An angel in Leon

October 3. 2022

Extend hospitality to strangers. Romans 12:13 NRSV

We were within blocks of our day’s destination, the Real Colegiata de San Isodora, Casa de Espiritualidad, in Leon, Spain. We’d taken an airplane to Madrid, found our way onto the Metro, transferred to the train station, taken the train to Leon and walked from the train station to the old city. Our GPS said we’d arrived at our destination. But all we could see were stone walls three stories high. After traveling for 18 hours with little sleep, we were both tired.

I noticed a young woman with a boy who looked to be three years old walking in our direction. In my stumbling French/Spanish/Hawaiian/English, I asked if she could show us the way. She took it upon herself to use her cell phone to locate the destination, passed her son off to his grandparents who were close by, and then proceeded to lead us.

We were now a procession of two Americans, our young escort, her son and her parents trailing along, all on a quest to find our hotel. She even carried my suitcase up ancient stone stairs. Having finally circled the entire block that is the ancient monastery, we arrived at the entrance, a break in the stone wall.

She gave me a big hug, and I in-fluently thanked her, calling her mi hija (my daughter), the best word I could find express my gratitude. We didn’t exchange names, didn’t get a picture to send home, there was no need. Her hospitality, dropping everything to help strangers, blew me away. I wished I’d called her mi angel. In that moment she was!

Simply grateful. ~ Anne