In Via
Planning a trip? Or just on the pilgrimage of daily living? We are the podcast at the intersection of faith and travel, assisting you on the journey to encounter Christ. Hear stories, discover travel tips, and learn more about our Catholic faith. Along the way, we’ll show you that if God seeks to meet us in Jerusalem, Rome, Lourdes, Mexico City, or Santiago, he also wants to encounter you - right there in your car, on your run, or in the middle of your workday.
In Via
God Speaks Through...Disappointment?
Have you ever wondered about the transformative power of a pilgrimage? Join Joan and Sylvia, a theology student from Marian University, as they unpack her pilgrimage to World Youth Day.
Travel mishaps and disappointments can often derail our plans, but imagine allowing God to transform them into profound lessons of spirituality. Listen in as Sylvia describes her experience at World Youth Day, from being turned away from events to enduring travel delays, and how these seemingly unfortunate incidents led her to focus on God, ultimately strengthening her faith and understanding of sacrifice. It's a testament to how God can use our struggles to shape us and guide us on this path of spiritual growth.
Welcome to In Via, the podcast where we're navigating the pilgrimage of life. We are all "in via on the way and we are learning a lot as we go. I'm your host, Joan Watson. Join me as we listen to stories, discover travel tips and learn more about our Catholic faith. Along the way, we'll see that if God seeks to meet us in Jerusalem, Rome or Santiago, he also wants to encounter you right there in your car, on your run or in the middle of your workday. So welcome back to In Via, the podcast where we look at the daily pilgrimage of life and the lessons that we learn on pilgrimage and how they can apply to that daily pilgrimage of life.
Joan:I'm really excited today because we are actually talking to a pilgrim who went with me to World Youth Day and we're going to be talking to Sylvia about World Youth Day. We're going to be talking about pilgrimage, all sorts of great stuff. So, Sylvia, thanks so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me. Can you start? I would love our listeners to-- We're going to delve into kind of what World Youth Day is, but let's first talk about who Sylvia is. If you could give me three sentences about yourself, what would you say about yourself?
Sylvia:Well, I'm currently a student at Marion University. I'm in my second year studying global studies and theology. Originally, I'm from Dayton, Ohio, and I love to cook and travel and read and explore other cultures, especially in my European heritage.
Joan:I love it. I love it. So this pilgrimage was right up your alley because we got some theology and we got some exploration and we got some good food and we got some European, lots of touching the European culture in various different ways. What is your family heritage?
Sylvia:So my grandmother is a Hungarian immigrant to America, so mostly Hungarian, but also Irish and German and the Midwest American mix.
Joan:That is incredible. Oh, that's great. I love kind of delving it. I don't know that much about my the people who actually came over. Right, I know where I'm from, so I love that you have someone so close in your grandmother. That actually is the first. You know the generation that came over. I love that, wow.
Joan:Were you able to meet anybody from Hungary when we were World Youth Day?
Sylvia:Actually, at the vigil, we were walking around in a little group trying to trade our final little tradeables and we ran into a group from Slovakia. Now my grandma, her hometown is in present day Slovakia because the border changed after World War II, and in 2017, I was able to go with my dad and my aunt and uncle to visit her hometown, and that's in a place called Valkaida, Slovakia. Present day it's Najida, Hungary. But that night we stayed at a place in Slovakia an hour or two away, called Valkašáš, Slovakia, and we met these Slovakians and they were from Valkašáš and were just like blown away when we made the connection that they knew, like that I knew where they were and they were just like oh my goodness, this is amazing.
Sylvia:So we took a picture and it turns out that one of the young men in the group had studied abroad in Youngstown, Ohio. I'm from Dayton, Ohio, and I'm like I don't even know that I've been to Youngstown. Ohio is just the randomest place to study abroad, but he had been there and so that was a totally like Holy Spirit. Wow, we're meeting here in Lisbon and, yeah, very cool encounter.
Joan:I love it. I love it and again, we're going to get into what World Youth is all about. But I love the smallness of the world, and especially the smallness of the Catholic world. And like running into people in World Youth Day when there's a million, 1.5 million people there and you're running into people you know from America or you're making these crazy connections across the globe, and it just reminds us of the family of God and the body of Christ and it's great. So you said you were global studies. Did that influence your decision to go to World Youth Day? Because you knew you were going to have such a global experience? Or why did you decide to go to World Youth Day and what drew you to World Youth Day?
