Then, in 1924, at the age of 13, I asked him to baptize me. Although Mother considered me rather young for such a serious step, I convinced her that it was my firm decision. So, that July during a one-day convention held near the Ondava River, I symbolized my dedication to Jehovah by baptism in the waters of that river.

In the 1930’s, I was privileged to be a delegate to larger conventions in the capital city, Prague. In 1932 the first international convention in Czechoslovakia was arranged. We met at the Varieté Theatre. The theme of the public lecture, “Europe Before Destruction,” caught the attention of the people, and about 1,500 attended. Another international convention was held in Prague in 1937, and I had the privilege of giving one of the talks. Delegates from many European countries were present, and all of us received the needed encouragement to carry us through the trials that soon followed during World War II.

After the war, conventions were a great impetus to our work. In September 1946 the first one for the whole country was held in the city of Brno. I was privileged to deliver a talk on the theme “The Harvest, the End of the World.”

In 1947 another national convention was held in Brno. There, Nathan H. Knorr, Milton G. Henschel, and Hayden C. Covington, who were visiting from the world headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, gave encouraging talks. I had the privilege of serving as interpreter for their presentations. Although we had about 1,400 Kingdom proclaimers in Czechoslovakia at the time, some 2,300 attended the public talk.