Team from Roseburg, OR

Hello Dear Friends and Family,

We had a wonderful time recently with a team from Roseburg, Oregon. There is so much to tell that I will have to split the info into two or three segments, the first telling about their work in a local school in an area called Tres Rios.

(The team in front of Volcan Poas on a partly cloudy day.)
The team of 17 split into two groups: the construction/painting crew and the VBS crew. The painting crew’s job was to paint the entire outside wall of the school, which is about 100 feet long.

Some rain delayed the team, but finally they got the work completed. We thought we were in good shape until the afternoon when “the big one” hit…lots of heavy rain and wind, so much so that the paint completely ran into the street! (See photo at end of blog to see what I mean!)

It was disappointing to leave in the rain with the project undone, but the plans were already underway to complete the work later in the week.

It seems the painting crew found enough time to play soccer with kids! You can guess who won.


With the rainfall, we had to move indoors. The painting team turned their efforts to the old, rundown desks, which were in serious need of repair and recovering. All their sanding and covering efforts were a success and old tables were given new life. The teachers and students were thrilled.















In the middle of the day, our Pastor (Pastora Leyla) received word that our friend, Joseph, a 15 year old new believer with cancer, was nearing the end of his life. The family requested that Leyla and David come immediately to the home. It was a blessing for David and Leyla to pray with Joseph and his family before his passing. He died later that night. We were all saddened by the news, but rejoice that Joseph, who had such a heart for evangelism, was no longer suffering, but enjoying new life in heaven. We’ll not forget him, nor will his community. His witness during his short time living a Christian life (18 months) will be remembered for years to come. We look forward to the reunion in heaven.

Even with the sad news, the work continued. The VBS crew dressed up as clowns, held up the puppets and sang/danced for more than 175 children that day. This wasn't any easy thing for Ruth (pink clown outfit in photo 1 and blue T-shirt in photo 2) to do since she was close to Joseph, but she gave all she had as she led the kids in the songs and games.


Each group enjoyed the message of the VBS (how a school boy took the blame for his friend when blamed for breaking a window...sounds a little like Jesus taking the blame for us, right!?) The good news was shared and many children decided to follow Jesus that day.



The school wall did finally get painted, thanks to the local evangelism leaders and another Work and Witness team from Ohio.

Part of the team from Ohio spent one morning repainting the wall. This time the rain held off and the paint stuck. You can see the remnants of coat #1 - pink, nearly all washed away.


Next week, more about the Maximum Mission and the Roseburg Team. But for now, a few prayer requests:

1. Please pray for all the missionaries from the Regional Office who are sorting, packing, selling and preparing to move to San Jose in January. This is a huge transition for everyone involved.

2. Pray for David and the next team, a Jesus Film Team from Kentucky. They arrive on the 22nd and will work in North Costa Rica near Liberia.

3. Pray for the kids as they continue studying at ICS (International Christian School). We received their first report cards and they are doing well. We are proud parents!

Lastly, Shelley enjoyed a great Birthday traveling around Costa Rica with the Roseburg Team. The beauty of Costa Rica continues to amaze us. A week later, she was completely surprised by a Birthday party at a friends house. What fun!

Thanks to everyone! We miss you all and pray for you.

The Webb Family

David and Mike By Lake Nicaragua

Greetings in the Name of Christ our King,

David recently returned from Nicaragua after doing workshops with Pastor Mike Dennis who is a former missionary and the pastor of Canton First Church of the Nazarene. Through the generosity of Pastor Mike and his church, Pastor Mike gave a week of his busy schedule to travel to three of the four districts of Nicaragua with David during September 21-27.

Pastor Mike did training in the mornings in how to prepare sermons and in the afternoon David gave workshops on church planting. They did four days of trainings in the cities of Rivas, Managua, Boaco and Estelí with an overall attendance of over 170 people. They praised God as 54 people signed up to plant new cell groups with the hope that each new cell group will become a new mission. Mike did an excellent job and although his voice started to give out on our last day, God gave him enough to make it through the week. David was so appreciative for the opportunity to know Mike and to travel with him all week.

The District Superintendent of Nicaragua Central with 9 new cell group planters

This was also special as Mike is a former pastor of the Woodlawn Church of the Nazarene in Woodlawn, TN where we have our membership. Yeah Woodlawn!

We are so thankful to all who prayed for this event. God blessed in so many ways. Since we were not able to fly out to the South east district of Nicaragua (the airport was closed--but thats
another story), we improvised by doing workshops in the city of Boaco (about an hour east of Managua). This city is known as La Ciudad de Dos Pisos (the City of Two Floors) because it is all hills (our church is on the second floor!). We only have two churches in this area, but one of these has over 300 members. With less than one weeks notice, we had over 20 people in attendance at the workshop in Boaco and of these 20, 14 signed up to start new cell groups.

