Camino de Santiago 2024

Camino de Santiago, or the Way of St. James, was declared by Pope Alexander VI in 1492 to be one of the “three great pilgrimages of Christendom”, along with Jerusalem and the Via Francigena to Rome. More than 200,000 pilgrims a year follow routes from France, Portugal and Spain to arrive at the Cathedral of St. James located in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain.

Every October our church in Round Rock, Texas sends a small team of volunteers to live and work in a 400-year-old building located in the small town of Ligonde, Spain, right on the Camino. Each day we would provide the pilgrims with physical necessities like cafe con leche (coffee with milk), agua (water), limonada (lemon water), and banos (bathrooms). But most importantly we would share the gospel and pray with them.

The albergue (hostel) where we lived and served is called the La Fuente de Peregrino, which means the Pilgrim’s Fountain. On the outside of the building is a fountain where pilgrims refilled their water, but the true source of life is the Living Water.

“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life”​. – Jesus (John 4:14)

Take a look at this video to see what the pilgrims would see as they approached our building. This video was taken in the afternoon siesta time (3-5pm) when we would shut our doors to prepare supper for the 10 to14 pilgrims who were spending the night with us. The road through this small farming town is part of the Camino. There is no way a pilgrim could pass by and not receive a smile or kind word from us. We also shared the street with the local dairy cows, farming dogs and a handful of cats.

I won’t go into a lot of detail about this year’s trip. I encourage you to read the blog I wrote about my experience last year. It is a good representation of this trip, except we had quite a bit of rain this year. My beloved husband came with me for the first time. He enjoyed it as much as I did.

Also, this year my daughter and granddaughter made 40 bracelets for me to give away to some of the pilgrims. I ordered two charms to go on the bracelets. One charm had a cross on it and the other had a URL to a page that explains salvation and answers questions about Jesus. It was so fun to give these away to people from all over the world. I would tell them it was made by a 17-year-old girl in Argyle, Texas! And it was made just for them.

During the one week we were there we spoke with people from more than 50 countries!
Google Translate is a great app!

Our Team

I don’t want to conclude this post without sharing my great admiration for the men and women who were on our team. Every one of us were used by the Lord in our own unique ways. Our leader, Pam, is so organized, efficient and attentive. The Walz family (Peter, Norma, Jonathan and Carla) all spoke Spanish which makes our ministry so much more effective. The Lord really blessed us with them. Not only can they communicate with the bulk of our visitors, they helped keep us fed! Norma and Carla shopped for groceries and cooked several delicious meals! We are all responsible for cooking meals for ourselves and the pilgrims, but no one is as accomplished in the kitchen as Norma and Carla. Plus Carla is going to give birth soon! And Jonathan stood in the rain for hours inviting and welcoming pilgrims into our alburgue! Both he and his father Peter have a gift for sharing Christ with others. The Hoods, Dale and I, and Victoria all had our unique strengths as well, and contributed to all aspects of daily life.

I believe that often those who are serving wonder if they are being as effective for the kingdom as they can be (or maybe it’s just me), but we heard over and over from the pilgrims, and our overnight guests, that our little home, which is filled with Christ followers, was the most wonderful stop along their route. I’ll give you this example …

There was a lady, probably in her 60s, who started the Camino in France. When I was checking her in around 2pm (she was staying the night with us), she was telling me about her spiritual experiences in France and showing me photos. She stayed in a couple of monasteries and attended services and sang hymns with the monks before leaving. I thought that was very cool. Later that evening when we were all getting ready for bed, she and her friend were sitting on their bunks, and she said to me that she had never stayed in a place where God was so tangible to her. She said it was by far the most “spiritual” place on the Camino. I believe she formed this opinion because we intentionally, and genuinely want to hear their personal spiritual journeys and share Christ with them. We do this over dinner as we sit together around a big wood table. Then afterwards we play a “game” that encourages them to share their own stories. We listen. We share our stories. We pray. Some evenings we have three or more languages being spoken. One many knew both French and Spanish and he helped translate. Another may know Italian and English and they help translate. God makes a way.

I am not through blogging about our Spain trip! Dale and I spent six days in Madrid as well and I will share that very soon! Hopefully there will also be a video to share.