The month of May has been such a fun month here in the Czech/Slovak Mission. We have been very busy, but we have enjoyed every minute of it. The photos below are only a taste of what went on, but we hope that you enjoy looking at them.
Once again we have been hit by the dreaded transfers. This has been transfer six for us and this has been our District for the last nine weeks. (back row) Elder Simcock (England), Elder Gilmore (California) Elder Lisonbee (Providence, UT) (Front row) Elder Bailey, Perry, UT, Starši Mills, Elder Spencer, St. George, Ut, Sister Mills, and Elder Ozmun, Providence, Ut. Has been a great transfer and miracles were performed in Ostrava!
As you can see we were not the typical District. (hehehe)
As with each transfer we lost a few elders. This was Elder Spencer's last transfer and he has returned home to St. George, Ut. He was a great missionary and we will miss him.
Elder Ozmun is moving on to Olomouc where he will be District Leader. We are so proud of Elder Ozmun....he just keeps growing and growing, and we are happy that we will still be able to see him at Zone Conferences and specialized training. Great men have been trained in Providence, UT.
We think Elder Simcock was getting a little worried that he would spend his whole mission in Ostrava. He spent three transfers with us (6 months). He too is moving on and we will miss him. As the song says, "We've grown accustomed to his face". Good luck Elder Simcock!
We had a BBQ early on this month. We have a great turn-out and it was a lot of fun.
More picnic pics.
More picnic pics.
We had a very competitive game of badminton going on.
Our neighbor from upstairs, Jana, we call her Jane. She is the cutest little girl. Her mother always makes her talk to us in English. (She speaks better English than we do Czech!!)
We also had a Branch Picnic this month. We served American Sloppy Joes, played Bocce Ball, Badminton, Frisbee, and Soccer. Great success as we had more in attendance than we do at Sacrament Meeting. Maybe we will start serving Sloppy Joes after church and maybe more people will come!
Missionaries and investigators resting after a hot game of soccer.
Two of my Primary boys, Honza, and Fillip. They grabbed two bags of chips, and some soda, and they thought they had died and gone to heaven.
More picnic pics.
The Bocce Ball Champions.
Some had already left, but here is most of the group just before going home.
Here is Elder Ozmun and Elder Bailey with Sister Blombergova and Sister Mills. They wanted to say thank you to Sister Blombergova for the great Svičkova she is always feeding them. They made some great enchiladas and she loved it. Thanks Elders for spreading the love.
President and Sister Irwin hosted a Seniors Couples Conference this May. We started out by traveling to the city of Modra Slovakia. Slovakia is such a beautiful country. After a short business meeting we were able to tour the Majolika Pottery Factory in Modra. This craft has been handed down from parent to children since around 1883. Here you can see one of the craftsmen making a piece of pottery. He made it look so easy.
Before the pottery is painted and fired.
All the pottery is hand painted so none of the pieces are identical.
You would never guess what this piece of pottery is used for.....Ok I will tell you. You stick a chicken on it, legs down, put vegetables around it and stick it in the oven. I know...pretty cool. This piece hadn't been painted yet so it will much more colorful when finished.
Main street in the city of Modra.
This is the only part that is left of the original wall that was around the city of Modra.
Hotel Sebastian where we stayed.
Back of Hotel Sebastian.
Elder and Sister Nye, Sister Munro, Sister Mills, Sister and Elder Martin, Elder Munro.
A beautiful little kostel we peeked our heads in. They were having a wedding that day. You can see by the way it is decorated.
All the sisters who were at the conference. Sisters, Curtis, Wilford, Martin, Wrightson, Nye, Mills, Bell, Irwin, Munro, Erb. All will be gone by July except for Sisters Wrightson, Mills, Munro, and Bell. These are great ladies and I have grown very close to them. We will miss them.
Elders Nye, Martin, Erb, Mills, Pres. Irwin, Wrightson, Curtis, Munro, Wilford, Bell. As you can see Starši Mills didn't get the email about wearing a jacket. There always has to be one rebel in the group.
Trenčin Castle as seen from the Trenčin Branch parking lot.
The next day we moved on to Buchlovice near Uherske Hradiste in the Czech Republic. We stayed at the Buchlovice Hotel. After meetings and dinner we headed to a nearby village of Vicnov, where the annual "Ride of the Kings" takes place every year. That evening we attended the singing/dancing competition. There were traditional dancers and folk band. Above are two of the dancers and musician.
These two young men were part of the men dancing and singing competion. They each performed separetly and were judged by a panel of four judges. The dances were quite energetic. They showed quite a bit of talent.
Here is Sister Mills with one of the dancers.
More dancers
Here are the seven young men who performed in the competition.
Just across the street from the Buchlovice Hotel was some beautiful scenery. Here is Starši and Sister Mills posing for what could be an engagement picture if we were only 40 years younger and a few pounds lighter.
Continuing on from the bridge you enter the Buchlovice Gardens. These gardens were manicured to the hilt.
Starši Mills trying to make friends with the resident peacock.
Gardens right in front of the Chateau.
Sister Mills with different peacock. They certainly loved to have their pictures taken. (I was ready to run if the bird turned on me.)
Cool looking tree in the gardens.
Beautiful rhododendron bushes in full bloom everywhere. I wish my mother could have seen these. She would have loved them.
To top off the month of May, Starši Mills celebrated his birthday.
Happy Birthday to the best companion there ever was.
We hope your month was as good as ours. We look forward to hearing from each of you and hearing about what you have been doing back home. Love to all of our children and grandchildren.
Starši and Sestra Mills
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