Connections and Callings: Heather's Journey from Campus to Compostela
Episode 11 | 17 Minutes | Aug 4, 2024
Heather recently graduated from Azusa Pacific University and went on a trip to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. She went with a group of fellow students and partnered with a collective through her university's global engagement program. Heather had a new experience leading the trip and working with a new group of people. One of her favorite parts was seeing her team members come out of their shells and discover their passions. She also had a memorable moment visiting a local farm in Spain that reminded her of her own family's farm in America. The trip has had a significant impact on Heather's spiritual journey and she feels a calling for long-term mission work. She has a passion for cross-cultural ministry and is exploring where she feels most connected and invested. Heather's advice for future short-term team workers is to learn about the area they are going to, understand the culture, and practice the language.
In this Episode:
Heather’s personal experience in Spain
How leading a group can impact and benefit your experience
Taking risks joining cross-cultural service, and how it affects one’s future
The similarities and differences of Spanish and American culture
The importance of context and understanding before one goes into the field
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Heather is a recent graduate from Azusa Pacific University, where she majored in English with a minor in Biblical Studies. She’s a thoughtful and reflective individual who embraced a transformative experience through a mission trip to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Initially nervous about leading a new group of peers, Heather found the experience both exhilarating and challenging. This experience highlighted the common struggles faced by small farms and deepened her connection with Spanish culture.
Heather found the relaxed pace of Spanish life and the emphasis on long, leisurely meals both intriguing and difficult to adapt to, contrasting sharply with her American habits of starting the day early. Spiritually, Heather felt guided by God throughout the trip and has been reflecting on her call to long-term cross-cultural work. Looking ahead, Heather is exploring where her passion for cross-cultural ministry will lead her, seeking to understand more about the people and cultures she feels most connected to. She values deep, relational engagement and is committed to learning and growing through her experiences. Heather’s journey is marked by a blend of curiosity, openness, and a desire to understand and connect with others on a meaningful level.
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Introduction and Meet Heather
Hello! Today we are here with Heather, and as always we are going to hear a little bit about her trip and her experience, but first I'm gonna let her introduce herself. Heather, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hello everyone, my name is Heather and I just recently graduated from Azusa Pacific University I don't know what else to say.
Well, congratulations! What did you major in?
I majored in English and I had a minor in Biblical Studies.
Nice!
The Santiago de Compostela Trip
Super interesting so, let's talk about your trip can you tell me when and where you went and who you went with?
Yeah, so we went on a trip to Santiago de Compostela back in May. We left, I want to say May 11th through the 26th. went on this trip with a couple of other fellow students from my school and we partnered with one collective through Azusa Pacific University and their Global Engagement Program, and we went and worked with Dusty and Megan Dillon and Jordi in, uh, Spain.
Meeting New People and Leadership Challenges
Awesome. So did you know any of these people before you went on the trip or was it kind of just meeting them as you went?
I was just meeting everybody as we went. The way Azusa you have a trip and they'll interview for a leader, and then once they have a leader, the leader will interview other people who are interested in going on the trip, and then you start having team meetings. So I went through that whole process. And I didn't know anyone until et them in the interviews and then we started having team meetings.
Dang, so fresh start meeting a whole new group of people. Tell me a little bit about that. Was it kind of out of your comfort zone?
I enjoyed having new people and getting to meet new people through this experience, but it was a little nerve-wracking, especially being the one leading the trip to school's end because that was the whole new experience of being in charge of people in a way that I. did Never before had been and also recognized at the same time that these people are my peers. And so there were a lot of Cases where the only leadership I rad was in emergencies and every day was a lot more of just checking in with everybody and seeing where everybody was at, and that was, that part was very nerve-wracking because I didn't know how these people operated, and meeting new people and then having to go and lead and work with them in a strange environment, that was just a whole new ballgame for me, but it was very exhilarating but also frightening.
Yeah, absolutely.
Favorite Moments and Cultural Insights
What was one of your favorite parts about leading specifically?
I think my favorite part was seeing the other people on my team. Find the areas that they were the most passionate about and see them just slowly come out of their shells those First couple of meetings back when we were still at APU and not on on field yet We're awkward at times and a little unsure Everybody was just trying to get to know each other and we weren't sure who these people were but once we got on the field and they started to interact with the ministry and art in what we had been preparing for. I got to see who they were and just the different areas that they had passions for. And that was fun knowing that I was a part of that and was helping with that.
Yeah, that's awesome. That's super helpful context for just the trip overall. And I also just want to ask, what was one of your favorite moments from the trip, from the week or so that you were there?
