Today was the day! Today was the day that we officially finished our 133-mile journey on the Camino! We hiked from Pamplona to Burgos in 10 days and didn’t lose a single person. We also poured into tons of people and connected with God.
That was incredible to see God time things just right so that we met people or to have Him answer many prayers for healing as we hiked. The Camino is hard but also beautiful, challenging, and amazing. Spending that many hours a day walking gave me a lot of time to just be in the Lord’s presence and to also talk to the people around me. I still can’t really put into words the whole Camino experience. That will have to wait until later after I’ve had time to think.
Today was the coldest we have yet to have in Spain which is good because I might have quit if we had other days this cold. The forecast said that it was 43 degrees when we left, and it definitely felt like it. We all layered all that we had to keep warm. I wrapped a light weight blanket around my head as a scarf hood sort of thing while everyone else found their ways of keeping warm. We laughed so much at each other! We looked ridiculous, but we were “warm.” I am still having that weird still kinda cold all over after going on a cold camping trip even though it’s been hours feeling… I’m hoping it goes away tomorrow.
Once again I didn’t take many pictures because of how cold it was. The stars were out in force with shooting stars here and there. Then the sun came up about 3 hours into our hike! It was the most beautiful last day on the trail I have had in a while! So much of God’s creation on display in one place and time!
We hiked for a total of 15 miles today in 6 hours. As we walked, I thought about a lot of things but mostly Albania and what I will do when I get home. Albania was a good month for our team. God taught me a lot about loving people even though you both get on each other’s nerves. It’s hard but doable with Him because He has all the patience in the world.
God also taught me more about splitting work, personal and time with Him better. I am not great at it at all but He is making me better at it ever so slowly. All of these things are good, but if you abuse any, then the others suffer. I will learn.
Once we got into town, we checked into our Aburgue, and I made the final touches on our travel day tomorrow. It will be a doozy, but we made it this far, and I think we can do one more travel day!
I’ll probably write one more blog to debrief the Camino, but until then sleep is in order!
Blessings!
Elise
