TLIG CHILDREN CHOIR

Ohrozim – wedding

On Saturday 18 July, our friends Míša and Marťa got married. They both came to faith through reading the True Life in God messages and met within our community. Later, partly thanks to these messages, they got together and decided that they would both follow Jesus. The Love they drew from Jesus led them to love one another and to want to live their lives with Jesus as a family. The wedding was a reminder of how Jesus describes becoming betrothed to every soul that accepts him, and that this soul no longer belongs to anyone else.

They asked us if we could sing at the wedding ceremony and perform a musical later on. Of course we agreed, as Míša and Marťa are good friends of ours. We can sum up the ceremony in one sentence that says it all: they got married! Afterwards, we moved to the local community centre, where the wedding reception was held. For lunch, there was a delicious broth and svíčková. The whole hall was decorated with white and pink balloons, fairy lights twinkled above the wedding guests, and the tables were laid with gleaming white tablecloths.

After lunch, everyone went about their own business: some were already at the bar, others were chatting merrily, and some were helping out in the kitchen. At 4.30 pm, it was our turn with the musical One House. Daniel briefly outlined the plot and pointed out that the newlyweds were also acting in it. We performed the musical flawlessly. Sometimes we feel we’ve performed it so many times that we don’t even need to rehearse it anymore. The musical gave the wedding a fresh touch, and people really enjoyed it.

Later, Míša told us that a few people had come up to him that very evening to say how much they’d enjoyed it. The rest of the wedding day passed peacefully. We even got round to doing things you don’t often see at weddings, such as a game of football. Although the groom didn’t play with us, there were about 20 of us playing. The rest of the evening was spent amidst the laugh of the wedding guests as they took part in wedding games and dances.

Velké Losiny

On June 21, we were invited by the parish of Velké Losiny to sing and perform the musical One House in celebration of the local priest’s birthday and anniversary of his ordination. We were invited to lunch, so we set out to arrive there between noon and 1:00 p.m. The parish garden was packed with people; one woman said there were 300 of them. We ate our fill, and after a short rest, we went to set up our equipment. It was really hot that day, and we were lucky that they gave us a cool room at the presbytery where we could change and rest.

Our musical was supposed to start at four o’clock. In the program, we were scheduled to perform after a cimbalom band that played folk songs, so, to the sounds of Czech folk music, we set up a tent where we stood while singing and where our band played. Then we set up all the equipment and had just half an hour to get ready.

It was really hot that day, and we were dancing on pavement that was so scorching you couldn’t even rest your palm on it. Some of us, when playing corpses in the musical, didn’t even lie down on the ground—we just crouched. We all made it through the musical in one piece, and then, because of the weather, we sped things up a bit—otherwise we would have baked—and two people shared their testimonies: Marie and Jirka. Even so, they gave people hope as they shared how they had encountered God and His grace. Our program ended around five o’clock, and we started packing up the equipment and headed home.

At the end of the parish day, when most of us had already headed home, something wonderful happened. A class from a christian grammar school in Brno arrived at the presbytery in Velké Losiny. Jan, our guitarist, was still there and struck up a conversation with them. He told them about his experiences with God and his conversion, and he even played the guitar for them. The kids were thrilled by the love of Jesus and asked us to come to Brno to perform the musical and sing.

Written by Daniel Herzig

Prague

On June 19, we took the train to Prague, where we held an evangelization at the Studánka cake shop. This time, only a handful of us went—about 15 people. We met at 2:30 p.m. at the Zábřeh train station, where our train departed at 2:41 p.m. The trip went by quickly: some read, others browsed the internet, studied, or talked with each other. We arrived in Prague around 5:00 p.m., and then came the toughest challenge: make it through the subway. For the average country dweller, this is a Herculean task, but our friend Magda, who used to live in Prague and knows the metro like the back of her hand, was traveling with us. Thanks to her, we made it to our destination fairly smoothly.

The evangelization began at six o’clock. We were sitting in a small, cozy room with pictures and lamps hanging on the walls. There were about eight tables, each with two, three, or four chairs. People settled in, and some ordered a pastry or coffee. We began by praying the Holy Rosary, followed by a song. Between each song, a passage from the message of True Life in God was read, and one person shared their experience of God’s Grace.

