I have probably shared this sentiment before at some point in my 4+ years at the Finca, but I am going to share it again because it is a feeling that is impossible to shake once you experience it. During my time at the Finca, there have been several moments every year that time seems to stop and you get to take a deep breath, look around, be overcome with gratitude for the present moment, and feel like everything is exactly the way it should be. There have been several moments that cause you to think “WOW!! I am exactly where I am supposed to be, zero doubts about it. THIS IS THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!!” These types of moments are simply incredible and fill you with the overflowing peace, joy, and love that is needed to withstand the inevitable hardships that this beautiful mission throws at you.
I experienced another one of these moments at our Christmas Eve party at the Finca!! Christmas Eve is typically a missionary’s favorite day at the Finca, even though they inevitably miss home and their family’s Christmas traditions, because everyone at the Finca is together, everyone is in a good mood, and everyone is showing off their brand-new Christmas outfits and ready to receive their Christmas gift from Santa and the Grinch. Missionaries are busy the entire month of December decorating the colegio party site, prepping Christmas gifts, planning out games, making Christmas desserts, and doing so many other responsibilities that come along with trying to make the Christmas party the most special as possible for our kiddos and staff, yet everyone always says all that hard work is 100% worth it to celebrate Christmas with our entire Finca community.
After a beautiful Christmas mass at our Finca chapel and an INCREDIBLE dinner made by our tias and religious sisters (highlighted by deliciously tender pork ribs made by the best cook in the Finca), we played a few rounds of BINGO with all of the party attendees, which included our Finca children, tias, missionaries, religious sisters, a few former Finca kids and their small children, and our security guards and maintenance workers. After some intense rounds of BINGO were settled and the prizes given away, we moved along to the talent show portion of our night!
Our first act of the talent show was a song that the tias sang together, but it was a really popular song that almost everyone knew the lyrics to. As the song’s chorus arrived for the first time, almost everyone at the party was singing along at the top of their lungs’ capacity and moving their hands in their air from side to side. Some of our employees were even standing up and dancing a little bit with the music! It was in this exact moment that I arrived to the back of the crowd after announcing the tias’ act and leaving the stage. When I first turned around to see our entire Finca family singing, laughing, and dancing together, I was simply overcome with gratitude and couldn’t help but think “DANG!!! WHAT A LIFE THAT WE LIVE HERE AT LA FINCA DEL NIÑO!!!! I WOULDN’T CHANGE IT FOR THE WORLD!!!”
It was in this exact moment that time seemed to stop and I was able to look around at all of the people that I love so dang much as they were laughing, singing, and simply enjoying the present moment that God allowed us to share together. I walked over to Misael, who is our temporary security guard, one of my best friends at the Finca, and an instant ball of energy that loves to dance and sing. I put my arm over his shoulder, and we danced, hugged, and yelled “FELIZ NAVIDAD, HERMANO!!! TE QUIERO MUCHO!!!!” In that exact moment, I felt that tugging on my heart as if it were screaming that everything was exactly the way it should be and that I am exactly where I am meant to be in this moment in time. I felt extreme gratitude to be able to live and work every single day at La Finca and to live in intentional community with some of my best friends in the world!
This year has not been easy by any stretch of the imagination, and I have grown immensely personally, professionally, and spiritually. This past year has challenged me to grow and develop more into the person that God created me to be, but there have been a lot of late nights, lots of tears, and lots of growing pains along the way. For the first time in my 4+ years at the Finca, my health has routinely failed me and has challenged me to depend more on God for the simple strength to do everything in my day that needs to get done.
That being said, moments like these that I experienced at our Christmas Eve party at the Finca make all of the challenges and the difficulties of living at the Finca SO, SO, SO, SO WORTH IT!!! This small little family along the northern coast of Honduras is incredibly special, and I am so grateful to be able to still be a part of it after all these years. That feeling of having my arms draped over Misael’s shoulders, laughing, singing at the top of our lungs, and dancing our hearts out while celebrating Jesus’ birth with our Finca family is something that I will not forget anytime soon!
Please pray for my health and my continued ability to do my job to the best of my ability in this time of sickness!
Please let me know how I can pray for you!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!! GOD BLESS!