August 2024 to February 2025 Update

Folks, this update is long overdue. This time, instead of letting my procrastinator get overwhelmed once again by that fact, I'm going to summarize the last 6 months and bring you up to date. Buckle up and keep your limbs inside your vehicle!

AUGUST

Let’s pick up back in August… My parents came to visit!

Ralph and Cindy Shead celebrated 50 years of being married to each other by coming to see me, their first-born and all-time favorite child. (Shhh… don’t tell Sarah and Matt. They each think they are the favorite).

As former missionaries, they couldn’t come to Tenerife and just rest. Dad preached one of the Sundays and together they shared their 50 years of experience and wisdom with the married couples at their August meeting. Mama Emma and I watched the kids during the meeting. Mama Emma keeps forgetting that she’s 80. So you’ll find her doing things like playing Twister with the youngsters.

I took my folks around the island to see and experience “island-y” things… Like the windy beach where they have windsurf championships.

And to eat ice cream cones that were artfully crafted into a rose. Of course it was over 90 degrees, so the rose drooped and then dripped pretty quickly.

I enjoyed my folks for 2 weeks and then, they just left back to the States. Mama Emma and I washed the linens and remade the bed in time for missionaries Jeff and Kathy Philips to arrive. Jeff and Kathy founded IberoAmerican Ministries (my mission agency) in Chile and were traveling back to Chile after spending two months supporting mission work in Kurdistan (northern Iraq). They have known my folks since they (and 10 other couples) arrived as squeaky-new missionaries to Chile in the late 70s, soon after the military coup.

Back in 2021, when I visited Steve and Priscila for the first time, Jeff mentioned to me the Saharawi refugees from Western Africa. They are an unreached people group for whom he has been praying for a couple of decades. Well, I got ahold of Hadrami (his family is Saharawi) to come meet them. He stopped by on his way to work and was fascinated to meet Americans who spoke Spanish fluently and have been to the refugee camps in Algeria where his parents escaped to when Morocco invaded Western Sahara.

The next afternoon, we were invited to tea by Lebatt, Hadrami’s father (who just happened to be on the island that one day after coming from arranging medical school in Switzerland for his daughter and before traveling to join his wife in Mauritania the next day) and two of Hadrami’s sisters. Hadrami greeted us and then had to leave for work. I enjoyed listening to Jeff, Kathy, and Hadrami’s family swap stories about the refugee camps. I’m pretty sure we didn’t say our farewells till close to midnight.

Another fun thing that happened during the Philips’ visit was that I finally got to make cinnamon rolls with Ander (Zenaida and Johander’s son from church). When I met him, his mom mentioned that he loved to bake. So, we made a deal for me to teach him my brownie recipe and he would teach me to make his famous cinnamon rolls. As he arrived, he pulled out his kitchen scales and special “AA” flour, I realized he is a different level baker than I am. We spent the afternoon laughing over how his recipe was listed in exact grams and mine was more “dump this with that”. If it had been a bake-off, his soft, buttery, sweet and creamy cinnamon rolls would have won hands-down. But I won when he took the leftover brownies home and I got to keep the leftover soft, buttery, sweet, delectable… (ahem) cinnamon rolls. I’m not drooling, you’re drooling! 😉

SEPTEMBER

The Dyes came back from furlough!!!

And that’s all that happened in September… Just kidding.

If you get my prayer updates (you can sign up here),  you may remember that I was discipling Susana who was desperate to get baptized because she was worried that she would die and go to hell. Well, she got baptized! It was my first time baptizing someone in the ocean and she didn’t want to go in past her knees, so we had to time it right with the waves. 

We continue to meet and do Bible-reading plans together. Please continue to pray for her as she grows closer to Jesus and learns to trust him. We're praying she gets a job where she doesn't have to work Sundays.She is so excited when she gets a chance to share her faith with someone!

 

OCTOBER

We had another baptism. This time a Chilean named Alexandra. Steve had started discipleship classes with her before I moved to Tenerife in November of 2023, but she stopped coming for a while because her husband is very against her having anything to do with Christians and even forbids her to meet with us. She finally decided, “I’m not going to keep waiting for him to come around. I’m going to go ahead and get baptized.” And she did. Please pray for Alexandra and her husband Mauricio. Her dream is for them to come to church together, instead of her sneaking over when he works Sundays.

