September 26, 2015
Christine LoBrutto/PhillyVoice
"This is a really emotional thing for me," said Joanne Tangreen, who traveled 51 hours on a train to get to Philadelphia. "It's a pilgrimage. I'm really excited to be here. God was looking out for me."
Joanne Tangreen traveled 51 hours by train from Utah to Philadelphia "on prayer and faith."
After a previous year of hardship, following a divorce, she was looking for a sign from God that things would get better.
"Welcome the change coming soon into your life."
This was the message in a fortune cookie she received just a few days ago.
"By the grace of God and his mercy I came into a ticket for the Mass and festival at 9 a.m. this morning," she said, as she stood alongside a barricade on 6th Street waiting to divine a glimpse of Pope Francis on his way to Independence Hall. "It's just an amazing thing that transpired."
Saturday morning, Tangreen walked into a gift shop and met a man who could no longer use his tickets. He kindly offered them to her.
"This is a really emotional thing for me," she said. "It's a pilgrimage. I'm really excited to be here. God was looking out for me."
As she pointed to clouds in the sky above Old City forming the shape of a cross, she began to tear up.
"Praise God," she said.