I think my all-time favorite moment was when we went to go visit a local farm that Jordi and Dusty partner with that's right on the outskirts of Santiago it's family-owned and run and has been for a couple of generations now. And that reminded me a lot of my family because we have a farm that's been owned and family-run for a couple of generations now. And it was the first time that I felt at home throughout that entire trip. It was the first time that I could see a deep connection between America and Spain as we're facing similar issues when it comes to these small family farms. And we're all trying to push back against, just corporate and the, going to making things easier and doing uh, like easy access over quality. That's something that I've seen in my journey with my family farm and how slowly that's become kind of irrelevant and just seeing them face similar issues rade me. recognize just how much we're the same people and we're in similar circumstances and we're all facing the same struggles
Yeah, that's awesome. I think it's good that you were able to see similar cultures, especially in such a specific context and area around farming. So I think that's super cool. I want to flip the narrative a little bit and also talk about the differences between them because you're going to a new country with culture. And so what two to three things were new for you to experience that were from the culture? So what were some things that maybe caught you off guard or were just a new experience for you?
I think the biggest thing that, uh, probably caught me off guard but I overall actually really enjoyed and appreciated Spanish culture is just how relaxed and laid back they are. As far as time and schedules go, they tend to not start their days at 10, or 11 a.m. and that's a stark contrast from what I was used to in America of sometimes starting my days as early as 6 in the morning, and just having that chance to go at a slower pace. see how much that was imbued in their everyday lives, like meals took hours and it was just a chance to talk to people and relax and not worry about what was happening next until it was right in front of you. And that was something that I loved, but it was really hard for me to get used to at first because n till, um, 9 o'clock every morning and then get ready to be somewhere by 11 was a very different lifestyle.
Yes, absolutely. And because they start so late, they're out late too, right? Like their dinners are really, really late and people can be out tat here, 4 am, right? Right. That’s a pattern. Everyone who has come back from the Hispanic culture, they're like, they're so slow. And I love it and it's hard to adjust to it, but it is such a good blessing and I think hopefully something that we hope to accommodate in our culture and our day. Right.
Yes, I've taken that approach back home to the dismay of my mom, but it's been very nice for me to be a little bit more relaxed about what I'm doing.
Yes, for sure. I'm so glad.
Spiritual Impact and Reflections
So I want to talk about some other ways the rip has impacted you, um, specifically like spiritually. So I want to just ask, how has God been at work since this trip as a result of your experience?
Yeah, God's been at ith this trip so much in my life like, right from the beginning, with the whole process for this trip with my school, I kind of just decided on a whim that I go talk to people about maybe volunteering as a leader, and I got there. an information meeting that I decided to attend the day of, and then signed up for an interview, and just went through the whole process, like, okay God, is this where you want me? Is this what you want me to do? And he's been using that to show me that, yes, that's what, where he wanted me, and what he wanted me to do. To be doing at this time in my life, and he's also shown me that there is a call in work on a long-term basis, and been a struggle these last few months of trying to figure out what that means, what that looks like, but also trusting God and that calling and knowing that if he's telling me to step into this, he's doing it with purpose, and there's going to be Yeah. reason for it. And I'm not just going to be thrown into the waters to sink or swim, but he's going to be there with me. And it's been a learning process since I got home from Spain of what that's going to look like, where we're going to go with that, and just what the next steps look like. But I've started the process. I started talking to people and I'm just at a point now where I can say, okay, God, I'll let, I'm going to let you lead.
Yeah, that's awesome. I want to put a pin in that because I have a question about that, but I want to get to other questions first. As we talk about spirituality, talk to me about the spiritual demographic and like culture kind of of the area and of the people you were interacting with. Were they people of faith or was that not always a conversation? Talk to me about that.
I found out that in Spain specifically, they tend to think you're either Catholic or agnostic because that's where their biggest demographics are. There aren't a lot of Protestants or any other religion present in Spain, but also with that, the Catholics in the nation tend to be more religious in the sense of it's what their family has done, and it's very much you're Catholic because your parents were Catholic, not necessarily because you have that personal conviction to be Catholic, which is a trend that we don't see in the United States, but I think is something that is starting to pick up a little bit more is that there are a lot of people who just claim to be Christian because they grew up in a Christian household, whether or not they believe in God, but that that's something that they just have adopted in their life. And it was very much a different mindset for me because everybody I know, they've all gone through a faith crisis at one point or another, a chance where they've had to sit down and say, okay, what, why do I believe what I believe? All of my friends have either, Rejected their parents' religion or they've found a reason to make it their own and that was something that I was not Expecting or knew really how to deal with when it came to the Spanish culture, especially because Their mindset They don't want missionaries there. They don't want to talk to people about faith because, in their minds, they say, well, we kind of invented this mission model with, the California missions and all So we've been on this for a while and we don't need people to come and save us because we are all or at least the nation's Catholic. And so we didn't run into a whole lot of those conversations, but we did meet people. in and partnered with organizations that were practicing Christianity. And so we got to just pour into them and just interact with them and talk about faith with the people who were close to One Collective or close to Dusty and Megan and see the impact that they've had in the church that they're volunteering at there and the church and supporting there. And that part of it was a lot more laid back, or not laid back, less emphasized than I was expecting, but I think it was very good because it showed me just how much Dusty, Jordi, and Megan were more focused on building relationships with people and having that connection with them before diving into the faith part of it. from my own experience, that's really when you have those deep and fruitful conversations. And when people are the most receptive to hearing about Jesus is when they know you personally. And so seeing that in practice was encouraging.
