Spain is hard, yet God is still at work here.

A new friend pointed brought this article about missions in Spain from Christianity Today to my attention. The only word I can think of to describe it is sobering. The article is a little dated in that it is from 2003, but the sentiment expressed is not new to missions in Spain, nor is there any hint of change at the moment. Almost all evangelical/protestant church growth in Spain right now is directly through immigrants. The reasons for this is complex and many-sided. But the reality remains that the vast majority of people here are living in a spiritual poverty.

On a more positive side - I'd like to leave you with an excerpt from a recent e-mail from this new friend. Faith blogged about Craig Wallace recently. He is a South African missionary living some hours south of us on a branch of the Camino, and he has a heart for pilgrims as well. He has plans to create a campsite/albergue for the peregrinos where he lives. When we met him a week ago, he had just completed one of his trips on the Camino where he seeks to share Christ with pilgrims.

After he returned home he sent out an e-mail that included these four short paragraphs telling of some of the pilgrims he met and the nature of their conversations. I thought it would be valuable to share these stories to highlight the interest, need, and hunger that some pilgrims on the Camino have for "something more."

"On the first day out I met a Belgiam called Jan and spent three to four hours sharing the gospel with him.After growing up in a communistic atheistic family, and dedicating many years to communism, he is now disillusioned and was most surprised to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.Many trips behind the iron curtain left him with a sad despair and he lost his faith in humanity.I put the Bible into his hands and showed him the gospel of John before I knew his name , and he wanted to know what the name John meant.Jehovah is gracious , I told him, so he wanted to know what grace is.Jan, or John the Belgian, was crying as I left him having heard about the grace of God for the first time in his life.

That night I met in the refugio a Chinese girl and a British woman, Lin and Christine.Lin is a research scientist in behavioral genetics at Oxford university and a lively discussion ensued. Her grandfather was one of the leaders of the Three Self Church in China , and this heritage caused her to ask me about Christ and his message.Chrsitine , a British Anglican , insisted that she was a Christian but does not believe in the resurrection….so I took out my Bible and showed them the scriptures.Seed was sown in their hearts.

Coming into Puebla Sanabria I met Keren, an American woman on a cycle who I continued to travel with for the next few days. Keren progressed from being suspicious to opening up her heart to my answers to deeply probing questions concerning the christian faith.We will continue to correspond through email.

Antonio from Seville, who grew up in Germany, a marathon runner who had been walking an average of 40 kms a day for a thousand kilometers, was challenged in our sharing and vowed to begin reading the Bible to strengthen the faith which he has come into through a series of life circumstances.I will be sending him literature."

The Oxford Project

"In the Storytelling tradition of Studs Terkel and the photographic spirit of Mike Disfarmer, The Oxford Project tells the extraordinary true tale of a seemingly ordinary Midwestern town through the pictures and words of its residents. Equal parts art, American history, cultural anthropology, and human narrative - The Oxford Project is at once personal and universal, surprising and predictable, simple and profound.

The Project began almost twenty-five years ago, when Peter Feldstein undertook the remarkable task of photographing nearly every resident of this town, Oxford, Iowa (pop. 676). The collection of photographs that resulted is a fascinating glimpse into the ethos and character of small-town life. In those stark, full-body images Feldstein managed to capture not only the visage of rural America, but a sense of its underlying spirit."

- from the opening pages of The Oxford Project

I discovered the website for this interesting book/project via another blog. The book is more than 250 pages long, but on the website you can view quite a few of the photographs and stories of the townspeople. What I was able to read and see online was fascinating and gripping in it's own way.

I never actually grew up in a small midwestern town, but have family in rural northwestern Illinois. It definitely reminded me how different the world can seem in different places. Even though I lived in Chicago for 10 years, and now live abroad, part of who I am can be traced to small town and rural Illinois. It also reminded me of how precious small town life can be, when often it's overlooked as so common and uninteresting. I'm convinced that much of America has lost it's connection with our rural roots. And to me there is some mist of sadness about this loss as we become a more urban and global society. Something like this helps shine the light on the unique and valuable way of life that continues unnoticed in many small towns like this.