Sylvia:I think, if anything, I chose global studies because I love travel and I love learning about culture. So I like, yes, it's very cool that pilgrimage to World Youth Day kind of went hand in hand with my major, but I would have gone regardless of my major. I think I really love travel and especially that it's a pilgrimage. I remember last year is the beginning of freshman year the upperclassmen decided to open up this opportunity to freshmen as kind of a last minute thing, like we had to decide pretty quickly whether we were in or not and there was a cost to it, like financially. That was pretty intimidating and it turned a lot of people away. But for it to be pilgrimage and not just vacation was really attractive to me. My dad actually was the pilgrimage director for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for a while.
Sylvia:So, I've been on some like he would take us kids on advanced trips for planning, and I went with my family on pilgrimage to Ireland in 2022, but that was, like you know, with the older generations, a lot more comfortable. So I would say World Youth Day was definitely my first pilgrimage experience in the true sense of like we're not going and touring churches every day and we don't have a set itinerary and we're not guaranteed to get into see these things. Yeah, just having that opportunity with these people, like in being in college getting to go with my peers, I was very aware that this was something that was not going to happen again, so I really felt called to pursue that.
Joan:Yeah, I love that. And you know, on this podcast we talk a lot about pilgrimage and the difference between a pilgrimage and a vacation and the idea that you know sometimes you do stay in comfortable hotels on pilgrimage and sometimes you know you are more comfortable, but there's that, that search and that openness to to search for God, to search for what he wants to say in pilgrimage, and so it is very different than you know. Maybe going to Lisbon just to you know, drink some port and eat some seafood, and you know it's just a different experience. So you've been on previous pilgrimages. Had you ever been to World Youth Day before?
Sylvia:I have not and that was another draw--l ike-- I could imagine and I knew that it was-- I knew that it wasn't going to be what I expected and that I just wouldn't know until I got there. But to have-- it's hard to comprehend until you're really there. And then, when you're there, it's hard to comprehend the sheer number of people and cultures and families represented who are all part of the family of Christ. And like, especially mass just blew my mind to the opening mass and then the closing mass, with, like realizing that Jesus was up on the altar, however far away from it, like I couldn't even see it with my bare eyes, and was coming down to me and was coming down to all of these people gathered here. And like bringing us very tangibly into one body was just cool. But throughout the week, encountering all the different cultures and languages on the metro was just so exciting, it's so fun.
Joan:Yeah, I love that, that reflection on the mass and just that communion. You know that we, we receive communion, but really we're brought into communion Like we think of communion as something we receive, and it is like we can call the Eucharist communion, but that we're also being brought into communion. And in our own Sunday churches we might not see it quite as dramatically as we saw it that day, where every flag, I think every country, was represented but one at World Youth Day. And so for all of us to be brought into that communion, when Christ comes to us in the Eucharist and we're brought into communion with him and with each other, and it kind of makes your mind just kind of explode when you think of 1.5 million people from all across the globe coming together, Christ coming to us, I think it's just, yeah, it's just incredible.
Joan:So for those of you who don't know, World Youth Day is a global event. It happens every two or three years. The Holy Father calls all the youth of the world and youth, how do you describe youth? We saw babies and we saw grandparents, so it's, of course, meant for kind of the young adult community, but there are people really from all ages which I thought was really beautiful coming together to not just encounter the Pope although he was there and it was wonderful but also to encounter each other, to encounter the word of God, to encounter Christ in the Eucharist. So I really think of World Youth Day being an encounter of Christ, whether that's in word or in sacrament, or in the Magisterium, or in each other.
Joan:And so we went to a number of events. Just seeing people in the streets, right Like we took over Lisbon really. I mean, we tripled the size of Lisbon, probably, like just with our. So wherever you went, you saw pilgrims. I thought that was really like you mentioned seeing them on the Metro. I thought it was really powerful. We kind of took the city over. What was your. What major World Youth Day event was your favorite of all of them? It's kind of hard to choose favorites, I know.
Joan:Yeah, the American gathering on yeah, was that Wednesday.
Sylvia:Wednesday night, the whole week I had no idea what day it was.
Joan:That's another beautiful thing about pilgrimage is like you're kind of taken out of time, I think you're like brought into God's time, I think that's one of the hallmarks of pilgrimage is that you no longer have to worry what day of the week it is. You just kind of follow, right Like okay, what are we doing now? And you just follow and it doesn't matter what day, but it was Wednesday night. The American.
Sylvia:Yes, yeah, the American gathering was first of all. I didn't know Bishop Barron was going to be there.
