Time to Say Good-bye... for Now

I'm approaching the end of my time here in Tenerife. It has been a great time of learning and growth. I've gotten to know several of the people at the church. I've been leading a study on prayer during our Tuesday morning fasting. Mama Emma and I have explored the island, made friends with the neighbors, had the car breakdown and called a tow truck, eaten various Canarian food, and kept each other good company.

After church on Sunday, Mark said some words of thanks for my help these months and led a prayer for me and that I would be able to return soon. People gave me lots of hugs and were very kind with their farewells. Oddly, I'm not feeling very emotional about leaving. Maybe that's because I don't feel like I'm saying good-bye. It feels more like a "see you soon" instead of a "good-bye". I was here so recently; it just seems like I'll be gone for a short while and be back to pick up where I left off. Already, I am making a list of people that have invited me for a coffee when I come back! 

I told the Dye kids that they could pick where we ate lunch after church. Of course, they picked McDonald's, which happens to be one of maybe three (?) restaurants (I know I use the term loosely in relation to McDonald's) open on Sunday when most shops and businesses are closed. Two things made our McDonald's visit memorable.

First, we bumped into Alex and Karen from church. Alex runs the sound and video at church and Karen sings. They are both from Venezuela, but they met in Morocco when she got a singing gig there and he was working as a music producer. They lived in Beijing before moving to Tenerife, also working in the music entertainment scene. They have two girls Alexandra and Alexia. Hm, there seems to be a theme there... I got to know Karen really well one day when we were meeting some ladies for coffee. The Prius just shut down on the freeway and we were stuck on the side of the road for 2 hours waiting for the tow truck to come. Alex drove out to see if he could get it to go. When he popped the hood, he said, "This car has no motor!" So, the three of us sat in his air-conditioned car and chatted. Then, a police car or guardia civil stopped and told him he couldn't sit on the side of the road with us in his car. They told us we had to wait on the other side of the guardrail till the tow truck got there. Alex offered to take Karen with him, but she stood by me in solidarity, and we got matching sunburns. The tow truck finally came.

At lunch, Alex was lamenting that he was going to have to go in to work that evening. I asked what he had to do. Turns out that besides producing music he also plays bass for a Bruno Mars cover band. Karen quickly got out her phone to show us videos with him in costume and keeping step with the choreography. Not missing a beat, Alex pulled up videos of Karen performing in Chinese all decked in her sparkly outfits and dancing. They were "one-upping" each other with videos of the other. Hahaha... But the really cool part of their story is that when they moved to Tenerife, they felt the need to find a church where they could grow as a family. Mark, one of the leaders at church, hired Alex for his music school, and invited him to church. They've been helping out ever since.

The second thing I'll mention about McDonald's classifies as the silly or interesting thing for this entry. 

You can order gazpacho to drink or eat with your Big Mac. Gazpacho is a Spanish cold soup or drink (depending on the viscosity) made of tomato, green pepper, garlic onion, cucumber and breadcrumbs. It is not cooked, just blended. And no I haven't tried it... yet. Cold soup doesn't seem like something I would want in my mouth.

This time I would like to close with a section of things I'm going to miss from Tenerife.

Obviously, I'm going to miss the Tenerife Church. The people have been so welcoming and friendly. Many have an eager desire to learn more about God and his Word. It inspires me and I want to help them on that journey of discovery.

I'm going to miss breakfast sandwiches! This one is loaded with bacon and also has cheese, tomato, red onion, arugula and mayo. You know, basically, health food. Hehe... And you can order one with a coffee for less than $5. Yeah, I'm gonna miss those.

I am NOT going to miss parallel parking. That's all I have to say about that.

I'm going to miss sobremesa, which literally means "tabletop" and refers to the conversations before, during and after eating that turn a meal into an event. Here, a 2 hour meal is the norm, not just a holiday ordeal.

Nope, I'm not going to miss the beach. The gritty sand ends up EVERYWHERE. But, I will miss the ocean, especially in Missouri.  

The other day I was driving back from an airport drop off and the ocean looked so blue and vast. I remembered that verse in Habakkuk 2:14, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, just like the waters cover the sea." Wow. I pray that day comes soon and for that we all have our part to fulfill.

Peace.

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