The Webb Page Newsletter - March 2010 Update

The Webb Page

March 2010

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CALL Program Continues to Grow

Shelley began directing CALL (Christian Academy of Language and Learning) in October of 2009 to provide a Christian environment to study and live while learning the culture and language of Spanish. It has been a great adventure to start a school from scratch, but God has provided each step of the way. 

CALL is a Spanish language and culture program where students live on the safe and beautiful setting of the SENDAS campus while being surrounded by Latino Seminary students and professors.  It is a great place to learn the language and in addition, opportunities may be given to assist in local church planting and compassionate activities. The three-hour classes each day taught by Latin American teachers offer the opportunity to grow in knowledge of the language as well as the culture.  Want more info? Just email Shelley at swebb@nazmac.org.

Shelley has loved being a part of this brand new Language School.  It has been awesome to watch as God puts all the pieces in place and builds the program from the ground up, providing for each need as it arises.  

Christmas in Costa Rica

We had a very special Christmas, thanks to Shelley’s brother and family (Stacey, Kristy, Karly and Brandon) who visited us for a week.  It can get a little lonely here at Christmas as almost all the missionaries leave to visit family (most of them have family in Latin America!), but we did not notice any loneliness since we toured and enjoyed much of Costa Rica with our own family.  

We worked hard on Christmas Eve, holding two different Children’s Events in poor communities.  Even Uncle Stacey got into the act!

We enjoyed a few hours at the beach, zipped down the canopy tour, learned lots about butterflies at the Butterfly Farm and had a great view of the Poas Volcano.  What fun!

TEAMS of 2010

This year, David and Shelley will work with many teams from the USA and Canada.  The whirlwind has started with a great team from New Jersey.  They worked in Costa Rica Central in an area of the city called Tejarcillos.  They painted, repaired, layed concrete, ceramic tile etc…in an elderly housing community.  What a big difference they made in only 2 ½ days. 

Then they presented a VBS program with the help of the local church and showed the Jesus Film in the evening.  It was a great success with more than 90 people accepting Jesus as Savior.  We are excited to see what happens in that community as they local church follows up with all the new believers. 

OK, maybe we didn't work ALL the time!

Three Work and Witness teams participated in a construction project on the Cenizaro Building kitchen and bathrooms. The team from West Virginia worked hard on the demolition of the current structure and the other teams (from Ames, IA and another from TN) began the block laying of the outside walls.

The TN team (top) and the Ames team (below).

David is with another team today in Nicaragua South district.  The team is from Ohio and they will be doing a combination of construction and evangelism for the next week.

David continues working with the church planters, too.  We are really excited that a new program has been put into place for the church planters to receive regular Seminary classes and trainings. 

 

Family Update

The school year got going once again in January, and even though the break is much shorter than the Costa Rican break, we know the kids will be happy to be out of school in late May. (Costa Rican schools run from middle of February until late November!)  

Both Kayley and Joshua and doing well in school.  Kayley is in an elective craft class that she loves and Joshua enjoys basketball and playing drums.  Both are growing up too quickly.  Joshua has only 2 more years of high school after this year, and Kayley is nearing her 12^th birthday in May.  

Home Assignment/Deputation 2011

Yes, it is time to begin scheduling for services in summer of 2011.  We will be in the States from June through the middle of August.  Just email if you want to schedule a service.  We would be pleased to see you next summer.                                      swebb@nazmac.org

Thanks for your prayers and support. We appreciate you!

The Webb Family

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

 

Two more Work and Witness Teams!

Hello to All,

After a crazy February, the pace remained busy in March with two Work and Witness teams combining to form one team of twelve:  6 from Tennessee, West Virginia and Georgia and 6 from Ames, Iowa. 

The TN crowd arrived on the 31st of February and began the construction work on Monday morning.  They worked hard laying block for the foundation and building the walls up to extend the kitchen in Cenizaro Dining Hall. This kitchen is 50 years old and needed some serious remodeling. 

The Iowa team arrived on Tuesday night and began their work on Wednesday.  The men assisted with the block laying as well as working on chipping away at concrete and tile that needed to go to make way for new. 

The ladies worked tirelessly washing by hand 800 (yes, I said 800) used bricks.  In addition, some of the team helped to paint the roofs of two buildings and others worked on the Christmas trees, cleaning around them to help them grow.

The teams enjoyed a ministry activity on Saturday in the pueblo of Pavas.  The area has lots of needs and the team helped to present a VBS, served a snack and handed out some school supplies to the children.  It was a wonderful afternoon of ministry and the team did a wonderful job of connecting with the kids.

