Hello, long time no see! Blogging has proven to be quite difficult for me but I have been attempting to keep everyone up to date with what we’ve been doing through photos on Facebook! I thought I would let you all in on what our final month on the race is going to hold! [well as much as I can foresee!]
For our final month we are heading to…
SPAIN!
Originally we were supposed to be spending our last month in Albania but at the beginning of month 5 we were presented the opportunity to switch this month to Spain and walk El Camino De Santiago or The Way of Saint James. After some time in prayer and our votes written on a tiny scrap of paper it was decided and we were switching to Spain!
The Camino is a network of passages across Spain that all come together and end at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is a very popular “pilgrimage” that thousands of people come to walk every year. The majority of those traveling “pilgrims” are searching for purpose, answers, or spiritual growth.
Fast forward 5 months and we have arrived, well almost. A little over a week ago we received all the information we needed to begin preparing for this journey. We found out that our leadership was allowing us to form our own teams to walk with and the chance to choose from two different routes. We spent sometime in prayer over these new teams and then regathered and shared with one another who we wanted to walk with and why.
So without further ado, my new team:
My very first friend on the race, Katie!
Katie and I meet at the airport on our way to training came and pretty much instantly became best friends and never looked back. About day 2 of training camp we got tired of setting up and tearing down our tents every day so we just starting sharing one tent and the burden of set up. Everyone was convinced we had known each other before the race but I know that God had just gifted us this friendship as we stepped into what would be one of the hardest years of our lives. On the race we have seen a few different teams but haven’t gotten to be together..yet!
Katie is so full of life. She is humble, faithful, loyal, and overflowing with truth. Time with Katie is pretty much always filled with laughter but she is also an incredible listening ear and wise counsel when ones heart is exploding/breaking/confused. I am so pumped to get to spend my final month with this friend of mine!
Our next (and final) team member is…Bre!
Bre and I have spent the last 6 months on the same team. When I was praying about my final team I knew I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her yet because wow, this gal. We have seen some things! We shared our shattered hearts as we left our favorite month of the race, got a weird couples massage in India, screamed the Mulan soundtrack as we trekked through the Himalayan mountains in Nepal, studied lots of The Word together, and so many other sweet memories.
Bre is a powerhouse of a woman. She is full of quirky comments, the latest news from the US, and movie quotes. She is wise, bold, and has the heart of a servant. She tends to know how you are feeling before you know how you are feeling and is a great person to sort through or just sit in your emotions with. Bre is always seeking to love the person on the fringes. She never fails to find the one who has been overlooked and let them know that they are visible to her. It’s a gift to know her and an even greater gift to get to spend my final month of the race with her!
Katie, Bre, and I swimming in the Aegean Sea!
Now that the introductions are done you may be wondering what is the Camino? and what will this month look like for us? Well..
The Camino is a network of passages across Spain that all come together and end at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is a very popular “pilgrimage” that thousands of people come to walk every year. The majority of those traveling “pilgrims” are searching for purpose, answers, or spiritual growth.
We will be walking approximately 370 miles across the northern coast of Spain and staying in hostels or albergues along the way. We will get ample opportunities to make new friends with our fellow pilgrims and to share our testimonies and the gospel with them.
We will get some extra free time to process all that we have seen/done/experienced in the last 10 months. We will get a lot of time to walk and pray about what’s happening next and prepare ourselves for the end of this season and the return home!
I hope to do a lot of reflecting while we walk and write a few blogs about the Race, the places we have seen and the people we have met! So stay tuned and keep us in your prayers!