Sylvia:And I'm a big Bishop Barron Word on Fire fan, so to hear him preach live was amazing. And to celebrate and have adoration with him multiple times because he was also at the Friday morning catechetical session was just whoa, like that's kind of cool. But more than that, being at the American gathering because we had catechetical sessions in the mornings that were English speaking so we met Aussies and we met, you know, people from England and other countries who spoke English, like some African countries, I met a Slovak woman in the line for the port a potty, like just from all over the place. But to have the American gathering Wednesday night was so special to come together and to celebrate and to recognize that the church in America is alive, like we've answered the Holy Father's call. We're here, we've shown up and we're ready. Yeah, there was such a hunger for Christ and a willingness to, yeah, pay the cost and give things up to be in Lisbon and to come together. And it was so interesting being in a different country amidst so many different cultures. It really strengthens our own identity as Americans. It was really fun when we were getting our spots beforehand and waiting around.
Sylvia:There were some encounters with people I worked with in previous summers as a missionary and just very random, like I didn't even know you were here and the last time I saw you was in Ohio and now we're in Lisbon. This is crazy. And yeah, those encounters are just super fun and like, wow, thanks Lord. Like this didn't have to happen, but it did, so thank you for that.
Sylvia:And another thing that I really loved about that gathering all of the bishops lined up and introduced themselves and just said hi. And to realize, like yeah, I look up daily readings on USCCB and like that's something I've heard of and I know my Archbishop, I know the Archbishop of Indianapolis. They're so cool, I enjoy them, I love them and pray for them. But the representation of American bishops at World Youth Day was like I didn't know we had so many bishops in America. Like yeah, that makes sense, we have 50 states and more than that many dioceses, but and we didn't even have all of the American bishops at World Youth Day, right, but it's like whoa, that's that's a lot of bishops who have been called to minister to the church in America and they're here with us and they're praying for us and journeying with us on this pilgrimage. That was really impactful.
Joan:That that really struck me as well, and just to see the love for the youth, for them Like I don't know whether those men have been cheered for as much as we cheered for them and just like to see the love and to see their love for us that they came, that they made that sacrifice to come because they wanted to be there with the youth, and it was such a unique opportunity for all of us, I think, and just such an opportunity to be together as, as as an American church, and to to remind us, to pray for them, right To to put faces with this.
Joan:Like you said, we know intellectually that they're out there, right, we know intellectually that there are bishops, but to put faces with names and dioceses and and to remember that we're all one and they're trying the very, very difficult job of of shepherding the church and to pray for them and I agree, like I think that was one of the highlights is just to to put an image on what I know intellectually, right To experience it tangibly. Again, that's one thing pilgrimage does for us, right, like we know a lot of things intellectually.
Joan:We know the church, but then to experience it in such a tangible way is so unique on pilgrimage and that was definitely and that, like you said, that kind of camaraderie as the American identity that it wasn't, it wasn't kind of in your face, here's America, but just that we are all. We all share this. We share this pride for our country, a good virtue of patriotism, and even being in the streets when people would cheer when they would see us and they would start chanting USA, and there was just this love for countries, for each other, that I think the media would tell you is not out there, right? The culture would say we're all opposed, we're all against each other, you know, and there's race and of course, there's racism out there, but we didn't see that at World Youth Day at all. We saw a love for each other and for each other's countries and for each other's cultures. That was so inspiring and so like. The church is alive and the church has something to offer the world, because we didn't see disunity, we saw unity and I think that's so powerful today. So I mean there's a lot we could talk about with World Youth Day.
Joan:But since one of the points of this, of this podcast, really is to help us learn from pilgrimage I know this is a really kind of heavy question, or maybe a huge question, but what did you learn on this pilgrimage? Maybe about the church or yourself or life in general? Or how did the Lord encounter you on this pilgrimage in a way that you've brought home or you've brought to others? Was there a moment, or maybe many moments on this pilgrimage where you heard the Lord or the Lord wanted to show you something, whether you knew it beforehand or not?
Sylvia:Yes, loaded question, but that is the question that as a pilgrim, you must be prepared to testify. Yeah, the big takeaway for me was what is pilgrimage? And, like you just said, having this intellectual knowing of pilgrimage and you know we are pilgrims on a journey and the earth is thy ship and not thy home Like, yeah, I knew that and I've, you know, been on pilgrimages before, but this was very different in the amount of disappointments the Lord let me experience. Like. There were several events, one in particular Christopher West was going to give a talk on Theology of the Body and I and a group of students wanted to go. So we went, we successfully navigated to the talk site and waited an hour or more and were turned away. They said we're at full capacity, we're not taking any more people in to see the talk. And that was. That was a blow Like whoa.