On Sunday we attended the church in San Pedro de Poas in the North Costa Rica district.  It was a chance for the team to see the Work and Witness projects at the finca (farm, kinda like a campground) which include a gymnasium project and additional housing for groups.  We are praying for more teams with a desire to assist with these projects in the mountains near Poas Volcano.

 Joshua and Kayley at the finca at San Pedro de Poas. 

Tour day included the Poas Volcano and Cafe Doka coffee plantation.  Everyone learned lots about the coffee they love and managed to find a few dollars to take some home. 

We understand the team from Iowa had a difficult time arriving home and were routed through Chicago after the canceling of their flights.  They arrived home a day late, tired I am sure, but we are glad for their help both at the Seminary and in Pavas. 

On another note, Kayley's science project this year is about butterflies and their life cycle.  It is not everywhere in the world that you can buy butterfly cocoons from a butterfly farm, but just to the west of San Jose at the Butterfly farm they send cocoons all over the world, including places like Cypress Gardens and Reiman Gardens in Ames, IA! 

So, we bought two cocoons and waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally, the first butterfly (Owl butterfly) emerged, but a little too early to be fully developed.  Kayley tried to nurse it back to health, but without success. Thankfully, the second butterfly (blue Morpho) emerged safe and sound and after one day managed to escape out of the patio, leaving behind a bit of her blue wing for Kayley to remember her.  (Yes, it was a girl...you can tell by the less bright color of blue compared to the mal). 

It was an exciting week here at the Webb house between the teams and the butterflies!  We are hoping for a little less excitement next week. 

David just returned from a 3 day trip to Panama and leaves next week for a 9 day trip to Nicaragua.  We are getting ready for teams in April and May, both from TN (one from Center Point in Nashville and the other from Trevecca University).  We appreciate your prayers!  Thank you!

Until next time,
The Webb Family

Fast and Furious February

Hi everybody!

Well, February has flown by as we were blessed with 3 different teams here in Costa Rica this month.  While Shelley worked hard to keep up with her work at the seminary, David traveled to the Nicaragua Southeast district, had a trip to Managua and a trip to the Costa Rica North district.  Whew, what a month:)

 Kayley helping serve food

Five days after serving with a great team from Denville, New Jersey (details in our last blog), we ministered with Chuck Watson, who serves with Jesus Film Harvest Partners, and his family in the community of Purral.

praying for needs in the community

We have a new mission there and were able to participate in a VBS, a Jesus Film presentation and serve in their feeding program that they do every Saturday for children in the community.  We saw over 100 decisions for Christ in one day with decisions made for Christ through the Bible school and presentation of the Jesus Film

 

Pastor Casey preaching at a street service in front of the mission in Rosister Carballo

On February 18 we hosted another great team from Pierpont Church of the Nazarene in Morgantown, WV.  This was extra special as our former pastor Casey Shorr and his wife Rhonda were on this team.  Pastor Casey and Rhonda moved from Woodlawn, TN to this church about 3 years ago.




This group literally tore it up for Jesus as they helped tear out the old kitchen area in one of the seminary buildings and then helped dig new footers to help with the preparation of a new kitchen area.  This project will greatly benefit future students and other groups that use our facilities.

The team also visited two new missions here on the Costa Rica Central district in Eulalia and Rosister Carballo.  We did Vacation Bible schools as well.  While we will remember the fun we had with the children, there is no feeling like seeing the children raise their hands when invited to receive Jesus as their personal Savior. 

Clowning around with the kids

Decisions for Christ

We thank the Pierpont Church of the Nazarene for their servant attitudes and willingness to be part of all we asked of them. As this is their second trip here, it was great to see old friendships deepen and new friendships begin.

 

Ed and Claudia from Pierpont with Pastor Leyla and her husband Jorge

Pastora Leyla is the pastor of the mother church of these new missions

 

 Thanks Pierpont!

What a great God we serve.  Many blessings in Jesus Christ,

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

New Hope Community - New Jersey Team

Hello Dear Friends and Family,

We had a wonderful week with a 12 member team from New Jersey.  The work was hard, the weather was warm and lots of great things happened from their ministry last week in a rough area called Tejarcillos.  Here is a group photo taken on tour day at the volcano.  What a great view we had that day!

The work project was in a government owned elderly housing unit.  The folks there do not get much help and since it is located so close to the Tejarcillos church, we decided to make an impact there.

