Jake

My mom had been to Medjugorje eight or nine times before we all decided to come with her. She’s been coming since the late 80s so we grew up learning about it and hearing about it. As a kid you’re like, “Yeah whatever, Mom.”

Finally it worked out that all five of us kids could all come here at the same time. We’re all old enough to comprehend everything and participate in Mass and participate in confession. It’s been amazing

This is the first time for the five of us kids and our dad. I honestly think it’s perfect timing. The youngest is 11. He’s just old enough to where he can process everything.

I’m 24. I’m the oldest. I’m in optometry school right now. I’m a first year at a graduate school in Arizona.

We’ve been here a week. I’ve absolutely loved it. I’ve been super busy in my home life, work life, school life. I had fallen asleep in my faith in a lot of ways. Being here was super peaceful and gave me a lot of opportunity to explore why that was the case and why I want to change that. 

There were so many opportunities to become more involved with my faith. 

When I first got here, we went to the Risen Christ statute. For some reason, all five of us kids had an emotional and spiritual experience there. It was wonderful. It wasn’t anything in particular. It was more of an emotional realization that we all grew up in the same faith and we don’t talk about it that often between us but we all believe the same thing. It was a connection between all of us and a connection with Jesus at the same time. 

We live separate from each other in different parts of the country so it’s really good for us to be here together and have a spiritual pilgrimage together. We’ve never really had anything like that.

For me, this trip was full of personal growth. It was very spiritual, but also very historical and interesting. All the talks we listened to, it was jam packed full of stuff to do, and I loved all of it. Plus, we’re in such a beautiful place, going to the waterfalls, we’re here at the river. It’s everything I would’ve hoped for.

I didn’t know what to expect when we first came here. I didn’t know a lot about the history of Medjugorje and the country. Having Miki as our guide was amazing because he absolutely lined us up to do all the things that gave us the full experience. I’ve done everything that I wanted to do here, and I feel at peace going home. 

I don’t know when, but at some point I definitely will come back. 

I would probably do things slightly differently. I would go to confession early in the time that I got here so that I could approach things with a more open heart.

Go to confession because this is the place to do it. Make it a priority to do it early and really get the full experience here because it’s the biggest confessional in the world.

The Queen of Peace is very much here, and it’s evident in the people who come here to be with Her, the faithfulness of this area that’s hard to describe.

There are so many stories of things happening here and so many ways that people’s lives are totally changed after coming here. That’s the most incredible thing about being here, seeing all of these transformations, even within my own family.