Since my very first year at the Finca (almost 5 full years ago! WOW, HOW TIME FLIES WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN!!), I have had a job titled “Security Coordinator”. The security coordinator is largely responsible for aiding in the communication between the team of 5 security guards and the onsite director, Lorena, and for attending to the needs of the security guards. In essence, the communication piece is obviously very important for the well-being and the safety of all the missionaries, kids, and staff onsite at the Finca, but the “small” job more or less boils down to one thing: being a friend to the security guards and accompanying them during their time as a Finca security guard.
For anyone who knows me even a little bit, you would know that a job like this is PERFECT for my desires, strengths, and abilities! & I LOVE THE QUALITY TIME WITH THE SECURITY GUARDS WITH MY ENTIRE HEART!! Since my first year at the Finca, my relationships with each of the 5 security guards have grown tremendously, and I can proudly say nowadays that they are some of my best friends on the planet! They have truly been through so much with me and have accompanied me throughout some horrifically difficult times and some breathtakingly beautiful times. They have cried with me whenever I was dealing with the pure chaos of the Looby family and Chloe back in late 2023/early 2024. They have been my closest community at the Finca whenever I was largely living alone in the missionary house for the majority of 2024. They have laughed and danced with me at the birthday parties out on the beach, celebrating the security guards’ birthdays like a family! They have drunk endless cups of coffee with me, and they have accompanied me on nearly weekly trips into Trujillo at night that almost always ends with me buying them a delicious dinner from a street vendor selling carne asada.
However, the part of the job that I love the absolute most only happens one early morning every month. Normally toward the end of every month but on a morning unknown to the security guards working that shift, I wake up at 3am and bring coffee and snacks to the 2 security guards working at that time in order to see if they are actually working instead of sleeping (they work A LOT of hours every week and the early mornings can be a super tough time for our night security guards) and simply spend time with them. I normally stay at the portón with them for 90 minutes or occasionally two hours before returning to my house to do my morning prayer prior to our Finca spiritual event at 6am. WHAT A BLESSED TIME WITH THEM!!
For those of you that know me well, you know that I am SUPER, SUPER, SUPER busy as the service coordinator at the Finca, and I certainly don’t have as much quality, uninterrupted time with the security guards that I used to have in my first two years at the Finca as a normal missionary. I used to have time every single day to talk for at least an hour with the day security guard, and I would drink a tea with the night security guards most nights during the week. However, with the increase in job responsibilities since I started as service coordinator in October 2023, I simply don’t have much time during the day to talk with the day security guard, and I only have time normally one night a week to drink a tea with the night security guards, especially when the community of missionaries is larger and there is more work to manage everyone.
Even though it can be SO, SO hard to get myself out of bed at 3am and it normally DESTROYS my sleep schedule for the rest of the week, I have come to absolutely cherish my monthly early mornings with the security guards for a simple reason: No one is yet awake, and there is no one that can send me messages or ask to speak to me. I have an hour and a half or two hours of uninterrupted, quality time with some of my best friends on the planet, AND THAT WARMS MY HEART SO MUCH!!! The early check-ins are hard enough on my body that it certainly isn’t possible to do more than one morning every month, but I am always eternally grateful for the intentional, quality time with the security guards every month that we use to catch up on life, make jokes, laugh a lot, talk about our hearts, and so much more! BOYS BEING BOYS, as some might say!
I love my life at the Finca as service coordinator! I truly love what I do every single day and that I get to serve the Finca community and support the Finca missionaries the best that I possibly can! However, I am always incredibly grateful when I can turn off the hat as service coordinator and simply be present with some of my best friends on the planet: our team of 5 security guards at the Finca. Sometimes, turning off that hat requires me to wake up at 3am when no one else is awake and surprise my friends with some coffee and snacks. I have never regretted that time with them, despite the early mornings and lack of sleep!
Please pray for our team of professionals that work at the Finca!
Please let me know how I can pray for you!
God bless!