Let me begin with a couple of personal notes. Our house in Florida has gone from under contract to not under contract to under contract again. It would be very helpful to us for this sale to go through. Also, we have hit a little weirdness on our visa renewals. It should be fine, but prayers would be appreciated.
I’m usually pretty good at keeping my schedule in my head, but at the beginning of the month I knew that could be too much over the coming weeks, so I wrote it down. I didn’t include the regular weekly studies, though I probably should.
The Brno weekend was special to us. Nancy took some time to visit the old haunts and take in the changes. I was able to deliver some material to a man we are studying with there. The assembly was edifying. It is amazing how well the technology works to allow the Czech family presently living in rural England to participate in the worship. Our being there on a regular though limited basis seems to have provided a boost to the group. The sandwich on the train has become a tradition.
A Saturday road trip to a town an hour east of here was well worth it to see one of our young men play basketball. He exemplifies a godly young man who can excel at his sport- he even hits his free-throws. It also gave his dad and I some time to work on our summer study.
The one Sunday in Prague in February was positive, if a little frustrating. It was a good Sunday that reminded me of the challenges of dividing ourselves among the works as we do. After spending a couple of days reflecting on it, I am still very thankful for the variety of opportunities and feel that while it is not the easiest approach, it is the most productive.
The weekend in the village was as encouraging and busy as ever. It included the regular heavy load of teaching opportunities. The assembly was especially encouraging in several ways, including the fact we had four visitors. These are not walk-ins, but represent the efforts of someone to get them there. I believe one is very close to the kingdom.
A follow up study with a visitor from the January lecture proved to be a pleasant surprise. He is a history/theology student at the Charles University. In addition to wanting to meet more, he expressed an interest in visiting our assembly.
Our third Prague study was the best attended (18) so far. Given the comments from people in the days leading up to it, I was optimistic. We did a chapter from the study guide I published last year. We followed that up with snacks, discussions about the work, and a lot of pleasant conversation and laughter. It’s great to have the kids, both younger and older there as well.
As the second lecture in our series in Prague approached, we were cautiously optimistic that the positive response would continue. It exceeded our hopes in every way. We had 11 first time visitors. Two requests Bible studies. Three were college students who took notes, some of the free material- including ask me to sign a book for another friend. Needless to say, the enthusiasm among the brethren here is growing.
