Paz y Bien
Paz y Bien. Peace and Goodness. This is how Francis of Assisi greeted his friends and friars and it is how we begin any prayer services here at the Finca. So I greet you all with a prayer that you are living in peace and experiencing the goodness of God. As of today, I’ve been living four weeks at the Finca! Four weeks filled with new learning, training, and growing. I’ll do my best to catch you up on what life looks like for me!
On good days, I get up at 4:20 for a predawn run around the Farm with Kassidy, our missionary coordinator and whoever else is feeling up for it. Our headlamps light the way as we dodge sticks, holes, and the occasional skunk. I’m usually fighting sleepiness for most of the run, but by the end, the sun has risen, I can see the waves crashing upon our shore, and I feel so alive. The sky and the ocean are endlessly new in their beauty. I can’t spend too much time marveling at God’s grandeur, because if the water is out, as it sometimes is, then I need to take a bucket shower quick before morning prayer. (Bucket showers are actually gloriously refreshing in the humidity here.)
(El Caribe, The Caribbean)
Every day except for Saturdays begins in Community prayer at 5:45. We gather in our church with the children, tias, and Franciscan sisters to begin our day as a community. I love hearing the children share their prayer intentions and sing (and clap sometimes) with full strength so early in the morning. Then, we go back to our house and the kids go back to theirs to eat breakfast, finish morning chores, and get ready for work or school.
(Our lovely missionary casa. We have an incredible library!)
My jobs here at the Finca will be school Subdirector, Special Education Co-Coordinator, English 5th and 6th teacher, and Tutor. As subdirector, I will work with the principal to coordinate, supervise, assist and serve our teachers and students. The Finca has a K-6th school, Escuela San Pedro, and a 7-9th “colegio,” Instituto Catolico Vincente Pescatore, named after our founder. I’m equal parts scared and excited for this position, realizing that it will call me to become a stronger, more courageous leader and advocate for children and their teachers. There are numerous obstacles to learning in 3rd world countries and the Finca is not an exception. We will face days when rains make it impossible to go to school, lack of funds, the social conditions that force parents to pull their kids from school after 6th grade, and all the other unpredictability that poverty brings…but I have high hopes that God will allow me to serve in small, but meaningful ways. School finishes next week and they begin their Winter Break. During that time, I’ll be in charge of planning winter school activities for the Finca kids and helping our new missionaries prepare to teach! I’m excited to be able to pass on some of the incredible teaching mentorship and training I’ve received from so many dedicated educators. (Special shout out to my Franciscan professors and DLS teaching family who are still in my corner and offering professional support from so far!)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sitting in on classes, getting to know the teachers, guest teaching a few classes, meeting with the principal to plan for the upcoming school year, and organizing the book bodega (supply closet). I usually finish all this around the time school lets out, 12:45 pm. That sounds early, but with our early start and the heat of open air classes, it feels sufficiently long!
For lunch, we either eat as a community or in one of the children’s houses at the Finca. Either way, we have the privilege of gathering around the table as a family. If I’m in a kids’ house, I try to hang on to the thread of conversation as they rattle of in rapid Spanish and strong Honduran accents about their day. Being in community with the kids means being there for the kitchen table squabbles and the resistance to homework and the little annoyances of life…but it also means the chance to celebrate tests that have been passed, compliment a tia on her cooking, and learn the latest about Honduran futbol players.
In the afternoons, we all have chores, jobs or events with the kids or planning time. My small afternoon job is to distribute vegetables and fruits to all the houses in our community. I love knowing that in a very small way I am actually helping bring food to the tables of our community. In general, here at the Finca I am so much more aware of our interdependence and need for one another. In my fairly individualistic life in the States, I could get away with last minute Kroger runs and putting off laundry and taking too long in the shower. Here, that self-focus would hurt my community. Here, it is much easier to see how my willingness to work and be generous is directly beneficial to my community and how their service allows me to live well too. It’s a beautifully direct experience of being the Body of Christ.
(View from my front porch!!!!)
(I've learned to cook on the Fogon! It's actually pretty fun).
Every evening we eat dinner in our own missionary community house and have another additional event, either spiritual or communal. Mondays are community night. Tuesdays we pray rosary with the children. Wednesdays we help out with Tema (Religious education), Thursdays we have Holy Hour, and Fridays are movie night. And in between we squeeze in our chores: handwashing clothes, raking the lawn, making the fire, cooking…By nine thirty or ten, I climb under my mosquito net and attempt to read for a couple minutes before surrendering to sleep. It sounds like a lot, and it is. But the rhythm- prayer, work of the body, mind, and soul, community life, the refreshment of nature…all of this makes it both doable and healthy. This community of the Finca is not perfect. For one, we are living in a third world country with children who have suffered deeply. For another, we are human, so it will always be hard. But there is such joy in this way of life…this way of living in community steeped in prayer and service, deeply reliant on each other and the generosity of benefactors and supporters both here and abroad. The little challenges- the mosquitos, the heat, the physical labor-become meaningful when I remember that they bring me into solidarity with so many of my human family who do not have the luxuries I’ve always had. The big challenges- witnessing the poverty of this country and the suffering of a people, the stories of pain, abuse, and neglect of our children, and my own personal struggles with new jobs and being so far from those I love- these break my heart open to love. Since I have such little power to change the big things, I turn more readily to my God. Comfort and ease can give us the illusion of control…but here, I am so acutely aware that I need God and I need my brothers and sisters.
Thank you for continuing to be a part of my journey. We had a missionary holy hour of prayer today specifically for our benefactors. You are in my heart. All of your struggles are in my prayers. I pray that you know how deeply I am grateful for your generosity. Know that you are empowering incredible young people to heal from deep wounds, to know their worth in God, and to look forward to a future of hope.
(The wall in my bedroom is plastered with many of your faces...Send me pics and I will add you!)
