There's a Place Called Canary Islands ... and They Need Jesus

[Most of the text below was taken from a newsletter sent via email in February 2022. Some details and photos have been added for context.]

 

I trust this email finds you well and thriving in spite of so many challenges we have all had to face the past couple of years. I hope this letter brightens your day a bit and encourages you that God is still doing amazing things all around us.

 

As you may know, I have been back in the States for over a year now after handing over the mission work in Ecuador to the local churches. They continue to grow and thrive together with a new sense of responsibility for the churches, the children centers, the school and even a new church plant in Colombia. Please keep them in your prayers as God continues to work in and through them.

 

When I returned from Ecuador, I decided to live with my folks in Missouri for many reasons, among them: the rise of cost of living in California, my nephew and niece and the soon arrival of a new niece in the same town as my folks, reduced expenses, etc. To be honest, I thought I was done with missions. I know, all believers are missionaries, but you know what I mean. I won’t go into detail, but, continuing with my honest rant, I was traumatized and disillusioned by what had happened with our team leaders, Samuel and Paola, in Ecuador and the stress of fixing things in the middle of the pandemic so that the mission was viable and could continue with national leadership had taken its toll. God put key people in my life at the time that helped me recuperate, restore, and renew.

 

In April, a church in Arizona invited me to join their team going to visit some IAM missionaries in Sierra Leone, Africa. The people I met, both African and American, are amazing! What they face day-to-day requires so much faith in God’s calling. That said, it was the most challenging mission trip I’ve been on and only somewhat from the heat. I didn’t know I had ulcerative colitis which was promptly diagnosed when I returned Stateside.  In spite of the physical challenges, God used that trip to teach me new aspects of his Grace and gave me peace about not being called to Africa. And I was thankful for that. (I also praise the Lord, for the medical people he provided so that with medication and dietary restrictions I have been able to get those flare-ups under control, for the most part.)

 

In late July or early August, I had no idea what my next step after sabbatical should be. I had a few job offers, a couple secular and a couple ministerial, but nothing seemed right. One day my mom asked me of all the jobs I’ve had (there have been many and across a wide gamut), which was my favorite. Without skipping a beat, I answered, “Oh, that’s easy. I loved being a missionary. Well, before it became just another office job.” She suggested I reach out to Steve in the Canary Islands.

 

My mom met Steve Dye at a missions conference several years ago and since then his family picture has been on my mom’s prayer refrigerator. She told me how they had moved to Tenerife, Canary Islands the same year I went to Ecuador. Their biggest prayer request was for teammates to help in their work. No one has stayed for more than a year. I would see that family picture day after day and I thought, “even with all the difficulties I experienced with my team in Ecuador, at least I had people and I wasn’t alone”. The months went by, and God took me through a process of healing. I am so grateful to IAM and my supporters for allowing that time of sabbatical for me. It’s been a year now since I’ve been back and my whole outlook is different. I’ll talk more about that later.

 

My first conversation with Steve was odd. I’d never had a missionary trying to talk me out of visiting them right off the bat. I’m learning to be more assertive, so I asked him straight out why he didn’t want me to visit. He went on to tell me how difficult Tenerife is as a field. They’ve come across a lot of people who think doing mission work on a tropical island is a piece of cake, but then can’t handle the reality of the post-modern European culture, animistic strongholds, and spiritual darkness. He suggested we pray about it and chat again in a couple of weeks.

His first question when we reconnected was, “Well?” I replied, “I need to go and see.” The dialogue changed from that point forward. I booked tickets. I contacted Chad, my IAM supervisor, and he gave me a few pointers. He also told me of the Saharawi people that IAM has been trying to reach in the Middle East. Apparently, there is a refugee group of them in the Canary Islands.

It is hard to explain what I experienced during my trip. I felt an immediate connection with Steve and Priscila and their kids when I walked through their front door. I visualized myself living there, walking the streets, discipling the women over coffee, etc. I saw damaged souls that had been through experiences similar to my own. I felt sinister influences around people. I had weird dreams. As the days went by, I had a growing conviction that God had something special for me to do there.

As I mentioned, it’s been a year since I came back from Ecuador. I was done with missions at that time. The future was dark, not hopeless, but I couldn’t imagine what life would look like moving forward. But God started a process of healing, a process that is still ongoing, and my mind has been able to open to possibilities and vision of the future. This was especially evident during my trip to Tenerife.

Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, but are located 60 miles west of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean. People have asked me how big it is, and I find there are two ways to answer that question. Area-wise, the island is only about 3/4 the size of Rhode Island. The population is close to 1 million and that doesn’t include the 5 million tourists that vacation every year. I read that 45% of the residents are registered foreigners, and I saw that was true with the people I met. Most of the people I met were from Venezuela, but I also met people from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba, Romania, and a few Canarian natives. 

 

The official language is Spanish, but most speak some amount of English due to the tourists. There are only three churches on the island: a Spanish Baptist church in the metropolitan zone in the north, an English non-denominational church in the resort zone for tourists, and the Spanish Christian church in the southern zone that Dyes work with, Comunidad Cristiana Tenerife. There are other churches, such as catholic and other churches that teach false doctrine and not the Bible. I saw the cathedral of “La Candelaria” where pilgrims arrive crawling on their knees twice a year for religious festivals. I visited a “holy” cave, another pilgrimage site, honoring a local patron saint. I could feel the oppressive darkness of the cave before I was even at the entrance. Inside, there were catholic idols alongside voodoo fetishes and other paraphernalia. The general mindset of people is a syncretism of post-modern values and superstitious beliefs. The spiritual conflict is very real.

 

The Comunidad Cristiana Tenerife church is pretty new. They just celebrated their third anniversary. The biggest needs are discipleship and a larger meeting place. Serving opportunities are with the youth, children, worship, and everything, really. As you know, my missionary philosophy is to work myself out of a job, teaching others that God calls to fulfill his purpose better than I can. 

 

 

Please join me in prayer as I prepare to “go” again. My current tasks are:

·        Gathering documentation for visa requirements

·        Raising funds for $2000 monthly budget (cost of living isn’t high compared to the rest of Europe, but the euro is worth $1.13)

·        Visit churches to share about Tenerife. Contact me if your church would be interested!

·        Most importantly, to raise prayer warriors because I’ll need protection, and also that God would be working in me and preparing me to be a good and faithful servant.

 

When I moved to Ecuador, my theme song was “Trust and Obey”. This time, “Onward Christian Soldier” keeps playing in my head.

 

A friend asked me how everything is going. I told her, “Everything seems up in the air. So many things need to come together, I feel a bit overwhelmed.” And God knows this. How wonderful that I don’t need to make anything happen. I have my next steps and trust that God, who has called me to Tenerife, will continue to be faithful and make sure I get there. I hope to move in November of this year.

 

If you would like to donate, checks can be made out to: IberoAmerican Ministries, PO Box 1493, Monroe, WA 98272. Please write “Erin Shead” in the memo line. If you prefer to give online, go to the IAM website: iamweb.org/give > Europe > Erin Shead (Canary Islands).

 

I appreciate so much that you made it through such a long letter just to catch up with me. Feel free to write back. I’d love to know how you are doing, too.

Peace,

Erin Shead

 

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