5 Day Vacation!

Dear Family and Friends,

We had such a great time with David's family that I am not sure where to start! In only 5 days we packed in enough excitement for a month! Here goes!!!

David's sister, Tina, her son Ryan and Ryan's wife Danielle visited us and before they arrived we made plans to visit an area a few hours north of the city where the active volcano Arenal is located. The crew arrived a bit tired after an overnight layover in Miami, but after a few hours rest we were on our way.

On Friday we drove through a town called Zarcero for a quick pit stop and a visit to their central park. It is very unique with these bush designs made into animals, people and faces.


We arrived to our hotel at noon and then headed to La Fortuna waterfall. It was a quite a hike down and we were all thinking about the hike back up as we descended. Everyone hiking up said it was worth the effort so down we went. The waterfall was beautiful and amazingly powerful! It was hard to even stand in that water (which was a bit cold by the way!).


We enjoyed the hot springs pools in temperatures from warm to hot but the hit of the pool was a tie between the two water slides and the American football we managed to sneak into the swim bag. I've never seen three guys think of more ways to compete with a football. We were entertained for hours!


Saturday night it decided to rain so we were not able to see the lava as we had hoped, but the next morning made up for it with a wonderful canopy/zip line adventure. Here are a few shots of our time together. We were most worried about Kayley thinking she might get scared and chicken out but she was right up front and loved it even more than the rest of us. She looked like a professional out there!


We enjoyed worshiping together on Sunday morning and then did some souvenir shopping. Monday morning we left early to view Poas Volcano. It was a little cloudy but the wind blowed some clouds out of the way to view part of the crater.


It is always great to have family visit and we needed the break to spend some fun time together as a family. Needless to say, the regular routine has begun once again and already David is in Nicaragua to visit 3 of the 4 districts there. We are busy preparing for the 44 member team that will arrive in two weeks. All the plans are coming together and we are excited to see what God will do in and through this teen group.

May God bless your week. We miss you all!

The Webb Family

WV Team Part II

Dear Friends and Family,

The “winter” weather has begun here in Costa Rica, which is to say the rain has come. We had a tropical storm move through this week which brought days of continuous rain and flooding in many areas. But it has now subsided and the routine will return to regular with clear, sunny mornings and rainy afternoons. Such is life in San Jose.

This week we’ll continue the highlights of our time with the Pierpont Team from Morgantown, West Virginia. There was only room on the last blog to share 3 days of their trip, so we’ll sum up the rest of the week here.

On Sunday afternoon we traveled with the team to Rosister Carballo. This is a poor and drug infested area near the airport. Last year, Pastor Casey, now the Pastor at Pierpont, was involved in the planting of this new mission. It is now a growing and thriving group of around 70 people who meet in homes each week.

We arrived at 3pm to share a time with the local children in the community center. We shared two lessons of the VBS with around 90 children. Then we did a quick craft with the kids and they had a snack before heading out the door in the rain. The team had compiled 100 Personal Care Kits which included a shampoo, a washrag, soap, toothbruth and toothpaste. The children and moms were thrilled with their new goodies.

Three people from the team returned to Rosister later in the week to help paint the outside of the community center that had been absolutely covered in graffiti. In only a few hours all the new paint was on and it looked beautiful.

The team spent the rest of their time working on what will be the new Regional Office for the MAC Region. They painted the entire 3^rd floor, not once but two times. They hung about 30 new light fixtures and scrubbed and mopped all the floors. The building looks beautiful with the new peach colored paint and all the trimmings.

And of course the team had a day for touring Costa Rica. They first enjoyed a special evening out at a famous restaurant here known for its great views of the city. The rain hampered that event a bit but the team did get a glimpse of the city lights between the clouds. Plus we enjoyed watching the traditional dancers.

On their tour day, they enjoyed seeing the Poas Volcano, the hummingbirds and even the rain forest, even though it rained a bit for that part. A lovely dinner out completed the day and they returned to the seminary a bit tired, but happy.

Their team left San Jose at 1pm but did not make it home to West Virginia until 6am after their delays and plane changes. We appreciate their sacrifice of time and money to help the work in Costa Rica and we are already speaking with them about a return trip in late 2009 or early 2010.