The view of Boaco from the church

We give thanks to God for how he arranged this time. Through private donations, each new cell group leader receives Bibles, discipleship materials and evangecubes for this new work.
140 manuals were given to various churches that want to replicate the training on sermon preparation. God is continually raising up new pastors and leaders!

Please pray for God’s continued blessing on these new cell groups and that His kingdom will be expanded through these hard working folks. Thanks so much for all your prayers as God continues to bless us with traveling mercies, language, and, most of all, for sending workers into His harvest field.

Love in Christ,

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Costa Rican Update

Hello Everyone,

It has been a catch up week here in Costa Rica for Shelley, but for David it has been a traveling week. David has been working with a former missionary, Mike Dennis, to give workshops in three districts of Nicaragua. Next week I am sure he will have an update for us.

We have many visitors to the seminary this week. First of all, there is a work and witness team here from South Carolina. They are working very hard (and quickly I might add) to help complete the Regional Office building. The missionaries from Guatemala will be moving here in January, so time is running out to finish up the work. They have been laying tile,



and putting up dry wall as well as painting the surrounding buildings, both inside and out, to make the missionary homes move in ready.



This team has been cooking for themselves instead of having food catered, so the most popular people on the team are their cooks!


There are also many visitors here for educational meetings taking place at the seminary. It has been fun to meet new friends and see some old ones as well.

If you have visited here before, you will notice some definite improvements to the Regional Office building. The front lot got tiled this week and the beautiful rock covered walls were completed. It is starting to come together and will really look like a finished product once the doors and windows are all in. We just lack a few on the main floor.


The kids are doing well this week, even though Kayley has had her fair share of homework. Her teacher took this picture during science class.



Joshua played in his first high school BB game this week and played about 8-10 minutes of the game (pretty good for a freshman!). Josh’s team lost by 1 point, but they played well and just need to work a little harder on those freethrows! There is another game tonight, so we’ll see what happens!

We are busy preparing for a Maximum Mission Team that arrives on October 1st. The team will work in an area called Dos Rios, located about ½ hour outside the city. We’re looking forward to meeting our new friends from Roseburg, Oregon.

Later in the month, another team from the USA arrives. The East Kentucky Team will be working in North Costa Rica, helping to plant new cell groups in the area surrounding Liberia.
Thanks for all your prayers during this busy month of October. Hasta Luego.
Until Next Week,
Shelley and Family

The WebbPage Newsletter September 08

The Webb Page
Volume IV, Number 2
September 2008

The months of May – August have been busy ones
for the Webb family.
Read on to learn more…


Missionary Retreat

In the end of April the Webb family enjoyed a missionary retreat for all the missionaries of the MAC Region.


We met in El Salvador and had a wonderful time of fellowship with everyone. The adults were in meetings during the morning but we all enjoyed free time by the pools in the afternoon.




Kayley enjoying her 10th birthday in El Salvador.

Teams and More Teams

In May we hosted a team to Costa Rica Central from the state of West Virginia. It was a special treat for us since the Pastor of the Pierpont Church is our former pastor, Casey Shorr. It was a blessing to spend time with both Casey and his wife Rhonda, as well as meet some new friends from their church. They accomplished much ministry while here, including becoming experts at the VBS in Spanish.


The Pierpont Team in front of a volcanic lake near Poas.

In July we hosted the largest team we have ever worked with, the teen group from Monroe, Michigan, a team of 44 people.


They worked very hard both at VBS programs and at physical labor and we had the opportunity to work in two districts – Costa Rica Central and Costa Rica North. This team blessed both districts.



In August, we were especially busy with two teams. The first team hails from Carlsbad, CA and they worked hard to assist in planting a church in Venado, an area in NW Costa Rica close to the beach. Also, the team worked in San Pedro de Poas where the largest church of the Nazarene is located in Costa Rica. The team mixed concrete along with other outside work, that is when it wasn’t raining!



Lastly, this team worked for one long day in San Jose, doing service projects and VBSs in two local schools.


The Carlsbad Team waiting for church to begin in San Pedro.

The second August team calls Yakima, WA home. This team of 17 brought a set of Jesus Film equipment for the Nicaragua South district and assisted in planting a church on the island of Ometepe. This island is located in Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The team also worked on the District Education Center and became experts in plumbing (Nicaraguan style) by the end of the week.


