Pilgrims 2

Linda and Claud from Orange County, CA have come to El Camino for the 3rd time. They have done 2 weeks sections and were hoping to make it to Santiago this year but they will end 100k short and hope to come back next year to finish. Linda is a patent lawyer, like her Father. Claud is her second husband and they recently sold their home to move closer to her parents. Her Father is suffering with Parkinson’s and her Mother is not able to care for him herself, Claud spends several hours each day with them. As we talked, Linda brought up her heartache over her 24 year old son several times. 

Her son has not had contact with Linda since May. Before he cut her out of his life he was making lofty demands because he felt entitled to a luxurious life and Linda should provide him with it. Linda worked two jobs when her children were young and put herself and her first husband through school. Her husband was not very supportive and that made Linda work harder to achieve her goal of becoming a patent lawyer. Once Linda began doing well, she and her 1st husband divorced and she did indulge her children with items they wanted. She regrets giving them so much and not having them work for it as she did. 

Once her son started using Facebook, she noticed his attitude and demeanor changed. He compared himself constantly with his friends and what they had or what vacation they were on. Linda asked him several times to close his Facebook account but he was not willing. Once he graduated college, he thought he should have everything Linda does. He did not get a job in his field and after months of pushing, he began working at McDonalds. Linda wanted him to become responsible so they started talking about him getting his own apartment. Linda said she would help him with his rent but he said she would need to give him an allowance because he did not want to just have a place to live and pay his bills, he needed to party with his friends. Linda drew the line and has been questioning her decision since because he has not talked with her since then. She has been beating herself up about being a bad parent. There has been some tension between Linda and Claud where her son is concerned because Claud suggested cutting her son off financially long ago. We talked about parents feeling that children are a reflection of themselves and therefore some of her hurt maybe for her reputation. Linda, Claud and I prayed for her heart to be healed, for no self-doubt or negative self-talk about her parenting, for her son and for their broken relationship. 

Anna Marie and Andres from Montreal, Canada have been married for 30 years. Anna Marie had a demanding plant manager role for Frito Lay for many years, needing to move their family at times for her career. They moved to Boston, Massachusetts for 4 years when their daughters were 14, 12, 12 and 5 and only Anna Marie spoke English. After the first marking period, the girls caught on quickly but Anna Marie had to help them each night to translate their homework. If they needed to write about the Gettysburg Address, she would have them write in French and then she would help them translate it to English. It was harder for Andres to learn. 

Last year, Anna Marie had breast cancer. She is in remission now but she wanted to hike the Camino for those she knows who have been effected by cancer. Each day she walks for someone, dedicating that day’s hike to the person or in their memory, she writes a post about the person on Facebook and she and Andres pray/think about them while they hike. She said it has been too easy to come up with people to dedicate each day to because they know so many who have been touched by cancer. 

Sop from Korea, was working as an electronics salesman and quit his job to come hike the Camino. He wants to discover himself and what he is passionate about. He is 36 years old and has grown tired of doing what others think he should. 

Johanne (said Yo-han) from Cape Town, South Africa has lived in Spain for 30+ years with her husband and sons. She and her Spanish husband were living in South Africa were apartheid began and they felt it wasn’t safe for them with such unsteadiness. Because her husband is Spanish, they were able to move to Spain. Johanne’s husband is the manager of a major car manufacturer in Spain and with retirement coming soon, Johanne is feeling a bit anxious about what the future will hold. She had cancer last year and that made her face the reality of her own death. She believes in the air because she breathes it but is not religious. We had four days were we would keep meeting each other and we would talk. I shared some of my testimony with Johanne and I could tell there was more to her “not being religious.” Would you keep Johanne in prayer?

Bernadette from Australia, began the Camino last year and she hiked 400kl, skipping sections she thought would be tough or boring. After 3 months in Savannah, GA with her daughter and son in law, this year, she was ready to come finish what she started. When she flew into Burgos, Spain her arthritis in her right knee had been flared up for a few weeks. She has not hiked as much as she hoped because of the pain and has jumped around to a few places by bus. Would you pray for Bernadette’s arthritis in her knee to be completely healed and for her to have the stamina to hike more than a few kilometers a day. 

Nadege from France, has been in Spain for 8 months now. The first 6 months she was living out her dream of working with monkeys by volunteering at a monkey rescue. She soon discovered working with monkeys was nothing like she thought it would be. Nadege is walking El Camino to see more of Spain. She knows her family would like her to come back to France by the first week of November but she is really enjoying the Camino and does not know if she will go home quite yet. 

Nadege is not a believer but she has noticed that maybe God is trying to get her attention. There have been three albergues that Nadege has felt a connection with and therefore stayed for a few days at each, all of the owner’s have been named Jesus (Hey – Zuse.) We talked about Jesus Christ, what He has done in my life and how He would like to be her Savior as well. Please pray for Nadege as Holy Spirit is working in her life, that she would come to the saving knowledge of Christ!

Claire from Los Angeles, California has been living in Scotland for the last 5 years. She went to study abroad for 1 semester of college and stayed to finish her degree and has been working with a missions organization for the last 3 years. She and her colleagues were living in run down areas of Glasgow, running ministries to help the poorest neighborhoods. She is walking the Camino during her time of transition before moving back to LA. She needs prayer for her future plans. 

Claud and Linda

Bernadette from Australia