Gary and Krissy from Northside Christian Church in Texas came to visit with their two kids. Their oldest, Andrew, was one of the first people to sign up on Pray4Tenerife.com a few years ago. He is 11 years-old. And Gary and Krissy blessed the couples at church as they led the married couples’ meeting on Saturday. On Sunday, Krissy sang a beautiful song about peace which she not only learned in Spanish, she also made a Spanish lyric video! Gary preached. I know what you’re thinking, but no, he did not memorize the sermon in Spanish. Steve translated for him, which I think was smart.

Those who have been praying for Karen will be glad to know she finally had the surgery she needed. It took three years of her going to different doctors to finally get a diagnosis and for insurance to approve and then schedule it. She is still on the road to full recovery, but so thankful to God and his perfect timing and care.

NOVEMBER

The ladies at church had a baby shower for Deisy and Nico’s daughter, Jael, named for the Bible heroine who killed Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army in the book of Judges. My introverted self does not enjoy baby showers, bridal showers, or similar social events, but I admit I had more fun than I had expected. I felt awkward and a little cheap, to be honest, with my hand-crocheted border baby blanket when all the other gifts were brand-new and packaged. But Deisy made a point of thanking me afterward because I took the time to make something by hand for her baby and she thought that was so special.

We had our first short term team come since I’ve moved to Tenerife. A group from Riverstone Christian Church came to help us with our Thanksgiving outreach event.

The team helped us clean the church space, install new shelves in the storage space and even do some needed maintenance in the bathrooms so the space felt spruced up even before the decorations added a holiday air.

Due to limited space, we could only host 40 people a night, so we held a Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Hadrami (far left) and his brother Mohamed (far right) have come to special church events before, but their father Labat (in white shirt in the far back) came for the first time. When it was time to share what we were thankful for, Labat stood and said he was honored and thankful to be included in an event that focused on giving thanks to God.

Miah’s friend Yordan from school, who’s been asking him about Jesus, also made it to one of the dinners. Pray that the seeds that were planted would take root and lead to full bloom relationships with Jesus.

DECEMBER

Those of you who get my prayer updates know that the beginning of December was challenging in many ways. The morning of December 4^th, Steve and I dropped of the Riverstone team at the airport. (I went on to the capital of the island to request a document which would allow me to travel home for Christmas because my visa had expired but was in process of being renewed.) Steve stayed with the team until they went through security at the airport and then went he home and had a stroke.

I won’t go into all the details, but Steve’s left side was weakened and he couldn’t control his right eye for a while. God took care of Steve in ways we are still realizing. He protected him while driving home; provided a quick trip to the hospital; placed the right doctors at the right time; the right therapists; the right medications; etc. Priscila was able to stay at the hospital with Steve because church friends and neighbors all came around to help get the kids to school and extracurricular classes, buy groceries, etc. Steve was moved from ICU to a regular room in 4 days and released from the hospital a few days after that. He was back at the pulpit preaching 12 days after his stroke.

He had to wear an eyepatch for a while and thus went by “Pirate Steve” instead of Pastor Steve.

I had planned to spend Christmas with my folks in Missouri and Priscila convinced me I should go ahead as they had family coming to spend the holidays. So, I did.

My first Sunday back, which was the same Sunday Steve was back at the pulpit, I got to share with the children’s church at Connect Christian Church in Carl Junction, MO. I forgot to get pictures, so you’ll just have to trust me on that. It did happen, and though I don’t have proof, I have several witnesses who can attest to the fact. The kids will remember me as "the missionary lady who lives on a volcano".

I got to see my niece Nora sing and narrate in her school Christmas program.

I got to see my nephew Miles play the trumpet in his band concert.

And I got to hang out and be silly with my niece Ellie.

I was in the crowd when my dad baptized Nora and my brother Matt watched from stage as he played in the worship band.

I got to celebrate Christmas with my folks, which is my favorite way to spend Christmas.

During our Shead Family Christmas celebration, we usually pick someone to be the director and re-enact the Christmas story. This year, Dad had us re-enact the “Battle of Jericho”. He had saved rolls of paper towels and gift wrap so we could use them as trumpets. The kids especially enjoyed it.

Back in Tenerife, the Comunidad Cristiana Tenerife church celebrated their 7^th anniversary the last Sunday of the year.

JANUARY

My sister Sarah and her husband Stuart weren’t able to make it to Missouri for Christmas, so I went to visit them in their new home in Phoenix. It was fun to hang out with them even if it was a very short trip.

