Busy, Busy, Busy

Dear Family and Friends,

David just returned from a great trip to the Panama City area to assist with a team from the United States with Jesus Film Harvest Partners. Jesus Film is a DVD or video that is used to tell people about Jesus and has been very useful and effective in many world areas. There were 16 people on this team from all parts of the United States.

They donated 3 sets of Jesus Film equipment for use on the field. Two sets will stay in the central part of Panama and the third will be utilized in the west side, called Bocas Del Toro (Mouth of the Bull). These teams also helped to show the film and evangelize in other ways by sharing the Evangecube and working in communities with children. Here you can see a VBS event taking place in Panama.

David returned on Wednesday night just in time for retreat with the youth of MAC South. We’ve spent the last few days with 380 youth from our Area of Nicaragua, Panama and of course Costa Rica. They all spent 2 nights (some 3 since they will stay Sunday as well) here on the seminary campus in a retreat sponsored by SENDAS, the Nazarene Seminary. The purpose of the retreat is solely for Spiritual Growth. The main speaker was Pastor Alex from Brazil. He is a youth pastor at one of the largest Nazarene Churches in the world in Campañas, Brazil. His youth group has over 1,500 kids in it. WOW! Now that’s a youth group! He was very nervous since Portuguese is his first language and English is his second and then it’s Spanish. But he did very well and everyone enjoyed his preaching.

Above: A part of the crowd at the youth event, Todo o Nada (All or Nothing).

Below: Here is the Webb Family along with Benjamin and Marlen (sitting, they are Youth Leaders for the Region) and Pastor Alex from Brazil. We had a great time visting Cafe Britt.

As usual, Kayley manages to make friends wherever she goes. Here she is with Pastor Felipe and Maru's daughter from Panama as well as her cousin who lives in Costa Rica, at the youth event.

We are privileged to have the opportunity to work with such great leaders, young and old, across all 3 countries and even in other world areas such as South America. It gives us such hope to see so many young people gathered together with the purpose of knowing God more. We are already looking forward to an even bigger event in one year, July of 2008, when the entire region, Mexico down through Panama, will be sending their young people here, to Costa Rica and the Seminary, for a huge gathering of young people. It promises to include many late nights, great preaching and music and of course fellowship.

We are now looking forward to a few family days together. We promised the kids a trip to the beach before school starts and time is running out. We should have some great pictures next week of the beach (Pacific side) and the rain forest as well. Have a great week in the Lord.

Thanks for your continued prayers for us. You are appreciated.

The Webb Family

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

Waterfalls Galore!

Dear Family and Friends,

As usual, it has been busy here in San Jose. We hurried before our short vacation to get completely caught up and now, after our break, we are scrambling to catch up once again. But how fun it was to have Grandma Webb and Aunt Tina (David's mom and sister from Iowa) visit us here in Costa Rica. It would have been fun enough to just hang out together, play cards, eat good meals and relax, but in addition to that, we spent Saturday at a wonderful place called La Paz waterfall Gardens.







It is a serious of 5 waterfalls in succession with built in walking paths down the mountain with wonderful views and sounds of each one. They are gorgeous, loud, powerful and wet. Another example of God's great creation.






The gardens were also beautiful with an avery filled, of course, with the birds of Costa Rica, as well as a butterful viewing area and places to watch hummingbirds (I should say "feel" as they whizz by your head), frogs and snakes.



Another stop along the way was a coffee farm where Tina, Virginia and Kayley had their photo taken with "One Dollar Juan" (appropriately named for the $1 price tag to have your photo taken with him, his animals and his ox cart). These types of ox carts are the national symbol of Costa Rica and can be found in many bright colors and designs.




Our time together flew by and too soon it was once again "goodbye". But for David, it won't be too long to wait as he will see his family in September when he visits the states for work and witness conventions.

