STERRETT, Ala. (AP) — More than 2,000 people are converging in rural Shelby County this week to be near a woman who claims to have had visions of the Virgin Mary for nearly 30 years.

Believers from all over the country are in the community of Sterrett to see Marija Lunetti. She is making appearances through Saturday at a Roman Catholic retreat called Caritas of Birmingham.

Now 43, Lunetti was just a girl when she and other children in the Yugoslavian village of Medjugorje reported seeing visions of the mother of Jesus. Lunetti said she has had daily visions of Mary for 27 years in all.

While in Alabama, Lunetti is being treated for a shoulder injury she suffered during a snow skiing mishap in Italy in January.