By Mary Beth (Stryker) Iduh ‘01

As I walked out of my “A Faith to Die For” class in O’Shag Hall my senior year at Notre Dame, I knew my life was about to take a dramatic turn away from Main Street USA onto a more remote path much less traveled.

I had just experienced a life-changing encounter with a Guatemalan mother of five. She and her late husband co-founded a Catholic community on the north coast of Honduras dedicated to serving children in need through a children’s home, school, clinic, and outreach programs. As irrational as it seemed then, I knew God was calling me to let go of my plan of ambitiously advancing my career in child psychology, and instead follow this inspiring trailblazer, Zulena Pescatore, by serving as a lay missionary at her beloved Finca del Niño (Farm of the Child).

Months later, while I was en route to the Finca with six fellow missionaries, Zulena shared with us her own journey to this mission. She spoke of her first encounters with her husband and love of her life, Vincent. He was a confident, young American with a very clear sense of God’s vision. Within weeks of meeting and courting Zulena in her hometown of Antigua, Guatemala, Vincent convinced her not only to marry him, but also to leave her loving family and her comfortable and secure life to join him as a missionary in the remote jungles of El Petén in the northern part of her country.

Over the next several years in a location only accessible by air or boat, they relied on God’s providence and guidance as they founded a Catholic mission dedicated to serving children and began a family of their own. Zulena described these years as filled with great joy and much challenge—a time in which she grew deeply in faith. Although she first started out by trusting in God and following her husband’s dream, she had opened herself to God’s transforming power and love beyond her imagination, and dedicated her life to serving God as a missionary.

Zulena had not anticipated how soon she would be called to take the lead in blazing God’s trail, however. After the mission in El Petén was running smoothly, Vincent and Zulena left it in the hands of dedicated religious sisters and uprooted their family to move to a new land. They set out to open another children’s home modeled on the Holy Family on the north coast of Honduras. During the final stages of preparation and construction, Vincent suddenly passed away in a tragic plane accident, leaving behind Zulena with five small children.

Zulena unexpectedly faced a critical decision during a time of uncertainty and fear. She easily could have decided the challenge was too great or that she needed to focus primarily on raising her children as a single mother. Yet, she believed God was calling her to serve children in great need in rural Honduras. She answered “yes,” assuming the lead role in bringing forth God’s vision as a widow with five small children in a foreign country.

More than 20 years later, Zulena continues to lead this mission, which has transformed the lives of so many: hundreds of Honduran children and families, as well as a worldwide Finca family composed of fellow missionaries and supporters who have fallen in love with the mission, including myself.

Of all the places I have lived or visited, the Finca is one where I experience God’s presence most deeply and profoundly. During the two and a half years I spent there, I felt fully alive while also being confronted daily with my own limits and vulnerability. One of the hardest decisions I had to make in my life was whether I should request to extend my lay missionary commitment there or to journey forward beyond the Finca.

My heart desired to continue God’s work at the Finca, but I wanted the Lord to give me an undeniable sign of which path to take. If only the answer would have floated down on a cloud from on high! Rather, after several weeks of discernment, I realized I needed to follow in Zulena’s footsteps to emulate our mother Mary’s “yes” in choosing the unknown. Mary shows us how to rely on God with trust and faithfulness when the path seems unclear.

As heartbreaking as it was to leave the Finca, this decision has led me to a different type of missionary discipleship. I’ve spent the last ten years with Catholic Relief Services working with Church partners to prevent youth trafficking on the Ecuadorian border of Colombia, to support the economic strengthening of communities in Nigeria, to provide care and treatment for those living with HIV in Angola, and to inspire Catholics in the U.S. to live their faith in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in need around the world.

Seventeen years after first meeting Zulena and having the honor of serving alongside her as a fellow missionary, I now feel called to follow her example in an entirely new way: in the vocation of motherhood. As my husband, Adakole, and I eagerly await the birth of our first child, we have many hopes and dreams for our son or daughter. Of all of these, two prayers rise to the top: that like Zulena and Vincent, we may provide a witness to our child of how to unfailingly love and trust in God, and that our son or daughter may lead others to know and love God above all.