In an effort to improve the summer volunteer program, to make the 8- or 9-week program more sustainable, and to reach a healthy balance for the summer volunteers, we decided to include a retreat halfway through their time in Honduras this year. In principle, it sounds a little strange and not in the least bit helpful for volunteers that are in Honduras for such a short amount of time. Why would anyone want to spend 4 days off-site for a personal retreat when they are only at the Finca for 63 days total?? Isn’t that a little bit selfish and directly competing with their responsibilities for this summer?
However, the Finca, despite being one of the best places on the planet with incredible opportunities to experience peace and joy every day, is an intense experience that can easily wear on you over time, even for volunteers that are only at the Finca for 9 weeks. Our mornings start really early at the Finca and the days are full with teaching English and math classes, leading our after-school programs, attending afternoon spiritual events, hosting our kids and other members of our Finca community for meals in the missionary house, washing clothes by hand, doing chores, and just simply being present to the people around you.
There are constant opportunities to give their love and energy to the people at the Finca, but missionaries MUST find a way to fill their own cup as well. Although each missionary must find their own ways to fill their cups up in the midst of their normal days and weeks, sometimes it is simply necessary to leave the Finca, go on retreat, and fill your cup up with God’s presence, love, and mercy. I was slightly concerned how the summer volunteers would respond to having to go on retreat for 4 days as they were just starting to form relationships with our Finca children and employees, but IT WENT SO WELL! Every single person was glad that they had the opportunity to fill their cup up, receive the sacraments, and enjoy God’s presence in such a beautiful place despite some initial reservations due to the limited time in Honduras.
We had our retreat in mid-July in a BEAUTIFUL house directly on the Cangrejal river in La Ceiba, which is about 4 hours from the Finca. The owner of the house, Pepe Herrera, is a long-time friend of the Finca that often lets missionaries use his house for an extremely discounted price. Our recent retreat was my first time at Pepe’s house, but it is truly a PERFECT house for a retreat!
We arrived on Sunday, July 7th at about 3pm, and we left on Wednesday, July 10th at about 3pm. There were 10 of us at the retreat (7 from the Finca & 2 summer volunteers and the director of Amigos de Jesus, a children’s home with a very similar model to the Finca about 2 hours west of San Pedro Sula), and we were all able to sleep at Pepe’s house fairly comfortable.
A local priest traveled to Pepe’s house on Monday morning to give us a reflection on prayer and mission, lead us in a Holy Hour, hear confessions, and say mass. What an incredible privilege to be able to receive the sacraments while on retreat!! Our other time on retreat was spent listening to a few guided meditations from Fr. Matt, reflecting in small groups and as an entire group, and simply filling our own cups up and relaxing in Jesus’ presence. There was also plenty of incredible community time!
One of the highlights of the retreat was a three-hour hike to a HUGE local waterfall that is visible from Pepe’s house. We most certainly got caught in a rainstorm on the hike there, but it was SO worth it once we arrived, ate our PB&J sandwiches and chips, and enjoyed our time as a community admiring God’s incredible creation!
My personal retreat experience was INCREDIBLE!!! I have a really busy job at the Finca as service coordinator that doesn’t often leave me with a lot of free time throughout the week. Despite being incredibly blessed to have abundant energy and to not easily feel the effects of limited sleep, it is always worthwhile to take a step back, relax in God’s presence, and to listen to His voice in my life.
Since Pepe’s house was directly on the Río Cangrejal, I spent endless amounts of time sitting on HUGE rocks at the river and enjoying God’s marvelous creation. Pepe’s house is also located at one of the only spots on the river that rock jumping is possible due to the depth of the river, and I had an absolute BLAST jumping off the rocks and continuously exploring new rocks to safely jump off of. I feel God’s presence and love so much in nature, so my personal retreat experience was exactly what the doctor ordered in that regard!
On Tuesday evening, while I was enjoying the beautiful sunset atop one of the huge rocks along the river, I suddenly heard an explosion and a scream from the direction of Pepe’s house. After doing my best Michael Phelps impression and swimming across the river in a world-record time, I found a fascinating sight once I arrived at Pepe’s house: some sort of explosion had occurred within or atop the stove, and all of the food, including the hot oil used to make tajadas, was thrown from the stovetop to the floor. One of the volunteers suffered slight burns on his leg from the hot oil, but everyone was okay yet understandably shaken up. Praise God! It could have been a lot worse!
Please pray for our three new full-time volunteers that head to Antigua, Guatemala in the next few weeks and for our summer volunteers as they wrap up their time at the Finca in the next couple of weeks.
Please let me know how I can pray for you!
God Bless!