It is hard to believe that it has been slightly over a month since I arrived in Honduras and slightly over a month since I arrived at the Finca! It feels like it has been months, yet also one week all at once. As I mentioned in my last post, my first two weeks in Honduras were spent in quarantine at a place called Tranquility Bay, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from Farm of the Child. Those weeks were mainly spent getting to know my missionary class in person instead of through a video screen. Many of our nights were spent playing cards and drinking cold Pepsi. We had long chats and got to do some fun activities like paddle boarding and kayaking.
Our time at TBay came to an end on October 1st when Megan, our Missionary Coordinator, came to pick us up to take us down the road to the Finca. I was so excited to finally be going to my new home, yet I was also nervous to meet all the kids and see what the Finca had in store for me. And let’s be honest, I was not too thrilled about leaving behind the air conditioner and warm showers.
As Kelsey, Georgi, Emma, Britney, and I rode in the trunk of a Finca truck, we got to really take in the beauty of Trujillo, Honduras. Megan was giving us the 411 on what to expect when we arrived at the Finca while we were also on the lookout for tree branches so that we could duck and not be smacked in the face with them. It was St. Therese of Lisieux’s feast day which is a big celebration day at the Finca since we celebrate each house’s feast day (which I will explain in a bit) and the Missionary House’s name is Casa Santa Teresita. When we turned into the Finca, there was a lot to take in, like the school buildings, the houses, the soccer field, the church, etc. We then pulled up to a little maintenance shed where all the kids, tías, staff, sisters, and current missionaries were. Everyone was singing a song to welcome us and Maria Ofelia, our on-site director, came to hug us all individually since she had not been able to during our orientation retreat at TBay. The kids had all made posters for each of us individually and they had also made a snack for all of us. The celebration was very short since they wanted to give us some time to settle in and unpack our things.
We walked across the maintenance place to our house and were shown our rooms and then given a small tour of the house along with some guidelines: don’t throw toilet paper into the toilet, close all doors behind you so that the mosquitos don’t get in, close the toilet lid after using the bathrooms so that no bugs get into the toilet, only use certain faucets for the purified water, and you get the idea. Important things that we needed to know. After a few hours in our new home, dinner was ready and we were again taught some traditions: the person in charge of making the meal would lead the whole community in prayer before eating. We all gather in a circle, hold hands, pray, and after our prayer we all put our hands in the middle and say, “Santa Teresita, ruega por nosotros” (St. Therese, pray for us).
Before getting into some more of my experiences, let me explain a bit of the layout of the Finca so that you have a better understanding of how things work. I myself was not 100% certain of the layout before arriving. First off, the Finca is currently home to 21 kids ranging from 2-18 years old where the kids are separated into different houses based on their age and sex. There are currently 5 houses that the kids reside in. In each house, there is a house tía who cares for the kids in all things like food, clothes, discipline, etc. Each house is also named after a saint, hence Casa Santa Teresita for the Missionary House. There is also a convent right next to the missionary house that is home to 3 Franciscan sisters, a sixth house which is currently being used as a quarantine space, and another house that is home to the on-site director. The houses surround a soccer field and the church is on the other side. Next to and behind the church there are a few buildings which make up the school which ranges from Kinder-9th grade. Typically, the school is open for the people in neighboring towns and there are about 120 students, yet due to COVID, the only students receiving instruction are the Finca residents and the missionaries help with teaching and more. Throughout the entire Finca there are several trees which provide shade (thank God), fruits, and vegetables. There is also a little playground for the smaller kids (and sometimes the older kids too) to play at. On any given day, you can walk around the soccer field and see kids running from their houses to give us hugs and tell us about a new outfit they may have gotten or asking us to take them to the playground. In short, it is a beautiful place to be.
As beautiful as it is, there is something new happening every day and most of the time it seems like we do not know what is happening, because we don’t. For example, Mondays-Fridays we do morning prayer. On Mondays we do it with our own houses, Tuesdays-Thursdays it is in the church, and a different house leads it every Friday. During the first week of living at the Finca, we arrived at the church at approximately 6:50am and the sisters would teach the whole community (aka the kids, tías, staff, missionaries) a new song. Every time we practiced, the chorus was different. We all thought this was hilarious because we really did not know what the song was supposed to sound like, so we just had to go with our gut-feeling and hope for the best. It always seemed to work out in the end though. It was always fun to look across the church at the older girls giggling or to tap the little boy in the row in front of us so that he could help us find the right song in the song book.