We finally celebrated Kayley’s birthday with a trip with two of her friends to a local amusement park. We had a fun time and God provided a beautiful day after many days of rain. There was almost no one in the park so we never had to wait to get on any ride. WONDERFUL! Sorry, but Mom forgot the camera that day so we’ve no pictures to share.

More good news is that we received the kids’ grades and found that they completed the semester with flying colors. The kids are so glad to not have homework, although Mom is assigning a few things during the week to keep their minds busy.

David has a trip planned to travel to Panama City this week and he’ll likely be taking a couple of professors from the seminary along with him. Pray for their safety on this long trip.

We are excited for Aunt Tina (David’s sister), and her son and his wife, Ryan and Danielle to arrive. They will be here in two weeks and we’ll visit Arenal Volcano and fly through the rainforest on a zipline. COOL!!!

God bless you all and have a great week!

The Webb Family

West Virginia Team

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a full week of activities for the Webb family. We hosted a Work and Witness team from Pierpont Church of the Nazarene in Morgantown, West Virginia. They were a fun group of 12 who worked very hard. It was a pleasure to spend time with them. This week we’ll give half the news from this week and next week we’ll finish it off. It’s just too much to share in one blog!

Our former Pastor, Casey Shorr and his wife Rhonda were with this team and they moved to pastor Pierpont church in August of last year. It was fun to see old friends and catch up on their lives.

The team of 12 arrived exhausted as they had driven all the night before to be at the airport at 3am for a 6am flight. All went well until Miami where they were delayed for 5 hours. Finally they arrived in San Jose and we spent the evening getting to know them and practicing a bit of the VBS program.

The team worked in a San Jose public school which is located near a local Church of the Nazarene. This local church is reaching out to their community and assisting this school that is in dire need of repairs. The team was here at just the right time to assist in the work. They dressed as clowns, hid behind sheets to share their puppeting skills and sang and did the actions to all the kids songs. They were a hit!

The school so enjoyed the program that the teachers asked for the material to use in the future.

The team also worked on Saturday alongside a few local church members cutting very high grass and picking up trash.

The school would like to use this space as a recreational area and are considering adding a fence. At least they can now use the flat space for a play area. It was long hard work using dull machetes and one weed eater that was not made for the job. Although some “suggestions” were made by team members about obtaining better tools, they used what they had and finished the job given to them.

Before and after! What a difference!

Another group worked on cleaning the school’s very dirty, grimy outside wall and ceiling. This was slowed by lack of ladders, but everyone pitched in and did what they could. I believe I heard some additional comments about the need for a pressure washer, but human scrubbing action worked too, just not so quickly!

The school, the local Church and the team partnered up to purchase and install new gutters for the school.

This was finished just in time for rainy season! Thanks Pierpont!

On Sunday morning we all attended the El Alto Church which is located on the seminary campus. Pastor Casey preached and our friend, Juan Manuel translated. It was a great message that touched the hearts of the people. It was a treat for us to hear a sermon in English.

In other news, this week was a special for the kids since it was the last week of school. Joshua had 5 final exams but did well. They only had half days this week with exams. They are thrilled to be on vacation from school, but we think the “I’m bored” comments may start soon. Thankfully we have a full summer of activities and teams planned to keep everyone more than busy.

Kayley received some school awards and the one she is most proud of is the Math Achievement Award. She is the only one in her class to receive this award. She learned all her times tables by heart this year and worked very hard to understand fractions as well. She deserved that award!

We'll continue the story next week with more highlights from the West Virginia Team.

God bless you!

The Webb Family

Trip to Venado

View of the Ocean from the beach near Venado.

Hello Everyone!

It has been another good week here in Costa Rica. The weather has been beautiful with the rainy season just getting underway. It has only rained once every few days and it is refreshing when it does. Here is what has happened this week.

David and Shelley took a long one day trip to visit a site for an upcoming church plant in August. The pueblo that has been chosen by the local leadership is called Venado. It is a small village located only 2km from the Pacific Ocean.

Already the pastor in Liberia has been working in this area to raise up a cell group and some leaders as there is no church of any kind in the area and the people are hungry to hear more about God.

