Guys on Crutches, Slovacek, and Karlovy Vary

Oh these two! Elder Gagon (on the right) had some foot problems for quite a while. Thankfully, his cast is off, and he's doing great now. But right before he got his cast off, he escorted Elder Barker to the clinic to have an ingrown toenail removed. When they came back, they looked like quite the pair, so I had to take a picture. Elder Barker is doing well now, too.


We were driving along in Jihlava and had to stop and get a picture of this billboard. I don't know who Lubomir is, but it looks like he's in real estate like his long-lost cousin Marvin Slovacek. We loved seeing the diacritical marks above the A and the C. Now we know why our name is pronounced Slow-VA-check, as opposed to SLOW-va-sek.
We take the office missionaries on a vylet, or small trip, once a transfer. Here they are in one of my favorite cities--Karlovy Vary. It is a beautifully restored city that is populated heavily with Russians. It was is in Karlovy Vary, where they filmed the James Bond movie "Casino Royale", at the Grand Pup Hotel.
From left to right: Elder Gagon, Elder Whiting, Elder Chambers, and Elder Tanner.

Festivals and Zone Conferences!

These are all the sister missionaries of the Brno and Olomouc zones. They are fabulous missionaries! We took a week and toured the mission, stopping off at many of the missionaries' apartments for individual interviews. It was fun (and enlightening) to see them in their "natural habitat". We decided to drop in on them more often.














We were so lucky! We had been on the road for a few days, and decided at the last minute to pop in on the sister missionaries in Uherske Hradiste, just for fun. We didn't know the whole town would be out in full force for the Wine Festival! The town square was filled with people in native costume, singing and dancing, and of course, drinking their homemade wine. (They make it from potatoes.) We didn't drink the wine, but loved the caramelized cashews that were roasted over an open fire. It was a gorgeous day in Moravia! The guys on stage reminded me of Chevy Chase in European Vacation. They were great fun to watch.

Toronto Service Project, September 20, 2008

On the way to the annual service project sponsored by the Wallace Toronto Foundation, we stopped to see the Cesky Sternberk castle. It always amazes me that we can be in the middle of nowhere, and a castle will appear on the horizon. This country really is a land of fairy tales.
This is where we spent the better part of the day on the Toronto Service Project--in the garden. In this picture, I think President Slovacek is teaching us which weeds to look for. It felt good to be in contact with soil again. (I love gardening!)
Most of the missionaries from Prague and surrounding areas participated in the service project. While we weeded the gardens, these missionaries were busy scraping and painting the fence that went around the perimeter of the property. By the end of the day, I think more paint went on them than the fence; but the work got done, and they had a good time.

I found a kitten and put it in the pocket of my sweatshirt. I thought it was really cute, until someone pointed out to me that it had a tick behind its left ear. I put the cute little kitten down, very quickly. By the way, it was REALLY cold that day! I had to wear gloves, and it's only September. Not a good sign of things to come, I'm afraid.