Holy Week in Guatemala

It is Easter week (Holy Week) and we've had an exciting time. Monday and Tuesday the kids joined us for language study in Antigua. They both enjoyed the experience of having their own teachers and learning some more spanish. Each afternoon we walked the streets of Antigua, ate lunch in the park and saw the sights.

The first picture above is of a procession in Antigua. A procession is an old Catholic tradition where men (or in this case the women) carry the "anda." The anda is a large wooden platform and on top is a statue of Jesus or Mary or another saint in the Catholic church. This is done to remember the suffering of Jesus in the days preceeding his death and resurrection. The people pay money to be a part of a procession. The people also decorate the streets with beautiful alfombras or carpets made of colored wood shavings. It really does look like a bright, beautiful carpet. This was all very interesting to see. Good Friday is a huge holiday here, but it doesn't seem that Easter Sunday is any big deal. We've been told the protestant church service will be the same as usual with no special mention of the resurrestion of Christ. Very different and interesting.

On Thursday we had the opportunity to travel to Lake Atitlan. It is the largest lake in Guatemala and is over 1000 feet deep in some places. We'll share more about this adventure in our next blog.

Today we went to an Easter egg decorating party for the kids. We ate a delicious brunch and then the kids colored bunches of eggs. They had a great time as you can see by the picture. The Dads had a fun time as well playing basketball in the School of Mission courtyard. We have spent the afternoon studying spanish to be ready for Monday. We only have six more weeks of language school before beginnning our ministry work for the summer months. We are hoping to complete Level D this month and cover most of the material in Level E before the end of May. We are both beginning to understand more and more of the conversations we hear, so this is encouraging. Keep praying for us to speak spanish with confidence and accuracy!

God's blessing to you this week,
The Webbs

Semana Santa

Hello All,
This is the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Guatemala so this is the kids' spring break week. They are excited to have a break from their normal routine at school. Today (Saturday) we went to a nearby park called Eco Aventura with the Stevens' family. It's a like a very small zoo (monkey, ostrich, birds, reptiles etc...) with playgrounds and a pool. There are not many pools here in Guatemala, so this was a real treat. We are blessed to have it so close to our home, as it is probably a five minute drive. The kids had a blast as you can see from the photos! And we couldn't believe there was hardly anyone else there!


On Monday we'll take the kids with us to language school. They have not had the opportunity to learn very much spanish, so we are getting them teachers and "letting" them study for two days with their very own teachers. In the afternoons we can sightsee a bit before heading back to the city. Later in the week, we plan on traveling to Lake Atitlan with is about 2.5 hours away. Everyone says it is just beautiful so we are excited about this day trip.

Thanks for your continued prayers as we work each day to learn more and more spanish. There are times it feels like it will never happen for us, but we remember that persistence and determination are much of the battle. So, we keep keepin' on with the Lord's help. We are thankful for great health the last couple weeks other than a nasty fall for Joshua in basketball practice. It's healing now and he played well in a game on Friday afternoon.

God bless you all as you enter Holy Week.

Love, The Webb Family

Children's Church

Hi Everyone!

This is Sunday and our church here is the Zona Seis Iglesia Del Nazareno (Zone Six Church of the Nazarene). The kids are still getting used to going to Children's church by themselves as they have a hard time understanding the lesson, but as long as one of us parents goes along, they feel comfortable. This picture is of Kayley with some of her new friends in Children's Church. Her best buddy is Maria, the girl to Kayley's left. Maria finds Kayley every Sunday and does her best to take care of her and show her what to do. The kids are learning Spanish, but it's more slowly than mom and dad since they are in an english speaking environment all day. Joshua has learned some useful phrases and can hold a short conversation with the other kids at church.

Good News! David and Shelley passed their exams for level C this week and so it's onward and upward to Level D. Our studying will be interrupted a little bit the week of Easter. That week is called Semana Santa (holy week) and many people travel to Antigua to view the "processions." It takes around 80 people to carry a specially made platform that carries a statue of Jesus. Sometimes the processions take many hours to complete. This is an old Catholic church tradition. Because of the festivities in Antigua, we will only study for 2 or maybe 3 days that week. I've heard that 40,000 enter the small town for that weekend. That week is also the children's spring break week, so they may be taking some spanish classes in Antigua with us for those few days.

We are thankful for another good week and for so many family and friends. God bless,

The Webb Family

Basketball/Travel

Dear Family and Friends,

It's hard to believe we've been living in Guatemala for nearly three months. We are beginning to feel settled finally, especially since we seem to be feeling less ill and more healthy each week. This week Joshua struggled with a stomach bug, but he is well now and back to his old self. Basketball practices continued for both Josh and David, as David is assisting with the coaching of the middle school team. You can see David in the picture above coaching one the boys on freethrow shooting. They have their first games next weekend, so it will be an exciting time for all.

Kayley is enjoying school and is seen above outside her classroom door. There are eleven children in her class and she really enjoys her teacher. Kayley aspires to be a teacher one day, or maybe a "store person." She likes playing store, selling items and visiting with pretend customers.

We believe we have found an alternative to traveling outside of Guatemala every three months. It's not finalized yet, but we hope to hear in a few days that the process is completed and our visas have been extended- at least for now. We're thankful as the cost of travel and the time away from schooling is not something we were looking forward to.

David traveled today with Bernie Slingerland (head of evangelism for Mexico and Central America) to Coban, an area about 3 hours from Guatemala City, for a training workshop that Bernie led. They had a good time and the response to the workshop was very positive. David got to practice his spanish and enjoyed the drive as well. We're thankful they had a safe and easy trip.

David and Shelley will be taking their Level C exams this week, most likely on Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers as we strive to remember all we've studied in the last three months.

God bless your week.

Our Love,
The Webb Family

Week in Review

Hello All,

We’ve had another good week studying Spanish in Antigua. Each day at 10am we take a 30 minute break to rest our brains. David and I like to walk and stretch our legs, so many days we walk to the McDonalds in Antigua. This is the nicest McDonalds I have ever seen. The service is exceptional. Sometimes they even have a person hired to fill your ketchup container! The best part of all is the beautiful view of the volcano from the spacious garden. The picture above shows the view we stare at daily. WOW!

Joshua started basketball practice after school this week. David is helping to coach and they both seem to enjoy it, even if they are exhausted by the time they get home at 5:15 p.m. There are 23 boys out for the Middle school team so they head coach really needs the assistance of David to keep all those boys focused. Joshua is the youngest player but is hanging in there with the 7th and 8th graders.

The Nissan gave us another surprise this week. After language school on Thursday, the car would not start and we had to “hitch” a ride with another couple from our city of San Cristobal. It was a blessing to have a way home. The car was towed to San Cristobal and was fixed the next day. Once again, something had been knocked loose between the battery and the starter, but it’s once again in working order… For now. We’re glad it was nothing major.

Today I started Kayley on an antibiotic for a throat infection. I kept hoping her cough would disappear, but after a month of congestion, it hasn’t happened. The man in the farmacia was very helpful and put up with my limited Spanish. And I’m grateful that no prescription is required here to buy antibiotics. We’re hoping we are coming to the end of 2 a.m. coughing fits. (It’s like having a baby in the house again! I’m too old for all that.)

Well, that’s about all for this week.
God bless,

Shelley, David, Joshua and Kayley Webb