Columbian Breakfast and more

Hello To Everyone!
We have had a great first week of January with a full week of work.  David is busy preparing for upcoming travels and trips while Shelley was busy with the new term of CALL (Spanish language Academy). 

Michelle, from Ohio, arrived on the 4th to begin studying Spanish for one month.  Two volunteers (Stephen and Ann) are attending the classes as well.  They are all advancing so quickly.  Shelley is very proud of how they are studying and learning.  The program keeps Shelley occupied making the arrangements with the professor, as well as food, lodging, ministry activities and daily needs for the student.  Here is Michelle, Anne and Stephen enjoying their class.

This month is also the month for Intensive classes at the Seminary, and although there are fewer students this year than last, there is still a good group here from Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.  It is fun to visit with the students and hear about their lives and ministries in their home countries.  These 4 girls are from the North District of Costa Rica. 

On January 2nd, the Webb family enjoyed a wonderful Columbian breakfast with our friends Alvaro and Monica.  Alvaro was a foreign exchange student in David's home when he was only 5 years old.  Alvaro is from Columbia, but works with the Columbian Embassy here in Costa Rica, so he lives only 40 minutes away.  Actually, this photo is from a few days earlier when we met at Friday's near their home.

The Columbian breakfast was wonderful, but the company was great too.  Fried eggs, arepas (a special kind of tortilla) and calentado (heated up rice and beans from the night before!).  Excellent!

We have really enjoyed getting to know Alvaro and Monica and we look forward to future visits.  They live in a beautiful condo with a pool, so the kids are ready to visit whenever we can!  Thanks, friends, for a great visit!

Thanks for your prayers for our family and ministries.  The kids start back to school on Tuesday, so we ask for your prayers for their progress this semester.  We are so blessed to live here, and we realize it even more after speaking with family in Iowa  -  cold, cold and more cold.  I took this photo the other day as I walked home from my office.  BEAUTIFUL! 

God bless you all,
Shelley, David and family

Christmas Vacation - 2009

Hello Everyone,
Last week I promised a blog with photos about our Christmas vacation with Shelley's brother, Stacey, and his family (Kristy, Karly and Brandon).  So here goes...

It started with a long drive from the airport - 2 hours long!  Yes, there was an accident on the pista and that really made for a long drive, but finally we made it to the Seminary.  We had a week to spend together, so we took in all the sights we could.

We took a long day trip to a canopy tour near the beach.  We left the city just early enough to enjoy the beach for about 2 hours before heading off to the canopy tour.  As you can see, the kids loved the beach!

The canopy tour included a ride up the mountain in a tram and then a 10 cable zip line to come down.  Lots of great views, including views of the ocean.

We also found time to visit the butterfly farm - yes, Costa Rica exports butterfly pupuas for exotic parks around the world.  We learned lots, but Brandon did most of the teaching since he just studied butterflies at school.

Poas Volcano was a beautiful sight!  Sometimes it is clouded in, but this time it was clear as a bell!  We hiked up to the lake as well.  What a great day!

La Paz Waterfall Gardens was another stop along the way.  Although this park is still recovering from the earthquake in January of 2009, much of the park was open.  We hiked down along 2 waterfalls....beautiful!!!

We had a wonderful time having visitors during Christmas.  It really kept our minds off of missing the rest of the family during the holidays.  So, who is coming next year???

We are excited for a great 2010.  Seminary classes (including CALL language school classes) begin tomorrow and with 3 teams in the next three months, we will stay very busy!

God bless you all.
Until next time...
David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Christmas Eve - Children's Events

Hello Dear Friends and Family,


Last year we started a tradition of spending our Christmas Eve working in needy communities here in San Jose.  The children love receiving some special attention, a little food and a small gift.

This year was extra special since Shelley's brother Stacey and his family (Kristy, Karly and Brandon) were visiting as well.  We had a great time (one long day!) visiting two communities.  Here are some photos from Christmas Eve Day.

This first photo was taken at Pastor Leyla's home just before leaving for the day.  From left...Maria (Leyla's daughter), Kayley, Karly and Brandon.