Update: I discovered this short 3-minute video on youtube about the project. Enjoy!

As an added side note, I am also currently reading the book Gilead, which is also set in a small rural town in Iowa. It's funny how these two things found their way into my life from so seemingly far away. I guess there's nothing like a little nostalgia to offset the difficulty of learning Spanish!!

Don't go!

At least that is what it seems like Kathryn is saying to Po Po. Faith's mom has been with us for nearly two weeks, and we all are a little sad to see her go already. Her visit did not go as we thought it would, with four of us getting sick while she was here. But it was refreshing to have her help during the week sickness ravaged our house, and to enjoy some of her home-cooked Chinese food.

Gone Fishin'

Faith blogged yesterday about our walk along the coast. It's one of our favorite places, and she already posted most of the artsy/romantic pictures. I just noticed today the fishing theme that came out on a number of pictures - here are three of the best.

If you like to fish, this might look like heaven to you.

A broader shot to show just how little this fisherman looked against the backdrop.

A small fishing boat common in the waters of Galicia.

Voter's Agony

Hi. My name is Nate, and I have Voter's Agony.

This is my first election living abroad, which means I have less time to procrastinate making my decision because we have to get our absentee ballots returned soon. I payed more close attention to each party national convention than I ever have before. Just now I spent the last hour or so online trying to find anything to help me find clarity on this election. It seems to me that this is such a polarized election that I must be one of the few who genuinely am not sure what to do. More than anything, this is due to the fact that I am growing increasingly weary with, and wary of, both political parties, and I really don't expect much significant change from either candidate, regardless of what they say and promise now. In the end, each ends up being the tool of their party - which leads me to believe nothing will change. One party will be in control, and blamed for everything under the sun by the party out of control. The party that is out of control will promise the moon, and besides, anyone could do a better job of governing than the current party. It's as predictable as it seems useless.

I was struck by some various web pages designed to 'help' the undecided voter and how everything is defined in terms of 'positions'. Who you vote for should be based on what position you have on various issues, and you should vote for the guy who has the most similar stances. Or something like that. Anyhow - this is what irks me - why does it come down to positions? What ever happened to ideas? No matter how much either candidate tries to present himself as an agent of change, or a maverick, all I see is the same old tired republican vs. democrat battle. It sure seems to me that anymore, candidates decide what positions to take on an issue based on their party, or even worse, because it's opposite of what the other party is for. It seems to me there is far too little room for nuanced thinking, and truly new ideas. I think we as a nation face a host of very serious issues that threaten us. But I can't possibly believe that they all will be solved with either/or solutions.

Anyhow - I guess this is more rant than thoughtful post, but clearly I am concerned about the future of our country, and I am none too confident in either party right now to make much significant change. If anything, let this be a reminder for us all to take this freedom seriously, to pray hard over our decisions, and pray even harder for whoever happens to win, because regardless of who wins, we have a mountain of serious problems to address.

Takeaways

And I'm not talking about turnovers in football (Go Bears!). I'm resisting the temptation to write some lengthy and flowery post about the grand things I learned on my walk. I think it's easier to bring together a few random points I think I learned along the way. Some may tie together, others may not. So in no particular order, here are some lessons I hope stay with me from my camino.

1) If the camino is an allegory of life's journey, one thing I learned was that sometimes the most important thing is to keep on going in the face of difficulty and adversity, even when you feel like giving up. (as a side-note, I also learned that sometimes it's good to put your plans aside and rest for a bit before moving ahead with a difficult task).

2) I felt the Lord affirming to me that everything and everyone on Earth is his. That this camino, this spot on earth, these pilgrims, and the local inhabitants all belong to Him. He knows every person and every detail. It is his world and we are passing through it. It's a beautiful place, full of valuable things and people.

3) I finish my short camino with a renewed encouragement that the vision we have for a hostel/albergue in Santiago is both good and unique. I sense that there is a service we can provide these pilgrims that is not currently being provided in Santiago (that we are yet aware of). So much of the camino experience is about this special community, and I believe now more than ever that many pilgrims would really appreciate an albergue that creates a community space and environment that most hostels and albergues do not have.

