My squad was on the Camino September 2-22. Our squad split down into our 4 smaller teams and proceeded on our journeys together.
Every day you walk, with no particular place to be. The freedom to wake up every day with nothing to do but walk is appealing to many who journey on the Camino. At the end of the walking, whenever that is for you, you arrive at a town and pick a hostel or albergue to stay in for the night. You shower, wash clothes, eat dinner, spend time with the other pilgrims, and sleep. Then it all starts over the next day. This is life on the Camino. Most people finish in about 30 days.
One day, at a hostel there was a guitar. I brought my guitar on the Race but I didn’t want to carry it for the whole Camino so I shipped it ahead to our final destination. When I saw the guitar at the hostel, I sat outside to play some. A girl came over and sat near by to listen. Soon after, two guys came over and joined. I played and sang, and they sat there with me. The girl started crying, and it was obvious that something was wrong. I didn’t know what to do except keep playing. Eventually she stopped crying and I asked her if everything was alright. She wiped the tears from her eyes and said she was fine, and then we started chatting a bit. They were all from Italy. They invited me to have drinks with them. My first thought was “Sounds great, and I will just have tapas instead of a drink” but all I said was “Yes!”
I went to tell my team where I was going, and by the time I got to the bar their group had grown to 6 people, all Italian and all pretty loud and rambunctious, and they had already ordered me a beer. They handed it to me and I thought to myself “Alright here we go… my first beer ever, with this group of Italians in Spain… what have I gotten myself into.” We sat in this outdoor area with hammocks and trees. I have tasted beer before and never liked it, but I was thinking… well, I can’t not drink this now, they were nice to order it for me and I did, in fact, say yes. It was pretty funny to me.
We talked for about 2 hours. They asked me a lot of questions about America, and I asked them about Italy. Only 3 of them spoke English, so someone would ask me a question, I would answer, and then someone would translate for the rest of the group, and that’s how we all talked.
I asked them why they were all walking the Camino. They had all met each other along the way, and each had different reasons. One guy, Paulo, said at first he was looking for religious answers, but now he has lost all of his drive to be on the Camino, and he was just walking. After that we started talking about religion. He is Catholic, but not practicing. I shared with him about my faith in Jesus, and how I believe He is as close to us as a friend. Paulo and I ended up talking about many theological questions that he had.
One that stuck out to me was this. He said “Tell me this, aren’t humans created in the image of God? But I think of people as two-in-one… we all have two sides, good and bad. So does that mean that God has two sides? Is part of God bad?”
I love questions like that. I’m no theologian, but I know enough about God and the Bible to have a good discussion about it, and to ask him further questions. That question opened the door for me to start from the very beginning of the story, how Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, who is completely good. I explained the fall, and how now humans are born with this bad part, our sinful nature. And that’s why Jesus came, and why we need Him so desperately. From there I shared the rest of the Good News. With the translating happening, everyone was listening to what I was saying. So I found myself in a park, having my first beer with a group of Italians in Spain talking about the Gospel. It was a blessing to have the chance to share with them about the true and living God.
My time on the Camino was interesting, exhausting, and fulfilling. I was able to talk with many pilgrims, to hear their stories, to share mine, build friendships, and in some cases I was able to dive in and share about Christ. I enjoyed getting to know each person and spend time with them on their journey.
For the last almost week my squad has been at a time that the World Race calls debrief, when all of the teams come back together to talk about how things have gone, and spend time in the Word, prayer, and worship together. I thought this time would be very restful for me, but God has used it to further shine a light on some of my own personal struggles, and so to be honest I have been pretty miserable this week! But it’s good, I know I am being refined and God is helping me to grow.
Tomorrow my squad is traveling to Morocco, and my team will be in Casablanca. We will have a ministry host who we will come along side and be serving under/with. Once I find out how sensitive I need to be with sharing details, I’ll let you know more if I can. Please continue to pray for my squad!