Sylvia:I feel like I just wasted my afternoon waiting for this talk, waiting to hear this message, and I didn't get to hear it. But they said don't worry, the same talk will be at the same time, same place, tomorrow. So we decided to try again and this time we were smarter, we navigated, we got there early, we grabbed lunch to go instead of waiting and really tried to like we're going to get in this time guys and again they were at full capacity, weren't letting anyone else in and to have that build up of hope and well, ok, I'm going to pick myself up and we're going to try this again and then to be rejected again and turned away was really disappointing and like, wow, Lord, I'm trying to seek you here and it's just not working out. What's with that, but that really, instead of becoming which, this was such a grace, because I did notice myself through the week that getting into Thursday and Friday, having these repeated disappointments and little things and bigger things, like not getting into events, or just getting stuck with a group who was doing something that I didn't really want to do but I had to stay with them because they were my group. Instead of growing grumpy and crabby which I certainly did at times or was very tempted to and wondering why am I even here?
Sylvia:Kind of thing, there was such grace in that my heart was really cultivated to look up and say this is pilgrimage and to really offer that to the Lord, and I realized through repeated disappointments that they were just reminders that I shouldn't be looking for satisfaction in these things anyway, like if I was so focused on an event or so focused on getting into this church to do this thing and then realizing that the heavy disappointment that disappointment indicated to me, like Sylvia, why are you looking at this thing of the world, why are you looking at this created thing for happiness, when what you're really looking for is God and that's something I've really brought home at this past month or so that it's been is if I've got my blinders on and I'm super hyper focused on good things.
Sylvia:But when I start making idols out of them and they're too like, too focused on them and losing sight of their Creator, losing sight of the Lord, when I'm inevitably disappointed by them and not fulfilled by them, it's a reminder to look up and say this is pilgrimage, this is not my home. Why am I trying to make this my home and to really return to God with my whole heart and like seek Him fully.
Joan:It's almost like you were asked to fast in a way that you weren't expecting to fast. Because when we talk about fasting, especially during Lent, of fasting abstaining from meat or fasting from chocolate, fasting between meals I think sometimes non-Catholics can be like why do you think meat's evil, right? Do you think chocolate's evil? And we're like no, we're giving those things up because they're good and then we look weird. Right, why are you giving up something that's good and it's like because something's better? Right, we want to empty ourselves to make room for the Lord, right, because the Lord is better than chocolate cake. Right, as great as chocolate cake is, it's not evil, it's great. I'm offering it up to Him because I want Him to fill me. And you were asked to fast from good things in a sense, right, nothing, you weren't seeking evil at World Youth Day, you were seeking to go to a talk by Christopher West, right? And so the Lord was asking you almost to fast from these things to teach you that lesson that he is ultimately going to fill you. Right, he is ultimately going to satisfy you, and I think so often we have our plans made and we don't allow Him to surprise us. Right, we have our expectations.
Joan:I know a lot of people went into World Youth Day.
Joan:They were certain expectations and when those expectations weren't met they were upset. But what if the Lord wanted to do something else, right? What if he wanted to make room, whether make room in your heart for Him, teach you, kind of, how to grow closer to Him, or whether he wanted you to do something else during that time, like maybe he just wanted that hour to be spent getting to know your pilgrims better, right, right, but it's such a I was so struck, so spoiler to all our listeners. I had already heard this story, partly from Sylvia, and I was so struck by your maturity because it was very close to the time when you shared that you were experiencing it, right, like it wasn't like you had a month to reflect on it. I was so blown away by the spiritual maturity that you had that I don't know whether I would have had I probably would have gotten grumpy and upset and so like it showed such spiritual maturity and showed the grace of God that God was able to really show you that that's what was happening.
Sylvia:Yes.
Joan:And I was reflecting, you know, on our first exchange, you and I. You know, the first time you texted me was because you missed Fatima, so could you, could you briefly tell that story, because that's another disappointment, I think. But you turned it into good, or the Lord turned it into good.
