Nicaragua Trip

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, David had a great week in Nicaragua, but we are glad he has returned safe and sound. His travels began by crossing the border at Paso Blancos, Costa Rica and then traveling northward to Rivas where he led a training of new church planters. Then he traveled to Managua to spend one night before heading off for Estili, an city in the north Nicaragua district. He led a training event there as well which started off with some singing. By the end of the day many leaders had committed to starting a new cell group or church in their area.



One day later he headed back to Managua (3 hours or so) to catch a plane to the Southeast district of Nicaragua.



There he met with leaders and discussed their plans for Maximum Mission events and possible work and witness projects for the coming year. Since there are not many cars in this area of Nicaragua, David got to view the local transportation and he got to eat tamales made inside of Banana leaves...Yummy!



After two days in the Southeast, he boarded the small plane once again for Managua. A few more meetings in Managua and Rivas and finally he got home on late Saturday evening. WHEW!!!!

But it was all successful and vale la pena (worth the trouble) to visit every area in one trip. Today, Saturday, David is off once again to the north part of Costa Rica for a one day training. He will be back late tonight.

We're all excited as Thursday approaches since David's mom and sister arrive that evening. We'll need to work a little as there is a work and witness team passing through on their way to Panama, but we'll be sure to spend some quality time viewing volcanoes and waterfalls together.

God bless you all this week.

The Webb Family

Webb Page Newsletter June 07

The Webb Page
Volume III, Number 3 June 2007

The months of April, May and June have been filled with travel, teams and terrific times for the Webb family.

Read on to learn more…

TENNESSEE WORK AND WITNESS TEAMS

We were privileged to help with two TN work and witness teams this spring. How fun to see old friends and make some new ones too. The teams both worked on the new MAC Area Leadership Training Center which will be utilized to train pastors from the countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Below is Pastor Casey Shorr, from our home church in Woodlawn, TN giving some musical tips to the worship band from the San Isidro Church of the Nazarene here on the Costa Rica Central District.

We need some help to finish the Leadership Center building, so if you are considering a Work and Witness trip, there’s no better time than now to plan your week in Costa Rica. We’d love to see you here! Email David at dwebb@nazmac.org for more information.

In addition, these teams helped with church planting activities in the area of Rosister Carballo. Because of their efforts and the efforts of the local leaders, a church plant has begun in Rosister. Here is Joshua showing the Evangecube to some boys in Rosister. There are now more than 25 people attending the cell group meetings each week. Thanks, Tennessee District for your willingness to leave your comfort zone, sacrifice to raise funds and help with the Maximum Mission in Rosister.

Upcoming teams include a team from Indiana to work in Panama in July and a group from California to help with the Leadership Center in August.

TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL

These last few months have been full of traveling. David and Shelley both traveled to Panama to work with teams in the month of May. Here you can see David working hard with a group of students from Malone College in Ohio.

Just a little hot and dirty!

We were home together for about one week of the month. David was in Managua, Nicaragua in April and this week is visiting each of the four districts in Nicaragua. Add to that another trip to Panama and you’ve filled your schedule with travel. Let’s just say, David is getting good at crossing borders and will need more passport pages soon! And of course, the work continues in Costa Rica too with evangelism trainings and planning meetings for Maximum Mission church planting events. Shelley had the privilege of working with a medical team in Panama. Here you can see the medical personnel assisting a patient. The team treated over 60 patients each day with the record being 110 in one day. WHEW!

SUMMER OF SAYING GOODBYE

It is a fact of missionary life. You are always saying goodbye to someone. This summer we have already had to say goodbye to the Eric and Tami Buell and family who have moved to Mexico to lead work and witness projects for that country. Here are Kayley, Paige, Jessica and Joshua at 4am sharing a few last moments together.

