Portugal & Spain — Camino

For more than a thousand years, pilgrims have walked the Camino, the ancient web of paths that all lead to one place: the great cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. On Pilgrimage you'll most likely walk the Portuguese Way, the Caminho Português, starting in Portugal and crossing into Spain, because it's the stretch you can actually complete on foot in about a month. Pilgrims have worn this path smooth walking to clear their heads, mend their hearts, and meet God. Now it's your turn to lace up and join them.

You'll begin among the tiled streets, river cities, and green hills of Portugal, a warm, unhurried country where the coffee is strong, the seafood is fresh, and strangers wave you on your way with "bom Caminho." Then you'll cross into Galicia, the misty, green northwest corner of Spain, and follow the scallop-shell markers the rest of the way to Santiago. Both countries still call themselves Catholic, but for many the faith has faded into tradition, and a lot of the people you pass are quietly searching for something real.

Ministry

On the Camino, the trail is the ministry. You'll walk day after day alongside pilgrims from all over the world, people carrying questions, griefs, and a hunger they can't quite name, and you'll have the kind of long, honest conversations that only happen when you're tired and walking and there's nowhere else to be. Worship happens under open sky. Discipleship happens in your own heart, one mile at a time. In the villages and cafes along the way, and in the great cathedral square at the end, you might share a faith that's alive in places full of quiet churches.

This is the road that teaches you to listen. Few things will mark you like it.

If you want to walk the ancient way and meet God on it, this is your road. Will you go?

Romania

Romania feels like stepping into an older, slower world. Castle ruins crown the hilltops, the Carpathian mountains roll green to the horizon, and the faith here goes back centuries, woven deep into the Orthodox rhythms of everyday life. This is a place where people still greet strangers on the road, bring a small gift when they visit a home, and treat hospitality as something sacred.

But Romania isn't only ancient. There's something new stirring. Faithful Romanian believers are out sharing their faith, discipling, and caring for people the rest of society overlooks, and lives are being changed. That mix of deep-rooted tradition and fresh, living faith is exactly the kind of soil a pilgrim learns to love.

Ministry

This is a stop for community and discipleship. You might come alongside Romanian believers, helping with children's programs, everyday evangelism, and practical care, and learning what it looks like to give your whole life to a place. You might sit in their homes, eat their pastries, drink their wonderful and impossibly cheap coffee, and let their faithfulness rub off on you.

Pilgrimage isn't only about the trail. It's about the people who teach you how to keep walking, and Romania is full of them.

If you get the chance to explore, wander Old Town Bucharest, climb up to a castle ruin with a view, or swim on the Black Sea coast.

If you want your faith deepened by an ancient land and a faithful people, Romania is calling. Will you go?

Greece

Greece is holy ground for anyone who loves the story of the early church. This is where the Apostle Paul carried the Gospel into Europe for the very first time, and you'll be walking the same land he walked. Ancient ruins, island paths above the bluest water you've ever seen, and history you can feel in your bones. Few places make you sense the long arc of God's story like this one.

There's a gift here that fits this route perfectly: hospitality. In Greece, welcome is sacred, an honor and a duty, and they even have a word, kefi, for the joy that comes from gathering and sharing life together. Beneath the postcard, though, Greece has carried real weight, through economic crisis and years as a doorway for people far from home, and the country is in need of fresh hope.

Ministry

This is a stop for reflection and community. You might trace the steps of Paul and let the ancient story sink into your own. You might come alongside local believers and learn the Greek art of the table: the long meal, the open door, the conversation that goes deep. Hospitality becomes the ministry, and the Aegean becomes your sanctuary.

Slow down here. Let the place where the European church was born do something in you. And if you get a day off, explore Athens or watch the sun set from a white-and-blue island village.

If you want to walk where Paul walked and rediscover the ancient faith, Greece is calling. Will you go?

Nepal — Trek

This is the second trek, and it's the stuff of dreams. Nepal sits up near the roof of the world, crowned by Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on the planet. You'll climb into Himalayan villages along trails that wind through some of the most jaw-dropping country on earth, the kind of place that makes you feel small in the best way and pulls your eyes upward.

There's a sweetness in the air here. Racers keep describing the same thing: a quiet stirring in a land that is mostly Hindu and Buddhist, a sense that God is doing something tender and real, with hearts opening in ways they haven't before. The Nepali people are gentle and hospitable, quick to share a cup of milk tea and a story.

Ministry

The climb itself becomes worship, and the obedience of simply putting one foot in front of the next becomes its own kind of prayer. Off the trail, ministry is slow and relational: heartfelt conversations over milk tea, walking beside local believers, connecting with young people through sports and camps, and sitting with people learning to hope again. You might come alongside those who are reaching remote villages that almost no one else can get to.

This is adventure and intimacy fused into one. The mountains have a way of stripping you down to what's real, and that's exactly where God likes to meet a person.

If you want to climb high and come down changed, Nepal is calling. Will you go?

Vietnam

Vietnam is quieter and gentler than its history. After French rule, a war that split the country, and decades as a communist nation, this is a land whose whole story has been one long search for freedom. Most Vietnamese claim no religion at all, and the freedom to worship is limited, and yet the people you meet are warm and remarkably hospitable.

It's also beautiful in a way that slows you right down. The lantern-lit old town of Hoi An. The Marble Mountains and their trails. The still, otherworldly waters of Halong Bay. This is a place that rewards paying attention.

Ministry

Because Vietnam is a sensitive country, the ministry here is humble and hidden, which is its own kind of discipleship. There are no big crowds or flashy outreach. There's presence. There's friendship. There's the slow, faithful work of loving the person in front of you and trusting God with what only He can do. You'll learn that walking humbly, the way the prophet Micah said God actually wants, is a real and powerful kind of mission.

For a pilgrim, Vietnam is a teacher. It shows you that obedience often looks quiet, and that God is just as present in the hidden places as the loud ones. If you get the chance, wander Hoi An, hike the Marble Mountains, or take in Halong Bay.

If you're willing to go low and love quietly, Vietnam is calling. Will you go?

Cambodia

There may be no better place to end a pilgrimage than watching the sun come up over Angkor Wat. Cambodia is full of wonders like that: ancient temples, dusty village roads you travel by tuk-tuk, houses on stilts over flooded rice paddies, a beauty that feels old and unhurried.

Sit with the older generation, though, and you'll remember what this country survived. A genocide tore through Cambodia and took close to a whole generation, including most of its teachers, leaders, and pastors. The Church here is young because so much was lost. And still, the Cambodian people are some of the most hopeful and generous you will ever meet. That mix of deep wound and stubborn hope is holy ground.

Ministry

This is a stop for community and discipleship. In Cambodia you'll most likely be based with our long-standing team, coming alongside national believers who are rebuilding the Church from the ground up. You might help teach English, build relationships, spend time with kids, and join the slow, faithful labor that real ministry is made of, sharing meals and learning names and simply being present.

After all the miles, Cambodia teaches the final lesson of the road: hope rises in the places that looked the most hopeless, and God is always already at work before you arrive.

If you want to end your journey among ancient stones and rising hope, Cambodia is calling. Will you go?