Sylvia:Oh yeah, yes, I want to brag on the Lord every chance I can get, because he's certainly all the surprises. Oh, he's so good, yeah, so my flight out of Indianapolis to DC was delayed and because of that there was no way that I was going to make the flight to Lisbon, so I ended up leaving a day late. I was land only, so I had my own flights booked and I ended up separated from the rest of the group and I was pretty disappointed. Like figuring things out in the airport, trying to scramble and think like, oh, can I get on this flight or are there any other flights out of the country to Lisbon before now? Like, is there something we can work out?
Sylvia:Was kind of stressful and I was really trying to keep my cool, stay calm. Like it's up to you, Lord, whatever you will, I will get to World Youth Day if and when you want me there. And through the cancellations I ended up leaving it was the same flight just 24 hours later and there were encounters in the airport that I would not have had had I left when I wanted to leave. Wow, that were so special and very much a part of my World Youth Day experience, like celebrating mass in Dulles Airport, wow.
Sylvia:For the first time and just walking into it not knowing that it was happening Such a consolation from the Lord.
Sylvia:Like the Lord was total consolation, yes, like you're actually giving me yourself in this airport, wow. And the people celebrating mass were on my flight, so they kind of adopted me and like I didn't feel like I was flying alone anymore, which was so beautiful, and running into them several times at World Youth Day events, which was like out of a million people, here you are again, which was so beautiful. But also, since I arrived late while the rest of the group is in Fatima, I had the opportunity to take a little adventure on my own. So I work for the Little Sisters of the Poor here in Indianapolis and they were all so excited when they found out I was going, because they're international, they have homes in several different countries, and they were sending sisters from our province, and young women from our province as well, to World Youth Day and were, you know, selling their little banana breads to fundraise for them. And so I really felt like wow, like World Youth Day is not just a Marian thing. There are other people going and other people who are supporting this mission, which, wow, that's so cool. But they have the Little Sisters have a home in Lisbon, and so the sisters here that I work with were saying, oh, it would be so cool if you could go visit and I said, yeah, that would be really cool. I don't know if it's going to happen, but because the rest of the group was in Fatima and I just had the afternoon, I was like I'm not going to sit in my hotel, I'm in Lisbon. I finally made it, so I caught a taxi and went to the convent. They had no idea I was going to be there. I just showed up and they're like well, do you need lunch? And invited me in.
Sylvia:We ended up having a birthday party for the residents and did some Portuguese line dancing, which was right up my alley, and there were American sisters and American women there, but also women from France and from, I think, a couple countries in Africa and Spain. And it was so beautiful to experience, as my first experience of World Youth Day, being in Lisbon, the joy of the convent and joy of the home and encountering the language barriers and seeing these women are living together and they do not understand each other. And there were times when I would speak, a resident would try to say something to me and I'm like I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying. And yet, instead of getting increasingly frustrated with each other, there was such a grace in that we really understood each other. Like I don't understand what you're saying, the words that you're saying to me, but I see you and I understand you and I'm listening, and that does not make any sense, but it was so graceful and it really set my heart and set my mind to enter into the week more fully.
Sylvia:And when the rest of the group got back from Fatima, everyone was scorched, everyone was sunburned, lots of people's knees were all bandaged and bloody from kneeling, which is so beautiful, and I felt like in I recognized a blessing in that I hadn't gotten to experience Fatima because I was fresh, I was coming from the convent where it was easy to be joyful and entering in. Some of our pilgrims were several days in because they had gone on the Rome extension as well, whereas I was fresh meat. I'm like, yeah, let's go. And to have that fresh spirit I recognized was such a gift, like jet lag hadn't hit me yet I'm, I'm here for it and I really wanted that to be a gift to my fellow pilgrims and I think it was.
Joan:That's beautiful. That's beautiful, like, just to see, like you could look at it as a disappointment of what you didn't get to do and you also, like, took the bull by the horns and would like I'm going to go do something and you had this incredible experience with it, and so it's. It's just being open to what the Lord wants to do, even in those disappointments, is just. It spoke so strongly to me when you gave that testimony, and I think that's also the beauty of pilgrimage is learning from each other and learning from each other's experience, and having the openness to say, okay, you learn this lesson, I need to learn that lesson too, and so thank you for the testimony, thank you for sharing that, and thank you for being open to the Lord in such a way that he was able to work, to be open to his grace.
Joan:I think we could probably talk for another half hour. I know you have tons of stories, and maybe you'll just have to come back on to the podcast another time should be great. I love to. So when we wrap up, though, I want to give you the opportunity. So we play a game at Verso called High Low Disco, and it's just a way to kind of talk about a trip or an experience where you're going to give me the high point, which I know is impossible, so it doesn't have to be the best high point, right, high point, a low point and then disco is just like a fun story that you. You know it's something crazy that happened, and so I'd love to wrap up our conversation with some high low disco, if you want to share. You know it might be something you've already talked about, but if you want to share a high, low disco, yeah, I'm going to go slightly out of order, because the low makes the high even higher.
