Just A Little Walk With Jesus

Lauren from North Carolina and Cassie from South Carolina. They became friends at work, while working for a call center for an insurance broker. They both hated their job because of the way people would treat them on the phone. They would get called stupid every day by consumers calling in. They decided to quit their job and come hike El Camino.

Cassie and I both have a number of blisters on our feet that are slowing us down. I hiked with them in the afternoon until we got into town and tried to find a place to stay. The best value (20 Eurs for a bed & home cooked dinner and breakfast) place was already full. There was only one other place and they wanted double for the same (bed and meals.) The next town was 10 miles away and it was already 5 pm. I decided to go ahead and stay at La Posada and the girls were going to look for somewhere else.

I saw them again the next morning. They had stopped to have breakfast and were hoping the clothes they had washed the night before would dry. They had found a woman’s home to stay in for the night. I went on ahead and they caught up to me later when I stopped to sit a while with Jesus on a stone, that looked like a bench.

Rosario, Lucinda, Gustina and Maria are four friends from California. I met them the first day while having lunch. I hiked with Lucinda and Gustina on the second day and talked with them a bit on the third morning. They had some hold ups getting to St Jean Pied de Port as well. They flew from California to London and were scheduled to fly London to Paris. When they landed in London, the entire airline’s system had crashed and the representatives were busy trying to get everyone to their destinations. After waiting in line for 4 hours, the representatives did their best to get them on their way without too much delay. They were given flights that got them closer to St Jean. They were really surprised/saddened by the way the customers were talking to the representatives. These women remained calm and allowed the representative to help them with the situation. Because of their delayed arrival, these ladies may hop on a bus and skip ahead at some point to stay on their time schedule.

On the afternoon of the third day, when I saw these ladies as I walked into the little town of Biskarretta Gerendiain, we were all excited to see one another again. In the morning, the ladies were looking into taking a bus to Pamplona, so we did not know if we would see one another again. These ladies had just finished lunch at a cafe along El Camino. Lucinda and Gustina had told these others about me hiking the Appalachian Trail and traveling a bit. They said they could feel a special connection between us because we are sisters in Christ! Lucinda asked if she could give me a bracelet. I agreed of course! She said the bracelet was made by the Wahaca Indians and they are friendship bracelets, so we’re all bff’s now 😉 We took some pictures and the ladies were telling me how fabulous their salads and consommé were at the cafe. I told them they convinced me to turn around and go back for lunch. Rosario said she’d walk me back and she so kindly ordered and paid for me! She said I’m such a blessing to others, she wanted to pay it forward. All four of these ladies have had their own health struggles and for different reasons, they have all been told they should not be able to run, do marathons or hike El Camino and still they came. Would you be praying for them and their journey?

Sent from my iPhone