A Visit From Our General Authorities

We were honored to have Elder L.Tom Perry and his wife, and Elder Robert Oaks and his wife come for a visit. Elder Oaks is the Area President over Europe. We have enjoyed associating with him and Gloria for the last two years.
I love this picture of Elder Perry with the Charles bridge in the background. The six of us took a river cruise on the Vltava. We had picture perfect weather! The Oaks sat across from us on the boat.
We had a full agenda while they were here with sight-seeing, a mission-wide fireside for the members, and a mission-wide conference for the missionaries. We took a mission photo which I will include on the next posting. It was such a thrill to have all of our missionaries in one room! We don't get to do that very often. Here are a few of our elders relaxing after the conference. From left to right are: Elder Apple, Elder Wade, Elder MacLaughlin, Elder Maw, and Elder Baxter.
I found these guys in the back of the chapel. From left to right are: Elder Barker, Elder Gagon, Elder Auger, Elder Young, Elder Guzy, and in the foreground is Elder Boles. We sure love our missionaries!
We were out walking the other night, and I took this picture of the Tyn chapel.
Another McDonalds sign. This is how we say good-bye in Czech.

Prague Wanderings and Brno Women's Conference

I love this picture because you can see the communist museum poster, and in the background is the one of many McDonald's in the city. This makes me laugh every time I see it. There's something very ironic about McDonald's gracing the area where communism once was. By the way, Na Prikope has some great shopping, and also a TGI Fridays.

I had to stop and get a video of this guy performing in Old Towne. He was just too cute.



Last weekend, Sister Alsop and I drove down to Brno to speak at a women's conference, while President Slovacek held a priesthood training in Prague. This is a group shot of some of the women from the Brno District. Sister Alsop is the last person in the top row, right. I am the second from the right on the bottom row. I love these women!

Beautiful Decin and Liberec

We took a couple of days out on our way to Liberec to stop and see Decin, a small town near the border of Germany. What a beautiful place! It lies on the banks of the Labe River.

Decin has a castle complex. This is the rose garden inside the castle walls.

We took an unexpectedly loooooong, steep hike to the top of a mountain outside of Decin to see the largest natural stone bridge in central Europe. We had no idea it was going to be this far and this steep, but we kept persevering until we reached the top. You can't tell from this picture, but we had just hiked an hour straight up. We were both pretty beat. I took a picture of President Slovacek with the bridge in the background, just to show that we made it to the top.

The more we climbed, the more we grew to hate the bridge. It felt good to finally reach our destination, though.

On our way back toward our hotel, we stopped off at Belvedere. Here you can see the rocks and cliffs that are in the Decin area. I love the lone cypress out on the ledge, with the Labe River in the background. It made for some spectacular scenery.

Elder and Sister Alsop, our office couple and friends for the last 25 years, came with us on our trip to Decin. We are so sad because their mission is coming to an end. Our loss is Redwood City, California's gain. I know Doug will be happy to be out surfing again instead of doing office work, and Nancy can go back to her outlet shopping in San Francisco. Though we did our share of shopping at MACRO for zone conferences! I guess that doesn't count.
We went to church in Liberec. Here we are on the Namesti. That's the town hall in the background. Sure doesn't look like any of our town halls in Florida!
These are our cute missionaries in Liberec. From the left they are: Elder Briggs, Elder Ames, Elder Hill, and Elder Hicken. They are doing great things in that city!