 

Here is a view of the elderly housing units (4 in each of the two buildings).  Lots of work was accomplished with the help of the local church, the local community and the team.

 

Some of the guys worked on the new sidewalks.  Some of the residents are in wheelchairs and they can not maneuver on those rough sidewalks.  Aren't the new ones beautiful!?  Great job, Walter!

 

Other jobs included tiling work (you can see the new tile in Rosa's apartment), lots of painting and general yard clean up.  

 

After working for 2 days at the housing units, we moved to the street in front of the church for a Children's VBS.  The clowns and puppets were big hits and more than 250 children attended the event.

 

Here you can see Pastora Leyla (our Pastor) speaking to the children about Jesus.

After the Children's event, the team showed the Jesus Film and 94 people came forward to accept Christ as their Savior.  It was a great night.

The team enjoyed a tour day at Volcan Poas and Cafe Doka (Coffee Plantation).  The younger folks in the group wanted to zipline, so we found a location not too far from Poas.  They had a blast!

A great time was had by all and we are thankful for the safety that God provided throughout the week.  Thank you, New Hope Team.  We hope to see you again in Costa Rica soon!

God bless your week,
The Webb Family

Plans for the Year

Hello Everyone!

First off, we want to say that our hearts have been heavy knowing what is happening in Haiti.  Our church has a large presence there with over 120.000 members and so we have been praying for them.  Many of the Nazarene churches have been destroyed and many killed and injured.  Please pray for them with us.   If you have been thinking about donating but just have not done it yet, we encourage you to do so.  A ministry that is doing lots to help is Nazarene Compassionate Ministries.  You may visit their website with updates at www.ncm.org.

The month of January has been filled with planning, planning and more planning.  David and Shelley will be working with 4 teams from the USA in the next 6 weeks and lots of planning goes into all of that. The first team will arrive on Sunday night (tomorrow) for a one week stay.  We are excited to see some some friends from the USA and to meet some new ones.  So next weekend, we hope to update you on our ministry week in Alajuelita and San Felipe, two communities in the south part of San Jose.  The teams for the next 6 weeks are from New Jersey, Texas, West Virginia, Iowa and Tennessee. 

 

Michelle with a Seminary student from Costa Rica North district.

Shelley has three students for language classes with CALL during January.  Michelle, from Ohio, spent the month here and just returned home yesterday.  She is a joy to be around and all of the Seminary students enjoyed her.  She got involved in many ways, from volunteering at a local preschool to teaching a balloon clinic for the missionaries.  (She is a pro at making balloon animals, etc...)

 

Michelle at the Coronado Preschool with the children. 

Stephen and Anne are here as well.  They are volunteers with the mission for one year and are learning Spanish quickly as they put it into practice each day.  They will continue studying with CALL off and on throughout the year. If you are thinking about studying Spanish abroad this year, we would love to have you join CALL.  Check it out at www.sendas.ws/english/CALL

Professor Gaby teaching Spanish to the CALL Students: Michelle, Anne and Stephen.

The Seminary had their annual January Intensive Courses, which just ended as well.  There is article about that online at www.sendas.ws, if you would like to read more. (Be sure you are on the English page and you will see the article titled Intensives under News at the bottom.)  This is the website that Shelley tries to keep up with!  She has learned lots about maintaining websites. 

Some of the January Intensive Students enjoying a break in the sun from their classes.

Joshua and Kayley are doing well with school.  They started back on the 12th and are now getting more involved in the school projects that come every year - like the science fair.  We are still in the idea searching phase, but soon enough, the projects will take shape.  Joshua is still playing BB and playing drums while Kayley enjoys doing crafts and painting when she has time. 

We are still hoping to start English as a Second Language Classes for the local community in this year, but no definite dates are yet set.  To prepare for this eventual reality, Shelley has begun to take courses in Teaching ESL through MidAmerica Nazarene University.  She is enjoying her 1st class and learning lots that will help her in the future. 

David traveled to Panama this week - first to David, Panama and then to Changuinola.  Both cities are on the west of Panama.  (Remember that Panama runs east to west, not north to south.)  Unfortunately, David ate some not so well-prepared food on the first night and became ill.  For two days he was sick, but finally on day three he began to recover.  Just in time to return home.  The joys of being a missionary!  But his trip was good otherwise and thankfully he did not travel alone this time so that he did not have to drive and do all the work himself. 

Well, we look forward to sharing with you about the teams that we will assist in the next few weeks.  We know God has great plans for them all and for the ministries they will work with while here.

God bless you all!  See you next time!
The Webb Family