New year-long missionaries arrive to serve at the Finca every October in order to have time to learn about the rules of being a missionary and about the Finca in general, discern jobs, and be trained in jobs before other missionaries leave in December. However, the school year ends in Honduras in early November, with a few more classes throughout the rest of November to reinforce topics to students that need more guidance.
That being said, missionaries, the kids at the Finca, and the entire Finca community have more time throughout November, December, and January to rest, do fun activities, and to genuinely enjoy one another’s company. Nevertheless, new missionaries that arrive at the Finca in October inevitably are excited for the incredible parties for Christmas and New Years and the beginning of the school year in February. It can be a tad challenging for new missionaries to thoroughly enjoy the downtime that the winter months provide at the Finca when they haven’t experienced the hustle and bustle of life at the Finca from February through October.
When I arrived at the Finca last October, I remember feeling incredibly excited about the holidays and the school year that were rapidly approaching, but I had a lot of downtime to read in the hammocks or to walk along the beach that I wasn’t expecting to have in the first few months after arriving. Especially because it takes time to build formidable relationships with the kids, tías, and other personnel at the Finca, I remember being excited to have the structure that comes along with the start of the school year in February to have more opportunities to develop deeper relationships with the kids. While I did have a stunning number of amazing moments with our kids, missionaries, and the Finca community last winter, I certainly didn’t enjoy the leisurely pace of life as much as I should have because I had never experienced the busyness of the school year at the Finca.
I was an English teacher for 3rd, 4th, and 8th grades this past school year, and I truly loved it SO DANG MUCH!! I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to form relationships with kids from the nearby communities outside the Finca gate and to have the opportunity to accompany them along this small part of their life journey. I really loved the relational aspect of teaching, especially as I genuinely was able to be a friend and a mentor to the students in my classes and the school in general as I played soccer or tag during recess and shared meaningful laughs during the many games in my English classes.
Despite the fact that I loved teaching English every day at the school and playing with Finca and non-Finca kids during recess and gym class, it is undeniable that the missionary experience at the Finca changes because of how busy missionaries, Finca kids, and tías are from February through October. School is 7am-1pm every day during the school year, followed by lunch, time to complete homework, study for tests, complete PAVI classes, do household chores, attend a spiritual event in the church at 5pm, cook/eat dinner, and go to bed relatively early because the following morning starts with a spiritual event at 5:45am. Our days are simply busier during the school year, which results in less available quality time for missionaries to spend with kids, tías, and other Finca personnel inside the Finca gates. This change during the school year is not necessarily a bad thing, yet it is undeniably different than the missionary experience during the winter months and requires missionaries to be much more intentional in how they spend their afternoons.
& HOW AMAZING THOSE WINTER MONTHS ARE!! The school year ended on November 4th for the majority of the Finca kids and missionary teachers, except for a few students and teachers that have recuperation and reinforcement classes until November 30th (which only lasts for 1 or 2 hours every day). It is truly hard to describe how much more time missionaries have had these past 2 weeks to spend time with our Finca kids, tías, missionary community, support personnel at the Finca, and community members outside the Finca gates.
I have had SO, SO much time the past 2 weeks to chase around Casa 6 endlessly around their kitchen table while they scream “No me comes!”, play soccer and toca-toca with Casa 4, and stop by Casa 5 to play UNO with the girls, spend time with my Goddaughter, and ceaselessly laugh with the girls while telling jokes around the kitchen table or at the fogón area. I have had SO, SO much time the past 2 weeks to stop by San Valentin to chat with my “Mama de Honduras”, play soccer in the campo with the watchie on duty and our oldest boy at the Finca, and spend incredible hours with the missionary community in the sala, at the beach, or walking laps around the campo.
Once again, I LOVED being a teacher this past year at our Finca school, especially having the ability to relate to kids from the outside communities and to form genuine friendships with them. However, THE WINTER MONTHS AT THE FINCA ARE SO INCREDIBLE AS WELL! I am a firm believer in the ministry of presence, and the winter months at the Finca provide so many opportunities to accompany and walk with our Finca kids, tías, and other Finca personnel throughout our daily lives. The winter months at the Finca also provide missionaries the opportunity to spend quality time with every house at the Finca almost every day, which is a true gift that I greatly appreciate after the busyness of the school year!!
Please pray for our last few weeks together as a missionary community before Luke, Kristen, Megan, Emma, Alicia, and Karen return to the US in early December! Please also pray for Kenna, Natalie, and I, as we are the three missionaries living in Casa Santa Teresita this coming year.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! It is my hope and my prayer that you all can enjoy the amazing family time that Thanksgiving provides.
Please let me know how I can pray for you!
GOD BLESS!!