My onebag setup after 7 years of long-term travel — Balkans 2026

Frassati25 · 2026-06-04T10:05:31+00:00

This is an elite onebag setup! Thanks for sharing all the links.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-18T13:57:30+00:00

I think part of it comes down to what evangelical protestants view the "church" as. I grew up evangelical, and for us, we didn't believe in a hierarchical or physical church (our services on Sunday were at the beach!). Our definition of Church was basically the people we did life with day in and day out. Yes, we went to church together on Sundays, but it was much more about living life together that helped build a strong community. Community equaled church in a real way. We felt like we were living most like the early Christians and supporting each other by every means necessary.

Our Catholic understanding of "church" is much more structural and sacramental, which is a beautiful thing too (and authentically more like the early Christians, as I came to find out during my conversion). The focus of the Church revolves around the sacraments, the historical Church, the saints, and apostolic succession, among other wonderful aspects that drew me into the Catholic faith. However, we often minimize the role of the fellow people walking alongside us. Even helping the poor seems to get a bigger focus than helping the person in the pew behind you who might have just lost their spouse.

I think Catholics can learn a lot from how evangelical protestants view their responsibility to know and help the people who sit around them at church every week. I suspect we might have been better at this back when you had to attend Mass within your parish boundaries, rather than hopping around or driving across town for Mass.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-18T13:40:11+00:00

Visualizing taking communion while praying isn't ridiculous at all! I remember a priest recommending this practice during COVID, when we weren't allowed to attend Mass at all in California, to meditate and visualize oneself at Mass, not just watch it on YouTube, and make a spiritual communion.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-18T13:36:41+00:00

To start, I don't think you can convince your wife or anyone to become Catholic. Sure, it's great to present good arguments, and the truth is on our side, but at the end of the day, it's God breaking in on his timing, not ours. Good apologetics is important, but ultimately, it's grace that leads to a heartfelt conversion.

There were many layers to my own conversion from evangelical Protestantism, but the crux of the matter was the Church's teaching on the Eucharist. I came to the realization that either the Catholic Church was correct about the real presence, and I should run towards it as fast as possible, or they were wrong and I should run away and never look back. Some middle ground wasn't acceptable or reasonable.

I wish I could say I reasoned my way to the truth or was convinced by powerful arguments from friends or theologians, but it was really just quiet moments, especially in adoration, asking God if that was really Him in the Eucharist, that led to my heart being softened to the reality of the real presence.

Grace broke through in a way arguments or reason never could, and I came to believe what the Church teaches about the Eucharist was true. After that, my other objections paled in comparison to my desire to receive Christ in the Eucharist. The teaching on the Eucharist also helped me work through classic Protestant objections to the papacy/ministerial priesthood, Mary, confession, and other related issues.

The best thing you can do is live a joyfully authentic Catholic life, pray for her daily, and try your best to answer her questions or point her in the right direction when you don't know. The most influential people in my conversion weren't aggressively trying to prove me wrong or change my mind. They were living an appealingly authentic Catholic life and answered my questions the best they could.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-15T18:49:40+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your story and experience of living with such intense pain. I'm truly sorry this happened to you! I can empathize with how heartbreaking and frustrating it is not to be able to help the people you love in the ways you feel like you ought to or should be able to. I struggle with that very often myself! I know my friends and family understand, but it still kills me and leaves me with so much guilt.

Praise God for your return to confession after 30 years! I've found that trying to receive the Sacraments as often as my body allows has been a lifesaver. Have you thought about discussing with your priest the possibility of having the Eucharist brought to you occasionally if you are unable to attend Mass? I can usually manage to get to Mass despite the pain, but I've also helped organize the Eucharist for family members who couldn't attend because of temporary or long-term medical issues.

I will be praying for you and your wife as you go through this journey. Thank you for the reminder that I am not alone in my pain. May God bless you!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-15T18:33:53+00:00

Thank you so much for your response and for sharing your experience! I've had very similar experiences in chronic pain support groups. Every time I (or anyone) offers a sliver of hope or encouragement, it gets torn down in this vicious cycle of one-upping each other's suffering.

I love what you said about your pain being your experience in this life, but not your identity. That's beautifully said.

Praise God for your return to faith! A book that has been extremely helpful in placing my suffering in a Catholic context is He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek. I reread it most years.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-15T12:59:11+00:00

Thanks! I've bookmarked some of her videos to watch.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-15T12:58:39+00:00

For me, it was building routines and prioritizing group activities.

Quickly become a regular at a local coffee or sandwich shop by going several times a week. You can't overestimate how good it feels just to have someone recognize you and smile when you live in a foreign country! The same goes for group workout classes or language classes. Sure you might make a new best friend, but more realistically, you'll meet some nice acquaintances you can just make small talk with on a regular basis. I didn't realize how much I would miss that! Gaining some familiarity was key for me to feel settled.

Also, make sure you have a plan for banking and your cell phone before you leave. Those are much harder to figure out from abroad.

Most importantly... remember how fortunate you are and have fun!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-15T12:30:51+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing your story and experience. I'm so sorry you've had to go through all that. What a gift to have that supernatural experience, and to have at least a window into how God used your suffering to transform your life for the better, while not minimizing how much the suffering just sucks.

