Gwen’s Story

While Gwen was at the rec center one day, she spotted the missionaries having a cookout and playing games. There she enjoyed the small community that had been formed. That time period shortly came to a halt when the coronavirus happened, which naturally forced her to lose touch with Vagabond and the missionaries until her friend Anthony invited her to a cookout at McKinley Park in late 2022.

“You should come around more!” Jill suggested to her. It took a while for her to reintegrate into the Vagabond community, and once she did, she wasn’t immediately able to consistently attend events. A heart condition had her in and out of the hospital and she was grieving the deaths of several family members. The health issues and trauma kept her isolated.

One day, Jill was driving and noticed Gwen walking to practice. She offered her a ride, and on the drive, Gwen shared the events that had happened in the past year. Jill suggested that she should come back to Vagabond programming. After her second reappearance, she started opening up more about her challenges. She attended a retreat in December where she got to “look at Jesus,” meet Fr. Ferdinand, and enjoy the company of the Steubenville and Pittsburgh teens.

After the retreat, thoughts buzzed around repeatedly in Gwen’s head: “I want to come to church. I want to be by God.” Gwen shared with Jill her desire for baptism. Excitedly, Jill offered her the opportunity to get baptized at Easter. As a result, Gwen joined Jesus Class, where she learned about the Catholic faith.

After becoming Catholic and being able to partake in the sacraments, Gwen was on top of the world! She had a fresh certainty that her missionaries were Godsent. “They really brought me closer to God. God sent them to me that day to bring me close. It took me a while, but I got closer to God,” she recollects. “I will open my Bible any day and tell someone, ‘Read this! I want to talk about this.’” She was so happy. One of her friends noticed these changes in Gwen. “You love talking about Jesus!” he pointed out.

Gwen prays for her loved ones every time she’s in church. “Most of my prayers are never really for me. They’re more for the people around me and for me not to mess up in other people’s lives.” She also recognizes that in life, hope might get lost from time to time. What helps to keep her afloat is remembering how the missionaries and priests remind her that Jesus will always love her.

Today, she stands firm in her faith: “I know that God will always have me no matter what. It’s just sometimes hard to believe because ... no one on earth is that good. You just have to remember at the end of the day that God [the Father], Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are always Love, and God is better than any human; better than anything, actually.”