For now, David is off to Panama this weekend, to return in 5 days just in time for an area event here for youth called "Todo o Nada" (All or Nothing), a weekend focused on spiritual growth and development. We're looking forward to making many new friends and seeing some familiar faces from Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

God bless you week. See you soon,

The Webb Family

Nicaragua Trip

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, David had a great week in Nicaragua, but we are glad he has returned safe and sound. His travels began by crossing the border at Paso Blancos, Costa Rica and then traveling northward to Rivas where he led a training of new church planters. Then he traveled to Managua to spend one night before heading off for Estili, an city in the north Nicaragua district. He led a training event there as well which started off with some singing. By the end of the day many leaders had committed to starting a new cell group or church in their area.



One day later he headed back to Managua (3 hours or so) to catch a plane to the Southeast district of Nicaragua.



There he met with leaders and discussed their plans for Maximum Mission events and possible work and witness projects for the coming year. Since there are not many cars in this area of Nicaragua, David got to view the local transportation and he got to eat tamales made inside of Banana leaves...Yummy!



After two days in the Southeast, he boarded the small plane once again for Managua. A few more meetings in Managua and Rivas and finally he got home on late Saturday evening. WHEW!!!!

But it was all successful and vale la pena (worth the trouble) to visit every area in one trip. Today, Saturday, David is off once again to the north part of Costa Rica for a one day training. He will be back late tonight.

We're all excited as Thursday approaches since David's mom and sister arrive that evening. We'll need to work a little as there is a work and witness team passing through on their way to Panama, but we'll be sure to spend some quality time viewing volcanoes and waterfalls together.

God bless you all this week.

The Webb Family

Webb Page Newsletter June 07

The Webb Page
Volume III, Number 3 June 2007

The months of April, May and June have been filled with travel, teams and terrific times for the Webb family.

Read on to learn more…

TENNESSEE WORK AND WITNESS TEAMS

We were privileged to help with two TN work and witness teams this spring. How fun to see old friends and make some new ones too. The teams both worked on the new MAC Area Leadership Training Center which will be utilized to train pastors from the countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Below is Pastor Casey Shorr, from our home church in Woodlawn, TN giving some musical tips to the worship band from the San Isidro Church of the Nazarene here on the Costa Rica Central District.

We need some help to finish the Leadership Center building, so if you are considering a Work and Witness trip, there’s no better time than now to plan your week in Costa Rica. We’d love to see you here! Email David at dwebb@nazmac.org for more information.

In addition, these teams helped with church planting activities in the area of Rosister Carballo. Because of their efforts and the efforts of the local leaders, a church plant has begun in Rosister. Here is Joshua showing the Evangecube to some boys in Rosister. There are now more than 25 people attending the cell group meetings each week. Thanks, Tennessee District for your willingness to leave your comfort zone, sacrifice to raise funds and help with the Maximum Mission in Rosister.

Upcoming teams include a team from Indiana to work in Panama in July and a group from California to help with the Leadership Center in August.

TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL

These last few months have been full of traveling. David and Shelley both traveled to Panama to work with teams in the month of May. Here you can see David working hard with a group of students from Malone College in Ohio.

Just a little hot and dirty!

We were home together for about one week of the month. David was in Managua, Nicaragua in April and this week is visiting each of the four districts in Nicaragua. Add to that another trip to Panama and you’ve filled your schedule with travel. Let’s just say, David is getting good at crossing borders and will need more passport pages soon! And of course, the work continues in Costa Rica too with evangelism trainings and planning meetings for Maximum Mission church planting events. Shelley had the privilege of working with a medical team in Panama. Here you can see the medical personnel assisting a patient. The team treated over 60 patients each day with the record being 110 in one day. WHEW!

SUMMER OF SAYING GOODBYE

It is a fact of missionary life. You are always saying goodbye to someone. This summer we have already had to say goodbye to the Eric and Tami Buell and family who have moved to Mexico to lead work and witness projects for that country. Here are Kayley, Paige, Jessica and Joshua at 4am sharing a few last moments together.