I flew back to the Missouri cold, unpacked, repacked and got on another plane, this time headed to Chile.

You could say Andrea is my oldest friend, in the sense that our moms were pregnant with us at the same time. She and her family picked me up at the unfamiliar Santiago airport. It has exploded in the last years.

I got to catch up with Jorge and Cecilia and their boys. They were my youth leaders way back when I was a teen. Jorge continues to pastor the church that was born in my folks’ living room nearly 4 decades ago.

I got to see many of my old friends during my time in Chile, but the reason for my trip to Chile was to attend the “Vive en misión" (Live On Mission) missions conference put on by IberoAmerican churches in Chile. I caught up with many friends who had done short term mission trips when I was in Ecuador. Some are preparing to be full-time missionaries. We prayed for one young family who is heading to Irak.

Another couple, Ludi and Andrea, were on furlough from Thailand. Ludi came on several trips to help out with projects in Ecuador. What a joy to catch up with people who share a passion for reaching people around the world for Jesus!

When I arrived at the conference, they invited me to participate in a panel discussion on “What unique things do Latin Americans bring to global missions?” Andrea (my left) is from Peru and works in Thailand. Lucas (my right) is from Argentina and works in mainland Spain. It was a great experience!

Elizabeth, (standing next to me below) is a missions pastor in Flagstaff, Arizona. For several years she has made trips to the Saharawi refugee camps in the Sahara Dessert. She has participated in their annual marathon and she has taken teachers to teach English in a couple of the schools there. She led a workshop to invite Chileans to come to the refugee camps because they would have an easier time communicating. Though the Saharawi primary language is an Arab dialect, they also speak Spanish. At the urging of my “boss” Jeff, I also shared about Hadrami’s family in the Canary Islands. Many approached me afterwards to write down the names of Hadrami’s family to pray for them.

FEBRUARY

I travelled back to Missouri and was able to put together one last puzzle with Nora and Ellie. Then, I hopped on a plane (well, three, really: Joplin to Chicago to Newark to Tenerife).

Mike Huff from Longview, Texas was on my last flight. He and his wife were going to visit the Dye family for a week, but Delia got sick and wasn’t able to come this time. Mike posted some pictures of the island on Facebook. His friend, Debbie, saw them and wrote “My niece is a missionary there”. Turns out Mike knows my Aunt Debbie. And my cousin Diane. And her husband Jay. Mike and Delia used to live in Bartlesville, where my mom grew up. (It’s a small world after all.)

My second Sunday back to Tenerife, a former missionary couple was visiting from Ireland. I went over to greet them and realized I knew them. I did an internship in Ireland back in 2003 and they attended a weekend retreat. That was back with pictures were printed on paper and then uploaded to Facebook. I found our weekend group picture. 

Priscila says I better be on my best behavior at all times because I have so many connections around the world. hehehe...

This is baby Jael. She’s the one for whom I crocheted a border on a blanket last November. She was breach and her daddy helped her come into the world at home while waiting for the ambulance. She is a miracle and she is precious.

And this is precious Kathleen. She has a lot of physical and mental challenges that have kept her from coming to church and knowing Jesus. Elena has been a faithful friend, teaching and praying with Kathleen. God put all the pieces in place this past Sunday and Kathleen was baptized into Christ. Celebrate this new birth with us, also.

SILLY THINGS

Yes, this post is insanely long. I salute you for making it to this point. Don’t worry, I just have a few silly things.

Did you hear about the angler fish who made it to the surface of the ocean to die just off the coast of Tenerife? Apparently, they are called devil fish in Spanish, which, in appearance, is an apt name. But then, you realize just how small the poor little thing was. My mom: “Yeah, so are piranhas!”

One restaurant in Tenerife decided to forego putting a mirror in their women’s restroom. Good choice as it's right next to the beach, and really, no one looks good when they come in from the beach. You're on vacation. Don't worry about it!

I remember hearing stories when I was a kid of people risking their lives to smuggle Bibles into China. Now, it seems they print them there. Ah, another win for capitalism…

(Reina-Valera, 1960 is kind of like the King James of Spanish Bible versions. “Impreso en China” means “Printed in China”)

 

Why, yes, this abomination is a fried egg flavored bag of potato chips. If my reaction seems extreme to you, we've never had breakfast together or you'd understand... or roll your eyes like my family does.

Until next time (which will be much sooner than last time),

Peace.

Erin

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