We are the New Owners of the Spanish Institute of Honduras

Just over a year ago, I was asked if I would be interested in managing the Honduras Spanish Institute, by founders and Camino Global missionaries, Mark and Michelle Fittz. It's hard for me to believe that it has already been a year, but if memory and my blog post are correct, then it is true. As the saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun".

When I was asked to do this, Barbe and I were already deeply involved in the school. The teachers were like family to us and so many of the students had become friends and were part of our weekly home fellowship group. For us, it was an easy decision to take responsibility for the day to day operation of the school and student care.

The Institute was growing and was beginning to acquire a name for itself within the missionary community as a quality "Spanish as a second language" school and as an alternative to some of the larger and more expensive schools in Costa Rica and Guatemala. For those missionaries who would be serving in Honduras after language training, it made sense to learn the dialects and customs in the country they would be living and working in. (here is a link to what MTW's Mike Pettengill had to say about this)

As the school grew, it was also experiencing growing pains. With our love for the school, my passion for bringing jobs to Honduras and 30 years experience operating my own business, I felt that I would bring to the table what the school needed in order to move forward. I saw several issues we needed to face immediately. One of those was moving the school to it's own facility and out of the space it had shared with a local seminary for the past several years. Within a few months, I had located a large, beautiful mansion in Barrio El Carmen and made the decision to relocate the Institute. I also made the even larger decision to move our family there as well and to be an integral part of the school on a daily basis.

Our new facility located in Barrio El Carmen, Siguatepeque, HN

We officially opened for business in our new location on January 1, 2014 and it has already proven itself to be a wise decision. The grounds are beautiful, the house spacious, the atmosphere tranquil and because we live here, we are able to give the Institute the family atmosphere that makes our school unique while still retaining the quality one on one classes we have always had.

Classrooms are indoor and outdoor, depending on your study preference.

As the school continued to grow, employing ten teachers, a bookkeeper and a part time grounds keeper, I helped the school transition from an idea that had matured and grown out of a need Mark had seen four years previous into a legitimate, job and revenue producing, tax paying Honduran enterprise.

On June 6th of this year, Mark and Michelle officially turned ownership of the Institute over to Barbe and me. Although they too love the school, Mark made the tough decision to let go of it and concentrate his energy on the rapidly growing Hope Coffee. Mark had begun buying and exporting coffee with the intention that profits from sales would come back to Honduras as funds to help local churches provide shelter and aid to those in need, especially to widows, and the business was growing in leaps and bounds as churches all over the US caught the vision and began serving "Hope Coffee". Not only do sales support missions, but it is an excellent, quality coffee and we proudly serve Hope Coffee here at the Spanish Institute of Honduras...all day, every day.

Mark and Michelle Fittz with our teachers on June 6th, 2014 as they officially pass ownership to us.

One of the things we needed to do as part of the transition to us as the new owners, was to legally close the school and reopen it as a merger with our existing Honduran business, Inversiones Wolfe Honduras, SA de CV. That transition was successfully made accompanied by a slight name change. The Institute's new name is, Spanish Institute of Honduras, operating under the umbrella of Inversiones Wolfe Honduras.  Our website is still under construction, but check it out when you can.

Other than the location, the name change and the new ownership, the core values the Institute started with remain the same; commitment to quality language acquisition, learning in a relaxed and personal manner and staff that truly care about our students and their success.

Yessica and Roxanne enjoying a beautiful afternoon in class.

Mercedes and Eric...hard at work.

We even have classes for kids. Yarely and Ella under the gazebo.

The living room where students and teachers study, use the internet and hangout.

And of course there are our school mascots, Alfredo and Tiger. 

Barbe and I bring to the school our own passion to care for each student individually. We understand firsthand the difficulties students face learning a new language in a new country and we do all we can to provide encouragement, emotional and spiritual support as well as a home that is always open to any of our students, anytime day or night. Combined with the love and care our teachers show each student, I have no problem saying...as I often do, that we have the best language school in the whole world.

Our slogan is; come as friends, leave as family...and we mean it!

Some of our students and teachers on a recent field trip to a Lenca potter's shop. 

Barbe and I are grateful to the Fittz's generosity to us, to our very special teachers with out whom we would have no school, to our students who willingly come to class each day to learn the language in order to better serve the people of Honduras...and to God, who faithfully provides all our needs.