Birthday, Science Fair, Summer begins!

Hello to All,

Doesn't is always seem that May is the busiest month with school activities?  In our family, we also get to add Kayley's birthday to the list, so with the required party with a dozen girls, there is even more commotion!  But we all had a great time celebrating Kayley's 12th birthday.  We even got creative and played "Minute to Win It" games.  Here are few photos from Kayley's special day.

The science fair was also this month.  Kayley finally got to show off her butterfly display with her friend Becca.  Joshua's science project was about the effect of light on plants, but after taking photos of Kayley, Joshua had already cleaned up his area and was ready to go...so no photos of his science project this year.

Lots has been happening at the Seminary as well.  The first online course for SENDAS and the first video-conference course both happened within a week of each other. 

We are very excited to finally be reaching out to students around the world by way of technology.  It will really make theological education a reality for some who could not attend the classes any other way.

David has been working with a team from Trevecca.  I am sure he will have lots to share about that next time!

Kayley finished her final exams on Monday and Joshua has only two more half days.  Everyone is in a celebratory mood, as you can see by the water balloon photo!

We appreciate your continued prayers for safe travel for David, a great summer for the kids, and wonderful CALL (Language School) Summer term in June and July.

God bless you all,
The Webbs

The Church of the Green Roof

 The Center Point team on a Hammock Bridge close to the new church.

Hi to Friends and Family,

We have been excited to see all that God has done over the past month.  David is glad to be at home for awhile as well after a busy month.  After a three day trip to Nicaragua, David was with a US team from the Center Point Church of the Nazarene in Nashville, Tennessee.  They traveled to the very north part of Costa Rica to work in the community of Cartagos de San Jose de Upala.  

Photo:  Before we started working

This trip involved a very unique church plant.  The Costa Rica North district had recently acquired a church building and the land for only about $4,000.  This took place as a mission from a different denomination had abandoned this church building two years prior to our arrival.  The owners of the land approached the Church of the Nazarene to see if they would be interested in receiving this church building if they would pay the purchase price of the land.   Through the approval of alabaster funds, the Costa Rica North just completed this purchase in March.

Team leader Ciara multi-tasking                                                                           

The Center Point church combined forces with the Costa Rica North district to give the church building a lot of TLC that was badly needed.  In this project, we repainted the roof, painted the church, repaired windows, painted the metal window grates and worked on plumbing and electrical needs.   After three days, the community could see that there was a new church in the community (and the workers rejoiced that there were two working bathrooms!).  

                   Vacation Bible School

During this time, we also visited homes in the community (one of the local leaders started visiting at 6 am:) and ministered through a Vacation Bible school.  On Friday evening we had a concluding service and then showed the Jesus Film.  We were thrilled to have an attendance of over 70 people and to see 10 children and 5 adults accept Jesus as their Savior.  It was a great joy to see this abandoned structure being used as a church once again. 

                                                  Special Friday night service with District Supt Johnny Calvo

We jokingly talked about naming the church "The Church of the Green Roof" after applying green paint to the metal roof.  However, this has real meaning as green signifies Hope (here in Costa Rica).  We look forward to seeing how God will use this new group to bring His hope to this community of many needs.  Please pray for this new group.  We rejoice as the local leaders met with 10 people on Sunday April 18 in their first service.  The group is growing and on Sunday April 25, the local leaders reported that 30 people came for the second service.  Praise God for His faithfulness and His help in starting a new work in this community.

Thanks again Center Point Church of the Nazarene for your hard work, your love for the people here in Costa Rica and your friendship.   We believe that God is definitely beginning a very special work in Cartagos.

April Update

Hello All,
It has been another busy month with lots of activities to keep us all busy.  First, David and Shelley traveled to New Jersey to speak at a Faith Promise Missions Convention.  It was fun to see our friends from Denville, NJ after they had just worked in Costa Rica in January.

Saturday night the church had their annual Missions Dinner with food from all over the world!  Then on Sunday morning, we enjoyed a wonderful morning service and then in the afternoon spent time with some of the team members.  And of course, we managed to make a trip or two to WalMart.  We came home with one extra suitcase filled with goodies for all!

Pastor Ken Morrison and David enjoying international cuisine.

David has been traveling in preparation for two upcoming teams.  One is here now - the Center Point Church from Nashville, TN.  They are working in Costa Rica North - close to the Nicaragua border.  More on that next week!

The other upcoming team is from Trevecca University in Nashville, TN.  They will arrive in May and travel to Nicaragua Southeast district to help plant a new church.  David has made two trips there recently (car - 5 long hours, cross border, boat - 1.5 hours, then bus for 2.5 more hours).  But all is now ready and the team will be well taken care of.

 Mercedez is in the middle - studying with Jenni and Dhariana.

Shelley stays busy with her work at the Seminary, and is so pleased to have a new assistant.  Mercedez arrived in February to begin studying in the Masters program and she will be here until next May.  She has been a huge blessing to me, assisting with lots of projects. 

The kids have lots of projects, papers and tests as we near the end of the school year.  Science projects are due next week, so Kayley is putting the finishing touches on her board.  She studied butterflies and we bought two cocoons (one Morpho and one Owl) to study.  She learned lots and had fun doing it.

Thanks for all your prayers.  We appreciate it as David continues to travel in Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica.  God bless you all!
Love from us,
The Webb Family

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