Church

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Ephesians 2:19

We went to church for the first time here today. It was very nice.

We woke up to a bright and sunny, yet cool morning which made for a very pleasant stroll to the church. The congregation rents a space in a building in the downtown just north of the main square. The colorful buildings were beautiful in the sun and the normally bustling downtown was peaceful.

We met few people on the streets at 8:30 a.m. The Czech Republic is the second most atheist country in Europe (after Estonia). Only about 20% of the inhabitants express a belief in God. It's rather sad in that respect. Christianity has a long and illustrious history here. Some of the more notable figures include:

• Saints Cyril and Methodius and Cyril who (are generally credited with, but were not the first to have) brought Christianity to the land and developed a written language for the translation of the Bible and other texts in the 9th century.
  
• Saint Adalbert who was a 10th century Bishop of Prague and martyr.
  
• Jan Hus who was a late 14th centure Catholic reformer that opposed indulgences and crusades and was eventually burned at the stake for heresy. He is considered a national hero (despite the fact that most Christians in the Czech Republic are Catholics).
• John of Nepomuk who was a 14th century martyr.
  
• and many others (this was not meant to be about Czech religious history, but I got caught up in reading about it).

Anyway, on our nice walk along the cobblestone streets to the chapel, the big Catholic Church bells started ringing. The chiming echoed through the narrow streets in a most joyous way.

The branch in České Buďejovice is small. There is the Branch President (who served a mission in Utah) and his wife (who served a mission in the Czech Republic) and their three children (12, 8, and 2), our friends Jan (who served a mission in Great Britain), Jana, and their three children (11, 8, 5), five other individuals, four missionaries (all Americans) and the five of us.

We gave the talks in sacrament meeting. Kristine did hers in Czech; the branch president translated for the rest of us (though I did my best to read a couple of scriptures in Czech). It was a nice meeting.

Afterwards, Silas bounded off to primary with Lucy. Caleb joined the adults for Sunday School. They did not have a Deacons Quorum until now. We had good discussions in our class and Lucy said she can't wait to go back to primary next week. We felt the Holy Spirit and left with a brighter outlook.

I love that, in keeping with Paul's words to the Ephesians, we can go nearly anywhere in the world and instantly be treated like brothers and sisters.