Continuing my life journey and how I was led, this section deals with further leading and circumstances as we were deciding whether or not to move to post-Communist Czechoslovakia. It is another part of an upcoming book or website section entitled Divinely Led.
Part 3: Life and Work in the USA
Further Leading and Circumstances
One day on the way home from work, Alex met and started conversation with a Mr. Brozek, who turned out to be Czech. He invited us to a dance at a local Czechoslovakian Club. There we met some older Czechs, were told about a shop in Chicago that sold European items, and learned about a monthly Czech newspaper. We bought an English – Czech dictionary from the shop and subscribed to the paper – which too proved to be significant in the overall guidance.
In the ads section of the paper was an item from a Vaclav R. from Lomnice nad Luznici in South Bohemia who was into genealogies. The question arose in Alex’s mind, was there a chance to learn more about his father’s origin?
In our search and further exploration of Europe, we decided to return for another visit in 1991. We attended a church convention in Goslar, Germany and then travelled back to South Bohemia to Lomnice to meet with Vaclav (Vasek), as well as revisit my relatives. Vaclav’s sister had a house for rent close by, so we stayed there. Vasek and his father kindly took us all around looking for possible homes, but without success. Vasek also did some genealogical research for Alex in an attempt to locate a possible record of his father’s birth – also without success.
My second cousin, Franta (Frank), took us around the area and introduced us to other, more distant relatives on my father’s side. They were all excited to meet us and treated us lavishly, giving out of their poverty.
We returned home and continued our search for guidance through prayer, reading and correspondence. In 1992, the Mail Processing Department where we worked received a letter from Czechoslovakia. I was the only one that could read and understand it. A middle-aged lady by the name of Daniela came in contact with the church through her sister and brother-in-law living overseas. She became interested in the teachings and had many questions. This was the start of corresponding with and ministering to her, and as time went on, a few others from the country. While I did my best to answer her questions, without on-the-ground support and fellowship, and before technology such as Skype and Zoom, it was a lonely existence. Despite that, she persevered for several years.
After the many years of living overseas, my Czech had become quite rusty – I practically had to re-learn what I had known and master words and phrases that I had not learned as a teenager when I left. I received an unexpected help from my second cousin Alena and her husband Frank from Tabor, who sent me their large three-volume English-Czech dictionary.
As time went on, we met Daniela’s sister Drahomira with her Mexican husband Enrique, who after about 17 years away returned to the church. Enrique introduced his wife to the teachings, so she and her sister were both new converts when we came in contact with them. Drahomira and Enrique became dear friends and we ended up doing many things together.
We continued working, but also looking for guidance in our mulling over returning to Europe to live. A breakthrough came around June 1992. With Vaclav in Lomnice in southern Bohemia keeping his ear to the ground for us, he learned of an elderly couple living in a nearby small village of Smrzov who wanted to downsize and were selling their large country house. He told them about us and they sent us a detailed letter with photos.
Having received the letter with photos, we sensed that something exciting was happening. After Alex got home from work, we took the letter to one of our favourite restaurants, The Good Earth, to read in detail. The contents were indeed exciting.
The house was large and specious and the couple had spent many years renovating it and beautifying the whole property. The double block of land consisted of the house with garage, a couple of sheds, a small al fresco area with a fireplace, and lots of fruit trees and currant bushes. Our own home was adequate but small, and in the US, we could have never afforded a nice large house. So the opportunity to purchase this home for what seemed a very reasonable price seemed very inviting.
We expressed a definite interest to the couple and started planning another trip to Europe for the church’s September convention. We spent that in the Black Forest area of Germany and then went to see the house.
On closer inspection, we found that it had an optimal north-south orientation with most of the windows facing the south side and having sun throughout the day. This was important in Europe where summers are short and winters long. The windows were overlooking a small orchard of mostly apple trees and a few plum trees. There were more fruit trees on the other side of the house – a pear and a cherry tree.
We slept at the house and spent time at the village, as well as exploring the local area – the nearby large recreational and fishing pond, Dvoriste, and the neighbouring small town, Lomnice where Vasek lived. We met and talked to some of the people. The house owners were congenial and promised to help us get settled if we bought the house. It all looked very appealing, and after a few days of prayer and deliberation, we decided to go with it!
The couple asked for a deposit, which in those days was quite complicated and took a long time to reach their bank account, which made them concerned. In the meantime, another couple expressed serious interest in the house, but the owners honoured their promise to us.
In March 1993, incredibly, we moved there and ended up staying for eight years, though the beginning was hard, especially for Alex. There were times that he felt that we had made the wrong decision and even wanted to return to the States. Time and time again, we had to rehearse and remind ourselves of how God had led us and all the amazing circumstances that we felt were evidence that this was what we were meant to do.
For other information on divine leading, see Spirit Helpers and Guides
Here is a short reflection on being divinely led.