Wait for it . . .

Greetings from hot and sweaty Missouri! Yes, still. I was sharing with my preacher, and his wife and a couple of elders and my small group and, honestly, anyone who would listen, about how my patience (while waiting to hear back from the consulate so I can finally move to Tenerife) is quickly waning. I don't know how Job endured all his hardships. Obviously, his situation was much worse and he didn't have good friends to encourage him. I am blessed to have friends, great friends and family who have been praying with me and encouraging me along the way.

Well, I have great news. I have finally heard back from the consulate with an appointment! Woo-hoo!!! [Break for celebration dance]

I am scheduled to appear at the Spanish consulate in Chicago next Monday at 10 am for an interview where I will present all my paperwork. 

A few months ago, over coffee, my cousin's wife Haley mentioned it would be so fun to road trip together for my visa appointment. One of the things I've enjoyed over the past year is getting to hang out with her over coffee or even pedicures. So, now it looks like this road trip is actually going to happen and we're dragging my cousin Mark along for the ride. Hehehe

This week means last minute things, like contracting medical insurance through a Spanish company to meet visa requirements. Getting passport photos... Which is so silly since they'll probably take a digital photo while I'm there like they did every time in Ecuador (even after sending me to the passport photo place across the street for prints). Obtaining a certificate of health from my GP stating I don't have any communicable diseases. And finally getting that certificate translated and notarized. Oh, and why not throw in donating my car to charity since the engine has experienced catastrophic failure? My life has become a foxtrot . . . Slow . . . Slow . . . Quick-Quick.

The fact that my background check from Ecuador that I obtained on my trip to Los Angeles has now expired niggles in the back of my mind, but the missionaries, Steve and Priscilla, said that the consulate powers that be tend to approve the visa as long as you have gathered the paperwork. 

There's a spiritual parallel with presenting yourself before God hoping you're good enough holding up all our good deeds while shoving down and covering up our imperfections. Except in the spiritual sense we definitely aren't good enough, and we get approval on Christ's merit which is perfect instead of our own. Well, my hope is in Christ to pass this visa approval process, as well. He is the one who called me to the Canary Islands. He will enable me to answer that call.

In this time of waiting, I've gotten to build strong relationships with my nieces and nephew and make some great family memories. We all (including my sister and brother-in-law from California) got together in St Louis for Father's Day and stayed a few days to explore the city together. Oh, and celebrate my brother's birthday. We had so much fun!

I have a "day job". I have been proofing a commentary on the book of Romans that Literature and Teaching Ministries is working to publish in Spanish so it can be used as a reference and textbook at Spanish language Bible colleges around the world. It is extremely tedious to work on a 500+ page reference book as opposed to the Christian living chapter books I have done before, but I have been learning so much! God continues to bring to my hands exactly what I need to learn. 

This past month, I've had the opportunity to participate in a missionology course through the IAM mission in Chile. Brothers and sisters from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Colombia and I got to learn and discuss together via zoom. Over 100 people tried to log in the first day, and the mission had to purchase a larger zoom plan to accommodate all the students. What a wonderful thing! We learned how God sought to restore his relationship with man throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. We looked at how God used the best and worst historical events to bring knowledge of him all over the world, starting with the persecution of the early church. We looked at depressing statistics of how only 10% of the world's population today is in an active relationship with Jesus. And that in spite of all the efforts 60% is "unreached". So many students were desperately asking what should we do? The instructer told us it's good to have this knowledge, but to avoid the temptation of falling into fear and despair or even a prideful urge to "fix it". Instead, he showed us Jesus' response in Matthew 9.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."

At this point Jesus could have waxed on about the need for volunteers, preachers, teachers, etc. Or laid out a three-point strategy for developing evangelism or missions programs in the local church that we could break down, analyze, debate and build upon for centuries and millenia.  Instead Jesus turned our attention to our source of all things:

"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Matthew 9:36‭-‬38 NIV

I would like to invite you to pray for Tenerife, Canary Islands. You can sign up to get daily prayer prompts here.

I would also like to invite you to share this update with someone who may be growing weary of waiting for something to happen. Also, if you would like to get these updates by email, you can fill out the form here.

Here are some things you can pray for:

• Trip to Chicago and Visa approval
• The Move: packing, saying good-bye, traveling and finding a place to live 
• Building the Tenerife Team: the Dyes, the Shead, and the local church leaders (maybe more?)
• Full support (I'm at 80% of monthly budget)

Until next time, may you be filled with the Peace, Joy, and Love of Christ.

Erin

To give scan the QR above or click here.