There is also the fact that the power and water go out fairly regularly... like a couple times a week or so. Sometimes the power and/or water go out for longer periods of time. In other words, we new missionaries, which are referred to as buds by the old missionaries, had to learn how to bucket shower quickly. Throughout all the unexpectedness though, the old missionaries, referred to as blossoms, have been so welcoming and helpful to us. They have been very patient with teaching us how to do certain chores (like doing laundry by hand or showing us where the compost hole is outside) and showing us the different roles that we will be taking on in the coming weeks. In the past few weeks, I have been able to see the ways in which the blossoms give of themselves for the mission and love on the kids by living alongside them and truly wanting what is best for them.
One of the things that I was most struck by during some of my first days here was how much the kids loved the blossoms and how much of a relationship they had with them. They would find them to sit next to them and hug them, tell them a story, or just to be with them. All that is to say that I have a lot of respect and admiration for the blossoms here and I feel very blessed to be in community with them. Also, I too have been working on forming relationships with the kids. It is difficult at times, especially since they do not know me and because they already have a relationship with the blossoms, however, there has been progress.
The past few weeks have been spent listening to talks and shadowing different job positions. During the first 2 weeks, we were not allowed to be with the kids without the presence of another missionary or adult. But now, we can roam freely and take the kids to the playground or soccer field, with the permission of the tía of course. I have started working with one of the older girls more individually with her math work and we have also started talking more about one another’s lives. I also started taking some of the younger kids to the playground more regularly and have received some of the most pure and precious hugs and love from them. This past Friday, during our morning prayer, one of the girls saw me arrive and she came over simply to sit next to me and have me hug here throughout the entirety of our prayer time. I was not expecting that, yet I willingly accepted it. It is a very similar situation during our communion services at the sign of the peace where some of the kids will come to the missionary pew and give us all hugs, one-by-one until they have gotten to every one of us.
To start wrapping things up a bit, I want to say that my time at the Finca has been nothing but a gift to me thus far. I have been in awe of the ways in which the Lord has been working in my life and the opportunity He has given me to love on these kids. I have been reflecting a lot on the love of the Lord and the ways in which He loves us unconditionally. Most of the time, I don’t know what to say or do to show the kids that I love them, but I pray that the Lord uses me to show who He is and the love that He has for them. I have been praying the following St. Francis of Assisi prayer regularly which has helped me put some things into perspective while here at the Farm:
Prayer of Self-Giving
I beg you, Lord,
Let the fiery, gentle power
Of your Love,
Take possession of my soul,
And snatch it away
From everything under heaven,
That I may die
For love of your love
As you saw it fit to die
For love of mine.
Amen.
There have been several moments where I know the Lord is asking me to give of myself in ways that I normally wouldn’t. Sometimes I’ll offer to help the girls rake outside simply to spend more time with them even though I am not very good at it, it is tiring, I sweat a lot, and I don’t want to. There are times when I know that a kid is hurting and needs a hug and so I will give them a hug even though it seems awkward because we don’t really have that sort of relationship yet, but they let me love them in that way. There are times when I will help kids with math homework, which I love to do, even though I have to do it in Spanish and explaining math in Spanish gets very complicated, especially when it comes to more advanced algebra and trigonometry. All to say that there are ways to give of myself even though they may seem small and insignificant at times. I trust that no matter how small my self-gift is, Jesus is using it to bring Him greater glory and to show the kids that I want to love on them through the smallest things that they may need.
I am looking forward to forming more solid relationships with the kids during the next year that I am here at the Finca and like I said before, I feel very grateful that the Lord has entrusted me with this mission. I love that there are already so many memories that I can share in the first few weeks of being here. Alas, I cannot share them all for I would never finish this post. Like I said something new happens every day, but I guess that is my new ‘normal’.
One last tradition that I will share with you all will be what we do to begin and end basically all of our spiritual events, or any event in general. The Finca has always had a solid background with Franciscans and our sisters are Franciscan so it works out well. A very common thing that they say is “Paz y Bien” which means ‘Peace and Goodness’ and that is something that has caught on very well at the Finca. It is not uncommon to hear it in our house, the church, or when we’re with the kids. So, until next time, paz y bien!
Alicia