Yeah, that's amazing. I love that. And first of all, way to look up the context and the demographic of the place you're going to shout out for that because that's super important. And now not everybody does that. So way to go you. But yeah, I think that's a great point. I think it definitely, shifts the way you look at missions when you think about it more relational based, and when you think about sometimes you go there, and you have this pre-assumed idea of what you're going to do, and how you're going to talk to people, and how you might interact with people. Quote-unquote converts people and maybe that's not the heart of how you minister to others. And I think that's a really interesting perspective to have Now that you've come out of that and so thinking about other people who have you know joined these one collective or getting ready to go on a trip What advice would you have for them as they prepare as they get ready to go into the field?
Advice for Future Missionaries
What advice would you give to them?
Well, I would start by saying, I would look up the area you're going to a little bit, learn a little bit more about one of the things about Santiago when I was looking it up is the Camino and that whole trail and the history with that is something that I had no idea of before. All right. I heard about this trip. I didn't know that that was a thing. The only long trails that I knew of existed in the states, like the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, so I did a deep dive into all of that, learned about the history of the place that we were going, learned about all the different mythologies of the area all the different, traditions that they had and that helped me a lot, I think, have a better understanding of what I was stepping into. It was also through that I found out that there was a university in the city. I didn't know that ahead of time, but I learned that there was a university. And, it was one of the biggest ones in Spain, which was run to see. It was really fun to see how that worked and learn a little bit about what universities look like in Spain compared to other countries. I also practiced the language as much as I could, it wasn't as much as I should have, but I did know enough to get by as far as ordering things or, um, getting on public transportation, which was very helpful. was also helpful that both of the people on my team were also very good Spanish speakers. They'll tell you that they're elementary, but they were, they were pretty good at it.
Fair, yeah, Always a language piece, and whenever I ask for advice, they always mention something about the language. But no, I think that is super helpful. Taking time to understand the context, and understand the people, will help your trip immensely.
Future Plans and Final Thoughtsso now we'll circle back to what you were talking about, about how you have kind of grown a passion for missions passion for doing cross-cultural ministry. And so I want to ask, what will cross-cultural service look like for you in the future? Even if you don't have a full grasp or idea, what does that process kind of look like for you now?
I’m trying to find what people group I feel the most connected to. That's been a big thing for me recently. I'm just trying to figure that out. The most experience I have is with, the Hispanic culture because I live in Southern California. So I've grown up around it that's the only mission trip I've ever done has been to Mexico or Spain. So those are the ones that I have like The most natural connection with, but I'm not sure if it's where I'm the most passionate about and that's a lot of what the next, what next steps look like to me is to make sure that the place I'm going is a place I feel deeply connected to, but also understand the culture I'm stepping into and have a passion for those people because that's one of the things that I've learned about myself too, is that I'm, you know, a lot more willing to go fully in if I'm invested and I'm passionate about it. And making sure that everyone is seen and connected and understanding the other side, which has been fun to see because, for the longest time, we were offering Spanish services, but they were very separate, those two communities didn't overlap a lot, and so now I'm just planning on getting involved in that and just seeing what that looks like to do it here in the States, here in my home city, and then hopefully I can learn from that and take that with me.
Yeah, absolutely. I think those are great questions to ask. And I think that that's a really good process to kind of understand beyond just where you want to go, who you want to be with, and who you want to serve. So I think you are asking all the right questions for sure. And taking the time to make sure you're aware of yourself your passions and your desires.
Conclusion and Farewell
So, once again, shout out to you. Um, so this is all super so this is all super helpful to hear and I enjoyed hearing your stories and hearing the way that you've processed this trip. I'm sure it will be really helpful for future short-term team workers. And ultimately it is a testament to God and what he's doing through you and the world.
So thank you so much for joining us today. And we will talk to another person soon. Bye!
Bye.