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.

 Chateau Buchlovice, one of the famous historic baroque aristocratic residences in the Czech Republic.

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.

How fun is this.  These missionaries are some of the best in the world.  They love life, they love the Czech Republic, and they love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Keep up the good work Elders!!  We love you.

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

We want to start this post with news, not from the Czech Republic, but from home.  Our son Kevin Mills graduated this month from Weber State University.  We are so proud of him and his accomplishments.  He has had to hurdle many obstacles, in order to achieve his dream, but through much hard work and perserverance he has been successful.  We are also so grateful to his sweet wife Shannon, and all the love and support she has given Kevin over the years.

Congratulations to you both!!  We love you and are blessed to have such wonderful children.

(Have you ever seen such cute grandchildren?!?!?)

 

Zone and District Conference was held this month in Brno. These conferences are always so uplifting motivating. We love to attend and especially to be able to to listen to President Irwin each month. He is such a great man and we are fortunate to have him for a Mission President. This same weekend we had District Conference so it was a great and spiritually uplifting three days. It was the last District Conference for President Irwin and Sister Irwin to attend. Many tears were shed as the members showed their love and respect for both of them. They will be missed.

In between conferences we did a little sight-seeing of Brno.  Here we are going through the underground of Brno.  (Elder and Sister Wrightson, Elder and Sister Martin, Sister Nye, and Sister Mills)

Same group with the addition of Elder Mills and Elder Nye

Our dear friends Elder and Sister Nye from Smithfield, UT.  In this great big world we don't know how so many peopled from northern Utah were able to come together in this great mission.

The Wrightsons and the Martins

In between sessions of District Conference on Saturday we were able to join with the Elders and Sisters in a singing display.  It is so much more fun when the group is larger and actually has sisters to sing with.  You could hear the group singing from  a block away.  It was great.

Over looking Brno

 

Once a week we try to visit this sweet sister.  She lives in a rest home and does not have very good health.  Sister Skornikova is bright, and very funny.  We love to visit her and grateful the  Elders will tag along to translate for us.

 

 Elder Mills, Sister Skornikova, Sister Mills

Elder Ozmun, Sister Skornikova, Joseph, and Elder Simcock.

 

One thing the Czech republic does not have a shortage of is statues.  Everywhere you look in Ostrava there are statues.  Most are left over from communism and usually are of soliders and workers. (as seen here).  This was a holiday for the Czech people.  Something like our labor day.

 

 These next pictures are of the Elders at sports day.  Every Saturday they play and invite investigators, members, little kids, anyone they can get to play with.  They look forward to it and gives them a chance to unwind and have fun.

"Mormon Helping Hands"

The Ostrava Branch does a service project each spring and fall.  We were cleaning up a beautiful wooded area of trash and weeds.  It was raining pretty good when we started so that is why we all look like drowned rats.

 

This is what the area looked like that we were working in.  It was very pretty and green in the rain.  Elder Mills and I had to take extra Ibuprofen that night!

 

 

We started this post on a happy note, but must end with saddness.  Our dear friend Susan Turley passed away, and was buried today in Providence, UT.  She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.  She was such a caring, considerate, and thoughtful person.  She was a great example to all of us.  We want Jeff and their children to know how much we have always loved the Turley family.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you as you grieve for the loss of your wife, mother, and grandmother.

Elder and Sister Mills