MAC South’s loss is Mexico’s gain. Kayley especially misses their family since her two closest friends, Paige and Jessica, are no longer next door for constant companionship. The end of July we’ll be saying goodbye to our neighbors, Jerry and Brenda Rice, who have faithfully served as missionaries for 20 years. Amazing! They will be moving to the United States to care for aging parents. They have been good friends and we are already dreading their leaving.

NEW RESPONSIBILITES

As missionaries move on, we are accumulating more jobs. David is helping with Work and Witness for now in the country of Costa Rica until the new leader, Eliezel Soto, can travel to Costa Rica. In addition, David will be attending two Work and Witness convention meetings in the United States in September, one in Ohio and the other in Oregon.

Shelley is now working with Child Sponsorship, which is no small job as there are approximately 380 children in the program in MAC South. In addition to helping David with Evangelism and Youth, Shelley will be learning in the following weeks more about Mission Promotion for the area (NMI in the states). Although it is not an official position, Shelley has enjoyed writing articles about the work here in MAC South. These articles are usually published on the web at www.ncnnews.com under the heading Mexico/Central America. There is much to learn and do, but God is helping us each day.

VISITORS TO THE FIELD

In May we were thrilled to have Grandma Preussner visit from Iowa. Here is Grandma, Shelley and Joshua at Volcan Poás. It was a beautiful day to view the volcano.

Grandma was brave to travel all alone, but the desire to see the grandkids overcame her anxiety and she made it just fine. We also visited the Britt Café Plantation. In July, we’ll have more visitors when Grandma Webb and Aunt Tina arrive. We’re making plans now for a great time with them.

UPDATE ON THE KIDS

As you can see from this photo, our children are growing. Joshua is now almost as tall as his dad and wears size 11 ½ shoes. He has outgrown all his jeans in the length and we can’t seem to feed him enough. Kayley is also growing taller and acting more grown up everyday. In August Joshua will begin 8^th grade and Kayley 4^th. They are attending a summer “daycamp” at the Spanish Language Institute for one month this summer. They are in their second week and are enjoying the program.

We are privileged to serve here in MAC South with the countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. We ask for your prayers for continued good health, safe travel, fruitful ministry and of course, as always, continued learning of the Spanish language.

Until Next Time,

The Webb Family

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

A Visit from Grandma

Hello All,

What a treat to have Grandma Preussner visit from Iowa. She was brave to travel by herself with lots of luggage to a foreign country, but she did it without incident.

Although David and Shelley needed to work some of the time she was here, the kids had a fun time playing games, watching movies and walking around the seminary campus with Grandma. On the weekend, we traveled to the Poas Volcano and you can see the beautiful view we had that day.

On Sunday, we went to Café Britt, a coffee plantation and took their tour and ate lunch. That was a special day.

Here is Kayley enjoying the shade of an umbrella plant.

Other than that, we’ve been working hard in the office making plans for the next few months. David will be gone next week to Panama and the following week to Nicaragua. He will be meeting with evangelism leaders from each district he visits. Shelley is staying busy working with Child Sponsorship, helping with the administration of Evangelism, writing articles for communications and now taking on the promotions of mission ministry. In addition, we are pleased to be able to work with more Work and Witness teams here in Costa Rica. There is a team traveling through in July as they make their way to Panama and another team that will stay here in Costa Rica in August. Also, David will be promoting Work and Witness opportunities here in MAC South at conventions in September in both Columbus, OH and Portland, OR. What fun!!!

Next week we’ll tell you more about the work and witness project here on the seminary campus. If you have thought about taking a work and witness trip, now is the time. You couldn’t find a prettier place to be than Costa Rica…ask my mom, she will vouch for it. She said that Costa Rica reminds her of Hawaii (OK, we’re not on the beach, but there is a beach!) At any rate, you’ll like it!