The team standing behind, the local leaders in front.

We are still searching for the sound system for the JF equipment. Every other bag arrived, but the sound system did not. We are praying it will be located and sent on down to Managua.

FAMILY TIME
In June, we had a great time with David’s sister Tina, and her son and daughter in law, Ryan and Danielle. We filled the 5 days with views of volcanoes, mountains and waterfalls and thoroughly enjoyed the high-flying zip line. It was a ball and we were sad to see the vacation end.



In July, Shelley and the kids flew to Chicago. They kids enjoyed time with their grandmas in Iowa while Shelley learned a lot at the VIVA Conference for international workers helping marginalized children. The two weeks went by quickly, but we were pleased to see some family this year.



FUTURE EVENTS
September 22nd – 27th Training meetings in all 4 Nicaraguan districts

October 1-8 Team from Oregon works in CR Central District

October 22-28 Team from Eastern KY District works in CR North.

November – All the District Assemblies for MAC South (Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica) will take place.


FAMILY NEWS
The kids are doing well in school and have adjusted nicely to their new teachers and grades: Joshua is in 9th grade and Kayley is in 5th.

Joshua made the High School BB team and is excited to play with the juniors and seniors this year.

OUR THANKS
We want to thank our LINKS district in Tennessee for welcoming us in as LINKS missionaries. We look forward to hearing from more of you in the future and seeing you all in June of 2009.

God bless you all and thank you so much for your prayers during these busy months. God is doing great things and we are privileged to
be a part of what He is doing here in MAC South.

Until Next Time,



The Webb Family
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Ometepe Island - Church Planting Team

Hello Everyone!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers through a very busy and blessed month in August. Two days after the Carlsbad, California team left, David flew to Managua, Nicaragua to prepare for another team that would work in the southern part of Nicaragua. This was a very special trip for many reasons.

The team which came from Yakima, WA, was a great group and they brought in a full set of Jesus Film equipment which will stay with the Nicaragua South district to be used in church planting.



This was also special because we worked on the largest freshwater island in the world, Ometepe Island, which is in Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in the Central America.


Yes, there are two volcanoes on Lake Ometepe.

However, the most special opportunity was the chance to work in help planting a new cell group in an area with a very small evangelical presence. We worked in the community of Altagracia (in English this means “high grace”). Altagracia is the largest community on the island and God opened many doors of ministry.

The team from Yakima was a living witness of the love and compassion of Christ during the day as they painted walls around the city park...



and painted the front wall of the local high school and the auditorium...



as well as passing out Jesus Film invitations in the community and the high school. In the evenings we showed the Jesus Film in the city park and saw 39 decisions for Jesus Christ.



Please pray for Pastor Oscar Lopez who is the pastor of the mother church as he and his church continue to follow up with the new believers. Pastor Oscar pastors another church on Ometepe Island and has a great love for the Lord and the people in Altagracia.

The team also spent two days working in the Bible Institute in San Jorge after returning to the mainland as they did plumbing repairs and more painting on existing facilities.



The Bible Institute is a very important part of the history of the Church of the Nazarene in Nicaragua as the first Church of the Nazarene in Nicaragua was built in San Jorge in 1945 and the Bible Institute opened in 1948. The institute is used for many district events including a youth camp where over 300 youth attended in July.



The Nicaragua South district is the biggest of the four districts in Nicaragua with 62 churches as they just organized 5 new churches this year.


The District Superintendent, Gerardo Reyes, painting and cutting down some cocos.

We want to thank Steve, Zach, Erica, Kaitlin, Nick, Samantha, Jessica, Chris, Joel, Dan, Janelle, and Gavi for all their hard work and desire to see God’s kingdom grow in Nicaragua (hope I spelled everyone’s name right!).

After David arrived home on August 28, Shelley, David and Kayley flew to Guatemala on August 29 to be interviewed by the Regional Advisory Council. But we'll tell you more about that next week!

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor. 15:58

In Christ,
The Webbs

Prayer requests:
Please pray for our next two teams who will be coming in October. These teams are from Roseburg, OR and from the Eastern Kentucky District.

Please pray for Joshua and Kayley as they start the new school year. Pray for organizational skills and acclamating to a new schedule both for Kayley in 5th grade and Joshua in 9th grade.

Please pray for Shelley as she works with almost 500 children in child sponsorship and all the responsibilities this entails.

Please pray for David as he will travel to all 4 districts in Nicaragua the 21st through the 26th of September with Rev. Mike Dennis. Brother Mike will be giving workshops on preaching and sermon construction with an emphasis on preaching holiness.