Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2014 | Page 33

with your neighbors or coworkers after years of relationship.”
For her part, Faith remembers an afternoon at The Shelter in
Amsterdam when she began talking with a guest Two hours later,
they had covered everything from faith and the Bible to original sin
and redemption. “It was evident he was searching for something and
thinking about God,” she says, noting that she hopes through their
welcome center and hostel to have many more such conversations with
future guests.
Nate and Faith got to know each other through YHM, and it seems
fitting that they plan to receive a team of YHM students at their
welcome center next summer. Both remember talking with Wheaton
friends about opening a youth hostel one day but neither felt the dream
was realistic.
Once married, they knew they wanted to serve cross-culturally, and
so lived purposefully to pay off student debts and secure training. Nate
worked for a benefits consulting firm in customer service, and Faith
earned a master’s from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Only then
did they begin making inquiries into serving in Europe.

They began exploring possibilities in Santiago with International
Teams (ITeams), and within the last year, their team of two has expanded
to eight people.
“Through the experience of watching God bring other workers to Pilgrim
House, we’re constantly reminded, ‘That which the Lord originates, He
orchestrates,’” says Faith, quoting Andy Stanley’s Visioneering.

Pilgrim Hill, Tasmania
“This place was built by the Lord of the hill for the relief and security
of pilgrims.” —Pilgrim’s Progress
Interestingly enough, the seeds of the second hostel were planted along the
very same Camino trail traveled by Matt and Steve last year. As a student
himself, Peirce Baehr worked at The Fuente del Peregrino along the
Camino de Santiago during his summer YHM trip. This hostel now serves
as the closest model to what he and his wife, Christina, hope to achieve
in Tasmania, an island state at the Southern tip of the Commonwealth
of Australia. About the size of West Virginia, the picturesque island has a

Clockwise, from top: Steven Palladino ’13 (left) and Matt LeGrande ’14
visited Nate and Faith last summer. Nate and Faith have lived in Spain
for 6 years with their children (from left): Matthew, Brennan, Faith,
Kathryn, Nate, Ryan. The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Nate
and Faith hope to open Pilgrim House Welcome Center in this building
in Santiago. El Camino de Santiago winds through villages and
Spain’s pastoral countryside.

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