“¡Buen Camino!”
Literal translation: “Good way!”
I’ve heard this short simple phrase countless times walking the cities, villages, towns and countrysides of Spain from Pampalona to Belorado. I’m laying my head down tonight in a quant donativo attached to an ancient looking Catholic Church that is partly attached to a mountain. We are up about a block from the town’s square and all of Spain has a fiesta planned for tonight for a holiday celebrating St. Mary. There are still a few more days left on the Camino, we finish in Burgos on the 18th or so. Yet, so much has already happened since leaving my hometown in Georgia.
At launch I said bye to my parents, and I got prayed over by my friends through the phone. It was tough to say goodbye, but I also could hardly contain my excitement. A 17 hour layover in New York with only 30 minutes of walking around outside the airport (we went to times square!) and my spirit was still jumping around inside of me! We had a surprise night in the Madrid airport before making our way to Pampalona via 4 hour bus ride. For dinner we went to the closest cheapest restaurant we could find and my friend from KSU Carlos met us there! The Lord has really been good to me on this journey! And even though sleeping in airports is tough and the back ache from the rough sleep can make a bus ride the next day a little testy, the Lord has shown me His goodness again and again.
(Side note: Huge shout-out to my squad mates Shela and Joelle for navigating all the details of our first few travel days on the race! Mad props yo!)
Literally, there is so much to share about the Camino, but I want to keep it short. The Camino is a big trail, but it’s also a lot more than that. It’s kind of a life metaphor. There are hills and valleys, and you just keep going. One day we walked nearly 20 miles! Yes, I have blisters, callouses, and I’m just generally physically tired, but would I change anything? No, not really. The pain is actually worth the gain! I’ve been able to really stop and reflect on how AWESOME God is when I see a big Mountain and how He gives us dominion in matters of His Kingdom when I see a cool town or rows and rows of vineyards and sunflowers and other crops (see Psalm 8). I taste the sweetness biting into the 1 euro coffee and chocolate croissant lunch I decided to eat halfway through a day of hiking and I remember how God supplies all of our needs (I really needed that chocolate y’all. I almost didn’t do it, then Luara convinced me.). The journey really has been beautiful.
We’ve met so many people on the Camino. Some whose names I’ve never caught, but I’ve gotten to share the Gospel. Others who we’ve really gotten to dive into a little realtionship with. It’s so sweet meeting these people! People on the Camino are from all over the world, and speak so many languages! For the people who are harder to communicate with, a simple “Buen Camino” and all differences are layed aside and smiles get exchanged.
The people we’ve gotten to know on the Camino are super cool. I’ve had great conversations with Edu, Ines, Will, Emily, Paublo, Felix, Mary, Sara, Claret, and the list goes on. I’m sure I’ve yet to meet many more! What I love is each person has a story about why they are on the Camino or what they hope to get out of it. I met one man in an Albergue just before leaving for a day of hiking who shared he was seeking forgiveness. Others are grieving, some just always wanted to do the Camino. What’s awesome is regardless of why you’re on the Camino their is comraderie with those that are on it. I hope to continue in contact with those we’ve met and I pray for them to have a “Buen Camino” when they get back to life at home or wherever life takes them.
Our team has also gotten to grow together so much more as we’ve been out here in Spain. There are logistics to deal with when you travel with a group of 7. Walking speeds, places to stay, dinner, our budget with money and our budget with time set aside to intentionally grow together spiritually. We’ve gotten a lot wrong already, but even more so gotten a lot right and it seems like we are starting to hit a stride we are still learning each other, but our team dynamic is really pretty good. One of my favorite things we got to do was guy time and girl time! Growing with Charles and Tyler is going to be so dope this year. We all have an affinity for sports and rap (My sports affinity is however a bit less as they were both college athletes) and for our first guy time we played basketball. The second guy time was just last night and we used it to bless the women on our squad with a tasty meal of Burgers and potatoes that only cost us 16 euros to make!
Anyway, the journey isn’t over this is just a little update. “¡Buen Camino!”
-Daniel
Prayer Requests:
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Our feet
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Our hips
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Time for Blogging
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Austin’s friend Andrea
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For Valerie’s cold
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For the rest of our hiking
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Restoration of strength
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For unity within the team and squad
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Continued growth
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The divine encounters with people
(Pics to come soon when I experience better WiFi)
