures of the beautiful land as the days go on.

We are enjoying the people and the culture and of course feel pressed to get more language learned as quickly as possible. Tomorrow is Monday so it's back to the grind of driving, studying and more studying. Joshua and Kayley are enjoying their school and Kayley has started gymnastics after school on Monday and Wednesday. Joshua is looking forward to basketball starting in March. The picture above is of Kayley with her new friend Abby, who is an MK as well. They sit next to each other in school and enjoying playing together. They've become fast friends.

We'll sign off for now but will be sending out a newsletter this week sometime when we get a strong internet signal. It is not reliable unless we go to the offices about a block away and we don't get that done regularly.

Have a great week and God bless you,
The Webbs

Dear Family and Friends,
Here we are in Guatemala. The second picture is of Kayley and Joshua on their first day of school at Guatemala Christian Academy. (Notice the lack of coats!!! Quite different than the Iowa winter we left a mere week ago!) The first picture is of the kids walking down our street. We take them to the Slingerland's home (missionaries with us here) and they take their two kids as well as ours to school in the morning as David and I need to leave for Antigua at around 7:15 am to make it in time for our 8am language classes.

We are in the process of buying a red 1996 Nissan Pathfinder. This will be a good vehicle for us as it is in our price range and in good shape for driving the terrain and bumpy Guatemalan roads. It has a security system which we are still trying to figure out. It has gone off on us at the Shell station and at the kids' school. How embarrasing as we try to get the thing turned off. A series of rituals is involved in this process!

We have many conveniences near our home: a Shell gas station, a McDonalds, a Pollo Campero (like KFC kinda), a Burger King, a Chinese restaurant that is excellent, a grocery store and a bakery. God has put things at our fingertips to keep us from having to go to far for anything we need. The kids' school is a 10 minute drive from our home.

Our house is good sized and since we came with only our suitcases, it seems a bit bare. We are glad to have a nice kitchen with a gas stove. We have laundry facilities here in the house as well as a water filter for pure water. The kids have their own rooms and Joshua especially enjoys that part. I hope to purchase a microwave and a TV sometime soon. The TV will be helpful for our language learning as we listen to Spanish shows.

We'll sign off for now as it is getting later and we are all tired this week. Thanks for your prayers as we study and adjust each day. God has provided all we need and we are thankful.

Love and prayers to you all,
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

We've Arrived!

Hello All,
We arrived in Guatemala safe and sound on Monday evening. This has been my first opportunity to use the internet, so I apoligize for this slow post. Our new house is wonderful and we're working on settling in. Suitcases cover the floors, but we'll hope over the weekend that will be a thing of the past.

The kids started school today and had a great time. They met new friends and two of their favorites are the Slingerland kids (missionaries here as well). David and Shelley started language school today and have much to learn, but great teachers.

The weather and scenery and both beautiful. Our home has a good view of the volcano and mountains. And Antigua did not disappoint us today. We'll post some pics sometime soon.

Thanks for your prayers. We continue to need them as we adjust here. Tomorrow we drive to Antigua on our own, but the way is easy to find. Life will sometime soon settle into a routine and things will then be easier for all.
We appreciate you all and God bless,

The Webbs