What an unbelievably crazy, memorable, and unique two weeks that we just had at the Finca! Starting with Monday July 4th, this was supposed to be our last full week of school before a mid-summer week-long break with no classes and limited spiritual events. Weeks off are an astounding gift at the Finca, especially during the busyness of the school year, because there is so much quality time to spend with the kids and we can plan incredibly fun activities that we normally wouldn’t have time for during a normal week. That being said, missionaries and kids alike were EXTREMELY EXCITED for the fun activities in the following week!
We celebrated July 4th as a missionary community on Monday by grilling out on the beach, playing sand volleyball, and treating ourselves to typical American food and beverages. We had cheeseburgers, hot dogs/chorizo, potato salad, chips and salsa, Choco-bananas, and Miller Lite, and we had an incredible time grilling out on the beach and enjoying one another’s company during our celebration! Despite the various rain showers that moved in throughout the evening, it is moments like these that I am particularly grateful for such an awesome group of missionaries to share life with here at the Finca. The Finca has captured my heart in so many ways during my almost 10 months here, and our continuous laughs shared as a missionary community is certainly a large part of that!
However, during our morning Laudes spiritual event on July 5th, an unbelievable number of kids, tías, and missionaries had cold-like symptoms to varying degrees of severity. COVID is really bad right now in Honduras as a whole, as well as in our neighboring communities, so Megan, one of our Finca nurses, was able to use her connections to get a handful of our kids COVID tested. A few tests came back positive, and we immediately shut down the school and entered a quarantine as a Finca community. Unfortunately, COVID tests are not readily available in Honduras, so we were not able to get all of our kids, tías, and missionaries tested that were exhibiting COVID-like symptoms.
The Finca was in quarantine until the morning of Tuesday, July 12th, and we were encouraged to be as strict as possible about staying near our house and not interacting with other houses. Although I certainly missed interacting with the kids at our school and our Finca community in the same way, we were able to have some really quality time together as a missionary community during this quarantine! We played many board games, went swimming at the beach together, read in the hammocks together, and had incredible conversations at the kitchen table during meals and at various times throughout the day. Life at the Finca, as anywhere else in this crazy world, can get incredibly busy, so it was greatly appreciated to take a step back and to live our days in quarantine at a slower pace.
That being said, Megan and Doctor Julio, our Finca doctor, cleared the Finca to leave quarantine on Tuesday morning, July 12th, so we were still able to plan fun activities and spend quality time with the kids during our week off. & WHAT A WEEK OFF IT WAS!! On Tuesday night, Casa 5, our oldest girls at the Finca, came over to Casa Santa Teresita (CST) to cook and eat dinner with us. We shared so many laughs and had such quality time together making baleadas at our fogón area, eating around our kitchen table, and having a small dance party in our sala before they had to leave at 8:30pm to return to their house. Especially with three girls from this house preparing to leave the Finca after the school year due to turning 18 in the coming months, it was such a gift to be able to spend this time with them during our week off!
On Wednesday, we had a girl from Casa 3 eat lunch with us at CST for her birthday from the previous week. In January, the missionaries started having every child at the Finca over to CST for lunch or dinner on a day near their birthday! This individual time with each child has truly been so fruitful for us as a missionary community, and these lunch and dinners have been some of my favorite memories at the Finca. This lunch with the girl from Casa 3 was so amazing, especially because she came over to CST early in the morning to play board games with the missionaries and to help us prepare her lunch!
On Wednesday night, we had a movie night in the campo with the entire Finca! & WHAT A BLAST THIS MOVIE NIGHT WAS! The missionaries set up mattresses and benches in the campo, and every house brought their own dinner to the campo with coffee, sweet bread, and cookies provided by the missionaries. We watched “Una loca Navidad catracha”, and I was dying of laughter at how much the Hondurans were dying of laughter at an objectively subpar movie. Hondurans typically have a unique sense of humor, and they were ROLLING with laughter at jokes that only they would find funny throughout the entire movie. All in all, what an incredible night it was on the campo with all the tías, missionaries, and kids at the Finca! I caught myself looking around the campo more than once thinking, “Wow! What a gift to be a part of this community!”
On Friday morning, we had a Finca-wide ice cream beach party with the ice cream and toppings provided by the missionaries! Finca-wide beach parties are my absolute favorite thing about living at the Finca because all the kids, tías, and missionaries are in one place enjoying one another’s presence! Also, every time you add ice cream to the mix, every party on the history of the planet improves substantially. We had an absolutely incredible morning enjoying the ice cream bar, swimming in the ocean, playing sand volleyball with EVERY child and missionary at the Finca, and simply enjoying one another’s presence. THIS PLACE HAS CAPTURED MY HEART IN SO MANY DANG WAYS!
On Friday night, the missionaries had “Girls Night” and “Guys Night” with the older kids at the Finca. While the girls did facemasks, cupcakes, a movie, and other typical girl stuff with Casas 3 and 5 in CST, Colin and I had an incredible boys night with the three young boys from Casa 2 (our oldest boy at the Finca was on a home visit during our week off)! We started the evening by playing our typical Friday afternoon soccer game at the Finca with the Watchies, maintenance workers, missionaries, Finca kids, and a few trusted people from the outside community. After our soccer match, we moved to the library to enjoy a meal of fried chicken, tajadas, Coca-Cola, and cookies that Colin and I bought from a woman’s business in Mojaguay! We finished the night by playing board games in the library, and we shared MANY, MANY laughs during our 4-5 hours together. BOYS NIGHT!!
Lastly, we went to a nearby poza, which is basically a swimming hole in the river, in Corza Alta on Saturday morning with all the missionaries, Tía Deisy, and the boys from Casa 2. This poza is frequently visited by missionaries and Finca kids because of the close proximity to the Finca, the incredible waterfall, and the ability to jump off a small bridge into the water, but this was actually the first time at the poza for the Casa 2 boys! They loved it SO, SO, SO, SO much, especially once they overcame their initial fear of jumping into the cold mountain water. This poza trip was truly such an incredible way to spend quality time with the boys and missionaries alike!
All in all, what an unbelievably WILD two weeks full of quality time spent with one another, extremely fun and rare activities, and plenty of time to relax and get ready for the home stretch of the school year. I am incredibly grateful every single morning to live and serve at the Finca because of how much this place makes my heart full of peace and joy! This children’s home in rural Honduras is truly so dang special, and it is such a gift to all the missionaries, tías, children, and workers that have the ability to live and work at the Finca.
Please pray for all of our missionaries that are returning from their vacations in the United States in the coming days, especially that they may be filled with peace, joy, and strength as they return to the Finca.
Please let me know how I can pray for you!
God Bless!