Bridge of the World, Heart of the Universe

Bendiciones en el nombre de Jesucristo to all our friends and family around the world. As always, God has been very good to the Webbs as He continues to open doors for us to serve. Things have been clipping right along as David left for Panama on May 6 and returned on May 15. In the meantime, Shelley handled many details for evangelism as well as being immersed in child sponsorship ministries for Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Although it is never good for a husband to be gone on Mother's Day, David has another shot as it is celebrated in August here in Costa Rica (and December in Panama--man this could get expensive!).

Speaking of Panama, the trip was a blessing in many ways. The first two days were spent in evangelism training workshops as David assisted Bernie Slingerland. These workshops help identify people with a passion for planting new cell groups. Each person who feels God's call to start a new cell group in their community receives Bibles and discipleship materials to help with this new work. Materials are available to help these cell groups grow including to the point of forming new churches if this is God's plan.

One of the Three Locks of the Panama Canal

The rest of David's time was spent working with a team comprised of Malone College students from Canton, OH, and Panamanians from local Nazarene churches. The attitude of the team was fantastic as they braved heat and water deficiencies (on the days we lacked water for bathing the team agreed that God somehow took away the ability to smell each other--a true praise!) . The team worked in two different communities. The first community included painting a local basketball/soccer asphalt court, cleaning the park area, Bible schools and showing the Jesus Film.



We spent more time in the second area which is named Paso Blanco. Here we helped with the foundation and making the trusses for a building that will serve as a dining room for children and hopefully soon, a new church. The pastor of the mother church, Pastor Eduardo, shared that Paso Blanco is one of the oldest communities around Panama City. This used to be a settlement area for slaves. Unfortunately, although slavery has been abolished, the cycle of poverty and low priority for education has kept these same people in chains for many years.

However God can set the captives free and Pastor Eduardo is rejoicing in what Jesus Christ is already doing in this area. The church started offering meals in the community four years ago and is currently feeding about 150 children each Saturday. The team had over a 100 children for Bible School and saw a great response to the Jesus Film (including our bus driver's helper Rolando--God is good!).
VBS in Paso Blanco



While we rejoiced at being home together from the 15th to the 18th, Shelley left for Panama yesterday with Tami Buell, coordinator for compassionate ministries for the area, to meet a medical team in Panama. While we miss Shelley, I (David) am excited that she will be able to serve in some of the same places and meet some of the same people I was with this month. I also know that our brothers and sisters in Panama will be looking forward to meeting my "media naranja" (that's Spanish for my better half). Panama is known as the Bridge of the World, Heart of the Universe and we are so thankful for the love and friendships we have formed in Panama in a very short time.


This picture is in front of the original dining room in Paso Blanco built 4 years ago with the founders Max and Marlen with Gladys one of the dedicated helpers.

Prayer requests this week:

• Please pray for God's protection and guidance for Shelley and Tami in their travels in Panama
  
• Please pray for Joshua and Kayley (and David) as we study for the kids final tests this week
  
• Please pray for Joseph. He is a 14 year old who accepted Christ as Lord and Savior about 2 months ago during a Maxima Mision here in Costa Rica. He has pelvic cancer. I will share more about him soon.

Thanks again for the love and support of so many people...we appreciate your prayers and your encouragement more than we can ever share. May Jesus open all our hearts more everyday to the joy and life that He alone gives!

Que Dios les bendiga, (May God bless you)

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb

Blackouts and Birthdays

Hello All,

It has been an interesting week with frequent blackouts. Apparently, the electricity supply in Costa Rica is gained through the use of hydroelectric power and since we’ve had little rain in a long time, the dams are very low. So, to conserve energy, the human powers on high have decided to shut off power to different areas of the city at different times each day. (Today is an exception; it’s the Labor Day holiday, so I guess they didn’t think they would save much electric today). It’s not that bad, as long as you know ahead. Unfortunately, we don’t always know. Yes, there is a long list in the paper each morning of the blackout schedule for the day, but here on the seminary campus we are located in 3 different areas, so we’re never for sure if today we are considered a part of Moravia, Guadalupe or Coronado. Let’s just say, it has made life interesting.