We left at 4:30am, picked up the Costa Rican Central District Superintendent and his wife (Johnny and Mauren) and headed northwest. We arrived at 10:30 and began by visiting the local elementary school which is the only building in the town. After a short visit with the school director we were encouraged that there are some needs at the school and we received permission to return in August with more people to do some construction work and to spend time with the children.

The cell group of around 30 people is now meeting in a “building” of sorts but they have plans to build a more formal building.

The structure the people of Vendado are currently using for their sanctuary.

David is standing and Johnny, the District Superintendent and Alvaro, the Pastor in Liberia are sitting.

Five ladies of the community have already started laying some block for the front of the structure.

Johnny and Mauren Calvo in front of the new construction.

God blessed our trip and we learned a lot about the local community and there needs so we will be better prepared when the team from Carlsbad, CA arrives in early August.

A family home a few yards from the current church.

After a bit of car trouble we finally arrived home at 9pm. It was a long day, but well worth every minute. Our car is now in the shop. We need the radiator fixed (apparently on the rock roads we put a hole in it!) as well are other maintenance. We are thankful for a good sturdy vehicle for our travel needs in all 3 countries.

On Sunday we had a special service for all the churches in the Costa Rica Central District. There were about 400 people there and it was a celebration of what has happened and what will happen in this year.

Shelley sang with the worship team for this event and enjoyed singing once again. She has just started singing in the local church and has found that as long as the words (in Spanish) are in front of her, she can still find a harmonious note.

The school year will end next week and the kids are very excited! But for now, the studying must continue to be prepared for finals exams next week. Joshua’s BB season has also come to an end.

It was fun to watch him play. He was a star of the junior high team with his height and ability.

We are excited that our good friends Pastor Casey and Rhonda will be here tomorrow with their team from West Virginia. It will be a blessing to have them here. We’ll have more news about that next week.

We wanted to share that the phone numbers have changed here. Our number is 506 (country code) 2285-5005. Give us a ring if you have a cheap international rate. Otherwise download SKYPE and we can talk computer to computer for free!

That’s all for now! God bless your week!

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Missionary Retreat - El Salvador

Dear Family and Friends,

Our latest adventure was a trip to El Salvador to attend a missionary retreat.

It was a mixture of work and play and a great time to be with missionary friends from the entire region and also to spend a little quality time with the family.

The retreat was held at a resort on the beach in El Salvador. The views were beautiful, but it wasn’t the kind of beach you would swim at. The waves were held back by a long line of boulders and the sand was a dirty brown. The kids found lots of crabs and other interesting creatures in the water and beach. The pools were great and Kayley enjoyed swimming with her friends and Joshua enjoyed playing water polo until his legs hurt from running in the water.

The mornings and evenings were reserved for meetings and trainings, although the parents of smaller kids took turns watching them on the beach and at the pool. It was incredibly HOT weather and the conference rooms were incredibly COLD so we could never quite decide which was better.

Of course the biggest blessing was seeing all our friends. There were nearly 70 people at our evening services. The missionaries are from all the countries in the MAC region (Mexico to Panama) as well as missionaries from Peru, Puerto Rico, Argentina, England and of course the good ole USA.

All of the missionary kids from the MAC Region.
They had a ball together! Kayley, front right and Joshua, back row in center.

Abby Slingerland, Kayley and Paige Buell in the back.

Kayley celebrated her 10^th Birthday while in El Salvador. It was wonderful to hear 50 people singing just for her and to pray over her that God would bless her in this 10^th year of her life. Everyone watched the kids take turns hitting the piñata and Kayley had the honor of breaking it open. It was great fun. Something that she will remember for years to come.

We returned home on Sunday with one sick child: Joshua. Today is Wednesday and Joshua has finally returned to school just in time to study for final exams in a week and a half. It is hard to believe it is May already. The exciting thing is that we have a team arriving next week to work here in Costa Rica Central. It will be a blessing to see Pastor Casey and Rhonda Shorr who were our pastors in Tennessee. They are bringing a team from their church in West Virginia. It will be a good time to visit and work together.

God bless your week! We’ll blog again soon!

The Webb Family