Whenever our new group of full-time missionaries arrived this past October, the Finca still had not filled the interim service coordinator position after Ryan left in August. I started that position shortly thereafter, and I really went full-swing once school ended in mid-November. That being said, things have simply not gone well in that role, especially in those first few months after I first took over. Those days in December and January were the hardest days of my entire life, but I can now look back with gratitude on what those times taught me about being a successful service coordinator and my true love for the Finca and the people that make up our Finca community.
Although I feel like the service coordinator position at the Finca is a really good fit for my strengths, weaknesses, talents, and desires, I have had that overbearing thought in the back of my head for the last few months that there is no denying the obvious: My only missionary group that I have led as service coordinator was an objective disaster that challenged and pushed our Finca and missionary communities to the limits. I convinced myself that if this group of summer volunteers did not go well, maybe this job isn’t for me? Maybe it was best for the Finca if someone else was at the helm of the missionary program? What if I misheard God’s voice in my discernment?
Regardless if it was unfair reasoning or not, I put a lot of pressure on myself for this group of summer volunteers to go well. Praise God that our group of summer volunteers this year is AMAZING!! LITERALLY AMAZING!!! I have only spent two weeks with them after they arrived on June 8th, but it has been such an incredible feeling to have the gift of community in Casa Santa Teresita once again.
Oddly enough, despite the pressure that I put on myself for this group of summer vols to go smoothly, we really had no idea what to expect, primarily due to the make-up of this year’s group. We have 7 summer vols this year, and only three volunteers are the “traditional” summer volunteer we have seen over the course of the Finca as college students using the summer at the Finca as sort of an internship and immersion opportunity.
We actually have three other summer vols in their mid-60s, which has never really happened at the Finca before! Crockett, who was a summer volunteer last year at the Finca, her husband Tom, & Cathy, who actually was at the Finca for a one-week immersion trip in late December last year, bring an incredible amount of real-life experience and wisdom to our group this year.
To round out the group, Erin is a 42-year-old school teacher from Wisconsin that decided to spend her summer break at the Finca! What an amazing group, right?! 3 college students, a 42-year-old school teacher, and 3 people in their mid-60’s! INCREDIBLE DIVERSITY!! Although we didn’t really know what to expect regarding community dynamics and if the different ages would impact community vibes at all, things have gone INCREDIBLE!!! All 7 summer volunteers have incredible servant hearts that go the extra mile to simply love the person in front of them, which is all you can ask for out of summer volunteers at the Finca.
Our summer vols this year have a plethora of jobs and ministries at the Finca, but their main responsibilities are helping in the school, specifically teaching English for 1st-6th grades. Since Chloe and I are an incredibly small, two-person community this year, we don’t have time to teach English classes in primaria, although 7th, 8th, & 9th grades still are able to receive daily English classes from a Honduran teacher. That being said, we are so grateful to have a large community of summer volunteers this year in order to do an English-intensive summer of classes. 1st-6th grades receive two classes of English every day for these 8 weeks in order to hopefully make up for lost ground in the classroom this year.
Although the summer volunteers undoubtedly have plenty of job responsibilities and love our Finca kids and employees really, really well, one of the best parts about having 7 summer vols this year is the gift of COMMUNITY in CST! WOW!! IT FEELS SO INCREDIBLE!!! If you have followed my time in Honduras for any amount of time, you will know that these past 8 months have been treacherous community wise. Our community pillar has essentially been non-existent in the missionary house due to a variety of reasons, and I am SO, SO, SO grateful to have community nights on Mondays, faith sharing nights on Wednesdays, movie nights on Fridays, community cooking on Saturdays, and holy hours on Sundays once again! I AM TRULY ENJOYING EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT!!
As mentioned previously, I have really struggled in the service coordinator role since I took over in October, and a really big reason for that struggle is the lack of respect that I have received from other missionaries regarding being in that role. However, the current summer vols respect my role, authority, and leadership so much, which allows me to better guide and lead them as service coordinator. While they certainly respect me in my leadership role of the missionary community, they also view me as a friend in the house! That is a sometimes tricky balance to pull off, so I am so grateful for that!
Please pray for our three new full-time missionaries that leave for language school in August and will arrive to the Finca on September 30th! We recently had a two-day virtual orientation retreat led by a former missionary, and it made me SO, SO excited to live in community with them and to genuinely just do Finca life with them so soon.
Please let me know how I can pray for you!
God Bless!