Good morning!
I wanted to share a bit about hiking the Camino in Spain and let everyone known where I am with fundraising.
For March, I raised all $600 (woohoo)
For April, I have $300 raised. This means I need another $300 for the remaineder of this month. Information on how to give will be at the bottom of the blog.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting me with their prayers and fianaces. God has certainly provided.
Now on the the Camino:
To give some background to those who are not familiar, El Camino de Santiago is a pilgramage that starts in France and countinues into Spain. This is not just a hike, but it is supposed to be a spiritual journey. Our last month on the race, M squad got the opportunity to spend 10 days hiking the Camino.
We decided to hike Pamplona to Burgos, which is a 110 mile stretch in 10 days. Most days, we averaged 11-13 miles to stay on target. If we are being honest, physically, it was brutal. At some point in Africa, I was averaging 7-9 miles a day, but doing 10 all in one go is a completely different thing.
The first day was a breeze. It was the second day. And then the third day. On the forth day i remember thinking that I was ill. Throwing up seemed imminent, every half hour we had to stop. I was going to give up and take a cab for that day, but there was not a road or a village in sight. So I laid on the ground and slept for a solid half hour until the sun started to rise.
Somehow we made it through for a few more hours. That day, we had four cities between our start and our stop. I told myslef that i would walk until the forth city and bus to the fifth. If I could just make it to the forth city I could stop.
Once again, while sitting, a few squad mates passed by. The first ones. They told us about how everyone had passed them because they had accidentally taken the long trail. As they went on to describe it, I realized, I too had taken this long trail. Then they went on to explain that we had already passed the forth city and that we were on the seven mile stretch between the last city and the end point for the day (meaning i had seven miles to go and no bus options).
That day was one of the more painful days, but when I look back on it, I remember the open feild, the sunflowers, the olive tree, the vineyards. I remember looking at the olive trees and vineyards as we passed them and remembering all the scriptures and illustrations using them. I saw a new side of stories that I had heard all my life. And I remember praying that God would help me make it to where we were going.
By this time on the race, the Lord was doing a lot of things with in me. And spiritually, physically, and emotionally I was in so much pain that I just prayed that I would be able to edure until we made it to the destination.
The Camino taught me a lot about endurance: how I have more than I think, how after seven miles you talk just to not think about your feet anymore, how you have to balance when you need to stop versus when you won‘t be able to start again if you do. But also, how in season of endurance, it is the most important to look around at wear you are, where you’ve come from to save the beautiful and the blessings and hold them close.
On a side note, podcasts were one of the best take aways from the Camino amd the Race. Sermons on podcast really were a huge blessing. One of my squad mates has a podcast the focuses on different aspects of doable, livable, Biblical community. Each week offers a new perspective. If you are interested, I will link the podcast below.
Podcast:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/abnormal-tribe-podcast/id1336806407?mt=2
Donor information:
-PayPal me
-Venmo me
-mail a check or give it to my parents
Please contact me if you need help with any of these, and thank you again for your support.
God bless!
