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Medjugorje Trip November 2015

Mother and I arrived at the Split airport to meet the rest of our group that had flown in from Frankfurt on October 29^th at around 13:45.  We all got into the bus and began our drive to Medjugorje.  Maria Delgado (a longtime friend of my parents) and Shana and her family (the only other family from Wiesbaden and family friends) had also joined us on the trip. As soon as one arrives to Medjugorje, the peace of the place can be felt immediately.  That first night after dinner, my mother and I headed to St. James Church for adoration of the Holy Eucharist, which my mother later admitted to being her favorite part of the trip, as she felt an incredible peace there.  We took Shana and her family to the Risen Christ statue to see the water that comes from his knee(s).  Water was coming out from his right knee. As we sat there, a girl who was paralyzed and in a wheel chair was hugging the statue’s feet, which brought almost everyone present to tears.

The next few days were filled with incredible experiences that were shared the last night during our testimonies.  Our group consisted of: Gayle – USA, Maria Delgado – Cuba, Shana, Jim, Daniel, Joseph – USA/Thailand/China, Maria and Karla – Peru and Brazil, Janet – England, Ivan – England/Jamaica, Ivan – South Africa/England, Ann Marie – France/Africa, Beate – Germany, Ann – Germany,  Teresa – Peru, Hector – Puerto Rico, Tomas and Maria – Puerto Rico, Flory – Guatemala, Mercedes and her 3 sons – Argentina/Germany, Father Roberto – Chile, Lilly and her husband – India, Marco – Italy/Germany, Rebecca and Katy – Germany, Jenny – Romania/Germany, Matti and Carlos – Germany, Mom – Venezuela/Italy, Me – USA/Nicaragua/Italy

My mother’s friend, Maria Delgado, was a retired school teacher who was living in Spain. She had gone on the trip because my mother mentioned it to her.  Maria’s friend had been in desperate need of a heart transplant for a very long time, and Maria had even taken her to Lourdes to bathe in the waters earlier this year.  With her friend on her mind, Maria decided to go to Medjugorje to pray to our Lady for her ailing friend.  The second day we were in Medjugorje, Maria received a call from a friend telling her they had found a heart for her friend and had already done the transplant. A few days later Maria’s friend was recovering so fast that she was already on the phone talking to Maria! That was the first miracle I witnessed while on this trip to Medjugorje.  Another wonderful one was that the morning our group decided to climb Cross Mountain, the couples in the group renewed their wedding vows when we reached the top of the mountain.  I looked at a couple that are our family friends (Shana and Jim) and my mother told me to take a picture of them renewing their vows so that we could send it to them later.  I pulled out my IPad and took a few pictures of them.  The next day, I pull out my IPad to show Shana the photos I took of her and her husband, and in the photos there were rays of light beaming down on them (that were not there when the photo was taken).  We looked at each other in awe and agreed that marriage is truly a sacrament blessed by God.

Cross Mountain had always been a spiritual place for me, as last time my family had gone in 2008, the strangest thing happened there. We were praying the Stations of the Cross with a Spanish speaking group from California, when it became my dad’s turn to read the station. So we all kneeled as he began to read. Right as he’s reading, a Franciscan priest who is coming down the mountain comes to stand in the center of our group and holding a wooden cross, he begins to bless us all.  As we get up from our knees to continue up the mountain, my dad closes the book and on the back he sees the author of the book is the priest we just saw! He calls my sister and me over and says, “Look girls the priest we just saw is the author of the book!” All the members of the group from California huddle around the book to see the photo and we all agree it’s him.  Right as we are telling our tour guide what happened; she begins to tell us it’s impossible that they are the same priest, because the author of the book is Father Slavko who died in 2000. She turns to point at a memorial of Father Slavko which we have just reached.  We were all stunned to see Father Slavko and to receive his blessing!

Back to the 2015 trip, as the last days of our trip approached, we decided to visit the statue of the Risen Christ one more time.  This time the statue wasn’t just “sweating” at the right knee, but also from the back of His skirt and down His thigh.  He was releasing so much water from the back, it was incredible! For those who do not know, the water coming from the statue has been tested many times by many scientists worldwide and the results always come back the same, they are human tears.

On November 2^nd, during the apparition of our Lady, two members of our group saw the blessed Virgin, one member saw the rosary in the sky and Her silhouette, and many saw the sun dance! Ivan, a young girl from England, looked straight into the sun and when she closed her eyes she saw the Blessed Virgin holding the rosary. After 20 years of wearing glasses, the apparition healed Ivan’s sight and now she no longer wears glasses. A young man of 24 named Marco saw two rays of sun coming down from the sun.  He looked down to see where the rays were going to, and they were going straight into his heart! He lifted his hands to try and cut off the rays, but it was impossible.  Later that day we went to a chapel where we saw a big portrait hanging of the Divine Mercy and Marco understood the rays of light to his heart, were Jesus Christ. 

On the last night of our pilgrimage, the group gathered together to share our stories.  Shana shared how she had been asking God to show her His love through the Holy Eucharist, and during a mass service right before she took the Eucharist, Jesus told her loud and clear, “Shana I will not forget you”. Shana began to cry as she shared her testimony and said that the only reason she had shared it was because when she had gone into confession, she had not told the priest anything about what had happened with the Eucharist, yet he told her at her confession something along the lines of, “Shana, you must share your story about the Eucharist.” She was so shocked and surprised but she knew she had to tell it.  Jesus Christ truly is present not only during the Eucharist but also during confession. He listens to us with love and forgives even our hardest sins.  Shana’s heart was truly opened on this trip.

We boarded the bus at 10:00 am and took off. Our hearts filled with both joy and sadness as we were happy with our experiences but sad to be leaving our Mother.  We prayed the rosary and right after we were done praying the rosary, we reached the boarder of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.  The bus stopped and our passports were collected.  As we were waiting, a girl in our bus yells, “Look at the sun!” we all turn to look and see the sun dancing! The sun was spinning, it got bigger as if it was getting closer to us, and right in the center of the sun there was a Host.  We all starred in awe for about 15 minutes. Janet, the lady in charge of the group told us that at the same time the year before they had also just finished praying the rosary and had gotten to the boarder, everyone in the bus had also seen the sun dance.  She said it was a message from the Virgin Mary, a thank you for having visited and a good bye.  It was a wonderful present from above.  The sun just spun and spun and got closer and further. The most incredible thing was that after 15 minutes of starring into the sun, our eyes weren’t even a little hurt.  My mother and a German girl named Beate even saw a cross inside the Host. It was a perfect way to end the trip.  I was told to share my stories and to let people know about Medjugorje, so that is exactly what I am doing. Sharing my story with you!  Many blessings from your friend Claudette who prayed for you this past week in Medjugorje.

Photo taken of our group with the visionary Mirjana (in purple on the far left) after hearing her talk about our Lady’s messages

If you would like to write Medjugorje USA
email:info@medjugorjeusa.org