At the Service of Honduras

I apologize - this post is long overdue! I have been home in Minnesota for 3 weeks after being unexpectedly evacuated from Honduras due to political turmoil. Let me explain... We traveled from the northern coast, Trujillo, to Comayagua and then flew out of Tegucigalpa The 12 missionaries of the Finca and I went on a retreat in Comayagua, Honduras on November 28th - right after the presidential election. We have been aware of this election during our time in Honduras - seeing signs with the faces of the incumbent presiden t Juan Orlando Hernández and his rival Salvador Nasralla all around the small town of Trujillo. An important note on Orlando - during his presidency, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (his specially chosen pals) changed the law to allow a second presidential four-year-term. Before this change, no president was allowed to be president longer than 4 years. This change was a low and sketchy move if you ask me. There are quite a few shady things in the way of elect

Happy rainy season! Everything is flooded! The rain is beating down on the tin roof this quiet Saturday morning as I sit down to reflect on the past several weeks. The six of us new missionaries arrived in Honduras about 4 weeks ago after our language school adventures in Antigua. The best words to describe my time here so far are “exciting” and “uncomfortable”. The first two weeks were our official orientation time – receiving talks on how to approach kids with trauma, shadowing teachers in the school or the nurse in the clinic, learning how to do jobs around the house (burning trash, where to dump the “organico” – still kind of a treasure hunt every time to find eggshells or old rotting vegetables that indicate the spot) and other "orientationy" kind of things. We also had a retreat day the first weekend here. One of the quotes we were given to reflect upon has stuck with me: “Are we open to God’s surprises? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the

From left: Francesca, Allison (missionary class antes), Cassie, Christopher (cherished 1 man show), Cat, Zulena, Ysmary (director at the Finca), Emily, Me, Kassidy (missionary class antes). *Allison, Kassidy, Zulena, and Ysmary came to help with the retreat. God needs these hands to do His work...to help His people. These are similar to the words Vincente said to Zulena during their first meeting before starting Finca del Nino. During our missionary retreat a few weeks ago in a beautiful convent near Antigua, Zulena told us the inspiring story of the start of the beautiful mission which we are now so blessed to be a part of. She began by explaining how she (a native Guatemalan from Antigua) and Vincente (an American volunteer from NJ) met and how Vincente felt called to start a children's home in a tiny, rural, war-stricken part of Guatemala. Only later did God slowly call Zulena to be a missionary as well and eventually take over the mission in Honduras after Vincente's t

Buenas Días to all and feliz Domingo! I blog today to update my faithful readers, prayer Warriors, family and friends as life continues here in Antigua. This week has been one of learning and some routine. I enjoy the routine of running up to the Cross on the North end of Antigua several times a week. I enjoy the routine of school every day. However, nothing is ever too routine here. Our pal, Deenenoth has left for other adventures and our other pals - Andrea and Katrin have left the city as well. However, new friends have joined us, including but not limited to an Irish woman, Sara, two middle aged sisters from California, and two new missionaries - Francesca and Emily!! It is great to have them here. Some highlights from the week included some medical practice. My host mother, Elsa, is an absolutely beautiful and inspiration woman. About 60 years old, she has raised 4 children and now dedicates her life to service of the poor. She has worked in the hospital as a nurse in every de

Hola de Antigua, Guatemala!! From left: Sandra (Houston), Christopher (Finca missionary from Florida), Frederick (Germany),  Andrea (California), Me, Cat (Finca missionary from Oklahoma), Katrin (Germany) It has been a week full of learning more Spanish, meeting people from around the world, visiting beautiful places, eating yummy food, trying to understand and pray in Spanish. The highlight for me  has been all of the wonderful encounters with new people. Similar to the Camino de Santiago, there are many interesting people traveling from all over who are very open, adventurous, seeking beauty etc.  This week, I met my teacher, Sonia. She is a very kind and interesting woman who is missing her two front teeth. It definitely adds to her charm. She's great. Despite the difficulty she has experienced with her father leaving at an early age and her own separation from her husband, she has such a joyful outlook! She is quite an animated woman. I am beginning to understand mo

Quick post: I'm in Houston waiting a few hours for my flight, and have a moment to reflect. On my flight from MSP to Houston, I met a girl named Chelsea (about my age)  who hates flying. She was sitting right in front of me, and we both had an empty seat next to us. I saw her call the flight attendant over and tell him about her anxiety about flying - something about getting sweaty and nervous...he brought her a blanket - which was slightly strange, given her description of "sweaty." Oh well, he was very nice and trying to help. Through the small crack in the seat, I started talking to her, asking where she was from. Shortly after we began our conversation, she asked if she could sit with me. Turns out, she's also moving to another country today- Mexico. We chatted through the whole take-off and landing (which were the anxiety-provoking parts for her) and slept through the middle. It was a great blessing to me to meet this girl who is in a very similar situation to me

Psalm 27 The L ORD  is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The L ORD  is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? “Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”; your face, L ORD , do I seek! As I was beginning to discern a call to mission (especially foreign mission), the Lord gave me comfort and a joyful beckoning through the above Psalm. I begin this blog recalling the beautiful work that God has done through my discernment to serve with Finca del Niño. I have gradually begun to experience the truth that discernment is not really about where I go or what I do; it is about relationship. God has used this time to show me that He is trustworthy. In a simple way, He showed me this through a road trip I took with four friends from Kansas to Louisiana. We stopped in Arkansas to camp beside a beautiful river surrounded by cliffs. The first night was semi-sleepless due to a very cold and wet thunderstorm (the next day we found out there was a tornado 1.5 miles