4) My confidence in my fledgling Spanish skills grew over the week. Even thought feeling out of my depth at times, I definitely walk away knowing I can communate in Spanish better than ever before : - ) I really think one of God's gifts to me over my week of travel was continued community with Spaniards.

5) It's about the people and the relationships. Even though the setting is different, in the end, it's not that much different than real life. The walk is interesting, the landscape is beautiful, and the destination is cool. But all of that is secondary to the relationships and community you build along the way. The people are the real treasure of this journey.

Arrival

Arco do Pino to Santiago de Compostela

Saturday, September 27, 2008
Less than 20 kilometers (I must say I'm still confused by exactly how far apart some of the stops are - regardless, I walked somwhere between 10-12 miles on this last day).

Believe it or not, I have much less to say about this last leg. I walked for the first hour or so with two brothers from New Zealand. Very nice guys. We started in the dark, and none of us had a flashlight, so it might not be hard to imagine that we did manage to lose our way for a short bit in a forest during the nearly pitch-black pre-dawn. I used my cell phone as a flashlight with meager results. It all worked out alright, and we were back on the right path soon enough. After some good conversation, and sometime after daybreak, the two long-hikers from the South Pacific kicked into another gear I didn't have. They were trying to make it into Santiago by noon in order to catch the Pilgrim's mass at the cathedral. I saw them later, and they did in fact make it in time for the mass (I also learned, sadly, that they ran into Gilles, and his walking poles had been stolen at the cathedral). I walked another good portion of the day with my new temporary Spanish community. I had another good lengthy spiritual conversation, this time with Antonio and Jesús. We covered a lot of church history, as they had a lot of questions about Protestants and evangelicals. Most Spaniards don't know many people of faith from Protestant and evangelical traditions. I tried my best to explain what I knew were the differences between 'us' and the Catholic faith, as well as explaining the differences with groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons.

I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure my emotions were different from many pilgrims who arrive in Santiago. Living so close by, we go to Santiago relatively often. I've seen the cathedral many times now. It's not yet home, but it is certainly a familiar place. I definitely was excited to get to Santiago, and I enjoyed the satisfaction of completing a (relatively) long and difficult walk. I enjoyed getting to know our anticipated future home in a new way as well. But it was not all that emotional of an arrival. I was excited to get home to my family, a long hot shower, and my own comfortable bed. I didn't even have much time to spend in Santiago as my train back to Coruña was leaving in a few short hours. I rested briefly in the square in front of the Cathedral before heading over to the pilgrim's office to precent my credencial and receive my Compostela - an official document confirming my completion of the Camino. I then returned to the cathedral to say some quick goodbyes to my Spanish companions as they explored the interior. I didn't even have time for a 'proper' meal after arriving. I had to settle for wolfing down a quick Burger King meal as I scurried down to the train station to catch my train. But it really was great to step down from the train in Coruña to a warm welcome from my family. I received heartfelt little leg-hugs from each of the boys. It was good to see Faith and the kids, be somewhere even more familiar, climb into the car, and head home.

I had the chance to visit Santiago again 3 short days later as we introduced some friends visiting from the States to Santiago. I took this picture that day of a group of pilgrims capturing their arrival at the Cathedral on film. It definitely brought back memories of my arrival just a few days prior.

Food and Fellowship

Ribadiso do Baixo to Arco do Pino

Friday, September 26, 2008
approximately 20 kilometers (12 1/2 miles)

Another day of rising early for the day's walk. Today's walk was the shortest and easiest of the bunch. For the first and only time I arrived at an albergue before it opened for the afternoon. There was a crowd of at least 50 other pilgrims who had arrived before me waiting on the front porch and lawn of the albergue. The walk itself was good - I walked a good portion of the day with David - we saw Jesús and Antonio less than on other days. I spent the last hour or two with a remarkable Canadian - you can read more about him in the Pilgrim of the Day section below.