The theme of the evangelization was the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the mysteries that the Lord reveals in the messages. I would like to quote a passage from a TLIG message in which the Lord explains the mysteries and treasures hidden in His Most Sacred Heart for this time: “in these past years, Vassula, I have given enough evidence to testify that I am the Author of True Life in God, for this is the Treasure I had been reserving for these End of Times, when the world would be turning cold towards Me… then I will send My angels to separate the wheat from the darnel and have the darnel burnt, but the wheat will be collected and brought safely to My House;” It was really lovely and uplifting.

We finished around eight o’clock, and then came the part the kids like best. It wasn’t our first time at the pastry shop, so we knew we could treat ourselves. There were open-faced sandwiches, ice cream—which was perfect on such a hot day—and pastries. At a quarter to nine, we headed toward the main train station so we could make it in time. We made it to the train station just as smoothly as we’d made it to the pastry shop. We arrived while they were still cleaning the train, but soon we were already seated on board.

On the way home, we ordered food: the boys had fried camembert with potatoes, and the adults mostly had beer or chips. The trip flew by again, if only because we were laughing the whole time. At one point, we were laughing so hard that Jirka spilled his beer, and we had to ask the conductor for a rag. Finally, we arrived safely in Zábřeh, and by midnight we were already lying contentedly in our beds.

Written by Daniel Herzig

Červený Kostelec

The evangelisation in Červený Kostelec took place on June 13 at the local Grafoklub. We set out around 9 a.m. to make sure we had enough time, since the musical was scheduled to start at 3 p.m. The trip wasn’t difficult and took about 2 hours. Everyone drove on their own, and we all arrived safely at our destination. We started setting up the equipment before noon. Although there were a few hiccups, we worked everything out and were done within an hour and a half. The biggest challenge this time was the lighting, because one half of the lighting duo was away on a work trip to Mexico.

But Saša, the younger of the two, handled it and managed to set up and control the lights just as needed. During the sound check, though, we noticed something very funny: Saša had stuck a photo of his colleague—Cufi—on the chair next to him, as if to show he wasn’t in it alone. After setting up the microphones and sound system, we went to lunch. Štěpán and his wife Jana Janoušek, who had invited us, were very kind and hospitable, so they laid out a full buffet for us, which was groaning under the weight of soup, schnitzel, cakes, and other delicacies.

Then it was just a matter of making the final preparations before the musical: the moderators read through the script, and the rest of us got changed. It began at 3 o’clock. The program kicked off with the songs To St. Michael and Go, go and Tell Everyone, after which the hosts briefly introduced our TLIG choir, outlined the program, and we got right to it. The dancers performed the musical One House with grace, elegance, and almost flawless precision.

After the musical, the moderators took the stage again, briefly describing the symbolism of the musical One House, and the song My Daughter followed. As the final notes of the song faded, the moderators introduced Mrs. Vassula Rydén, whom the Lord Jesus addresses in this song. As we sing this song, a montage of photographs from Vassula’s missions and a video clip of her lecture plays on the screen behind the choir. This allows the audience to briefly get to know Ms. Vassula, see all the places she has visited, and learn about the prominent figures she has met.

After this introduction, the moderators announced a short intermission for refreshments. After refreshments, it was time for the debut of our youngest members, whom we’ve named the Tlig Baby Choir. The youngest member is three years old, but most are around ten years old. To start, they sang four songs, which opened the second part of our program. Immediately afterward, the moderators took the stage and briefly outlined the fundamental points of the spirituality of True Life in God, then introduced people who shared with the audience their experiences with God through the grace-filled message of TLIG. Everything was accompanied by hymns, the lyrics of which are taken from the messages of True Life in God.

At the end, we danced to the Greek hymn Thoxa, thoxa, which is an ode to the Holy Trinity. The program ended around 5:30, and we started packing up the equipment. While we were packing up, our media team filmed a premiere video in which they introduced God as a loving father, so that people could learn about Him. You can find the video here: Instagram link. On the way back, we bought a kebab. We arrived around midnight. We drove 230 km that day.

