Day 3

September 12^th - 16^th Visit
The Plan | Pre-trip | Getting There | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Day 3 (September 16^th)

I woke up early, left Guest House Mica around 5:15am, and walked to Apparition Hill. Apparition Hill has the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries of the rosary along a trail that loops up the hill and back down. I brought all the prayer intentions with me to each of the 15 stations and prayed a decade at each one for everyone's prayer intentions. I also stopped and prayed the Luminous mysteries at the statue of Mary on Apparition Hill, and the Joyful again at the Blue cross at base of the hill -- also for all the prayer intentions.

Afterward, I walked back to meet Kevin (he was exhausted and needed to sleep in). It was about 8:30am and he was awake. Being Sunday, English mass was at noon, instead of the weekday 10am time -- so we packed up, made a quick trip to the ATM to get cash for the room (€ 95 Euros, which is about $110, for 4 nights), paid and headed out for our last day.

We decided to get some breakfast before Mass. We attempted to try a different crepe restaurant (across the main street from the church), but the owner/cook was at Mass, so we ended up at Viktor's again. I ate a "fruit cup" and had a bottle of water, Kevin got an ice cream coffee drink. The total was about $8.

We attended English Mass in the St. Pope John Paul Center. Fr. Leon Pereira presided, along with about 34 other priests (masses in Medjugorje are incredible!). His homilies are right up there with Fr. Nathe's. After Mass, I briefly spoke to Fr. Leon about the email I sent him the prior week (he had replied, but didn't answer my question about what to do with the prayer intentions). I asked again, he wasn't sure but suggested that perhaps I off them to Mary. Before leaving St. James, I offered the intentions at the statue of St. Mary inside St. James after praying there for a while.

Next, we had hoped to do some laundry (we packed very light to avoid checking any bags), however, many places in Medjugorje close on Sunday -- including the self-service laundry. Instead, we decided to drive to Mostar to check out that city. We knew we were short on time, but thought it would be nice to have a quick drive through town... and to do some exploring that didn't involve lots of walking or hiking. The drive was very pretty, and Mostar was worth seeing. However, driving in Mostar (a small city) was harder than driving in the little village of Medjugorje -- and parking was very limited. We drove around for a while, then left. Next time I visit, I think it'd be better to take a taxi and make sure I have all day to spend exploring Mostar.

By the time we got back to from Mostar, we didn't have long before we needed to head to the airport. We stopped by the Adoration chapel one last time to pray. We stopped by the Statue of the Risen Christ on last time. As the rosary began at St. James in the outdoor area, we gave away our kneeler pads we had bought (they only cost us 1€), then we started our drive back to Split.

-Ken & Kevin