Someone is ringing the hell out of the bells…

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Leaving beautiful Burgos was sad this morning. The journey out of town was easy and beautiful. We were ushered through our 5 hours of walking with golden wheat on both sides of the path.

When settling in for our hostel, I asked if they would be having Mass today. The receptionist said, they never really know. If Father starts ringing the hell out of the bells at 5:30pm, then Mass starts at 6pm.

The boys and I were playing a board game and then right on queue someone starting clanging the bells for about a minute straight. We quickly finished and headed over to the town church.

The 4 of us arrived there with one pink haired lady. When it came time for the homily we were all asked if we spoke Spanish. As we came to know the pink hair lady, Gloria, she translated the homily line for line from Father over to us. Then we would nod in understanding and then we would give the next line.

When Mass ended, Father called us all forward to give us a pilgrim’s blessing. He conveyed to us that we could say a pilgrim’s prayer in English and then he wanted to know all about us through his new found interpreter Gloria. He then made us sing a hymn about the Camino in French since we were walking the French way.

The most surreal moment was when he asked in broken English if we could sing “Lord, I Need You” by Matt Maher. I said “Si.” Then he told me to start singing it. I gave it my best try and the boys thankfully chimed in. As we went on, Father ran over to the side and grabbed a laminated paper so that Gloria and some unlucky French biker who was passing by could join in and sing too. When I told Father we saw Matt Maher live in concert back in Kansas, he lost his mind.

Once the song was over, Father wanted to keep talking about Kansas and the “Jirak” familia. They boys were wearing their “Jirak Man Daze” shirts and he had to know all about that as well. He would not let us leave without getting a selfie with him.

Then we were off to supper and had a 3 hour visit with Gloria and our Brazilian friends Mary Ann and Marcos. We drank much wine and had a great share of laughs until we called it at 10pm.

Dinner with some of our friends

3 Comments Add yours

  1. Ethan says:

    Missed you guys at Mandaze! The Comida looks so good, please keep a good food journal, I saw the chocolate cup and churro thing and I almost bought a plane ticket. I hope your blisters and cuts hurt but are healing. Have fun today!

    1. Al Jirak says:

      Sorry we had a miss. But someone has to teach the Spaniards how to be men.

  2. Angie Costley says:

    Just spent the first part of my work day getting caught up on your journey 🙂 What an amazing experience for you all!!! I will keep you in my prayers, and look forward to further updates. God Bless!!!

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