Though many brothers were in prison, the ones outside kept on meeting together. Public halls could not be used, but assemblies with an abbreviated program were held in large apartments. At times, larger assemblies were held out in the forest. The first of these was in Oldřichov, near the town of Nejdek, in 1949. A slope with protruding rocks provided a seating area to accommodate the 200 who attended. Nearby was an abandoned house, barn, and pond. For the baptism, they put up a partition in the barn to provide changing rooms for men and women. They cleaned the pond and arranged wooden stairs leading into the water. Thirty-seven were immersed on that occasion.

[Picture on page 178]

Meeting out in the woods in 1949