I was scheduled to be in Brno on Sunday, so I touched base with Jan again on Saturday night about what time I would arrive. Following up on that, with my train a couple of hours out of Brno, I messaged him the time of my arrival. His response broke my heart for him. He wrote that his mom had just died (about 30 minutes earlier), so he would be late. A little less than an hour after the family was afforded the finally “viewing,” he and I were sitting together near the meeting place as I made a poor effort to comfort him. We talked for a while before arranging the room for the assembly. Shortly before we started, his wife and young children showed up for worship. Using his amazing talent, he led the singing. At one point, I realized that he had stopped singing as he silently wept. His 10-year-old son went to hug him. We finished the song, continued on with the service, and at the end he made the normal closing remarks. It was an amazing testimony of faith and courage.
On a different note, the service was well-attended including visitors from Prague, locally, and a couple from England (via Skype) who found the group via its website all joined in the meeting. After the worship, we visited for a while, and the children from Brno and from Prague were able to spend time together.
