BIrthday Girl, Science Fair and Friends Coming and Going

Hello Friends and Family,

This week was Kayley's 13th birthday!  Yes, we now have TWO teens in the house.  Thankfully, they are two great teens who generally do not cause too much trouble! 

Kayley started her bday morning with a special treat of Toaster Strudels.  She loves those and does not get them often here in Costa Rica.  She also got individual pudding treats for her school lunches this week.  This may not sound exciting to you, but let me tell you, she was excited!

That evening we had a cake and ice cream party for Kayley.  An unplanned balloon fight ensued, which I think Joshua started!  Great fun for all. 

Kayley also had her science fair this week.  She has been working for months on this project and it turned out really good!  Nice work, Kayley!

Last week some new missionary volunteers arrived to the Seminary.  Please meet Bub and Rickie Honea, who will be helping with work and witness teams as they learn Spanish. 

Here they are in their first week of classes with Professor Zeidy.  Hang in there, guys!  You'll get it!

Lastly, we had to say goodbye to our good friend, Eliezel Soto.  He has worked with W&W teams for about 4 years and now is returning to his home country of the Dominican Republic.  We'll miss sharing pizza dinners with him!

David just got back from a long trip to Nicaragua.  I am sure he will post something later this week, but he will not have any photos...the camera disappeared on day 2 of this trip.  Bummer!  

It won't be long now (3 weeks) and we'll be heading for the USA for home assignment.  We have a busy summer planned with services in Chicago, Iowa, California, Kansas City, Louisville, KY, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia.  It will go by quickly!  We hope to see you along the way.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we have new emails.  Many of you may already know, but with the combining of the Caribbean and MAC Regions, we are now called the Mesoamerica Region.  So, the emails are swebb@mesoamericaregion.org and dwebb@mesoamericaregion.org.  Send a message or connect on facebook if you would like to catch up with us.  

Have a blessed day,
The Webb family

Work and Witness - WV

Hello Dear Friends and Family,

 This is Holy Week!  For those in the USA, this means a normal workweek, with perhaps a break from work on Thursday and Friday.   But in much of Central America, Holy Week (Semana Santa) means a week of no classes and many businesses (especially government offices) are closed.  The majority of the Costa Rican population heads to the beach and the Webb family took advantage of the early part of the week to enjoy the beach as well.  So, here I am (Shelley) sitting beside the pool (it’s high tide and it’s super high today) writing this update for you.

This week we want to share about the Work and Witness team from the West Virginia North District who came in March to complete the construction project on the Cenizaro (Ash) Dining Hall.  

The building is original to the Seminary (1969 or so) and needed a new roof since the wood tresses had rotted, new electric; you can imagine the old wires, and a new drop ceiling, among other things. 

The team accomplished much in their short time here, not only working on the Cenizaro building, but also helping with a long list of other projects that you can see below in the photos.

The team cleaned and painted the inside of two apartments on campus.

These great ladies painted the new playground with sun protector.  Two times!

Pastor Casey preached at El Alto on Sunday morning and at Rosister Carballo in the afteroon.

We are looking forward to seeing some of the folks from these churches again this summer when we visit West Virginia.  Thanks to the team for their hearts for ministry and service. 

Check out the new paint job and new door on the Round House!  Excellent work, team!

David is preparing for a long trip to Nicaragua to visit three of the four districts there.  He has not had to travel as much as normal these last few weeks and it has been nice to have him around a little more to see the kids play BB.  The school year will end soon, for which both kids are extremely thankful.  Five weeks to go!

Joshua showing you the huge beach at low tide.  AWESOME!

Diving in to ride the waves. Got the beach to ourselves once again!

 God bless your Holy Week.  It's a geat time to remember what Jesus has done for each one of us. We will attend a special Easter service in the north district of Costa Rica in an outside chapel.  Looking forward to a special Sunday.

Blessings from the Webb family

Updates Galore!

Hello Dear Friends,

We have been bad about updating you on the events of our lives.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, it is because there are just too too many great things going on to find time to write about it all.  So, today we are stopping for a few minutes (national holiday here tomorrow - glad for the Monday off!) to share with you about a few things we have been meaning to tell you.

 

Let's go back to February!  Yes, Feb.  We had the most wonderful time in New Jersey speaking at New Hope's Mission Service (Faith Promise weekend).  This is the 4th time David has gone to Denville to speak and Shelley's second time.  But it was Kayley's first time!  It was fun for her to be in cold weather and see snow once again.  Joshua did not get to go this year, but he went to Panama two times last summer - so it all evens out!  We had a wonderful time there with Pastor Ken Morrision and his wife Carol and all their congregation.

The International Dinner at New Hope with food from all parts of the world.  YUM!

Then we had a great time in March with the West Virginia teams - one from the north district and one from the Pierpont church.  There is lots to tell about that...so next week we'll focus on that ministry.

David has taken a few trips in between, mostly to Nicaragua.  Shelley has kept the home running, kids fed, laundry done, homework completed, taxi service to BB games going and amid it all, God has blessed greatly her ministry in these days.  She has just started a short 5 session course in ESL to an intermediate group of students to gain experience and to complete the research for her ESL master's program at MNU.

 

We are loving using the new computer lab for the ESL class.  You would not believe all the free resources online for learning Spanish.  (We still need more computer work stations - $500 a pop if you want to help.  Or you could buy some chairs -we are using green plastic ones for now, but the new ones are $30 each).

