October 1st. Today. This
day marks many important things. For one it means that I have lived in Honduras
for exactly a year now, but more importantly it marks the feast day of Saint
Therese of Lisieux or as we call her here in Honduras- Santa Teresita. Santa
Teresita is the patron Saint of missionaries. Not only that but she is the
saint of my house (each of our houses is named after a saint and my house- the
missionary house- is accurately named after the saint of missionaries
herself). So with all that being said,
I want to spend this blog-post in reflection of my life this past year- all the
ways I’ve grown and been stretched, all the strange skills and experiences that
I have obtained, but most importantly, how all of these things have impacted my
life.
I have learned important
Honduras-life skills such as speaking Spanish, and, not only that, but have
taught 1st and 2nd grade for a (almost) complete school
year using said Spanish. I can cook over a fire (and cook in general), and can wash
my clothes by hand. I can make tortillas, cut hair (a bucket list item of mine
for quite a few years now!), and am now permitted to drive a pick-up truck full
of teenagers 20 minutes into town on terrible gravel roads.
I have had experiences that I
probably would never have had if I had never left the United States. For
example, I don’t remember the last time I didn’t have at least 10 mosquito
bites somewhere on my body. I usually wash my feet multiple times a day in
order to keep them somewhat resembling clean. I am regularly attacked by ants,
& have to keep a bottle of Raid in my classroom to keep the ants from
eating my students’ snacks and the wasps from building their nests above our
heads.
I have had everything from ants,
termites, cockroaches, rats, and who knows what else in my BED. I have even felt the never-ending itch
of having lice in my hair.
I have proudly watched my blisters
from raking turn into calluses, meaning that I am no longer made fun of my the
kids who never get blisters & think it’s hilarious that I do.
I have taken many a bucket shower
by candlelight on those nights that we have neither water nor electricity. I
have gotten to watch the amazing sunsets over the Caribbean ocean, and I have
fallen asleep to peaceful sound of waves crashing onto the beach.
I have learned, and am still learning how to live in
community, how to apologize when I inevitably offend one of my community
members, how to be ok with correction, and how to give my struggles and
concerns over to the Lord. But most importantly, I learned to let myself be
loved and filled up by others.
On my 24th birthday our
youngest girls loved me in one of the most simple, and yet and the most special
way without even thinking twice or planning it out. They sat another
missionary, Melanie (who has the same birthday as me) and I down on a bench in
their house, sang to us at the top of their lungs, and then preceded to pick
and decorate both of our heads with every flower that they could find until you
couldn’t even see either of our hair anymore. All the flowers that could not fit
in our hair were given to us in bouquet form accompanied by lots of hugs and
smiles. I’ve found love from the oldest girls who have spent hours happily
going through my hair to pick out lice without complaining or being asked twice.
I’ve seen it in the older boys whom, upon seeing me do the ever-dreaded chore
of raking our giant backyard, one-by-one wordlessly and selflessly they grabbed
a rake, left their house where they were enjoying a morning off from working and came over to help
me. By the time the chore was done, half of the older boys house was there
helping me without having to be asked- and we finished in a mere 20 minutes
rather than the hour+ that it would have taken my by myself! I have found love
in the oh so endearing nickname given to me by the middle school aged girls;
hipopatamo (hippopotamus). Of course, they have their own animal names that I
greet them with as well such as elefante (elephant), cocodrillo (crocodile),
and ballena (whale). While these names sound rather rude I promise they are all
said in good fun accompanied by lots of laughs and jokes.
Me & my birthday flowers from the youngest girls |
In our chapel here at the Finca
written beautifully in stained glass above the alter is the bible verse Mark
9:37; “El que en mi nombre receibe a este
niño, a mi me recibe”, and in English;
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me”. I see
this bible verse every single day at the church, but it wasn’t until this
morning that I realized that by receiving and serving the sons of daughters of
Christ we are not only receiving/serving the Lord, but we are letting Him
receive/serve us. God calls us to love and to let ourselves be loved. In order to be filled up and truly prepared
to serve Christ, I can’t just do, I have to let myself be loved so that I can
in turn go out and love and serve others. As I sit here writing this today, I
can’t think of a better way to be loved than by and through some of the most
pure and open-hearted of God’s creation- His children.
I can’t say too many times how thankful I am for this past
year, how blessed that I am to be able to call myself a missionary and to have
the example of Santa Teresita to guide my every day. If you have read this far,
first of all God bless you for making it all the way through my post, and
second of all I ask that you lift up all 14 of the missionaries here serving at
the Finca, especially for 4 of our current missionaries; Laura, Kassidy,
Melanie, and myself as we commit to another full year (plus some) here at the
Finca, and for the 6 new missionaries that arrived last night; Francesca, Christopher,
Emily, Ruthie, Cat, and Cassie. I will conclude this post the same way that my
missionary community concludes every prayer- SANTA TERESITA, RUEGA POR
NOSOTROS. (Saint Therese, Pray for Us).
My community prior to the 6 newest missionaries arriving |
Kassidy, Melanie and I on September 15th; Honduras independance day! |
Allison and I celebrating the Finca's 21st birthday in May |