Paul assures the Corinthian Christians that to be absent from this earthly body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5).
Sister Veronica Szabo went Home to be with our Lord yesterday. She was a faithful member of the church here in Dersida. She was 54.
Please pray for Brother Petrika as he copes with his sudden lonliness. They would have been married 32 years in April. He told us today that she was his chosen one and she took care of him. Now, he asks, who will call him when it's time to eat? He is sad, but has the peace of knowing that she is in Heaven.
Her body is at their home in a beautiful coffin and they have received friends and family yesterday and today. Veronica's sisters and nieces have been at the house preparing food for visitors and for after the funeral.
Tomorrow after church, we will meet at their house where her body will be placed in the back of an open bed truck. We will walk behind the truck to the village fountain where she drew water from the well on a daily basis and a devotion will be given and songs sung. We will then travel to the front of the church and receive another devotional and songs. Then, we walk to the cemetary where a service will be conducted and her body placed in the ground.
After this, guests are invited to a meal which has been prepared by the family and will be held in a building in the village.
It's interesting that the family of the deceased provides all the food ... quite the opposite from America. Also, it's normal for everything to take place in the home instead of a funeral parlor. Brother Petrika said that this would be the last night that Sister Veronica would spend in the house she was born in.
On a lighter note, he also mentioned that his sisters-in-law asked him last night if he would be scared being in the house alone with her dead body. He made a good point and said, "I'm not afraid of the dead. I'm afraid of the living." Please pray ...
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