And to top it off, God is leading more and more students to the CALL Spanish language learning program.  We have 4 students now (The Tooley family), two more arriving in May, at least one more for the fall and we are preparing for three families to come in January of 2011.  All of these students will study for an average of 3 months.  AWESOME!  We now have a dedicated classroom for CALL that we are busy buying furniture for and decorating with lots of Spanish posters and words.

The Academy (like a GED preparation program) is also getting underway here at the Seminary.  We are waiting for some final approvals but classes should begin in the areas of Math, Science, English, Spanish, History, etc in May of this year.

So, lots happening around here in the area of Education.  It is a privilege to work with the Seminary whose goal is to educate pastors and leaders in all of the Spanish-speaking world. And all of these other educational programs help to support the theological ministries. We have had students in the online theology classes from Africa and from the very tip of South America.  Technology is amazing!

And to end this blog, we want to share our experience at a nearby orphanage.  It is run by the Costa Rican government, but our youth group was allowed access to the kids for an entire Saturday to hold a special show and game day.

The group from El Alto just before leaving for the orphanage. Notice Joshua in the back (jester hat) and Kayley in front (purple hat). 

We sang songs, presented a VBS, played games, showed the Jesus Film, and had a piñata.  It was lots of fun, but hard to see kids who have no parents to care for them.  This little guy latched onto Joshua.  Another little one asked one of the youth to be his Daddy.   It was a hard but great day and we look forward to continuing the ministry there with the 88 kids.

 Well, it is time for Sunday School.  Shelley has really enjoyed teaching the children (ages 6-11).  They are a great group of kids and Shelley learns a lot too.  She now knows all the parts of the armor of God - in SPANISH.  Have a great Lord's Day.

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Church planting in Nicaragua

Just another day in Nicaragua:)...a view of beautiful Apoyo Lagoon in Catarina

Hi Everybody!

Evangelism Workshop in Nicaragua in February

Sorry to get behind on our updates.  We thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement.  March brought many blessings including David's 47th birthday (where does the time go?).   There are many demonstrations of God's faithfulness in Shelley's work here at the seminary and David's travels.  We just finished working with a great team from West Virginia that just returned home this past Friday.  We will share more on their adventures in our next blog. 

Preparing for the outside service in the central park of Tonala

We decided to update you a little on David's work in this blog.  In January, February and March, David has traveled inside Costa Rica as well as to the countries of Panama and Nicaragua to do trainings in evangelism as well as meetings with missional zone church planters in these three countries.  David is working with 9 missional zone projects currently with the hopes of seeing 4 new projects in Nicaragua soon. 

Missional Zone Planter Arlen with Pastor Paulino and Church planter Luis

A missional zone is a project where a district has very few churches and we are trying to encourage a new commitment to church planting and intentional discipleship in these areas.  God is touching and moving in communities through this vision.  One of these new missional zone areas is in Northwest Nicaragua in the departments (or what we would call states in the US) of León and Chinandega.  We have seen God move in a mighty way in this vision.  In July 2010, this zone had 7 churches but since this time, 8 new cell groups or missions have been planted.  Three of these new missions have between 40 and 50 people in attendance.  The missional zone planter is a dynamic young lady by the name of Arlen.  

The arrival of children from the mother church

David worked with the 3 missional zone planters in Nicaragua the end of February and was able to visit this missional zone of León-Chinandega the same week.  One of the highlights was visiting a new mission in Tonala Chinandega.  The leader, Brother Luis, travels 1 hour each way four times a week to meet with people in this community. 

The Children's event

David attended an outside evangelistic service in Tonala.  It was a great blessing to see the support of the mother church as they brought 3 trucks full of members to help support the event this evening.  There was also an event for the children which the district superintendent Hna Antonia directed.  We praise God as 11 decisions for Jesus Christ were made this evening.  Please pray for new works like this one in Tonala.  The church planters are working hard with limited resources.  Many times brother Luis stays with families in the community until he can find someone he can ride with to return home.  However, his love for the Lord and for this community shines through in all that he does. 

Transportation Options in Nicaragua

Hello All,

This week we want to share with you some of the many modes of transportation in Nicaragua.  Being a poorer country (many say the 2nd poorest in the western hemisphere), not many folks have cars, especially out in rural areas.  On our last trip to Nicaragua in December/January, Kayley and I decided to try to get as many photos of different types of transportation available and here are a few of our favorites.

This is a mototaxi (we called it a tuk-tuk in Guate).  Kayley loved riding these.

Here is your non-motorized tuk-tuk.  A little more work involved in this one.

Old buses are seen in all parts of Nicaragua.  They are the main mode of longer ride transportation.

Just had to include our van with 17 people inside.  Not sure if this was legal or not, especially since we never could shut the side door!

This is our concrete mix arriving at the work site on horse and buggy.

Another horse and buggy making its way down the road.

Pray for David as he leaves for Nicaragua tomorrow.  Short trip this time; he will return on Thursday.  The kids are keeping busy with regular school work and with basketball. Kayley has decided to give BB a try this year.  She has been practicing shooting hoops here on campus.  Here she is taking a break from the court. 

 

Lastly, here is an updated photo of our family.  We need to get new prayer cards made, so we took a bunch of shots a couple of weeks ago.  The kids keep growing that parents keep getting older.  (Happy Birthday David!).  

Thanks so much for your prayers and love.  Hope to run into you this summer when we travel in the USA for home assignment.  

God bless you all!

The Webb family