Medjugorje: Another Day

Yesterday afternoon, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I went to hear a talk by Ivan, the visionary.  He has been seeing the Blessed Mother every day for over 30 years now!  Unfortunately, I don't remember much of the talk because, well, I have ADHD and all the talks we're attending are starting to run together a bit since they all say roughly the same thing: "Pray with the heart."  "Fast."  "If you knew how much I love you, you would cry for joy."  You know.  The usual Medjugorje message stuff.  ;)  Ivan pointed out that Our Lady is just like a real mother in that she doesn't mind repeating herself for the sake of her children.  What earthly mother, he said, expects to only correct her children once and be done with it?  None.  So it is with Our Lady, repeating her messages to us over and over, always gently, with love and encouragement.
After that, I finally bought those scarves I've had my eye on since we arrived, three of them, each more beautiful than the next.  Super cheap, too.  I used to see them every day as I walked to and from my hotel room, because the shop where they used to hang on a little spinning rack, flying in the wind, is right along the way.  And now I see them every day, hanging in my room.  :D  They are also filling the place with the most wonderful scent of roses, because the shopkeeper, when I bought them, took out a handkerchief, shook a bottle of rose essential oil over it multiple times, and tossed it in the bag with my scarves.  Free gift.  They sometimes do that here, apparently.
Then, at 9pm, we attended a David Parkes concert.  It was mostly in the style of 90s old people worship music (so my companions completely ate it up lol) but he also did a stunning rendition of "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables that pretty much stopped my heart.  In between songs he told a bit of his story, which you can read more about here: http://www.irishrecords.com/davidparkes.html 
This morning we woke up at 5:30am (and I didn't get to bed until 12am because the concert finished at 11!) to be breakfasted and ready to go by 7, when we headed over to Vicka's house to hear her speak to the crowds (and I do mean CROWDS) of Italians.  And us, of course.  haha there was a translator there translating from Italian to English, though I tried to follow as much of the Italian as I could. She said the usual things, like Ivan, but she also told us about the time Mary took her and one of the other visionaries to Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell.  Fascinating stuff. 
Later today we will hear Mirjana talk and then I am going to bed early, because I am turning into an old lady on this trip.  Oh, who am I kidding; I was an old lady well before this trip.