My parents recently came to visit the Finca for the first time. This is a blog post written by my mom afterwards.
Amazing. That’s my single adjective for describing our trip to Honduras. Our eldest daughter, Emma, has been a missionary at Farm of the Child since September 2020
My husband Marv and I finally made the trip to go visit her. What I thought was the ideal time for a family trip - spring break for all 3 of our younger children as well as Marv - didn’t turn out as I had planned. Luke had his last basketball tournament games of his high school career and Justine and Miranda chose to stay home vs. travel with us. Thankfully, a former missionary of The Finca (that means “Farm” in Spanish) was traveling at relatively the same time so we aligned our dates and flights with hers, starting and ending at Mpls International Airport. Ruthie was invaluable in just about every way - her fluency in speaking Spanish (something Marv and I are not apt at), her knowledge of Honduran customs and currency (just an FYI - an American credit card is pretty useless in Honduras), her experience in dealing with the driver that transported us from the airport in San Pedro Sula to The Finca (an 8-hour car ride in a very small vehicle on narrow rutted roads with frequent speed bumps...can you say “grueling?”).
Let’s just say, without Ruthie our trip could have gone South in a big hurry. But it didn’t. I would describe our time in Honduras as about as Spirit-filled as one could imagine. The Lord blessed us with his presence in so many ways - Emma and her fellow missionaries that welcomed Marv and I into their missionary home for ten days, the absolutely adorable Kinder kids that Emma teaches 5 days a week, the members of the greater Finca family and the kids and adults of the surrounding communities, especially the women Emma has gotten to know by attending Women’s Group each Thursday afternoon in either Mojaguay or Corazalta.
The Missionary House
The entire Finca property is about 20 acres consisting of a large soccer field in the middle of the property with the school, library, clinic, chapel and different houses including the missionary house surrounding it. Each house has a tia, or auntie, that is in charge of the children in that home. The entire community is enclosed by a barbed wire fence and paddlocked gate monitored by a “watchie” 24/7. The missionary house is pretty unique - like, both an inside and outside kind of deal. From the front, you enter into the dining room. If you pass thru the next door, you’re back “outside” as the rectangular building has an open courtyard with lots of growing plants. Bedrooms, the two bathrooms, and an Adoration room make up the perimeter of the house. Marv and I had a bedroom consisting of two twin beds and a couple of bookshelves. It took me a bit to get used to closing doors anytime I’d pass through to a different area. This is a requirement if you want to prevent mosquitoes from following you.
The bathroom....another adjustment. No toilet paper gets thrown in the toilet; only in the garbage can. (Photo #7) Flushing the toilet.....not so much. The water pressure at that end of the property is not a happening thing so to flush, one needed to fill a “bucket” (an empty bleach bottle with the front of it cut out) for #1 or a larger blue bucket for #2 with water from the water reservoir (a holding concrete sink that needed to stay filled at all times in case the water went out - which it frequently did - so that one could still wash clothes). The shower....cold water only....and that’s if the water was working; if not, a cold “bucket” shower was the deal....basically, a sponge bath. The kitchen....not real big.
The cooking responsibilities....shared. Each missionary has an assigned meal (lunch or dinner; breakfast is on your own) and Saturday nights are “community cooking” nights where all the preparations are delegated by that week’s leader and everyone does their task to get a meal on the table. And the meals - though simple - require meal prep that isn’t so simple....meaning, much of the cooking is done in an outdoor oven which requires building a fire before any cooking or baking can start. Two of the treats I baked for the missionaries while there included homemade bread and monster cookies. I am not a real big fan of rice and beans and there were a lot of both of those served on a daily basis. The food the missionaries buy from one of the local women on a weekly basis are called baleadas, basically a homemade flour tortilla filled with a smear of mashed “refried” red beans and crumbled queso duro (a stinky hard white cheese). The overall experience improved greatly when some scrambled eggs (and guacamole would have been great) were added.
Emma’s Kinder Class
One of Emma’s main missionary duties is being the teacher to 14 adorable Kindergarten students from both The Finca and the surrounding communities. These children arrive on foot or are given a ride on the back of a moto (short for “motorcycle”). Love. They exuberate love. A big hug to the teacher - and in my case, the teacher’s helper - every morning after the main gate was opened was just about the perfect way to start my day. Communicating in Spanish was trying. I basically smiled, gave my “two thumbs up” pose or said “excelente” (the one Spanish word I picked up early on in the week) whenever they did something great; the opposite resulted in my “stink eye” look.
Just like when Emma was in Kindergarten, she read the Dr. Seuss books to her students and we re-enacted “Green Eggs and Ham.” Letting each child crack an egg for the scrambled eggs was pretty entertaining, the first time they had ever done so for the majority of them.
Seeing Emma in action was definitely a highlight for me. Yep, that girl was meant for kids and for teaching. She does incredible work. The kids are blessed to have Emma and Emma is blessed to have those kids.
Community Outreach
Emma’s other primary function is reaching out to members of the surrounding communities to promote the Christian goal of loving one’s neighbor. Since the bulk of her students come from outside The Finca, she naturally gets to know the parents of her students from the outlying villages. Additionally, she attends Women’s Group every Thursday afternoon in one of the participating woman’s home where they pray, share and support one another. The bonds and relationships Emma has formed with some of these individuals in less than two years is quite evident. Whenever we’d walk somewhere outside The Finca, we didn’t get very far anywhere fast. Time and time again, Emma would be greeted by someone she knew, a conversation would ensue (of which I understood very little until Emma would translate Spanish to English for my benefit) and we would be “delayed” on our task at hand. And with the kids basically living outside their homes, she was like the Pied Piper whenever/wherever we walked.
Emma’s fellow missionaries
Ok, so I knew my kid was special but meeting the other missionaries - and hearing their stories - just solidifies how amazing the Lord is and how He is working through young people that are answering His call to serve. Gosh, being a missionary in Honduras at the age of 22 never appeared on my radar screen. I’m glad it did theirs. Yep, I’m very glad I got to see and experience first-hand what this chapter in Emma’s life is all about. I know her time at The Finca will be something that remains inside her and will be reflected throughout the rest of her journey. It’s bound to; it’s life forming and life changing. It was a wonderfully amazing trip!