Fortunately, we had lights for Kayley’s 9^th birthday party on Monday evening. She had Paige and Jessica Buell, our neighbors for a short time longer (they are moving to Mexico in June) as her guests overnight. Kayley requested Chinese food for her special meal, so we ordered out and enjoyed lost of sweet and sour chicken. A bit later in the evening a number of missionary families came over to share in cake, ice cream and some mean Twister competitions. (You know, Twister, the game with all the colored dots on a plastic mat…). Even some adults participated which of course made for added fun. Then a movie, then bedtime silliness…you get the picture.

Kayley’s birthday is actually on Thursday, but we’ll be tied up in meetings from then until Saturday at noon, so we’ll not have much time to celebrate on the official day. On Sunday, David leaves once again, this time for Panama. He’ll return in the middle of the month, be home one day and then Shelley will leave for two weeks. All great opportunities to minister and improve our Spanish, so we’re thankful for the chance to go. But we’ll look forward to June when we’ll have more time at home.

That is about it for this week. Thanks for your continued prayers as we strive to minister and communicate here in Costa Rica. Have a wonderful week.

God bless,

The Webb Family

TN Pastors Team

Hello to All,
It was a sad day for us on Saturday as we watched the TN District Pastors Team board their bus headed for the airport for a long journey home. We enjoyed our time with them immensely and although it was a sad goodbye, we can remember the fun and adventures we had together.

Many from the team after the long hike to the top.

The first few days of the trip, this team of 15 helped with a Maximum Mission in a poor area of the city. Maximum Mission can take many forms, but it is always a few days of helping in a community in various forms. In this MM, a new cell group has begun and we are excited to watch it grow into a new church plant. The MM team was made up of the team from TN, about 20 people from a local church and about 10 people from the local community.

The MM Team accomplished a lot this last week by painting different parts of the local elementary school, cleaning along the streets, offering workshops for women, cleaning a local park, playing soccer with the youth, holding bible school events for children and in general, just getting to know the community.

The team had the opportunity to partner with a Spanish speaking team member to share the Evangecube with the community. It was wonderful to watch them realize that this simple “toy” which tells the story of Jesus could be used to tell young and old alike about our Lord.

Prayer time after showing the Jesus Film.

Of course, the team also worked hard here on the seminary grounds. They hung lots of drywall on the third floor of the new building. They repainted the playground and the children have loved the new life their old swings and teeter totters have found.

OK, so it wasn't all hard work...

We have already had to look forward as we are approaching an even busier time in the month to come. David leaves for Nicaragua for a MM and training event on Wednesday and we are looking forward to much travel in May to Panama. The kids are beginning to realize that school will soon be out and “summer” (actually its winter here!) will begin.

A special thanks to the two Tennessee teams and all their time, effort and sacrifice to serve here in Costa Rica. God bless you this week.

The Webbs

Easter

Hello All,

We have been very busy this week with the TN Pastors Work and Witness team here. They are a wonderful group of pastors and laypersons who have come to put up drywall to continue the construction on a new building here on the seminary campus. We also had the opportunity to minister together with a local Maximum Mission team whose goal is to plant a new church in an area across town. It has been wonderful, but it's not over yet, so we'll write more about it next week.

It is hard to believe it is the middle of April already and that Easter has come and gone. We enjoyed a fun time together with many of the missionary children in our home for a Easter egg decorating party. Two of the children recently arrived from Mexico so coloring eggs was a new experience for them. The mother was a bit worried at first until she realized the eggs were hard-boiled!

Here are a few pictures from our fun day together.

Paige Buell and Kayley enjoying their time together

The whole group around our kitchen table.

Also, we enjoyed a wonderful Easter service at a local church in San Isisdro de Heredia. Before we left for the service, we took a few pictures in front of our home.