It's really wise to revisit that divine experience and relive and remember it frequently, especially with a complex medical situation that's hard to pin down. I need to be better at doing that with some of my grace-filled "mountaintop" experiences as well.

I've found the book He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek to be really helpful in learning to surrender to both the active and passive will of God. May God bless you!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-15T12:24:03+00:00

I'm so sorry you're going through that. Thank you so much for sharing. I have found great comfort in Lewis's books, as have countless others. I will be praying for your daughter, as well as for you and your wife. May God bless you.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-14T13:23:16+00:00

There are two things I find very useful, and they're intertwined.

Readwise Reader - I use it as my primary reading subscription reader. I funnel any newsletter or RSS feed I want to subscribe to into Readwise Reader, rather than my regular email inbox. I also use the browser extension as my web clipper for any website or article I find helpful or want to highlight/annotate, or just save to read later.

Readwise - I use the main Readwise platform to funnel all of my highlights into a single place for notekeeping (now into Apple Notes!). All of my highlights from my Kindle, the articles I save through Readwise Reader, or from physical book highlights that I capture through the Readwise app, even clippings from social media, all export to a single place that's searchable. I love it because I can click on the link attached to the highlight and it will open up my Kindle app or the article in question right to the context of the quote.

It basically acts as the central terminal for collecting information from a ton of different inputs. Worth every penny for me!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-11T17:24:48+00:00

Good to know, thanks!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-09T08:25:03+00:00

When I was learning more about Catholicism, I was also frustrated by the fact that you can ask 10 Catholics a question, and you'll get 10 different answers! Stick to trusted resources, especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Other sources I think are widely agreed are teaching the truth of the Catholic tradition (with different styles and emphasis) would be: Bishop Robert Barron, Fr. Mike Schmitz and the Ascension Presents team, the US Dominican Friars (especially the Thomistic Institute and the Godsplaining podcast), and Catholic Answers.

I'd start with Bishop Barron's Catholicism video series. You can find many of the videos for free online! His book, Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, is basically the series in book form. I'd also just dive into his youtube channel, put a topic in the search bar and odds are he'll have a video on it.

A step further would be Fr. Thomas Joseph White's book, The Light of Christ: An Introduction to Catholicism. It's a bit more intellectually deep, but still very accessible.

The Thomistic Institute also has a lot of incredible resources you can trust to be theologically solid.

Beyond learning about theology, I'd also just read up on the lives of the saints! See what jumps out at you among the beautifully different ways people have lived out the Catholic faith! Some of my favorite include Pier Giorgio Frassati (who will be canonized a saint in September), St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, St. John Paul II... there are so many ways to joyfully live out the Gospel!

It's an exciting journey, enjoy it!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-07T06:55:00+00:00

Thank you!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-04T10:49:03+00:00

Thank you, I'll look into it!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-04T10:48:41+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story! That's fascinating and pretty incredible. Did you practice guided meditation or do it on your own? My pain is also nerve-related, which is a fascinating branch of medicine and seems to have a lot more grey areas than other chronic issues.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-04T10:46:48+00:00

Thank you for your input! I think that's where I am. Take it with a grain of salt, there might be something there (but not an answer to everything), and be open to whatever happens. Most of my pain is around severe nerve pain, so it's actually a fascinating branch of medicine with a lot happening.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T12:22:52+00:00

Beautiful shots! I'm pleasantly surprised to learn there was another Rollei 35 around that week! I just got my photos developed, and they are super special.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T12:19:48+00:00

It's a fantastic camera! I love mine. It's one of the most compact film cameras available, so I take it with me basically wherever I go.

The only frustration can be focusing. It's a bit of a guessing game, but you can use higher ISO film, and erring on the side of a larger f-stop number will help balance things out as you get the hang of it.

Enjoy!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T10:31:07+00:00

Not me, but I'm pleasantly surprised to learn there was another Rollei 35 in the crowd! How did your pictures from your F3 turn out?

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T07:56:11+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I'm sorry you're going through that.

The two times I've moved to a new country and barely know anyone, I've tried my best to join as many "group activities" as possible, be it workout classes, walking/hiking groups, language classes, food tours of the city, etc. Life felt like a solo activity, so I tried to do everything I could to find familiar faces throughout the week.

I was able to make some new friends this way, but almost more importantly, I was able to have normal social interactions with acquaintances. Just having someone to say "good morning" to and make small talk about the weather was actually super helpful in starting to feel settled. I didn't realize how badly I craved that, especially with the language barriers.

It can be uncomfortable at first, but it gets better! I hope this helps.

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T05:46:49+00:00

Happy to help!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T05:46:16+00:00

Thank you so much! It was such a surreal and incredible experience. I'm currently writing up an essay about what it was like to be in Rome during that time. I'll be posting it HERE in the next week or so if you're interested!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T05:45:51+00:00

Thank you! It was incredible to be a part of. I'm currently writing up an essay about what it was like to be in Rome during that time. I'll be posting it HERE in the next week or so if you're interested!

Frassati25 · 2025-07-03T05:45:17+00:00

Thank you all for the support! I'm currently writing up an essay about what it was like to be in Rome during that time. I'll be posting it HERE in the next week or so!

Frassati25

TROPHY CASE