Sylvia:A low for me was Thursday. I was very restless. I ended up leaving the morning session to wander and find a nearby church and just kind of felt lost, like I'm just wandering around the city with people of course, but like I don't really have much direction. I don't have plans for the day, I don't know what I'm going to do and was really my friend pointed out and this really helped me to recognize yeah, this is spiritual warfare, like there's a lot of temptation to despair and to discount the Lord's call and like question why he brought me here, what I'm doing here, if this is even worth the cost.
Sylvia:And that was pretty low, things were pretty bleak and I wandered into a church with some friends that hosted another morning session, not one that we had gone to, but there were several pilgrims staying in this church and they had different events going on throughout the day and we were looking for one of our friends had an Australian friend and we were looking for her because she was going to go to this talk and we're like, oh, we can go to this talk, but at some point it seemed like the talk was going to be in Spanish and I'm like I don't speak Spanish.
Sylvia:I don't know about this. And I was, I was ready to throw in the towel, call it quits, like, leave the church, let's go get lunch. I'm really not feeling it. And I was with someone else had just come out of the bathroom and she opened a random door and I was like I have no idea what's going on, but I'm going to follow you.
Sylvia:And it was a small kind of classroom size ecumenism on hosted by a priest and I don't know if he was from Spain or some other Spanish speaking country, but he was kind of the moderator, facilitator, and there were about maybe World Youth Day, pilgrims in there and we just had a conversation on a humanism which was so cool to be in a room with Germans and Australians and people from Spain and just all different cultures, all different experiences of a humanism.
Sylvia:Like to hear the differences in the countries of, like, Anglicanism is very big in Germany, whereas you know this other Protestantism in other countries.
Sylvia:And having that conversation was very intellectually stimulating and I got that excitement that I feel in class where I'm like I have something to say and like I really want to say it and I'm so excited to share it and that was such a surprise, was not expecting it, was not planning it at all, and it made a world of difference and just turned my afternoon and turned the day around, just like that, and that was really just stumbling into this conversation.
Sylvia:It made a friend who works for the UN and had a really beautiful conversation with her and actually ended up gifting her her first rosary, which was just amazing. So having that smaller encounter and really getting to go deeper with people and have more personal and more intimate conversation was such a gift and it was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it, which is just such a high like, such a proof of God's grace and His love and that he sees me and he's yes, he's letting me go through these times of struggle, struggling to keep my head up, but then such consolation and he's not leading me through those hard times for nothing was certainly a high A disco, I would say.
Sylvia:We were walking down the street, stopped to fill our water bottles and there was a group of Brazilians there gathered to fill their water bottles too, and it was the whole. You know where are you from USA? Well, where in the US? Ohio! Because I had the joy of saying that I was from Ohio. Well, everyone else is from Indiana. And they said Ohio, that's the meme state. And I said, oh, no, apparently, and I did not learn this until I chose to go to school in Indiana. Apparently, Ohio is a huge meme, like on TikTok and just Instagram or whatever. I'm not on social media so I wouldn't know, but there are so many memes associated with Ohio and I never let it bother me because I know that it's just because Ohio's the best and everyone else loves to hate us. But I was just so surprised and so tickled that these Brazilians know what Ohio is, but not only that, like they know that Ohio's the meme state. I was hilarious. That's just crazy. What is our culture?
Joan:It was so random, but yeah, it was fun. Oh good, oh well. Thank you so much for chatting with me today, for sharing these incredible stories Again. We'll have to have you back on. We have lots of stories to tell, but it was really a pleasure, Sylvia. So thank you so much for being vulnerable and sharing where the Lord has worked in your life so that we can learn from it as well. So thank you so much. Thank you, Joannie, and we will be praying for you as you continue your studies at Marion University. So I ask all our listeners to pray for Sylvia as she continues her studies, and we'll see what the Lord has in store for you. I can't wait to find out. So thank you, listeners, for listening and join us as we continue to talk to pilgrims, as we continue to delve into what the Lord wants to do for us on pilgrimage, whether it's a pilgrimage that we're taking to a certain place or just the pilgrimage of daily life. So thanks so much for joining us and God bless.
