The third day was even more eventful than the first two. We hiked to a small forest that Marek’s family owns just a couple of miles from their house. It was multitasking at its finest. It was an amazing walk through beautiful countryside that let the kids burn off some energy. It included an ingenious Bible class plan for the kids Mark had developed, and we gathered mushrooms. We hurried back just a bit to allow some modern world-shrinking technology to come into play.
Andrei and Nelli are Bulgarians who Marek and his family befriended and studied with during their time in England. Because of our mutual connection, plus my Bulgarian connection, a study via Skype was arranged for noon- our time. So a Czech and an American situated in a village in East Bohemia studied with two Bulgarians living in the burbs of London. Wow! More importantly, the study went extremely well. As a side note, Andrei is a physicist who is sincere in his belief in God. After about an hour and a half of study and Q&A, we said goodbye to move on with the day.
That included Marek demonstrating that though grilling came late to his country, they are fast learners. That meant him knowing that there, pork is the meat of choice. Though the meat was delightful, personally, the variety of grilled mushrooms we had gathered earlier was the highlight. In the process of all of this, Marek was surprised to learn that I would love to go to a neighboring village farm to help him pick up bags of potatoes and onions. I won’t waste your time on the details, but suffice it to say, everyone agreed I would go there again on my next visit.
In addition to the other wonderful activities, I did my regular schedule of classes, plus a couple of hours with one of the brothers to discuss some personal questions on his mind. I hope I did some good for others, but I know it was one of the most rewarding and encouraging days of my preaching life.
