As I have mentioned in previous blogs, it is an INCREDIBLE, INCREDIBLE gift from God when we receive new missionaries in the Finca and in our family in Casa Santa Teresita! New missionaries bring a fresh energy and raw appreciation for the natural beauty and unique community life in the Finca that is easy to lose, either slightly or completely, when you have served at the Finca for an extended period of time. The first sunset swim, the first soccer game on Fridays, the first community night in CST on Mondays, the first Finca-wide beach party, the first Garifuna mass with the bishop, and so many more amazing “firsts” remind us as long-term missionaries why we are serving at the Finca and encourage us to be grateful for everything that happens at the Finca, both the good and the bad.
We received five summer volunteers on Wednesday, June 4th, and they arrived with me to the Finca on Thursday, June 5th! It is absolutely CRAZY to think that they have been at the Finca for almost a full month already, but, as normal at the Finca, time flies by without any sense of slowing down anytime soon. They are an incredibly talented and diverse group of summer volunteers that bring instant energy and unique conversations to every interaction in CST, especially our time as a missionary family during lunch and dinners. If there is anything that I have learned in my time at the Finca, it is that community can either make or break your experience. We are SO, SO lucky that all of the personalities have fit together so nicely, allowing us to walk on our common path and pursue the same goal of simply loving the person in front of us in this busy, difficult, yet stunningly beautiful mission in rural Honduras.
On Saturday, June 28th, we received two additional missionaries that will be serving at the Finca until September 5th. Alicia and Ingrid are from Lempira, Honduras and are currently in the second year of their two-year program at Leadership Missions International in Comayagua, Honduras. As part of their high school degree in leadership, English, computer skills, & business administration, they must complete their practicum in a place where they can practice the skills that they have learned, especially in English and computing. That being said, they will be doing their practicum at the Finca this summer, and we are SO EXCITED that they chose our Finca family in rural Honduras as the place to complete this requirement!
Lic Lorena, our Finca director, and I have put in endless hours prepping our Honduran missionary program at the Finca and traveling around to different universities throughout Honduras talking about the opportunities to serve at the Finca. We have had a strong desire for many years to have a missionary program made up of Hondurans & Americans alike, similar to the successful program that the Missionaries of Christ have built in Comayagua, Honduras. POR FIN… POR FIN… WE HAVE OUR FIRST HONDURAN MISSIONARIES IN CASA SANTA TERESITA FOR AT LEAST TWO MONTHS!!! ¡¡¡QUE VIVA!!!
It will certainly not always be easy having missionaries from drastically different cultures and languages in the same house, but it is a challenge that will force our individual missionaries and our missionary program as a whole to relentlessly grow, change, & adapt! That is a challenge that really excites me as the service coordinator because I think it will positively impact the Finca and the ability to serve our Finca kids in the long-term. We are hopeful that Alicia and/or Ingrid will want to stay on as a long-term missionary after they complete their two-month commitment, but vamos a ver!! POCO A POCO!!
One of the inherent challenges of having Honduran missionaries in the house is the language barrier, especially for our newer missionaries or summer volunteers that may not be quite as comfortable with the language as our missionaries that have been at the Finca for longer. The missionary Finca life is a challenging one without a doubt…. A REALLY, REALLY beautiful and worthwhile experience, but a challenging experience that impacts every missionary differently and implores them to become better versions of themselves. Having Spanish the predominant language spoken in the house (due to our missionary rules that Spanish must be spoken if there is a predominantly Spanish speaker present in order to avoid them feeling like they are being talked about or left out) can make the missionary experience even harder for missionaries that don’t have as strong of a grasp on the language as others because of the stress on their brain speaking and understanding Spanish at a time that used to be filled with relaxation and chill family vibes.
We are certainly experiencing some of that internal conflict in our CST community right now, but I am encouraged by the genuine effort of our summer volunteers and long-term missionaries alike to truly make Spanish the predominant language spoken in CST when Alicia and Ingrid are present, no matter how hard or challenging it may be in certain circumstances. I am also encouraged by our current missionaries attempting to be vulnerable with Alicia and Ingrid in their second language and make them feel apart of our missionary family in CST!
Also, Tom & Crockett will be returning to the Finca on Monday, July 7th to serve as summer volunteers for another summer at the Finca! QUE VIVA!!! I can’t wait to see them both again and rekindle the old relationships that we have formed over the last few summers! Our family in CST is growing!!! What a gift from God to have such a dynamic and strong missionary community to serve at the Finca and to love our kids and staff really well.
Please pray for all of our summer volunteers on our retreat in Pico Bonito next week, that they can truly rest and take a step away from the Finca to realize the gift it is to be called to serve at our children’s home!
Please let me know how I can pray for you!
God bless!