One of the highlights of the day was sharing lunch with about 12 Spaniards. I left for lunch with my three most regular companions - we ran into some other friends we'd made on the camino over the last several days. But rather than head for a restaurant right away, we stopped first at a cafe for a round of drinks. We hung out and talked and waited for some others to join us. We then sauntered on down the road to a restaurant that someone in town had recommended. I certainly never would have found or picked out this restaurant on my own, because through the front door it looked like just about any other bar or cafe in Spain. There was, however, out of sight behind a door, a dining area that looked much more like a nice restaurant. By the time our food arrived our party of 4 had ballooned to something like 12 people.

The waiter started off with the standard baskets of bread and a wide variety of drinks (soda, wine, beer, water, etc). The group then ordered a few starter plates of Pulpo. Pulpo is a local Gallego delicacy - The legs of the octopus are cut up into circles (think like a carrot) and boiled (or perhaps sauteed?). It's only the second time I've had it. And I must say that it does have a good flavor, and the meat is good. I'm still not real fond of the skin or the attached suckers. The rest of the menu was standard in that the options were normal: various choices for 2 plates (or courses), and a dessert. Only it was not standard in that the food was absolutely fantastic!! I know I walked 20 kilometers that morning, and that might have played some part in my enjoyment - I was far more tired and hungry the day before, and was far less impressed with that meal.

At any rate, as good as the food was, the best part of the meal was not the food, but was being welcomed into a community of festive Spaniards as they shared a meal. It was a different cultural experience than I have had in the year I've been here. Not that I havn't shared meals with Spaniards, but in this experience I felt more immersed, and more welcomed as part of the group. While I still felt my 'otherness', that welcome into this group was rich and satisfying. I still could hardly keep up with the multi-layered and high-speed conversations, but I was much less exhausted, and far more appreciative of the opportunity. The entire process took probably 2 1/2 or 3 hours and felt so incredibly Spanish. The restaurant turned off the lights signaling to us it was time to leave. As we left, believe it or not, most of the group decided to stop off at yet another cafe for another round of drinks, and more conversation. I opted at this point to return to the albergue for some time alone.

I made two separate stops at the Pharmacy to find some material to care for my small but growing blisters. I made my last visit to a local supermarket to purchase some fruit and other snacks for the next day's walk. In the end I was finally able to get out and explore the city of Arco do Pino a little bit. I probably walked more than I would have liked to, but enjoyed exploring another corner of this unique planet. Later in the day I had another good conversation with a long-hiker from Poland. He spoke excellent English, and had been hiking the camino alone. It's unfortunate I did not have more time to get to know him, as our conversation was easy and pleasant. All of the long-hikers I met definitely left me with the impression that I was missing out on something special and with the desire to make the whole journey someday. It seems to be a rich and challenging experience that does impact people deeply in different ways. This was the day that I felt like I was just starting to get a glimpse of the unique relational potential that the camino offers. It really is a great way to get to know someone quickly - it's a place where you are able to move into deeper levels of conversation than you normally would with friends, neighbors, and co-workers that you see on a regular basis.

Pilgrim of the Day:

Gilles is truly an inspirational person. I met this French (and English)-speaking Canadian from northern Ontario (not Quebec) near the end of his 40 day camino. It's a remarkable journey for anyone, but I was especially impressed given that Gilles is 74 years old. In addition to his remarkable adventuresome spirit, he was also one of the kindest and gentlest people I have met in a while. This soon-to-be-retired Catholic priest definitely exuded an unassuming love that had the air of Jesus to those that he met. I met Gilles briefly Thursday nite in the albergue, and walked and talked with him for more than an hour when I caught up with him on Friday. It was rewarding to meet him and talk with him. I only hope I can be as vibrant both physically, socially, and spiritually when I reach that stage of life.

Strength in Communty and Solitude

Palas de Rei to Ribadiso do Baixo

Thursday, September 25, 2008
approximately 25 kilometers (15 1/2 miles)
(click anywhere on the slideshow to go to Picasa for larger pics and comments)

I discovered today the power of community for someone walking the camino alone. I walked almost the entire day with three Spaniard guys who had more or less adopted me into their group. David, Jesús, and Antonio are three friends from Valencia who were walking for various reasons. I was tempted to name the three of them my Pilgrims of the Day, but they were a big part of nearly my entire journey - Pilgrims of the week would be a more appropriate title. Walking and talking made the 25 kilometers pass so much quicker. I found I needed fewer breaks, and felt like I was flying along the trail. It was still tiring, but much less so.

