Anne Marie

I’m very close to Our Blessed Mother. I’m named after Her, which I’m very proud of, and Her mother as well.

This is my fifth trip. It’s been twenty years. 

I wish I was walking better because I want to walk through the streets. There are so many places that I have memories of. 

We stayed with Vicka’s mother which was wonderful. She was so wonderful to us and a great cook. 

I got to be at some of the apparitions. I was right next to Vicka for one of them, and when the Blessed Mother left, I went backwards. I was on my knees, but I went all the way backwards. It was like a big burst of wind. I regained my posture almost immediately, but I wasn’t hurt. I felt the presence of Our Blessed Mother. 

Vicka used to visit with all of the pilgrims. We could see her every morning. It would be her mother’s porch, we would all wait around, and Vicka would come and put her hand on everybody’s head that was there. She would stay until she had touched everybody and gave them a blessing. She always looked so joyous and had a beautiful smile on her face.

The first time I came was in 1996. I was in my 40s then. The war wasn’t quite over. 

They said to bring something for the orphans that didn’t have anything. I gathered up a lot of clothes, shirts my nephew never wore, and a lot of shoes that were never worn. I had three or four boxes. I was in Florida, flying to Paris.

I went by myself. 

These clothes were for the orphanage, Mother’s Village. They told me I couldn’t go out there. There was still fighting around there. 

A man was staying in the same house as me. He was a non-Catholic, a Baptist man, who had promised to take his wife to Medjugorje. She died before he could take her there so he came to honor her. 

He complained every single day for the first four or five days. He drove us nuts. 

All of a sudden, within five days, his life was changed. 

He rented a car to take me to the orphanage to get the boxes there. 

Somebody was in our group who had become a Catholic a month before, and their first act was to leave Texas and come to Medjugorje. They read about it during their studies and decided they wanted to come. They had never been to a Catholic pilgrimage.

Our last day in Medjugorje, we were all crying because we didn’t want to go home. We didn’t want to leave Medjugorje. 

Everybody told me how much I had changed because of it. 

I came back because I have a relative who has been away from the faith for over 50 years. 

My first trip to Medjugorje, I became closer to Jesus than I ever have been in my life. I decided, “When I come back from this trip, I’m going to work for the church. I don’t care if I’m penniless. Everything will be for the church.”

This time, I was hoping to have the same thing happen to my relative. 

They got another person who had been away from the church for 50 years. The three of us were going to go. 

A year ago, I was very sick, and they were surprised that I survived. I decided, “I’m going to work on getting them in the church, and then, Lord, take me home.”

Then the two of them backed out. I came in their honor. I’m planning to bring them next year.