Written by Daniel Herzig

Switzerland

We set out on our journey to Switzerland on May 6th. Preparations and packing didn’t take us a lot of time, we had packed the day before, so we arrived at a good time (4-5 PM). The first stop was the sports hall in Bor, a small Czech village. Even we arrived tired, after 370 km, the kids immediately went to play basketball. But it was necessary to unload the thing from our lorry so that we could go to sleep. So we did it and everyone could go to bed.

In the morning we left around 9AM and set off our journey across Germany. The way was a little bit tiring so we were doing stops that we could freshen up. It’s important to say that God blessed us all on the journey because the weather was beautiful, it wasn’t raining and storms and strong winds didn’t come as well. After a 7 hour journey we made it from Germany to France and were riding to face Switzerland borders. In the evening we arrived at the cottage after 615 km. We were tired after the whole exhausting day, so we cooked dinner and went to sleep.

In the morning we woke up, ate breakfast while we were looking down on Delémont – what a beautiful view! – and went to visit our friend Šárka, she’s Czech, to the monastery in Develier. It was a beautiful, joyful and sometimes funny visit. We sang songs and shared our testimonies with her. She was really glad that we visited her. After the visit we went back to the cottage, ate lunch, took a rest and drove to Bern. When we arrived we went to a square, started preparing things for singing, because we were about to sing at the square. It was everything done in a couple of minutes! It was our record of preparing.

Then we started singing and it was beautiful how people were interested. They were filming us, looking at us and they were listening to the lyrics of a songs. After singing when we were talking we all felt the same feeling. We had wanted to stay on the square and keep singing. But that was enough and we had to move the equipment to the hall nearby the square. We finished it in 2-3 hours and went back to the cottage. We drove 200 km that day. Then we arrived at the cottage and we realised that we forgot at Bor a canvas on which lyrics and titles are projected. But everything was under Jesus‘ control because the hall where we were was a white wall, so we could project lyrics and titles.

And so D-Day was there. We were excited and felt joy in our hearts. But before we went to Bern, we ate a brilliant lunch – meat with rice and salad. Then we drove to Bern. We arrived at noon and started preparing things for the musical One House. Everything was done at 3 PM and we started setting up the sound. But there was a slight hitch. One of the backgrounds started making buzzing noises. We didn’t know where from or why. After a couple of minutes we found that the problem was in the microphones. But we figured it out and we continued with the sound check. When the sound was prepared, we had half an hour until start.

And at 5 PM we started. How else but with a hymn to Saint Michael and song from TLIG messages Go, go and tell everyone. After songs came on a stage moderators introduced the audience to the program and presented our choir. And the musical One House began. In the first scene we could see people who lived in the same house in unity, loved and helped each other. But then one began to lord it over the others, and gradually more and more joined in, until their selfishness and rivalry destroyed the house and they themselves perished. However, God didn’t wait and sent them his servant who began to bring his children to life.

They started being happy and filled with joy and they rebuilt the House. They began once again to praise and worship God and lived in unity once more. After the performance came again on the stage moderators and explained the musical One House. Then we were singing a beautiful song My daughter with a short film about Vassula Ryden. After the song, fr. Petr came on the stage for the first time. He introduced Vassula to the audience. Then moderators came on the stage for the third and last time to invite the audience for a small coffee break. After twenty minutes of refreshment the second part began. People who have been converted through the TLIG messages shared their testimonies about God’s mercy and everything was accompanied by worship songs whose lyrics are taken from the TLIG messages. We were filled with joy and love. It was a beautiful performance. After our performance we packed everything, we loaded it into our lorry and went to the cottage.

Another 200 km. On Sunday we left the cottage at noon and were facing the borders with Germany. Once we stopped for a refreshment and the boys started playing a football match at a rest area, which was quite funny. They also joked that they should be careful because next to us was a motorway and they could have hit a car. In the evening we arrived at the same hall as on our way to Switzerland. Another 600 km. But we didn’t go to sleep but the boys played basketball. Even the girls joined. And our parents were eating dinner and talking. In the morning we set off on our last journey. This time to our homes. We stopped once for a refreshment, but it was a big stop, because we ate Burger King – it was a really good gift. We arrived at our homes, after 370 km, in the early evening and our mission was completed. 2,300 km in total!

Written by Daniel Herzig