David, Antonio, and I discussed spiritual matters for a significant portion of our walk. Converstaion ranged over a variety of topics, but kicked off when they asked me if I was religious. Not being fond of that term, it took me some time to explain (mostly in Spanish) that I take my faith in Jesus very seriously, but that to me it is different from being 'religious.' I really worked hard to communicate that my faith is centered on the person of Jesus and my relationship with him. Over time, the conversation wandered over several other topics, but in the end I pray (and prayed!) that I was able to communicate this very important point and give them pause to consider Jesus a bit more as they journeyed.

When I first met Jesús in Portomarin, he asked me to sign his walking stick, and I noticed that he had writeen "Jesús es mi guia" (Jesus is my guide) on it. I asked him about it, and probably gave him a puzzled look when he said, "Soy Jesús." (I am Jesus), because I thought he was making some vague spiritual allegory about his camino and comparing himself with Jesus the son of God. It made a lot more sense to me when I finally realized the simple truth that his name actually was Jesús.

This perhaps would be a good place to explain what a typical day on the Camino is like, because this was the first day I truly followed a standard schedule that carries most pilgrims the entire length of their journey. An albergue usually sleeps many pilgrims in one room - I shared rooms with as few as 5 other pilgrims, and as many as 109 others. You wake up about 6:30 and pack up your gear in the dark as quietly as possible, in an effort not to wake the few fellow pilgrims in the room who choose not to get an early start. You may eat a small breakfast right away, or simply start walking without food. Either way, you are on the path by 7:30, give or take 15 minutes or more. About 2-3 hours into your walk you stop for coffee/breakfast/snack. Usually at a cafe or bar located right on the camino. 4 to 5 hours of walking may still be ahead, and depending on your company, your energy, and pace, you may take other breaks along the way (with a minimum of 1), including one for lunch around 1 or 2 in the afternoon if you've not arrived at your final destination in time.

The goal is generally to arrive at your final destination for the day before 2, as many albergues fill up quickly around that time. In most cases, you arrive before 2, check in, shower, wash your clothes (you travel with 2, maybe 3 sets of walking clothes), and hang them out to dry. THEN you often go looking for food. You have two choices, first, to find a market and buy food to eat on your own. This is much cheaper, but much harder to do when traveling solo. Many albergues even have a kitchen you can cook a meal in. The second choice is to find a bar/restaurant that offers a menu of the day. The menu includes a drink, two courses, each of which gives you several different options to choose from, and a dessert. All this for a relatively reasonable price. Once the meal is done, you have what's left of the evening to relax, check out the area around the albergue, meet people, read, journal, etc, etc. The day winds down sometime between 10 and 11 as you lay your tired body to rest in bed and try to get some good sleep before tomorrow's early start. Earplugs are a must!!

The albergue in Ribadiso do Baixo was situated in a peaceful and bucolic location, nestled in the hills of the Galician countryside next to a creek and an ancient roman bridge. Pilgrims have been staying in this spot since at least the 1500's, and perhaps longer. It was here in Ribadiso that I was reminded also of the power of solitude. Physically and mentally exhausted after a long day of walking and struggling through complex discussions in Spanish, I chose to share dinner with a group of 9 or so festive Spaniards that formed a large part of my temporary community as I walked. I made the decision partly out of a desire to be around others, but I quickly realized that I did not have the mental energy to keep up with a multi-layered and fast moving conversation. After a while, I simply gave up trying to keep up, and just ate. I realized that more than my need for community at that point, what I really needed was some time alone to recharge. I took the rest of the afternoon to do just that. It was a beautiful spot to take a few (very short!) exploratory walks and enjoy the country-side and the albergue. And as usual, meet a few other pilgrims. It did feel wonderful to dip my tired feet into the freezing cold water of the creek. I found genuine refreshment in having time alone for the rest of the day.