Buen Camino!

In August, our squad spent 10 days on El Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. This pilgrimage attracts people from all across the world on a 500km trek across the Spanish countryside, ending at the Atlantic Ocean. If you’ve never heard of it, I definitely suggest you do some research on its history. To walk it (even if only in part) was a bit surreal. 

With some of our past Expedition World Race routes, we’ve had teams that have hiked part of the Camino and engaged with fellow pilgrims, hearing their personal stories and also sharing the Kingdom message as a form of relational evangelism. I heard stories of breakthrough and healing (physical and spiritual) that happened while on the Camino, and when I said yes to Squad Leading for this group, I knew the Camino would be a reality for me. 

I had the privilege to walk my 10 days with my leadership team. Meet the Bomb-Baes! While out on this 5 month stint, I will be leading alongside three other Squad Leaders: Eric, Soloman, and Alysa. They will act as my team, even while we all are separate and travel to and fro between the first time Racers on our squad. Another integral part of our team is our Squad Mentor Jeremy. The role of Squad Mentor is vital for the vision of the squad and mission. Jeremy lives in Gainesville, Georgia, and flies out to minister and serve with the squad several different time a year. It’s quite literally his job to be intentional with the squad and with its leadership throughout the entire 11 months of the trip. 

Being able to hike the Camino with this bunch was such a blessing to me! We were able to build friendships and speak life into each others’ lives. This time strengthened our foundation, so that now as will move from team to team, we can continue to rely on one another from afar. 

Guys. The Camino was HARD. We walked right under 100 miles in 8 days. What?! But dang, did God show up! It’s so hard to capture all these ways in a blog, BUT keep reading to see a couples snippets of my time on the Camino.

Michele

I met Michele on Day 1 of the hike. He asked my friend Eric if Eric could take of picture of him standing on the top of a huge peak we had just climbed. We then saw each other again later on the way, and he and I struck up conversation. He was from Italy and was walking the Camino as a spiritual journey. Wow, thanks God for giving my a door to chat about faith. We then proceeded to talk about religion and faith, and that for me, there was a difference. He understood and agreed. Behind his words, there was pain and loneliness. We chatted about friends and his community back home. The next day, he and Alysa talked freely about the moment he knew there had to be a God and she was able to speak to Michele about redemption and grace. She felt lead to give him a copy of the book of John that she had. And our team prayed for Michele as he continued to search for truth and, ultimately the fullness of Christ’s love. The cool thing about the Camino is that you create a little Camino family as you walk. Everyone is going the same direction, and you, relatively, go to the same place day by day. So, we stayed in the same albergue several times will Michele, and he became someone that we looked for intently everyday while walking. 

One night, we were all staying together, and we told Michele that our team (Eric, Soloman, Alysa, Jeremy, and I) were going to take a rest day, which meant that our schedules wouldn’t align with his anymore and we may not see him again! It was emotional, but we said our goodbyes that night, as we knew he would be up well before dawn to start his hike for the day. When we woke up, we found this:

Thank you, Jesus, for your love and how it shines through us, even in small ways. 

And you know what? We did see Michele again! On our last day in Burgos, he walked up to our exact albergue! We celebrated with each other and were so happy to be reunited again, even for just a day. He is, indeed, a friend, and I know that God is chasing him with His love, just as He chases after me everyday. 

Donativo in Logroño 

Along the Camino, there are places called Donativos that are donation-based albergues. So, you could pay them whatever you want to for your stay that night. I stayed in one donativo on my walk. And dang, it was the awesome. It was run by a church (think giant Spanish cathedral) and probably one of the coolest priests I’ve met. He didn’t speak much English, but he did communicate to me that he loved rereading Lord of the Rings every year around Christmas. COOL PRIEST. We were invited to mass that evening, and even had two of our group participant in mass through reading the Camino prayer that blesses the pilgrims that are walking. After mass, we then enjoyed a community meal with the staff of the donativo, the other pilgrims, and the priest. The priest told us about the history of this donativo and what its purpose was. We all sang a song in Spanish that blessed the journey of the Camino, and then bowed and prayed for the food. Towards the end of the meal, the priest stood up and told us that he wanted to pray for us in the church. He emphasized that this was not mandatory, but something he wanted to do for us. Also, he said that if we decide to go, then we will get to walk through the secret passageway that leads to the church. WHAT the WHAT?! Yeaaaa, let’s go. 

During this prayer time, we read scripture in every language that was represented among us. The English speakers read a section, those that spoke French read, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian, German … I cried as I listened to those around me reading such powerful words, some not understanding how these words have meaning for them. Before the night ended, our group asked the priest if would could pray a prayer of blessing over him. We circled up around him, placed hands on his shoulders, and all prayed at one time, lifting up this man to our God. Dang, what a night. 

GRIT

Day Three of the Camino called for a lot of grit. We walked a total of 17.5 miles that day and crossed a DESERT. Ok, that may be a little dramatic, but those last 4 miles were rough. We were out of water, it was the hottest part of the day, there was absolutely no shade, and everything around was dry and brown and barren. I felt like an Israelite wandering the desert–extreme metaphor BUT GUYS IT WAS HOT. 

But we did it.

That day taught me a lot. It reminded me that I can do hard things. That I can go farther than I believe I can. And that it matters who you have around you when you are doing those hard things. Several times, I had to call out to my teammates and say, “I don’t know if I can do it.” And their presence and encouragement and patience helped me finish. 

Check out these other photos of my time on the Camino!