MAC South’s loss is Mexico’s gain. Kayley especially misses their family since her two closest friends, Paige and Jessica, are no longer next door for constant companionship. The end of July we’ll be saying goodbye to our neighbors, Jerry and Brenda Rice, who have faithfully served as missionaries for 20 years. Amazing! They will be moving to the United States to care for aging parents. They have been good friends and we are already dreading their leaving.

NEW RESPONSIBILITES

As missionaries move on, we are accumulating more jobs. David is helping with Work and Witness for now in the country of Costa Rica until the new leader, Eliezel Soto, can travel to Costa Rica. In addition, David will be attending two Work and Witness convention meetings in the United States in September, one in Ohio and the other in Oregon.

Shelley is now working with Child Sponsorship, which is no small job as there are approximately 380 children in the program in MAC South. In addition to helping David with Evangelism and Youth, Shelley will be learning in the following weeks more about Mission Promotion for the area (NMI in the states). Although it is not an official position, Shelley has enjoyed writing articles about the work here in MAC South. These articles are usually published on the web at www.ncnnews.com under the heading Mexico/Central America. There is much to learn and do, but God is helping us each day.

VISITORS TO THE FIELD

In May we were thrilled to have Grandma Preussner visit from Iowa. Here is Grandma, Shelley and Joshua at Volcan Poás. It was a beautiful day to view the volcano.

Grandma was brave to travel all alone, but the desire to see the grandkids overcame her anxiety and she made it just fine. We also visited the Britt Café Plantation. In July, we’ll have more visitors when Grandma Webb and Aunt Tina arrive. We’re making plans now for a great time with them.

UPDATE ON THE KIDS

As you can see from this photo, our children are growing. Joshua is now almost as tall as his dad and wears size 11 ½ shoes. He has outgrown all his jeans in the length and we can’t seem to feed him enough. Kayley is also growing taller and acting more grown up everyday. In August Joshua will begin 8^th grade and Kayley 4^th. They are attending a summer “daycamp” at the Spanish Language Institute for one month this summer. They are in their second week and are enjoying the program.

We are privileged to serve here in MAC South with the countries of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. We ask for your prayers for continued good health, safe travel, fruitful ministry and of course, as always, continued learning of the Spanish language.

Until Next Time,

The Webb Family

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley

A Visit from Grandma

Hello All,

What a treat to have Grandma Preussner visit from Iowa. She was brave to travel by herself with lots of luggage to a foreign country, but she did it without incident.

Although David and Shelley needed to work some of the time she was here, the kids had a fun time playing games, watching movies and walking around the seminary campus with Grandma. On the weekend, we traveled to the Poas Volcano and you can see the beautiful view we had that day.

On Sunday, we went to Café Britt, a coffee plantation and took their tour and ate lunch. That was a special day.

Here is Kayley enjoying the shade of an umbrella plant.

Other than that, we’ve been working hard in the office making plans for the next few months. David will be gone next week to Panama and the following week to Nicaragua. He will be meeting with evangelism leaders from each district he visits. Shelley is staying busy working with Child Sponsorship, helping with the administration of Evangelism, writing articles for communications and now taking on the promotions of mission ministry. In addition, we are pleased to be able to work with more Work and Witness teams here in Costa Rica. There is a team traveling through in July as they make their way to Panama and another team that will stay here in Costa Rica in August. Also, David will be promoting Work and Witness opportunities here in MAC South at conventions in September in both Columbus, OH and Portland, OR. What fun!!!

Next week we’ll tell you more about the work and witness project here on the seminary campus. If you have thought about taking a work and witness trip, now is the time. You couldn’t find a prettier place to be than Costa Rica…ask my mom, she will vouch for it. She said that Costa Rica reminds her of Hawaii (OK, we’re not on the beach, but there is a beach!) At any rate, you’ll like it!

Serving the Lord together,

David, Shelley, Joshua and Kayley Webb