Serving the Lord together,

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb

Medical Team to Panama

Panama City skyline...Beautiful

Dear Friends and Family,

Finally I have a chance to write about the great experience in Panama City with a medical team from Arizona. Tami Buell and I left in the afternoon on a Friday, boarded a tour bus and headed for the border. After 15 hours of travel through the night, we arrived safely in Panama City at 5am. After resting for a few hours in a hotel, we met the Medical Mission Team at the airport.

It was a blessing that all their medicines and equipment arrived safely and without incident, even clearing customs without a hitch. We then traveled to a local church which served as our living quarters for the week. Altogether we numbered 14, and soon found that number to be big when there is only one shower. Sleeping on air mattresses was more comfy than I thought possible and the cold water felt good after a long hot day. Here you see a photo of Tami Buell and 3 from the Arizona team working hard in the pharmacy.

We worked for 5 days in four locations serving more than 60 patients each day. The record was 120 patients in one day…WOW! Lots of people were helped. The local water company allowed us to use this building and the electric company set up the tent to shield us from the rain and sun.

A highlight was visiting the area of Paso Blanco where David and Eric had worked with a Maximum Mission team only a week before this trip. They helped to construct the frame for a new building which will serve as a dining hall for a feeding program and in time a new church. You can see here a photo of the old building they are still using for the feeding program. It won't be long and they will be using the new facility. You can see the new building in the blog from two weeks ago. We spent two days ministering in this area.

Friday was the tour day and I was excited to view the Panama Canal. It is quite an amazing thing to see and we were blessed that there were two huge ships passing through side by side when we were there.

It was wonderful to get back home to Costa Rica after 9 days of travel. David managed to help the children study for their final exams and the kids are pleased the school year is over and they have more free time.

Grandma Preussner arrives tonight for a 5 day visit so we’ll be heading off to the airport soon.

Til next week,

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Vale la Pena

In our last blog, we mentioned we would appreciate your prayers for a 14 year old youth named Joseph. A little over two months ago, Joseph did not have a church home or a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ. However in March of this year, this changed when a local church started a cell group in his neighborhood. This cell group met every Friday night for seven weeks before hosting a special Maxima Mission church planting coordination with community service, Bible schools and showings of the Jesus Film.



Joseph in a meeting in late March

Joseph is very special to the Lord and very special to us because he was the first person to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior in the very first Friday night cell group meeting. Joseph is a young man of great joy and feels God has a special purpose for his life. In early April, we prayed for pain in his leg only to find out later that the cause was pelvic cancer. However, this has not kept Joseph from shining the light that Jesus Christ has brought to his life.

This past Friday, Joseph had another first. Although he was in the hospital, he became the first person from this cell group to be baptized. It was great to see the testimony of the life of Christ in the cancer wing of this hospital. We had a special baptism service in the hallway (yes, we had to have a sprinkling instead of immersion) where he also had communion. We had approximately 25 people in a worship service and celebration. Joseph testified to Christ's goodness and challenged us all to follow the Lord. He later asked about the possibility of getting evangecubes to use in the hospital! (If you haven't seen them, evangecubes are a great way to share the story of salvation through pictures)

I found out about Joseph's cancer about 6 weeks ago from the pastor of the mother church. Pastora Leyla told me that if all the work we were doing for this church plant was all just for Joseph, it was "vale la pena." Vale la pena means to be worthwhile. And Pastora Leyla is right. However, it makes me think. I wonder how many other Joseph's are out there. Not just here in Costa Rica, Panama or Nicaragua, but in the US and every other country and neighborhood. People who are so ready to receive the Lord. People who long to experience Christ's love where they live.

We ask you to pray for Joseph and for God's healing touch upon his body. Joseph is truly an incredible young man, his joy and smile are very contagious. We know God is able and can bring healing.

We also ask that you pray for our boldness and for boldness for believers all around the world to share the incredible good news of the salvation and life that only Jesus Christ can bring. Joseph reminds me that we need to make the most of every opportunity. After all, one changed life is "Vale la pena."

Many blessings in Christ our Lord,
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb