Busy, Busy Summer
Have you noticed how life goes on whether you're paying attention or not, tracking the days or dog-paddling just to keep your head above water? And don't forget to breathe! (That line always makes me laugh in exercise videos)
The Dye family left on furlough just before April transitioned into May. I feel with all my heart that it should still be May, that I just celebrated turning 46 and that we just celebrated Mother's Day at church and that summer was something we were still looking forward to and making plans for, rather than something we're neck-deep in already. And hot, the summer is hot and sweaty!
And then, God led me to this beautiful passage in Jeremiah 17:7-8
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
I want to be that green tree. Don't you? Gotta deepen those roots!
May the Fourth Be With You
I had a lovely birthday on May 4th. Star Wars fans celebrate it as Star Wars Day. Mexican Americans wait a day and celebrate it as Cinco de Mayo. I had planned to make brownies with my friend Karla, so we could serve brownies with the usual after-church-coffee for Mother's Day, which is celebrated here the first Sunday in May, instead of the second Sunday as in the Americas. I also needed to show her husband Eduardo that homemade brownies are way better than the packaged ones he insisted were more than just edible. I didn't tell anyone about my birthday because I'm still new and I didn't want to make a fuss and cultural expectations can get awkward very quickly surrounding birthday celebrations. I just imagined myself making brownies with Karla and proving Eduardo wrong.
Well, someone spilled the beans (yeah, I'm looking at you Priscila Dye) because people kept showing up with cake and cream puffs and chocolate and other pastries. The three-person baking afternoon turned into an impromptu party of, besides Mama Emma and me, Karla, Eduardo, their infant daughter Isabela, Karla's mom Ruth, Karla's dad Fernando, our neighbor Antonieta and her teens, Daniela and Adrian, with whom I'm doing a weekly Bible study. Even Johander and his wife, Zenaida, dropped by with cake on their way to work. I had to insist that they all help me eat the pastries and then "forced" more sugar on them when the brownies were ready. They sang to me the birthday song in Spanish, then in English and then they switched to a Venezuelan birthday celebration song that seemed eternally long. And then, as she was cutting the cake, Mama Emma sang Happy Birthday in her native French. We were all laughing and having a great old time. The best part was when Isabela let me hold her with a big grin on her face, as if she knew what a gift she was bestowing on me.
Karla has a pretty long history of epilepsy. Apparently, when she was in her teens and 20's her seizures got really bad and several times she ended up with broken bones, including her tailbone. She was told she'd never get pregnant. And Eduardo had to convince her that he did want to marry her in spite of her health issues. Well, she and Eduardo got married and she got pregnant with Isabela. Her pregnancy was rough and she gave birth prematurely. The church family prayed her through it all and she hasn't had a seizure in 20 months! She travelled recently to Barcelona for the doctors to do tests and check her out. They were amazed and said if she makes it to 3 years without seizures, she can stop taking her meds. Praise the Lord! He is our Healer!
Sharing Meals Together Is Important
To celebrate having survived a whole month without Steve and Priscila, I invited the 4 leadership families over for lunch after church at the end of May. Yoe was in the hospital with pancreatitis after gall bladder surgery and so his family couldn't make it that time. If you look closely, you'll notice Alex is holding up a plate of brownies which I made at Eduardo's request. He's finally seen the light... Hehe
We celebrated again at the end of June. This time Yoe and Karen, their daughter Amy and Karen's mom were able to join us. You may remember that Karen was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia and is awaiting her insurance to approve a major surgery that she needs urgently. Well, they finally approved it and it should be scheduled within a couple of weeks. God sustained her health-wise while her husband was in the hospital for nearly a month. We had a prayer time that day thanking God for bringing Yoe back and caring for his family in such a mighty way.
Just a couple of weeks ago my friend Alexandra invited Mama Emma and me over for lunch after church. She's the pescatarian who I took to the wrong arepa place for her birthday (see last post here). She's obviously forgiven me for that and we've even become gym buddies.
On this occasion she admitted that she doesn't usually invite people over because she's afraid that people won't like what she makes. I listened as I was eyeing the whole shrimp, their eyeballs staring back and their antennae reaching out to grab me. (Mama Emma was eyeing them, too!) I admitted that I love shrimp, but I hadn't eaten them like that before, so would she kindly show me how to do it. She was amused at my ignorance as she proceeded to rip off the head and peel off the shell before popping it in her mouth. I copied her actions while praying that I wouldn't offend her by grimacing. They were good!!! Really messy, but good.
Alexandra was born in Germany to physically frail parents. The doctor recommended they move to a warmer climate for their health (Germany is famously cold and damp). So they moved to Tenerife when she was 6. She speaks Spanish and German and my brain keeping telling me to speak to her in English, though she's told me countless times she doesn't speak it. She's an interesting combination of strict German culture and laid-back Tenerife lifestyle. After we demolished (literally) the shrimp, she served coffee with coconut sugar, an island novelty, and individual servings of milk (yellow and blue stripes above), not cream or creamer, but milk. She told us in Germany everyone uses that for coffee instead of pouring milk from a larger container. Notice the beautiful hand-painted china set that belonged to her grandmother. She brought them over on a ferry from the mainland a few years ago when she did a road trip of Europe.
Praise Is Battle, So Gird Yourself
One day baby Isabela was sick so Karla stayed home and watched the service live from home. She wrote me, "Look, Erin! You were on tv... Well, at my house, anyway."
