I’m from Trinidad and Tobago. That’s the last Caribbean island in the chain of Caribbean islands.

I grew up in a Catholic family. My mom was Anglican, but because she went to church with us every weekend, she eventually changed to become a Catholic. We’ve always had a strong devotion to Mary.

My family first heard about Medjugorje in the early 80s when it was happening and had to be kept a secret because my godmother who live in Montreal, Canada was married to a Yugoslavian. His mother, who was in Canada with him, started telling my mom about what was happening in Yugoslavia then. 

The first time my mom came was in 1982. She came in the days when pilgrims weren’t coming with tour groups. Her and a friend stayed in the home of one of the villagers. Everything was dirt around, not like we know it today with paved roads. 

As you interview me, we’re sitting next to visionary Ivan’s house where he grew up. My mom has a picture of Ivan with his mom outside the house on those steps there. 

She came again in 1989 and brought my dad. This trip that we’re on presently is actually her fifth time in Medjugorje.

In 2019, I was sponsored by an angel, I don’t know who sponsored me. It was during the Youth Festival. That was my first experience. 

I believe Mary called me here. When I came, I cried at every Mass in the evening. I smelled roses. It was approximately six months before my dad died. I think it prepared me for losing my dad. We were both very close, and I never thought I would be able to deal with him dying. He died that November when I returned home.

Coming to Medjugorje is a place of total peace. You come here and you don’t want to leave. When you leave, you just want to come back. I never thought I would be back so soon in 2023. 

It’s strange. When you speak something and Mary hears you, it happens. During covid, after dad died, mom said, “If I get the opportunity, I’d like to go back to Medjugorje.” 

I said, “We will go in 2023.” And we’re here.

It’s a lot of different things that we experienced being here in Medjugorje, and I don’t want to leave again. 

Medjugorje is a place of peace, a place where everyone, no matter where the pilgrim is from, everyone shows peace and love to each other. You meet people from all over the world who have amazing experiences or whatever experience has pulled them to Medjugorje. Of course we know it’s really Mary pulling us here. 

The people in Medjugorje live what Mary wants us to live. I believe in my heart that Mary really is pulling people here, and she pulled them here because She has to change the people who come to Medjugorje.

Mary is important because She was specially chosen by God to carry His Son. We have to see Her role in this whole thing, in life that we live. She’s an example of what we need to be, even if you’re not a mother. 

You can be a mother to someone who is going through something by just being there for them. Mother doesn’t mean you have to bear a child. For example, I say I have one son, but I’m a teacher so I have lots of children all over that have passed through me in the last 34 years of teaching. Even when I see them after, they still call me as if I’m a mother figure. That’s what Mary is to all of us. 

This trip I quite enjoyed because we mixed and matched with our pilgrimage group. We met people from other parts of the world. The trip I came on before was strictly Trinidadians. I enjoyed meeting other people and hearing their experiences. 

I actually felt at home being here this time. 

This experience staying at Mirjana’s guest house has been absolutely amazing. She showed me that how I live, always laughing and making jokes, is how we’re supposed to be. Maybe that was my grace, getting to hug her and be with her and be here for her birthday. It was beautiful. 

Meeting Mirjana is amazing, her humbleness, her love of everything around her or in her life. 

When I was leaving, I hugged her and said, “You’re beautiful.” 

She turned to me and she said, “Of course I am!” And we both started to laugh. Then she said to me, “When someone tells you you’re beautiful, it’s too boring to say, ‘Thank you.’ You have to know that you’re beautiful. If I tell you you’re beautiful, what would you say, Michelle?”

I said, “I’ll say, ‘I’m the best!’” She just burst out laughing and then translated what I said to the other ladies in the kitchen.

She’s just a loving person, and she shows you that enjoying and having a joyful life is what life is about.