There is no school today since it is a national holiday in Costa Rica. The children are enjoying the outdoors along with a bit of studying to be ready for tests this week. Back to the regular school routine tomorrow.

We hope you all have a great week. We'll write more next week after this team leaves on Saturday. We'll have lots to share then...

The Webbs
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Webb Page Newsletter - April 2007

The Webb Page

Volume III, Number 2 April 2007

The months of February and March have been filled with new learning opportunities for the Webb family.

Read on to learn more…

Training in Evangelism and Youth Ministry

We have been learning much during these months about our new roles. David’s two positions as Coordinator of Evangelism and NYI (Youth) and Shelley’s supporting roles have become more defined. David will be training evangelism leaders in the three countries of this area, Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as facilitating the use of the Jesus Film and Maximum Mission (3-5 day work projects in communities to support the community and evangelize). Shelley will be keeping David organized with all the necessary administrative work. We have now met all 8 District Superintendents, have been a part of two church plant trainings, have traveled to all three countries and are becoming more accustomed to life in this part of the world.

David illustrating how to use the EvangeCube.

Tennessee Work and Witness Team

A highlight for the month of March was the arrival of the Work and Witness team from Tennessee. Two churches made up this team: Trevecca Community in Nashville and our home church from Woodlawn. It was fun to see our old friends and make some new ones. The team worked on a building project on the seminary grounds. Below you can see the team hard at work.

Being “caked”

Just before the Tennessee team arrived, David celebrated his birthday. It was a quiet celebration with a meal out as a family, but the real fun came from the local construction workers who have gotten to know David in the last couple of months. They decided to surprise him with a traditional Costa Rican birthday celebration. It is called “being caked.” When the idea was first mentioned to me, Shelley, I thought it was a nice idea to make a cake for David, but I soon realized it was something altogether different.

The men bought lots of eggs and flour and in a moment of surprise they covered David with raw eggs and then the flour, for the special sticky mess that can only be described as “batter.” Of course, David took it all in stride and said something like, “the yolk’s on me!”

Welcome to Costa Rica.

Holy Week

This week, the week before Easter, is a crazy time here as most businesses shut down and take the week off. Everyone likes to travel, especially to the beach, so the city is pretty quiet. One place that is not quiet however, is the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We needed to travel out of the country to renew our visas and so we took advantage of the children being out of school to plan a work trip to Managua, Nicaragua. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, but crossing the border was difficult since there were sooooo many people waiting in line. It took us four hours with assistance to make it through and to arrive in Managua took a very long thirteen hours.

We were happy to arrive and the kids were thrilled we had a pool. As you can see, they took full advantage of the heat and water while David attended meetings for two days.

Future Events

This Thursday the Tennessee District Pastors Team arrives. We are in charge of the team and are excited about the ministry that will occur while they are here. We’ll work for two days in the area of Rossister where there is already a cell group of 15 people. The group will help with community projects like cleaning and painting as well as assist with afternoon children’s groups and show the Jesus Film in the evening. In addition, this team will be doing construction work on the building project here on the seminary grounds. This team is special also since once again it is our home district in Tennessee so we already know many of the workers.

David will travel to Nicaragua once again at the end of the month and then we’ll tag team in May taking turns traveling to Panama.

Giving Thanks

Yes, we know it is Easter and not thanksgiving, but we want to give thanks to God for his great help during this time of transition. We are feeling more and more at home here. The kids are doing well in school and are looking forward to summer break already. David and Shelley are becoming accustomed to their roles in the office and are beginning to see progress in their ministries.

Being Easter, however, we also want to give Praise to God for his unending love. His sacrifice in our place is more than we can repay, but unbelievably, God chose to die for us and pay the price for our sin. What an amazing sacrifice!

God bless you all as you celebrate Easter!

Serving Christ Together,

The Webb Family

Shelley and David near Granada, on an island in Lake Nicaragua.