We were a pretty rag-tag group when we started a couple of months ago. And just as he does, God is doing amazing things as he develops us into a praise team. Our prayer each week is to be emptied of ourselves so God will fill us with his Spirit to the point of pouring out to the rest of the congregation.
At one practice, Viviana arrived so discouraged and ready with an explanation as to why she was quitting the team. Even before she spoke, Mark (our leader) started encouraging her and reminding her that when we sing praises to our Lord we are doing battle with the enemy of our souls. So, we need to be strong so we can resist the discouraging thoughts in our head. He grabbed a couple of drumsticks and had her sing a whole song swinging and stabbing with it as her sword. I can't even explain the change that came over her and the confidence that grew in her voice as the song progressed. It was beautiful!
Johander, the only guy in our group, wasn't even a regular church attender back in January. In March, he jumped at the chance to serve when the ministry teams were formed. Now, his new desire for God and His Word has led him to sign up with Zenaida, his wife, for an online hermeneutics course. His vocal ability has also improved. At a recent prayer meeting, Zenaida shared what a joy it is for her to see him serving in the church and finally becoming the spiritual leader in their home.
Opportunities for Growth and Encouragement
These are our neighbors Adrian and Daniela. Their dad works 6 months as a chef at a hotel in the island of Menorca (the smaller, safer, more family-friendly sister island of Mallorca). We began doing a weekly study together until they finished their school year and travelled with their mom, Antonieta, to join their dad, Juan Carlos. They are great kids and always learning more about Jesus and their relationship with him.
One day I had the funniest conversation with Daniela when she plopped down across from me and said, "Wait, you don't even have a boyfriend?" Then she proceeded to explain how she would teach me to skateboard and we could go down to the plaza so I could show off my skills and then guys would come over and ask for my insta and that way I could get a boyfriend. ROFL!!! (that's "rolling on the floor laughing" for you old fogies) Can you tell she's 15?
One Sunday in June, a young woman showed up at our church an hour and a half before start time. (Mama Emma and I just happened to be there that early because we both saw the wrong time and thought we were late and then we found a parking spot only a block away. Huh.) She didn't speak Spanish, so I spoke to her in English. She wanted to know if we were a Catholic or Protestant church. I said, if those are the only options I'd say protestant, but we usually go by Christian. She grinned at me and asked when the meeting started. I explained it was in Spanish and she was welcome to join us at noon. She flashed that grin again and said she'd be back. She did come back, listened to the praise songs and read the sermon with a Google translate app that wrote out what Alex was preaching. She said the sermon was spot on for what she was going through, asked for my number and we agreed to meet up for lunch the next day. And that is how I ended up having lunch with an astrophysicist named Anooj... From Pakistan... At the only Indian restaurant nearby. She said the food was too bland for her and kept asking the waiter if they had a spicier sauce, while I kept sending him back for more yogurt to soothe my tongue.
It was the most interesting lunch I've had in a really long time. She told me that as she was growing up she'd ask God why he only liked boys, because women didn't have any opportunities where she lived. She shared her story of how God took her from that small town in Pakistan (where few got to study at university, especially women) to study in Germany and she's now working on her doctorate. What an encouragement to share what God has done and is doing in our lives! She was in Tenerife to study the current sun activity from the observatory on the Teide Volcano for a month. She hadn't had a Sunday off to attend a church service till that Sunday and she left back to her university the next day. She is part of a campus ministry in Berlin. And now I have a new friend who has offered a place to stay and a church to attend whenever I make it over to Berlin.
Prayer Walk
In July, we had a group from Christ's Church of Jacksonville, Florida come do a prayer walk. I took them around to some key points on the island, like the Basilica of La Candelaria, which holds a huge carnival each year second only to the one in Rio de Janeiro. We prayed at each place that God's light and truth would penetrate and reign over the darkness.
We also prayed at the church building and the Dye's home. And we prayed for our waiter, Fabio, at the Italian restaurant where we had lunch. We offered him a Bible, but he said he didn't have a good place to keep it at work. He did say that we gave him a lot to think about and he knows a gringo pastor that comes there sometimes with his family who he can ask for a Bible. Turns out that pastor is Steve. Hehe...
Thank you, Sharon, Lynn, Kathie, and Ana for your visit. It was short, but a huge encouragement for me!
Silly Things
This is why it's important to have a native speaker proofread your translation. I saw this sign as we walked back to the parking level of the mall where Carrefour (think European super Walmart) is located.
In the US we call this seedless, thin-skinned cucumber an English cucumber, probably because the English use this kind in their crust-less cucumber sandwiches. Well, here they are labeled "pepino holandés" or Dutch cucumber.
Spain seems to always be passing "green" measures in an effort to be more earth-friendly. Some are frustrating, such as enforcing all air conditioners in public use areas to not be set at a temperature below 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The latest is shown above. They now require bottle caps to not fully detach. Apparently, bottle caps strewn about was becoming a huge problem (nevermind the bottles themselves). Now, I'm not against this measure, but I've yet to manage taking a drink without scratching the side of my mouth or shoving my nose into the cap. I've also yet to find a refill station for my non-disposable water bottle.
Before I close, I would like to ask you to be praying for the Dye family. They are planning the wedding of their oldest, Angela, on August 18th. Also, Steve's mother is recovering from open heart surgery last week. What a blessing for Steve and Priscila to be close so they can care for her at this time. They return to Tenerife at the beginning of September.
Until next time,
Peace.
Erin
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