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These are a handful of events from my last two months. Most are moments that made me smile, reflect, thank God, or some combination of the three. I hope they'll do the same for you.

Myself, Isabella, Emily

New Family

Before heading back to Honduras, I spent a couple weeks in Antigua, Guatemala brushing up on spanish and spending some quality time with my fellow incoming missionaries, Emily and Isabella. They're pretty cool, and it's fun to have two more lil' sisters. Also we climbed an active volcano which rocked.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

The last few days in Antigua, us new missionaries had a retreat led in part by Zulena, co-founder of the Finca. Hearing Zulena's first hand testament of how her and her late husband, Vincent, started the Finca's mission was incredibly humbling and powerful. Committing to two years of service here felt like a big leap of faith for me, but it’s a far cry from dropping everything and going to the middle of the jungle with essentially nothing to care for God’s children. I pray for just a fraction of the faith and surrender they had in starting this mission, and I feel very fortunate to participate in the work they started.

Antigua retreat squad

Nate, Emily, Myself, Isabella, Teddy, Rachel, Theresa

Old New Family

Emily, Isabella and I arrived at the Finca on September 30th! Wild how fast the two months since I left after the summer have flown by. The kids, Tías, workers and other missionaries were all waiting at the portón to welcome us. It felt similar to being welcomed home by my family for summer break from school - just a handful more kids, a lot more mango trees, and ton more mosquitos.

Examples of Holiness

As a Finca community, we are blessed to be able to drive into Trujillo for mass every Sunday. Unfortunately a priest is generally only able to come to Mojaguay, the small community which surrounds the Finca, once a month to celebrates mass. Mass in Mojaguay for the month of October ended up being a bit short, but as mass was ending, the priest decided to go straight into eucharistic adoration and lead the community in worship with his guitar. Mass in that small church with the surrounding community is always a beautiful experience for me, but that day I was particularly in awe of the local community's faith. A snippet I heard once from a reflection by Fr. Greg Boyle came to mind. It goes something like, "the day will never come when I am holier than those I am trying to serve".

One of the Franciscan sisters playing on the campo with the newest members of the family

"I think God rewards people who live like she does”

After some extended time with stomach issues, Emily threw in the towel and decided to call in the Honduran reserves. A call was made to the local stomach whisperer, Doña P, whose reputation as a natural healer precedes her in this community. Doña P proceeded to administer one of her legendary stomach massages and, after about 10 days of minimal change or progress, Emily was essentially symptom free just a few hours later. During the ensuing discussion on the legitimacy and effectiveness of Doña P’s abilities, Teddy offered the above quote. I can’t speak to the Theological or Traditional nuances of this statement, but I think I agree. We have much to learn from our brothers and sisters who live in poverty across the world.

We have caught zero fishes

A Guy's Guy

Emily and I were helping to keep an eye on S and the other young children throughout the morning. After walking out of the missionary house, S promptly decided he needed to pee, and that the appropriate place to do so was the plants lining the walkway. Emily, slightly alarmed, asked him what he was doing and encouraged him to use the restroom instead. S dismissed Emily's concern and responded, "I'm watering the plants". I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit proud.

The Mission in its Purest Form

One of my primary responsibilities here is helping with administrative work for an organization that provides the Finca with donations of various types of every day food and supplies. As part of this job, I had to travel on short notice roughly 10 hours each way to assist in picking up a donation. After driving all day Thursday, loading up and then immediately hitting the road to return on Friday, I was honestly feeling a little sorry for myself. The “poor pitiful me” mindset, as my football coaches would affectionately describe it. We took an unexpected detour on the way back which took us straight through some traffic and added a couple more hours to an already long day.

Turns out, that detour was actually to pick up our newest Finca resident. Time stopped when I saw the eyes of this child, and all I could think about was how broken and terrified I would be if our places were switched. Praying that somehow I would not appear scary or threatening in any way, I opened the car door for her and offered a smile. She gave me the tiniest of smiles back. I no longer felt anything other than immense gratitude for this mission.

vibes

I'm the Poor

S invited Teddy and I to join him and his brothers for dinner to celebrate his 5th birthday. Sitting at the table, listening to Tía tell stories while the boys climbed all over Teddy and we intermittently ate dinner, a Bible verse we had recently read as a community came to mind. “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you” (Lk 14:12-14). In that moment I so clearly saw that I am the poor invited to the feast that is the Finca. These kids and Tías did not open their doors to me expecting any invitation in return, and even if they did, there is no way I could ever begin to repay them for inviting me to their feast.

Nate leading us the wrong way before a hike with the older kids

Pobrecito Jesús

We took the younger children on a paseo (shoutout Teddy for the idea) to a movie theater in the far-away land of Tocoa. Surprise # 1: on their own, the kids elected an animated movie about the life of Christ over some other enticing options. Surprise # 2: as Jesus’ was carrying the cross in the movie, the incomprehensibly innocent and high-pitched voice of D rang throughout the theater saying, “Pobrecito Jesús!” (Poor Jesus). That made my heart happy.

Paz y bien,

Emmet