I came to Medjugorje for the first time in September of 1989. 

I knew it was going to be beautiful, but I had no idea. It was very different then. There were no cell phones. The restaurants weren’t full of music and laughter. All these hotels weren’t here. There were no salons. It was almost primitive. 

I stayed back at Sego’s house out passed Cenacolo. I was way back. It didn’t matter. Our Lady gave me the pilgrimage of a lifetime. 

I’m telling people in our group, “Did you know Our Lady said this, and Our Lady said that?” It was stuff that I had read and I retained everything. I couldn’t do that before. It was this grace I was given. 

It was all on Medjugorje and the beauty and the hope and the message of Our Lady. Why is She here? What does She want? “I’ve come to prepare the world for the second Advent and the second Pentecost.” What? You would think everybody couldn’t wait to get here. 

It affected the people I was with so much that they asked me to bring the next group. Then they said, “We’re not doing this anymore. You take over the group.”

I did a lot of praying and a lot of fasting. Our Lady made it very clear that it was what She wanted me to do. 

I redesigned it all. I made it into a nonprofit. No one got paid. It was on a volunteer basis.

I would pray and fast and live the message. Living the message is the most important thing. 

I started doing a newsletter and it would go out. All these little old ladies would help fold it and send it out bulk mail. We sent it out to 3,000 people every month with the message. 

I was bringing people to Medjugorje. We would come once a month back then. 

The war was getting close to starting. I was here in May of 1991 then in June of 1991. The month before, you could sense the war in the air. You could tell spiritually. I always felt Medjugorje is like a physical manifestation of the spiritual realm and what’s happening. 

In June, I was here for the tenth anniversary, and there were all kinds of miracles taking place here. The war started in Croatia on that day. We started hearing reports. 

Then my friends here would stay in touch. A friend of mine would call me, and I’d be on the phone with her, and they’re bombing. She was living in Mostar at the time, but she was a guide here. I would stay on the phone for hours with her until the bombing stopped. Her husband was out there. She didn’t know if he was going to come home. 

Then I came in 1993. I felt very strongly to come and bring money and medicine and boxes and boxes of shoes for kids.

My life situation changed. I had to get a job. I was offered a job at Franciscan University. I was like, “Oh yeah. I’m going there.” My daughter had graduated from there. I went there to work. I studied while I was there and got a degree. My son went there so we graduated together.

When I was in Steubenville, I didn’t bring any groups to Medjugorje.

Then, someone on Facebook contacted me and said, “Hey, I know that you’ve done pilgrimages. You know what you’re doing. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve only been there once. I want to put one on for my organization. Would you be willing to be the leader of that?”

I was like, “Sure.” It was a means to get me here. I can see that Our Lady used that.

It was October of 2018. I had changed a lot physically, I thought no one would recognize me. I was going up Apparition Hill, and one of the guides which I hadn’t seen in a long time recognized me. I didn’t even know that she knew me. She comes up and hugs me, and she’s like, “Debbie, you know you’re supposed to be bringing people to Medjugorje again.” 

The next day, I’m coming down Križevac [Cross Mountain], and another guide says, “Debbie! Hi! You know you’re supposed to be bringing people to Medjugorje again.”

I’m like, “I don’t know.”

The next day, I’m not kidding, I’m in front of the church, Slavica sees me, drops her bags, and hugs me tight. I’m like, “How can these people remember me? I haven’t been here in a long time.” She says, “Debbie, you know you’re supposed to be bringing people to Medjugorje again.” 

Now I’ve heard it on Apparition Hill, Mount Križevac, and in front of the church. I say, “I think I am.”

The next evening, I was having dinner with a friend, and she said, “So you’re bringing people to Medjugorje again?”

I said, “It looks like I am.”

She said, “When are you going to start? Next year?” This was now November.

I said, “Yeah, I guess so.”

She brings me to Mirjana’s hotel. I go, “What are we doing here?” Marko comes out, and he’s talking. He says, “One moment please.” Then he goes and comes back with this red planner. We weren’t even talking about pilgrimages. He goes, “What dates do you want?”

I said, “I want August 15th and September 14th.” I always like to be here for those feast days.

He writes it down. I’m in shock. I’m like, “Blessed Mother, what are you doing?”

I go home. I get home at 1:30 in the morning. At 10AM I had to have my dad at MAYO clinic in Jacksonville for a serious surgery. We were there three weeks. I was working back and forth in St. Augustine. The day before he was supposed to come home to be discharged, he died. 

The next day was Thanksgiving. We had to get his body to Cincinnati. We had his funeral. Then we were preparing his house for sale. All this was converging at once. 

In the back of my mind was Marko. Now it’s February, and I’m panic-stricken. I don’t have anything. I have nothing advertised. I don’t even have a company or a website. What am I going to do?

I prayed, “Lord, what do I do?” I came up with a name. I said, “Here it is,” and saw before my eyes a big N, a big O, and a giant exclamation mark. I was so dejected. 

I was in Adoration. I closed my eyes and saw, floor to ceiling, “Triumph Pilgrimages.” I thought, “Oh no. That is way too big.”

I thought I was going to one-up the Lord. I’m going to go home and show Him that somebody already has that name. I go to sunbiz.org and they’re asking me all these questions. I answer all the questions and click submit. Bing! There’s a number. I get an email with an EIN number. I’m like, “What just happened?” The name wasn’t taken. Now it is taken. 

My son quickly put the website together for me. 

In the meantime, I opened up a Catholic shop which is a fruit of Medjugorje for certain. All of that is going on. 

Then I have a group I’m bringing in August. It was beautiful. 

We’ve been coming. This is my fifth time here this year. Last year we came four times.