Living La Vida Finca

I can hardly believe it's been over
a month since the last time I wrote. So much has happened since the end of September. I think this blog will best be told in photos and videos.

Before all the craziness started we (the missionaries) took a few days away for a retreat in the town of Saba. Just take a look at this view.

It was a great time of celebrating, coming together and reflecting.

A couple more missionaries entered into the ¼ century club (not that you could tell by the pictures since we are all acting like 10 year olds.) Here we are all together:

 

The transfer was made at the end of the retreat... the “oldies” said “goodbye” to Harrison... and my class officially welcomed him into our class since he has discerned to stay a 3^rd year.

On our way back home we made a stop to visit Edgar, Blanca and their 2 kids. They were the house parents in House 5 when my class arrived. Little Suyapa was just a few weeks old when we arrived so it was really great to see her now a year old. She's looking more and more like her big brother Oniel every day.

The following Saturday the entire Finca pitched in to clean up our beach. It's unclear why but one morning a ton of trash had washed up from the bay.

Trash is a huge problem in this country or at least the disposal of it. So hopefully this activity helped show our kids the importance of not just throwing stuff in the streets or the rivers since it all washes downhill and then into the ocean and back up on our property.

The end of September also brought the annual Independence Day school parade.

Considering the only people who come to watch are parents, the missionaries and maybe the odd neighbor it is actually a really big deal.

The kids get really into it and it's amazing to see how disciplined they can be.

I give our Honduran teachers a lot of credit for getting 16 first graders to march in any sort of formation.

The daily grind was broken up a bit when we received a “care package” from Sara. In this care package were 2 doggy bones which brought laughter to everyone since it's something so unheard of here to give treats to a dog.

So that night the few of us who actually sort of enjoy the two dogs (Oso and Canela) that hang around tried to teach them to sit with some success.

The last Saturday of September brought us to our day of the child celebration. We spent the day at a local hot springs/pool resort with food and pinatas from a local rotary club.

 

As fun as pinatas look it is not something I endorse with the least bit of my being.

I'm sure you can understand the stress of putting a stick in the hands of a “blind” child with 30 others hyped up on sugar encroaching out of control and then telling that child to start taking batting practice. But for some reason I permit it to happen.

Amid all these adventures since the start of September we've also been working on a very large project at the Canandian owned zoo/botanical gardens nearby.

     

As part of a competition with 12 other “artists” to beautify their property we have been charged with the duty of creating a sculpture and garden area.

The competition closed Nov. 1^st and will be judged Dec. 1^ste. We could potentially win $5,000 for the Farm and no less than $500.

Our sculpture is the facade of the cathedral in Trujillo with paths leading to it. On the paths are paver stones with the kids names and footprints.

This project would not be possible without the kids work, our maintence team and even more so than anyone Harrison who has really led the charge.

 

October 1^st we welcomed our newest missionaries to the Finca. It's been great getting to know Patrick, Curtis, Noelle, Tiffany and Natalie.

Before their arrival there were some “small” house repairs needed... this was the best water pressure we'd had in the shower for months so some of us were sad to see the shower fixed.

The first weekend of October we took about half the kids to a massive national get-together weekend of children's homes from across Honduras. We stayed at 2 children's homes in San Pedro Sula which gave our kids a chance to hangout with kids outside of our area.







There were lots of fun games and talents competitions. We took home 3^rd place for the most “beautiful and handsome indian” contest along with an award for our traditional dance.

Mid-October Andrea (former missionary/stateside director) came down to visit along with Katherine King (former missionary). Andrea's baby shower gave us all a chance to escape from the Farm for a night and just enjoy each other's company and plenty of cream cheese and cake.

It was also great to hear stories from Katherine of the earlier days of life at the Farm since she served from 1999-2001. This was just after Hurricane Mitch hit in 1998 and while many transitions were going on. It makes our level of “simplicity” seem like nothing now.

October 16^th marked a big day for our youngest and newest child. Yadira turned three and celebrated her first birthday with us here. I can hardly believe it's been nearly a year since she arrived.