The first event was held in a community called El Nazareno.  Even Stacey and Kristy got into the act!

We had a great time doing the Bible School program with the kids and clowning around.

The second community was Eulalia (located about 25 minutes from the Seminary).  The lady in front with the white, light blue and pink top is the cell leader for this community and she opened her home for us to work on Christmas Eve.  Her name is Sarah.

Some of the beautiful children of Eulalia.

It was a long day of ministry, but all worth it in the end to see the children enjoying the day.  For many of these children, the gift they received will be the only one for Christmas.   Thanks to everyone who participated and made it a special day.

Next time we will share more about our vacation time with Shelley's brother and family.  We enjoyed the butterfly farm, ziplining, the beach, the volcano, and La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

Have a wonderful New Years celebration.  God bless you!

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb

Graduation and the Jesus Film Team

Hello one and all,

It has been a busy time with lots of fun activities.  First of all, the Seminary held their graduation on December 3rd.  SENDAS professors teach students throughout Latin America, South America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean with the Masters degree program and additionally serves the countries of Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica with the lower degrees and programs.  This year 30 students graduated.  Here are a couple of photos, but follow this link to read even more about it all...www.sendas.ws.      (You will see the article link posted under News.)

Here are some of this year's graduates (top photo) and then the faculty representing the Seminary (bottom photo).  It has been a great year at the Seminary and Shelley feels blessed to work with such great leaders and professors.

David left last week to accompany a team bringing Jesus Film equipment for the field.  The team is from all parts of the USA including Texas, California and Kansas.

Hannah, Abby and Kayley horseback riding.

They are a wonderful group of people and the entire family enjoyed working with them over the weekend. Thankfully the group worked in a location about 1.5 hours from the Seminary so it wasn't too long of a drive with the kids.

Along with ministry events in the mornings and the Jesus Film showings in the evenings, we enjoyed the wonderful views overlooking a Costa Rican valley, horseback riding through coffee fields and Kayley enjoyed the pool and hot tub.

This is the final week of the school semester, so lots of exams and presentations to prepare for this week. Joshua and Kayley are really looking forward to a break and they are blessed to not have to return to classes until January 12th.

We are looking forward to a great Christmas.  Even though we will be here in Costa Rica, we will get to see family since one of Shelley's brothers and his family will be visiting with us.  I see a zipline in our future!!!

God bless your Christmas.  Let's remember the real reason for the season as we spend time with family and friends around Christmas trees.  Emmanuel - He is with us!

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Beach Vacation 2009

Hello Friends and Family,

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to share with your extended family, but since that has not been possible for the last few years, we have begun a new tradition: beach vacation! 

Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Latin America, it is a great time to visit the coast since most Costa Ricans travel to the beach at Christmastime.  We beat the holiday rush and enjoy the beaches in peace!

This year’s vacation started with a night at the Marriott near the San Jose airport visiting with a Pastor and his daughter from Ohio.  Pastor Bernie Dickson (who bought our van in August at the end of our home assignment) and his daughter Christy enjoyed a few days at a resort near the beach and spent the last night near the airport.  Since Christy works with Marriott, she gets some amazing deals on hotels and resorts and we enjoyed a night on the town with them. 

We talked, played Phase 10 cards, visited the gift shop and enjoyed a special desert before saying good night.  It is always fun to see friends from the USA when they visit Costa Rica.  Let us know when you will be here!!!

The next morning we were off to the beach – Manuel Antonio to be exact.  It is a National Park (about 25% of Costa Rica is protected park land) that only allows 800 visitors per day.  It has a number of beautiful beaches and we especially enjoyed the guided tour through the forest where we saw monkeys, sloths, birds, insects and other interesting creatures. Is that sloth not the ugliest thing you have ever seen!  We were literally a foot or two from it, which is very rare since they are only on the ground one time a week.

I will let the photos do the talking, but you can see we enjoyed our vacation.

 

Next week we will have lots to tell about the Seminary graduation and the upcoming Maximum Mission trip to Costa Rica North.  See you then!!!

The Webb Family