As we prepared to head out the door, one of the guys on the team asked me, “Where’s Artur?”
I explained to him what Artur had shared with me the night before, and before heading out for the day, our team said our prayers and asked a special watch over Artur as he walked. I was bummed, but believed we would see him later that night.
Later that evening we made it to the town of Frómista and found ourselves in an old train station that had been turned into an albergue for peregrinos (pilgrims), but sadly, Artur was nowhere to be found.
Nonetheless, we continued to pray for him and had an incredible night celebrating Colby’s birthday!
(We took this epic photo while celebrating Colby's birthday! I promise it was much more exciting than what this pictures show 🙂 Haha!)
A couple days would pass, but Artur still hadn’t joined back up with us.
Everyday, and probably every hour, I found myself thinking about our friend and praying for him. I wondered why he left and where he was at by that point.
Several days went by and eventually on May 23rd, we reached the town of Terradillos.
That night as we gathered to do Bible study, Daniel said he had something to share with our team.
Upon checking in, the receptionist gave Daniel a postcard that somebody had left for us. As Daniel read its words, this is what I heard.
(Artur's postcard to our team.)
As Daniel read the words, I began to tear up. I was sad because I longed to see our friend just once more, but I was also happy that we’d impacted his life. My spirit rejoiced!
That night as I prayed I said, “Please Lord, let us see Artur just once more.” I had high hopes, and knew if it were God’s will, it’d happen.
Day after day passed, but still no Artur in sight. However, you soon find out, that’s how the Camino works sometimes.
It’s very “fluid” out there. People come and people go.
You’ll eat with certain people, sleep next to them, see them throughout the day as you’re journeying on "The Way", but then there are times when people will be gone without warning as quickly as they first showed up.
(L-R: Myself, Stasic (Israel), Remah (Ohio), and Dani (Israel).)
(Rick & I. He's from Maryland.)
It happened to us a lot. Along the way it seemed that God would place certain people in our group to “do life” with, and when that person left us, He’d send somebody else for a season.
I loved it, but it was also tough at times because I get attached to people.
After Artur left us, we then picked up another guy by the name of Fabio.
Fabio was 29 and was a Franciscan Friar who had come out to do the Camino as a way of growing in his walk with the Lord, but also to find out what was next for him.
(L-R: Myself, Fabio (Italy), and one of our mentors, Damon (California).)
(Our team having a time of worship and Bible study with Fabio.)
Fabio & I too hit it off really well, and we spent many days walking alongside one another sharing stories, praying, encouraging each other, and just enjoying life. Fabio in a lot of ways reminded me of myself, so the Lord, I believe, was using him to minister to my heart and also pour into him in return.
After Fabio, it was Alexa. A beautiful, sweet, adventurous, young woman from British Columbia, Canada. She had been hiking with another group of 4 people from all over the world, but because of time, they needed to pick up longer days, so she stayed back and fell in with our group.
It was fun and we joked that we were just like,
Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs!
(L-R: Zeb/Bashful, Me/Sneezy, Sunoh/Happy, Justin/Dopey, Alexa/Snow White, Neil/Doc, Hugh/Sleepy, and Daniel/Grumpy. Some of the names were very fitting for us. Haha!)
Ali would stick with us all the way to the end, and we enjoyed many good laughs, great talks, and of course, meals.
To Be Continued…
