Wednesday was a beautiful sunny, warm day. The sun was so bright, and the waves were high. The surfers were enjoying the morning surf; the taste of salt was strong on our lips. It was an idyllic utopian day in the midst of world chaos.
As we approached the beach, we noticed two bivvy-bag tents with two young guys about 20ish. As we got nearer, we greeted them, they smiled and said; “good morning”! We chatted about the weather and things in general. They told us they were walking the Camino Road.
The Camino de Santiago “Pilgrimage of Compostela”; known in English as the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrims’ ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the saints are buried there. Many follow its routes as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth. It is also popular with hiking and cycling enthusiasts and organized tour groups.
This led us nicely into talking about spiritual things, and Kian from Gran Canaria was very interested in what we had to say about Jesus and salvation. He told us that he had been baptised. I guessed this was probably as a baby, and that he believed in God. I asked him if he wanted to invite Jesus into his life, to be forgiven for all the past mistakes and to be born again. He nodded and said he would like to do that. I led him in a prayer of salvation, and he was born again on the 18th of November. 2020. Chris then asked him if he had an Irish father and a Canarian mother. He was shocked and said, “no, it’s the other way around.” He asked Chris how he knew, and we told him that Jesus knows him and has a plan for his life. We told him to look out for signs along the road of the manifestation of God and His love for him. Mirko from Italy wasn’t able to speak English, but we asked Kian that if he too wanted to belong to Jesus to lead him in the same way to salvation in Jesus.
The funny thing was Kian was smoking a joint (weed), and I told him we could pray and break the addiction if he liked to which he replied; no, please don’t I like it. 🙂
We met Adriana and her mother Rosario just before we left for England. She said she wanted to meet with us again. We gave her my number and said we would contact her when we returned. Whilst in England we received a WhatsApp from her asking if we were back yet. So, on Monday, they came over for a cup of tea, and we discovered that we had met Adriana on two other occasions. One was on a website that I’d joined for a language helper, and the other time was also on the beach. Adriana is fun-loving but a little nervous. She speaks good English, and her mum speaks just Portuguese but can understand quite a bit of English too. So we managed in both languages. We laughed and talked, and told them our testimony about how we came to know Jesus. Adriana is very much into New Age, as are many here. She told us that she got discouraged with the Roman Catholic church here and was looking for something more. Adriana has big dreams and ambitions. Rosario smiled very sweetly, a godly looking woman who said that the Holy Spirit is enough. We explained the difference between religion and having a relationship with God through Jesus. It was a great afternoon, and we look forward to seeing them again soon. Please pray for Kian and Mirco, for Adriana and Rosario. We also had Jorge and Erika over for dinner last Saturday. You may remember back in the summer when we met them on the beach. It was a fun time even though Jorge is still resistant to the Gospel.
