Dagmar came into the Visitors Center on Sunday along with her parents who are here to celebrate her graduation from Cambridge University with her doctorate. They are from the Czech Republic. We love the Czech people as our son Joseph served there on his mission. The Dagmars were interested in the architecture of the building which is what enticed them to come inside. I showed them the chapel at the beginning of a Sacrament meeting and then took them into the front stairwell to show them the unusual stained glass of the building and to have a more quiet place to speak as Sundays become very busy simply because the Visitors Center is essentially the foyer of the chapel.
After explaining to them a little about our church I asked them if they would be interested in taking a Czech Book of Mormon and explained to them what was contained in its pages. Her parents spoke very little English but they obviously loved seeing the Book in their native language. We carried on a fairly lengthy conversation and as they were leaving we met another couple, church members from Gilbert AZ, who were waiting until after the sacrament to go into the meeting. When the husband heard their Czech he spoke up as he went to the Czech Republic on his mission 25 years ago. He had spoken very little Czech since that time. He saw that we had given them a Czech Book of Mormon so he took the opportunity to testify to them of it's truthfulness and explain to them what the book contained. It was divine choreography as they were placed in each others paths. We exchanged email addresses and invited them to read from the Book of Mormon. Her mother and father are both music teachers in the Czech Republic.
After they left we spoke with the gentleman who had testified to them in Czech. They are here on holiday for just 5 days and have 5 children at home. He has not returned to the Czech Republic since his mission but tears flowed down his cheeks as he told us the following. It has always been a dream of his to return to the Czech Republic and testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon to the Czech people in their language. He felt as though that happened today in London at the Visitors Center. He told us that he will always treasure this experience that he was totally not expecting. He had gone on his mission immediately following the fall of communism in the Czech Republic. He obviously has a very soft spot in his heart for the Czech people as well. The saints there are incredible who kept the church going even in the presence of communism as they held meetings under the context of a yoga class. When an apostle visited during that time and asked why there were no children they replied that they could not tell them for fear they would mention something to the wrong person leading to imprisonment for the parents. Such faithful saints. We will keep in touch with Dagmar through email. In fact she emailed us the very next day to thank us for welcoming them.
What a remarkable experience for us to witness. We are witnesses of His divine choreography day in and day out on our mission. We will be forever grateful for this opportunity. We know He lives. We know He loves each and every one of His children.
